Even More Sinister Than A Stephen King Novel..."I.T."

I.T. (2016)

Not Rated

Starring Pierce Brosnan, Anna Friel, Stefanie Scott, Jason Barry

Directed by John Moore

The Story:

Mike Regan (Brosnan) is a successful entrepreneur who is about to take his business (think Uber...for aircraft!) public. He has a loving wife and daughter (Friel & Scott) and a state of the art home. But when Mike invites the new I.T. guy, Patrick (Barry) over to fix a few bugs at the house, Patrick suddenly thinks he's Mike's new best friend and then gets a bit offended when he gets the cold shoulder.

Don't screw with the I.T. department, Mike!!!

This thriller is not as thrilling as it wanted to be, but it does try.

Mostly by falling on the more-than-capable shoulders of Brosnan to carry the film, Brosnan keeps the audiences sympathy as the likable millionaire who's trying to become a billionaire by taking his firm public.

Yet when Patrick interferes, he runs the risk of losing everything he's worked for, including his very family.

The ground for Patrick's motivations is really that he's just that obnoxious that he would take any slight as a personal insult, and do whatever he can to make that person's life hell.

Hmm...

I know some people like Patrick.

:)

Otherwise, Mike doesn't seem to have any skeletons in his closet or anything that would deserve the cruel fate that comes his way, other than hurting the feelings of a sociopath.

So word of warning: be nice to the I.T. folks, and don't ever invite them to come fix your smart home.
Currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: C+

April Showers Bring May Flowers... "Pushing Daisies"

Pushing Daisies (2007)

TV PG

Starring Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Kristin Chenoweth, Jim Dale

Created by Bryan Fuller

The Story:

Ned (Pace) has a gift, but it comes with a price.  He can touch anything that was alive, but is now dead.  It comes back to life.  If it remains alive past 60 seconds, something else must die in its place.  Should he touch that thing again, it dies.  He makes his living as a pie maker, bringing dead fruit back to the peak of ripeness.  When his gift is discovered by a private investigator (McBride) the two team up to solve cases by asking the deceased who killed them, then solving the crimes and splitting the rewards.  This works out great until Ned attempts to solve the case of the death of his childhood sweetheart, Chuck (Friel) and cannot bear to let her die again.

What a great show.

I never saw it when it aired, and apparently very few others did either, as ABC pulled it during the second season, even before all the episodes could air.

Even though it was a critical smash.

How lame.

However, if you've got Amazon Prime, you can enjoy the entire run for free.

Which, is more than worth the price of admission.

It's smart. Well written. Fun.

The downside?

You will crave pie by watching every episode.

Yum.

And it ends much, much too soon.

The cast is pitch perfect.  I was only familiar with McBride and Chenoweth prior to the show.  Pace makes an excellent leading man, and looking through his credits, there's more work of his to enjoy out there.

Bryan Fuller apparently has a fascination with death, as this followed his Showtime creation, Dead Like Me. 

Currently, he's working on Hannibal for NBC.

Apparently, Bryan Fuller has issues.

:)

However, it's usually enjoyable television watching him attempt to work these issues out on the small screen.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No reason to purchase, I've got Prime! Now that we've finished both seasons, we'll probably come back and give it a spin again every so often to revisit some old friends.