Year: 2009
Running Time: 430 Minutes
Rated: TV-14
SRP: $ 29.99
Studio(s): ABC Studios
Release Date: February 23, 2010

Film/Feature: B+
Knowing the their prized show, Lost was ending after this season ABC realized they’ll need something to take its place. They scored a science fiction show that was originally supposed to air on HBO which was based in the real world, but plays with the storytelling devices through a variety of glimpses of the future. A world-wide phenomenon occurred where every human experienced a blackout for 137 seconds, and experienced in that same time period, a taste of May 27, 2010, six months in the future. If people saw someone else in their flash-forward, then that person experienced the exact same vision.

The main story revolves around a group of FBI Special Agents investigating the cause of the blackout. The lead story is of Mark Renford played by Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) and his wife, Dr. Olivia Benford played by Lost alum, Sonya Walger. In their flash forwards he sees armed men hunting him down at his office, Mark is back drinking and the men looking for him bear the same tattoo on their forearm. His wife’s flash forward sees her cascading down her stairs in lingerie into the arms of another man. Mark’s partner, Special Agent Dimitri Noh (John Cho) sees no flash and suspects he will not live to see the day on everyone’s mind. Another agent, Janis Hawk (Christine Woods) is a lesbian and single, yet whose vision is that she is nearly six months pregnant.

The team begins to gather clues like a similar occurrence happened in Somalia in 1991, a dark shadowy figure seen in Detroit during the blackout who did not lose consciousness, and a mysterious person known only by D. Gibbons. In Mark’s flash forward he remembers his peg board being filled with other clues gathered from the upcoming investigation. Along the way about episode 4-7 FlashForward gets a bit bumpy and loses some of its interest and speed. The government looks into the money being spent on this sector of the FBI and is threatened to be closed. A common theme in Lost is destiny versus freedom of choice. It surfaces here too. Will a glimpse of the future be enough for people to accept that as their fate? Or were people meant to see that to change the future?

There are good characters, with some plausible and not-so-plausible angles. Dimitri Noh trying to find out why he has no vision of the future and desperately trying to change that is a splendid leading role for Korean-born, American Cho and is one of the strongest stories in the series. It’s probably one of the more fuller characters he’s portrayed. I also like Sonya Walger’s Olivia trying everything to change her future but fails to deter her apparent path of destiny. When the show’s antagonists slowly reveal themselves it proves that this ball of yarn will be quite a tangled mess. The show is not without its faults. Fiennes is out of his element doing action, the show takes some giant leaps in explaining the science.

It’s difficult enough for a show like Lost viewers to buy into the sci-fi strangeness of some remote island, but a global occurrence such as this, well, that’s an ambitious story to tell. FlashForward puts a good foot “forward” (sorry I had to say that) and by the end of part one of season one, it recovers from the lackluster middle portion of this box set. Not only does this series flash forward, but it also begins to show what each character was doing prior to the blackout. Managing all of these storylines coherently is not an easy task by any means and yet after ten episodes I’m still in it to its end. Here’s hoping that FlashForward will be given every chance to fill in those blanks.

Video: A-
The transfer is a 480p encoded transfer in 1.78:1 aspect ratio enhanced for 16×9 televisions. The series is shot in high definition and the result is a visually strong and stylistic series that’s bright and full of high contrast and real world textures and skin tones. At times scenes are lit with blue hues and slight over-saturation, but it’s a nice looking image that lacks the fine detail of high definition but the much of the source information makes it over relatively unharmed in the DVD. You almost think it’s high def at first which tells just you how good it looks for a DVD.

Audio: B+
FlashForward gets a 5.1 English Dolby Digital audio track. Since this is not a high definition audio track, there isn’t the destructive sound that comes out of a DTS-HD track but all of the action sequences are full of subwoofer activity and lively movement from front to rear channels. Most importantly, center channels will pump out the dialogue clearly and in synch to the moving picture. There are no other audio choices and subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, Spanish

Extras: C-
There’s a small smattering of extras here but it’s mostly to promote the second half of the season. There will hopefully be a more full plate of supplements when the full season comes out on DVD and Blu-ray.

Creating Catastrophe: The Effects of a Global Blackout SD (7:06) mainly shows the behind the scenes of creating the opening devastation scene where part of the Los Angeles freeway was closed.

FlashForward: A Look Ahead SD (4:48) is an extended preview of what I imagine to be a clip of episode 11.

Could SD (1:32) is a TV spot for the second half of season one.

Overall Shock Value: B–
After the first ten episodes I was sold on the show. It was an easy sell for me that moved a little faster than Lost as far giving viewers the feeling they are moving towards something real. But this is a much bigger story than what Lost is trying to tell. The phenomenon is on a global level and I’m interested to see how the writers get out of this jam. There are some questions about the future of this show given two of the creative forces, creator David Goyer, and showrunner Marc Guggenheim are no longer involved with the show. Whether it makes the cut in the summer or not, FlashForward served as a good filler while we waited to see the last season of Lost, which I think would be a wise lead-in if the show wants to get strong enough ratings for a return. This DVD is just the first half of the season and is meant for those who want to catch up on the show as the second half kicks in March 18, 2010 with a two-hour season finale set for May 27, 2010. And if that’s exactly what you want, this DVD looks and sounds great, and is worth at least a Rent It based on the skimpy supply of extras and inevitable full season box set.

The FBI unit investigating the phenomena is who the show follows. Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) as Mark Benford, leads a group of agents who try to piece what happened to cause the blackout and piece together their “flash forwards.” The reason that these are so special is that visions are shared exactly by the people in each vision. For instance one of the other agents has a meeting with their counterpart in England. In his flash forward, and after the blackout, the two confirmed they had the exact flash forward despite being thousands of miles apart. Benford’s vision shows him in his office, frantically trying to solve a case called the Mosaic project while someone with a tattoo of three stars on his arm is hunting him down.

In his vision, he is wearing a friendship bracelet, a corkboard filled with pictures and details about the Mosaic case include the name D. Gibbons, three stars consistent to the tattoo on his hunter, a map with Baltimore labeled, 137 Sekunden (137 seconds in German), photographs of burnt baby dolls, amongst other details.

Other interesting flash forwards are Benford’s wife, Olivia played by Sonya Walgner (who is showing up in every one of my favorite shows from Lost, to Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles) who has an affair with a complete stranger in her vision. Olivia plays a doctor, whose intern was contemplating suicide right before the blackout. His flash forward was to a future where he was alive. Another agent, Janis Hawk played by Christine Woods, is pregnant in her vision when she doesn’t even have a boyfriend. The one thing in common with the visions is that the date was exactly the same. April 29th, 2010 and everyone remembers the details as if they actually experienced it. Also, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the visionary day is also during the last week of the prime time television season. One last detail that’s tickling my brain is that surveillance footage at a Detroit Tigers game in Comerica Park showed a shadowy figure in a black trenchcoat moving while everyone is passed out. The plot thickens…

While fellow PCS staffer, Shola Akinnuso might be apprehensive following another network science fiction series in the same vein as Lost, I am unapologeticaly hooked already. There are A to B list actors involved, the story has a great hook, and it’s co-created by David S. Goyer who comic book fans will know from writing Justice Society of America with Geoff Johns and the screenplay for Batman Begins. Also Marc Guggenheim is a writer on the show and is no stranger to writing solid episodic stories of this nature. (If you haven’t checked out his fine Oni post-alien invasion comic, Resurrection, track down the first trade paperback for $6!!) And anyone who reads comics should have caught easter eggs like D. Gibbons (do I need to explain) and a billboard advertising Lost’s Oceanic Airlines.

But the biggest thing I am most concerned about though is co-lead, John Cho (Harold and Kumar, Star Trek) and his character, Demitri Noh. As a first-generation Asian-American, the sexification of the Asian-American Male is long overdue. The World Wars and Vietnam did wonders for the Asian-American woman, and Hispanics and Blacks have made great strides but what about my Asian brothers? Every time we’re portrayed either as a pencil protecting nerd, a camera-toting tourist, a scholar fresh off the boat, or a drugged out burnout. Never has an Asian male been cast in a straight lead role of a major network television show who is an actual Asian-AMERICAN. No disrespect to Daniel Dae Kim (plays a native Asian in Lost), Masi Oka (plays a nerd in Heroes), the late Pat Morita (owner of Arnold’s Diner in the comedy, Happy Days), but this is a different role. More so than any draw of science fiction, more so than a great another potential television drama, I am excited that Cho has a lead role as an un-stereotyped Asian-American, someone I can relate to.

Cho’s character Demetri Noh is also in the FBI, Benford’s partner, and engaged to Gabrielle Union’s character Zoey Andata. Hold on, an Asian-American male lead AND an interracial relationship? Has the apocalypse arrived? Have my dreams have come true? No sooner do I wipe the tears of joy watching the episode when the bomb hits… Demitri did not experience a flash forward… waitaminute… WHAT?!! (Cue in the car screeching crash sound effect and woman screaming in the background.) That’s right, those who didn’t experience a flash forward can assume that they don’t get to live to see April 29th. Can’t see anything if you’re not alive. There must have been a typo, he must have gotten the wrong script, I mean we all know it’s the black men who don’t get to see the end of the show, wait, that’s just horror flicks, or is it? Maybe, just maybe, he has a big movie lined up and can only commit to one season of the show.

So I gather myself while watching this, beleaguered, knowing that the one character that’s brought me into this show, is going to get offed by season’s end. Or is he? And this is where the story gets interesting. Why did everyone get a glimpse of the future, was it to ensure it happens, or was it to prevent it? My man, John is going to get to the bottom of this. This much I’m sure of. And if not, well at least go out with a bang, John.

Let’s track his survival rate and see if in fact, he does makes it through the entire first season. I’m not greedy, I mean I could hope he’s on for the whole series run, but we don’t know if it will make it past the first 13 episodes. But the buzz is pretty good. Aside from my Demitri Noh watch, I found all of the other elements of Flash Forward impressive, extremely captivating and well-worth my time. Flash Forward is my new favorite show of the season and I’ll be watching ABC on Thursday night–at least while Demitri is alive.

FILM: D
Since the modern horror flick is so formulaic at this point, I avoided The Unborn at the theaters but hoped I’d be in for a surprise when it hits blu-ray. Hope left early into screening The Unborn, along with his friend, Thrills, Chills, and Originality. This time there’s no charge of a poor American remake, or a sequel that waters down the enjoyment of earlier installments. No, The Unborn did it all to itself, summoning a tired tale of family curses and hauntings in Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman), causing me to search under the couch pillows for holy water to wing at the screen. “Save my soul! Save my soul!” I screamed. Yeah. Didn’t work.

So this Beldon gal is a college co-ed in Chicago. She babysits to earn some cash, and keeps her body tight by working out regularly. Lately she’s been daydreaming and things begin to startle her. Cue in those cleverly-timed shriek noises and shrills designed to make you jump out of your seat. Casey shares her troubling mind with her superstitious friend Romy (Meagan Good) and boyfriend Mark (Cam Gigandet) but is mocked and ignored until one too many freak outs in public restrooms and lecture halls. At least one thing remains constant in horror flicks…. white folk are craaaazeeeeee!

When an eye doctor suspects she may have been a twin on the improbable chance she experienced Genetic Mosaicism, where placentas of two embryos can be fused and blood is transferred between fetuses. According to her father (James Remar), Casey had a twin brother who died when her umbilical cord wrapped around his throat. Nicknamed “Jumby” the unborn twin sent Casey’s mother (Carla Gugino) to a psych ward where she was diagnosed with depression and committed suicide. Yeah. That’s a bit of a skeleton I’d say, but nothing compared to what else she finds out.

Still haunted in her dreams, Casey seeks the help of Sofi (Jane Alexander) an elderly woman who knew her mother while at the looney bin, Arthur Wyndam (Idris Elba) Rabbi Sendak (Gary Oldman) two men of the cloth versed in the Jewish Kabbalah –stay with me– only to discover her family’s been long-cursed by the Nazi regime. There’s only one way to rid the family of this curse; a proper exorcism that’s destined to destroy the set of the film and take everyone in proximity with it.

Yustman really tries in the film, a poor woman’s Megan Fox (minus the clubbed thumbs and bad tattoos) and even greases up her body so that she can fit into tight, white tanks and undies to parade in. Her green performance is just one of the many turned in by the younger cast members. Jane Alexander is the most convincing of cast members as Sofi, Oldman and Elba appear… out of place. But this film struggled from the beginning with David S. Goyer’s script. More widely known for his part in writing Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, it was Goyer’s name that originally piqued my interest in The Unborn. Sadly, Goyer left his imagination in the bat cave playing chess with Alfred. There just wasn’t anything new, scary, or exciting about The Unborn. The deceased twin manifests itself into a demonic child whispering “Jumby wants to be be born now.” A premonition of things to come, but maybe it should have said, “Jumby wants a refund.”

VIDEO: B+
Despite all of the filmmakers’ travails, The Unborn is seen with a nice 1080p VC-1 encoded transfer in 2.40:1 aspect ratio. The picture has a bit of a fog about it, stylized and intentional, where objects that scream for emphasis get that spotlight while everything else drops back. There’s still plenty of accurate detail like pores on the skin, textures of various substrates that come across as authentic and the colors are so lush and rich at times it’s a shame that such a good looking film didn’t have much else going for it except…

AUDIO: B
All of the audio comes via a more than serviceable English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix. Universal loves the DTS-HD format and it does provide that screech and startle effect. Subwoofers will arise from the dead every now and then when they are called on and do an admirable job. There are some sweet spots in the film like the exorcism climax that utilizes the surround channels to a nice degree with eerie atmospheric effects, but too much of the audio in this film stays up front and center disconnecting the viewer from a complete experience through much of the film. There’s also an English 2.0 Dolby Digital mix, and 5.1 DTS tracks in Spanish, French, Dutch, and French Canadian. Subtitles are available in English SDH, Dutch, French, and French Canadaian.

EXTRAS: D-
Sometimes bad films have great extras but I guess Universal decided to cut its loss at the box office and spared no extra cents and dollars on a good supplemental package. Perhaps it was best to end the suffereing.

My Scenes – Universal’s standard bookmarking option allows you to place a mark at any moment of the film that puts you to sleep.

Deleted Scenes HD (6:37) – Six scenes that didn’t matter much but at least they’re in high def.

Not a shock here, Overall Shock Value: D+
I can’t say I was disappointed in the film because my expectations were not set that high. In fact it was spot on what was expected, which was another lazy, plain potato chip filled with trite scare tactics that’s as tasteless as the rest of the bag. Hollywood has once again relied on the usual gimmicks and gags to try and incite horror instead of really putting together a story that really drives The Unborn forward. If Hollywood cannot write but one good scary flick a year, then don’t bother pushing one out the door seemingly every month. The only thing horrific was the effort behind creating this film. There have been worse films, no doubt, but The Unborn’s only redeeming quality was that it scored high marks in the PCS AV department. And there’s one minute difference between the unrated cut and the theatrical cut. I don’t think there’s much difference. I’d pass on both but if you must see The Unborn for yourself, rent it first.