Entertainment
Katee Sackhoff’s R-Rated Mystery Thriller Manipulates Ex-Lovers To Do Her Bidding
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Getting together with old friends is either a hit or miss kind of scenario. Sometimes, you pick up right where you left off without missing a beat, and it feels like the good old days before life sent you on wildly different paths. Or, if you’re trapped in the kind of plot that Sexy Evil Genius is laying out, it’s the worst kind of reunion. For one thing, you’re not getting together with an old friend. Instead, you’re meeting a group of people who all used to date your most significant ex, and it starts to feel like you’re about to fall into a trap.
The trap, however, has no clear exit. You’re sitting there, dumbfounded, talking to two people you’ve never met before, but still share something in common with. The lover in question shows up fashionably late with her new partner, her defense attorney who successfully got her off murder charges after she (allegedly) poisoned her boyfriend, allowing her to serve time at an institute for the criminally insane.
That’s the kind of fun that Sexy Evil Genius is going for, and in some cases, the humor lands. Overall, it’s an enjoyable watch, especially if you’re a fan of Seth Green or Katee Sackhoff. The film’s limited setting, however, leaves a lot to the imagination, and we don’t get much variation outside of the occasional flashback sequences.
A Table For Five
Sexy Evil Genius kicks off with a salesman named Zachary Newman (Seth Green) sitting down at a bar, seemingly waiting to be stood up on another date. There, he connects with a perfect stranger named Miranda Prague (Michelle Trachtenberg). After talking for a while, they realize they have one thing in common: they both used to date Nikki Franklyn (Katee Sackhoff), the one who got away, and who left an unfillable void in both of their lives. After reconnecting with Nikki through the occasional phone call, Miranda is aware of Nikki’s most recent exploits, namely how she was locked up for murdering her most recent boyfriend.
Zach and Miranda also realize that Nikki, who’s been known to pull elaborate pranks on the people she loves, probably set the evening up this way. Shortly after, another ex-lover, Marvin (Harold Perrineau), shows up, and we get more of the same background on Nikki through their conversations. Nikki, as the stories suggest, is an absolute psychopath who knows how to read the room and use it to her advantage.
For example, Marvin is really into jazz music, and this appreciation was the foundation of his long-term relationship with Nikki, who seemed to know every deep cut, major player, and genre idiosyncrasy, as if she studied jazz her whole life, impressing the professional musician. We learn through Miranda, though, that Nikki actually hates jazz and thinks it’s kitschy, ripping Marvin’s heart in half more than any breakup ever could.
When Nikki does arrive to meet her ex-lovers, she’s in the company of Bert Mayfaire (William Baldwin), her defense attorney from her murder case, who she then announces is now her fiancé.
With no clear motive for the meetup, the stakes eventually become clear when Nikki heads to the bathroom with Miranda to hint at her vague plans for “revenge,” handing her a gun “just in case,” while Bert explains to Zachary and Marvin that she’s legitimately insane and belongs behind bars, but he’s so attracted to her that he lied under oath and bribed multiple doctors and officials to get her sentence reduced. In Nikki’s mind, she’s 100 percent lucid and totally in control, only faking insanity to get out of prison. According to Bert, she’s almost always out of control, but knows how to rein it in when it matters.
A Low-Budget Bottle Thriller
While the mystery in Sexy Evil Genius is pretty basic on its face, it has a lot of fun with the premise by constantly subverting expectations. Every single person who has dated Nikki feels two ways about her: she’s an evil genius and expert-level manipulator, and she’s completely insane. The level of hyperspecificity she conjures while messing with her old flings feels almost superhuman. Her memory recall for even the most mundane details is baffling. Her cracks also show from time to time, demonstrating just how much of a loose cannon she can be if pushed hard enough.
The real fun comes from trying to figure out what her motives actually are. Is she going to murder all of her past lovers in public to prove some kind of point? Or is she trying to get out of her new relationship, subtly dropping hints to the few people who think they know her, hoping they’ll take out Bert on her behalf? There’s no real way to know until you know, but I can assure it doesn’t play out the way you’d expect.
Sexy Evil Genius is one of those low-budget bottle stories that doesn’t come around too often, but feels like a well-kept secret. Its premise is absurd enough to keep you hooked, but the tension from not knowing, even when you think you’ve figured it out, is what keeps driving things forward. As the mystery unfolds, you’ll get a few solid laughs, mostly stemming from Seth Green’s ability to play things as awkwardly as possible on command. But the real staying power comes from Katee Sackhoff’s performance, as she constantly walks the line between charming, manipulative, and completely unhinged.
As of this writing, you can stream Sexy Evil Genius for free on Tubi.
Entertainment
The Star Trek Sex Scene That Was Almost Too Much For Audiences
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
If there’s one thing Star Trek has always been weird about, it’s sex. Sure, The Original Series liked to titillate audiences, but broadcast restrictions kept them from getting too spicy. The Next Generation was comparatively celibate, to the point that Patrick Stewart would beg new writers to get Captain Picard laid. Eventually, the pendulum swung the other way: Discovery gave us an explicit sex scene that traumatized an unwilling participant while traumatizing the audience with the sight of naked Klingon breasts.
Obviously, it’s hard for this franchise to get sex scenes just right. When they aren’t offensive, they’re just downright goofy, like the time Dr. Crusher boned down with the Scottish bad boy that lived in her mother’s sex toy candle. Understandably, Star Trek: The Next Generation showrunner Michael Piller was worried about how audiences would react to a sex scene with Deanna Troi in “The Price” because fans kept writing in complaints before the episode even aired. But he didn’t get a single complaint after the episode, proving that audiences secretly loved seeing everyone’s favorite Betazed getting shagged!
In “The Price,” the Enterprise is hosting a number of intergalactic dignitaries who are negotiating for the rights to a major prize: access to a seemingly stable wormhole from the Alpha Quadrant to the Gamma Quadrant. One of the negotiators is secretly empathic, so it’s no surprise when he hits it off with empathic Counselor Deanna Troi. The two form a hot and heavy sexual relationship, one that only comes to an end when Troi must reluctantly reveal how her new lover has been secretly using his own Betazed abilities to manipulate negotiations from the beginning.
When previews for “The Price” first aired, the fandom collectively decided they were going to hate the scene where Troi takes Ral (her new bad-boy boyfriend) to bed. There are many possible reasons for this. Some fans hated to see Troi hook up with anyone but Riker, her fellow officer and one true Imzadi. Meanwhile, some fans hated to see Troi hook up with anyone but themselves. Whatever their motivation, more than a few fans decided to write to the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew to complain about the impending onscreen erotica.
“I’m Sensing Great Thickness, Captain”
This information comes to us courtesy of Michael Piller. As written in Captains’ Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, the TNG showrunner later lamented that “It was never meant to be outrageous television.” Despite this, “We got quite a few letters from outraged people before it aired.” Obviously, these fans thought Star Trek was about to get downright salacious. However, this story has an unexpected punchline: Piller noted that “nobody wrote after it aired.” The implication here is that nobody, even the fans who thought they would despise it, actually hated this sci-fi sex scene.
By today’s standards, the sex scene is relatively mild. There isn’t any nudity or simulated sex onscreen, and the whole thing was more sensual than anything else. Ral gives her a hot oil foot massage, she ends up straddling him, and the two spend plenty of time baring their souls while staring into each other’s eyes. Sure, it’s not as explicit as something you might find over on GornHub (what are you doing, step-reptile?!?), but by the standards of early ‘90s TV, this scene was downright smoking.
Judging from the complete and utter lack of complaints, it seems like the fandom really enjoyed this sensual scene. The franchise might have had trouble getting things just right over the years, but it seems like the TNG writers and producers finally found the right recipe for a successful Star Trek sex scene. Just take half a cup of foot stuff, eight ounces of diaphonous clothing, and three cloves of Marina Sirtis on top. Throw in a spandex-clad exercise scene as an appetizer and baby, you’ve got yourself one hell of a meal!
Entertainment
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Mashable Deals
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Entertainment
Mads Mikkelsen Steals Dogs and Jumps Out of Moving Cars in Unrated New Black Comedy
By Chris Sawin
| Published
The Last Viking has an opening and an ending that feels like a hand-painted fairy tale revolving around a Viking clan where everyone remains equal; young and old, fat and skinny, ugly or beautiful – everyone is treated the same. But one day, during a battle, a young Viking loses one of his arms.
In comparison to everyone else, he feels ugly and less than everyone else. His father, the chieftain, witnessed this and ordered every male in the clan, toddler, adult, or elderly, and everything in between, to chop off one of their arms. Part of it was to help his son feel better, but it was also to keep the clan equal among themselves.
In the present day, Anker (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) has just committed robbery and murdered someone in the process. He takes a duffel bag full of money and locks it in a locker. He instructs his brother, Manfred (Mads Mikkelsen), to swallow the key and retrieve the bag only once everything has died down. He then gives Manfred specific instructions to bury the bag in a designated place near their mother’s house.
Anker is sentenced to 15 years in prison. Once he gets out, Manfred refers to himself as John W. Lennon and has no memory of where he buried the loot. As Manfred is going through something irregular, Anker is forced to help him in some capacity so he can be well enough to remember where the money is.
Life After The Heist
Written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen (Riders of Justice, Men and Chicken), The Last Viking is a crime drama with some dark comedy thrown in for good measure. Manfred flips out whenever someone still calls him Manfred. He’s been stealing the neighbor’s dogs and stabbing their sister, Freja (Bodil Jorgensen), in the thigh because she didn’t call him John. Manfred also likes to jump out of moving cars, and he threatens to kill himself by shoving a fondue fork in his head. Both he and Anker have terrible tempers, as well.
The film follows Anker as he tries to shake some sense into Manfred. He wants his money so he can get away from his brother forever. Manfred has experienced some sort of severe trauma that has resulted in him having dissociative identity disorder. While we all exist as one identity in one reality, Manfred has several personalities that exist in different realities. They find this out after Manfred is committed to a psych ward.
Manfred’s psychologist, Lothar (Lars Brygmann), who is obsessed with IKEA, believes that, since Manfred believes he is one of The Beatles, he needs to unite with others who share his condition and believe they are the other Beatles. Once united, they can play Beatles songs together and, hopefully, regain some sense of normalcy.
Lothar tracks down a mute who believes he’s Ringo and Anton (Peter During), who has more than 40 personalities, including Bjorn from ABBA, Heinrich Himmler, and Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Anker and Manfred’s mother’s house is now owned by a couple who rent it out as an Airbnb; a former hand model named Margrethe (Sofie Grabol) and her much older husband, Werner (Soren Malling). Werner has been trying to write and illustrate a children’s book for the past five years, but has never finished it.
Lastly, there’s Flemming (Nicolas Bro), the flat owner and maintenance man to the flat Anker, Manfred, and Freja live in. Flemming wants all of the money that Anker has been hiding. He was paid before Anker went to prison, but he spent it all and now wants whatever is left. He basically hunts Anker the entire film and has a nasty streak despite his calm demeanor.
Drama And Trauma With A Side Of Humor
Anders Thomas Jensen makes this eclectic cast of characters feel necessary in the grand scheme of things. The Last Viking may centrally be about Anker and Manfred, but the way the story incorporates everyone else is extraordinary. There is humor in the film, but the drama and trauma keep your interest. Why Manfred decided to change his name and why Anker can’t remember certain things about his past is explained, and it’s devastating.
There’s a broken mentality to every character in the film, but the concept of either feeling less broken or being a bit more whole as a group is explored in The Last Viking. Every question you might have, like how the film’s title factors into the story, is explored to meaningful satisfaction. The one issue is that I wish the humor hit harder. For a film that is so serious, the comedy is extremely subtle and lighthearted. Maybe devoting more of the film to humor would have taken away from the overall story, which is already so well-connected and has a solid conclusion.
The Last Viking is stupidly sentimental and surprisingly sweet. It’s a film about a bunch of individuals who are completely and totally dysfunctional on their own but somewhat functional together.
The Last Viking hits theaters and digital/on-demand on May 29.
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