Weekend Round-Up – The Joy of Being HACKED and Triangle Review.
It is Monday, which is the end of the weekend so here is the round-up from FRC Towers
I feel dirty and used today, and not in the good way. I haven’t been out burning the midnight oil, I haven’t been clubbing pretending I still have the energy of a 20 yr old. I have not got a hang over.
This morning I discovered that two of my email accounts had been hacked. Partly my fault for not having a secure enough password, also partly due to my naïvety, I had them set up with the same password. What a dufus.
Well a kind person hacked my gmail account and managed to steal over £100 from my bank account through Google Wallet, which is nice. Also they got into my archaic AOL account and sent a huge batch of SPAM emails out to my entire contact list. I only found out because they sent one to me!!
I want to apologize to anyone that might have got an email this morning. Please do not open it up. It is a nasty link that may contain something nasty.
Suffice to say I have changed my passwords to something that even I cannot remember without looking up and I should be a lot more secure now. I have shut down my AOL account and have everything directed through my Gmail now.
I feel horrid.
I have tried to get my money back, but as it is an in-game purchase I have no way of proving that I didn’t actually buy the 580 gems!! I hope whoever spent my hard-earned cash is enjoying the purchase.
Anyway, enough of my troubles. What did I watch? Well after last weeks TimeCrimes, I thought it was necessary to get the very similar themed TRIANGLE finally watched. I must admit the two films are very similar, but also very different. Gone is the sci-fi aspect and in was the Bermuda triangle type element.
Here is my review…
TRIANGLE (2009)
Director Christopher Smith is probably best known for his witty comedy horror, Severance, where he managed to transport the very British workplace humour into a woodland slasher film with an amount of success. With TRIANGLE, Smith stays with in a genre he obviously loves while managing to set up a very disorientating and eerie ‘Bermuda Triangle Esque’ Horror / Mystery.
Melissa George turns out a great bit of acting in the role of Jess, and despite her characters inner turmoil and disturbed nature she still looks hot in a pair of hot pants and a tight vest. Jess is a troubled young woman whose mind seems to elsewhere, mostly worrying about her autistic son, when she joins a group of friends for a sailing trip on a fancy yacht. Whilst at sea a terrific storm sweeps in unexpected and over turns the yacht and then disappears as quickly as it arrived. The stranded group take refuge on an eerie and seemingly abandoned cruise liner, the SS Aeolus. It is here that Jess becomes entwined in an increasingly tense psychological nightmare as a sequence of events keeps repeating, all with an additional alternative version of herself.
The triumph of Triangle is the circular narrative, it is hard to second guess and we see scenes over and over from different angles all the time learning a different understanding of what we have seen. As I said before Melissa George is excellent as she delivers different levels of emotion – madness, anger, sympathy and menace – all the time wielding an axe!
Director Smith pulls no punches in delivering some startling burst of action and violence all tied together with some brilliant tension. The sense of foreboding is ever-present and there are some brilliant light bulb moments that totally shock you into submission, but I cannot say any more on that subject without verging into spoiler territory.
The main problem with TRIANGLE, apart form the fact that it seems to find it hard to know when to quit, and the final act becomes a bit heavy-handed, is that it is so similar to TimeCrimes but with less subtlety and humour. Fans of the Spanish low-budget sci-fi flick will be slapping their forehead through out in disbelief on how many scenes were ‘borrowed’, even down to the menacing bandaged figure.
All in all though, Triangle is a good effort at a time travelling film, it is enjoyable and tense with a great reveal. It is just a shame it is not as original as it pretend to be.
About The Author – Scott Lawlor
Chief Editor of FRC. A self confessed geek with an unhealthy thirst for all things Home Cinema. Whether it is the latest Action film or Subwoofer. Check out his home set up HERE
Have you been hacked before? Have you seen TRIANGLE? Comment below…
Scott Lawlor
oh, lord, Scottie, and to think that I came over to ask you if it is brighter in Brighton than in my place
Would you like me to activate my penguins and find the ebil offender who hacked you?
Ha yes please Dezzy, send those Penguins over!!
Man I’m sorry to hear that. I hope they choke on whatever they buy with your money. Or drown in it. Or something horrible like that. I’m also sorry you spent this weekend watching the same film again. It’s weird how similar they are. Not bad though just like you say, not quite as fun as Time Crimes.
Ha I know, but I had to see what the fuss was about. And yes it is very similar indeed. But I did enjoy it none the less.
Oh, I’m so sorry that happened to you! I’m almost grateful I have so little money, I don’t think anyone would ever benefit from hacking my accounts.
I really liked Triangle, Melissa George is extremelly under appreciated she should be in more good films like this one.
I am happy that this wan’t my last bit of cash, as I would not have been able to feed my daughters this weekend
So sorry to hear about that.
If there’s any comfort I haven’t received any e-mail from you, so hopefully you haven’t passed this infection over to many other people. But still. I’m sorry for you.
I am glad you didnt get the email Jessica. It was not a nice day, Monday.
Lesson here: Use secure passwords and don’t use the same password for multiple email accounts!
I better get on fixing mine too. Thanks for posting this because now I can stop it from happening.
Indeed. I have been far too trusting. My new passwords and protection feels like Fort Knox but at least I am safe
Crap, it does suck to be hacked. That happened to me before too. So many different passwords it’s easy to just use the same one everywhere.
I don’t know if it’s available in the UK but I now use Google’s 2 step verification where you have to enter a numeric SMS code sent to your smartphone every time you login from a different location.
I have taken your advice BT. The 2-Step verification is working well. Although Apple Mail on my macbook doesn’t like it very much.
Unlucky Scott, it’s been a bad weekend for the FRC team as I have been a victim of debit card fraud! Lots of money left my account over the past few days and I only found out last night. Luckily Natwest have pulled a blinder and refunded my money already. I feel for you though, it’s not nice going through that.
Although the two films are very similar I’ve read a number of times that both were under production at the same time so it was highly unlikely that Cristopher Smith could have seen Timecrimes whilst making Triangle. I admit that some of the similarities do seem more than coincidental but the story behind Triangle is fascinating, with the puzzle requiring far more attention from the viewer to unravel. I recommend reading the IMDB forum for this one as some of the insights are fascinating.
I can’t decide which of the two I prefer but think they are both astounding films which showcase the talents of two very unique directors. I think you should check out Black Death, the next film by Christopher Smith, it is just as good as Triangle and bears little similarity to any recent films so you might take more from it.
Oh man that is awful!! Indeed we have both had a bad one huh?
I am glad I gave Triangle a go. It was a very interesting film with a great premise. Although it was very similar to TimeCrimes. But if what you say is correct, then that is a mega coincidence!!
I too have been a tad unlucky this weekend – I discover on Sunday morning that my car, parked nicely on the street out the front of my house, had been hit by our next-door neighbour when he went out to visit somebody. A bit if side panel damage and perhaps a wonky wheel bearing, but easily repairable. Still, I had to drop the thing off to the insurance repairer this morning (and here’s me hoping I would be able to sleep in!) which was a bit of a pain. Thankfully, I’m only out of pocket for a hire car if I need it (which I don’t just at the moment, as we have an second car) so I haven’t lost money like you have my friend, but I do feel your pain.
Lock those passwords up tight!
On an unrelated note, Melissa George is most definitely a hottie. A former Aussie soapie actress, I’ve followed George’s career with interest, from her early film career in Alex Proyas’ Dark City, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (with fellow Aussie Naomi Watts), to recent horror fare like 30 Days Of Night. I haven’t seen Triangle yet, but I’m gonna! Nice review, my friend.
Oh man this seems to have been a bad weekend GLOBALLY. Sorry about your car dude!
Melissa is easy on the eye, and she can act!! I loved her in A Lonely Place to Die and Dark City.
Ouch, sorry to hear about the hacking, man. I had someone steal one of my accounts before, and it was a huge ordeal to get it back. Good thing you were able to get them secured and back in your possession so quick.
Yeah I guess that is lucky. I would have never have known about the spam emails if I wan’t i my own email address book!!
CURSE YOU INTERNET!!
WOW, they actually stole money from you
That’s daring and pathetic. Sorry to hear about the hacking, I did receive some spam from you lol. But the positive aspect is that this is a reminder for all your reader (and there is many of them) to be more careful online!
Oh Castor, I am sorry you got one!! I hope it didn’t infect your PC too bad!! Sorry matey.
I have deffo learned the lesson, the hard way!
Bad new about the hacking my friend! Shame about the stolen money too =(
Saw TRIANGLE a good few years ago and whilst I didn’t find it overly memorable, I think Melissa George is a great indie actress and am usually swayed to a film if she is in it. A LONELY PLACE TO DIE was a great treat when I saw that last year.
I also loved A Lonely Place to Die Michael. It is a great thriller that had me on the edge of my seat!
Is there no way of tracing or getting some kind of compensation? Sounds pretty stressful. Your predicament just reminded me to change my passwords and set up 2-step verification.
Triangle’s great, I actually preferred it to Timecrimes, felt more focused and creepy, and I preferred Melissa George’s performance. Both have a great premise though, and nice to see decent time travel flicks being made.
Looking forward to catching up with you properly soon
I am pretty happy if I have inspired you to change your passwords Ant. It is very important to not let the complacency take over!
I am happy you liked Triangle Ant, I really do not know why it passed me by in 2009. Maybe I thought it was going to be too scary!
Oh my goodness!! I’m soooo sorry to hear that matey. That is awful!! I hope that’ll never happen again. Don’t blame yourself, I mean these hackers will do it even to the most careful person!
I have heard good things about Melissa George. I think I read a review of TRIANGLE before but didn’t realize it involves time travel. Interesting.
I do blame myself unfortunately Ruth, I was very slack with my passwords. All the same for ease. What a balloon.
Triangle may be a little scary for your tastes Ruth, but I urge you to give it a go.
Ouch! Hacked?! That’s just beyond bad
So Sorry to hear about it! Some people are just disgusting.
LOVE Triangle! It’s just such a surprising little film. Loved the twists and loved the circularity of it all. Melissa George is fantastic – haven’t liked her this much since Alias. A young Liam Hemsworth is not so good…
I’m going to add TimeCrimes to me to see list. Love a bit of Spanish film!
I am happy I finally got to see the ending. It all made a lot more sense the second time through too!!
Please see TimeCrimes, I know you will love it!
Hmm, despite us already chatting about this I still haven’t changed by passwords. I suck balls at being responsible.
Good review dude. I got to admit in terms of narrative flow I thought Time Crimes and Triangle were polar opposites, by the end of em. Which is a poncy way of saying I figured every single bit of Time Crimes from about half way through whereas with the ending of Triangle I didn’t get it. :/ Furrowed brow, pout styli, I don’t like not getting it :p Maybe I should watch it again ay? x
Sorry to hear about the hacking. Fingers crossed it doesn’t happen again. great review of Triangle.