I have been watching a few things here and there. Right before I started work, thre was massive
watching of whatever I fancied because I feared I would have very little time
ever again (this was very prescient of me).
I’ve divided it into film and TV, for some reason. But here are the rambly thoughts…the last TV
one, The Fall, I only finished today,
so that’s fresh. I also watched the
first season of Penny Dreadful, which
was wondrous (especially in terms of words),
but I wasn’t moved to talk to myself about it, so its not here. I’m just anticipating season 2 (which I have,
just waiting to watch it with Fry), with great happiness.
TV
Castle,
Season 3
(Whilst this series absorbed me as much as the previous ones while watching, I started to feel that some elements were being lost. The chemistry between Castle and Beckett in terms of how they solve crimes together and how he thinks everything is like a story is diminishing. Also, the way a niche environment is picked every week and they are truly interesting niches is also declining – they are just the usual list of situations and backdrops called upon by every crime program everywhere in America now: there must be a list of these ideas and situations. Tropes. There were a couple of howling bad episodes too, notably the ones about the Real Authentic Genuine Original[etc] Nick, the pizza episode. I got bored. On the other hand, the interplay with his family at home is as delightful as ever – I love the mother and I love the daughter. If only all our home lives were this safely monied and clean and colour co-ordinated and generally harmonious. I wish these people were in my family. Which I think is the idea.
Stand out eps for me, were: Almost Famous, Murder Most Fowl [these were original plots nicely done with little twists]; Nikki Heat[the actress chosen to be Nikki and Beckett have some nice interplays with Castle]; Knockdown [eps involving Beckett’s mother’s unsolved murder are always good, bringing out Beckett’s vulnerable but bulldog tenacious side – it’s a strong and nicely woven part of her character]; SetUp [here because the man playing the Syrian attache stole the episode]; and of course the finale KnockOut, which was very nicely done indeed. And Castle tells Beckett he loves her. But does she hear? Etc. The show is still very sharp,but needs to beware of too many pedestrian filler episodes – can’t expect Beckett and Castle to carry everything when they aren’t being given good enough dialogue.)
(Whilst this series absorbed me as much as the previous ones while watching, I started to feel that some elements were being lost. The chemistry between Castle and Beckett in terms of how they solve crimes together and how he thinks everything is like a story is diminishing. Also, the way a niche environment is picked every week and they are truly interesting niches is also declining – they are just the usual list of situations and backdrops called upon by every crime program everywhere in America now: there must be a list of these ideas and situations. Tropes. There were a couple of howling bad episodes too, notably the ones about the Real Authentic Genuine Original[etc] Nick, the pizza episode. I got bored. On the other hand, the interplay with his family at home is as delightful as ever – I love the mother and I love the daughter. If only all our home lives were this safely monied and clean and colour co-ordinated and generally harmonious. I wish these people were in my family. Which I think is the idea.
Stand out eps for me, were: Almost Famous, Murder Most Fowl [these were original plots nicely done with little twists]; Nikki Heat[the actress chosen to be Nikki and Beckett have some nice interplays with Castle]; Knockdown [eps involving Beckett’s mother’s unsolved murder are always good, bringing out Beckett’s vulnerable but bulldog tenacious side – it’s a strong and nicely woven part of her character]; SetUp [here because the man playing the Syrian attache stole the episode]; and of course the finale KnockOut, which was very nicely done indeed. And Castle tells Beckett he loves her. But does she hear? Etc. The show is still very sharp,but needs to beware of too many pedestrian filler episodes – can’t expect Beckett and Castle to carry everything when they aren’t being given good enough dialogue.)
Star
Trek: Deep Space 9, Season 3
(Same problem as Castle - there’s a slightly soapy pedestrian edge creeping over this very good show. Too many filler eps. The quality of the writing overall, PLUS the often hard hitting subjects of the better eps is falling off a bit. The good eps are very good, but the rest are just killing time. HMMMM.
Stand out eps were: The Search 1 and 2 [because it elucidated Odo more an because the deteriorating and excessive situation were believable if weird and I wanted to know what would happen next]; The House of Quark [some rather clever speeches by Quark, who really does part the bling into Greed]; Civil Defense [a very nice idea, and Gul Dukat walking about blithely knowing the lasers will not attack him, while being arrogant as ever, REALLY did make me smile]; Defiant [actually, this was a rather poor episode, but I love Riker and was very happy to see him]; Past Tense 1 and 2 were very nice indeed, some good moral dilemmas; Visionary [I liked the time travelling and Cassandra esque elements of this episode]; and lastly Distant Voices [which really makes me wonder why they didn’t do an awful lot more with Dr Bashir’s character in the whole show]. I enjoyed any episode featuring Garak, as he’s a marvellously odd character, but the 2 parter he had this season didn’t really further his character, though it did further his storyline. Which was a bit odd.)
(Same problem as Castle - there’s a slightly soapy pedestrian edge creeping over this very good show. Too many filler eps. The quality of the writing overall, PLUS the often hard hitting subjects of the better eps is falling off a bit. The good eps are very good, but the rest are just killing time. HMMMM.
Stand out eps were: The Search 1 and 2 [because it elucidated Odo more an because the deteriorating and excessive situation were believable if weird and I wanted to know what would happen next]; The House of Quark [some rather clever speeches by Quark, who really does part the bling into Greed]; Civil Defense [a very nice idea, and Gul Dukat walking about blithely knowing the lasers will not attack him, while being arrogant as ever, REALLY did make me smile]; Defiant [actually, this was a rather poor episode, but I love Riker and was very happy to see him]; Past Tense 1 and 2 were very nice indeed, some good moral dilemmas; Visionary [I liked the time travelling and Cassandra esque elements of this episode]; and lastly Distant Voices [which really makes me wonder why they didn’t do an awful lot more with Dr Bashir’s character in the whole show]. I enjoyed any episode featuring Garak, as he’s a marvellously odd character, but the 2 parter he had this season didn’t really further his character, though it did further his storyline. Which was a bit odd.)
Star
Trek: Deep Space 9, Season 4
(Good eps include: Way of the Warrior, the 2 part opener –WORF!!!!!, need I say more?! The Visitor – a heartwrenching episode about not letting go and why you should even when Jake didn’t…Tony Todd owned the episode utterly, what a voice!, and the grief he displayed, the loss, what acting, I was almost in tears for most of the episode! Hippocratic Oath posed a moral quandary that I got both sides of, and was one of those episodes where you realise how underused Bashir’s character is and how great he can be.)
(Good eps include: Way of the Warrior, the 2 part opener –WORF!!!!!, need I say more?! The Visitor – a heartwrenching episode about not letting go and why you should even when Jake didn’t…Tony Todd owned the episode utterly, what a voice!, and the grief he displayed, the loss, what acting, I was almost in tears for most of the episode! Hippocratic Oath posed a moral quandary that I got both sides of, and was one of those episodes where you realise how underused Bashir’s character is and how great he can be.)
Castle,
Season 4
(Mostly got its mojo back, except for a couple of silly CIA based episodes. Otherwise, excellent and back on track in its own quirky, well chemistried way. Especially enjoying Esposito and Ryan, who seem to be coming to the fore, finally, a little more.)
(Mostly got its mojo back, except for a couple of silly CIA based episodes. Otherwise, excellent and back on track in its own quirky, well chemistried way. Especially enjoying Esposito and Ryan, who seem to be coming to the fore, finally, a little more.)
The
Detectorists
(This was lovely and gentle and perfectly poignant. No one does this sort of thing like the English. Was most impressed to discover Mackenzie Crook both wrote, directed and starred in it. It was wonderfully English, and spacious, and full of eccentrics and losers…and, you know, people like me who watch University Challenge.)
(This was lovely and gentle and perfectly poignant. No one does this sort of thing like the English. Was most impressed to discover Mackenzie Crook both wrote, directed and starred in it. It was wonderfully English, and spacious, and full of eccentrics and losers…and, you know, people like me who watch University Challenge.)
Castle
Season 5
(This got itself back together, and managed the feat of keeping Beckett and Castle together without being annoying, or doing a modern day Hart to Hart, which probably wouldn’t work very well. Excellent mix of serious and funny episodes with only a couple that I would consider filler – and I don’t think they were intended to be. Also managed the seriously clever feat of doing the world’s only flashback episode that didn’t feel like a cop out for an episode. It had its own story, plus the bits used for the flashback scenes were SO good and relevant, it felt like brill recap. The only thing that episode did show was what I have come to see, that Nathan Fillion is doing a Holly Marie Combs in Charmed – that is, his performance, as we have gone on, has got quieter and quieter and less quirky. He’s still very watchable and loveable, but he has lost some of the drive and sass that I used to love about him. Whereas Beckett has gained a sort of quiet depth, without changing too much at all; the difference between subdued and strong quietude.)
(This got itself back together, and managed the feat of keeping Beckett and Castle together without being annoying, or doing a modern day Hart to Hart, which probably wouldn’t work very well. Excellent mix of serious and funny episodes with only a couple that I would consider filler – and I don’t think they were intended to be. Also managed the seriously clever feat of doing the world’s only flashback episode that didn’t feel like a cop out for an episode. It had its own story, plus the bits used for the flashback scenes were SO good and relevant, it felt like brill recap. The only thing that episode did show was what I have come to see, that Nathan Fillion is doing a Holly Marie Combs in Charmed – that is, his performance, as we have gone on, has got quieter and quieter and less quirky. He’s still very watchable and loveable, but he has lost some of the drive and sass that I used to love about him. Whereas Beckett has gained a sort of quiet depth, without changing too much at all; the difference between subdued and strong quietude.)
Once Upon A Time, Season 3
(This is amazing in the sense that not for one episode has this series lost its moral centre or overriding theme: how people react to fear is everything. It governs the actions of every single character – whether they confront, run and hide, manipulate, do deals; every reaction to fear elucidates character and drives the plot. It’s an astonishingly simple device and I must remember it if I ever write anything good ever again. It’s so much better than saying: where is the conflict? Just say: how do they react, in any given situation, to fear? What does it drive them to do – and you’ve got characters that interest and prove sympathetic, forever.
The only thing odd about this series was the way it ran the Peter Pan angle for half the series, then wound it up very quickly and went for a different villain; followed by the two parter at the end which felt like it could have been suspended between this series and the next as a standalone. It made an important point, but felt oddly divorced from the rest of the plot, even though it provided the catalyst that brought Elsa, and the next development leading into series 4.
Rumplestiltskin/Mr Gold is still *marvellous*.)
(This is amazing in the sense that not for one episode has this series lost its moral centre or overriding theme: how people react to fear is everything. It governs the actions of every single character – whether they confront, run and hide, manipulate, do deals; every reaction to fear elucidates character and drives the plot. It’s an astonishingly simple device and I must remember it if I ever write anything good ever again. It’s so much better than saying: where is the conflict? Just say: how do they react, in any given situation, to fear? What does it drive them to do – and you’ve got characters that interest and prove sympathetic, forever.
The only thing odd about this series was the way it ran the Peter Pan angle for half the series, then wound it up very quickly and went for a different villain; followed by the two parter at the end which felt like it could have been suspended between this series and the next as a standalone. It made an important point, but felt oddly divorced from the rest of the plot, even though it provided the catalyst that brought Elsa, and the next development leading into series 4.
Rumplestiltskin/Mr Gold is still *marvellous*.)
The
Fall, Series 1
(What a nice surprise. Not just a crime drama with a moody detective solving a crime committed by a strange killer – but so much more than that. Also about how policing is done in Belfast, how other cases link to this one, and very gradually – why the people are the way they are. Impressed. And wish I was as disconnected as Gillian Anderson’s character is, or seems to be. Envy of the ‘doubling’. Must comment on Jamie Dornan’s fit for his role too. Very nicely done. Was staggered when I realised the cliff hanger at the end of season 1, when I thought it would all be sorted! Quite hooked!)
(What a nice surprise. Not just a crime drama with a moody detective solving a crime committed by a strange killer – but so much more than that. Also about how policing is done in Belfast, how other cases link to this one, and very gradually – why the people are the way they are. Impressed. And wish I was as disconnected as Gillian Anderson’s character is, or seems to be. Envy of the ‘doubling’. Must comment on Jamie Dornan’s fit for his role too. Very nicely done. Was staggered when I realised the cliff hanger at the end of season 1, when I thought it would all be sorted! Quite hooked!)
The
Fall, Season 2
(In some ways less than season 1, as in more tightly plotted so slightly more carelessly or stereotypically characterised; on the other hand, amazing story telling, ratcheting up the tension. Riveting viewing. Loving Gillian Anderson’s character more and more – that sudden episode with Archie Panjabi was fascinating; I am so enjoying trying to understand and work her out, where she’s coming from.
I didn’t buy the scene where the man gang of Belfast toughs actually didn’t beat her to pulp when she stood up to them, that step back one of them did – I saw that it was meant to be instinctive, and that he recognised she meant business as one unafraid aggressor to another; and I think it was meant to denote that she was ‘real’ while he was a bully, a fake person who was only scary when with his friends or with a gun…but I still didn’t buy it: she made him look small infront of his friends, I think he would have reacted more.
Jamie Dornan’s sudden flights of cold eyed egotism were most interesting too – because he hasn’t played the character like a stereotype at all, but when you think about it, or when Stella describes his attributes, he is one, he’s textbook. It fascinating, the face of him and whats behind his face. And his physical fitness is very much a part of the picture – that description of the compression of the victim’s neck, to so small, and yet we not seeing it done: very effective – we are more fascinated and frightened by what we don’t see.
Colin Morgan – yay – what a good actor, he; took me a real moment to place him as the same character in my beloved Merlin, as he was holding his face and doing his voice so differntly - the timbre, not just the accent!
This was marvellous, altogether, especially the ambiguous ending – will he live, why did she seem so genuinely upset? [I have theorised that it’s because she is actually a very leaky and empathic compassion monster, with a very sad past – which clues I got from several bits of show, previous job mentions, the snappy band suggestion to victim-survivor; she is so utterly connected that only intense apparent disconnection and control will keep her together mentally to work properly. The episode with Archie Panjabi’s Reed Smith showed she was definitely not immune to sudden passions and whims; though even then, she needed to control them and be dominant to let it occur.] Etc. I hope he does live and more happens, the expression on his face in the last few moments was interesting too…
I really did adore the way everyone watched everyone in this – the creepy hotel owner; the terrifyingly hormonal and intense Katie Bennodoti, people observing others all the time and not saying anything or using the information for themselves alone. I decided it was called The Fall partly for Paul Specter’s character and his arrogance in a very Christian – outwardly – country; and partly because everyone in the series seemed either about to fall or in the process of trying to hold off decay. Totally absorbing.)
(In some ways less than season 1, as in more tightly plotted so slightly more carelessly or stereotypically characterised; on the other hand, amazing story telling, ratcheting up the tension. Riveting viewing. Loving Gillian Anderson’s character more and more – that sudden episode with Archie Panjabi was fascinating; I am so enjoying trying to understand and work her out, where she’s coming from.
I didn’t buy the scene where the man gang of Belfast toughs actually didn’t beat her to pulp when she stood up to them, that step back one of them did – I saw that it was meant to be instinctive, and that he recognised she meant business as one unafraid aggressor to another; and I think it was meant to denote that she was ‘real’ while he was a bully, a fake person who was only scary when with his friends or with a gun…but I still didn’t buy it: she made him look small infront of his friends, I think he would have reacted more.
Jamie Dornan’s sudden flights of cold eyed egotism were most interesting too – because he hasn’t played the character like a stereotype at all, but when you think about it, or when Stella describes his attributes, he is one, he’s textbook. It fascinating, the face of him and whats behind his face. And his physical fitness is very much a part of the picture – that description of the compression of the victim’s neck, to so small, and yet we not seeing it done: very effective – we are more fascinated and frightened by what we don’t see.
Colin Morgan – yay – what a good actor, he; took me a real moment to place him as the same character in my beloved Merlin, as he was holding his face and doing his voice so differntly - the timbre, not just the accent!
This was marvellous, altogether, especially the ambiguous ending – will he live, why did she seem so genuinely upset? [I have theorised that it’s because she is actually a very leaky and empathic compassion monster, with a very sad past – which clues I got from several bits of show, previous job mentions, the snappy band suggestion to victim-survivor; she is so utterly connected that only intense apparent disconnection and control will keep her together mentally to work properly. The episode with Archie Panjabi’s Reed Smith showed she was definitely not immune to sudden passions and whims; though even then, she needed to control them and be dominant to let it occur.] Etc. I hope he does live and more happens, the expression on his face in the last few moments was interesting too…
I really did adore the way everyone watched everyone in this – the creepy hotel owner; the terrifyingly hormonal and intense Katie Bennodoti, people observing others all the time and not saying anything or using the information for themselves alone. I decided it was called The Fall partly for Paul Specter’s character and his arrogance in a very Christian – outwardly – country; and partly because everyone in the series seemed either about to fall or in the process of trying to hold off decay. Totally absorbing.)
Film
The Tomb
(Remake of The Tomb of Ligeia, originally by Poe. It was a good idea trying to set it in the present, and there was a nice semi gothy feel to the scenes set in America, but the film started to fail when it went to Russia. It couldn’t sustain its gently gothy atmosphere. I started to get bored, even though it looked incredibly nice. I have no idea why Michael Madsen and Eric Roberts were there, very badly miscast; this sort of film does nothing for either of them, and their characters were not sufficiently defined to give them much to do. Or maybe another actor would have done more with it. Difficult to say. The thing is, Wes Bentley starred in and produced this, and he can be brilliant, so I suspect these 2 were his friends and they wanted to do something brilliant, and maybe this was his pet project. He clearly believed in it, to plug money in. Shame it didn’t work so well. It’s was no The Asphyx, for example.)
(Remake of The Tomb of Ligeia, originally by Poe. It was a good idea trying to set it in the present, and there was a nice semi gothy feel to the scenes set in America, but the film started to fail when it went to Russia. It couldn’t sustain its gently gothy atmosphere. I started to get bored, even though it looked incredibly nice. I have no idea why Michael Madsen and Eric Roberts were there, very badly miscast; this sort of film does nothing for either of them, and their characters were not sufficiently defined to give them much to do. Or maybe another actor would have done more with it. Difficult to say. The thing is, Wes Bentley starred in and produced this, and he can be brilliant, so I suspect these 2 were his friends and they wanted to do something brilliant, and maybe this was his pet project. He clearly believed in it, to plug money in. Shame it didn’t work so well. It’s was no The Asphyx, for example.)
The
Imitation Game
(This was a very sad film. I can’t believe we did that to Alan Turing. And an Oscar to the child actor who played the young Alan Turing on hearing of his friend Christopher’s death. That was acting…)
(This was a very sad film. I can’t believe we did that to Alan Turing. And an Oscar to the child actor who played the young Alan Turing on hearing of his friend Christopher’s death. That was acting…)
The
Riot Club
(This was a real disappointment. It could have had a hard hitting feel and social commentary; it could have walked a line that was a mixture of Straw Dogs and A Family Function, and it did neither. It kept setting up situations that didn’t quite happen and then speechified a bit. It made the Bullingdon Club look like spoiled brats rather than dangerous sociopaths, which in fact is what they must be…)
(This was a real disappointment. It could have had a hard hitting feel and social commentary; it could have walked a line that was a mixture of Straw Dogs and A Family Function, and it did neither. It kept setting up situations that didn’t quite happen and then speechified a bit. It made the Bullingdon Club look like spoiled brats rather than dangerous sociopaths, which in fact is what they must be…)
Wake
Wood
(With Fry. I’m astonished he liked this as much as he did. It had a very Carter Burwell Blair Witch 2 influenced soundtrack, very sounds of wood and organic elements – that was very good. The quiet and small nature of the film helped its creepiness, though I really felt Aiden Gillen was miscast, as I kept expecting him to kill someone any minute, as he has such a sinister and manipulative face. It was a very odd conception, the idea of rebirthing these dead people from other people. I liked the Italian 70s nature of the gore and violence, focussing on the wounds etc – you could see, by this device how they must have managed to film the violence completely separatelyto having the child who was supposed to be enacting it on the set. A very curious film. Wouldn’t watch it again, but was interesting.)
(With Fry. I’m astonished he liked this as much as he did. It had a very Carter Burwell Blair Witch 2 influenced soundtrack, very sounds of wood and organic elements – that was very good. The quiet and small nature of the film helped its creepiness, though I really felt Aiden Gillen was miscast, as I kept expecting him to kill someone any minute, as he has such a sinister and manipulative face. It was a very odd conception, the idea of rebirthing these dead people from other people. I liked the Italian 70s nature of the gore and violence, focussing on the wounds etc – you could see, by this device how they must have managed to film the violence completely separatelyto having the child who was supposed to be enacting it on the set. A very curious film. Wouldn’t watch it again, but was interesting.)
Night
of the Devils, 1972
(A proper old, weird one…I thought it was a giallo but it’s a ghosty/vampiric/zombieish story based on Russian folklore, by Tolstoy, originally. Man stranded in strange area, modern and scientific, doesn’t believe the odd events going on around him can be caused by these supernatural means. But of course,they are, to cut a long story short. And there’s a nice twist at the end. It’s wonderfully Italian, wonderfully nonsensical, expectedly misogynistic and beautifully shot. I was uncaring about all the characters and not minding this [odd in itself],therefore left blank and objective enough to enjoy the preposterous story. Little known, odd and quite good.)
(A proper old, weird one…I thought it was a giallo but it’s a ghosty/vampiric/zombieish story based on Russian folklore, by Tolstoy, originally. Man stranded in strange area, modern and scientific, doesn’t believe the odd events going on around him can be caused by these supernatural means. But of course,they are, to cut a long story short. And there’s a nice twist at the end. It’s wonderfully Italian, wonderfully nonsensical, expectedly misogynistic and beautifully shot. I was uncaring about all the characters and not minding this [odd in itself],therefore left blank and objective enough to enjoy the preposterous story. Little known, odd and quite good.)
Hillside Strangler (2007)
(At first watch this was wonderfully retro in look and style. And Nicholas Turturro and C. Thomas Howell were almost cutouts of loser woman hating idiots who blamed everyone but themselves for their loser lives…but at some point I got really disturbed by this, by their psychology. I kept wondering WHY they hated women so much. I could see fear, I could see wanting and contempt all mushed up together. I could see a feeling of the sub humanity of women to them. Howell’s Bianchi was so much more than a cutout after a while, he really started to scare me: that compulsive liar, the ease of his tales, the cut-off between wanting to do something and actually doing it. The way he had a girlfriend and kept wanting to have a baby with her when he was completely incapable of holding a job or even the trappings of a ‘normal’ life. I recognised many parts of myself in the portrayal [yes, I must be a bit delusional - eeekkkkkk!], just played out differently. I started to wonder how many of us are serial killers and torturers waiting to happen, just channelled elsewhere: loads of us, I think. Struggling to do right things, good things, when their self-esteem leads them down much darker paths. Its just that we are …either too cowardly or in the head, or cautious – or genuinely saved by different channelling, and manage to tell the difference between a fantasy and a reality…Whereas: when Bianchi met his horrible cousin, Turturro’s Buono, they had this fusive effect on each other of setting off the latent killers within. Both in trouble for previous crimes against women, but amplified together to this shocking – and oddly passionless – idea of mutual revenge on women. We were all laughing at them, see…Ohhh. Clever little film – creeped me right out, and made me think. Can’t believe Bianchi actually had work as a counsellor…Hmmmmmm. Oh, and a PERFECT horror synth theme from Danny Saber, that I cannot find ANYWHERE for sale. Its small and just on the button for the period its mimicking.)
(At first watch this was wonderfully retro in look and style. And Nicholas Turturro and C. Thomas Howell were almost cutouts of loser woman hating idiots who blamed everyone but themselves for their loser lives…but at some point I got really disturbed by this, by their psychology. I kept wondering WHY they hated women so much. I could see fear, I could see wanting and contempt all mushed up together. I could see a feeling of the sub humanity of women to them. Howell’s Bianchi was so much more than a cutout after a while, he really started to scare me: that compulsive liar, the ease of his tales, the cut-off between wanting to do something and actually doing it. The way he had a girlfriend and kept wanting to have a baby with her when he was completely incapable of holding a job or even the trappings of a ‘normal’ life. I recognised many parts of myself in the portrayal [yes, I must be a bit delusional - eeekkkkkk!], just played out differently. I started to wonder how many of us are serial killers and torturers waiting to happen, just channelled elsewhere: loads of us, I think. Struggling to do right things, good things, when their self-esteem leads them down much darker paths. Its just that we are …either too cowardly or in the head, or cautious – or genuinely saved by different channelling, and manage to tell the difference between a fantasy and a reality…Whereas: when Bianchi met his horrible cousin, Turturro’s Buono, they had this fusive effect on each other of setting off the latent killers within. Both in trouble for previous crimes against women, but amplified together to this shocking – and oddly passionless – idea of mutual revenge on women. We were all laughing at them, see…Ohhh. Clever little film – creeped me right out, and made me think. Can’t believe Bianchi actually had work as a counsellor…Hmmmmmm. Oh, and a PERFECT horror synth theme from Danny Saber, that I cannot find ANYWHERE for sale. Its small and just on the button for the period its mimicking.)
Kingsman: The Secret Service
(No one mentioned the mad levels of graphic gory cartoon violence when telling me how good this was. Why was that not worth a mention?! The scene in the church alone is quite horrifying, because its relentless and far too long. The film is also highly CGI-ed, and not just the contortionist fight scenes – a lot of the normal bits: Colin Firth I could swear, was hugely adapted. Walking like a much younger man. The scenes with the exploding heads had a Clockwork Orange element to them, something very odd, that I couldn’t place between funny and shocking: such pretty jewel colours. Eggsy very well cast. Quite a transformation.)
(No one mentioned the mad levels of graphic gory cartoon violence when telling me how good this was. Why was that not worth a mention?! The scene in the church alone is quite horrifying, because its relentless and far too long. The film is also highly CGI-ed, and not just the contortionist fight scenes – a lot of the normal bits: Colin Firth I could swear, was hugely adapted. Walking like a much younger man. The scenes with the exploding heads had a Clockwork Orange element to them, something very odd, that I couldn’t place between funny and shocking: such pretty jewel colours. Eggsy very well cast. Quite a transformation.)
Nightcrawler
(Now THIS felt like reality. A total loser, all eyes, is creepy and wonderful and wins in the end, despite amazing brinkmanship. Jake Gyllenhaal, as usual, wows and stuns as a quite realistic and believable Result Of Our Society. Moral without moralising.)
(Now THIS felt like reality. A total loser, all eyes, is creepy and wonderful and wins in the end, despite amazing brinkmanship. Jake Gyllenhaal, as usual, wows and stuns as a quite realistic and believable Result Of Our Society. Moral without moralising.)
SPECTRE
(Enjoyed very much. Oddly soulless. Very very beautiful to look at. The initial Mexican Day of the Dead scenes were beautifully put together. The fight in the helicopter was vintage Bond; as was the return to slightly double-take-y Roger Moore era visual jokes. Blofeld has sibling rivalry issues; but at least he still had a cat. I enjoyed the still-new Q very much too. Sad to not see more of Naomi Harris this time round. I’d watch this again, for all it was stupid, when all’s said and done. I liked the main female in this too – don’t remember seeing her in anything else, but enjoyed her pouty self-containment. And the way Bond resigned [again] at the end. I feel the next one will echo OHMSS…)
(Enjoyed very much. Oddly soulless. Very very beautiful to look at. The initial Mexican Day of the Dead scenes were beautifully put together. The fight in the helicopter was vintage Bond; as was the return to slightly double-take-y Roger Moore era visual jokes. Blofeld has sibling rivalry issues; but at least he still had a cat. I enjoyed the still-new Q very much too. Sad to not see more of Naomi Harris this time round. I’d watch this again, for all it was stupid, when all’s said and done. I liked the main female in this too – don’t remember seeing her in anything else, but enjoyed her pouty self-containment. And the way Bond resigned [again] at the end. I feel the next one will echo OHMSS…)
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