Reviews and a trailer.
First off... new Harry Potter trailer (here if you haven't seen it) , gave me shivers; serious shivers. I mean, so did the 6th film trailer, and I was pretty disappointed with that movie, so it could be misguided faith, but I think the final book was sooo good (and they've split it into two films so less stuff is missed out, which was my main problem with 6) , that it would be hard to go wrong with it. And it was a pretty action packed book so they don't exactly need to change things to increase the excitement of the movie...
And onto the reviews; (spoilers in all)
First off; Doctor Who: The Big Bang
I've seen quite a lot of hating, and quite a lot of loving, for this episode. I'm towards the latter end of the spectrum. They managed to make it thrilling and entertaining, without completely breaking people's hearts. I know there's been a bit of annoyance at the uses of time travel... but the entire show is about time travel, I just think people have forgotten that in the RTD era. No-one complained when Moffat used time travel in Blink (well, maybe a few people did, but not many), and it was arguably the best episode of S3.
And I don't think that he actually specifically used Time Travel to save anyone. It was used so speed up the saving of Amy, (for the Doctor, at any rate) but not really anyone else. And the Universe was falling apart at the time, so I'm not exactly surprised he tried to break a few rules to save it. And I loved it when we found out that it was actually a later version of the Doctor who spoke to Amy in te Weeping Angels episodes, not the Doctor from that episode.
I still haven't 100% got my head around Amy bringing back the Doctor, and the memories returning, but I understand it enough to be content with what I know. I will probably get it when I rewatch. But I am overjoyed they're bringing her and Rory back for a second series, especially as the Tardis story arc is continuing as well. I was so glad that Rory remembered everything as well though, I was terrified for a moment that he would completely forget everything he and Amy had been through. And it made me happy that because the Universe had, in effect, reset itself, Rory was now human not some sort of Auton!Rory hybrid. Or at least... I assume he's human.
I loved the Fez scene; and Amy and River teaming up to destroy it was an epic girl-power moment. River is growing on me, slowly. She seems to be getting slightly less full of herself every episode, but that may just be her getting younger. From what I remember her saying to the Doctor, in her next episode she's going to be even younger, I do hope that soon they have one where she's older again, because at the moment it is just her getting younger every episode.
And as for finding out who she really is... I'm very excited! I'm sure Moffat has something better than "the wife who killed him" up his sleeve. I hope so, anyway.
Anywho... I did have an issue with this episode, but I can't for the life of me remember it, I knew it when I started writing, now it has completel escaped me. So generally, very good episode, in my opinion. And very, very good for a finale, because the have a tendancy to disappoint.
And with the Keeley Hawes (it's appreciation, not obsession) stuff I have watched so far...
ShakespeaRe-told: Macbeth.
I have had the misfortune of studying Macbeth three times in my short life, and never once did they show us this version, which was actually quite good.
The plot, taken directly from Wikipedia, is as follows;
Set in a three-star restaurant owned by celebrity chef Duncan Docherty (Vincent Regan), with Joe Macbeth. (James McAvoy) as the sous chef and his wife, Ella (Keeley Hawes), as the Maître d'. Joe and his fellow chef Billy Banquo (Joseph Millson) are annoyed that Duncan takes credit for Joe's work, and that Duncan's son Malcolm (Toby Kebbell) has, in their opinion, no real flair for the business. Then they encounter three supernatural binmen who predict that Macbeth will get ownership of the restaurant, as will Billy's children. Joe and Ella are inspired to hire Eastern European hitmen to kill Duncan, but the binmen subsequently warn that Macbeth should be wary of Peter Macduff (Richard Armitage), the head waiter.
It sounds incredulously cracky, but it was extremely intense. For me, the biggest problem with Macbeth (apart from the fact that it is incredibly depressing) has been that the Lady Macbeth is such an inaccessible character, or has been played as one in every version I've seen. But in this interpretation, she does have an extremely vulnerable side which is exposed quite regularly. And she orders a lot of her pyschotic acts to help Macbeth, rather than aid herself. She is creepy, but wonderfully so.
McAvoy plays Macbeth really well, watching him slowly become more and more twisted is intense, but he does it so well. Armitage... well, no-one in the adaption really gets into their stride for about 20 minutes, but it is really another 40 before Armitage starts to shine, but when he does... he really does. The scene where he finds out about his family is stunningly powerful.
But in general; a slow to get going, but in the end pretty good adaption in my opinion. And Keeley Hawes was really, really, brilliant in it.
(The BBC also adapted "Much Ado About Nothing", "The Taming of the Shrew" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as a part of the ShakespreaRe-told series. I haven't seen MND -which is a shame because it is one of my favourite Shakespeares-, but I saw "Much Ado about Nothing" a couple of years ago, and that was pretty good, and it had Billie Piper in. "The Taming of the Shrew", I saw a couple of months ago, that was... not so good. The "10 Things I Hate About You" version is much better, even if it isn't an official adaption or whatever.)
Tipping the Velvet
So... Erotic Lesbian Dramas aren't really my cup of tea, but it had Keeley, and my parents had said it was extremely good.
I don't really feel like I should comment much on this one, because... well, I just don't have enough life experience to argue with/against anything as... deep and characterising as one's sexuality. I do have two friends who are out of the closet; a bisexual female and gay male... but I've only ever known them as individuals, and the whole time I've known both of them (5 years for the guy, 2 for the girl), they've been very open about their sexuality... what I'm trying to say is, neither of them have ever shared with me the issues they've gone through regarding their sexuality.
However, the acting was superb! Nan really developed well, from a young, smitten girl just realising her true sexuality to a confident, yet lonely lesbian on the streets of London. Keeley was beautiful, and played the part so well. The first part was incedible, seeing how Keeley's character; Kitty, started off as the confident one, but became completely petrified by her and Nan's relationship, whilst Nan grew and became confident in her feelings.
In the second part... well, that was erotic. Watching Nan's expression everytime she had to give a guy a blowjob was entertaining, and Diana was suitably creepy. At the end fo the third part, when Kitty came back, I really liked the use of the Rose at the show, repeated from the first part, to show the direction of the heart of the thrower. You could also extend that metaphor, to show how the fact that Kitty had to throw the Rose to many other girls before Nan, represents how unwilling she is throughout the drama to completely admit her feelings for Nan. *iz preparing for English A Level*. My favourite thing about the final part, however, was getting to see Jealous!Keeley, who is actually my favourite kind of Keeley. Her face... is wonderful. She gets to do it in Mutual Friends (coming tomorrow) and Ashes A LOT.
Also; the costumes were pretty.
Coming tomorrow... Mutual Friends and Death at a Funeral.
Probably. Maybe tomorrow. Who knows?
ETA: C & I got Guyfriend and a few of his friends to watch Mean Girls yesterday. They were absolutely pissing themselves with laughter, and I think they kind of idolise the Principal for having the nerve to stare at Tina Fey's chest when she said her shirt was see through. And to their credit, only one of them stood up at the end and said "well that was crap", the others actually accepted that it is an alright film. I've been desperately trying to persuade Guyfriend to see Sex and the City with me, but he's having none of it, I will try again when I see him on Thursday...
And onto the reviews; (spoilers in all)
First off; Doctor Who: The Big Bang
I've seen quite a lot of hating, and quite a lot of loving, for this episode. I'm towards the latter end of the spectrum. They managed to make it thrilling and entertaining, without completely breaking people's hearts. I know there's been a bit of annoyance at the uses of time travel... but the entire show is about time travel, I just think people have forgotten that in the RTD era. No-one complained when Moffat used time travel in Blink (well, maybe a few people did, but not many), and it was arguably the best episode of S3.
And I don't think that he actually specifically used Time Travel to save anyone. It was used so speed up the saving of Amy, (for the Doctor, at any rate) but not really anyone else. And the Universe was falling apart at the time, so I'm not exactly surprised he tried to break a few rules to save it. And I loved it when we found out that it was actually a later version of the Doctor who spoke to Amy in te Weeping Angels episodes, not the Doctor from that episode.
I still haven't 100% got my head around Amy bringing back the Doctor, and the memories returning, but I understand it enough to be content with what I know. I will probably get it when I rewatch. But I am overjoyed they're bringing her and Rory back for a second series, especially as the Tardis story arc is continuing as well. I was so glad that Rory remembered everything as well though, I was terrified for a moment that he would completely forget everything he and Amy had been through. And it made me happy that because the Universe had, in effect, reset itself, Rory was now human not some sort of Auton!Rory hybrid. Or at least... I assume he's human.
I loved the Fez scene; and Amy and River teaming up to destroy it was an epic girl-power moment. River is growing on me, slowly. She seems to be getting slightly less full of herself every episode, but that may just be her getting younger. From what I remember her saying to the Doctor, in her next episode she's going to be even younger, I do hope that soon they have one where she's older again, because at the moment it is just her getting younger every episode.
And as for finding out who she really is... I'm very excited! I'm sure Moffat has something better than "the wife who killed him" up his sleeve. I hope so, anyway.
Anywho... I did have an issue with this episode, but I can't for the life of me remember it, I knew it when I started writing, now it has completel escaped me. So generally, very good episode, in my opinion. And very, very good for a finale, because the have a tendancy to disappoint.
And with the Keeley Hawes (it's appreciation, not obsession) stuff I have watched so far...
ShakespeaRe-told: Macbeth.
I have had the misfortune of studying Macbeth three times in my short life, and never once did they show us this version, which was actually quite good.
The plot, taken directly from Wikipedia, is as follows;
Set in a three-star restaurant owned by celebrity chef Duncan Docherty (Vincent Regan), with Joe Macbeth. (James McAvoy) as the sous chef and his wife, Ella (Keeley Hawes), as the Maître d'. Joe and his fellow chef Billy Banquo (Joseph Millson) are annoyed that Duncan takes credit for Joe's work, and that Duncan's son Malcolm (Toby Kebbell) has, in their opinion, no real flair for the business. Then they encounter three supernatural binmen who predict that Macbeth will get ownership of the restaurant, as will Billy's children. Joe and Ella are inspired to hire Eastern European hitmen to kill Duncan, but the binmen subsequently warn that Macbeth should be wary of Peter Macduff (Richard Armitage), the head waiter.
It sounds incredulously cracky, but it was extremely intense. For me, the biggest problem with Macbeth (apart from the fact that it is incredibly depressing) has been that the Lady Macbeth is such an inaccessible character, or has been played as one in every version I've seen. But in this interpretation, she does have an extremely vulnerable side which is exposed quite regularly. And she orders a lot of her pyschotic acts to help Macbeth, rather than aid herself. She is creepy, but wonderfully so.
McAvoy plays Macbeth really well, watching him slowly become more and more twisted is intense, but he does it so well. Armitage... well, no-one in the adaption really gets into their stride for about 20 minutes, but it is really another 40 before Armitage starts to shine, but when he does... he really does. The scene where he finds out about his family is stunningly powerful.
But in general; a slow to get going, but in the end pretty good adaption in my opinion. And Keeley Hawes was really, really, brilliant in it.
(The BBC also adapted "Much Ado About Nothing", "The Taming of the Shrew" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as a part of the ShakespreaRe-told series. I haven't seen MND -which is a shame because it is one of my favourite Shakespeares-, but I saw "Much Ado about Nothing" a couple of years ago, and that was pretty good, and it had Billie Piper in. "The Taming of the Shrew", I saw a couple of months ago, that was... not so good. The "10 Things I Hate About You" version is much better, even if it isn't an official adaption or whatever.)
Tipping the Velvet
So... Erotic Lesbian Dramas aren't really my cup of tea, but it had Keeley, and my parents had said it was extremely good.
I don't really feel like I should comment much on this one, because... well, I just don't have enough life experience to argue with/against anything as... deep and characterising as one's sexuality. I do have two friends who are out of the closet; a bisexual female and gay male... but I've only ever known them as individuals, and the whole time I've known both of them (5 years for the guy, 2 for the girl), they've been very open about their sexuality... what I'm trying to say is, neither of them have ever shared with me the issues they've gone through regarding their sexuality.
However, the acting was superb! Nan really developed well, from a young, smitten girl just realising her true sexuality to a confident, yet lonely lesbian on the streets of London. Keeley was beautiful, and played the part so well. The first part was incedible, seeing how Keeley's character; Kitty, started off as the confident one, but became completely petrified by her and Nan's relationship, whilst Nan grew and became confident in her feelings.
In the second part... well, that was erotic. Watching Nan's expression everytime she had to give a guy a blowjob was entertaining, and Diana was suitably creepy. At the end fo the third part, when Kitty came back, I really liked the use of the Rose at the show, repeated from the first part, to show the direction of the heart of the thrower. You could also extend that metaphor, to show how the fact that Kitty had to throw the Rose to many other girls before Nan, represents how unwilling she is throughout the drama to completely admit her feelings for Nan. *iz preparing for English A Level*. My favourite thing about the final part, however, was getting to see Jealous!Keeley, who is actually my favourite kind of Keeley. Her face... is wonderful. She gets to do it in Mutual Friends (coming tomorrow) and Ashes A LOT.
Also; the costumes were pretty.
Coming tomorrow... Mutual Friends and Death at a Funeral.
Probably. Maybe tomorrow. Who knows?
ETA: C & I got Guyfriend and a few of his friends to watch Mean Girls yesterday. They were absolutely pissing themselves with laughter, and I think they kind of idolise the Principal for having the nerve to stare at Tina Fey's chest when she said her shirt was see through. And to their credit, only one of them stood up at the end and said "well that was crap", the others actually accepted that it is an alright film. I've been desperately trying to persuade Guyfriend to see Sex and the City with me, but he's having none of it, I will try again when I see him on Thursday...