Movies of january
1. JAG - Ice Queen & Meltdown
Watching this double-episode that introduced the NCIS team was interesting, but kind of annoying - particularly the way Abby and Ducky acted in court. I'm sorry, but these are specialists working for a criminal investigation agency - you're not making me believe they don't have rutine in appearing before the court. Mind you, I suspect most of my annoyance stems from the inherent differences between lawyer shows and cop shows - basically, in lawyer shows they assume that the cops are wrong and go from there, in cop shows we assume the cops are right, since we watch the investigation. And since I'm used to watching the cop show NCIS, then it makes sense for me to be annoyed at the sheer arrogance these lawyer people display...
2. The Sky Crawlers
While the plot and the universe is quite interesting - the whole slow reveal - then, eh, not my thing. Not really. Ah well...
3. Leverage season 1.
Oh, this is fun. Maybe not huge in all sorts of qualities, and I keep expecting Gina Bellman to turn out to be Jane. But it's fun - like television candy.
4. Being Human season 2.
I'm sorry, but I'm really not liking George - I get that he has emotional issues and there's the whole werewolf thing, but he's still an arsehole. On the other hand, Mitchell's storyline is quite interesting - having to basically take over as leader of the vampires because things are falling apart - that's interesting. Mind you, the whole season the main characters spent far too much time drifting apart, which was sad. Still, looking forward to the next season.
5. Leverage season 2.
Somewhere, in some alternative universe, there's a Sterling tv series, about a clever insurance investigator, and occasionally he has a run-in with a bunch of too clever thieves...
6. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Nice things first: nice effects, very nice sea serpent. Negative things: basically, this movie - it takes different bits from the novel, adds a boring collect-x-number-of-mcguffins-to-save-the-kingdom rpg plot, shakes a bit and presto! Something that feels all wrong. I think whoever's making the movies need to cut back on the roleplaying games (was I the only one who wondered if Narnia was importing minotaurs from Krynn? Also, I could have sworn that was a Warhammer beastman I caught a glimpse of...) Also, I didn't like the Eustace storyline - instead of the arrogant know-it-all he's supposed to be, all I saw was a kid - a kid that nobody even bothered to acknowledge was a kid, let alone that he had no previous experience with a fantasy world, and every time he tried to open a little, he got mocked. Like the gull scene - kid has arrived in magic land with talking animals, assumes all animals talk, says hello to gull, gets laughed at. No wonder he withdraws into himself and is surly. The only person to even try to treat him well is Reepicheep, in his own way... poor kid.
7. World War Three
I wouldn't have thought a movie about the third world war's start would be boring... Also, about the end - if nobody knows what happened after the nukes where launched, who and how and what is this? A mockumentary that undermines its own integrity.
8. Dexter season 4.
Oh Dexter, Dexter, Dexter. Watching you trying to be both a serial killer and a father is quite entertaining - also, you're still the bastard love child of Profit and The Pretender. :-)
9. Going Postal
I liked this a lot more than Hogfather, which is kind of funny, because it's exactly the reverse of the books. Mind you, I suspect GP is simply a better book for television - a lot less special effects needed, for one thing (seriously, these movies need a budget rise, the effects are pretty bad - I mean, look at the golems). Mind you, I loved the steampunk feel of the clacks and the early whispering letters scenes, and Vetinari was perfect. On the other hand, I'm sorry to say that most of the tiny appearances of various Discworld regulars was, well, they were. Angua doesn't look like that, alright? And why shapeshift to arrest a conman in a tavern, anyway? (You know, just the usual bitching from someone who has read the books and has a slightly different movie in her mind than on the screen...)
10. White Collar season 1.
I'll admit this is a perfectly nice crime show, and Neal is adorable and has a very nice hat, but I don't think I'm going to be a fan. Partly because I really don't think most of the plots really take advantage of the whole reformed-art-forger-at-FBI thing, using Neal for undercover work (very logical, use the criminal that the other criminals know works for the FBI to go undercover), but mainly, it's that. Well. Listen, Neal's adorable, alright? He's a puppy and Peter and Elizabeth got him from the pound and he's adorable, wagging his tail and being all sad when Peter is angry with him, and that's fine. Except the inter-character dynamic isn't really my thing. I like equal-and-opposite(or-complimentary) relationships. I might watch the next season, I might not - *shrugs*.
11. Jericho season 2.
I'm sorry this season was so short - the whole plot feels too compressed. I'd have loved to see more of Major Beck, as well as the whole rejoining society storyline, watching the contrast between Jericho and New Bern's situations. I'd have liked to see Beck (who is like some of those characters who get sent to crappy commands in military sf and has to get everything working) slowly realize the truth about J&R, rather than basically have it served to him. Instead, too much of the season got focused on spy plots and nukes - and apparently the season 3 comic is more of the same - which is the most boring part of the series. Wouldn't it have made more sense for the mad dash with the nuke to wait until the civil war broke out and Jericho and allies needed help from Texas, anyway?
12. Legion
So, this movie is basically The Terminator, only with angels and it makes less sense - oh, and it's semi-boring. Michael fighting Gabriel was okay, I suppose, though maybe nicer if I had seen it on a larger screen? Maybe. Though definite points for actually using the wings in combat. Also, I rather liked the detail of the loyal angels wearing collars - kind of creepy, really, but nice - and the whole Horn-of-Gabriel anti-annunciation thing was interesting - alas, they guy playing Gabriel was boring...
While watching this, I couldn't help but wonder if any of these miraculously pregnant women in these movies (this one wasn't miraculously pregnant, just pregnant, unless I missed something, but still), if one of those suddenly pregnant virgins - well, I wonder if anybody's written a tale where she gets an abortion and files a rape charge (using DNA from the fetus) against whoever slipped her something Rohypnol-ish (not that the police has any more clue than she does), because how else would she be pregnant in the first place?
Watching this double-episode that introduced the NCIS team was interesting, but kind of annoying - particularly the way Abby and Ducky acted in court. I'm sorry, but these are specialists working for a criminal investigation agency - you're not making me believe they don't have rutine in appearing before the court. Mind you, I suspect most of my annoyance stems from the inherent differences between lawyer shows and cop shows - basically, in lawyer shows they assume that the cops are wrong and go from there, in cop shows we assume the cops are right, since we watch the investigation. And since I'm used to watching the cop show NCIS, then it makes sense for me to be annoyed at the sheer arrogance these lawyer people display...
2. The Sky Crawlers
While the plot and the universe is quite interesting - the whole slow reveal - then, eh, not my thing. Not really. Ah well...
3. Leverage season 1.
Oh, this is fun. Maybe not huge in all sorts of qualities, and I keep expecting Gina Bellman to turn out to be Jane. But it's fun - like television candy.
4. Being Human season 2.
I'm sorry, but I'm really not liking George - I get that he has emotional issues and there's the whole werewolf thing, but he's still an arsehole. On the other hand, Mitchell's storyline is quite interesting - having to basically take over as leader of the vampires because things are falling apart - that's interesting. Mind you, the whole season the main characters spent far too much time drifting apart, which was sad. Still, looking forward to the next season.
5. Leverage season 2.
Somewhere, in some alternative universe, there's a Sterling tv series, about a clever insurance investigator, and occasionally he has a run-in with a bunch of too clever thieves...
6. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Nice things first: nice effects, very nice sea serpent. Negative things: basically, this movie - it takes different bits from the novel, adds a boring collect-x-number-of-mcguffins-to-save-the-kingdom rpg plot, shakes a bit and presto! Something that feels all wrong. I think whoever's making the movies need to cut back on the roleplaying games (was I the only one who wondered if Narnia was importing minotaurs from Krynn? Also, I could have sworn that was a Warhammer beastman I caught a glimpse of...) Also, I didn't like the Eustace storyline - instead of the arrogant know-it-all he's supposed to be, all I saw was a kid - a kid that nobody even bothered to acknowledge was a kid, let alone that he had no previous experience with a fantasy world, and every time he tried to open a little, he got mocked. Like the gull scene - kid has arrived in magic land with talking animals, assumes all animals talk, says hello to gull, gets laughed at. No wonder he withdraws into himself and is surly. The only person to even try to treat him well is Reepicheep, in his own way... poor kid.
7. World War Three
I wouldn't have thought a movie about the third world war's start would be boring... Also, about the end - if nobody knows what happened after the nukes where launched, who and how and what is this? A mockumentary that undermines its own integrity.
8. Dexter season 4.
Oh Dexter, Dexter, Dexter. Watching you trying to be both a serial killer and a father is quite entertaining - also, you're still the bastard love child of Profit and The Pretender. :-)
9. Going Postal
I liked this a lot more than Hogfather, which is kind of funny, because it's exactly the reverse of the books. Mind you, I suspect GP is simply a better book for television - a lot less special effects needed, for one thing (seriously, these movies need a budget rise, the effects are pretty bad - I mean, look at the golems). Mind you, I loved the steampunk feel of the clacks and the early whispering letters scenes, and Vetinari was perfect. On the other hand, I'm sorry to say that most of the tiny appearances of various Discworld regulars was, well, they were. Angua doesn't look like that, alright? And why shapeshift to arrest a conman in a tavern, anyway? (You know, just the usual bitching from someone who has read the books and has a slightly different movie in her mind than on the screen...)
10. White Collar season 1.
I'll admit this is a perfectly nice crime show, and Neal is adorable and has a very nice hat, but I don't think I'm going to be a fan. Partly because I really don't think most of the plots really take advantage of the whole reformed-art-forger-at-FBI thing, using Neal for undercover work (very logical, use the criminal that the other criminals know works for the FBI to go undercover), but mainly, it's that. Well. Listen, Neal's adorable, alright? He's a puppy and Peter and Elizabeth got him from the pound and he's adorable, wagging his tail and being all sad when Peter is angry with him, and that's fine. Except the inter-character dynamic isn't really my thing. I like equal-and-opposite(or-complimentary) relationships. I might watch the next season, I might not - *shrugs*.
11. Jericho season 2.
I'm sorry this season was so short - the whole plot feels too compressed. I'd have loved to see more of Major Beck, as well as the whole rejoining society storyline, watching the contrast between Jericho and New Bern's situations. I'd have liked to see Beck (who is like some of those characters who get sent to crappy commands in military sf and has to get everything working) slowly realize the truth about J&R, rather than basically have it served to him. Instead, too much of the season got focused on spy plots and nukes - and apparently the season 3 comic is more of the same - which is the most boring part of the series. Wouldn't it have made more sense for the mad dash with the nuke to wait until the civil war broke out and Jericho and allies needed help from Texas, anyway?
12. Legion
So, this movie is basically The Terminator, only with angels and it makes less sense - oh, and it's semi-boring. Michael fighting Gabriel was okay, I suppose, though maybe nicer if I had seen it on a larger screen? Maybe. Though definite points for actually using the wings in combat. Also, I rather liked the detail of the loyal angels wearing collars - kind of creepy, really, but nice - and the whole Horn-of-Gabriel anti-annunciation thing was interesting - alas, they guy playing Gabriel was boring...
While watching this, I couldn't help but wonder if any of these miraculously pregnant women in these movies (this one wasn't miraculously pregnant, just pregnant, unless I missed something, but still), if one of those suddenly pregnant virgins - well, I wonder if anybody's written a tale where she gets an abortion and files a rape charge (using DNA from the fetus) against whoever slipped her something Rohypnol-ish (not that the police has any more clue than she does), because how else would she be pregnant in the first place?