Notes on Movie and TV
1. Castle season five. I was worried that the show would go downhill now that Castle and Beckett got together. But aside from a couple hiccups early in the season - which are not even Caskett related, but a result of the Castle writers’ unfortunate and apparently growing fondness for conspiracy plots - it remains as delightful as ever. The sci fi convention episode, you guys! Castle’s comment that he’s fond of some space operas, like “that Joss Whedon show!” Beckett’s fervent defense of letting yourself love terrible things for their good parts!
(Beckett the secret nerd is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.)
I also enjoyed the Christmas episode. I am a total sucker for Christmas episodes and there were lots of sparkly decorations, but I also loved the meditative aspect of the episode, the themes about Christmas traditions and traditions in general and the way they change as life goes on - Ryan and Esposito’s old Christmas traditions shift now that Ryan is a married man (happy for Ryan, sad for Esposito; I really like how they deal with the changes Ryan’s marriage has wrought for their friendship.)
And Beckett got another great speech in this episode, about her Christmas tradition: standing guard at the precinct to watch over other people’s Christmases.
2. I’m almost caught up with New Girl. I would be entirely caught up with New Girl, except that the Fox people have apparently decided not to let the newest episodes online until eight days after they’ve aired. So if you missed an episode, there’s no way to catch up before the next one airs.
WHAT THE HECK, FOX? WHAT KIND OF POLICY IS THIS. DISAPPROVE.
I am growing increasingly certain that if someone drowned Schmidt in a bucket, nothing of value would be lost. I suspect that I am the only person in the world who feels this way about Schmidt.
3. I went to the cinema to see a Russian movie called Garpastum, which is about a couple of soccer-loving brothers in pre-Revolutionary St. Petersburg who are trying to make enough money to build a stadium. I feel like something must have been lost in translation, because I’m not actually sure what the point of this movie was, or if it even had one.
Their stadium must be much less expensive than what I envision when I think “stadium,” because they manage to hustle enough money to buy the field by betting on their street soccer games. Then they send a friend to buy the field, at which point the friend walks into some kind of feud and gets killed for seeing too much or something. Naturally the brothers lose their money, and then the revolution happens somewhere offscreen - we just skip over that part - and they never get their stadium.
Actually, maybe not having a point is the point? The brothers work hard to make these plans come true, but World War I and the Russian Revolution means that it all comes to naught.
Having a theme does not make the movie any less of a slog, but at least now I feel slightly less cheated.
(Beckett the secret nerd is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.)
I also enjoyed the Christmas episode. I am a total sucker for Christmas episodes and there were lots of sparkly decorations, but I also loved the meditative aspect of the episode, the themes about Christmas traditions and traditions in general and the way they change as life goes on - Ryan and Esposito’s old Christmas traditions shift now that Ryan is a married man (happy for Ryan, sad for Esposito; I really like how they deal with the changes Ryan’s marriage has wrought for their friendship.)
And Beckett got another great speech in this episode, about her Christmas tradition: standing guard at the precinct to watch over other people’s Christmases.
2. I’m almost caught up with New Girl. I would be entirely caught up with New Girl, except that the Fox people have apparently decided not to let the newest episodes online until eight days after they’ve aired. So if you missed an episode, there’s no way to catch up before the next one airs.
WHAT THE HECK, FOX? WHAT KIND OF POLICY IS THIS. DISAPPROVE.
I am growing increasingly certain that if someone drowned Schmidt in a bucket, nothing of value would be lost. I suspect that I am the only person in the world who feels this way about Schmidt.
3. I went to the cinema to see a Russian movie called Garpastum, which is about a couple of soccer-loving brothers in pre-Revolutionary St. Petersburg who are trying to make enough money to build a stadium. I feel like something must have been lost in translation, because I’m not actually sure what the point of this movie was, or if it even had one.
Their stadium must be much less expensive than what I envision when I think “stadium,” because they manage to hustle enough money to buy the field by betting on their street soccer games. Then they send a friend to buy the field, at which point the friend walks into some kind of feud and gets killed for seeing too much or something. Naturally the brothers lose their money, and then the revolution happens somewhere offscreen - we just skip over that part - and they never get their stadium.
Actually, maybe not having a point is the point? The brothers work hard to make these plans come true, but World War I and the Russian Revolution means that it all comes to naught.
Having a theme does not make the movie any less of a slog, but at least now I feel slightly less cheated.