(no subject)
Merlin 2x12, The Fires Of Idirsholas
Well, that was a great episode. I loved it, and while I’m conflicted about what’s happening and what’s going to happen with Morgana, I still think how things went was really interesting and intense. I’m all a flutter. I don’t know what I even feel about the Morgana situation. I completely get both sides - her own Uther hating, isolated feelings and Merlin’s need to save Camelot and its people above all. I think what really gets me is that there was so much misunderstanding and misinformation, which of course, adds to the heartbreaking nature of the episode. Morgana really was totally innocent of anything to do with the Camelot sickness and the evil knights - all she did really in this episode was confirm her hatred of Uther to Morgause.
I don’t get why Morgause would make Morgana basically the plague carrier in this, if she loved her so much, which clearly she does, why put her in such a precarious situation? I get that Morgana agreed to help to bring down Uther, but still! I hate that Merlin was for all intents and purposes tricked into the tough decision as he was - by Morgause’s plotting and placing of Morgana into the fray, by the Dragon not giving Merlin the full story and only telling him that Morgana was the vessel but not the caster of the spell, and by Morgana herself not revealing more of her feelings.
While I totally get what Merlin did, I am really surprised and shocked at the same time. He really had the balls to do it - he actually poisoned Morgana. I was just aghast. I think the moment where he left her to be slaughtered by the knight really disturbed me though even more than his willingly poisoning her, for some reason. I’m assuming that Morgause will resurrect Morgana and really induct her into the magical/druid/EVIL way of life now. Morgana is off the grid peoples. I’m glad that the Camelot folks still think she was kidnapped though, because I don’t want Morgana to go dark side. I don’t mind her conflicted feelings and such, but I want her to be in the show every week and not as the villain.
Morgana knows Merlin poisoned her and unless Morgause or someone explains why he did this, she will believe he was smply truing to kill her and most likely, Morgause won’t tell the whole truth and will let that turn her against Merlin as well, furthering her estrangement. I really wish in that moment when the knight was about to kill Morgana that Merlin had been pushed to use him magic. I really have felt for a while that Morgana and Merlin would both be so much happier and safer if they shared their fears and secrets about their magic - Morgana especially.
Colin really got Merlin’s heartbreak / pain down to a tee though. I really liked that scene where he grabs Morgana and holds her as she dies, even despite her own struggles and her realisation that he poisoned her. It was such a great scene. His conflicted state of mind after he realised she was the vessel was really interesting. I never knew what was going to happen because he so skilfully showed that even Merlin didn’t know what he was going to do. Acting like this and plots like this really push this show above the kind of kids/family show it’s purported to be. Doctor Who is often marketed like that too, and it too has risen above that, and I think Merlin is in that stratosphere now. Robin Hood never really did get to that level. I like that show, but it didn’t get to these unbelievable levels of intensity and seriousness, and the acting, though good, never stirred me as much as Colin’s did in this episode.
Was sick all last week with epic plague. Long story short - do not hug and/or kiss squishy children within your vicinity. They are plague-carriers like RATS. Basically I caught a stomach bug from my sisters. Urgh. Threw up my effing spleen. Upside is I have basically no appetite even now and I’m living on like one meal a day, because my stomach feels like it’ll explode if I eat more than that. Well that’s an upside to me anyway considering I think I was packing on the winter blubber while doing all these end of term essays. Sitting in front of computer + pulling all nighters + gratefully eating anything you get the time to = fatness, tiredness and non-energy-having-ness. When this last essay is done I am back to pounding that damn pavement and living on my exercise bike. I am not even aware that it is like a week and a half til Xmas. I have totally just been living in college land. Usually I jump on the Xmas bandwagon in like NOVEMBER.
OMG - Being Human series 2 promo poster! It's so shiny. Lots of clues in all the props and background and stuff.
Something nice about my sick week was that I got to lie in a prone state watching Skeet Ulrich stuff, which was AWESOME, because he’s hot and so intense and very into the method acting, and he is my new gentleman du jour.
So my no doubt excellently coherent opinions of his roles in -
Nobody’s Baby
Alkdfjdkslfdfkjldfjd!!!!
Watch this film now! This is THE perfect film to lift your spirits - it is laugh-your-ass-off funny and so utterly heart-warming and adorable!!! Basically Skeet is a petty criminal no-hoper named Billy who was brought up by an older guy he met in an orphanage, Buford, played by an unrecognisable Gary Oldman, who is SO funny, as this though and though redneck - Southern accent, big thick 70’s glasses, the whole 9 yards. I’ve seen a lot of Oldman stuff and I did not even know it was him for ages! He just IS this character! I say the same for Skeet. Having seen a lot of his work recently, yet again, he just inhabits the character. Billy is a dumbass, and Skeet makes no qualms about this, and yet he layers Billy in such a way that he’s sympathetic and likeable.
Basically Billy and Buford are arrested for the umpteenth time (for breaking into a post office and READING OTHER PEOPLE’S MAIL OF ALL THINGS, what idiots). However, they escape from jail and are split up. Billy, along his lonely and destitute way, happens to save a baby, the lone survivor of a car accident. He ends up living in a trailer park with a collection of other misfits and strange folks and is reunited with Buford. Billy has been told he’s going nowhere, and until now, I don’t think he much cared about that, but once he finds this little girl, he holds on and does not want to let her go. He’s completely and utterly found his meaning in life. The rest of the film shows his efforts to keep her, many ridiculous escapades and capers ensue, many of them highly illegal. I just loved watching Billy try so hard to keep the baby, and his growing love for her. I know men with babies is a very easy way to pull the heartstrings in many women (okay me included) but it’s not played in an overly schmaltzy or manipulative way. Billy just grows to be a father really naturally and he has nothing to give except his love. There are no other ulterior motives and he completely loses the idiot/dumb ass streak he had in the beginning. I was just on tenterhooks the whole film waiting to see whether his efforts would pay off and he’d get to keep this child.
But OMG, funny, funny, funny. Reminds me off films like Jack and Sarah - that Richard E. Grant film where he’s the guy whose wife dies in child birth and he’s left to bring up the baby by himself? It’s even funnier than that, but many of the sentiments are similar.
The Newton Boys
A caper movie!!! This is just awesome. It is based on the true story of 4 bank robbing brothers in the 1920’s who hold the record for most successful bank robberies ever, and without killing a single person. I hate Matthew McConaughey. He has actual talent and yet all he’s done for the last 10 years is oil up his chest and jog for the paparazzi and star in crap rom coms, but he is really likeable in this. He plays Willis Newton, the brother who first gets into bank robbing and brings the other 3 in. Ethan Hawke is Jess, who is such a snake charmer and has so many hilarious lines. He loves the business and just gets such a kick out of everything it seems. Skeet is the baby brother Joe, who is all naive and shy, but when he’s pushed to it, he’ll seriously cut a bitch when his brothers are threatened. Basically the bank robberies are played like capers, with all this jaunty flapper music and montages and such. Vincent D’Onofrio is the oldest brother Dock, who went he gets out of the state pen, actually doesn’t recognise Skeet / Joe and there is a hilarious scene where they all reunite and the brothers just all pounce on one another like little kids. The best aspect of the film is the chemistry between the 4 leads. They act like real brothers and their banter and jokes are so natural and real. I thought this was just such an enjoyable, lighthearted and funny film. And look, pretty young guys dressed all sharp and dapper in 1920’s suits is a big plus.
Miracles (TV show)
Holy crap, this show is astounding. All right so I’m watching all this stuff because I’m a Skeet fangirl, but almost everything of his I have seen has been superlative, excellent in its own right. Oh, my Skeet bring such depth, intensity and emotion to every damn role and none more so than Paul Callan in Miracles. Basically, Paul is a miracles investigator for the Catholic Church but his faith is being tested by the fact that so few of the cases he’s looked into have been authentic. He takes a sabbatical to find himself and is drawn into the case of a kid called Tommy who can heal people. Paul dreamed of Tommy before he met him and Tommy dreamed of Paul too - they are connected. Paul begins to dream of other things too - graffiti saying God is coming, a train, and Tommy all appear.
This all culminates in the end of 1x01 when Paul’s car is hit by a train. As he dies of massive injuries, his blood, having dripped on shattered glass, of its own will forms the words God is now here. Right after, Tommy heals Paul, dying himself in the process. Paul is later contacted by a Scottish man, Alva Keel, who runs an organisation who looks into supernatural events like this and is every interested in Paul, because he saw the words his blood formed. Usually, when people see this happen, the words say God is nowhere, but because Paul’s said God is now here, he is different, special. The rest of the series is Paul and Alva plus their colleague Evelyn investigating other awesome cases and continuing Paul’s weird dreams, his connection even in death to Tommy, and his future as some sort of saviour due to the way he saw those words in his blood.
Be still my heart, Skeet plays such a down to earth, heart on his sleeve kind of guy in this. Paul is just so affected by the people they encounter, especially children, and he really connects to the human element in each case even through all the supernatural happenings. It was so great seeing him in another long running role aside from Jake in Jericho. As much as I love Jake, he’s so action oriented and he rarely stops to emote or express his feelings, that’s a trait in his character, whereas Paul really does feel deeply and he shows it, which I like.
Add this to another in a long line of shows cancelled too soon. But I’m glad of the 13 episodes it has at least.
Well, that was a great episode. I loved it, and while I’m conflicted about what’s happening and what’s going to happen with Morgana, I still think how things went was really interesting and intense. I’m all a flutter. I don’t know what I even feel about the Morgana situation. I completely get both sides - her own Uther hating, isolated feelings and Merlin’s need to save Camelot and its people above all. I think what really gets me is that there was so much misunderstanding and misinformation, which of course, adds to the heartbreaking nature of the episode. Morgana really was totally innocent of anything to do with the Camelot sickness and the evil knights - all she did really in this episode was confirm her hatred of Uther to Morgause.
I don’t get why Morgause would make Morgana basically the plague carrier in this, if she loved her so much, which clearly she does, why put her in such a precarious situation? I get that Morgana agreed to help to bring down Uther, but still! I hate that Merlin was for all intents and purposes tricked into the tough decision as he was - by Morgause’s plotting and placing of Morgana into the fray, by the Dragon not giving Merlin the full story and only telling him that Morgana was the vessel but not the caster of the spell, and by Morgana herself not revealing more of her feelings.
While I totally get what Merlin did, I am really surprised and shocked at the same time. He really had the balls to do it - he actually poisoned Morgana. I was just aghast. I think the moment where he left her to be slaughtered by the knight really disturbed me though even more than his willingly poisoning her, for some reason. I’m assuming that Morgause will resurrect Morgana and really induct her into the magical/druid/EVIL way of life now. Morgana is off the grid peoples. I’m glad that the Camelot folks still think she was kidnapped though, because I don’t want Morgana to go dark side. I don’t mind her conflicted feelings and such, but I want her to be in the show every week and not as the villain.
Morgana knows Merlin poisoned her and unless Morgause or someone explains why he did this, she will believe he was smply truing to kill her and most likely, Morgause won’t tell the whole truth and will let that turn her against Merlin as well, furthering her estrangement. I really wish in that moment when the knight was about to kill Morgana that Merlin had been pushed to use him magic. I really have felt for a while that Morgana and Merlin would both be so much happier and safer if they shared their fears and secrets about their magic - Morgana especially.
Colin really got Merlin’s heartbreak / pain down to a tee though. I really liked that scene where he grabs Morgana and holds her as she dies, even despite her own struggles and her realisation that he poisoned her. It was such a great scene. His conflicted state of mind after he realised she was the vessel was really interesting. I never knew what was going to happen because he so skilfully showed that even Merlin didn’t know what he was going to do. Acting like this and plots like this really push this show above the kind of kids/family show it’s purported to be. Doctor Who is often marketed like that too, and it too has risen above that, and I think Merlin is in that stratosphere now. Robin Hood never really did get to that level. I like that show, but it didn’t get to these unbelievable levels of intensity and seriousness, and the acting, though good, never stirred me as much as Colin’s did in this episode.
Was sick all last week with epic plague. Long story short - do not hug and/or kiss squishy children within your vicinity. They are plague-carriers like RATS. Basically I caught a stomach bug from my sisters. Urgh. Threw up my effing spleen. Upside is I have basically no appetite even now and I’m living on like one meal a day, because my stomach feels like it’ll explode if I eat more than that. Well that’s an upside to me anyway considering I think I was packing on the winter blubber while doing all these end of term essays. Sitting in front of computer + pulling all nighters + gratefully eating anything you get the time to = fatness, tiredness and non-energy-having-ness. When this last essay is done I am back to pounding that damn pavement and living on my exercise bike. I am not even aware that it is like a week and a half til Xmas. I have totally just been living in college land. Usually I jump on the Xmas bandwagon in like NOVEMBER.
OMG - Being Human series 2 promo poster! It's so shiny. Lots of clues in all the props and background and stuff.
Something nice about my sick week was that I got to lie in a prone state watching Skeet Ulrich stuff, which was AWESOME, because he’s hot and so intense and very into the method acting, and he is my new gentleman du jour.
So my no doubt excellently coherent opinions of his roles in -
Nobody’s Baby
Alkdfjdkslfdfkjldfjd!!!!
Watch this film now! This is THE perfect film to lift your spirits - it is laugh-your-ass-off funny and so utterly heart-warming and adorable!!! Basically Skeet is a petty criminal no-hoper named Billy who was brought up by an older guy he met in an orphanage, Buford, played by an unrecognisable Gary Oldman, who is SO funny, as this though and though redneck - Southern accent, big thick 70’s glasses, the whole 9 yards. I’ve seen a lot of Oldman stuff and I did not even know it was him for ages! He just IS this character! I say the same for Skeet. Having seen a lot of his work recently, yet again, he just inhabits the character. Billy is a dumbass, and Skeet makes no qualms about this, and yet he layers Billy in such a way that he’s sympathetic and likeable.
Basically Billy and Buford are arrested for the umpteenth time (for breaking into a post office and READING OTHER PEOPLE’S MAIL OF ALL THINGS, what idiots). However, they escape from jail and are split up. Billy, along his lonely and destitute way, happens to save a baby, the lone survivor of a car accident. He ends up living in a trailer park with a collection of other misfits and strange folks and is reunited with Buford. Billy has been told he’s going nowhere, and until now, I don’t think he much cared about that, but once he finds this little girl, he holds on and does not want to let her go. He’s completely and utterly found his meaning in life. The rest of the film shows his efforts to keep her, many ridiculous escapades and capers ensue, many of them highly illegal. I just loved watching Billy try so hard to keep the baby, and his growing love for her. I know men with babies is a very easy way to pull the heartstrings in many women (okay me included) but it’s not played in an overly schmaltzy or manipulative way. Billy just grows to be a father really naturally and he has nothing to give except his love. There are no other ulterior motives and he completely loses the idiot/dumb ass streak he had in the beginning. I was just on tenterhooks the whole film waiting to see whether his efforts would pay off and he’d get to keep this child.
But OMG, funny, funny, funny. Reminds me off films like Jack and Sarah - that Richard E. Grant film where he’s the guy whose wife dies in child birth and he’s left to bring up the baby by himself? It’s even funnier than that, but many of the sentiments are similar.
The Newton Boys
A caper movie!!! This is just awesome. It is based on the true story of 4 bank robbing brothers in the 1920’s who hold the record for most successful bank robberies ever, and without killing a single person. I hate Matthew McConaughey. He has actual talent and yet all he’s done for the last 10 years is oil up his chest and jog for the paparazzi and star in crap rom coms, but he is really likeable in this. He plays Willis Newton, the brother who first gets into bank robbing and brings the other 3 in. Ethan Hawke is Jess, who is such a snake charmer and has so many hilarious lines. He loves the business and just gets such a kick out of everything it seems. Skeet is the baby brother Joe, who is all naive and shy, but when he’s pushed to it, he’ll seriously cut a bitch when his brothers are threatened. Basically the bank robberies are played like capers, with all this jaunty flapper music and montages and such. Vincent D’Onofrio is the oldest brother Dock, who went he gets out of the state pen, actually doesn’t recognise Skeet / Joe and there is a hilarious scene where they all reunite and the brothers just all pounce on one another like little kids. The best aspect of the film is the chemistry between the 4 leads. They act like real brothers and their banter and jokes are so natural and real. I thought this was just such an enjoyable, lighthearted and funny film. And look, pretty young guys dressed all sharp and dapper in 1920’s suits is a big plus.
Miracles (TV show)
Holy crap, this show is astounding. All right so I’m watching all this stuff because I’m a Skeet fangirl, but almost everything of his I have seen has been superlative, excellent in its own right. Oh, my Skeet bring such depth, intensity and emotion to every damn role and none more so than Paul Callan in Miracles. Basically, Paul is a miracles investigator for the Catholic Church but his faith is being tested by the fact that so few of the cases he’s looked into have been authentic. He takes a sabbatical to find himself and is drawn into the case of a kid called Tommy who can heal people. Paul dreamed of Tommy before he met him and Tommy dreamed of Paul too - they are connected. Paul begins to dream of other things too - graffiti saying God is coming, a train, and Tommy all appear.
This all culminates in the end of 1x01 when Paul’s car is hit by a train. As he dies of massive injuries, his blood, having dripped on shattered glass, of its own will forms the words God is now here. Right after, Tommy heals Paul, dying himself in the process. Paul is later contacted by a Scottish man, Alva Keel, who runs an organisation who looks into supernatural events like this and is every interested in Paul, because he saw the words his blood formed. Usually, when people see this happen, the words say God is nowhere, but because Paul’s said God is now here, he is different, special. The rest of the series is Paul and Alva plus their colleague Evelyn investigating other awesome cases and continuing Paul’s weird dreams, his connection even in death to Tommy, and his future as some sort of saviour due to the way he saw those words in his blood.
Be still my heart, Skeet plays such a down to earth, heart on his sleeve kind of guy in this. Paul is just so affected by the people they encounter, especially children, and he really connects to the human element in each case even through all the supernatural happenings. It was so great seeing him in another long running role aside from Jake in Jericho. As much as I love Jake, he’s so action oriented and he rarely stops to emote or express his feelings, that’s a trait in his character, whereas Paul really does feel deeply and he shows it, which I like.
Add this to another in a long line of shows cancelled too soon. But I’m glad of the 13 episodes it has at least.