Week in Review: September 24 - 29

Note - This week was marked by the death of actor Johnny Lewis and his landlord.  I kind of expect this story to stay in the news for a bit, just because of the circumstances.

Birthdays -Just one birthday this week: Gwyneth Paltrow's 40th.  I meant to do more, but didn't get the chance.

Movies - New movie of the week was Trouble with the Curve, which didn't really live up to my expectations.  Likewise with Hysteria, which we also did.  Rounding out the week was the Bond film Moonraker - I know I said last week it was going to be For Your Eyes Only, but I lied.  My favourite film was Trouble with the Curve.

Books - There was no book of the week owing to my spending Monday pretty much entirely without internet.  I'll make it up to you and do double duty next week.

TV - In tribute to Johnny Lewis, TV show of the week was the first season of Sons of Anarchy, which I loved.

Recommendations - Looper, Won't Back Down, and Pitch Perfect are all out this week and I'm looking forward to seeing each and every one of them.  So should you.

Next Week - Next week's new movie will be Looper and the new/returning movie will be my favourite Pixar film, Finding Nemo which is currently out in theatres again.  Bond movies will be For Your Eyes Only (for real this time) and Octopussy.  I'm already expecting to roll my eyes at the latter.  Also, two books tomorrow! The Fault in Our Stars and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  I loved them both.

Requests -Anything you want me to watch or read?  Let me know in the comments.

Sons of Anarchy (Season 1)

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Mark Boone Junior, Kim Coates, Tommy Flanagan, Maggie Siff, Ron Perlman, Ryan Hurst, William Lucking, Theo Rossi, Dayton Callie, Johnny Lewis
Creator: Kurt Sutter 

Genre: Crime, Drama, Action, Comedy
Rating: B

I have to say I was almost instantly hooked on this show.  I was a bit overwhelmed by the many differentdirections that the plot took throughout the course of the season – there are alot of characters and a lot of stuff happens – but I was always able tofollow.  The show could have been simplified, but I think then it would have been something less.  One early criticism of the show says that the early episodes lacked direction, and I can totally see this.  The early episodes are in need of direction,but they figure things out pretty quickly.

The first season of Sons ofAnarchy takes us to Charming, California which is essentially ruled by the motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original, or SAMCRO,and its members and affiliates – notably club president Clay Morrow (Perlman), vice-president Jackson “Jax” Teller (Hunnam), Opie Winston (Hurst), Clay’s wife and Jax’s mother Gemma Teller Morrow (Sagal), Jax’s high school sweetheart Tara Knowles (Siff), and Charming Police Chief Wayne Unser (Callie).  The series begins with the torching of SAMCRO’s gun assembling warehouse by a rival club, the Mayans, and the premature birth of Jax’s son, Abel, by his estranged, meth-addicted wife, Wendy (Drea de Matteo).  With the warehouse gone Clay must find a way to restore the club’s activities – made harder by the fact that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is in Charming with the purpose of investigating and eradicating SAMCRO.  Jax, meanwhile, is forced to juggle the club life and a new family life, made somewhat more difficult by the re-emergence of his high school girlfriend and the love of his life, Tara, a doctor working at the local hospital.  Tara has returned to Charming because she was being stalked by ATF agent and ex-boyfriend, Josh Kohn (Jay Karnes), while living in Chicago.  Opie, meanwhile, is struggling with living a straight life.  His father, Piney (Lucking), is a co-founder of the club, and it’s really the only life Opie knows, but his wife Donna (Sprague Grayden) wants a better future for her family. Rounding out the plot is Jax’s discovery of a book written by his father and club co-founder, John Teller (voiced by Nicholas Guest), shortly before his death, lamenting the way that SAMCRO has strayed from its roots and causing Jax to question the leadership and future of the club.  The whole thing has a nice little Shakespearian theme to it, while being about a motorcycle gang there is a Hamlet undertone to it that becomes more obvious as the series progresses.

 While I do think Sons took a bit to take off it managed to capture me almost instantly. There's no dilly dawling or dicking around; it plunges you into things instantly and you just have to go with it.  I had a moment of "what the hell is going on" at first, then let myself be emerged.  The world is so immense in this show and there's so much detail to it.  I spent half the season just wondering what all the different patches on the crews cuts represented, before googling it  because I couldn't figure it out myself.

The aspect of the show that really saves it from being too complicated in this first season is the amazing abilities of the cast.  There wasn't a single performance here that I didn't fully believe - although I also don't think I understood at least half of what Chibs (Flanagan) was saying.  The performances in general are superb, with no one shining more than the rest and no one bringing the overall cast down.  I have to give credit to Sutter and whoever else did the casting; it's really rare that you find a show that's so nicely balanced.  Usually there's at least that one performance that isn't really as good as the rest or the performance that seems to be carrying the rest.  My favourite performance would be Katey Sagal's Gemma Teller-Morrow, but that's mostly just because over the years she's really perfected the role of white trash bitch.  I'm definitely looking forward to watching more of this show.

Recommendations: September 28

Looper - Oh, my God, I cannot wait to see this movie.  Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe, and Bruce Willis as his future self, this movie is (from the trailers) everything about time travel fiction that I love.

Won't Back Down - People trying to change school systems... we've seen this movie before, but I'm interested in seeing this one.  Director Daniel  Barnz doesn't really have the best reputation, but Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal

Pitch Perfect - This is another one of those movies that appears to be getting a limited release before (hopefully) having a fuller one later.  On the surface, Pitch Perfect sounds kind of like Glee, but it's being directed by Jason Moore, of Avenue Q fame, which makes me think that it's not going to be like Glee at all.

The Avengers - Have you seen the latest instalment in the Marvel Universe film series yet?  If not, check it out on DVD.  The Avengers probably would have been my favourite movie of the summer, had The Dark Knight Rises not also come out this year.

You Only Live Twice -The classic Bond film is being re-released (along with the other Bonds, I'd presume) this year to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the franchise.  Because movie franchises should totally last that long.

New York -The latest epic historical fiction from author Edward Rutherford.  I doubt Rutherford's style is for everyone, but I really enjoy it - rather than chronicling the story of one or a group of individuals he chronicles the stories of a group of families over the history of a place - New York starts in 1664 when New York was still New Amsterdam and continues until 2009, hitting various moments in the city's history.  Definitely worth checking out, especially if you like historical fiction.

Birthday: Gwyneth Paltrow

Today is actress Gwyneth Paltrow's 40th birthday.  I actually thought she was older than that, not because she looks older but because she's been around for so long.

Paltrow is known for many, many roles, from films like Seven and Emma, where she became more well known, to Shallow Hal, Proof, Shakespeare in Love, and of course her reoccurring appearance on Glee where she showed us that she can sing too.  Most recently, however, she's portrayed love interest Pepper Potts in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Avengers, and next year Iron Man 3.  Paltrow is also known for her famous family, which includes film director Bruce Paltrow, fellow actress Blythe Danner, and Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin.

Happy birthday!

Moonraker (1979)

Starring: Roger Moore, Michael Lonsdale, Lois Chiles, Richard Kiel, Bernard Lee

Director: Lewis Gilbert

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: C+

Bond (Moore) is back, this time investigating the disappearance of the space shuttle Moonraker.  His investigation brings causes him to look into Hugo Drax (Lonsdale), the owner of the company that made the shuttle, and Dr. Holly Goodhead (Chiles), an astronaut who is also investigating the disappearance.  Guess who turns out to be the bad guy and who turns out to screw Bond.

I think at this point the Bond movies are beginning to fall into a bit of a tired forumla; they open with something that probably has little to do with the current film (but might tie into the last one) and usually features Bond about to sleep with some woman, credits role, Bond is given a mission, he meets the bad guy who is pretending to not be the bad guy, he meets the woman, he flirts heavily with the woman while defeating the bad guy then screws the woman and all is good.  Honestly, it gets kind of boring after awhile.

Frequent Bond screenwriter Richard Maibaum has said of this movie that "[w]ith Moonraker, we went too far in the outlandish," which means that I'm allowed to critique Moonraker for its outlandish-ness.  I've criticized previous films for their outrageousness and it's been a frequent comment in these reviews that I've found myself saying "are you fucking serious."  While I've been trying to just go with it, in Moonraker I was back at the "are you fucking serious" state as problem after problem piled up.  I did enjoy the ending, I will admit that, but I wasn't really a fan of the journey to get to it.  It was, as Mauibaum put, "too far in the outlandish."  Even with a suspended disbelief, I couldn't really bring myself on board to the whole concept.

A Note: Johnny Lewis

As some of you may have seen in the news this morning as well, actor Johnny Lewis has passed away.

Lewis was not one of the great actors of our day, and his roles were mostly bit parts of the goofball type.  He did, however, begin to rise to prominence following a role in the short-lived sitcom Quintuplets and a role alongside Hilary Duff in Raise Your Voice.  He then had a reoccurring role in the third season of The O.C. and a starring role in Aliens vs. Predators: Requiem, before really coming into what I consider his prime with a more prominent role in the first two seasons of Sons of Anarchy.

I haven't really seen him in anything since his role on Sons and until I heard the news of his death I kind of thought that he had dropped off the map.  While Lewis was never the main focus in any of his roles, he was always an entertaining part of anything he was in.  He will be missed.

The circumstances surrounding Lewis' death are definitely questionable and it's being stated that shortly prior to his death Lewis may have killed his elderly landlord.  I have a tendency to be a bit suspicious of anything I read on TMZ, but from what I understand the body of an eighty-one year old woman was also found at the scene and it is believed that Lewis may have killed her before either falling or jumping to his own death.  I have no clue whether or not he did kill her, but I do hope that she rests in peace as well.  The whole thing just sounds like a horrible and sad story to me.

Trouble with the Curve (2012)

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, Matthew Lillard

Director: Robert Lorenz

Genre: Drama

Rating: B-

I seem to be watching a lot of movies that I'm not overly sold on lately.  They've got great casts and great concepts, but they just seem to fail to fully deliver.  Trouble with the Curve is another such movie.  It's got a stellar cast - even Justin Timberlake has been in some good movies - and the plot was interesting, even if a bit overused.  Somehow, though, it just fell a bit short and even though I enjoyed it overall I found myself a bit disappointed.

Gus Lobel (Eastwood) is a baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves who is facing opposition in his work because of his dislike of technology - his inability to adapt has lead to the higher ups to give him one last chance to prove his worth.  What Gus hasn't told his bosses is that he's been having trouble with his eyes; something that he rather firmly refuses to deal with.  Co-worker and good friend Pete (Goodman) intervenes in Gus' life by voicing his concerns to Gus' lawyer daughter Mickey (Adams).  Once Amy's concern gets up she decides to go to North Carolina where her father's scouting a new prospect - despite the fact that she's been assigned a big case at work in order to prove herself as worthy of being a partner.  Also in North Carolina is new scout Johnny Flanagan (Timberlake) who used to be a pitcher, until his arm blew out and is now hoping to become an announcer.

For the most part, I loved Eastwood and Adams in their roles.  There were a few points when I felt that they overacted a bit and many points when I wanted to yell at one or both of them, but the chemistry between the two of them was beautiful.  I really bought them as a father/daughter duo, and I love how strained their relationship was throughout.  Timberlake was also really good in this role, although a bit one dimensional.  I found I didn't care as much as I was supposed to about his problems and past.  It really wasn't necessary and just felt kind of like it was an attempt to add a bit of melodrama.

What I really didn't buy was Goodman; at least not about half the time.  His performance really felt acted and stale.  He had no chemistry with Eastwood and I didn't buy for a moment that he really cared about Gus - it was just like he was reading lines.  His performance did get better as the movie went on, and I did like the chemistry that he had with Adams, but overall it was stale.  I also wasn't sold by pretty much any of the more minor characters.  Trouble seemed to operate under the idea that good guys are good, bad guys are bad, and if you're not supposed to root for them they need to be assholes.  There are a lot of extra dimensions added to this plot that I think are kind of unnecessary.  Mickey being up for promotion, Gus' boss' being out to get him... It could have been really nicely done if they had simplified things a bit and just stuck to the plot of this older scout who hasn't changed with the times and is forced to reconnect with his daughter who he kind of neglected as a child (for reasons that she doesn't know) and is also going blind... that's enough.  Everything else is just kind of unnecessary filler.  Trouble would have been better off if it had just focused on Mickey and Gus (and sure, the love story with Johnny as well, because a good love story doesn't hurt) and done away with the rest.

Hysteria (2011)

Starring: Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Felicity Jones, Jonathan Pryce, Rupert Everett
Director: Tanya Wexler
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Rating: C+

I'm still a bit undecided about this movie. On the one hand, I love Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal and probably always will. On the other hand... I had high expectations for Hysteria and it failed to deliver.

Hysteria follows Doctor Mortimer Granville (Dancy), a modern thinking doctor living in Victorian London. His attempts to modernize his places of work has had highly negative results - mainly a high job turnover. Following his latest firing Mortimer gets a job at the practice of Dr. Robert Dalrymple (Pryce), who specializes in the women's disorder known as hysteria, which he treats through stimulation of the female sex organ. While working for Dr. Dalrymple Mortimer meets his two daughters; the intelligent and subdued Emily (Jones), who Mortimer strikes up a fancy for, and the passionate, hot-headed Charlotte (Gyllenhaal), who Mortimer (and her father) disapproves of. Then Mortimer begins to get a case of carpal tunnel syndrome, altering everything.

To start, I loved the cast, from the leads Dancy and Gyllenhaal, to the supporting actors. They each had a well defined role that they played rather perfectly. I even have to give props to Gyllenhaal for her accent - while it wasn't a perfect British accent it was far from being one of the worst fake accents in a movie. That being said though, I don't think Dancy or Gyllenhaal really stepped out of their comfort zones here. Both were playing roles that I felt like I've seen them do before and while that's acceptable in some actors, and even expected at times, I do have higher expectations for them. Both are great actors who should be challenging themselves. Hysteria doesn't do this.

The thing that I disliked most about this movie, however, was that it didn't seem to know if it wanted to be a period piece of a romantic comedy - and ended up being too much of the latter. I felt like this could have been a really smart movie, but it just wanted to go for the obvious jokes. Seriously, watching Hugh Dancy masturbate old women is only funny for so long.

Week in Review: September 17 - 22

Birthdays - This week we marked the births of author George R.R. Martin and actor Tom Felton.

Movies - This week we did The Expendables, The Expendables 2, and The Spy Who Loved Me.  I'm still not sure which one was my favourite... although, really not for a good reason.

Books - Book of the week was Diana Gabaldon's epic, multi-genre novel Outlander, from the series of the same name.  I love these books but Outlander is probably my favourite.  I'll be reviewing the rest of the series in weeks to come.

TV - This week we did a double whammy for TV reviews, with both the ninth season of So You Think You Can Dance and the 2011 Christmas special of Downton Abbey.  I was a bit disappointed with SYTCD, although I agreed with the results, and I couldn't help but shake the feeling that it was being set up to be cancelled.  That being said, I definitely loved Downton.

Recommendations - Out this week are two new police action flicks, Dredd 3D and End of Watch, and two new award-buzz movies, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Trouble with the Curve.  I'm looking forward to watching all four.  New to DVD is The Cabin in the Woods and Hysteria, which I've been waiting months to watch.

Next Week -Up next week is Trouble with the Curve and Hysteria.  Bond movies of the week will be For Your Eyes Only.

Requests -What about you guys?  Any books, movies, or TV shows I should check out? Let me know!

A Birthday: Tom Felton

Today is the 25th birthday of actor Tom Felton.

Felton got his start appearing in films like The Borrowers and Anna and the King before going on to being one of the best villains in the movies, Draco Malfoy, in the Harry Potter movies and is one of the few actors to appear in all eight movies.  Judging by the number of movies attached to his name for release in the next two years (assuming that the world does not end in December), he is someone we should definitely keep an eye out for.

Felton is a great actor and, horror movies aside, I look forward to his future work.  Happy birthday!

So You Think You Can Dance (Season 9)

Starring: Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, Cat Deeley

Creator: Nigel Lythgoe and Simon Fuller

Genre: Reality, Dance, Competition

Rating: C

I was rather disappointed by this season of So You Think You Can Dance.  I haven't been a fan of the show for long - this is only the third season that I've watched as it airs - but I've always previously enjoyed it.  I had my favourites in season 7 (the first season I watched), and loved the dances in season 8 even if I knew who was going to win for a long time.  This time round... the judging and eliminations in general seemed so at random that I really didn't know who to root for.  It seemed like I would pick new favourites each week only to have them eliminated the next week.

The biggest problem with the season, which related rather nicely to the above critique, is the airing.  Things moved really fast but at the same time really slow; the season seemed to go on forever (especially in the try-out period, which lasted for four weeks because of the elimination of the second weekly episode) and was repeatedly delayed in airing - the Olympics and the Fourth of July both did the show a disservice.  Rather than just have the show go on longer, things were changed by doing double eliminations, to the great disservice to the dancers.

Because of the removal of the results episode the eliminations took place at the end of each episode. I'm not really sure how I feel about this; for one it made the episode feel even more cramped, especially as they also tried to add in performances by various dance companies.  I enjoy the showcase and understand why the show does it, but I felt like this really did a lot to prevent us from getting to know the dancers.  It wasn't until near the end of the season that I really felt like the show began to invest in showcasing the dancer's personalities - which is sad, because it does a lot for helping them get votes.  In years past I've always known the names of everyone that makes it onto the show, this time round I didn't really know everyone until the top 10.

There were some amazing moments in the show and some amazing dancers in it.  Even the ones who weren't as diverse were still amazing at what they did and I really did enjoy watching the dance.  I just rather felt that throughout the whole season it was this poorly guided last hurrah for the series.  Between the way it was treated while it aired and the fact that Fox eliminated the Results show I wouldn't be surprised if this was the last season of So You Think You Can Dance.  Which is sad, it'll be a part of my summer TV that I'll miss.  I won't, however, miss Nigel Lythgoe being a creepy perv when judging the young, attractive dancers.

Downton Abbey (2011 Christmas Special)

Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Siobhan Finneran, Joanne Froggatt, Thomas Howes, Rob James-Collier, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Penelope Wilton, Amy Nuttall

Creator: Julian Fellowes

Genre: Period Drama

Rating: A+

The problems that I had with the second season of Downton Abbey are largely resolved by the single-episode Christmas Special.  Taking place between Christmas 1919 and early 1920, the episode really slows things down and properly handles the many plots that it has going on – and most importantly provides a lot of resolution to things.  By the end of the episode things are really starting to feel like they are where they should be and there’s hope for the people of Downton.

There are two main plot points to this episode, although there are also a handful of smaller ones that get brought up. The biggies are the relationship between the Lady Mary (Dockery) and Matthew (Stevens), who clearly are in love, despite her apparent commitment to her fiancé, the giant jackass Sir Richard Carsile (Ian Glen); and the trial of Bates (Coyle), who has been accused of murdering his late wife. Beyond this, you can see that everyone’s still trying to redetermine themselves as they settle into life-post war: Thomas (Barrow) tries to avoid leaving Downton, while Carson (Carter) tries to get rid of him; the Dowager Countess (Smith) questions her daughter’s new beau; Lady Edith (Carmichael) tries to resume her relationship with Sir Anthony Strallan (Robert Bathurst); Mrs. Hughes (Logan) and O’Brien (Finneran) are called to testify against Bates; Daisy (McShera) begins to feel abused; and Sybil (who doesn’t appear) is pregnant.

 I loved how concise the Christmas Special was.  It had a lot of elements of an overall season while also having elements of a single episode, especially the fact that it was just a single episode.  Things moved a lot faster than they did in season one, but without the complexity and brevity that many of the plots were treated with in season two - and, at the same time a lot of things were rather nicely brought full circle and if not always completely wrapped up then at least progressed greatly.  I love how they dealt with Mary and Matthew's relationship, the growth of Daisy, the revitalization of Edith, and the new hope that Sybil's pregnancy brings.  The only plot that I didn't really think was brought to a good point by the end of this episode was Bates', but I suspect that they're going to be playing with this for a while yet.  I did like how the whole plot with Bates brought things outside of just Downton and I kind of hope that in season three they use this new away-from Downton approach to show Sybil and Tom in Ireland; I think there's only so much they can justify having the pair return to Downton.

I didn't really care for the whole Thomas plot line, and I'm not really sure where they're planning on going with it.  A lot of what they did with him felt like it was just an attempt to keep him on.  They seem like they're running out of ideas but aren't yet ready to have Thomas leave the picture.  This happens a lot in TV and tends to bring shows down, I don't want to see that happen to Downton.  Despite that, though, I have really strong hopes for the future of this show.

Recommendations: September 21

Dredd 3D - The second attempt to bring the Judge Dredd comics to life, this time in 3D!  I've never read the comics themselves, but I always enjoyed the original Judge Dredd as a kid and all the trailers that I've seen of this one suggest that it'll be fun.  Maybe not the best movie, but I'm expecting it to be a good, mindless action flick.

End of Watch - Okay, so we've all seen this movie before - the two cops who end up getting marked for dead and then have to defy the odds in order to survive.  But this time we've got Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña.  This might end up being another mindless action flick, but hey, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña!

Trouble with the Curve - A new baseball movie starring Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams as a father/daughter duo, struggling to overcome various issues.  This movie is getting Oscar buzz and I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower -  Based on the book of the same name Perks follows wallflower Charlie (Logan Lerman) is starting his first year of high school without any friends.  Fortunately for him him he's taken under the wings of two seniors, Patrick (Ezra Miller) and Sam (Emma Watson).  While none of Lerman's films to date have been absolutely amazing they haven't been bad, and both Miller and Watson are absolutely awesome.  Even if I knew nothing about this movie before I would want to see it based on their performances in the trailer.

The Cabin in the Woods - I've been waiting eagerly for this movie to come out on DVD pretty much since I saw it in theatres. This movie really blew my mind and if you haven't seen it yet you should check it out.  If you have seen it, you should probably see it again.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - I really don't know much about this film but it keeps on popping up and the cast - Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson - is enough to make me want to see it.  It should be for you as well.

Ed Wood - The classic Tim Burton/Johnny Depp pair up (that isn't Edward Scissorhands), Ed Wood is about the legendary cult film director Ed Wood, the film follows a period of the director's life when he was making his most famous movies.  The thing that I love about this film is that it kind of envokes the feel of an Ed Wood movie, without being one (or as bad as one, for that matter).

Hysteria - I've been wanting to see this movie since I first heard about it, but due to the nature of its release I was unable to see it in theatres.  Starring Maggie Gyyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy it's based on the story of how the first vibrator was invented.  It's a period piece, so it's not for everyone, but hey, it's about vibrators, so maybe it is.

Stardust - By Neil Gaiman, this book is definitely not as good as the movie that it inspired.  That being said, though, this book is still pretty damn good.  I've always been a fan of Gaiman, and if you haven't checked him out before you should now.

A Birthday: George R.R. Martin

It's a bit late in the day, but today is still George R.R. Martin's birthday.

As I write his name I feel like the addition of "Sir" or something similar should be required, perhaps "Ser", but his being an American such honourifics are not applicable.

For those of you unfamiliar with Martin's work, he's the bestselling author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series and the related Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas.  He's also the editor of a number of science-fiction and fantasy anthologies and the Wild Card series, as well as a writer and producer of the television shows Beauty and the Beast (1988-89) and A Game of Thrones (2011-present), which is in fact based on the ASoIaF novels.

This is a man who has done a great deal for fantasy in the last few decades, and hopefully will continue to do more.  Happy birthday, Mr. Martin.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Starring: Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curd Jürgens, Richard Kiel, Geoffrey Keen, Walter Gotell, Bernard Lee

Director: Lewis Gilbert

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: B

Where to start... Okay, well, credit where credit is due.  Once I stopped taking the series seriously I did in fact start enjoying them more.  I somehow doubt that I'll ever be a big Bond fan, but I'm not hating the movies so that's something.  I'm also really starting to enjoy Moore's Bond, possibly even more than Connery's (as I type this I can practically hear my brother shaking his head with disappointment).

Bond (Moore) is at it again, this time pairing up with his Soviet, female counterpart. When British and Soviet subs start mysteriously disappearing Bond is summoned by MI6 and Major Anya Amasova (Bach) is summoned by the KGB in order to investigate.   The two team up and eventually discover that scientist and anarchist Karl Stromberg (Jürgens) is behind it all.  It's up to the two of them to stop Stromberg and have hot sexy times, although not necessarily at the same time.

So, as it has become impossible for me to broach a Bond movie without mentioning the sexy times, let's start with a discussion of the Major, also known as Triple X.  This was probably the first Bond film where I felt that the relationship with the woman was neither demeaning to her nor out of context with the series.  So far, Barbara Bach just might be my favourite Bond girl.  She was a strong, independent woman who just happened to screw around with Bond during their mission.  He didn't demean her by doing things like hide her in a closet while he sleeps with another woman, and she also serves as more than just a damsel in distress for Bond to save.  In this movie I really felt like Bond found someone equal to him.

What else... the action was fun, although I would appreciate it if Bond movies stopped having underwater lairs.  These movies tend to be a bit repetitive, or at least the villains are.  Either they're really ridiculous and have me going "are you fucking serious" or it's the same thing over and over.  Plus the whole concept of an underwater lair makes for lame action sequences.  It's a pain to determine who's fighting who and the like when everyone's underwater wearing scuba gear.  Just saying.  While we were saved from this in Spy it wasn't from lack of trying.

The Expendables 2 (2012)

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Stratham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Chuck Norris, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Director: Simon West

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: C

Okay, so I actually really enjoyed this movie.  Like it's predecessor, The Expendables 2 is lame and ridiculous in its plot, but it's also fun and action packed.  I saw this with my little brother and he made the comment that he thought some of the action sequences were extended just so that the movie could be a full length film; I on the other hand thought that the dramatic sequences were extended for the same purpose.

Barney Ross (Stallone) and his crew are back, this time joined by new comer Billy (Hemsworth).  Ross is approached by Church (Willis), who gives him a mission that he's forced to accept - following the events in The Expendables Ross owes Church.  The Expendables travel to Albania to retrieve an item from a safe in a downed plane; they're joined by technical expert Maggie Chan (Yu Nan).  Things go to this from there, and the Expendables come across arms dealer Jean Vilain (Van Damme).

Once again, this movie is lame and ridiculous.  It's fun though, and the action sequences were great.  I actually really liked that I saw it with my brother; periodically we'd turn to each other and make a comment, often along the lines of "do you think x is going to happen, or y?"  The Expendables 2 is horribly predictable, pulling out all the classics of an action movie, but it succeeds in remaining fun while it does so.  My favourite part of the film was the one liners and the fact that they made fun of themselves.  There was probably at least one part of the movie - a stunt, a line, whatever - referencing some other movie that the major players were in.

My one problem with the film is that Liam Hemswroth doesn't really fit into this movie, and sadly not in a good way.  His character clashes with the overall tone of the film and, to be honest, I really didn't buy him as an ex-soldier turned mercenary.  I understood the significance of the character, I just didn't really feel Hemsworth in the role.  He didn't fit in.

The Expendables (2010)

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Stratham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: C

This was not a good movie.  The plot was lame, the acting was mediocre, the…. Really, the everything was not good.  The thing that I liked about The Expendables, however, is that it is exactly what it presents itself as.  This movie is little more than a mindless action flick filled with a bunch of old action stars.  It’s not trying to be anything more than that, it’s not pretending to be anything more than that.  Consequently, while the movie itself is definitely bad it’s also fun.

Because the plot technically is important, I’ll summarize the premise.  The Expendables are a group of bikers and elite mercenaries, lead by Barney Ross (Stallone), and composed of a ragtag group of fighters, many of whom look like they’re dangerously close to overdosing on steroids.      Ross is given a contract to overthrow a dictator in an island in the Gulf of Mexico, where things all go to shit.

This movie is unbelievably predictable and ridiculous and tried and tested and true.  And it’s awesome because despite all that it’s fun.  It’s totally the movie that you watch after a long day when you just want to see stuff blow up.  To be fair, though, that’s what most of Stallone’s movies are like, along with most of the rest of the cast.  This isn’t good, but it’s fun.

 

A Late Review

I wasn't able I get my review written for today, so you'll all have to wait until tomorrow. Don't worry, I'll still be doing both Expendables movies.

Outlander

Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Historical, Romance, Sci-Fi
Rating: A

The first in Diana Gabaldon’s series of the same name, Outlander tells the story of accidental time traveller Claire Randall and her journey through the eighteenth century Scottish Highlands on the eve of the 1745 Jacobite Rising.  I’ve read this book a number of times now, along with its successors, and I think this is easily the best in the series – although the sequels aren’t shabby either.

At the start of the novel former army nurse Claire Randall and her husband, Frank, are in Inverness, Scotland on a vacation to rekindle their marriage – no, not rekindle.  More renew; while there’s no doubt of the love between the two, they’ve been separated for a long time now as the result of the War, it being 1945 at the start of the book.  Then life drastically changes for Claire; during an excursion around the standing stones at Craigh na Dun Claire finds herself transported back 203 years in time, to 1742.  Claire quickly becomes captured by Clan MacKenzie and taken to Castle Leoch, and somewhat enchanted by the mysterious Jamie McTavish.  Overhanging all of this is Claire’s desire to return to her own time, and her husband, as well as the looming threat of war – which Claire, graced with the knowledge of the future, knows will be disastrous for Scotland.

I think this might be one of the few novels written in first person that I’ve ever really loved.  There’s something about Claire that makes it clear that even though she’s telling the story – and as such it’s biased by her perception of things – it’s clear that she’s still a flawed person.  A good number of the things that befall her and Jamie are caused by Claire’s own shortcomings and her failure to really fit into the world around her.  I love that Gabaldon took a woman who isn’t entirely modern and sent her back; I think it does a lot to help her fit into the eighteenth century while also making her accessibly to a contemporary reader.  She doesn’t spend her time fussing over things like central heating or running water – although she does lament the standard of personal hygiene common at the time – but she does have ideals that don’t exactly coincide with the way that the typical eighteenth century woman was expected to behave.  This becomes more prominent by Drums of Autumn, by which point it’s really clear that Claire’s place isn’t necessarily eighteenth or twentieth century, it’s at Jamie’s side.

As I believe I’ve said of other works of Gabaldon’s, Outlander is very anecdotal.  However, where it doesn’t seem to work as well in some of her short stories, it works really well in Outlander.  The overall issue of the plot is clear very early on – the woman from the twentieth century transported back to the eighteenth, on the eve of what is to be (for Scotland) a devastating war – and the incidents that happen following it do a lot to firmly establish the characters, the setting, and the time.  There is a bit of repetition to the story, particularly when it comes to Black Jack Randall, but it’s easy to forgive, especially at this early point in the series.  There’s also so much detail that it’s easy to get lost a bit at times, but for the most part it’s just enough to really emmurse yourself in the story.

My favourite part, though, is the dialects and accents. Gabaldon really has a nack for writing accents and dialects in a manner that’s easy to read. Her characters talk like people really talk, using words that firmly establish who they are and where they’re from. This is seen even more later on in the series, as more ethnicities are introduced, but for now it’s really easy to see that Claire Randall talks like an Englishwoman – not an American – and a good chunk of the rest of the characters talk like Scots.