Friday the 2th

Here we go. Jason, hockey mask, and machete killing everyone for... hang on, still not there.

Near Crystal Lake, a group of camp counsellors are getting together for counsellor training, and for some reason Jason decides to come back and kill them all. Even less sex than last time! And Jason's just wearing a sack on his head too.

We start with the Final Girl of the last movie being killed, so that was good that she survived for a great comeback. The Final Girl here shows quite a bit of determination and genius, taking on the role of Jason's mother to keep him at bay.

But why is Jason on a rampage? They aren't at Crystal Lake, and it appears the events of the last movie (released the previous year) was five years ago, to let Jason grow up a bit. But it feels more like "we need a slasher to slash people... off you go!" rather than any real reason. Why tie it into a franchise?

So Jason isn't a punishment yet.

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Kitchen Nightmares

Before he was causing hell in hotels, Gordon Ramsey was suffering Kitchen Nightmares.

Each episode he would visit a different restaurant that was having problems, and then over the course of the week he would encounter one problem after another, until finally on the last day they managed to pull something together to be workable. And then he'd pop back a while later to see if they succeeded (usually) or not (some times).

Basic reality TV format, with the foul mouth chef providing some fun for the viewers as he cusses out various owners. The kitchen usually needed to follow the rule of "smaller menu", as it was typically bloated, so that's a good thing. And the rest of the place might need a whipping to get the staff into order too.

The box set I had was three seasons, and a sort of 'revisit' season/extra disc. The revisit consists of the original episode, with more of a tacked on big about the follow up. Quite disappointing when you are watching them in a row like I was.

Still, there look to be an American version (still with Gordon complaining), so I might see about them some day...

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Soundtracker

Listen to this... and try to hear something without any man made machines around. Soundtracker tries to do just that.

Gordon Hempton is a sound recorder, and has been doing so for a while. What he likes to capture are the sounds of nature, the wind in the fields, the sounds of the birds, that sort of thing. But, more often than not, while he's doing so these days there's a train or an airplane, or something cutting through the soundscape. Eventually, there's a particular sound he wants to capture to encapsulate this, the sound of a bird and a train, together. We follow him as he tries to get this, until the final moment when it all comes together.

There is truth in this documentary, right now as I type this I can hear an airplane in the sky. Just trying to find peace and quiet can be quite an effort. Still... the movie does get heavy handed about hammering home that point at times. And then there's the incidental music. If ever there was a movie in which the natural sound should be playing, this is it.

Interesting, and provoking a few thoughts.

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Minionionions

Oh, finally got around to seeing the movie that stayed in the theatres for AGES.

The minions are in fact a race of creatures that... are minions! They find bosses and work for them. Eventually, three of them strike out to find a new boss, and encounter Scarlet Overkill. However, it doesn't work quite as nicely as they would hope, and they have to survive their new boss more than help her.

This is ninety minutes... and it feels longer. Not so much padded out as just going on and on without anything interesting happening. The characters aren't that interesting either. Gru immediately sold his screen presence, Scarlet's got... nothing. And the minions are just their usual babbling selves, not even slightly funny.

I gather this was an insanely popular movie, but not tickling my tastes.

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A Raunting at the Hectory

Oh, a movie based on Borley Rectory? All right then, bring it on! [Oh, and standard disclaimer: the Rectory was demolished several decades ago, so don't bother the current residents.]

Reverend Lionel Foyster and his wife Marianne are living at the Rectory, when new handyman Frank Pearless turns up. While Marianne finds comfort with Frank, some minor strange things start occuring, and then they find the dead bodies.

This is actually a three hander about a couple and a new man in their life, and it incidentally takes place at the most haunted house in England. The ghost/haunting aspect of it is really on the side line, and the focus of the story is about the relationships. In Borley history, there really were those people, and there was a relationship not that far from what's portrayed here, and there was a few strange incidents, but nothing like this.

I think the writer/director knew of Borley, and put together this play with... actors? using the haunted history as a hook. But definitely not for an actual story. This goes nowhere and does nothing with it. Still, looking at his credits, I've seen other movies of his which are about the same.

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Doctor Who 9.06

What was the point of this episode? There was one interesting character moment, but did we need this whole episode to get to that?

Oh look, it's the return of a character we never thought we would see again... except we all knew we would. And now we have another character that was around during the 20th century to account for. Does she know Torchwood? What about UNIT? Do those places know about her? Did she have a hand in any major events? Is she the Minister of War? (That last one... I doubt it.)

But that's all to come. First we have this quirky adventure. You can tell it's quirky because the house breaking into sequence is nothing but quirk, from the crawling around, to the just missing being spotted, to the music... oh, that quirky music.

Except, as I said, for the one character moment of Ashielda no longer remembering who she was, and the toll it takes on her mind and personality. (Although that never seemed to bother Captain Jack - and does mentioning him mean we get a cameo from John Barrowman? Unlikely as he's tied up in Arrow, but he could have popped over between seasons.) She's gone through hardship and now tries to cover over everything, but just can't quite get there. [And that other medical chip gets wasted pretty easily, and no I don't think we'll see that actor again, unless he's another famous person I don't recognise.]

This episode ends up being more set up than actually settling anything. And now we wait for the inevitable return.

Next Week: It's the sequel to The Time Of The Doctor everyone wanted!

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Snow Crash

Another Neal Stephenson book, this one probably more well known. And it's definitely shorter, so that's better.


Hiro Protagonist and YT get involved with the search and use for a virus, an unusual one which can infect computers and people. It roves through different companies that control the country, and it comes down to a few brief moments to save everything.


So pros: an actual plot this time! Still lots of exposition, but in actual service of a story. Woo! And we get a different world that is fairly well realised, within its own limitation. And, as I said, it is shorter, which is great.


Two big cons however: Raven. He's the bad guy and seem to appear anywhere in the world or in computer space at less than a moments notice, and, of course, is 'super bad ass' so can't be dealt with only survived. A bit too author protected. And the other thing... this featured a lot of cyberspace... and I can't believe any of it. Cyberspace doesn't work like that. Moving around doesn't work like that. And objects don't interact like that. I just couldn't buy any action scene in the cyperspace environment.


Good in some ways, but so very late 80s in others...


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