Vigil the Huntering

The next day, looking in the paper [Craig, the GM, has actual props! Woo!], there's an item about the attack on the subway, where they say there were four dead bodies. I know of only one, but you know how those reporters are.

(Others go about their jobs. Dr Cottage finds a Nazca pendent, stolen from the museum, in his pocket. Jane and Robert go on the run in some rather effective disguises. JB goes boxing and continues tagging.

Robert and Jane try to find the priest they met, but have no luck. Cottage manages to clean up the image of the South American woman on the train, but has no idea who she is.)

The museum curator, Heinrich Koenig, turns up in my shop, asking about the attack. When I mention the woman, he seems interested in her, and thinks her responsible for taking the item from the museum. As I can't help him further, he leaves his card with me.

(Cottage joins up with Robert and Jane, and convinces them that there is something dangerous going on, and they need to stick together. They ring me and we agree to meet.) While heading out, I spy the kid tagging in an alley, and chase him down, although my sense of justice takes a blow when he bashes into me with a baton. He needs a turn in the army to knock some sense into him. [Ah, the joys of getting PCs together.]

Joining forces, we go to Cottage's and pool our information. Robert proves knowledgeable, and tells us more about the amulet and that Heinrich belongs to Ashwood Abbey, a thoroughly disreputable lot. Cottage gets a phone call from a woman (the woman from the train?) who tells him to meet her at Travesti, a night club. He grabs all of us, and after getting suitable clothing, we head there...

[END]

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The Fifth Destination

It's the movie that keeps on dying. While there are slasher fics with higher body count, this is the movie franchise that keeps you hanging with the build up of 'how will they die?'

The most amazing thing about this movie is how fragile everything is. Bridges are made of cardboard, windows of soap bubbles and people of dry twigs. Physics has always had a rocky relationship with this series, and here we have screws that manage to stay point up, a statue completely severs a head, and one person with weak glasses immediately goes into hands-out-blind mode when she loses them (despite being fine without them earlier on). Yeah, no problems there...

But the point of the movie is that people die... no wait, it's that you need to kill someone else so that you die. And these are the bunches of douche bags to go and do that. Seriously, you hope they all die in the beginning, they do, but then they are alive, and you get to see them all die again by the end. Yay!

And there's a special recap of the series moment at the end... I don't know if I should say this, but I laughed. And throughout the movie too. When I see special effects that give up on physics so, what other reaction is there?

In my opinion, the best FD was 2, but this one isn't terrible, considering it is the fifth retread of the formula...

[END]

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DW: 6.9

So, what ghosts was Mark Gatiss trying to exorcise? Of course, I spent a lot of time thinking "hey, it's that guy from Ashes to Ashes."

Confirm something for me: it is immediately obvious they are in a doll house, right? I jumped straight there when I saw them wake up, so were they trying to make it a surprise? We all saw the doll house in there when the cupboard was opened, and the Doctor is quick to elucidate the point as a throw away moment, but... was it something that was designed to confuse people? Was anyone confused? Other reviews will tell...

As spooky stories go, it was quite good. Nice direction meant that some moments, such as the build-up to the first doll reveal, worked really well, creating a nice tense atmosphere. However, I completely gave up on any worries as soon as Amy became a doll (to give Karen more time to film the next episode?), because we all know the companion will be safe, thus everyone will be brought back to normal. It's getting so it's rare that everybody doesn't live, and even these kid focused episodes could do with a decent killing or two.

And how about that kid, huh? I've yet to watch Confidential, but I'm guessing they'll gush over how good he was. Certainly didn't have to bother with a lot of lines to learn, but again the director did a good job of getting a good performance out of him. [Hmm... google... Richard Clark! Well done that man, hire him again!]

Of course, having a kid, one is reminded of Fear Her, only this was far better. I'm not going to rate this the best episode of the series, but... it's up high on the list.


Next time: Doctor-less?

[END]

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Torchwood: Miracle Day Nine

Wow, even in episode nine... they are still padding things out!

Huh, looks like I should have gone for the obvious of Danes joining Torchwood, 'cos that's what the writers did. Of course they have to team up, why wouldn't they? Not like that couldn't have done some plot line that would actually not be expected! And, at the end, Danes will probably be the one to switch the Miracle off (as someone will have to sacrifice themselves). Either that or betray them. Or betray them and then sacrifice himself. Sigh.

And the father gets taken after a lot of screen time is spent on that plot line. Although, it seems that no-one has considered the important point that as soon as the Miracle is switched off, he's going to die anyway. Not as poignant when you realise the good guys are going to be the one to kill him. (Now not taking bets on them saving the day right before he gets burnt.)

Hey, evil women wear red. That's a lesson of this episode. With Jenny^H^H^HLisa being a redhead and wearing red, we also have CIA woman wearing red too. How much of an obvious signifier are they trying for here? Just as well no-one's noticed her acting over the top suspicious or anything. (I have a big problem with how bad guys in general are portrayed, which can be a blog post on its own.)

Anyway, we finally have everything set up for the last episode, and the Blessing revealed... a big wound or something... the hell? Oh, they better pay off this brilliantly, with a wonderful explanation and not some hand-waving crap spouted off by someone who doesn't actually care about the story when he can have two guys kissing... oh, shit...

Next week: we get an entire series in one episode as they finally have to say something about what's going on. Oh, and I'm guessing RTD will write the final episode?

[END]

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Buck

This movie sounds like it could be quite hokey. Good ol' boy, works with horses, imparts wisdom to the people who own then... but Buck is just an incredibly nice person, and this is a very watchable film about him and his life.

He works with horses and with people who have horses, and it's amazing just how good with horses he is. And we get to see him work with the horses, and we get to find out about his (rather harsh to begin with) home life. This film has a good balance between the two aspects, unlike some I've seen, and by the end of it you just think Buck would be a great person to know as a friend.

I enjoy a good movie with passion, and Buck certainly has that. Definitely worth checking out.


[END]

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Uninhabitable

I didn't intend to talk about this. The basic idea looked like yet another generic 'couple gets stalked by killer' set up, so I thought to watch it, then move on. However, there is one aspect of it that makes me decide to blog, and another aspect that demands attention in that (this) blog post...

First point... Australia, back the frick away from this movie. Seriously, completely disown it. Currently, it has Australia plastered all over the opening credits, and it's set in the Great Barrier Reef, and...

It is a complete crap fest. The first third is a couple getting away to a lonely island and there they are... for the first part of the movie... a few things get moved about, but otherwise we are watching them wander around the island... the hell? If it weren't for fast forward, I would have stopped there. But then, in part two, they meet some smugglers, and get pwned by them. If it wasn't for the """horror""", that'd be that, but no, something happens off screen, and then we move onto part three. The couple break up and are against each other, then die stupidly. Seriously, really stupidly. If you look at the poster on IMDB, the girl screaming in the water with blood, and then when you get to that moment... a) everyone knew that was going to happen to someone, b) what the freak? That death is this """""""horror"""""" movie???

Gah! It is not worth watching, even on fast forward. I don't care if I spoiled anything for you, 'cos you shouldn't be watching it in the first place!

Australia, as a New Zealander I have to rag on you... but you don't deserve that...

[END]

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Footnote

Footnote is an... unusual father v son story. In the world of academic achievement, what does it mean when the son and father are in the same field, and yet one is far more popular than the other? Will the son backstab the father, will the father condemn the son?

Not that this film is as serious as the above makes out. Although purported to be a comedy, it is a light piece, with some humourous moments, but it's more 'light drama' than hilarity. It's in yiddish with subtitles, so, as ever, you're looking at the pictures and reading the text, trying to get everything in... however... I do wonder if I missed something. Either in the translation, or something wasn't translated, or it's a cultural thing... when the ending came, I wasn't sure what to read into it. Fine, movies shouldn't handhold people, but... what exactly was the outcome there? Good? Bad? Did the right thing happen? Are secrets buried never to be spoken of again? I don't know.

Anyway, yes, good film, worth seeing. Although it might help to have another interpreter standing by.


[END]

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