2013 - First half
Jul. 15th, 2013 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rich_jackoThe now semi-traditional round-up of all the time during the last six months I've spent sat in front of a cinema screen or with my face in a book...
FILMS:
The Impossible - One family's experience of the 2004 Thailand tsunami. It obviously focuses on that family, but also addresses the plight of the local population surprisingly well. A story of human endurance, and better than I expected.
Les Miserables - It's Les Mis, innit? It's loud, it's overblown, all the songs sound pretty much the same. But it's a stonking story on an epic scale with a fantastic cast, and cranks up the emotion very well. Don't go anywhere near it if you don't like musicals though - this one is unlikely to convert you.
Django Unchained - Tarantino does what he does best, only this time it's a western. Full review here.
Hyde Park on Hudson - Historical comedy drama, in which Bill Murray's Roosevelt entertains the royals while juggling a love affair. It almost works really well, but not quite. It's difficult to put my finger on what was missing.
Flight - Denzel Washington plays a pilot who becomes a hero by saving a plane-full of passengers from disaster, but sinks into trouble when it emerges he may have been under the influence. An interesting and challenging film about struggling with addiction, with no easy answers.
Lincoln - Spielberg's massive biopic about Abraham Lincoln. It's all done very well as you can imagine, but it's not a film I'd want to see again and again.
A Good Day To Die Hard - John McClane and son go to Russia, with predictable results. Big, loud and dumb. It's okay, but not up there with the rest of the series.
Mama - Two girls disappear and are found years later in a feral state. But what have they brought back with them? A well-executed ghost/horror story with some neat tricks, but nothing we haven't seen before and the ending is somewhat unsatisfactory.
Warm Bodies - Romeo and Juliet. With zombies. Like all the best zombie movies, this delivers a satire on humanity alongside its violence, silliness and hunger for brains.
Stoker - Psychological thriller in which a girl's mysterious uncle (who she never knew existed) moves in after her father's death. A very dark and twisted, character-driven film.
Cloud Atlas - I've not read the book, but I'm led to believe it's every bit as mad as this multi-generational, time-hopping epic. It really, really shouldn't work, but it kind of does.
Robot and Frank - A wonderfully sweet comedy drama about one man and his robot. And their life of crime. Definitely worth watching.
Oz: The Great and Powerful - Disney prequel which stays true to the original story but feels a little contrived. Good transition from black-and-white/academy to technicolour/cinemascope, but the visuals are more memorable than the story.
Side Effects - Starts out as a story about a new wonder-drug going wrong, but this is not the film you first think it is. It's difficult to say too much without spoilers, but this is a story about very clever and ruthless people trying to stay ahead of each other. Highly recommended.
Trance - Danny Boyle's latest. James McAvoy is the only person who knows where a painting is after a heist goes wrong. Or he would be, if he hadn't lost his memory. Tense and well-acted, but also well-titled as it's rather trippy and confusing as hell. In a good way though.
Promised Land - Matt Damon tries to sell fracking to small town America. Steers thankfully clear of hill-billy stereotypes, but Damon's inevitable crisis of conscience is handled clumsily. Not as good as it should be. Amusingly anti-propoganda whilst also being anti-fracking and funded by oil money.
Iron Man 3 - Three films in and he's still got it. Okay, it's ridiculously OTT (but this is Marvel!), and the bad guy lacks a decent motivation, but who cares? Robert Downey Jr is as on form as ever, the rest of the regular cast are still great, and special mention for Ben Kingsley.
Oblivion -Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough are stationed on a post-apocalyptic Earth, but not all is what it looks like. Well, they've both had their memories wiped, which is a sure clue that something fishy is going on. A fun slice of sci-fi. Not as clever as it thinks it is, but clever enough to lift it above the average dumb action flick.
The Place Beyond The Pines - What starts out as a pretty interesting film about a stunt biker who turns to crime to support his family takes a sudden right-angle turn and switches main character just as you're starting to get into it. Then, just as you're getting into that, it does it again. Okay, the arcs are loosely connected, but mostly this is just annoying.
Star Trek: Into Darkness - The Enterprise crew go after a lone terrorist but it turns into something bigger. Benedict Cumberbatch plays a great baddie in true British tradition. Highly derivative, and suffers from the usual Star Trek problem of most of the cast being rather po-faced, but it doesn't really matter. This is spectacular and a great action film with lots of double-crosses, stunts, spaceships and explosions.
The Great Gatsby - Baz Luhrmann's version of "the great American novel", done with all his usual reservedness and restraint. I haven't read that book either, but I'm led to believe you don't really care about any of the characters in that either. Which I guess makes this a good adaptation.
Byzantium - Two vampires (mother and daughter) struggle to live inconspicuously, but someone's on their trail. It's certainly better than Twiglet-type fare, but the reviews built this up to be amazing, and it isn't. It's not bad, but it's very mundane.
Much Ado About Nothing - More genius from Joss Whedon and his regular cast. Full review here.
Despicable Me 2 - Less edgy than the first, but still enormous fun. Full review here.
Now You See Me - Stage magicians pull of a series of heists, much to the FBI's consternation. Utterly preposterous, but fun and rattles along at quite a pace.
Monsters University - Starts out as a fairly standard college / sports underdog movie with only some interesting visual gags to recommend it, then turns into something much better in the third act. Three cheers for Mike Wazowski!
BOOKS:
Discworld: The Colour of Magic (book 1) to Eric (book 9) (Terry Pratchett) - It's Discworld's 30th anniversary this year, and they're about halfway through re-releasing all the books. So I decided this is the year I finally get around to reading them. Or at least make a good start. I've not been disappointed. Satire at its finest. With wizards, witches, Death, bungling guards and camels :o)
Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (anon.)
The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
Faerie Tale (Raymond E. Feist)
The Time of the Ghost (Diana Wynne Jones)
The Lady of Hay (Barbara Erskine)
A selection of old books I got off Anne WINOLJ when she was de-cluttering. Robin Hood is the traditional folk tales (and kind of basic). Bourne you probably know about, and it's a cracking good thriller. The other three are all supernatural tales - Faerie Tale is an American gothic story with properly evil sidhe characters; Time of the Ghost is an excellent time-jumping ghost mystery told partly from the (confused) ghost's POV; and Lady of Hay starts out as an intriguing story of a sceptic being regressed into her past life, but turns silly halfway through when almost everyone she knows starts regressing to the 12th Century too.
Clockwork, or All Wound Up (Philip Pullman) - I read this off the Goblin's bookshelf. A wonderfully spooky fairy tale in the Grimm tradition. Could easily have been written by Neil Gaiman.
Transformers: ongoing comics series (James Roberts / John Barber / Simon Furman) - Two separate series, both dealing with what happens to warriors when there's no war any more. Oddly the "Regeneration One" series, which picks up where the original comic ended 20+ years ago and is more obviously aimed at older fans, deals with it in a less sophisticated and intriguing way than the IDWverse series. Go figure.
The Tempest (William Shakespeare) - The Olympics and Paralympics made me re-read this ;o) Shakespeare's final play, and one of his naddest and most whimsical.
Shada (Douglas Adams & Gareth Roberts) - The "lost" Doctor Who story from Tom Baker's era, given new life as a novel. Conjures up the series perfectly - although you can tell it was originally written for episodic, low-budget TV.
Whispers Underground (Ben Aaronovitch) - The third in the "British Dresden" series. A murder mystery and something supernatural lurking deep in the Underground. As good as the first one and better than the second.
Brick City (Warren Elsmore) - Despite its rather dubious subtitle ("Lego for grown-ups", as if Lego wasn't normally for grown-ups!), this is rather good. Contains spectacular Lego versions of famous buildings and, unlike most Lego books, detailed instructions for building some of the smaller sets.
You Look Awfully like the Queen: Wit and Wisdom from the House of Windsor (Thomas Blaikie) - Borrowed off![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
san_valentine. A collection of anecdotes about the royals gathered over the years, including overheard snippets of conversation between the Queen and her mum ("Just who do you think you are?" "The Queen, Mummy.") and tales of Princess Margaret trying to have a sneaky fag. The title is what a shopkeeper once said to Her Maj when she popped in on a whim. Her reply? "How very reassuring!"
FILMS:
The Impossible - One family's experience of the 2004 Thailand tsunami. It obviously focuses on that family, but also addresses the plight of the local population surprisingly well. A story of human endurance, and better than I expected.
Les Miserables - It's Les Mis, innit? It's loud, it's overblown, all the songs sound pretty much the same. But it's a stonking story on an epic scale with a fantastic cast, and cranks up the emotion very well. Don't go anywhere near it if you don't like musicals though - this one is unlikely to convert you.
Django Unchained - Tarantino does what he does best, only this time it's a western. Full review here.
Hyde Park on Hudson - Historical comedy drama, in which Bill Murray's Roosevelt entertains the royals while juggling a love affair. It almost works really well, but not quite. It's difficult to put my finger on what was missing.
Flight - Denzel Washington plays a pilot who becomes a hero by saving a plane-full of passengers from disaster, but sinks into trouble when it emerges he may have been under the influence. An interesting and challenging film about struggling with addiction, with no easy answers.
Lincoln - Spielberg's massive biopic about Abraham Lincoln. It's all done very well as you can imagine, but it's not a film I'd want to see again and again.
A Good Day To Die Hard - John McClane and son go to Russia, with predictable results. Big, loud and dumb. It's okay, but not up there with the rest of the series.
Mama - Two girls disappear and are found years later in a feral state. But what have they brought back with them? A well-executed ghost/horror story with some neat tricks, but nothing we haven't seen before and the ending is somewhat unsatisfactory.
Warm Bodies - Romeo and Juliet. With zombies. Like all the best zombie movies, this delivers a satire on humanity alongside its violence, silliness and hunger for brains.
Stoker - Psychological thriller in which a girl's mysterious uncle (who she never knew existed) moves in after her father's death. A very dark and twisted, character-driven film.
Cloud Atlas - I've not read the book, but I'm led to believe it's every bit as mad as this multi-generational, time-hopping epic. It really, really shouldn't work, but it kind of does.
Robot and Frank - A wonderfully sweet comedy drama about one man and his robot. And their life of crime. Definitely worth watching.
Oz: The Great and Powerful - Disney prequel which stays true to the original story but feels a little contrived. Good transition from black-and-white/academy to technicolour/cinemascope, but the visuals are more memorable than the story.
Side Effects - Starts out as a story about a new wonder-drug going wrong, but this is not the film you first think it is. It's difficult to say too much without spoilers, but this is a story about very clever and ruthless people trying to stay ahead of each other. Highly recommended.
Trance - Danny Boyle's latest. James McAvoy is the only person who knows where a painting is after a heist goes wrong. Or he would be, if he hadn't lost his memory. Tense and well-acted, but also well-titled as it's rather trippy and confusing as hell. In a good way though.
Promised Land - Matt Damon tries to sell fracking to small town America. Steers thankfully clear of hill-billy stereotypes, but Damon's inevitable crisis of conscience is handled clumsily. Not as good as it should be. Amusingly anti-propoganda whilst also being anti-fracking and funded by oil money.
Iron Man 3 - Three films in and he's still got it. Okay, it's ridiculously OTT (but this is Marvel!), and the bad guy lacks a decent motivation, but who cares? Robert Downey Jr is as on form as ever, the rest of the regular cast are still great, and special mention for Ben Kingsley.
Oblivion -Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough are stationed on a post-apocalyptic Earth, but not all is what it looks like. Well, they've both had their memories wiped, which is a sure clue that something fishy is going on. A fun slice of sci-fi. Not as clever as it thinks it is, but clever enough to lift it above the average dumb action flick.
The Place Beyond The Pines - What starts out as a pretty interesting film about a stunt biker who turns to crime to support his family takes a sudden right-angle turn and switches main character just as you're starting to get into it. Then, just as you're getting into that, it does it again. Okay, the arcs are loosely connected, but mostly this is just annoying.
Star Trek: Into Darkness - The Enterprise crew go after a lone terrorist but it turns into something bigger. Benedict Cumberbatch plays a great baddie in true British tradition. Highly derivative, and suffers from the usual Star Trek problem of most of the cast being rather po-faced, but it doesn't really matter. This is spectacular and a great action film with lots of double-crosses, stunts, spaceships and explosions.
The Great Gatsby - Baz Luhrmann's version of "the great American novel", done with all his usual reservedness and restraint. I haven't read that book either, but I'm led to believe you don't really care about any of the characters in that either. Which I guess makes this a good adaptation.
Byzantium - Two vampires (mother and daughter) struggle to live inconspicuously, but someone's on their trail. It's certainly better than Twiglet-type fare, but the reviews built this up to be amazing, and it isn't. It's not bad, but it's very mundane.
Much Ado About Nothing - More genius from Joss Whedon and his regular cast. Full review here.
Despicable Me 2 - Less edgy than the first, but still enormous fun. Full review here.
Now You See Me - Stage magicians pull of a series of heists, much to the FBI's consternation. Utterly preposterous, but fun and rattles along at quite a pace.
Monsters University - Starts out as a fairly standard college / sports underdog movie with only some interesting visual gags to recommend it, then turns into something much better in the third act. Three cheers for Mike Wazowski!
BOOKS:
Discworld: The Colour of Magic (book 1) to Eric (book 9) (Terry Pratchett) - It's Discworld's 30th anniversary this year, and they're about halfway through re-releasing all the books. So I decided this is the year I finally get around to reading them. Or at least make a good start. I've not been disappointed. Satire at its finest. With wizards, witches, Death, bungling guards and camels :o)
Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (anon.)
The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
Faerie Tale (Raymond E. Feist)
The Time of the Ghost (Diana Wynne Jones)
The Lady of Hay (Barbara Erskine)
A selection of old books I got off Anne WINOLJ when she was de-cluttering. Robin Hood is the traditional folk tales (and kind of basic). Bourne you probably know about, and it's a cracking good thriller. The other three are all supernatural tales - Faerie Tale is an American gothic story with properly evil sidhe characters; Time of the Ghost is an excellent time-jumping ghost mystery told partly from the (confused) ghost's POV; and Lady of Hay starts out as an intriguing story of a sceptic being regressed into her past life, but turns silly halfway through when almost everyone she knows starts regressing to the 12th Century too.
Clockwork, or All Wound Up (Philip Pullman) - I read this off the Goblin's bookshelf. A wonderfully spooky fairy tale in the Grimm tradition. Could easily have been written by Neil Gaiman.
Transformers: ongoing comics series (James Roberts / John Barber / Simon Furman) - Two separate series, both dealing with what happens to warriors when there's no war any more. Oddly the "Regeneration One" series, which picks up where the original comic ended 20+ years ago and is more obviously aimed at older fans, deals with it in a less sophisticated and intriguing way than the IDWverse series. Go figure.
The Tempest (William Shakespeare) - The Olympics and Paralympics made me re-read this ;o) Shakespeare's final play, and one of his naddest and most whimsical.
Shada (Douglas Adams & Gareth Roberts) - The "lost" Doctor Who story from Tom Baker's era, given new life as a novel. Conjures up the series perfectly - although you can tell it was originally written for episodic, low-budget TV.
Whispers Underground (Ben Aaronovitch) - The third in the "British Dresden" series. A murder mystery and something supernatural lurking deep in the Underground. As good as the first one and better than the second.
Brick City (Warren Elsmore) - Despite its rather dubious subtitle ("Lego for grown-ups", as if Lego wasn't normally for grown-ups!), this is rather good. Contains spectacular Lego versions of famous buildings and, unlike most Lego books, detailed instructions for building some of the smaller sets.
You Look Awfully like the Queen: Wit and Wisdom from the House of Windsor (Thomas Blaikie) - Borrowed off
san_valentine. A collection of anecdotes about the royals gathered over the years, including overheard snippets of conversation between the Queen and her mum ("Just who do you think you are?" "The Queen, Mummy.") and tales of Princess Margaret trying to have a sneaky fag. The title is what a shopkeeper once said to Her Maj when she popped in on a whim. Her reply? "How very reassuring!"
