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Thursday 25 October 2018

It's Grim Up North | Doctor Who: The Woman Who Fell To Earth (Review)



The Woman Who Fell To Earth is the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who, written by Chris Chibnall, who has now taken over from Stephen Moffat as Showrunner and Head Writer. Beforehand, I rewatched all of the previous ones written by Chibnall (AKA 'Chibs' to his friends), 42 from Tennant's era (some people use 'era' to describe an actor's time on a show, when, in his case, it was only five years. 'Era' feels like it denotes a longer timespan than that. It fits a monarch's reign better than an actor's tenure on a TV show.) The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood, Dinosaurs On A Spaceship and The Power Of Three, from Matt Smith's tenure, all had a bright playfulness to them that TWWFTE certainly did not. Giving extra validity to the phrase, 'it's grim up North' by being set in Sheffield(God knows why), mostly at night and having a generally dour mood, Chibs' opening episode for new Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, is more like ones he wrote from Torchwood, the darker, more adult DW companion show on which Chibnall worked before being upgraded to Who. I understand the production team's desire to do Who differently but, honestly, this one was hard to get into, not least due to the lack of two of the most exciting aspects of a new Who...a fresh title sequence and main theme, as well as a regenerated TARDIS, neither of which did we get in TWWFTE.

I thought I heard the theme about to start when Ryan (Tosin Cole) touched a curious, glowing diagonal tunnel, shimmering in mid-air. How experimental would that be, how aptly metaphysical, for the new main titles to be activated by a character touching something within the story? The effect even had a similar look to the graphics of the titles used during Jon Pertwee's tenure. I even thought I heard the familiar bass line of the theme but no. My crazy brain interpreted the weird, unpeeled onion-like object Ryan found in the forest as an newly-created but unhatched TARDIS console. After the interior explosion seen at the end of previous episode Twice Upon A Time, as a post-regeneration Doctor was seen being ejected into space by the time machine, I imagined that the ship, having completely broken up within, yet being a partly organic, sentient being, recreated its constituent parts that were then distributed across spacetime and the Doctor had to assemble them in order to utilise her new TARDIS. This could've taken place across a one or two episodes, or even the whole 10 episode run, although, within the fiction of the show, this could take thousands of years to reassemble a ship of infinite proportions. Also, how would the Doctor travel to wherever the pieces were located? In the end, the object was actually a transport pod for T'zim Sha (AKA 'Tim Shaw', played by Samuel Oatley) of the Stenza race, the episode's main villain. No TARDIS as yet...

My hope rose for a new title sequence again, when The Doctor finally fell to Earth (after under 10 minutes but it felt like longer), crashing through the roof of a train, then leaping upright, with no visible ill effects of her swift descent from above the planet's atmosphere.When the new Doctor got up, I heard that familiar old bass line, only for my hope to lower again as I was denied a title sequence a second time! The incidental music (by Segun Akinola) was mostly made up of the kind of industrial, electronic groans and beats found in Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch's soundtrack to Blade Runner 2049, which worked well for that film's downbeat, futuristic tale but not really for Doctor Who. It's better than more from previous series compose, Murray Gold, who, despite doing great work on the show between 2005-2017, did a very annoying version of the theme tune that we had to endure for the whole 3 years of Capaldi's tenure.

Never mind, there's now a cool, sparky, tendrilly thing to enjoy...at last, because I was getting a bit bored of all these Northerners (bar Bradley Walsh) falling off bikes, etc (crikey, has Chibs gone back to Born & Bred?) Ooh, look, it's stung everyone, then buggered off through the roof! The Chase is ON! (Couldn't resist...)

Now we're in familiar territory, I felt that things were beginning to pick up a bit, although I was still struggling to care about these new characters. It's early days, though and this is almost as new to them as it is to me. This is the weirdest opening episode to a Doctor Who series I've ever seen, yet, it's at least better than the dreadful Deep Breath, which began Capaldi's tenure.

I enjoyed the Doctor's description of the regenerative process. 'I'm still rebooting, brain and body reformatting.' She says (I guess that's how she survived her earlier fall from the stars). 'There's this moment...when you're sure you're about to die and then...your born! it's terrifying.' She goes on, 'Right now, I'm a stranger to myself. There's echoes of who I was and a sort of *call* towards* who I am and I have to hold my nerve and trust all these new instincts, *shape* myself towards them. I'll be fine...in the end.' With dialogue like that, she surely will be and 'I'll/it'll be fine' is said enough to be in danger of reaching the status of a Doctor catchphrase ...something I dearly hope Chibs has also done away with from previous versions. Moments like this, though, remind me that I'm watching Doctor Who and there's hope, then, that the series' core positivity has been retained amongst all the gloom.

It's nice, though, that The Doctor refers to a newly regenerated body part (her nose, you pervs and gender obsessives!) as Ten did his 'new teeth', Eleven celebrated his 'new legs', yet Twelve bemoaned the colour of his fresh kidneys. 'This is gonna be fun!' Promises Thirteen I do hope so. The Thirteenth Doctor is quirky, scatterbrained, manic and excitable, which is encouragingly Doctorly but is hopefully just a post-regenerative effect, as it felt a little grating, at times. I liked the fact that The Doctor created her new Sonic Screwdriver ('Swiss Army knife') on Earth, which must be a first for the show.

Chibs has decreed a 'no cliffhangers' and 'no new monsters' rules for this series, which is slightly disconcerting, in that it could lead to an unmemorable monster of the week formula setting in, as new monsters often have less impact than the classics, like the Daleks or Cybermen, which is why they returned, over and over again, in the post-2005 series, I suppose. Then again, the comeback of old villains became a formula during Russell T Davies' time as Showrunner. Moffat at least played around with old villains, having them team up to trap The Doctor, for example.

So, excluding old enemies completely from Thirteen's first season could be a blessing, although Tim Shaw (good Northern name, that) is unlikely to become memorable. Whilst not an old Who villain, he is very reminiscent of an old Hollywood one; as an alien who scans his environment and hunts humans, retaining a body part from each victim as a trophy, he is like a child-friendly version of the Predator, collecting teeth, as opposed to a whole human skull, for his collection. Mr. Shaw looked like a generic Who villain for Thirteen to cut her, um, teeth (sorry...not to mention her nose) on, before moving on to, I hope, more interesting ones.

This episode was surprisingly dark for any DW episode, let alone the introduction of a new Doctor. There are always deaths in any story but to get a funeral as well felt a bit too much. Not to worry, I anticipated a new TARDIS interior to look forward to...and maybe a new rendition of the theme over the end credits, please?

Hope rose in me again as The Doctor set up some rig that she hoped would deliver her to her waiting, no doubt impressively redesigned, timeship. Nope, instead she's in space...with her new 'friends' (do we have  to call them that, now, instead of 'companions'?) Damn. Still, at least that's a beautiful shot of Jodie's hair and hood floating as she looks around to see her comp...*friends* with her. Ah! So it's a cliffhanger, then? If Chibs lied about that, then maybe he's keeping some old villains from us, too? So, no TARDIS, then but then, FINALLY, we get Akinola's new theme and what a cool version it, with a driving electronic beat and a faithful adherence to Ron Grainer's original. I was dubious but I guess I'll *have* to tune in next week, now...








Tuesday 15 November 2016

'Try Me, Beyonce' | Doctor Strange - Film Review

This review contains SPOILERS. Seriously, I pretty much spoil the whole plot.


Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a New York-based neurosurgeon - not the singer from 80’s New Romantic band Visage - with ego issues who gets his hands severely broken in a car accident. After several operations fail to fully repair his mitts, Strange seeks other options and learns of Kamar-Taj, a place of spiritual healing. Travelling to Kathmandu to find it,  he is introduced to a mystical reality he never believed existed by the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) and her assistant, Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Soon, he meets Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen, playing another villain with eye trauma, after Le Chiffre in Casino Royale), an ex Kamar-Taj student with an even bigger ego than Strange’s and a deadly plan to match. It’s up to Strange and his friends to stop Kaecilius before he alters reality forever.



An article about this film on Christian media watch website, Movieguide, called it a ‘dangerous introduction to the occult’ in its depiction of ’false spiritual notions’, citing the biblical values Movieguide seeks to promote as ‘truth, love, compassion, sacrifice, justice, and forgiveness’, most, if not all, of which are present in Doctor Strange. The film’s director and co-writer, Scott Derrickson, is himself a Christian, so it’s unlikely that he would present a worldview that contradicts his own. In order to progress in his sorcerer training, Strange must learn humility. How more Christian a central message can you get than, ‘it’s not about you’? 

 The only danger for me in watching films like Doctor Strange is that I have had issues with certain reality-bending films before. I was really shaken by a scene in The Matrix when Neo (Keanu Reeves) wakes up from the illusion of virtual reality in his real-world battery pod. Not everyone has this sort of sensitivity and some may view at it as being overly so, or maybe a little crazy and perhaps I am - I like to see it as a vivid imagination but I have to be careful what I let into my head. 



Thankfully, in Doctor Strange, there was nothing in all in its architecture-rebuilding, wall-walking, spell-casting, astral projecting, time warping, dimension-traversing antics that either threatened my own sanity or faith. The most disturbing images in the film were realistic portrayals of serious hand and back injuries that (mostly) have nothing to do with magic. The fact that I’d seen versions of a lot of the film’s concepts before probably helped. There are whole cities bending in on themselves in Inception (although there’s more intricate window, brick and tile movement in Doctor Strange), wild space travel in 2001 and Interstellar (Christopher Nolan’s work is very influential, here), David Bowie walking around gravity-defying Escher-like structures in Labyrinth; whereas The Mighty Boosh, Cyriak’s surreal videos and U2’s video for Even Better Than The Real Thing depict fractal infinities of the kind we see during a sequence where Strange tumbles through the astral plane. Events also get rather timey-wimey, as per Doctor Who and the ending of 1978’s Superman: The Movie, albeit by a different method. 

Doctor Strange is visually audacious for a superhero film and it’s all done beautifully. I was ‘struck’ by a scene where reality slows around two characters talking in their astral forms. There’s a storm and lightening strikes crawl gracefully across the sky beyond the pair as they talk. It’s a simpler effect than entire cities being reordered but that’s part of its beauty.

The effects blend well with the story, rather than the latter being a showcase for the former. However, whilst engrossing, the narrative is pretty much the same as that of The Shadow (1994), where Alec Baldwin plays the arrogant American humbled and taught superpowers by an Eastern mystic, who is killed by a former pupil gone bad. Baldwin must then use his powers to stop his evil fellow pupil’s world-threatening plan. Batman Begins (Nolan again) had a similar story, too but Doctor Strange far outranks the former and is arguably better than the latter. The climax of Doctor Strange, whilst exciting, is still the same as most other Marvel entries. Our heroes must prevent an otherworldly force attacking a major city. Even with added wibbly-wobbly, it’s still essentially the same thing. 

As usual with Marvel, we get the obligatory end credits scenes. One features Strange talking to an Avenger that is sadly not Tony Stark, who is, of course, played by Benedict Cumberbatch’s fellow Sherlock Holmes, Robert Downey Jr. Perhaps having Rachel McAdams, who played Irene Adler in Downey’s first Sherlock Holmes film, also play Strange’s ex-lover Christine Palmer in this film, was enough. Nor does Strange meet Everett K. Ross , played by Martin Freeman, Sherlock’s John Watson, in Captain America: Civil War. Maybe breaking the fourth wall like this is traversing one dimension too far? This happened to a lesser extent, at one point, when Strange says ‘yep’ in that elongated way in which Cumberbatch also utters it as Sherlock.



Thanks to writers Jon Spaihts (great to see you back after Damon Lindelof ruined your Prometheus script, Jon) Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, Doctor Strange is also very witty, which helps make one of Marvel’s more outlandish characters (which is saying something) more grounded. ‘Try me, Beyonce!’ is possibly the best line in the film. Strange says it to Kamar-Taj librarian Wong (played by Cumberbatch’s fellow Benedict, Benedict Wong, who was surely cast on more of a basis than his last name being the same as his character’s?) whose single moniker causes the good Doctor some amusement. Wong clearly spends too much time amongst his books and this magical library does not have a popular music section, not even when there’s magical music videos like Even Better Than The Real Thing; so he’s never heard of Adele, Beyonce, or even Bono (it’s odd hearing those names in a superhero film. I suppose its grounding it in ‘reality’). Strange soon educates Wong, though, allowing himself to sneak books out whilst Wong is distracted. Of all the characters, Tilda Swinton’s Ancient One was the most intriguing. Where did she get her head scars? Was she, like Strange, also inducted into the mystic arts through searching for physical healing?

Doctor Strange is bold for a Marvel movie, visually, if not narratively. Consistently good performances, writing, effects and music helps create a fun film that makes a potentially daft character believable. 



Images courtesy of IMDb and C. Scott Cargill's Twitter. Thanks, C.


Monday 11 January 2016

His Mind is the Scene of the Crime | Sherlock: The Abominable Bride - Review (SPOILERS!)


This was the finest hour and a half of nothing much happening that I have ever seen. Cheekily marketed as a one-off, period special from Sherlock co-creators, Steven Moffatt and Mark Gatiss, The Abominable Bride was apparently (going by trailers and stills, at least) a departure from the usual contemporary setting of previous series and instead taking place in Victorian times - the original milieu of Holmes and Watson, as written by Arthur Conan Doyle in his original stories, himself writing in the 1800-1900's.

During the first half of Bride, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, usually 'Sherlock' and 'John', now refer to each other as 'Holmes' and 'Watson', rocking a respective pipe and 'tache with as much natural élan as their many forbears in the role (e.g. Jeremy Brett and David Burke). The deductive duo are on the case of a spurned bride, Mrs. Emilia Ricoletti (Natasha O'Keefe), apparently returned from the dead after being seen putting a bullet through her own addled brain. This, in much the same fashion as modern Moriarty (Andrew Scott) at the end of series 2's The Reichenbach Fall, only to appear in a video message at the end of last series' closing episode, His Last Vow, chanting 'Did you miss me?'

About an hour in, all of this turns out to be a heroine-induced fantasy inside modern Sherlock's vast Mind Palace of  as he lies on the plane we saw him on during Vow's final moments. It's all rather reminiscent of Inception.  Later on, Victorian Holmes even echoes that film's main theme. 'Once an idea exists,' he says of the reportedly resurrected bride, 'it cannot be killed.' Christopher Nolan's epic featured the same concept, as well as a main character who spent most of the film asleep on a plane.

There are hints to the twist beforehand - some very dreamlike scenes of Victorian Sherlock approaching his brother's room and their 'where do we pick up these extraordinary expressions?' conversation. 'Virus in the data.' Says Mycroft I liked the fact that, in modern Sherlock's Mind Palace, his envied elder brother is a fat slob, slowly killing himself through his food addiction. At one point, Victorian Sherlock meditates on clues in his flat. So, he's inside his Mind Palace, as his imagined Victorian self, inside his Mind Palace. A dream within a dream.

Moffat and Gatiss no doubt intended to convince viewers that the whole episode would be period-set and decided to throw us a curveball. It does still work, up to a point. Although, they possibly thought fans would want something to connect it to the series proper, beyond just using the same cast (Una Stubbs' Mrs. Hudson, Rupert Graves' Inspector Lestrade and Louise Brealey's Molly Hooper all turn up, too). I liked the connection but by having the best of both worlds it lessened both of them to some extent.

The Victorian element is diminished a little by never actually happening (although it was, according to the 2016 Sherlock, an actual cold case that he imagined himself solving in order to figure out modern Moriarty's alleged resurrection) and all that happened in the modern one was that the Great Detective slept, dreamt a lot, woke up, had a chat, got in a car and was driven off. Still, I did like the feminist element of the period story (it was like suffragette city at one point, with all the scorned 'brides' in one rom) and a revised, more Doylian Reichenbach fall scene, at the actual Reichenbach Falls, with a period Holmes and Moriarty. It was marred slightly in its deviation from canon by having Watson flippantly kill a cowed Moriarty by booting him off a ledge to a watery grave.

The twist that the Victorian shenanigans were really all a drug trip was Bride's greatest strength but also its worst weakness. It blew my mind with its audacity at first but, upon reflection, I think it cheapens the period element by shoehorning it in with the main series' continuity. This is most likely the first and only time Sherlock will do a Victorian-set story and they may as well have gone all out.




Whilst the show's style of showing graphics of text or thoughts moving around the characters in a comic book fashion might have seemed somewhat out of place in a period piece, I'm glad it was included, but not overdone, as it was - almost to the level of spoof - in the last series. A couple of the fancy scene transitions were jarring and unnecessary, though. Flipping a long shot of our heroes in a train carriage to match the exterior of a manor house (1st picture above) was a bit of a show-off and having a bird's eye view of a maze match-dissolve into Sherlock's spindly fingers (2nd picture above) in the next scene was painfully arty. Still, smart-arsery and showing off is what Sherlock is all about, as a character and a show.

The Abominable Bride was still an improvement over the whole of the last series and has me looking forward to series four, due later this year.

All images courtesy of BBC

Wednesday 23 September 2015

You Had Me At 'Davros' | Doctor Who: The Magician's Apprentice - Review


Well now, this is more like it, Steven Moffat. Why couldn't you have written an episode this good to open the last series, Capaldi's first as the Doctor, no less? Excuse me but Deep Breath was deeply rubbish (see my review here). The following episode, Into The Dalek, was a vast improvement, challenging the Doctor's ethics and prejudice with a 'good' Dalek. I suppose having that as Capaldi's first ever full episode as the Time Lord would have been a bit much - having him face his oldest enemies in his newest incarnation, straight out of the box, as it were, would be a lot to ask of a new Doctor. 


You do Dalek episodes so well, Moff, much better than your predecessor, Russell T Davies, who seemed to think that having the Daleks in the final two episodes of nearly *every season* was a good idea, with their masterplans notching up the apocalypse-ometer with each passing finale. They just wanted to destroy or overtake the Earth/Universe/Reality Itself. Moff, you were wiser to give them a back seat for Matt Smith's first couple of series, then bring them front and centre for the barnstorming Asylum Of The Daleks, with the Dalek Parliament and titular Asylum to boot. You even made a version of future companion into one of the tank-dwelling mutants! Boldness!

Now, with The Magician's Apprentice (I like that there is no mention of Daleks in the title but an indirect hint to their creator, Davros), you've given us another good 'un. I was a little uncertain at first, what with that whole war thing going on and those 'hand mines' (one letter away from land mines, very clever, Moff) a bit too reminiscent of the mitts of the Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth (but not Pan's hands, though).

Once the Doctor appeared with his 'acoustic corridor' (nice) and the little boy he wanted to save from the hands (oddly able to make hissing noises, despite having no visible mouths) revealed his name, I was hooked. Steven, you had me at 'Davros'. Capaldi's look of anguish was the perfect lead-in to the titles and it all very nearly made up for the fact that you've still kept that bastard awful rendition of the theme tune (bar a slight change at the start - an improvement, at least). Anyway, I didn't mind it as much after *that* opening scene. Maybe the mines' glaring, searching eyes influenced Davros' design of his future one-eyed creations?


Following this was a pleasing homage to Star Wars' Mos Eisley cantina scene, with Colony Sarff (Jamie Reid-Quarrell), looking facially like the Channard Cenobite from Hellraiser 2 (horror films seem to be an influence, here) as he glides around in his monk-like cloak, inquiring about the location of The Doctor. Sarff veered dangerously close to saying 'Dok-TOR!' as has become a parodied cliche of our hero's past enemies. Apparently, Davros (presumably the same one we saw earlier, it's surely not a common name in the galaxy but there must be more than one across the whole of spacetime? Bit silly to feature two different ones in the same episode, I suppose) - 'creator of the Daleks and Dark Lord of Skaro' (crikey, Moff, someone knows there's a new Star Wars film coming out!) is dying and requests a final audience with the Doctor, whom no one seems to be able to find. Usually, the dastardly Daleks have no trouble here, so things must be bad.

The Doctor has also given his 'Confession Dial...the last will and testament of the Time Lord known as the Doctor' to Missy (Michelle Gomez), AKA The Master, on the eve of his final day. Oh no, we're not going down the death of the Doctor route again, are we, Moff? Since you've been in charge, he's had more 'final days' than hot companions. First, we had him being potentially erased from history in The Big Bang, then he was 'killed' at Lake Silencio in The Impossible Astronaut, followed by him visiting his own grave at Trenzalore in The Name/Time Of The Doctor. Mind you, I would like a Confession Dial myself.

She argues her case to Clara for being the Doctor's oldest and best friend, a defence so far so good, where she lists various misadventures through which she's cared about him, until she says 'since he was a little girl...' That's one angry fanboy fist shake and a cry of 'MOFFAT!' narrowly avoided (just) by Missy's qualifier that 'one of those is a lie. Can you guess which one?' I really want to see the Cloister Wars now, though. Assuming that last one wasn't the lie.


On the upside, the Doctor is not dead yet but 'hiding' in mediaeval England. Which is to say, he's been larking about with the local yokels, building wells to avoid meditating (see the prequel, The Doctor's Meditation), making friends with his 'idiot' friend Bors and engaging in duels using a spoon as we all wished he hadn't in last season's poor Robot Of Sherwood. I'm glad were weren't subjected to that sight again this time around but instead treated to seeing the Doctor enter the episode - following some stuff with companion Clara (Jenna Coleman), Missy and a largely pointless stunt with frozen planes - standing atop a tank (presumably remote controlled or driven by one of the Doc's local mates), playing electric guitar (Capaldi being a former member of punk band, The Bastards From Hell. His rendition of the theme tune here should replace the current one). I couldn't help but smile at this...for about a minute, then it got annoying as the Doctor regaled them with recounts of his exploits among them, including introducing the word 'dude' several centuries too early. Very cool, Doctor, now stop channelling your previous two incarnations, please and get back to being the more clean-talking Malcolm Tucker you were last year.

Thankfully, this pretty much happens once Colony Darth, sorry, Sarrf, slithers in and delivers his message to the Doctor, who already seems to know it, given what he says in the prologue and prequel mini-episodes. He willingly gives himself up to Sarrf, as do Missy and Clara, despite the Doctor's protests.

Back on Skaro, the Doctor finally meets with Davros in the original Dalek City (an improved version of the model one seen in The Daleks their very first story during Hartnell's tenure in 1963), who looks much like we saw him in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - the two-part finale of Tennant's third season. I remember reading in Davies' book, The Writer's Tale, an early script draft of those episodes featuring Davros' origin story on Skaro and now we're getting Moffat's version, which is arguably better. How the Dark Lord escaped the burning Crucible ship during the finale of Journey's End, is as much of as mystery (a Miss-tery?) as how Missy avoided death by Cyberman at the end of last season's Death In Heaven, or, indeed how she overcomes death by Dalek here. Hard to believe one of the baddest bitches in the universe would allow herself to be exterminated so easily, even if these Daleks are, as their creator says, 'only children' and are, as such, less developed but more impulsive. Could be that what happened on the Crucible resulted in Davros' dying?

Clara's extermination came as more of a shock, despite the knowledge that, glory be, Jenna Coleman will be leaving before the Christmas special (can we have a more straightforward, less smug, more Rose-like companion next time, please, Moff?) I just didn't expect her to go this soon. Obviously, given this series' promotional material, she will appear in subsequent episodes and we know, don't we, Moff, that people have a hard time dying in your version of Doctor Who? It would be a true shock if a companion actually stayed dead. OK, there's Danny Pink but he was so boring, he barely counts and he still showed up in the Christmas special, after having died an episode earlier. Let's hope that's the end of the silly sod. Speaking of which, Rory wouldn't stay dead, Amy Pond resurrected at least once and I don't even want to get started on River Song, who had died in Forest Of The Dead but appeared as a hologram for her last appearance and will show up in this year's X-mas episode. Crap, I got started, didn't I?

Sufficit to say, companions tend not to stay dead for long in Moffat's Whoniverse. In Magician's Apprentice, he's pulled another Moffat mishanter (Google it), where, as with the end of The Pandorica Opens - the penultimate episode of Smith's first season, everything has gone to pot - Clara and Missy are dead, the TARDIS is destroyed and the Doctor is trapped in a room with his deadliest enemy. Only, no, he's back on ancient Skaro, aiming a Dalek gun at Davros' younger self, ready to exterminate the exterminator creator. Well, the Doc did something similar in the Eccelstone episode, Dalek, and was told a few episodes later that he would 'make a good Dalek', so, now, maybe he will. He would be the first Dalek, in a way. Question is, how did he get back to early Skaro without the TARDIS? Perhaps he uses the TARDIS of the First Doctor, possibly in the Dalek City if this is set at the time of their first appearance in the show? If so, where are the Thals - that other indigenous Skaroan race? Whatever, it's bound to be another deus ex Moffina, as with the Pandorica itself in The Big Bang

I was very impressed by The Magician's Apprentice and hope that it has set the tone for the rest of the series, which has a lot to live up to if so. 

Images courtesy of http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0/galleries

Friday 12 June 2015

He's NOT The Messiah, He's A Very Talky Boy! | Revolution by Russell Brand - Review




At one point in Revolution, Russell Brand’s latest book, the comedian considers the problem of homelessness; the fact that we have enough housing for everyone in the UK, yet we still have many rough sleepers. ‘”Don’t give them any money:”’ Brand quotes a well-oiled phrase, “they’ll just spend it on drugs.” …so what?’ He argues. ‘I find it hard enough to not take smack sleeping in my cosy flat, take that away and I’ll need at least a ten pound bag of brown warmth to take the edge off.’

Of course, as Brand has always been so keen to remind us – frequently, in Revolution – he knows whereof he speaks when it comes to easing the pain of reality through drug use, even if he has never been homeless. For Brand, if you didn’t already know, drugs were his way of dealing with the boredom and listlessness of growing up in the economically depressed area of Grays, Essex, continuing to use as his media career progressed.

When he saw that drugs were causing him more harm than good, Brand quit. That addictive personality soon sought satisfaction in other ways, though, through sex, fame and…yoga. What with Revolution, his YouTube show The Trews (i.e. ‘true news’) and his film, The Emperor’s New Clothes it’s easy to see politics as Brand’s newest drug of choice, which at least benefits people other than dealers.




Whether at the start of a sentence or not, Brand always pretentiously writes the word ‘Revolution’ with a capital ‘R,’ as if he invented it. Perhaps it’s to get us to roll the ‘R’ like he often has on TV, like, ‘Ooh, let’s ‘ave a lovely Rrrrevolution, me dears. Won’t it be lovely?’ All said with wide, come-hither eyes and a hand on one hip. For Brand, it's uncharacteristically bland as a title, almost as much so as Brand reusing the title of Andersen’s children's book for his follow-up film (which, going by the trailer, hardly seems dull). I mean, at least put a word before it, like Christian activist and speaker Shane Claiborne did with his 2007 book, The Irresistible Revolution, which pretty much covers the same ground as Brand’s tome but with clearer writing, greater humility and from a more explicitly Christian perspective (although Brand pays quite a lot of heed to Jesus and the Bible). Something unlikely to appeal to the popular market Brand is simultaneously courting and criticising with Revolution. The title on the cover is styled to have the word ‘LOVE’ backwards within it – tricky to do throughout the entire book and I suppose Love Revolution or Revolution of Love just sound cloying.

I’ve always found Russell Brand repulsive and compelling in equal measure. He could be obnoxious and inappropriate (Sachsgate, for example) but there was something more appealing about him– a sense of the spiritual and a willingness to engage with people from all walks of life. A quick look at the Revolution hardback in Waterstones a while ago revealed that Russell brings up the St. Francis Prayer -‘Lord, make me a channel of thy peace…’ etc – early on. This inspired me to read the whole book - a library copy of course, abiding by the author’s anti-capitalist message by not parting with my money, even if at least some of it goes toward his ‘Trew Era Café’. It appealed to me that Brand uses prayer himself, even if he considers it to be ‘linguistic codes…that initiate neurological procedures’. This seems a rather reductive, materialistic description of prayer for such an apparently spiritual man.

My goodness, though, if Brand doesn’t half bang on about us all getting into Kundalini yoga and transcendental meditation in order to bring about a spiritual ‘Revolution’ of collective consciousness, where we free ourselves of our need for stuff, therefore our need for capitalism and therefore, corporations that run on capitalism and therefore, governments what are internally corrupt ‘n’ that cos they only serve these rich businesses, rather than the people who vote for politicians, yeah? DON’T VOTE! (Except for Labour in 2015, as Brand told us in the Trews edition where he interviewed Ed Milliband, for all the difference it made.)

It’s not that I’m against what ‘Ol’ Russ’ is proposing. It’s just that I’ve heard or read it before and communicated better, which is odd to write regarding a professional talker like Brand, who writes pretty much like he speaks – very stream-of-consciousness and filthy, with some unnecessary rhyming, to boot. Yet, there is brilliance in here, including some killer one liners. Whilst writing about performance being like calling down information from other realms, Brand counters himself with an imagined response from the reader, '"Russell...are you bringing down information from other realms when you're talking about your willy at the Hammersmith Apollo?"'

It’s such a mixture of the sacred and profane (and all inbetween), it’s like he kept a journal addressing the reader and sent the latest volume to Random House. It’s nice of Ol’ Russ to be so jocular with us, as if we're mates he just hasn’t yet met but the book’s juxtaposition of larks and seriousness is jarring at times. Not so in others, though.

I really struggled with all of the economy stuff, partly because it read like Brand was merely parroting information and partly because he didn’t add any jokes in these bits (which is probably pretty hard to joke about, anyway) but other heavy, or dry, parts of the book are more enjoyable for the levity.

With a good editor, Revolution could have been a storming read. As it is, it’s like ploughing through a first draft and is hard work at times. I found myself wanting to throw the book on the ground after reading another quote that Brand expands upon, another non-sequitur chapter ‘ending’, or, most annoyingly, another story or quote from one of Russell’s mates whom I’ve never heard of and whose opinion I am supposed to respect. Nik, for example (for it is he) thinks that, ‘the first act after a successful Revolution should be the execution of its leaders’ in order to prevent power going to their heads. Cheers, Nik.

I believe that there is something in all of this spiritual business; it’s just that its practical application is a little lost in Revolution but other authors, such as those quoted in it, put it better. Whilst relying a little too much on his mates’ ideas, Brand also quotes from people most of us have actually heard of – Orwell, Chomsky, Tolle, Jesus etc but when I read ‘another world is possible’ (or words to that effect) I had to wonder if Brand actually has a copy of Irresistible Revolution on his shelf (in which that phrase appears, although Claiborne appropriated it elsewhere) he just doesn’t want to admit it, since his Revolution-ary plans are too similar. Shane writes of his experiences working with Mother Teresa and helping Iraqi children, whereas Brand has listened to and read books by a lot of clever people with a social conscience and once let a homeless person sleep in his flat for one night for TV. However, it is fascinating that Brand has reached the point he has after an unfulfilling life of drugs, sex and fame. Brand's point of view is very different from Claiborne’s and just as valid. Kindness is not a competition but, in fairness, I can’t say that I’ve done anything as altruistic as either of them. I’ve also never been addicted to drugs, sex or fame and, honestly, I feel a touch of regret about that. I could still do those things but I fear they would taint my halo of social conscience. Such as it is!

Brand is a Prodigal Son, of sorts, abandoning a hedonistic lifestyle and returning to the Father, or, at least, some sort of spiritual peace involving God. He’d probably rather be the Son of God, though, even if he comes off more like Rik, Rik Mayall's anarchist character in The Young Ones. Brand is a man who did a stand-up show called Messiah Complex in which he compared himself to Christ, amongst other revolutionaries, including Hitler, I believe. In Chapter 10, Brand urges us, as if he is ‘like some weird, bizarro Jesus’, to take pity on the rich, for they, too are slaves to the same corrupt system as the rest of us. Fair point. 


 Whilst very respectful, indeed inspired, by Christianity – Brand even dedicates a whole chapter to the Lord’s Prayer  - his spirituality is a hodgepodge of the Bible, Buddhism and a bit of Paganism thrown in for good measure. He sees it all as coming from the same Source that those of us enslaved to the capitalist matrix need to return to if we’re gonna get this bloody revolution, whoops, sorry, ‘Revolution’, off the bloody ground, right? Such is the force of Brand’s argument, however, he even nearly had me convinced that religion is merely a human construct but that there is, beyond it, a spiritual awareness. Dedicating a chapter to the Paternoster prayer, however, not to mention other chapters that take us through Manifest Destiny, the Co-Op manifesto and, most laughably of all, the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous as a foundation for Brand’s ‘trew’ world order, is lazy writing. Claiborne’s book had the ‘Marks Of A New Monasticism’ list at the end but Brand takes up whole chapters with the things. OK, he admits that he wants the Revolution to be fun but leading up to the Twelve Traditions as his bedrock for a better world made me wonder if he was just taking the piss altogether.

Saying that, it’s not entirely unconvincing.

Brand is easy to bash and is the first to call himself out on his own problems, mistakes and hypocrisy. He admits to not having achieved enlightenment quite yet and still struggles with his own ego. He knows he’s having a go at Apple whilst writing the book using one of their products (as I am to write this review; slave to the system that I am.) He realises that people will take shots at him for his views (haven’t they always) but bless me if Brand doesn’t have a winning sincerity at times.

Images from Facebook.



Saturday 2 May 2015

Not Great But Good | Spooks: The Greater Good - Review



Hey, Pinewood Films, I know your game. Advertise a 'special advance screening' of the new Spooks film, The Greater Good, in order to generate word of mouth for a relatively low budget British production, based on an old TV series. The opening weekend gross is what counts, of course, especially with under the Radar ones like Greater Good and, since it opens nationwide on May 8th, it seems Pinewood want to make sure this one does as well as possible by getting people talking with an early screening.

As a Spooks fan, it's a welcome opportunity to see Greater Good before it goes on general release (I probably would've waited for the DVD otherwise). As a film fan, it's a rare chance to see one before most people - not that Greater Good is likely to draw huge crowds.

It was also great to go straight into the film and not have to sit through the usual adverts and trailers I've already seen. With a standard cinema ticket costing nearly a tenner, why can't all screenings be like this? I think films would do a lot better if people, having paid that much, did not have to endure commercials being forced down their throats, along with trailers for films they weren't intending to watch anyway or were intending to and don't need to see a trailer for because, if they're nerds like me, they've already watched them online too many times.

Anyway, Greater Good appears to have been cannily released to carefully avoid any of this year's competition from more established spy franchises, like Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation or SPECTRE, as well as summer blockbusters altogether. Greater Good's promotion rather unfairly draws comparisons with two other action film series with the poster tagline 'Mission: Impossible meets Bourne', which is obviously intended to draw fans of better known franchises. The show aired from 2002 to 2011, which is kind of ancient history in TV terms and it is not very fresh in people's minds. Yet, the tag sounds like a writer's pitch to a producer and feels odd to a fan of the TV show, as I am, who knows that, whilst the series often aimed for a cinematic feel, it's not really like either of those but does share some common ground - action, terrorism, double-crosses. That tagline takes some of Spooks' own identity away, making Greater Good sound to the uninitiated like it's a British knock-off of those films, whereas the TV programme predates Bourne and the second and third M:I films by some years.

Spooks' unique angle, though, is that it is about MI5 (that's Ministry of Intelligence, not Mission: Impossible, as I'm sure you knew) - UK homeland security. Bharat Nalluri, Director of the first and last episodes of Spooks on TV, returns to keep alive the series' signature approach of handling foreign terrorist threats on UK soil, where ordinary lives are at stake, whilst also showing the personal cost that defending the realm has on MI5 agents. The film takes the established conventions and satisfyingly broadens the scope for a cinema audience. There is some globe-trotting to Russia and Germany in Greater Good but these places look less glamorous than they would in Mission: Impossible or possibly Bourne and the film doesn't spend long in either. Spooks, similar to Bourne, is also pretty believable, set as it is in a world much like our own. Also, there are no gadgets or gimmicks; the Spooks must rely on existing tech, as well as their wits, training and each other, to get the job done.

There are lots of cool aerial shots of the Big Smoke, adding to the air of threat established by the escape of terrorist, Adem Qasim (Elyes Gabel). If only they hadn't redesigned The Grid (MI5's centre of operations) - now complete with ghastly new lime green chairs around a less shinier conference table than before. Although the room these are in is the setting for one of the film's best scenes. Happily, I think some of those chairs got damaged and so will need replacing for the potential next film. Sadly, those cool swishy doors have gone, too. The theme music is present, although not during the opening titles, which has sombre music as we hear news reports regarding Qasim. I thought it was clever how someone says 'BBC' as the very same letters appear in the titles. Nice.

At the centre of it all, as ever, is Harry Pearce, played, of course, by the excellent Peter Firth. The one character who so often seemed liable to fall to the Spooks curse of being shockingly killed off but, being such a great character, we all knew never would be, returns to Britain's aid once more. The sudden, tragic death of a main character is another series trademark (or cliche) the film stays true to and there are a few returning faces from the show, who do not all make it to the end.

Seeing Harry Pearce - the UK's head Spook - and another series stalwart indulging in a spot of espionage in a grotty London internet cafe is a hoot. In order to complete the highly illegal operation Harry is having him do, the stalwart says he must 'steal more bandwidth' from the London boroughs, resulting in the cafe's other PC's (the cafe's not upgraded to Macs, yet) going haywire, leaving their users perplexed. My IT expert friend, with whom I was watching the film, pointed out, 'the internet doesn't work like that', although the more realistic frozen screens and the little digital hourglass is less visually interesting than the monitors frantically blinking and flashing.

It's great to see Harry Pearce back in action once again. I only miss his old habit of holding a mobile phone with one hand to the opposite ear, as if covering his mouth from anyone attempting to lipread it. Here, he just turns away from someone spying on him whilst he's making a call.

Qasim is a dependable, if not exactly striking, villain in the same mould as those of the series - the villains look like everyday people but with radicalised beliefs and some inner pain which they feel the need to take out on Western society. Qasim's methods are brutal but he's not a particularly interesting character, although one can sympathise with why he acts the way he does.

Greater Good doesn't require you to have seen the TV show to understand and enjoy it, although I liked it more for having been a fan. The story is typical of the series, involving Qasim's attempts to bring civil disorder to the UK using big bangs, with our heroes out to prevent him. Will Holloway (Kit Harington) is the former MI5 agent re-recruited by Harry to help him deal with the terrorist whom he allowed to escape.


Holloway is in no way in danger of becoming a new Bond, Bourne or Ethan Hunt. He looks more like a permanently depressed, tattoo-less Russell Brand as he mopes for his dead father and drops f-bombs on Harry Pearce - the next best thing Will now has to a father. Harington is good as the latest strapping young lad taking down the villains at Harry's command. It's just a shame there is no romance between him and either Tuppence Middleton's MI5 agent June or Eleanor Matsuura's Hannah Santo (whom I think worked for GCHQ?)  It's somewhat refreshing that the story sticks to business, though. It might have been a bit cliche to have the hero getting fresh with the ladies…or gents. I detected a slight frisson between Will and June, however.

Harry is once again annoying his superiors, played by the great and the good of British TV, including Tim McInnerny as MI5 Director General, Mace (Darling from Blackadder) and Pride and Prejudice's Jennifer Ehle as snooty MI5 Deputy Director, Geraldine Maltby, whose accent confused me. It's two parts the cut-glass English vowels of Lizzy Bennet and one part American. IMDb informs me Ehle was born in North Carolina, so that explains that one…and has bearing on her role in Greater Good.

One could do a lot worse than Spooks: The Greater Good. It's exciting, shocking and cinematic, expanding on what made the TV show great but, unless you're a big Spooks fan, I would recommend waiting for the DVD.

Images: 'Spooks: The Greater Good' Facebook page.