shallowness

The last disc of my season 1 rewatch!

( spoilers for the whole seasom )

Having not loved season 2 so much, I'm undecided as to whether I’ll bother getting season 3 out of mild curiosity. As I have an epic pile of TV DVDs to get through, there’s no rush. Coming up next, a rewatch of season 4 of The OC.

This disc was most generous with the extras, even for when it was made. I’m generally happy with a blooper reel and commentaries, these days, which we got, but the features included one on building the character of Belle with a focus on the costuming - good choice!

I rated these four episodes at about the same level, although I cared a smidge less for ‘The Stable Boy’, which is Regina’s backstory.

( Hat Trick, The Stable Boy, The Return, The Stranger,  )

There’s a commentary on The Stable Boy featuring a spoiler warning for the finale. That’s a first for me.

Also, I finally watched Wonder Woman on DVD last night, and it worked better for me than it did in the cinema - more scenes had an emotional impact and I picked up on nuances I hadn't the first time around. I think I was influenced by reading a lot that was written by people who loved the film more than I did. Certainly, I'm excited about where the director and her leading lady take the character next in the sequel.

I'm still rewatching OUAT season 1 on DVD.

I thought this disc got better and better. ( What Happened to Frederick, Dreamy, Red Handed, Heart of Darkness )

Last batch of recs. Fic, fanvids and fanart in the following fandoms: Pacific Rim; Parks and Recreation; Pride and Prejudice (book); Sherlock; Spy; and Wonder Woman (2017).

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If you enjoy any of these fanworks recced in this series of posts, please encourage their creators by letting them know.

My plan for the rest of the week is to post recs.

So, recs for fic, fanvids and fanart in the following fandoms: 13 Going on 30; Arrival; Brooklyn Nine-Nine; Guardians of the Galaxy; and Harry Potter.

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Before anything else, I found out yesterday that THERE IS A THE BLETCHLEY CIRCLE SPIN-OFF, featuring Millie and Jean, and they are in San Fransisco. And it is on ITV this Wednesday at nine, so that is currently my favourite TV channel. I am thrilled because I thought the show (about former lady cryptographers coming together to solve crimes) was dead and buried!

I've been catching up with some B99 episodes.

5.17 DFW

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5.18 Grey Star Mutual

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I’m obviously still behind with this show, but also a couple of others.

Gotham 4.15 The Sinking Ship, The Grand Applause

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Movie news: Initial thoughts on the announced Joker movie (a decade after The Dark Knight came out) are yes, I am interested in seeing Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the character, I’m less excited about the director (I just looked up Todd Phillips’s directing credits and…meh.) More broadly, I am not sure that having several different versions of characters or universes in the same medium out there are the same time is a great idea, Hollywood.

The Downton Abbey movie has been confirmed. I thought it was inevitable if they could get the stars to align. It’ll be interesting to see what they do with Lady Violet, who comes back and how it stands up when there's a more direct comparison to Gosford Park, even though the show has such a body of episodes behind it.

This week I went to see The Incredibles 2. Now, the first movie, which I rewatched has a ’15 Years Later’ title, and it is very nearly fifteen years since the last movie. So, a little voice in me did ask ‘why now?’ It was a very entertaining movie, though, and was much better on the women front. Although the film had Stuff to Say about modern technology and Bird’s theses about exceptionalism continued, ( SPOILERS )

I also watched Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema (it’s on the iPlayer) where he takes a genre an episode and casts a critical eye over it in the considering, non-judgmental sense, rather than with negativity, using a lot of clips to back up its suppositions. It was co-written with Kim Newman. The genre in question was the rom-com. I will definitely watch the episode on science fiction, but probably not the others. It’s fairly comprehensive. I liked the way that it looked at how the romcom overlaps with fairy tales, musicals and superhero movies, as I like all those genres.

My criticisms? It needed even more of a female perspective. It tried to be even-handed and awake to gender, but I think it could have dug deeper there and might have if more women had been involved in the making of the show. There were no clips from the late 40s through to the 60s as far as I recall, and it’s not as if there were no romcoms then. It might have been a better idea to have something explaining how we got from The Philadelphia Story to Annie Hall than going on about how The Shape of Water isn’t a rom com, but borrows from rom coms to merge with other genres and become a fable. I also have to point out that Four Weddings came out when I was at school and Bridget Jones’s Diary when I was at uni, so calling them ‘modern’ is a stretch.

Sorry, picky. I did clap my hands in delight when they did a side by side of The Shape of Water and The Gay Divorcee (or is it Follow the Fleet), shouted out ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ as the phrase was uttered and decided I must see The Lady Eve because PRATFALLS. It is the type of show that should make you want to look up or revisit films.

That's it for now. Phew.

Agents of SHIELD 5.15 Inside Voices

The show expects me to remember the details of the show back when I was thinking of giving it up. By this point, even though a lot of this post is grumbling and snark, I’m stuck for the long-haul, even pushing Poldark to the catch-up queue. But honestly ( I wasn't watching the show the way they thought I was watching it )

Once Upon a Time - Season 1 discs 1 and 2

I’m finally rewatching season 1 on DVD – I loved the show when it first came out, season 2 not so much, and then I didn’t have the opportunity to watch any more. Overall, it’s standing up to the rewatch, ( Read more... )