Media Log!
Jun. 27th, 2012 02:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fannishlissThe heat wave that was making us hot and sweaty in the mid-Atlantic finally broke and the past couple days have been absolutely ideal. I've been walking around my lake pretty regularly and having a great time with my camera and sneakily picking raspberries and blackberries.
Now with new star rating system!
[92] Supernatural 7.23 ***
[93] Sherlock 2.3 ***
[94] National Theater Live Frankenstein **** [detailed review]
[95] Death on the Nile ***
[96] The Princess Bride ******
Classic Who: [97] The Aztecs *****
[98] Planet of the Spiders ****
[99] Revenge of the Cybermen **
[100] The Brain of Morbius ****
[101] Revelation of the Daleks *
[92] SPN 7.23 finale *** I'm glad the Leviathans are done with… Now I want Sammy to team up with Jody, and I want Dean to escape… I feel like this is not a meathooks summer, which is good.
[93] Sherlock 2.3 The Reichenbach Fall. *** My favorite things about Sherlock do not include Moriarty. Grrrr. However, I did love the heist of the Crown Jewels. :D And I love John, so the whole trauma to John aspects worked for me. John weeping at the tombstone was probably my favorite part… and Sherlock with Molly, and Sherlock on the roof, were also pretty cool. Am spending a lot of time reading ACD on my kindle, where it was downloaded for $1!! and reading great, great stores at 221B recs. What a lot of great fic is out there. It is really fun to read the canon story of Milverton and then compare to what fic writers make of it. It is indeed just as flashy as it seems. My son enjoyed watching the Baskerville ep, but didn't care much for A Study in Pink. I'd also like to thank![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hells_half_acre for sharing her wonderful watch-through of the ep, it was really fun to watch again with her thoughts in mind.
[94] National Theater Live Frankenstein. **** So I have a PhD in English Lit, my field is Romanticism, and my dissertation was about Mary Shelley, so yeah, I had to see this movie. Not to mention that I love Danny Boyle, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Jonny Lee Miller. So I was beyond really, really excited to see it.
This show is a great example of the trend of British theaters filming productions digitally for the benefit of people who can't afford to fly to England for the weekend. Yay!!! I wholeheartedly support this trend. So far I have loved Tennant in Hamlet and Stewart in Macbeth, both of which were staged plays moved to location and filmed. Much Ado about Nothing, with Tennant and Tate, filmed live, was incredibly cool. The energy of live theater was really captured in that production. The National Theater's Frankenstein was not a flawless production, and the interaction between audience and actor was markedly less, but still a beautifully filmed stage production.
I hope it won't count as spoilers for me to talk about this show in depth. It is Frankenstein and it is pretty straight up.
The staging and set design was overall gorgeous. The lighting design alone must have cost half a million pounds: hundreds of individually controlled halogens, each on their own dangling wire, lit in concert or in canon like the entire Milky Way full of stars. AMAZING. I can only imagine how stunning it would have been in person. The stage features a circular rotating section, a full half of which could sink down for seamless scenery transitions, which I thought was worth it. The center of the stage featured a track, which was maybe a bit over-utilized.
In the first scene, which was long and elaborate, the Creature (Cumberbatch in the one I saw) emerged from a kind of pod. It was very womblike and evocative. Then he flopped on the floor very grotesquely and painstakingly worked himself up onto his feet. It seemed to take about ten minutes or so? An amazing physical performance by Cumberbatch, it really reinforced Victor's disgust when he came in to find the Creature staggering spasmodically about.
Then there was the biggest misstep, the Train of the Industrial Revolution. Idek what Boyle was thinking, but it was like some kind of weird scene out of a rock opera. Did not want. I guess it represented the Creature overwhelmed by the bustle of human society???
The whole act with the DeLaceys was brilliant. Safie was cut but it was okay. Agatha was Felix's wife instead. Old Man DeLacey was awesome, and had great conversations with the Creature. If only he'd told his kids who was helping them! The front of the cabin was a scrim with a Blake drawing of the Serpent tempting Eve I think. It was perfect.
The scene where the Creature meets William was very touching. He tried not to let William see him, but the kid panicked anyway, of course. Then William's death draws Victor up to the ice for the confrontation. One of the best lines: "If I had not killed him, would you have come?"
Naomie Harris as Elizabeth did a really beautiful job playing the ingenue and yet, someone who longed for greater connection with Victor, who always remains distant and cold. Elizabeth was handled almost perfectly in this production.
Clerval was cut and it worked fine. Victor interacts instead with a couple of Scottish blokes who bring him corpse parts. The girl playing the corpse of the Bride, not fully animated, was striking and graceful. It was horrid when Victor destroyed her.
The most tragic scene of all was the heartbreaking conversation between the Creature and Elizabeth. She promises to be his friend and to advocate for him with Victor. Then he says, "But from my creator I have learned how to lie, how to betray --" and then he rapes and kills her. I think the rape went too far. Strangulation would have been plenty horrid enough. But then, I think that rape scenes should always be avoided whenever possible, so I did not approve of that addition.
The final act with the Creature and Victor striving toward the pole was just as it should have been, except that they did not vanish into darkness and distance. That's okay I guess. :P
Overall, I thought it was truly a fantastic adaptation. I liked many of the cuts and only disapproved of a couple of choices. Cumberbatch, Miller, and Harris were all superb. It gives me many inspirations toward my project of the stage version I am dreaming of.
My son was also very strongly affected by the movie. I am of the Creature's party, of course, but still it surprised me when my son was moved to tears by how cruelly he was treated. He had no sympathy with Victor at all.
[95] Death on the Nile (1978) ***. Hercule Poirot played by Peter Ustinov, plus David Niven, Maggie Smith, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow and a host of others. My son liked the mystery. It's fun to watch his taste develop.
[96] The Princess Bride (1987). ****** My son chose this to watch with his friends for his birthday. It was fun to watch a group of 12-year-olds watch this great classic, some for the first time. It never gets old! I was telling them how people my age can quote practically the entire film. One friend said whenever she leaves the house her mom says "Have fun storming the castle!" and she never knew why. :P
Classic Who:
[97] The Aztecs (1964). ***** This story is from the first season and features One, Susan, Barbara and Ian. My favorite pre1970 story so far, six episodes long but very involving. The Tardis lands inside an Aztec temple and Barbara puts on a bracelet that convinces the Aztecs that she is their goddess. One priest is angry and one is friendly. The Doctor meets his first human girlfriend, Cameca. Ian gets to be quite dashing. Lots of fun capering on the part of the angry priest. Plus, a guy called "the Perfect Sacrifice" who tries to marry Susan. A great story, very fun.
[98] Planet of the Spiders (1974, 11.5). **** Three, Sarah Jane, the Brigadier, and Mike Yates. This story was absolutely great Classic Who in so many ways. The biggest downside is the complete misuse of Transcendental Meditation to very aggressively form a dimensional gap. What?? Sarah Jane is awesome and brave in this. Mike Yates is a pretty cool guy and much more to Sarah Jane's taste than Harry, who constantly gets on her last nerve. Three gets to use his skills at Venusian Judo, and there is a fantastic multi-vehicle chase in which basically every possible type of vehicle is deployed, including ultralight helicopter and pontoon boat. There are big and small spiders everywhere, taking over people's minds and riding their backs like that time bug did to Donna. There is the Metebilis crystal, and of course, Sarah Jane and the Doctor get to help a conquered people overthrow their cruel overlords. Best of all (if you can get past the guy playing him) is meeting the Doctor's old mentor, the Hermit who Lives Halway up the Mountain.
[99] Revenge of the Cybermen (1975, 12.5). ** Four, Sarah Jane and Harry vs. annoying humans, weird gold mining aliens, and cybers, my least favorite monsters. Even the presence of a cybermat didn't save this one for me.
[100] The Brain of Morbius (1976, 13.5). **** This is the classic story with Sarah Jane and Four vs. Solon and Morbius, with special guests the Sisterhood of Karn. Too bad, there's no hint that the Sisters were originally from Gallifrey, but the Doctor does say his home planet is relatively nearby. The Doctor challenges Morbius to the famous Mindbending. In all, a fairly awesome classic who story.
[101] Revelation of the Daleks (1985, 22.6). * Six and Peri. There were parts of this that were just terrible and parts that were okay. The worst is the amount of screen time taken up by this weird Elvis impersonator. What??? There are a bunch of annoying morticians, who seem to have been setup in the soylent green business by the Daleks. Sadly, this story just didn't hold my interest.
Now with new star rating system!
[92] Supernatural 7.23 ***
[93] Sherlock 2.3 ***
[94] National Theater Live Frankenstein **** [detailed review]
[95] Death on the Nile ***
[96] The Princess Bride ******
Classic Who: [97] The Aztecs *****
[98] Planet of the Spiders ****
[99] Revenge of the Cybermen **
[100] The Brain of Morbius ****
[101] Revelation of the Daleks *
[92] SPN 7.23 finale *** I'm glad the Leviathans are done with… Now I want Sammy to team up with Jody, and I want Dean to escape… I feel like this is not a meathooks summer, which is good.
[93] Sherlock 2.3 The Reichenbach Fall. *** My favorite things about Sherlock do not include Moriarty. Grrrr. However, I did love the heist of the Crown Jewels. :D And I love John, so the whole trauma to John aspects worked for me. John weeping at the tombstone was probably my favorite part… and Sherlock with Molly, and Sherlock on the roof, were also pretty cool. Am spending a lot of time reading ACD on my kindle, where it was downloaded for $1!! and reading great, great stores at 221B recs. What a lot of great fic is out there. It is really fun to read the canon story of Milverton and then compare to what fic writers make of it. It is indeed just as flashy as it seems. My son enjoyed watching the Baskerville ep, but didn't care much for A Study in Pink. I'd also like to thank
hells_half_acre for sharing her wonderful watch-through of the ep, it was really fun to watch again with her thoughts in mind.[94] National Theater Live Frankenstein. **** So I have a PhD in English Lit, my field is Romanticism, and my dissertation was about Mary Shelley, so yeah, I had to see this movie. Not to mention that I love Danny Boyle, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Jonny Lee Miller. So I was beyond really, really excited to see it.
This show is a great example of the trend of British theaters filming productions digitally for the benefit of people who can't afford to fly to England for the weekend. Yay!!! I wholeheartedly support this trend. So far I have loved Tennant in Hamlet and Stewart in Macbeth, both of which were staged plays moved to location and filmed. Much Ado about Nothing, with Tennant and Tate, filmed live, was incredibly cool. The energy of live theater was really captured in that production. The National Theater's Frankenstein was not a flawless production, and the interaction between audience and actor was markedly less, but still a beautifully filmed stage production.
I hope it won't count as spoilers for me to talk about this show in depth. It is Frankenstein and it is pretty straight up.
The staging and set design was overall gorgeous. The lighting design alone must have cost half a million pounds: hundreds of individually controlled halogens, each on their own dangling wire, lit in concert or in canon like the entire Milky Way full of stars. AMAZING. I can only imagine how stunning it would have been in person. The stage features a circular rotating section, a full half of which could sink down for seamless scenery transitions, which I thought was worth it. The center of the stage featured a track, which was maybe a bit over-utilized.
In the first scene, which was long and elaborate, the Creature (Cumberbatch in the one I saw) emerged from a kind of pod. It was very womblike and evocative. Then he flopped on the floor very grotesquely and painstakingly worked himself up onto his feet. It seemed to take about ten minutes or so? An amazing physical performance by Cumberbatch, it really reinforced Victor's disgust when he came in to find the Creature staggering spasmodically about.
Then there was the biggest misstep, the Train of the Industrial Revolution. Idek what Boyle was thinking, but it was like some kind of weird scene out of a rock opera. Did not want. I guess it represented the Creature overwhelmed by the bustle of human society???
The whole act with the DeLaceys was brilliant. Safie was cut but it was okay. Agatha was Felix's wife instead. Old Man DeLacey was awesome, and had great conversations with the Creature. If only he'd told his kids who was helping them! The front of the cabin was a scrim with a Blake drawing of the Serpent tempting Eve I think. It was perfect.
The scene where the Creature meets William was very touching. He tried not to let William see him, but the kid panicked anyway, of course. Then William's death draws Victor up to the ice for the confrontation. One of the best lines: "If I had not killed him, would you have come?"
Naomie Harris as Elizabeth did a really beautiful job playing the ingenue and yet, someone who longed for greater connection with Victor, who always remains distant and cold. Elizabeth was handled almost perfectly in this production.
Clerval was cut and it worked fine. Victor interacts instead with a couple of Scottish blokes who bring him corpse parts. The girl playing the corpse of the Bride, not fully animated, was striking and graceful. It was horrid when Victor destroyed her.
The most tragic scene of all was the heartbreaking conversation between the Creature and Elizabeth. She promises to be his friend and to advocate for him with Victor. Then he says, "But from my creator I have learned how to lie, how to betray --" and then he rapes and kills her. I think the rape went too far. Strangulation would have been plenty horrid enough. But then, I think that rape scenes should always be avoided whenever possible, so I did not approve of that addition.
The final act with the Creature and Victor striving toward the pole was just as it should have been, except that they did not vanish into darkness and distance. That's okay I guess. :P
Overall, I thought it was truly a fantastic adaptation. I liked many of the cuts and only disapproved of a couple of choices. Cumberbatch, Miller, and Harris were all superb. It gives me many inspirations toward my project of the stage version I am dreaming of.
My son was also very strongly affected by the movie. I am of the Creature's party, of course, but still it surprised me when my son was moved to tears by how cruelly he was treated. He had no sympathy with Victor at all.
[95] Death on the Nile (1978) ***. Hercule Poirot played by Peter Ustinov, plus David Niven, Maggie Smith, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow and a host of others. My son liked the mystery. It's fun to watch his taste develop.
[96] The Princess Bride (1987). ****** My son chose this to watch with his friends for his birthday. It was fun to watch a group of 12-year-olds watch this great classic, some for the first time. It never gets old! I was telling them how people my age can quote practically the entire film. One friend said whenever she leaves the house her mom says "Have fun storming the castle!" and she never knew why. :P
Classic Who:
[97] The Aztecs (1964). ***** This story is from the first season and features One, Susan, Barbara and Ian. My favorite pre1970 story so far, six episodes long but very involving. The Tardis lands inside an Aztec temple and Barbara puts on a bracelet that convinces the Aztecs that she is their goddess. One priest is angry and one is friendly. The Doctor meets his first human girlfriend, Cameca. Ian gets to be quite dashing. Lots of fun capering on the part of the angry priest. Plus, a guy called "the Perfect Sacrifice" who tries to marry Susan. A great story, very fun.
[98] Planet of the Spiders (1974, 11.5). **** Three, Sarah Jane, the Brigadier, and Mike Yates. This story was absolutely great Classic Who in so many ways. The biggest downside is the complete misuse of Transcendental Meditation to very aggressively form a dimensional gap. What?? Sarah Jane is awesome and brave in this. Mike Yates is a pretty cool guy and much more to Sarah Jane's taste than Harry, who constantly gets on her last nerve. Three gets to use his skills at Venusian Judo, and there is a fantastic multi-vehicle chase in which basically every possible type of vehicle is deployed, including ultralight helicopter and pontoon boat. There are big and small spiders everywhere, taking over people's minds and riding their backs like that time bug did to Donna. There is the Metebilis crystal, and of course, Sarah Jane and the Doctor get to help a conquered people overthrow their cruel overlords. Best of all (if you can get past the guy playing him) is meeting the Doctor's old mentor, the Hermit who Lives Halway up the Mountain.
[99] Revenge of the Cybermen (1975, 12.5). ** Four, Sarah Jane and Harry vs. annoying humans, weird gold mining aliens, and cybers, my least favorite monsters. Even the presence of a cybermat didn't save this one for me.
[100] The Brain of Morbius (1976, 13.5). **** This is the classic story with Sarah Jane and Four vs. Solon and Morbius, with special guests the Sisterhood of Karn. Too bad, there's no hint that the Sisters were originally from Gallifrey, but the Doctor does say his home planet is relatively nearby. The Doctor challenges Morbius to the famous Mindbending. In all, a fairly awesome classic who story.
[101] Revelation of the Daleks (1985, 22.6). * Six and Peri. There were parts of this that were just terrible and parts that were okay. The worst is the amount of screen time taken up by this weird Elvis impersonator. What??? There are a bunch of annoying morticians, who seem to have been setup in the soylent green business by the Daleks. Sadly, this story just didn't hold my interest.
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