Elysium

'Elysium' is South African born, Vancouver based director, Neill Blomkamp's follow up to his amazing debut feature film, 'District 9'. And just like with 'District 9' Blomkamp is proving yet again that sci-fi movies can have a social and political message without bashing you over the head with it.

It's better up there. That's the tagline for this movie, and 'up there' is Elysium; a beautiful, man-made space station floating in orbit around an Earth that is overpopulated and over polluted. Up there is where the wealthiest live, and while the film doesn't give much of a view of how they live, I would hazard a guess that they have it pretty easy. The rest of the population, stuck on Earth, has it far worse. Slums have taken over and people are struggling to survive.  Especially Max, (Matt Damon) a reformed car thief doing his best to make it day by day, with big dreams of making it to Elysium some day. After a factory accident that gives him five days to live, Max becomes the perfect person to attempt to finally get past the harsh anti-immigration cannons of Elysium. Once there he can use one of the CT scan type things that identify and remove disease from citizens of Elysium. Max is outfitted with a kind of awesome, but mostly horrifying cyborg-type rig he goes head-to-head in a race against time opposite Kruger(Sharlto Copley), Elysium's Secretary of Defense Delacourt's (Jodie Foster) favourite mercenary, who makes a habit out of shooting refugees out of the sky.

While I'll be the first to admit the class struggle allegory in this film isn't quite as strong as the allegory of racial allegory in 'District 9', it doesn't make it any less enjoyable. I love that Blomkamp is making sci-fi smart again, not just the bubblegum 'movie-of-the-summer' sci-fi flicks that many studios have put out in the last decade. On top of the politics, Blomkamp also has an amazing eye for special effects. Often special effects these days are so smooth and CGI-looking that they take you right out of the story. The effects we get in 'Elysium' are gritty and corporeal, when a shuttle crashes it doesn't just blow up into a perfect orange fireball, it's machinery wrenched apart, like it should be.

I also love that this movie is only 109 minutes long. Blomkamp recognises that his audience is relatively intelligent and doesn't need to bash them over the head with detailed minutiae that they can infer for themselves. He, instead, pushes forward with the things the audience cares about and wants to see. In an age when movies are insufferably long for no good reason (coughTheLoneRangercough) Elysium tells its story in the perfect running time. When movies like this are made it makes me excited for what could come next, from Blomkamp and from sci-fi in general.

Summer Blog Black Hole!

I don't know what it is about the summer time that makes me a terrible blogger, but it seems to happen every year! That being said with autumn on the horizon it's time to get back into the swing of things. And I'm going to start that by doing a little catch up with some of our summer movies! (some of which, I'm sure, will be out on video or on demand shortly!)

Gulp!

I can't believe how far behind I've fallen with my reviews! Sorry folks! Last year, the trouble was that I was a bit poor and there weren't that many movies that were crying out to be seen. This year I'm having the reverse problem. There are SO many movies to see, and so much going on that I can't seem to get anything written!
I'll attempt to make some inroads tonight! PROMISE!

Trailer Time! 300: Rise of an Empire

I don't know about this one you guys. I'm sure I'll see it, but I really love 300. Like a lot. Like a lot, a lot. I know it's not for everyone, but I love the hyperstylised look of it and the story of the last stand of the Spartans. However, I don't really know about this one, without Leonidas....But it looks like there's gonna be abs and action again, so I'll be there ;) (Also, please note it's now blue capes, instead of red, hilarious)

Trailer Time! The Wolverine (again!)

Another day, another great trailer! This time it's our second go round with "The Wolverine". I'm getting more and more excited for this movie you guys! Lots of action with some nice quiet character moments thrown in, looks good to me! Plus we finally get a good look at Viper!

What do you think?! Let me know!

Trailer Time! The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug!!!

YOU GUYS! It's here, the teaser trailer for 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug'! Peter Jackson teased the teaser on Facebook on Sunday, and has most certainly delivered! I know there were a lot of mixed emotions about the 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey', but I enjoyed it.
Looks like the action will be ramping up here in the middle frame of 'The Hobbit' trilogy. Bilbo and the dwarves have to deal with ginormous bears, spiders and elves who aren't nearly as friendly as the ones in Rivendell. And all that and it still looks like they're going to manage to make it through Lake Town to the Lonely Mountain by the end of the movie, whew! That's a lot of action, folks! Have a look!



And did you see?! Since we're in the Woodland realm, those elves include our old pal Legolas and his new friend...Kate from Lost? That's right, Evangeline Lily has put on the ol'elf ears and is firing off arrows with the best of them!
So! Excited? Trepidatious? Let me know in the comments!

West Coast Geeks vs Nerds!

You guys, something awesome has been happening for the past nine(ish) months in Vancouver, especially if you've ever been embroiled in one of those age old debates; Buffy vs Blade: Who's the better vampire slayer? or Samus Aran vs Ellen Ripley: Who's the ultimate alien exterminator? Well, at West Coast Geeks versus Nerds you get to watch two teams of debaters go head to head for supremacy and ultimate bragging rights on one of these very important questions.

The crowd getting warmed up pre-debate.

West Coast Geeks versus Nerds is the West Coast transplant (WHAT?! West Coast GvN is on the West coast? Shut up and let me finish!) of Geeks versus Nerds that originated in Halifax in 2010. Co-producers Chris Nyarady (aka MooMan) and Keegan Flick-Parker (aka Number7) thought it was high-time that the rather enthusiastic nerds here in VanCity had an oppourtunity to get out of our hidey holes and act like fools in a public forum (since that really is one of our strongest traits, acting the fool).

The first season of debates occurred monthly from September through May and each night of hilarity featured two debates; an opener and a headliner. There was most certainly a wide range of topics, from Episode One's who's biggest badass, Boba Fett or Batman? (Batman was the winner here) all the way to Episode Nine's which is more likely to exist, Zombies or Unicorns? (as a proud member of team Zombie, I can cry victory on that one). Debates are all structured the same, with teams defending and attacking the opposing team with wit, facts, and the occasional outright fabrication, all in an effort to win over the unruly crowd of nerds that, in the end, determine the winner of the debate.

When West Coast GvN first started in September there was a fairly decent crowd of 57 and by the end of the year, through word of mouth and sheer awesomeness they managed to sell out the finale, almost doubling their numbers, with 107 nerds in attendance! And let me tell you, 107 cheering geeks and nerds is a sight (and sound) to behold. No one is passionate about things the way nerds are, it's kinda our thang, being obsessively passionate about our little subsections of the general geekery.

I was privileged enough to be part of three debates this year; Team Samus in Who's the Better Alien Exterminator? Samus Aran or Ripley (Samus wins this one hands down, her head count is WAY higher), Team Finn in Who's the Greatest Adventurer in a Whacked Out Land? Finn the Human or Mario (sadly Finn didn't prevail in this adventure), and last but not least Team Zombie in the finale of Which is More Likely to Exist? Zombies or Unicorns (as previously mentioned the undead were the winners here!) It's a pretty outstanding experience, you jam-pack a bunch of research into your brain, organise it best you can, come up with some funny jabs and have at 'er. Getting to verbally spar with your fellow geeks and nerds is ridiculously entertaining and often times frustrating, but in the end it's just FUN!

Being an audience member at West Coast GvN is an equally satisfying experience, getting to be witness the hilarity happening on stage, cheering good lines, jeering the bad. There aren't many places where you're encouraged to be a bit ridiculous, but you sure are when you're at GvN!

Then there are the prizes! What?! I didn't mention the prizes?! Well, if you dress up for any of the shows you can enter the costume contest and win a prize pack o' goodies that are often themed for the event. Then there's a good ol' fashioned ticket prize, that's right your entrance into the debate also gives you a chance to win fabulous prizes!

We're almost done, but I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to MooMan, Chris is both host and moderator. He introduces the debates with info about both characters spun in his own wonderfully funny way. He also makes sure the debaters stay on topic and don't get too out of hand, that's why he carries a nerf gun folks, and he's not afraid to use it. Although I don't know how much good it did him during 'Femaggedon' when he had a night of female-only debates, that was one uncomfortable looking dude.

There's also an amazeballs group of folks that work behind the scenes to put on the debates. Seriously, these people are amazing. And although I only know a subset of them, I can only assume that their involvement in GvN demonstrates their general awesomeness.

The debates with West Coast Geek versus Nerds don't start up again until September, but in the mean time there are a few events coming up around the city geared to get us geeks out of our basements and socialising IRL, so check them out on Facebook, or Twitter, or on their website. Seriously people, we live in 2013, it's not hard to find these things! See you in September, I'll be there and I'll be cheering loudly, how about you?!

VICTORY FOR TEAM ZOMBIE!

Trailer Time! The Wolverine

Let me talk to you about Wolverine. I LOVE him. I know, I say I love a lot of things, but he is my most favourite comic book character. I enjoyed Hugh Jackman's turn as the Ol' Canucklehead in the X-Men movies (despite the awfulness that is X3) and then 'Wolverine: Origins' happened. You should have seen me in the theatre. I was seething with anger at all the ways they were ruining my Wolverine. (not mention whatever the hell that was they did to Deadpool) My friend Craig tried to talk me down a bit, but I couldn't be deterred from my hate. However, now that I understand the politics of the Marvel movie universe a little better I see that 'Wolverine: Origin' was slapped together to hang on to the rights and not let Wolverine go back home to Marvel. (or at least that's what I keep telling myself) 

However, with this trailer it makes me think that director James Mangold (of 'Walk the Line' and 'Girl, Interrupted fame) looks like he's trying to right some wrongs in 'The Wolverine'. Jean Grey hallucinations, the Silver Samurai, and kinds of Wolverine being awesome, sounds good to me!

What do you think? I'll be in the theatre watching Wolvie on the big screen, no matter what, and it certainly won't be hard to be better than the last movie...

Doctor Who: Nightmare in Silver

Okay. So I've failed at doing weekly review on the spring series of Doctor Who, as evidenced that you're getting this review shortly before the finale airs. I accept your disdain, I mean I have TONS of excuses, but I know none of you care about them, so let's just move right on from there shall we? Instead let's focus on how Neil Gaiman, and his newest episode of Who, is pretty fantastic. Exhibit A? This kickass poster! CYBERMEN! Eeep! 

After the outcome of last week's episode, with Clara's clever charges, Angie and Artie, finding lots of pictures of her jaunts through time, the Doctor and Clara take the kids to Hedgewick's, a whole planet that's an amusement park....or at least that's what it seems like on the surface, classic Neil Gaiman.(I love this man, seriously, if you haven't read any of his books, short stories or graphic novels, well, shame on you!)
While playing on the moon that's not the moon the gang runs into Webley, a squatter who's been waiting to be taken off-world, but his ride's six months late. Webley's a collector and has bits of junk from all over space and time, which normally the Doctor would love, but he can tell something's a bit off and then they run into a Cyberman! The Doctor has a bit of a freakout, but Webley assures him that it's been deactivated and re-purposed to play chess. Well, not so much re-purposed but manned by Porridge, played by Warwick Davis, the star of one of my favourite 80s movies, Willow!
While all this has been going on the Doctor has been noticing things, as the Doctor is known to do, and goes off in search of the 'funny insects' to add to his funny insect collection.(To be quite honest, I wouldn't put it past the Doctor to have one of these) Before he and Clara go off to do some serious investigating he tells the kids not to wander off. I love it, nothing sums up Doctor Who more than that line for me. He tells everyone he meets not to do it, it's his number one rule, and no one ever follows it. But what would the fun of the show be if everyone always stayed where the Doctor told them and didn't get into trouble?! Needless to say, in typical defiant teenager style, Angie immediately sets off to explore and leaves her little brother Artie, alone in the dark...clearly you can tell things are going to work out great for both of them. (You can hear that sarcasm right? I thought so.)
Inevitably both Artie and Angie get snatched by the Cybermen, the latter by a super fast one that we never see again, I'm assuming it used all its powers to catch her...*shrug* oh well, it looked cool. Well, we all know how the Doctor feels about kids in trouble, so he goes off and finds the cybermites, aka the funny insects, and transmats himself into the heart of Cyberman headquarters to save the kids. But not before putting Clara in charge of the Punishment Unit of army guys who've been relegated to Hedgewick's for being generally bad at being soldiers. He instructs her, in no uncertain terms, to not blow up the planet.
Arriving in Cyber-headquarters the Doctor is confronted by creepy half-Cyberman Webley, who informs him that they Cybermen need children, they use their creative minds to help build the new Cyberplanner, which would allow them to restart their reign of terror throughout the Universe. However they've been observing the Doctor and have decided to make him the new Cyberplanner. The Doctor finally thinks he has a leg up, as Cybermen can only convert humans. But it turns out these Cybermen have been upgraded and can now convert any life form, Time Lords included.
All this leads up to the most epic showdown in Doctor Who: the Doctor vs himself. Welll, the Doctor vs the Cyberplanner that's trying to take over his body. All of our new Doctors, Nine, Ten and Eleven, have been quite capable of treading the line between silly and serious, but Matt Smith makes a full turn to sinister as Mr. Clever, which is what the Cyberplanner dubs himself once entering the Doctor's body. He is absolutely amazing, and quite terrifying at times. If he decides to play villains after his stint as the Doctor is over I wouldn't be surprised at all, because he was spectacular at it and looked to be having an absolute blast.
While the Doctor is having a crisis of self, Clara, Porridge and the Punishment unit have taken up a defensible position in Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle. "Real castle, drawbridge, moat?" Clara asked the platoon Capt. to which she replied, "Yes. But comical." Amazing, and again classic Gaiman.
Doctor/Mr. Clever make their way to the castle with Webley and the cyberkids and the showdown continues over a game of chess, the winner getting control of the Doctor's body. I'm not going to spoil too much of the ending here for those who, for some silly reason, have yet to see this episode, but yes, a battle does ensue, and yes, the Doctor will, of course, find a way to defeat the Cyberplanner, and the Cybermen, but perhaps not in the way you expect.
I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It made the Cybermen a much more frightening villain then they've ever been in the new series, in my opinion. Before they were just robots who wanted to take over mankind, but Neil Gaiman made them a little bit sneaky and just a little bit clever and that put them over the edge into scary. One of the other things I loved about this episode were two little words: 'Fantastic' and 'Allons-y', if you're a bit Who fan (and if you're reading this, I'm assuming you, either that or you're indulging my rambliness, either way THANKS!) then you recognised the Ninth and Tenth Doctors' catchphrases, both were said by Mr. Clever, I'm not sure what that signifies, but I certainly got a fangirl kick out of it.
My only quibble, which is one that I've been noticing over the entire seventh series, is the whole 'impossible girl' thing. It happened in the first half of the season with it taking all those episodes for the Ponds to leave, but being able to wrap it up neatly in one episode. Then here we are in the second half of the season with the Doctor being asked over and over again by Clara by what that means, 'why am I impossible?' and everytime he says he'll explain later. The previews for the finale lead me to believe we're going to figure out that mystery at last and yet again it will be wrapped up in one episode. I miss the days of the overarching threat, 'Bad Wolf,' 'Torchwood', the Crack in Time! If it's glossed over episode to episode it's not an arc, it's an annoyance. ANYWAYS! Enough rambling for now!
okay one last quote, 'cause it's perfect:

Clara: I trust the Doctor.

Captain: You think he knows what he's doing?

Clara: I'm not sure I'd go that far.

Iron Man 3

I liked this movie. I liked it a lot. But then again to be honest all Iron Man 3 had to do for me was be better than Iron Man 2, and it most certainly was. There were a lot of threads that needed to be tied together; the existing Iron Man universe, the fallout from the Avengers movie, and a new villain for our modern world. The last point is the one that I seem to differ with quite a few people on, BE WARNED IT'S A SPOILER! and I'll get to it a bit later in the review.

Iron Man 3 reconnects us with Tony Stark. It's been several months since the events in New York (from the Avengers, remember that little flick?) and things aren't going so well for everyone's favourite millionaire, philanthropist, engineer/playboy. He saved New York by flying that bomb through the worm hole, and ever since then has been having a bit of an existential crisis. He can't sleep, and when he does he's haunted by those events. To keep his genius busy he's been building some new Iron Man suits, did I say some? I mean A LOT of Iron Man suits. I think he's taking the 'does the suit make the man or the man make the suit' conundrum a bit far...but this is Tony Stark we're talking about here. On top of incessant tinkering, Tony's trouble with dealing with his feelings is causing him to push those who love him away. Silly Tony, just when things with Pepper were starting to go well!

As much as I enjoy watching Robert Downey Jr. act with those adorable anthropomorphic robots in his lab and the witty banter between him and Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts, that does not a movie make. Enter the Mandarin! The Mandarin is a terrorist (played brilliantly by Sir Ben Kingsley) who is prone to hijacking the airwaves across the US and taking credit for various attacks on American soil. Tony stays out of it until an attack hits a little too close to home, then he acts a little brashly and gives the terrorist his home address making his already fragile personal world fall to pieces. The rest of the movie is Tony Stark rebuilding himself and his suit to come back as the hero we all fell in love with. The most charming part of this is when Tony's stuck in the middle of nowhere, suit out of commission and the world believing he's dead. Doesn't sound charming? Add a smarty-pants kid. RDJ and children is a pretty entertaining combination. Plus they have the same emotional maturity. Sure, it's seems a bit silly that a man with Tony Stark's brains and money would just hang out in small town America, but suspend your belief here folks. He was pretty rattled and then used it to his advantage to do some sleuthing. ANYWAYS! There are some steps and rescues in between, but the movie finally climaxes in a pretty excellent blowup at a shipping yard, yup, it's one of those, needs-to-be-seen-on-the-big-screen type of endings.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
I'm just warning you now! Here's the thing with the Mandarin: it's all a front. Ben Kingsley is amazing as both the terrible terrorist and the sloppy British stage actor who's been hired to be the Mandarin. WHAT!? I know, fans of the comics have been a bit outraged about this, but I think writer/director Shane Black has taken a very modern look at what terrorism is. It doesn't have to be men in caves in the middle of nowhere, it absolutely can be corrupt scientists manufacturing serums and promoting a fear complex in the US. Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian was charming and horrifying as the true villain of the piece.

A couple extra things.
Don Cheadle was underused in this film.He and RDJ are great together, and quips about the Iron Patriot are funny, but come on! He's such a great actor and could've been used better.
I loved the opening of this movie. As the stars fly over the mountain in the Paramount the first strains of "Blue" by Eiffel 65 start to play. I couldn't help but smile, that was a huge song when I was in high school, and definitely helped put me in the 'Y2K' frame of mind. There was also a quick cameo in this scene, I hope everyone else caught it....maybe I won't spoil it, if you caught it, post it in the comments.
Speaking of cameos, this was my least favourite Stan Lee cameo. After his hilarious one in The Amazing Spider-Man I had high hopes.

That's about it! It wasn't as good as the first Iron Man, which officially launched Marvel's Cinematic Universe 'Phase 1', but it's a not too shabby way to launch 'Phase 2'. We have Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: Winter Soldier and  Guardians of the Galaxy leading up to Avengers 2 to look forward to!

Trailer Time!!! THE WORLD'S END!!!!

I.CANNOT.WAIT. Seriously. I want this movie to be out right now. When I went to see 'Shaun of the Dead' when I was in university I practically had to drag people to come see it with me. I knew the movie was going to be amazing, but for some reason my half finished film studies degree wasn't enough to trust me on this yet. I WAS NOT WRONG! And after everyone else got on the 'Shaun' train it took far less convincing to get people to see 'Hot Fuzz' with me. When Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost get together the end result will be gold. I guarantee this. The zombie movie? Check! The buddy cop movie? Check! ALIEN APOCALYPSE?! CHECKITY CHECK! So with all my fangirling over, behold: the trailer for the finale of the 'Coronetto Trilogy' 'The World's End.

EEEeeeeeee!!!!! So excited!!!!!

Trailer Time! Ender's Game

I can't tell you how excited I am for this movie. I only read 'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card for the first time last summer, and I absolutely loved it. That Card was able to jam so much story into so few pages blew my mind. Not only that, it was a story that just got into me, for any kid who just wants to fit, for any person who questions authority, for anyone who sees the futility and/or unbearable necessity in conflict; Ender's Game speaks to all of us. So needless to say, when I heard, shortly after finishing the book that they were making it into a movie, I was elated and apprehensive, as I always am when they adapt a book I love into a movie. But then they announced casting Asa Butterfield (who was phenomenal in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Hugo) as Ender Wiggin, Harrison Ford as Hyrum Gruff and Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham, and that excitement started to take over from the apprehension.
Here's the trailer, what do you think?

EXCITED YET?! And if you haven't read the book yet, GET ON THAT!

Coming Soon...

I've got a whole bunch of pretty exciting posts coming up for you lovely readers in the next couple of days that I'm super excited about.

• 42 review (way overdue)
• Several Doctor Who posts (also, overdue, yes I see the theme)
• West Coast Geeks vs Nerds: Season Finale post
• a couple of AAAAAMAAAAAZING trailers
• a fun project for Comic-Con I'm working on
• Iron Man 3 review (I'm going tomorrow, I'm SO excited!)

Yup, all that is coming up!
Also, I was going to do weekly reviews for Game of Thrones, but I've found I just haven't had the time to watch them in any type of timely fashion. So I was thinking about doing a Season 3 recap when the season ends, thoughts? opinions? Let me know!

Who times Two!

Yes, I'm well aware, that I'm super behind on my Doctor Who posts already, that being said, I'm going to give you a Who double feature for today's post (plus it gets me almost caught up! yay! we're both winners!) Also be forewarned! Spoilers ahead for the new episodes of Doctor Who!

 

First up: The Rings of Akhaten, check out this kick ass poster!

 

Where would you want to go if you landed in the TARDIS and the Doctor offered you a journey to anywhere in space and time? Yeah, I don't know either. There are so many amazing options, some point in Earth's history? Someplace in the universe no one's been?
Our new companion comes up with a suitable alternative: "somewhere awesome" Man, I like this girl already (and I also enjoy that she seems convinced that the TARDIS isn't fond of her). After last week's slightly disappointing outing, Steven Moffat&Co, have certainly stepped it up in this episode. 'Somewhere awesome' is the titular Rings of Akhaten, asteroid belts around a huge glowing star and not too far off, an amazing alien market that puts the Cantina in Star Wars to shame with its quirky amazingness. Of course, the Doctor and his companions can't ever just enjoy an alien market, they find a problem to be solved. We get to see Clara in her element in this episode, it may have been a past life (or something) but she's definitely got that governess bone in her. So, obviously, when she sees a little girl in trouble, her first instinct is to help. Merry is the Queen of Years, tasked with knowing all the legends, stories and songs of her people, but she's also a little girl with stage fright. Clara comforts her and we get some exposition about her childhood and the love of a mother now lost.
After eluding some creepy whispery things and chatting with Clara, Merry is ready to take on the world...or the song. Little Emilia Jones who plays Merry can certainly sing like an angel, I totally buy that this joyful song would keep a restless god slumbering. That is until the dude she's singing with's voice breaks. Dummy, didn't he warm up first?!
While the Doctor and Clara had been enjoying the concert up until then, Merry gets snatched, and we all know that means the Doctor launches into action! Although Clara wasn't sure of this, but he explains it perfectly: "We don't walk away". There's something about this phrase that is so purely the Doctor. No matter how tricky or ridiculous a situation may seem, he never abadons those in need.
After rescuing Merry, it turns out there's a lot more to 'grandfather' than meets the eye, he's an insatiable sentient planet (I think) that feeds on stories, or souls, since our souls are made of stories. (I love this, what a perfect way to put it!). Here Matt Smith broke my heart a little bit. The Doctor is an old man, who's experienced unbelievable joy and untold pain in his lifetime and Smith put that all out there in his monologue. Luckily he didn't have to sacrifice himself, Clara came to save the day. She has to give up 'the most important leaf in the history of mankind' the leaf that caused her parents to meet. Within that leaf though was a life unlived, and as we all know from the Weeping Angels, the potential in a life unlived is exponentially strong, with all the possible ways it could have gone.
The lovely thing about this episode is that it encapsulates everything I love about Doctor Who, strange lands, strong storytelling, a little bit of comedy, a little bit of tragedy and in the end, the day is saved all the while reinforcing the ol' Doctor Who adage that "everyone's important"
Some other fun things in this episode:
The Doctor says,  "I came here once before, with my granddaughter" - an illusion to the First Doctor in this 50th annivesary year?
He gets to use his sonic screwdriver on stone - it's generally rubbish on that type of matter

Next up we were back on Earth, but back in time! I love that this is now kind of standard for new companions, somewhere in space and then somewhere in time. Not only is the Doctor showing off for his new friend, but it's also SUPER fun for us as an audience. Not only have we gone back in time, but an old foe resurfaced in this episode, the Ice Warrior! (I'd never heard of them before, but apparently they first appeared way back in 1967 with the Second Doctor)

The Doctor and Clara are attempting to get to an Elvis show in Vegas, but of course they end up on a Soviet nuclear submarine, in the Arctic, in 1983. This episode is great for many reasons, first and foremost it was written by Mark Gatiss, you might best recognise him as Mycroft Holmes from Moffat's other great BBC show, Sherlock. (on which Gatiss, is also a creator) But he's written a good chunk of the 'historical' Who episodes of late, 'The Idiot's Lantern', 'Victory of the Daleks', and 'The Unquiet Dead'. Needless to say, he can combine the Doctor and history like nobody's business! One great thing about having Who to write for must be that it gives writers opportunities to do fun little things like Gatiss does with the language. Obviously everyone on the sub is Russian, calling each other comrade and such, but since the Doctor and Clara are time travellers in the TARDIS they hear everything as the Queen's English, but the Soviets hear them speaking Russian. This little scene is hilarious.They then combine the top-notch writing of Gatiss, with some kick ass cinematography makes this episode stunning. Seriously, if you've already watched it, go back and have a look at how beautifully the enclosed space of the submarine is lit and shot, cool angles, lots of atmosphere, it's just awesome. Way to go Suzie Lavelle, I've never heard of you before, but I'll be on the look out for you from now on!
Back to the Doctor and Clara, onboard the sub they encounter Davos and Edmure Tully, oh! Sorry, wrong show, but seriously, how hilarious was it to have two Game of Thrones actors feature so prominently?! Liam Cunningham and Tobias Menzies are the Soviet Captain and Lieutenant on board the sub, and they don't take kindly to folks just appearing out of thin air in big blue boxes.
The TARDIS is acting up again and disappears as the sub plummets toward the Arctic sea floor. interestingly the Doctor decides time is of the essence and decides on honesty. No fooling, no psychic paper, straight out with the truth; he and Clara are time travellers. Not that it helps their case too much, but it does save them from dying frozen in the Arctic.
Prior to their arrival, the crew had found what they thought to be a remnant of the Ice Age and brought it on board. Unluckily for them, it was in fact Grand Marshall Skaldak, Ice Warrior from Mars. Once freed from the ice he may have been their ally, but the Lieutenant electrocutes him instead, labelling them as enemies. *eyeroll* Russians.
During the inevitable drama that ensues, someone is going to have to talk to the now imprisoned Skaldak. Knowing that everyone else would be identified as a soldier, Clara volunteers. There's this really wonderful moment where the Doctor is smiling because he's so proud of his new companion, but then quickly switches to appropriate indignation. It says a lot about the type of people the Doctor likes to travel with. Of course, it's for naught a Skaldak is now loose on the sub. And they do this wonderful thing where we only see glimpses of him as he races past the camera. It may be an old horror movie trick, but it's very effective.
I love the parallels in the episode, once the Soviets crash, they become exactly like Skaldak, waiting for their people to find and rescue them. However, once Skaldak believes no one is coming for him, he goes for all out destruction, lucky for him he's on a nuclear sub, eh?
Not so fast though, the Doctor is on board, and he may have a thing or two to say about blowing up the world. He and Skaldak are very much alike (parallel #2!). He explains that while Skaldak may be the last Ice Warrior, there's no need for revenge, but for mercy, something the Doctor knows a lot about. He asks 'Is this how you want to be remembered?' Which says a lot about the Doctor, I think, he's well aware of perception and the power it can haveNothing doing though, Skaldak's on the war path, so the Doctor gets a little angry, saying he'll blow up the sub before he allows the world to be destroyed. Before we can find out if the Doctor's act is convincing enough, the cavalry comes for Skaldak and beams him aboard their ship-but Skaldak leaves the nukes armed.Then we get the best part, the world is literally saved by a little Duran Duran. Clara sings a few bars of 'Hungry like the Wolf'. And the nukes are disarmed. It may seem random, but Skaldak emotionally recounted to them how he used to sing songs with his daughter on Mars, and our clever girl put two and two together. Day saved!
Fun things in this episode:
-whether it's purposefully or not (and with Moffat there's a good chance it's on purpose) there's a continuation of music and its importance going through these new episodes.
-Most excitingly we got to see the red setting on the sonic screwdriver. For those who may not remember when the Tenth Doctor meets River for the first time, she tells him to use the red setting on his sonic screwdriver, to which he exlaimed there wasn't one, and she responded "There will do." Oh Moffat, you're a mad genius.
That's all for now....and looking back, that's a whole LOT for now. Jeesh, no wonder it took me so long to get out.

Trailer Time!!! Thor: The Dark World

Time for another Marvel trailer! Since launching the Iron Man franchise back in 2008, Marvel has been a force to be reckoned with in the comic book movie genre. And for good reason, they continually make great flicks, that are just as fun for Marvel fanboys (or fangirls) as they are for the rest of the moviegoing public. Thor: The Dark World looks to be no different. Where Kenneth Branagh may have directed the first one a bit slapsticky, it looks like new director Alan Taylor has brought us action, action and some more action.

 

Yay! More Thor/Loki bickering, always entertaining! Also, I don't know if my fellow Whovians noticed, but the baddy of the tale is none other than the Ninth Doctor himself! Christopher Eccleston!
Are you pumped for this new Marvel movie? Let me know in the comments!

Jurassic Park!

I remember seeing Jurassic Park in theatres the first time very vividly. When you're young and go to movies, often they can be ta bit forgettable. You don't have the brain for movie quotes yet and there are so many more important things to concern yourself with, like whether you're going to be able to convince your parent to get you popcorn AND candy. That was not the case with Jurassic Park. I was 9, and as the movie was rated PG-13, my friend's dad took us. I was going through my paleontologist phase; reading everything I could about them, laughing at my dad's feeble attempts to read their name (I mean come on, Parasauralophus isn't really that tricky is it?). Needless to say, I was beside myself excited to see this movie.
It scared the pants off of me. Don't get me wrong, there were so many amazing things about the movie, but the climax of the movie, at the time, was probably the scariest thing I'd ever seen.


These velociraptors definitely gave me nightmares when I was 9.

When I found out it was coming out to theatres again, I could feel myself getting all giddy again, so I, obviously, jumped at the chance to see it on the big screen again....even though it's been re-released in 3D and I think I have well-documented my loathing for that particular format on this blog. Actually, I'll get it out of the way right now, and tell you that the 3D was useless. There was no reason for it to be in 3D, but if that's the only way for me to see it on the big screen again, well then, I guess I'll take it.
The movie overall, however, most definitely stands the test of time. I'll grant you, the technology is super dated, but it certainly doesn't distract from the general awesomeness of the movie.
I have to admit, the CGI they must have used for the dinosaurs must have been lightyears ahead of its time. Because it still looks AMAZING. The brachiosaurs in the first scene, I don't even have words, just like the paleontologists in said scene.
When I was kid I wasn't quite able to appreciate how phenomenal the cast of this movie was, but it really is amazing. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Wayne Knight (that's Newman folks!) and Samuel L. freakin' Jackson. Seeing this movie now, when I'm used to Sam Jackson being a badass all the time, I have to admit it's fairly entertaining to see him as this computer guy who can't quite figure stuff out and then *spoiler* have him devoured by one of the still terrifying velociraptors.
John Williams scored this flick, and the music is outstanding. He writes many a memorable score, and the one for Jurassic Park is definitely one more. The suite at the end of the movie as they ride away from the island in the helicopter is still one my all-time favourites.
I don't really know what else I can say about this movie. I loved it when I was a kid, and I love it now. I suppose it's a testament to good filmmaking, that a movie that's 20 years old really loses nothing in translation across the decades.
Last but not least does anyone else kind of wish they could go on the 'Mr. DNA' ride? It seems kind of random in the middle of the movie, especially after seeing REAL LIVE DINOSAURS on screen, but it honestly looks like it would be super fun.

Trailer Time! Superman

Sweet. Baby. Jeebus. Are you spending your summer at the theatre? 'Cause after the new 'Star Trek Into Darkness' trailer earlier today and then this freakin' amazing trailer for the new Superman flick, 'Man of Steel', I'm pretty sure I will be. Looks like the summer is going to be full of heroes (Iron Man 3 as well folks!) and their kick-ass movies! What hero movie are you most looking forward to?! Let me know in the comments!

Trailer Time: Star Trek Into Darkness

Wow. You guys I'm super psyched for this new Star Trek movie, and not just becuase it will be featuring the amazing cheerkbones of Benedict Cumberbatch, but because it looks all out AWESOME! Agree, disagree? Discuss! (also did you notice the surprising lack of lens flares?)

The Greatest Weekend of All!

This past weekend [author's note: I did actually start writing this shortly after Easter weekend] was the holy triumverate if you are a fan of awesome television. I kid you not. On Saturday the hotly anticipated spring premiere of Doctor Who and then on Sunday we got the finale of the third season of The Walking Dead and (FINALLY!) the premiere of the third season of Game of Thrones. If there was ever a weekend to just hangout and watch TV, this was most certainly it. But then again, it was also the Easter long weekend. And if you, despite being a mega-geek, decided to perhaps enjoy some sunshine and hang out with your family, then you may have had to delay some of the watching of these shows until the weekend was over....like I did.

BE WARNED! SPOILERS AHEAD!

Doctor Who: The Bells of Saint John
I have to admit, while I was REALLY excited for the spring premiere of Doctor Who, I was kinda disappointed with this episode. Don't get me wrong, I am intrigued with the new villain, the Great Intelligence, and what his (its?) whole deal is, however, I am a bit tired of being introduced to Clara. I like her. Heck! I've liked her since she was unofficially introduced in the season opener "Asylum of the Daleks", I would've been happy for us to get to her WAY sooner. Instead we went on this long, kinda boring, goodbye to the Ponds. Before my fellow Whovians get all attacky, let me just say I was fond of Amy and Rory and really think about that 'arc' of episodes. In all the past series we've had an overarching theme to tie the episodes together, Bad Wolf, Torchwood, the Crack in the Wall, etc, you get my point. The adventures ran around them. Then, for the first six episodes of this season we got 'aren't we all sad that Amy and Rory are leaving'? Granted there were relationship-y things in there with the Ponds which were interesting I guess, but, at least for me, that's not why I watch the show. I love the far off adventures, the aliens, the awesome planets...I digress!
What do we get in the spring premiere? London. Again. I honestly never thought I could be sick of London, but I am,. Migrating back to my original point, we meet Clara Oswald again (and hopefully for the last time), and this time the Doctor is able to rescue her from the point of almost death, while she's being uploaded. Yup, uploaded. People all over the world are having their consciousnesses uploaded via wi-fi into 'the cloud'. It is a clever way of commenting on our dependency on the internet and the mobile devices through which we access it. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we possibly come back to this later in the season, since it featured 'The Great Intelligence" the creepy baddy with Ian McKellan's voice from the Christmas special, who I'm thinking may be the 'big bad' for this season of Who.
Anyways, the Doctor saves Clara, they banter cleverly, the villain grandstands, shows their hand, and manages to fool our new companion, which means the Doctor has to save her again, but this time using his superior computery-technology-y ways. All this and we still have to wait until next episode for her to agree to travel with the Doctor. As I said the episode is a bit 'meh'.
SO! It was a bit of a soft premiere for me, but I'm sure things will pick up! I mean Neil Gaiman wrote another episode this season, so it has to right!?!

Moving on to:
The Walking Dead: Welcome to the Tombs
This episode starts off pretty freakin' intense, but ends on a bit of a whimper, which is a bit of a bummer for a season finale that features 27 (non-zombie) deaths! Quick rundown! The folks at the prison prepare for battle, Carl's mad he has to go to the woods. The Governor stabs Milton and leaves him to die and come back to kill Andrea who's still strapped to that chair in Woodbury. Tyreese and his lady decide to stay behind and not go fight at the prison, as they're starting to see through Woodbury's veneer. After the battle, a kid's running away from the prison, and Carl shoots him while he's trying to hand over his gun, Hershel's worried, so is Rick.
Let's just get this out of the way first and foremost, thank GAWD Andrea's gone! Seriously, there aren't a lot of characters with my name on the big or little screen, but never have I yelled "Come on! Andrea, jeeeeeesus!" while doing a Picard-style facepalm while watching her run around and try to 'save everyone' this season. She got a nice send-off, despite doing almost nothing to save herself (not getting the pliers faster, and stopping to chat to Milton while he's dying, COME ON ANDREA! Jeeeeesus!) and also doing practically nothing to obtain her goal. In fact, it would seem her reluctance to kill the Governor DEFINITELY led to all 27 deaths this episode.
Speaking of the Governor, the man has gone completely off the reservation. After his 'army' of citizens run (like any non-warrior would) away from sure defeat at the prison, he just guns them down. He recognises that he's lost control of them, and decides to mow them down, instead of dealing with them. Except for poor Martinez and other black guy (I'm sorry, I really don't know his name, if you do, let me know in the comments). Watching them give each other "You get in" "No, YOU get in" while the Governor waits behind the wheel was hilarious. That's going to be an extremely awkward road trip.
Carl's definitely not the kid we all wanted to strangle last season (GET IN THE HOUSE, CARL!). He's actually turning into a bit of a badass...or a psychopath. I'm not sure which. He kills that kid, but when Rick confronts him about, the logic he's uses to justify it is surprisingly sound; on all the previous occasions when they've allowed someone to live, it comes back to bite them in the ass. He's not wrong, but still, it's a tad disturbing.
Finally we get to end, after Rick & Co decide to take the battle to Governor, they find that he hasn't returned to Woodbury. He's left all those women, children and old people to fend for themself. So what does Rick do? He brings them back to the prison, much to Carl's dismay. And that's where the season ends. With the sun shining warmly on the shambling zombies outside the prison.
I'm curious to see where they're going to go with this next season. I feel like there's going to be a lot of Carl/Rick tension, along with more crazy Governor and many moral decisions that come with living in a community during the zombie apocalypse.


Last, but most definitely not least, let's get back to Westeros, with:
Game of Thrones: Valar Dohaeris
The folks at HBO are geniuses, or crazy...probably a little of both. The fact that they can make 12 episode seasons that we clamber over each other to watch is evidence of this. When season 2 ended last spring my friends and I were already moaning about waiting for the next season...and there wasn't even a release date yet!! A YEAR later, we've finally returned to Westeros and all the drama that that entails.
Let's start in the North. It looks like some men of the Night's Watch managed to survive the White Walkers that arrived at the end of Season 2. Surprisingly, one of them is Samwell Tarly, not so surprisingly he's let his brothers down by not sending the ravens to (presumably) warn the rest of Westeros of what they'd seen. It wouldn't be so bad if he had his buddy Jon Snow around to have his back, but Jon's off on a whole new adventure. You gotta feel for the guy, his dad's dead, the rest of the family's spread out across the land getting into all kinds of trouble, and here he is freezing his ass off Beyond the Wall. But then again Ygritte is totally gonna pop his cherry this season, so don't feel too bad for him. (It's gonna happen, I guarantee it!) On the less salacious side of things he's convinced Mance Rayder to let him fight on his side of things. The conviction with which Jon told the story of (horrible) Craster, the baby boys and the Lord Commander doing nothing makes me think that this 'joining the Wildlings' is more than just an act. "I want to fight for the side of the living. Did I come to right place?" Good question Lord Snow, I sure hope so. Maybe you won't have to frown so much this season, that would be a nice change...'cause you're one of my favourites...'cause you're a Stark.
Across the Narrows Sea Danaerys and her motley band of Dothraki have traveled across the 'poison sea' to try and muster up an army so our fiesty Mother of Dragons can take back the Iron Throne. Although, with the rate her dragons are growing, is it really that important? Can't she just hop on one of those, fly over there and burn her enemies to the ground? I mean it worked with that creepy purple lipped warlock. Speaking of which, after a surprisingly funny presentation of a slave army, Dany was almost killed by a 'gift' from one of them. Only to be saved by ex-gold cloak Barristan Selmy! Take that Joffrey! Now the people you've pissed off are actively searching out your opponents!
We take a quick jaunt to Dragonstone, where, after just barely surviving the Battle of Blackwater Bay, our buddy Davos 'the Onion Knight' Seaworth, returns to finally put an end to Melisandre. Moron. I like this guy, but he's got the same amount of sneakiness as Ned Stark (I loved the man, but there's a reason he died in book one), and Melisandre is all about the sneaky and mysterious, it's her jam. Needless to say, she's been whispering in sour Stannis' ear, so when he tries sloppily to take her out, he's sent to the dungeon. I suppose he should feel lucky she didn't summon a creepy smoke baby to take him out then and there....but I guess that could come later.
There's all kinds of drama happening in Lannisport, but we're not surprised are we? Tyrion wins for scene of the night in the showdown against his father. (And second place, for the one with his sister shortly before).Tywin clearly knows very little about his youngest child. I mean, honestly, who in their right mind would think that Tyrion has no mind for politics? But then again, he really hates the child who killed his wife and then had the audacity to be so 'disformed' You can see the fury as Tyrion leaves the room, he'll show his father that he's much more than drinking and bedding whores!
While Sansa's busy making plans with Little Finger (IT'S A TRAP!) her replacement is busy getting on the bad side of her new future mother-in-law. Margery makes a trip to an orphanage, which endears her to us, but pisses the royal hell out of Cersei. As she, Joffrey, Loras and Margery are sitting at the dinner table later that night you could see how much Cersei wanted to just jump across the table and throttle Margery's throat. This storyline is going to be thouroughly entertaining to follow.
Last but not least we come to Harrenhal where Robb and Lady Stark come across massacred Stark troops courtesy of the Mountain. Robb, still trying to live up to the title of King in the North, is disgusted, and even though it's not really her fault, has his mother sent to a dungeon. Sure, she set Jamie Lannister free with Brienne (PS: THAT was the storyline I wanted to see this ep!) but it's not like she conspired with the Mountain to murder her family's bannermen. Alas, kings trying to maintain power need to garner respect from those around him, and there aren't any people from the opposing side for him to imprison, so his mother it is.

That's all for now!! I know, super later, and now I'm behind for last week's eps of Doctor Who and Game of Thrones, but I'll get caught eventually....before the end of the season....probably. Thanks for putting up with this extremely long post and go out and enjoy some great TV!

At long last! The official rebranding!

Well, if you can "rebrand" something that isn't a brand at all...Aaaaanyways.

As I've mentioned before movie watching has been way down as of late, and obviously, as a result my writing about movies has also been down. Weird how that works out. ;)
However, lately I've been lucky enough to get more involved in some pretty geeky things that have been going on in and around Vancouver. A meetup group that watches the fun, sometimes geeky and most of the time awesome television that's happening at the moment, live debates that showdown two pop culture figures (like the upcoming Finn the Human from Adventure Time VS Mario from Super Mario Bros.) and the like. I also have some exciting ideas for blogging during the Con season this year, so we'll see how that works out.

So, with the diversifying in content, I figured it was about time to go ahead and change the name of the blog from "Matinee Monday" to "Geek Out!(and About)", I would have preferred "General Geekery" or even "Geek Out Loud" but those are already taken....so I guess I'll take what I can get. However, for the time being it seems I'm stuck with the url that I currently have while I wait for the name to become available, I had it with another email address, and you have to wait so long before after you delete it and blah blah blah.

While I will be branching out, writing about things other than movies, I will, obviously, still write about the ones I do see, or maybe the Blurays...I mean, have you seen the Blurays for the last two Harry Potter movies? They are OUTSTANDING! But I digress, which, if you know me, isn't that surprising.

That's all for now!

Under Construction

Hey folks.
If you've been having a peek at the ol' blog lately, you've probably noticed that it's been changing...constantly. I'm trying to pick out a new background, or theme for the blog, and blogger gives me pretty limited options.
I'm also floating the idea of diversifying what I blog about since I haven't seen a movie in aaaaaages. But I have been reading a LOT of comics.
I'll keep you updated as I figure it out!

JEEEESH!

Can it possible that I really haven't posted anything since August?!
Wow. Just wow.
In my defense, my real, non-Internet life has been outrageously ridiculous since about then. However, things seem to have settled down since then, so here's hoping regular blogging will resume shortly!
Especially since I have some free tickets to see the new zomromcom "Warm Bodies" tonight!