Doctor Who - The Angels Take Manhattan - review.

Karen Gillan, Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill in The Angels Take Manhattan.

I have been dreading this episode for a long, long time. Ever since, the wonderful, glorious Pond couple graced our screens two years ago, I knew we'd have to suffer the same heartbreak that we endured when the likes of Rose and Donna left. I knew this, because it was Moffat, he made that wonderful scene at the end of "Forest of The Dead" where River dies. I knew Amy and Rory would bow out in a brilliant and emotional way and so they did. The Doctor takes the lovely Ponds to New York for a break. There they sit and enjoy a picnic in Central Park whilst the Doctor reads "Melody Malone" out loud and Amy squints through a nice pair of reading spectacles. Rory, feeling slightly left out, goes and gets coffee for the three but is sent back in time by the sinister cherubs. Meanwhile, Amy glances at the Doctor's book and they discover the mysterious detective, Melody Malone is really River Song (Alex Kingston)... being particularly saucy this time - "My lipstick was primed and ready, and I was packing cleavage that would fell an ox at 20ft." After some irritating time distortions throw the TARDIS off course, the Doctor, Amy and River set out to find Mr. Pond. River Song in this episode is a more fun version of last year. She still packs the sexy and hilarious lines but doesn't have the weight of last series' arc. Now she can flounce around without worrying too much about having to reveal something. The sad thing about Rory is that he, for the majority of the episode, is alone. For his final episode, he gets some screen time but doesn't have a chance to slip in some dialogue with his co-stars Gillan and Smith. The Weeping Angels in this episode are far from a threat - after thinking in my head, what their diabolical plan was, I've come to the conclusion that their one true lust in the universe is to become landlords... or landladies. Serving customers such as S. Garner (Rob David) and R. Williams (Darvill). If you cancelled out the Pond departure, then 'The Angels Take Manhattan' is actually a half decent episode. The plot is interesting, with River's "Melody Malone" book detailing the episode nicely. My eyes were so thick with tears by the end that it would probably be unhealthy for me to not cry. All I can say now is, farewell Ponds, we will always love you as the best 11th Doctor companions... unless Jenna-Louise Coleman tops you in the second half of Series Seven.

NEXT TIME:
Well, its so long, Doctor Who till Christmas. But the teaser trailer promised the new companion, snow, sinister looking men and the Victorian era.. I do love the historical episodes.. until then, see you at Christmas!

Looper - review.

Dizzying high-octane stuff... Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Looper.

Over the past couple years, many movie makers have tried to recreate the sensational Inception. There was a big hype about it when it was first released and not many films have successfully made a good sci-fi film. Now Looper is the closest thing to it. Joe (Gordon-Levitt) is a Looper, a hired assassin from 2044. A Looper's job is to dispose of anyone that the mob, from the further future, 2074 wants "gone". Joe's Loop spot is in a field where the victim is transported onto a tarpaulin and shot with a futuristic shotgun. Strapped to the corpse will be iron bars in which the Looper converts into money. Joe does this regularly, its his main source of income, until he has to kill himself. His next victim appears as an older man whom resembles himself. Its an older form of Joe, played by Bruce Willis. The film goes along nicely and stops for some down time at the residence of Sara (played by my new favorite Emily Blunt). Blunt is good as the angry and defensive mother. Unfortunately she loses this a bit towards the end but its made up for by good acting. The plot isn't as confusing as you'd think and gets enjoyable as the action is ramped up. 


4/5

Now Is Good - review.

Nothing new... Dakota Fanning and Jeremy Irvine in Now Is Good.

Now Is Good is one of those teen dramas that is predictable and unoriginal. Almost all teen dramas are like that but you'd expect this film to be slightly better than the usual formula considering its rather delicate subject. US actress Dakota Fanning plays Tessa, a young girl from Brighton suffering from leukaemia. She creates a bucket list full of illegal and mischievous things that she and her friend Zoey (Kaya Scodelario) to do. All the while she is having a tense relationship with her stoic father (Paddy Considine doing a rather brilliant job). Her mother (Olivia Williams) is a rather flaky woman who seems to spend most of the time on her phone rather than looking after her ill daughter. Attractive next-door neighbour Adam (War Horse's Jeremy Irvine) arrives on the scene and instantly woos Tessa over. The pair spend an hour of the movie flirting and eventually it concludes with a kiss. It tries to do a decent job at dealing with a rather hard subject, unfortunately it doesn't rise much. There are some decent performances by Considine, Irvine and Williams but thats all this rather boring drama gets right.

2/5

Doctor Who - The Power of Three - review.

Arthur Darvill, Karen Gillan and Matt Smith in The Power of Three.

Chris Chibnall has always been a favourite of mine when it comes to his Doctor Who scripts. In 2007, he gave us the tense claustrophobic '42' and then Moffat brought him back in Series 5 with his Silurian two-parter, 'The Hungry Earth'/'Cold Blood'. For Series Six he was absent but this gap has been filled in by his two episodes for Series Seven. The first episode was episode two, 'Dinosaurs On A Spaceship', and looking back I have to say I enjoyed it. It was rather fast but still a good old Doctor Who romp and I was delighted at the turnout of Brian Williams, Rory's dad. His second episode, 'The Power of Three' to me looked like it had so much potential. It featured the return of UNIT last seen in the David Tennant 'Specials' and mysterious black cubes. From all the pictures, clips and general publicity of the episode, I had high hopes and besides, its written by Chris Chibnall. What the episode delivered was severely disappointing. It was the Pond-centred episode of the series and perfect for the couples' penultimate episode. From the opening monologue to the end, it was a 41-minute Pond homage. This means that it has to unfortunately dump the other 'stuff' - e.g the villains, the plot, the supporting characters. All it left space for was Doctor jokes. I like a 'Doctor joke' as same as the next Who fan but the jokes given in 'The Power of Three' were forced and at times extremely unfunny. The only two characters that leapt out the screen for me were Brian Williams and Kate Stewart. Stewart is the now head of UNIT, taking over from her father, the late great Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicolas Courtney). Jemma Redgrave (niece to Vanessa Redgrave) portrays the scientific head of research and does it superbly, if Moffat does not bring her back, I'll be pretty annoyed RAGING. From her first scenes she steals the show, even outdoing Matt Smith's acting (which in his case is hard to do). Unfortunately Chibnall is too busy zooming the camera in on Amy and Rory to actually give the character any development other than she likes the Doctor. 
Normally in a Doctor Who review, you'd concentrate on the villain quite a bit. I would of course do this had the villain not have had twenty seconds screen time. From promotional photos all we could see was cubes. The cubes play a large role in the episode and there is about fifteen minutes worth of "oh my God, there's cubes. Woah! Look, loads of cubes. Can you believe there are cubes!" Yes, talk about stating the blooming obvious! Finally in the climatic scenes in the Shakri ship, the cubes are stopped. You'd think they would be stopped them with love or reasoning or they would realise the error of their ways (all of which have unfortunately been used as plot lines). No, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to zap some controls and effectively deactivating them. By now, dear reader you will be wondering what the cubes did, well they gave people heart attacks for the simple explanation that the Shakri (bald, wrinkly guys) want to stop humans colonizing. Why do they want to stop humans colonizing? Haven't the foggiest. There is so much that confuses me even now - the strange pouting fish-like men that seemed to do nothing? And why would Brian go to the hospital to help when he's spent over six months watching the cubes and then when they move, he goes off to the hospital? The Shakri hologram just lets Amy and Rory evacuate their drugged prisoners while its still in the room? When the Doctor is complaining he's bored, he goes out, plays football, paints the fence - the Doctor would never do this, he'd just hop in the TARDIS and go to the next galaxy. When he says he's bored he doesn't mean, "lets watch TV" bored, he means "lets save the universe" bored.

NEXT TIME:
Its the Ponds' final episode, Weeping Angels, New York and River. Said to have you crying by the end, I really am not looking forward to saying goodbye to the Eleventh Doctor's companions.

To Rome With Love - review.

Enjoyable farce.... Judy Davis and Woody Allen in To Rome With Love.

Woody Allen returns front of camera this time in his latest trip to a European city. To Rome With Love sports some stunning sights and a excellent view of the city for non-travellers but the plot disappoints you, marginally. It focuses on numerous people leaving you interested in parts of the film. The first is a tale of parents, Phyllis and Gerry (Davis and Allen) visiting their young daughter (Alison Pill) and her fiancé (Flavio Parenti). This tale escalates quickly from an elderly couple visiting their daughter to the father recruiting his daughter's fiancé's father to sing opera. This strand of the plot is the furthest fetched and the most unconvincing. The next is Jack, (Jesse Eisenberg) a nerdy wannabe architect living with his girlfriend, Sally (Greta Gerwig) in a backstreet of Rome. He encounters famous architect, John (played rather well by Alec Baldwin) who discovers Sally's best friend, Monica (Ellen Page) is coming to stay with the couple. When Monica arrives, John becomes the cynical voice in Jack's head advising him of the dangers of flirting with this woman. The story begins rather sensibly before escalating as most of these story strands do. One of the most enjoyable of the multiple strands is the tale of Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) and Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi), a pair of rather clueless newlyweds who arrive in the capital to spend a honeymoon. Things go from bad to worse and Milly is hanging around with famous Italian movie star, Luca Salta (Antonio Albanese) whilst Antonio cavorts with call girl, Anna (played by Penélope Cruz). This strand is enjoyable but again, unconvincing. The last storyline is that of, Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni), an ordinary clerk whose life is turned around overnight. This strand is the most ironic, making fun of people who are "famous for being famous", Leopoldo is asked his opinions on the weather, what hand does he use to scratch his head and when he shaves. This strand is slightly irritating and repetitive but the moral is clearer than the rest, if there is a moral in the rest. 
Its certainly different from Midnight In Paris but has the same charm. You should certainly view To Rome With Love in the same way you viewed Midnight In Paris.


4/5

Doctor Who - A Town Called Mercy - review.

Karen Gillan, Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill in A Town Called Mercy.

I have never been a huge fan of Toby Whithouse, 'School Reunion' was funny but lacked a proper alien threat whilst 'The Vampires of Venice' was good fun but yet still no threat. Last year's 'The God Complex' was a tricky one, I found when first watching it, it was disappointing but upon second viewing I uncovered it to be a smart and sophisticated episode that had a deep moral. 'A Town Called Mercy' has made me rethink whatever I thought previously about Whithouse. Its a smart Western that incorporates everything you'd expect from it. The Doctor riding a horse (new companion, Susan), gun fights and a proper Western set. The TARDIS crew arrive after yet another misfire from the Doctor in the town of Mercy, a town under siege from the weirdest threat possible for them. Andrew Brooke is absolutely brilliant as The Gunslinger, a cyborg dead set to kill Kahler-Jex. Jex is played by British actor, Adrian Scarborough who performs brilliantly as usual, the character Jex is an intriguing one and you start of liking him but the story takes numerous twists. Stargate actor, Ben Browder plays Isaac, the Marshall of Mercy and the Doctor's best friend in this episode. Toby Whithouse delivers a terrific script and believable characters without giving us a proper villain slightly similar to the Minotaur from 'The God Complex'. It has the seriousness of 'Asylum of the Daleks' and completely destroys the hilarious romp of last week, Dinosaurs On A Spaceship. As episode three it stands in the same spot as last year's 'The Doctor's Wife' - my favorite episode of series six, now the best episode so far of series seven would have be this.


NEXT TIME:
"The year of the slow invasion", Mark Williams is back as Rory's dad, Rory in his pants... its the Ponds sitcom plus the return of UNIT.

Doctor Who - Dinosaurs On A Spaceship - review.

Rupert Graves, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Matt Smith, Mark Williams and Riann Steele in Dinosaurs On A Spaceship.

An episode that completely revolves around its title, you have to think back to the shambles that was "Let's Kill Hitler", it was a cheery romp with a great script from Steven Moffat but sadly it failed to make any impact. Dinosaurs On A Spaceship is the same except its enjoyable and it isn't written by Moffat. Returning writer Chris Chibnall gives us his first episode of this series and it is pretty chaotic. Before the title sequence we get the Doctor told by the India Space Agency that a spaceship with a prehistoric cargo is set to crash into the Earth. He recruits Queen Nefertiti from Egypt, John Riddell from the African Plains, the good old Ponds and Rory's confused father, Brian. All the above mentioned characters were played brilliantly by their actors, Rupert Graves who played Riddell and Mark Williams as Rory's dad were two exceptions. Soon the TARDIS and its new found crew are on the spaceship with a large amount of... dinosaurs. The Doctor has six hours to save the ship, its cargo, himself and his friends so it looks like its going to be a tricky one. 
The villain of the story is Soloman, played rather menacingly by David Bradley, best known for his role as Filch in the Harry Potter series. Soloman is a space pirate who stumbles upon this wealthy cargo and sets to claim it for his own. Unfortunately he has no idea how to pilot the ship and is therefore stuck. The Doctor jumps in and helps Soloman, physically before doing a very uncharacteristic act towards the end. Soloman's two henchmen are a couple of bumbling robots that sound rather camp and are voiced by British comedy duo, Mitchell and Webb. They have several good lines and their childish attitude doesn't quite reach the annoying stage. 

It won't stay in the memory for long but while your watching it, you are captivated by it and it is genuinely enjoyable.

NEXT TIME:
Doctor Who goes Western with a cyborg, an alien doctor, Amy waving a gun around and the Doctor becoming town sheriff, sounds like my cup of tea!

Anna Karenina - review.

Anna: The Musical... Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Keira Knightley as Count Vronsky and Anna Karenina.

The way, Joe Wright handles his adaption of Tolstoy's famous novel, is certainly unusual. The book, Anna Karenina is over eight hundred pages long with so much crammed in that it would be near impossible to cover everything. Wright uses a strange combination of the theatre and film, the opening ten minutes has theatrical set changes and sets the film up superbly. Keira Knightley is Anna, the wife of brisk government official, Alexei Karenin, played by Jude Law. Law constantly has the air of English vicar but his acting is brilliant. He soon goes onto to become the suffering husband of Karenina when she encounters the young and attractive Count Vronsky, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Anna and the Count become lovers and a difficult love triangle ensues. The background and costumes, almost every scene is gorgeous. Its a feast for your eyes with bright colours and expensive scenery. There is a sub-plot though and it has Domhnall Gleeson as Levin, a good-natured and honest man, who falls badly when knocked back at a marriage proposal to Kitty (Alicia Vikander). He is the parallel to Anna Karenina, a lying and deceitful woman who is unfaithful to her husband. It is confusing but bold, it doesn't quite settle in a filmgoers eyes but manages to keep the audience contained for its length.



3/5

Total Recall - review.

Memory to keep...Colin Farrell in Total Recall.

Despite negative reviews for Total Recall, I found myself pleasantly surprised by this remake. With tickets booked I read reviews last night and felt pretty trapped into going to a bad movie, luckily it was great. Its set in a future Earth where everywhere but Australia and the UK (?) has been nuked, making it uninhabitable. Australia has been renamed The Colony and not ever referred to as Australia whereas the UK is the United Federation of Britain. Being a Brit, a friend and I were cheering at it in the cinema. Irish actor Colin Farrell plays Doug Quaid, a factory worker living in The Colony with his 'English lass' wife, Lori (played by a psychotic, gun-wielding Kate Beckinsale). Thinking his life's going nowhere, he goes to ReKall, a company that literally gives you memories, false ones albeit. Things don't go smoothly and Quaid is on the run, along with Melina (Jessica Biel), a member of the Resistance. The Resistance is an organisation that em... resists the government led by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), a ruthless dictator that hopes to... do evil things that aren't explained properly. The first hour and a half is a runaround chase before they finally get to the final face-off. The films principle 'soldier' role is filmed in by Cohaagen's "synthetic police force", a cross between a Stormtrooper and a dancing iPod robot. 
Its fun stuff and gorgeous to look at, for people who haven't seen the Arnold Schwarzenegger version or read the book they'll enjoy it. From what reviews say it doesn't stick to the plot of the 1990 movie or the Philip K. Dick short story, so fans of either of they won't be fans of this...


3.5/5

Doctor Who - Asylum of the Daleks - review. SPOILERS.

Matt Smith, Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan in Asylum of The Daleks.

After 8 months of anticipation and more of Moffat's teasing, we have finally been given 'Asylum of The Daleks.' Its special-effects mad and features all the Daleks, the main selling point for this episode. As usual all Doctor Who premieres (written by Moffat) have given us a twist, this twist is definitely something that hasn't been pointed out online. In an interview, Steven Moffat said he looks online and silently pokes fun at forums and blogs of people speculating about the episode. Nobody would have guessed the new companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman would be introduced in this episode! 
The episode starts off on war-torn Skaro where the Doctor is invited by the creepy ginge Darla Von Karlsen (Anamaria Marinca) to rescue her daughter. After been zapped along with  a divorced Amy and Rory (Gillan and Darvill) they are asked (yes, asked!) by the Daleks to "save them!" The rest is a runaround on the Dalek "dumping ground" or The Asylum, a planet dedicated to collecting doolally Daleks and keeping them away from civilisation. Smith is brilliant as usual except this time he brings a whole new level of matureness to The Doctor, but still with the funny jokes. Darvill is better in my opinion in this episode than Karen Gillan. Usually he is the klutz and she is the funny, flirty and self-supportive Amy who holds onto the Doctor's arm. In this case, as Rory and Amy have split up he is the independent one who is split from the Doctor and Amy throughout the episode. Karen Gillan is still great as usual but her character of Amy has become slightly more vicious than in previous series. 
The next addition to the cast is Oswin Oswald, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. Coleman has been cast as the new companion. As I am a sucker for spoilers, I have been reading the rumors and her character, rumored name: Clara Oswin is due to appear in the Christmas special. Now she in the opening episode as the new companion maybe or a relative? Her character, anyway, in this episode is hilarious, funny and flirty just like Amy, with hilarious one-liners and a rather sexy way she deals with Matt Smith's chin. 
The Daleks in this episode aren't much of a threat, in fact the main Daleks you see in the episode are out of commission. 
I am very disappointed in fact about the noticeable absence of the Special Weapons Dalek from the 1988 story, Remembrance of The Daleks. 

Still, it was really good!

NEXT TIME:
An Egyptian queen and a game hunter, and Rory's dad and Amy in an awesome blue and white stripy jumper, I can't wait!