I don’t often review a TV show I’ve been watching for years. But I thought it was worth reviewing an episode of Doctor Who, particularly one which I wasn’t too keen on the sound of.
You see Doctor Who has been pretty good at avoiding the clichés that seem to pervade the science fiction world. I usually find them a pretty honest story, things happen to the characters and you’re watching their reaction to it, they are thrown in there and there’s no time to think about how you’re going to react because it’s happening so fast.
I’m not really sure if the last-of-his-race-gains-a-daughter really counts as a cliché but it feels like a new one. Or, most cynically, an excuse to make another spin-off show.
This weeks’ episode was about a war without point and Doctor Who gaining a daughter. Martha and Donna were in this one and there was plenty of emotion, sacrifice was definitely a big theme in this episode. And I noticed that the Doctor is very good a coming to a conclusion and it being very final but him being very wrong, like the reason the tardis took them to their latest destination.
I can see his thinking for the paradox theory but if she’s still alive that doesn’t wash. i think it’s linked to Rose somehow, who keeps popping up in a few places as Jon Hicks pointed out .
Despite my concerns about the direction I think it worked pretty well and it showed another side to the Doctor and also highlighted Donna’s important position of questioning him unashamedly.
If you’re going to start watching it’s a good introduction and as always it’s available on the BBC iPlayer for week or so more.
I can’t believe the bloody football referees in the SPL, I hope Dundee Utd follow up on their complaint because it sounds like we were given little chance in a match we could have won by all accounts.
Having a stonewall penalty and a blatant goal chalked off are bad enough at any time of the season, but in a game as vital as this, European football is out the window for another year. Maybe the SPL were doing Rangers a favour because they fucked them over in the fixtures debacle ?
I think more has to be done to make sure this never happens again. On a side note games really shouldn’t be postponed in this day and age. It just spoils it when you get ahead of a team and you’ve overtaken then but then they have 3 more games to play than you do… Fucking bollocks!
Rant over… also someone has amended Mike McCurry’s Wikipedia entry to reflect todays’ events already! :
McCurry has been subject to criticism for his handling of a match between Rangers F.C. and Dundee United on 10th May 2008. Dundee Utd intend to lodge a complaint to the Scottish Football Association over the events.
Dundee United manager Craig Levein was quoted after the match: “We had a blatant penalty and he bottled it. If it’s not a level playing field and, if we don’t get the decisions, blatant, important decisions then what is the point of turning up?”
Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s story of growing during the Iranian revolution and ultimately moving to France. It’s very much a coming of age story, however the setting isn’t typical.
It’s set, for the most part, in Iran and it’s animated mostly in black and white. Based on a graphic novel of the same name it came out in France in May 2007 but were didn’t get it until now.
The film itself is pretty good, there are funny moments, like the music black market and the nude drawing. It’s set during a time where everyone was losing their personal liberties and many people were being imprisoned, often never to return.
The way the people in Iran were being treated was very much reminiscent of Nazi Germany, but the victims in this case were their own poeple. Persepolis however is a very personal story and politics isn’t at the forefront although it’s a very important aspect.
When Marjane’s home changes so much so can no longer be herself she is forced into exile in Austria and then ultimately France. As coming of age stories go, it’s very good and I enjoyed it. However because of the perspective it was quite a light story, despite the war going on around here and it didn’t explore the more interesting aspects. Worth seeing just for the different perspective.
Firstly it’s worth checking out the Edinburgh Film Festival as the tickets go on sale on 8th May. It’s early this year too, rather being in the middle of the Fringe it’s in June. Which is definitely a good thing, it can finally stand on it’s own. Anyway on to the films out this month…
They’ve finally made a Sex and the City which is obviously to top up their pension fund and I will most likely get dragged along to.
Right now we have Iron Man which is well worth seeing. Also on the comic book front we have Superhero movie , which looks like a decent spoof with Leslie Neilson in the supporting cast. More on the comic front is Speed Racer which might fall into the so so so bad it’s almost fun. The trailer looks really colourful and will probably be painful to watch, it’s put together by the Wachowski brothers.
Doomsday sounds fun, Scotland is closed by a deadly virus, it looks like everyone is dead but the Neds survived. Well something like that anyway, it’ll probably be yet another 28 Days Later rip-off.
Finally we have the long awaited Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull and he’s battling the Russians.
There is the usual load of wedding movies which are usually crap but I end up getting dragged along to.
Anyway, hope they helped you choose…
Marvel comics have been churning them out for sometime now. It’s not surprising to see yet another comic being made into a film. The trick is to cast it right, and with Robert Downey Jr. I think they did pretty well. I don’t remember the comics that well so I can’t be too sure.
The pace of the movie was really good and it started with the action, which was pretty much the trailer played back. The main character Tony Stark is a super-rich arms dealer who is intelligent, charismatic, but gives little thought to where his money is coming from and is extremely vain.
The love interest is played by Gywneth Paltrow and she does well enough to keep it strictly PG while hinting at further romance. Which may mean more films?
It had the comic feel to it because there were a few parts where you’d expect more broken bones. The bad guys were introduced very well and it was kept fairly up to date, it didn’t feel like an old idea.
It’s one of the few comic films that I’ve been impressed with and it’s hard to find a lot wrong with it. Very good film and plenty of action to enjoy.
