December Round-up: TV & Books

The Christmas / New Year period was fairly busy for some reason, and it's only since this last weekend I've been able to unwind, at least that's how it feels. So I'm going to do a quick catch up on the stuff I've been watching and reading to bring me up to date to start the new year. 

Back at the end of 2011 I loved every minute of Forbrydelsen II / The Killing II (2009). While not as long or perhaps as compelling as the first series, the second still held my rapt attention. Sarah Lund returned to Copenhagen to track a series of killings involving the army and incident in Afghanistan many years before. Grisly murder scenes and lots of pensive Lund moments mixed with new politician Thomas Buch's investigations into his predecessor's conduct as Justice Minister combined for some pretty exciting TV. I did not see the ending coming AT ALL and it was super intense. The intelligent way that The Killing handles plot, character and drama makes it one of my favourite show of the year. Roll on series 3!

Another returning series was Merlin: Series 4, which kicked things up a notch early on by dispatching Uther (and Lancelot) and crowning Arthur King of Camelot, before treading water with some ho-hum warlock-of-the-week episodes before shifting gear again on the overarching plot and marrying off the new king to Gwen. Still no sign of Merlin revealing his magical secret to his best mate and boss, but there were more interesting developments that almost got forgotten in the final episode of the series when the boy magician finished off evil Agravaine! I'm sure that's going to come back to haunt Merlin and add some angst to series 5.

The small yet perfectly formed Rev came back with a new series that saw some big name guest stars in Reverend Adam Smallbone's tiny congregation. Still funny, endearing and often unexpectedly, refreshingly rude, Rev still feels like a hidden gem.

While in Crewe for New Year I had the 'pleasure' of watching a few bits and pieces on my in-laws' new 3D TV, including some Kylie concert, a bit of a CGI movie and a whole programme in the form of nature documentary The Bachelor King 3D. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough the over-long one off followed the life and times of a king penguin - at least it purported to do, until the closing credits revealed that the penguin lead was actually 'played' by several different birds. The 3D was a nice touch, but as I've said before, watching something in 3 dimensions does not improve the actual experience. It's a novelty and nothing more, and after 75 minutes with heavy 3D glasses it's also a bit of a headache. The programme was good, though didn't shed any new light on the lives of a well-documented species.

TV short Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas was charming though distinctly odd. I understand the conceit of talking mammoths, sloths, etc, but I just cannot credit the presence of a human Santa Claus or the very notion of Christian Christmas many thousands (millions?) of years too early. I know it's a kids' holiday special but come on! Paradoxes aside, the short was a lot of fun and made me want to finally watch the movie sequels to the not-quite-classic-but-better-than-most-cgi-movies original.

I found time to read a couple of books over Christmas. The first I actually received as a gift last year, The Interrogative Mood (2010) by Padgett Powell. A bizarre 'novel' constructed entirely throughout its 164 pages by a random string of questions. It's an odd beast, and not really my idea of a novel, but it's hardly non-fiction either. Occasionally there seem to be groups of questions that link but there is no connected through-line. Strangely the overall impression of the book is that whatever it is, it works. It really has to be read to be believed.

More straightforward was Kate Mosse's Labyrinth (2005), an epic grail quest that feels incredibly sedate compared to the Da Vinci Code. I say grail quest, it's not until the last third of the novel that the relic evens merits a mention. Before that the story is split between Alice in the present and Alaïs in the 13th century as the former pieces together bits of the life of the latter until both narratives cleverly converge in the same cave in the French Pyrenees. I rarely had this book out of my hands over New Year, I very much relished the dual-narrative style, the subject matter and the wonderfully drawn characters. I particularly liked Alaïs' experiences in a foreign country and a dim and distant past for the fact that both aspects of her life were so different and original. Where Dan Brown's book felt like a thriller for the MTV generation, Labyrinth was more like a 20 part Danish drama, slowly unfolding over time to reveal a deftly plotted adventure.

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

Though sadly no longer subtitled The Kaboom of Doom, Kung Fu Panda 2 can sit happily alongside also poorly monikered sequel Toy Story 2 as being that rare beast, an animated movie (heck any movie!) that manages to be even better than the brilliant first instalment. This film was all kinds of awesome, it had me laughing out loud, catching my breath at the imaginative action sequences, and marvelling at the beautifully animated Chinese city and rural landscapes. 

The gang's all back from the previous film, headed up by the charming and fluffy Po, voiced by Jack Black, just one of a cast of stellar actors including Angelina Jolie, Gary Oldman, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, Victor Garber, Jackie Chan, and um Jean-Claude Van Damme who give life to an array of peacocks, geese, pandas, tigers, storks and rhinos. A brilliantly colourful mix of animal characters and stunning background work make Kung Fu Panda 2 one of the most visually arresting movies of recent memory, and they are well complemented by an unexpectedly emotional plot and sophisticated character work. Even the end credits looked great, eschewing the usual scrolling text on black background for beautiful images that look like production paintings. 

The CGI animation looks amazing, and the 3D was good although I continue my argument that 3D doesn't add anything to an already awesome movie. What surprised me were the segments of 2D traditionally animated flashbacks that looked just as good as the CGI stuff. Proof positive that there is still room for traditional animation in a world of ever-increasing numbers of CGI flicks. Kung Fu Panda 2 was a triumph from beginning to end, and I hope the inevitable threequel (is that a word?) can pull off a Toy Story 3 and be as good as if not better than the first sequel.

Toy Story 3 (2010)

The other big movie of the summer, along with Inception, is Toy Story 3, which we saw in 3D last Wednesday. It's simply excellent. I couldn't fault it at all. Hilarious, beautiful animation (but that's a given with Pixar), and a surprising emotional punch, it's a top class film. It sits nicely with the previous and there's no law of diminishing returns here. 

Where Toy Story 3 differs from it's forebears is with the introduction of a wealth of new characters, and it's in 3D. I've written before about how 3D doesn't do a lot for me, and this movie would have been equally as enjoyable without it, but here it truly was an immersive experience. I forgot I was watching in 3D... now I can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing. There were no 3D 'show off' moments with things looming out of the screen, rather the 3D added depth to the picture, that was more than reflected in the depth of the characters and emotion.

My favourite new character was Timothy Dalton voiced Mr Pricklepants, the thespian hedgehog, who needed more screentime! I also love Mr and Mrs Potato Head, who provide some of the biggest and best laughs of the trilogy, particularly here where Mr Potato Head becomes Mr Tortilla! Chuckles the clown and the Big Baby were other stand outs in a massive cast of characters that didn't neglect any of the old faces or short change the new ones (except Mr Pricklepants, who needs a spin off).

I didn't cry at the end, since I don't cry at films generally, but I did get quite emotional as a I thought certain characters were done for. The chase at the rubbish dump was by turns exciting, exhausting and emotionally draining. Spanish Buzz was an inspired and richly mined comic avenue, and I was glad to see that while there were no outtakes during the end credits at least there was extra animation following the toys into the future. A masterpiece.

Night & Day, the short that preceded the main feature certainly merits a mention too. It was an ingenious piece that made good use of 3D, and which involved a very different style of animation and storytelling - something that Pixar gets more and more confident with.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

I was not that fussed about seeing Tim Burton's latest movie, especially after what he did the 'remake' of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so I am pleased to say that I enjoyed Alice in Wonderland thoroughly!

I'm only familiar with Alice through the 1951 Disney animation and I've never read Lewis Carroll's original books, so I didn't really have an idea of what to expect, although I knew the story wasn't just a straight adaptation. Burton makes his Alice a 19 year old on the verge of marriage and adult-hood, who is plagued by dreams of a strange fantasy world. After falling down a rabbit hole, Alice finds herself back in Wonderland - a bit like Return to Oz I suppose (though I'm guessing as I've not watched that, yet) - and all the usual suspects remember her, but she doesn't remember them, although she needs to so that she can slay the Jabberwocky and save Underland (as it's actually called - Alice misremembered it as Wonderland) from the evil Red Queen. 

The movie is full of fantastic characters and surprising actors, along with lots of laughs and heart. Mia Wasikowska's Alice is somewhat jaded and a little cold, but she plays the role just right, with only the occasional scene where she seems a bit flat. As the movie opens in the 'real' world, I was name-checking the actors (including the amazing Lindsay Duncan) and, once in Underland, the voice-actors, so I'd completely forgotten that Johnny Depp was even in the thing! Despite bearing an uncanny resemblance to Madonna that only me and Andrew seem to have noticed (it's the gap in his teeth!), Depp's Mad Hatter is a hilarious creation, backed up by a whole host of imaginative and well-voiced collection of supporting characters such as the dormouse (Barbara friggin' Windsor!), Cheshire Cat (Sir Stephen Fry), and the caterpillar (only Alan Rickman!), plus Matt Lucas in a dual role as Tweedles Dee and Dum, who stole every scene he was in. Twice. 

Talking of scene stealers, Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen is easily the best character in the whole film. A close cousin of Blackadder II's Queenie, judging by the delivery, the Red Queen and her castle featured so many great lines and sight gags, it'll take a second viewing to catch them all. As the ethereal White Queen, Anne Hathaway had a less showy part, but she imbued the potentially-irritating wholesome good queen with enough mannerisms and off-beat charm that she completely fit into this weird, weird world.

In 3D the film looked fantastic, and I expect it would look the same in 2D - there wasn't the level of immersion in the movie as in Avatar, but it certainly didn't detract from the experience. Alice had a brighter palate for a Tim Burton film, in keeping with a more family-friendly tone, although there were some rather scary scenes, mostly involving the hideous, slavering Bandersnatch creature. Going into the film with no (or low) expectations meant that I had few preconceptions and as a result I think I enjoyed the film more than I thought I would. In fact I liked everything about it. What a frabjous day!

Avatar (2009)

It was the film we’ve all been waiting for, apparently. If Empire was to be believed anyway. I’d not heard much about Avatar outside the pages of my favourite magazine, other than a few bits of a trailer that made the film look very much like a computer game. I figured there must be something special about it since it’s doing MASSIVE businesses worldwide (but then considering that most Harry Potter films and the poor Pirates of the Caribbean sequels appear in the top 20 highest-grossing movies doesn’t say a lot for the quality of the rest of the list!). So this Orange Wednesday we popped along to Vue to see Avatar in 3D.

For the first hour or so of Avatar’s 2.5 I was shifting in my seat and thinking that this film was going to be loooong. But by the last hour I was emotionally involved with the characters, loving Pandora, and wanting to spend more time with the blue Na’vi race that populate this far off planet. That is not to say that I found the opening of Avatar boring. I think my main problem with it was the switching between the world of the Na’vi and the humans a bit jarring – I understand that James Cameron wanted to explain much of the Na’vi’s behaviour and lore, but cutting it together with the plot developing with the Americans kept interrupting my education. Of course it would be poor film-making to just have an of American plot, then an hour of Na’vi ‘exposition’ – though exposition rendered through some beautiful, sumptuous, 3-dimensional CGI vistas, creatures and nature. The 3D made the switching between ‘worlds’ more difficult for me. The CGI-packed Na’vi scenes were easier to watch in 3D than the non-CG scenes featuring human characters. I found that in these latter scenes I had to refocus on what was at the ‘front’ of the screen each time the angle changed, leaving anything happening in the background a little blurred and indistinct. 3D doesn’t seem to allow for any peripheral viewing, except in CGI constructed scenes that have been specifically generated to cope with the 3D effects. My other problem with the 3D is that I don’t wear glasses, and after 2.5 hours, they were irritating my nose! But that’s my own problem, not Avatar’s.

Avatar’s story has been knocked for being derivative and nothing new, and I can see that too, although I admit to being so caught up in it all by the end that certain events took my pleasantly by surprise. I also suspecting that certain characters would die at the climax, and happily they didn’t. The dialogue was a bit ‘shit’ heavy, by which I mean that you could tell this was a 12A rated film by the preponderance of the milder expletive. It jarred a bit sometimes, with a script that didn’t really through up any memorable lines.

The cast were all uniformly great – although I have to feel a bit sorry for the actors who portrayed the Na’vi only – we never even get to see their faces properly. And it was only as the credits rolled that I realised that the fantastic CCH Pounder was in it! (I’m currently enjoying her in The Shield TV series on DVD). Sam Worthington, the relatively unknown actor playing Jake Sully, our guide through the world of Pandora, is a man to watch, and not just because he’s oh-so-hunky (even as a 7 foot blue Smurf/Delvian/Dr Manhattan!). Sometimes I was a bit confused as to where exactly Sully was from – he sounded Australian on the narration, yet I didn’t really notice his accent when he was on screen. Sigourney Weaver was great, and had the film’s too-few comic moments – when the humour did surface the laughter it provoked was almost a relief, and made you realise how straight and serious the rest of the movie was.

Hopefully the director’s cut will include a bit more humour, and maybe flesh out a couple of the supporting characters, such as the 3^rd guy with an avatar (who’s name I forget, despite his being a human name and infinitely more memorable than any of the Na’vi’s!), and Michelle Rodriguez’s marine who joins the Na’vi resistance. I did enjoy Avatar, although I don’t think it’s a more significant or exciting a movie than any that have gone before it – CGI drenched live action movies are nothing new, especially since the Star Wars prequels, and the plot is no great addition to the sci-fi genre – but it last third of the movie at least was a thrilling, emotional journey that I would gladly go through again, even in 2D.

Up (2009)

Pixar's first 9 movies have been absolutely fantastic pieces of art, and I'm glad to say that Up, their 10th, does nothing to spoil this run. 
I found it interesting that when we went to see Up in 3-D on Wednesday the cinema was full of young twenty-somethings like myself. I was expecting kids! Maybe since Toy Story came out while I and my fellow cinema goers that evening were at a formative age (I was 11 in 1995) and we've all grown up with Pixar. Or maybe everyone was there to witness a wonderful spectacle, because that's what Up provided, in spades.

Now I'm a bit skeptical about 3-D movies, I've only seen a couple, Beowulf and Monsters vs Aliens. The former was improved by the addition of the 3-D element, and the latter was complemented nicely. I've also seen Bolt and Coraline, which were released in 3-D, in standard 2-D versions only, and I think that because Bolt was a weaker movie, it would have been improved by 3-D, whereas Coraline would probably work either way. Basically I think that a movie needs to justify being in 3-D, especially when it costs so much more to see one! If a movie is improved by 3-D then it clearly wasn't a very good one in the first place. 

Up neither benefited nor suffered from being in 3-D, but it certainly made for an even more rewarding experience than a standard 2-D version probably would. 3-D added depth to the backgrounds/scenery, but not to the story and the characters - that depth was already present and correct. 

After The Incredibles, Ratatouille and WALL-E, which all deviated in many ways from their buddy-movie predecessors, Up presents a further step beyond what is normal or usual for an animated movie. In the first 5 or 10 minutes a montage sequence shows the elderly protagonist as he grows from childhood to old age with the girl who becomes his wife and companion, and the animation and music tell a story that negates the need for dialogue - in this sequence we learn that Carl's wife is unable to have a child, and shortly after we see Ellie fall as an old lady, before a brief scene at her funeral... Emotional scenes for an animated movie! Move over Bambi's mother, these scenes go straight for your tear-ducts, although not in any way that feels manipulative. It all feels real. I don't cry at movies, but I felt tears welling up no less than 3 times during the course of Up. 

I think adults will get more out of Up than kids would, although there's probably enough to keep them busy. Hang on - are animations supposed to engross the kids and have just enough to keep adults busy?? I love how Pixar doesn't water down their tales for kids. After the initial heartbreak in the opening scenes, Up moves on to become a hilarious adventure story, with Carl and his new found Wilderness Explorer sidekick, Russell, floating Carl's house down to South America so that our elderly hero can have the life he always planned to have with his wife. 

Along the way Carl and Russell an exotic bird named Kevin, a whole pack of 'talking' dogs and Up's dastardly villain. There's so much imagination and emotion going on, I was conscious of the big goofy grin I had on my face throughout. The animation, of course, is flawless, and absolutely breathtaking, particularly in some of the 3-D sequences as the house floats above the South American landscapes. 

The character of Russell is a bundle of joy. What could have been a very irritating character turns out to be lovable, as his boundless enthusiasm tranlates to the audience (well , me anyway). One of the most impressive aspects of Up's story is the way it doesn't condescend to explain what's going on in Carl or Russell's head through exposition or forced heart to hearts between the characters - so much is conveyed through their emotions and images, in the same way that WALL-E before it accomplished so much through minimal dialogue. 

I could go on and on about all of the many things that I loved about Up (and the short that preceded it, Partly Cloudy), but I won't. I would just encourage anyone and everyone to see it, and challenge them not to be sweet Up in the emotional adventure.