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By accident, I ended up seeing the movie adaption of Neil Gaiman's book, Coraline a few weeks ago. I was supposed to be seeing something at the Brisbane International Film Festival, but missed out on tickets so we headed to the 'normal' cinemas.
It was a fortunate accident. I love kids fantasy stories especially those where the child heroes discover gateways to other worlds. I grew up on stories like Enid Blyton's The Faraway Tree and The Wishing Chair and loved the idea that there were other worlds touching ours and that kids were the only ones observant enough to find them.
Coraline carries similarities to other stories in this genre, but the world that she discovers through the tiny door in her family's new apartment is far from the idealic worlds that were often waiting at the top of the Faraway Tree.
With two busy parents, Coraline feels neglected and as though people don't pay enough attention to her. But when she discovers her other mother and other father on the other side of the tiny door, she thinks her wishes have all come true. Her other mother is sweet and attentive, her father wacky and creative. Her boring, eccentric neighbours become exciting and entertaining on the other side of the door and her talkative friend, Wybie, becomes quiet and compliant.
But there's something wrong with the other side of the door. All the people have buttons for eyes and Coraline soon discovers that if she wants to stay on the other side, she'll have to agree to have her other mother replace her own eyes with buttons. It's quite a scary tale and I'd recommend that parents at least read the book to their kids before taking them to see it.
While the story ultimately does carry a moral ("Be careful what you wish for"), it's not delivered in such a way that kids will think they're being preached too. There are some moments that made me roll my eyes, namely the attempt at giving some old child-ghosts period dialogue, but for the most part, Coraline was a film that I was glad to have seen, even by accident
I've been trying to, on top of my normal television viewing, rewatch shows that I gave up on or lost track of that have finished.
Regular readers will know that I finished the Gilmore Girls a couple of months ago. I understand why I gave it up, I was a teenager when it started and Rory didn't pick the boy I liked. This time round I was more interested in Lorelai and though I hated the end of the season, I enjoyed watching the show as a whole.
Last night I finished watching the tenth season of Friends and I can't for the life of me work out why I stopped watching it. I remember I was a slow starter. The first season started when I was in high school and it was a bit too grown up for me. There were no teenagers for me to fall in love with so I watched the pilot, gave it up and came back to it later when it took off. I reckon I gave it four seasons. There were assorted episodes in the later seasons that I had seen, like Monica and Chandler getting engaged and Rachel finding out she was pregnant, but that all came from watching re-runs all day long when I was unemployed and living in America.
It was a good show. It was funny. They managed to keep audiences entertained without the need for massive amounts of guest stars (although some of the guest starts were awesome, ie, Greg Kinnear, Aisha Tyler, Danny DeVito) and by using their sets wisely. That's a big deal. There's never been another show like it, one that had a great ensemble cast, good comedy, fun storylines and wasn't afraid of a little emotional pull.
I'm annoyed at myself for giving it up, but I love the world for giving us DVDs so great shows like that can be watched and loved over and over again.
Not sure what's next on the list. In the past three years I've done Buffy, the X-Files, Gilmore Girls and now Friends. Any one have any suggestions???
I've been thinking a lot about the death of characters on television shows and when it's appropriate. I've also been thinking about what makes fans cry out in outrage when a character is killed off and what makes them shrug their shoulders and say, "that's okay."
The topic was raised with me last year when I marathoned my way through 4 seasons of Spooks in my winter semester break. In the second episode of the first season Helen Flynn (played by Lisa Faulkner) was violently tortured with a deep fryer and ultimately killed. It was shocking to me when she was killed because I never actually expected it.
So long have we been watching television shows where the cast gets in what we think are dire situations, only to be rescued at the very last second, that it's actually shocking when they get it. And for me, this is what makes Spooks such exciting viewing. Every character is expendable. It doesn't matter if they're part of the main cast, every time they get into trouble, they really could die. This was demonstrated in episode two and it has continued throughout the series.
I could be wrong here, but the fans seem to be a bit more content with this approach. I loved Adam Carter, but it seemed to me that the fans accepted his death. (And why not when the cushion to the blow was Lucas?!) But at the end of season two of Torchwood when main characters, Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori) and Owen Harper (Burn Gorman) were killed, there was fan uproar.
I wonder if this was because it was unexpected- characters on Torchwood and Doctor Who are all about the last minute saving the day. Or maybe it was because there were rumours on the fan circuit that the cast members weren't happy with the decision to kill off their characters?
At the time, I was unspoiled and didn't see it coming. I cried when I saw the episode and I was shocked, but I wasn't angry with the writers. I loved the characters, but I'm fickle. Give me a good death scene and I'm usually happy. But then I rewatched the episode when I bought the DVDs and realised, all the signs were there. All the way through the episode there was talk of death, talk of setting things right. It looked like Tosh might get her long hoped for date with Owen... all things that seemed impossible suddenly appeared possible and then they died. That, to me, isn't a good TV death because in real life, people don't often get a chance to set things right before they go. Especially not people who work for secret agencies protecting the world from aliens.
Last night I watched something where a character who was always my favourite died. I didn't expect it in a sense that I wasn't spoiled, but from the moment I started watching, there were cues in the dialogue from the character that made me know what was coming. As a result, I didn't think this character got a good death. The scene itself was great-- it was emotional and heart wrenching. But I didn't cry because I'd seen it coming. It wasn't a shock.
And I came to the conclusion that as always, it comes down to the writing. A writer who gets attached to a character wants to give them a good send off will be tempted to tie up lose ends. And that's not always good. Being too attached, not always good. TV writers who feel this tug should watch a few episodes of Spooks and see how it's done.
After the short season of last year with the writer's strike, the 25 episodes of the second season seemed to go forever. We've seen the end of summer vacation with Nate having an affair with an older woman, Blair dating an English Lord only to find that Nate's older woman was Marcus' step-mother and that they were having an affair. Whew, that's confusing and that's only the first two characters and their first two relationships of the season.
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I'm the kind of girl who likes action movies. I'm a child of the eighties so I grew up watching the Transformers cartoons and even had a couple of the toys. Though I didn't get to see the first movie at the cinemas, (damn exams) I really enjoyed it and was looking forward to going to see the sequel.
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I've been very quiet for quite some time because I've been busily finishing up the end of semester at Uni. But now, with the last assignment being handed in later this afternoon and two exams spaced out over the next three weeks, I'm busily planning what I'm going to be watching over the winter break.
1. Psych
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Later this year, one of my all time favourite books will be released as a move. It's Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, and in November I'll hopefully be attending advance screenings as a reviewer.
My emotions at this point are a bit mixed. I love this book, I love it so hard I can't even elaborate accurately. I love Eric Bana and I think Rachel McAdams will make a good Clare, at least she will looks wise. I'm happy with the casting in theory, but how it's going to work in practice could be another story
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I've had some troubles getting into anything lately. Time has a lot to do with it, but I've come to realise that starting a show that's at the beginning or middle stages of its run means that you'll be investing a lot of time into it. I was given the first season of Psych for my birthday in September last year. I'd seen the first two or three episodes, knew it was worth watching, but hadn't added it to the rotation. I thought that owning it on DVD would encourage me to watch, but so far, I've watched maybe the first five episodes, the last two of those while I was studying, so I didn't reall absorb them.
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There are a few shows that will always have a special place in my heart. I watch a lot of TV and have loved a lot of programs but there are two shows that I think changed and shaped my life.
Number one was Home Improvement. In my early high school years my best friend was in love with Jonathan Taylor Thomas (who wasn’t) so I dutifully fell in love with the older brother Brad who was played by Zachery Ty Bryan. We lived in a small town in the country and one of my happiest memories is sitting by the river on a summer day and making up stories about how we’d go to LA one day and woo the boys to fall in love with us. I remember being thirteen years old and crying when a signed picture and a form letter arrived from Zach. It was a happy time. I also remember the episode where Tim doesn’t want to part with this horrible, hairy sweater that Jill keeps trying to slip into the Goodwill bin and realizing that my Dad had a very similar sweater in his closet. My Dad was also accident prone and was always injuring himself while doing home handyman projects. Not as bad as Tim, but even now I still see similarities between my real Dad and my TV Dad. (Yep, that’s how I think of Tim the Toolman Taylor, as my TV Dad
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I’ve now got people coming at me from all sides with new TV that I should incorporate into my rotation. (And this is why I’ve not been posting as regularly; more watching = less writing)
Last week I watched the first 8 episodes of season one of True Blood. I’ve been a bit iffy about vampire related media in the last few months since I read the Twilight books and watched the movie (Twice. Guh), but this isn’t too bad. Okay, so it’s not great, but there’s definitely enough good for me to keep watching
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