Thursday 29 December 2011

Hugo: A Movie Review by L Bunting

 Since I discovered The Invention of Hugo Cabret several years ago, it has remained one of my favourite books. The magnificent illustrations that make up much of the story were one of my favourite aspects of the book: it takes great talent for an author to be able to tell a complex and moving story through primarily pictures. 


A few days before Christmas, I and my family saw it in our local theatre/cinema, and it was a stunning movie. 
A breif summary: Set in 1930s Paris, Hugo Cabret lives between the walls of a train station, maintaining the clocks, stealing food and working on his father's most ambitious project: repairing a broken automaton.  However, the automaton is missing one part — a heart–shaped key. 

Hugo was shot in 3D, and although I saw it in 2D it retained depth and detail that made it extremely believable. Similarly, the history of silent film was intriguing as well as accurate as the audience was shown clips of the first film ever and excerpts from the work of Georges Méliès.

Hugo was portrayed by Asa Butterfield, who some may know as Mordred in the BBC television series Merlin, and he is to play Ender Wiggin in Ender's Game, which is set to be released in 2013.

The well-read Isabelle was played by Chloë Grace Moretz, and she perfectly brought out the innocent yet knowledgeable aspects of her character.

Rather than using surplus action to tell the story, it was character driven yet complex--just as the original book was, resulting in a wonderful movie. 

I, without hesitation, give this movie five stars for the phenomenal story telling, acting, plot, and everything else.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

A review by PreTitlesSequence

The sequel to the hit 2009 film; Sherlock Holmes - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows- a version of the Sherlock Holmes stories, starring Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law was released this December, and on December 27, I saw it at the cinema/theater.

File:Sherlock Holmes2Poster.jpg
In A Game of Shadows, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson join forces to outwit Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), and prevent Moriarty from starting a world war. 

Having not seen the first film, the first 15 minutes confused me a little, since characters from the first film were used, without explanation. However, from there on, I really enjoyed the film. There was plenty of action (a bit like a Victorian James Bond), with a couple of great set-pieces (one on a train, one in a forest.) The acting standard was generally very good, with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law impressing as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson respectively. Jared Harris, who plays Moriarty, and Stephen Fry, who plays Mycroft Holmes, were both excellent. Noomi Rapace as gypsy Simza was a bit bland however - more a fault of the script than the performance. 

The film was based on the Sherlock Holmes story The Final Problem. I won't spoil the ending here, but the ending is very similar to that of the story. The brilliant final scene sets up Sherlock Holmes 3 perfectly - the final shot is the words 'The End?' on a typewriter...

I would recommend A Game of Shadows for its impressive action and great acting - but it's not perfect.

Merlin four star rating

Sunday 25 December 2011

Happy Christmas from the Doctor and the Ponds!

A very happy Christmas to all my readers from me, the Doctor, and the Pond family!

Multifandom Tip of the Iceberg

Recently, I made my first multifandom video, using clips from Doctor Who, Harry Potter, and The Chronicles of Narnia (specifically The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). It is set to Tip of the Iceberg by Owl City, as a Christmas/Winter special video.
Enjoy!

Sunday 11 December 2011

Two Missing Episodes Found

Throughout Doctor Who's history that spans almost fifty years, several episodes were lost during the beginning years. To the excitement of all Whovians, the official website has confirmed that two Classic Who episodes have been found, featuring the First and Second Doctors, respectively. The episodes in are episode 3 of Galaxy Four (1965) and episode 2 of The Underwater Menace (1967).

Clips from both can be seen below: 

Galaxy Four:



The Underwater Menace:



Source

Friday 9 December 2011

Fan-Vid Friday (7)

Yes, I know this feature has been absent for a long time, but I uploaded a new video to YouTube...and it's Friday.
So for this Fan-Vid Friday, we have one of my own videos, set to Owl City's famous song Fireflies. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. The rest of my videos can be viewed on my channel, TheTardisTraveler10.

Thursday 8 December 2011

Prequel to The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe

The prequel for The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe has been released, as part of the Adventure Calender featured on the official Doctor Who website.

Matt Smith on the Christmas Special

In a recent interview with What's on TV, Matt Smith talked about the upcoming Christmas special: The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe.

Can you set the scene when widow Madge Arwell and her children turn up at this draughty manor house and meet the Doctor?
“He’s very excited to see Madge and her children and make Christmas wonderful for this family who’ve been through so much. It’s very cosy and Christmassy in this house. It’s quite nice to see children as the central characters in a Christmas special.”

Why does he call himself The Caretaker?
“He just wants to give himself a new name for a while. But he’s ridiculous and they’re like, this isn’t how caretakers behave! He just wants to take care of things but of course The Doctor taking care of things is making the house twirl about in ridiculous ways. It’s the Doctor landing in a normal situation and changing it in a way only he can.” 

What happens to the Doctor and the family at Christmas?
“There’s a sort of slow-burning magic to the story and it has a Narnia-esque feel to it – they all get to crawl through this mysterious blue present and into an enchanted forest that looked amazing. They covered this forest in snow. It looks incredible. We covered whole forests in snow. The scale of it is vast and it feels magical. We never see that in this country. It’s never THAT snowy.”

Is there a monster in the forest?
“There is a monster. There is a threat in this magical world, a definite threat. I’ll keep the monster as a surprise. It’s one of our best. The design of it is classic. There are others in the forest, too, who are like forestry workers in these great armoured suits. Their leader is played by comedian Bill Bailey!”

How does he get on with Madge?
“Madge is a plucky feisty mum who is quite clumsy, too, but takes care of things. The Doctor finds out something tragic about her life – and subsequently tries to give her and her children the best Christmas ever – which turns out to be the best Christmas ever in a really dangerous forest! Claire Skinner, who plays her, is great. I’m a big fan of her in Outnumbered.”

What can you reveal about the black space suit he wears at one point?
“At the beginning of the episode the Doctor finds himself in this space suit and he crashes to Earth in it. His helmet’s on backwards and he can’t see to navigate – which is funny, hopefully.”

Do you get a lot of stunts in this episode?
“Oh yes. It’s quite action-adventurey which I like. I’ve done all my own stunts this year – well I’ve done two. There have only been two! There’s a big explosion and I do the jump. And another one involves leaping over something which hopefully will be very funny as I land awkwardly. I really enjoy that. Maybe we’ll see more of an action hero Doctor next season.”

How do you get into a Christmas frame of mind when you start filming it in September?
“The wonderful set does it for you – the snow, the pine trees and the smell of them. I’m so looking forward to Christmas! There have been a few night shoots – they can be tough.”

What were your favourite Christmas memories as a kid?
“I didn’t have Doctor Who as a kid sadly. Boxing Day was always the football in my house. I love Christmas. I can’t wait – family, presents and the rest. The older you get, the more you like buying things for other people. Working so much has meant I haven’t had much time with my family as I have previously, so to have a run of two or three days with them is good.”

Will you watch Doctor Who with your family?
“We will sit down and watch it together. My sister usually gabbles on during the middle of it. My dad will be like sssshhhhh. They like the surprise. I always get a text every Saturday saying they liked each episode.”