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September
73. Pond Life
Oh, very cute. Slice of perfectly ordinary life in fantastic universes is always good.
74. The Dark Knight Rises
So, let me see if I got this right: Occupy Wall Street are evil - in fact, they are really terrorists (and quite probably muslim, though that's never stated). All they want is for civilization to burn. What they are not is the voice of the people - because the people are sheep. The people are victims - orphans, women forced to "do the worst to survive". Only if a powerful man - an ultrarich man (and it has to be a man - there is no such thing as powerful women - a powerful woman is probably evil in disguise) - deigns to give them his charity and his trust can the sheep rise above themselves - in fact, society runs on charity alone, and if charity stops, things fall apart. In return, of course, the people must obey the powerful man and not question his wisdom in deciding what things they are better off not knowing. If they do not submit and if they do dare to question, society will fall apart and the lunatics will run the asylum and evil will laugh and government will be spineless and give in to the terrorists demands. And in the end, nothing the people do can save themselves - no matter the plan, no matter the courage - but worry not! The powerful man will return, King Arthur returning to Camelot to save his city once more, to sacrifice himself again (except not really) for all the masses who wronged him and hated him for daring to be a good man. So yeah...
You know, this is the sort of movie that leaves me wondering if certain segments of Americans really don't know how society, you know, works? Anyway, there were bits I liked: Talia, the end with Blake, Crane's very Reign of Terror/Queen of Hearts courtroom. But mostly? If you leave a 2½ movie feeling like you just wasted 4 hours of your life? Too long. And if I had had a rotten tomato at hand, I would probably had thrown it at someone (except not, but honestly).
75. Zodiac
Dear Mark Ruffalo. Do not be in any more movies set in the 60s/70s. The look really doesn't suit you. Apart from that, very nice movie, with Robert Downey playing pretty much himself and Mark being good and it's a bit frustrating that they didn't quite get the guy, but, you know, sometimes that's life.
76. Castle season 4.
Thing is, it's beginning to bore me a bit, this show - I mean, the whole Castle/Beckett UST never did it for me, and the conspiracy plot arc bores me. I'm in this for occasionally quirky plots and Castle being, well, Castle, and sadly, it feels like it gives me less and less of that in favour of more and more of, well, the first two things. Anyway...
77. Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 2.
Not as good as the first season, but still fun, and I am sorry it got cancelled for the grave sin of being too different from the movie-verse. Bruce Banner continues being my favourite - in fact, after Nightmare in Red, I had all sorts of feelings, about Bruce and Clint (who I wanted to hit for that comment) and the Hulk and the complicated nature of their relationship (I thought I had a Yuletide prompt right there, but alas, apparently A:EMH's Bruce Banner and Clint Barton are just like the MCU versions - why yes, I am still a bit bitter). After The Deadliest Man Alive - well, I found it disturbing that the Hulk's so-called friends would wait so long to get him out of jail - would prioritize convincing T'Challa to return from his kingdom and so many other things over that. I mean, as soon as the Red Hulk showed up again after NiR, they should have done something, but no. No wonder the Hulk was pissed off in the end.
One thing I quite enjoyed this season was the many times we saw heroes and villains working together - for instance, during Prisoner of War. Yes, some of the villains had inconvenient relapses of let's-kill-the-hero, but most of them showed at least some common sense. Which actually made the final episode, the Galactus invades one, kind of disappointing - because surely at least some of the villains would have, you know, issues with their home planet getting eaten? Where was Doom, for instance? Actually, the whole Galactus episode felt - pasted on. There was foreshadowing during the Skrull arc, but not quite enough - it felt like they knew the show was getting cancelled and wanted to go out with a bang. But maybe that's just me...
78. Persons Unknown season 1.
This show felt very - like it wanted to be the new Lost. Or like someone had wanted to make a computer game and made a tv series instead. Anyway, it wasn't that great - it especially annoyed me how Janet Cooper had half the other characters fall for her - boring. And I suppose it would eventually turn out they were all souls in purgatory or something (though I kind of like the AIs stealing human personalities idea someone else on the internet had).
Avengers (fourth time, first time on the small screen)
And still going strong :-)
October
79. This Land is Mine
Okay song, gorgeous visuals, sad point. Quite good.
80. Rear Window
You know what I found myself wondering? Where are all the other people on the hero's side of the building? I mean, across from him we see people, diagonally even - but what about the people in the same building? Why don't we even hear them walking down the stairs or something - I mean, none of the other buildings seem like the sort of super-sound-proofed places, and yet, from above and below our hero - not a peep? Curious...
81. Hugo
You know, the way to not leave me with much sympathy for a character? Have the first thing he does steal what is obviously a highly priced object from a small chid. Anyway, the visuals were lovely and the glimpses of the old movies lovely too, but overall it was pretty dull.
82. Arsenic and Old Lace
Oh, this was fun. This was hilarious. You know what I'd love? If the London Toast Theatre would stage the play - that would be awesome, wouldn't it?
83. Copper season 1.
This was - okay. At least it broke the pattern of man-of-enlightenment ending up with superior's-wife thing in period dramas I'd been seeing lately. And I do like the sheer - fucked-up complexity of some of the characters and how others start out seeming nice and turn out to be, well, less nice, really, and no, I don't think it's unreasonable of Corky to not be forgiving of Elizabeth. Yes, Annie turned out to be a truly fucked-up little bitch and acted like a rival for Corky's affections, but guess what? Abuse will do that to you. And then handing her back to her abuser, well, she didn't know better, except then she lied to Corky... anyway, okay show. Will probably be tuning in to season two.
84. Mockingbird Lane pilot episode
First, a little honesty: I like Eddie Izzard's stand-up, but as far as his acting goes - not as enthused. Still, this was fun enough, and I'll probably watch it if they make a whole series of it. That said, these Munsters, they - well, I like the Addams family better. Or rather, I'd rather live in the general vicinity of the Addams family. They're dark, yes, but they didn't usually eat the neighbours...
85. The Celluloid Closet
This was interesting, though I must admit to being a little disappointed at the point it ended - I mean yes, of course it had to end in the mid-90s, the movie was made in the mid-90s, but it was just getting interesting, you know? I wonder if there's a sequal (or perhaps more likely another documentary that covers the following couple of decades).
86. Big Trouble in Little China
This was fun - the effects are pretty dated, but still - fun.
73. Pond Life
Oh, very cute. Slice of perfectly ordinary life in fantastic universes is always good.
74. The Dark Knight Rises
So, let me see if I got this right: Occupy Wall Street are evil - in fact, they are really terrorists (and quite probably muslim, though that's never stated). All they want is for civilization to burn. What they are not is the voice of the people - because the people are sheep. The people are victims - orphans, women forced to "do the worst to survive". Only if a powerful man - an ultrarich man (and it has to be a man - there is no such thing as powerful women - a powerful woman is probably evil in disguise) - deigns to give them his charity and his trust can the sheep rise above themselves - in fact, society runs on charity alone, and if charity stops, things fall apart. In return, of course, the people must obey the powerful man and not question his wisdom in deciding what things they are better off not knowing. If they do not submit and if they do dare to question, society will fall apart and the lunatics will run the asylum and evil will laugh and government will be spineless and give in to the terrorists demands. And in the end, nothing the people do can save themselves - no matter the plan, no matter the courage - but worry not! The powerful man will return, King Arthur returning to Camelot to save his city once more, to sacrifice himself again (except not really) for all the masses who wronged him and hated him for daring to be a good man. So yeah...
You know, this is the sort of movie that leaves me wondering if certain segments of Americans really don't know how society, you know, works? Anyway, there were bits I liked: Talia, the end with Blake, Crane's very Reign of Terror/Queen of Hearts courtroom. But mostly? If you leave a 2½ movie feeling like you just wasted 4 hours of your life? Too long. And if I had had a rotten tomato at hand, I would probably had thrown it at someone (except not, but honestly).
75. Zodiac
Dear Mark Ruffalo. Do not be in any more movies set in the 60s/70s. The look really doesn't suit you. Apart from that, very nice movie, with Robert Downey playing pretty much himself and Mark being good and it's a bit frustrating that they didn't quite get the guy, but, you know, sometimes that's life.
76. Castle season 4.
Thing is, it's beginning to bore me a bit, this show - I mean, the whole Castle/Beckett UST never did it for me, and the conspiracy plot arc bores me. I'm in this for occasionally quirky plots and Castle being, well, Castle, and sadly, it feels like it gives me less and less of that in favour of more and more of, well, the first two things. Anyway...
77. Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 2.
Not as good as the first season, but still fun, and I am sorry it got cancelled for the grave sin of being too different from the movie-verse. Bruce Banner continues being my favourite - in fact, after Nightmare in Red, I had all sorts of feelings, about Bruce and Clint (who I wanted to hit for that comment) and the Hulk and the complicated nature of their relationship (I thought I had a Yuletide prompt right there, but alas, apparently A:EMH's Bruce Banner and Clint Barton are just like the MCU versions - why yes, I am still a bit bitter). After The Deadliest Man Alive - well, I found it disturbing that the Hulk's so-called friends would wait so long to get him out of jail - would prioritize convincing T'Challa to return from his kingdom and so many other things over that. I mean, as soon as the Red Hulk showed up again after NiR, they should have done something, but no. No wonder the Hulk was pissed off in the end.
One thing I quite enjoyed this season was the many times we saw heroes and villains working together - for instance, during Prisoner of War. Yes, some of the villains had inconvenient relapses of let's-kill-the-hero, but most of them showed at least some common sense. Which actually made the final episode, the Galactus invades one, kind of disappointing - because surely at least some of the villains would have, you know, issues with their home planet getting eaten? Where was Doom, for instance? Actually, the whole Galactus episode felt - pasted on. There was foreshadowing during the Skrull arc, but not quite enough - it felt like they knew the show was getting cancelled and wanted to go out with a bang. But maybe that's just me...
78. Persons Unknown season 1.
This show felt very - like it wanted to be the new Lost. Or like someone had wanted to make a computer game and made a tv series instead. Anyway, it wasn't that great - it especially annoyed me how Janet Cooper had half the other characters fall for her - boring. And I suppose it would eventually turn out they were all souls in purgatory or something (though I kind of like the AIs stealing human personalities idea someone else on the internet had).
Avengers (fourth time, first time on the small screen)
And still going strong :-)
October
79. This Land is Mine
Okay song, gorgeous visuals, sad point. Quite good.
80. Rear Window
You know what I found myself wondering? Where are all the other people on the hero's side of the building? I mean, across from him we see people, diagonally even - but what about the people in the same building? Why don't we even hear them walking down the stairs or something - I mean, none of the other buildings seem like the sort of super-sound-proofed places, and yet, from above and below our hero - not a peep? Curious...
81. Hugo
You know, the way to not leave me with much sympathy for a character? Have the first thing he does steal what is obviously a highly priced object from a small chid. Anyway, the visuals were lovely and the glimpses of the old movies lovely too, but overall it was pretty dull.
82. Arsenic and Old Lace
Oh, this was fun. This was hilarious. You know what I'd love? If the London Toast Theatre would stage the play - that would be awesome, wouldn't it?
83. Copper season 1.
This was - okay. At least it broke the pattern of man-of-enlightenment ending up with superior's-wife thing in period dramas I'd been seeing lately. And I do like the sheer - fucked-up complexity of some of the characters and how others start out seeming nice and turn out to be, well, less nice, really, and no, I don't think it's unreasonable of Corky to not be forgiving of Elizabeth. Yes, Annie turned out to be a truly fucked-up little bitch and acted like a rival for Corky's affections, but guess what? Abuse will do that to you. And then handing her back to her abuser, well, she didn't know better, except then she lied to Corky... anyway, okay show. Will probably be tuning in to season two.
84. Mockingbird Lane pilot episode
First, a little honesty: I like Eddie Izzard's stand-up, but as far as his acting goes - not as enthused. Still, this was fun enough, and I'll probably watch it if they make a whole series of it. That said, these Munsters, they - well, I like the Addams family better. Or rather, I'd rather live in the general vicinity of the Addams family. They're dark, yes, but they didn't usually eat the neighbours...
85. The Celluloid Closet
This was interesting, though I must admit to being a little disappointed at the point it ended - I mean yes, of course it had to end in the mid-90s, the movie was made in the mid-90s, but it was just getting interesting, you know? I wonder if there's a sequal (or perhaps more likely another documentary that covers the following couple of decades).
86. Big Trouble in Little China
This was fun - the effects are pretty dated, but still - fun.
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