Kate, Kate, Kate. I don’t know what you’ve done, but 23.000 dollars? That’s a lot of money honey. You’re really nice for giving it to that nice Australian prosthetic farmer man. Too bad you’re on an island and no one could hear you, except for the now-deceased US Marshall.
Tabula Rasa was a really shocking episode, to be honest. The marshall was really in a lot of pain, and even if most of it wasn’t overt, it was still creepy. In fact: the covertedness made it even more shocking as a whole. Sawyer showed himself to be quite an idiot by being able to shoot a charging polar bear but missing the heart of a dying man lying perfectly still. Thank God our hero Jack rushed in and saved the day. Or something.
Charlie changed the “F” in FATE to the “L” from LATE. Very cute, no? Also, I loved Mr. Locke: he is a wonderful actor, and the mystery surrounding him is wicked. Him making the dog whistle to help Michael out is just great, but he’s still one of those “penny for your thoughts” people. I have no clue what he’s thinking… especially in that last shot of the episode. I can’t wait to find out! Favourite Quote: Walt: “Mr. Locke said a miracle happened here.”
If you’re reading your first LOST review by me, know that I am cheating. I have seen all episodes up to the end of the third season thus far, and can’t wait for the next batch. Know that I am biased in advance – I simply love LOST.
What to say about LOST’s pilot? Well, the fact that it’s the most expensive pilot episode in the history of pilot episodes and also one of the most hyped aside: it’s brilliant. From the opening shot of Jack’s eye in between of the bamboo trees, the ask of vodka and the labrador, all the way to the ending shot with the insanely creepy French distress call, it’s a treat. Never is it boring or repetitive or cliché, it’s just great fun to watch. Questions are being set in place, and you just want to watch more.
I was immediately sold watching this episode: I loved all of its characters (which have all been wonderfully cast, by the way) – especially the creepy bald guy who says nothing and has an orange in his mouth (who the hell is that guy?!) and Hurley, who is cute in his own slightly slow little way. Apparently, however, not everyone was sold on this pilot: for many people it was too crazy right off the bat, what with an unseen monster, a distress call and so on. If you are one of these: don’t give up, let yourself be sucked into the story a little bit more. It’ll be worth it.
Last Saturday, I went to go see the movie adaptation of what is the first part in the best story of the year (except LOST’s third season), The Golden Compass. I devoured the books, loved them, hated them, and went completely along this emotional roller coaster ride through different worlds. So, with high expectations which I tried to repress, I went to go see the movie, which came out last week.
And, just like most movie adaptations of complex novels, it’s pretty much a mixed bag. This is one of those rare occasions where I would wish that they had shown us less plotline, and a bit more in-depth analysis. And that is my greatest critique: the whole thing felt unbelievably rushed. Oxford! London! Ship! North! gyptians! Witches! Bears! Everything came by at the speed of light, slapping new characters and locations in your face; characters which were not always needed either (one of them wasn’t even in the first book yet). Everything came by, but nothing really stuck around – there was just too much info being told.
I reckon the creators tried to fix this problem with the thing I dread most in movie history: the one-line-in-between-of-scenes-recap. “Oh Pan, we have got to go to Bolvangar and save Roger the kitchenboy who was taken prisoner by the Gobblers which are led by Mrs. Coulter and then bring the Alethiometer – or the Golden Compass – to Lord Asriel,
who is my uncle but not really my uncle!” Oh, the horror, the horror.
And I lied, oh I lied. The above wasn’t the worst part of the movie. The part where they left out the showdown between Lord Asriel and Lyra, that’s actually quite a bit worse. And believe it if you will, it gets even more unforgiving from my side: apparently, all those parts of the movie were intended to be in it. In fact, they were shot! But hey, it’s Christmas: people don’t want no sad ending. They want a happy ending with no message, no sense, no cohones whatsoever. My AUTHORITY!
I did like the way the religious undertone of the book (which as actually not that obvious in the first part) got neutered. The only trace – a chat between Coulter and Lyra about “the authority” and “impurity” – felt like a blissful insider. Really, I don’t think I would mind if the movies stayed this way: leaving the religion as a bit of information for people who read the books. Then stupid people would have no reason to shout heresy were there is none.
I’m sorry for sounding a bit harsh – I did really like the movie. There are so many things done perfectly right. For example: the cast was simply wonderful. All of them were great actors, and Dakota (who played Lyra) simply rocked. Too bad Daniel Craig’s best scene got cut out – making you wonder what he still had to do with the plot – but when he was around, he was all about kicking ass and taking names. The daemons were credible, as well. Not astonishing, mind you – the execution of an etherial, poetic concept is always a bit dumbed down when put into movie – but still well done. Esther (Lee’s hare) was great, as was Pan, who made an exceptionally cute bobcat. The golden monkey was more like a golden collectible wookie statue, though – totally unlike the cuddly bear ready to rip out your guts, not scary at all (especially when compared to Nicole Kidman).
The bottomline: go watch this, but prepare to be annoyed. And then some more.
Whoa. Seriously. Simply. Whoa. What was that? That thing? In the shed? Jacob? We saw him for about three seconds, and already the entire internet is filled with theories. Some say he’s Christian Shephard (a plausible these), some say he’s John Locke (wait, what?) and some say he’s John Locke with a parrot on his shoulder (ehm.)
Either way, this episode was awesome, and just like the building of the raft in season 1 or Michael’s return in season 2, you can feel the chess pieces are being set out for the season finale. I’m quite sure this will be one of the greatest episodes in the season, even though it’ll be hard to top some of the other ones like The Man from Thalahassee or Flashes before you Eyes – who scored due to integrity, if you ask me. My predictions for the finale: Jack’s a traitor, and either he’s one of the others or one of the Dharma initiative. He’s not going to lead the losties to safety. He’s leading them towards certain doom.
Also, Charlie is going to die. Either that or Claire through protecting him. Penelope should make an entrance (at least that’s what the cast list says – but then again they just might be re-using the Jack, Desmond and Penelope flashback they used in the Season 2 opening and finale. Who will tell? Anyway, the finale is Jack-centered. For a man of whom we thought we knew everything by now… it’s a pretty daring thing to put his flashbacks – which have never been stellar since the season two opening episode – into finale material. We’ll have to see whether my hypothesis proves to be correct!
Favourite Quote: Ben: “You do remember birthdays, don’t you, Richard?”
Well, what to say? I just couldn’t resist anymore – LOST has got me in its tight grip, and when something grips me, I just have to write something about it. Hence my new site category: LOST reviews! Every week, I will attempt to review the newest LOST episode that aired in the US. Needless to say, these things will contain spoilers – and you can hover over the blank spaces to read them.
Well, so there ya have it. The writers kept their promise, and the viewers find out why John Locke is in a wheelchair. Apparently, being thrown out of a window eight (8!) stories high can do that kind of thing to you. For me, this episode was something I was on the one hand waiting for, while on the other hand I was hoping it wouldn’t come as fast as it would. Because, well, from a writer’s perspective: the cat’s out of the bag now – we all know what happened, and Locke has no more exciting backstory to tell us. I can only hope the writers don’t decide “his time has come” – he’s my favourite character on the show and I wouldn’t want him to leave.
What we can suspect, however, and especially now that the submarine has been blown up, is that Locke will leave the beach in favour of Ben. I can feel it happening, I can know Locke and Jack are to face each other one day, standing on completely different sides. Would be nice to have Locke turn into the ultimate bad guy. Face it, he’s got all the characteristics: he’s cunning, he loves playing games (his favourite one being Mousetrap – can’t get clearer than that), he’s a great hunter, he’s got a lousy relationship with his parents, he’s basically the voice of the island and… he’s got a damn wicked grin – a very important quality for a bad guy. Seriously, Locke could set a new standard for bad guys. Ben was sweet in this episode aswell. It was nice to have him in the wheelchair: while his body may be malfunctioning, his wits are there as ever. Does he really have two gigantic hamsters powering his fridge? Maybe he pulled them out of his box? Sarcasm aside, I’m kind of curious towards the box. I hope it’s a metaphore, but I reckon it’ll be an actual box. Having Eko see Yemi and Jack see his father raised questions about whether the island can revive the dead, but I don’t see that happening. My second guess was that the monster could turn into the dead – or the dead on the island. My newest guess is: maybe they pull clones out of the box? It would surely explain how the hell Anthony Cooper ended up in that
safe.
“You speak to me as if I were your brother.” (Yemi to Eko)
…It’s not the real man from Talahassee.
Favourite Quote: Locke: “The man from Tallahassee. What is that? Some kind of code?”
Ben: “No, John. Unfortunately, we don’t have a code for ‘there’s a man in my closet with a gun to my
daughter’s head’. Although we obviously should.”
Dagen Zonder Lief (for non-natives: Days without a girlfriend) is the new Felix van Groeningen movie. For those in the dark: he’s that guy that made Steve+Sky, one of those “young and hip”movies everyone keeps talking about. Well, rest assured, after seeing Dagen Zonder Lief, no one will ever be talking about Steve+Sky again!
Without going into detail, one could say that the story revolves around old friends getting back together, with mixed feelings this might involve. On top of that, the only female characters are called Kelly (refered to as Blonde Kelly and Zwarte Kelly – even though the latter ironically dyed her hair blonde) and you know you’re in for one crazy ride. The movie’s not big on events – just like Steve+Sky, by the way – but gives you a certain mood, a feeling of times long gone.
About halfway through the movie, it hit me. I’m not sure whether I ever said so on this blog, but the tragic comedy genre seemed long gone to me. It appeared dead, and I wanted Vlaams Filmpje to bring a nice salute to that dinosaur of a genre. Emotional stories, not high on exciting events, but very recognizable to everyone. One laughs along with the characters, one cries when they cry, one bleeds when they bleed (metaphorically speaking, I hope)…
But it’s not dead. Dagen Zonder Lief proved that the genre still lives on, and I’m happy that I’m not the only one trying to find balance between the world of exciting, fast-paced thriller stories and the world of dramatic “my husband stole my child that happens to have autism (because child autism is the most lovable handicap!)” saturday night TV movie. Van Groeningen balances this quite nicely through a fancy, artsy way of filming, and a nice, relaxing yet dramatic storyline. You won’t regret spending your money to go see this one.
Remember how Anneke left a considerable amount of books in her room when she left? Amongst them are great classics, one of which I should but never have read. Remember high school? Remember having to read the great classics for English class? Brave New World? 1984? Of mice and men? Remember not reading any of them? I think it was time for me to return something to mr. Spriet and mr. Verhelst, a bit of culture I should’ve had almost five years ago. So, with great anticipation, I read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The story is easy enough: some youngsters strand on a deserted island, with no civilisation left whatsoever safe for their own. One thing leads to an other, and pigs die. Lots of them.
The book is written like a movie, and reads like a train (if this saying can be translated to English), from the very first to the very last page. It gets a bit predictive, but having studied the story in high school obviously has something to do with that. I remember having to read some parts aloud, and Marijn always did this hilarious “Kill the beast” chant. Good times, good times.
Since there’s only so much a review can provide (without leading to a boring plot analysis), I’ll just supply you with a quote:
Simon looked up, feeling the weight of his wet hair, and gazed at the sky. Up there, for once, were clouds, great bulging towers that sprouted away over the island, grey and cream and copper-coloured. The clouds were sitting on the land, they squeezed, produced moment by moment, this close, tormenting heat. Even the butterflies deserted the open space where the obscene thing grinned and dripped. Simon lowered his head, carefully keeping his eyes shut, then sheltered them with his hand. There were no shadows under the trees but everywhere a pearly stillness, so that what was real seemed illusive and without definition. The pile of
guts was a black blob of flies that buzzed like a saw. After a while these flies found Simon. Gorged, they alighted by his runnels of sweat and drank. They tickled under his nostrils and played leap-frog on his thighs. They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned. At last Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and im eyes, the blood – and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition. In Simon’s right temple, a pulse began to beat on
the brain.
Since Anneke – the person whose room I’m currently residing in – and myself agreed that she could leave her books (and apparently most of her shoes, although I didn’t recall saying that) in the blue bookshelf next to the door, I don’t see the harm in “accidently” reading one. I’m not really a big reader, but most of Anneke’s English collection is either considered an English literature classic, or reads away really easily.
The nanny diaries by Emma McLaughling and Nicola Kraus is – obviously – one of the latter. But seriously: what a pleasant surprise reading that book was! It has a diaryish, bloggish feel to it, and to top it off, it reaches a level of funny I myself can only dream of on my own little journal… which you are reading right now. Some people might consider this book pulp, and it probably is, but nonetheless I have really enjoyed every single little page, because it is indeed (thus writes the book’s own publisher on the cover in a fancy one-sentence review, how’s that for objectivity) “diabolically funny”.
A little extract to get you people going:
She stares at me expectantly, ready for me to bring it on home. “I love children! I love little hands and little shoes and peanut butter sandwiches and peanut butter in my hair and Elmo -I love Elmo – and sand in my purse and the “Hokey Pokey” – can’t get enough of it! – and soy milk and blankies and the endless barrage of questions no one knows the answers to, I mean why is the sky blue? And Disney! Disney is my second language!” We can both hear “A whole new World” slowly swelling in the background as I earnestly convey that it would be more than a privilege to take care of her child – it would be an adventure.
I love how the irony, the sarcasm just flows off it. The entire book is written in this witty way, and I absolutely adore the style. Reminds me that I should read something Discworld-related someday… if anyone in Berlin also has someone who left sixty-something books in you room, and Discworld is amongst them… let me know!
Last Saturday, I went to go see the movie adaptation of what is the first part in the best story of the year (except LOST’s third season), The Golden Compass. I devoured the books, loved them, hated them, and went completely along this emotional roller coaster ride through different worlds. So, with high expectations which I tried to repress, I went to go see the movie, which came out last week.