Foggy on Doctor Who - Night Terrors

Again, expect spoilers as I dig into Night Terrors



Night Terrors seems a bit like an episode featuring Deja Vu, since it has a sort of parallel plot to an episode in Series 2 of the re-vamp called Fear Her, in which a little girl is scared of something hiding in her closet, swap girl for boy and closet to cupboard and boom, Night Terrors.

Well that's the very very slight look at it. Night Terrors is deeper and scarier than Fear Her.

Night Terrors plays on the mundane things that scare children in real life, a dull sound of the lift could manifest itself  like roaring blood thirsty creature to the wide imagination of a young kid. And obviously the detachment parents feel to kids with their babyish fears, telling them that it's not real, and hiding whatever it is away.

But clearly it is real, after all, what's more factual than a show about a time traveling alien who is a thousand years old and goes on adventures on multiple planets and time periods.

The first thing that will hit you, easily, is how stunning the episode is, clearly shot on a lower budget that most of the episodes feature thus far, the cinematography is both well crafted and stylised. Set on a council estate (which is quickly becoming a regular place for various horrors following from Attack the Block), the episode uses the camera to peak behind corners or through the cracks of doors, creating a detachment the father figure feels about his son, which is further strained as the episode goes on. However the episode gets even more creepy as it lands Rory and Amy to a strange place (P.S. if you can't work it out by the first clue they give you, you simply have a lack of brain cells) where small doll like creatures follow them through the shadows, chanting the typical get under you skin child's song.

It's simply brilliant example of how less is more. The monster of the week is nothing complex, just a hollow creepy walking doll, the setting is basically one council estate and one dolls house, and it does more than anything I felt they did on a huge Pirate Ship, a spaceship filled full of headless monks and colonial marines and 1940's Berlin. Just simply good ideas combined with a well written script, and good talent behind the camera to create a great episode overall.

However, it isn't perfect. The first complaint being acting wise. Most the acting is typical great, with the father, Adam, having particularly good chemistry with Matt Smith in the short amount of time they have together. My main complaint is with the young kid, for the most part he's ok, acting like a typical act like your scared way. But early on, in one of the scene, which becomes pivotal latter on, we find out the kids main fear is to be taken away and his parents to reject him. When he first meets The Doctor the first thing he asks is "Are you going to take me away?". But the way he asks it, he has a huge smile on his face, I'm not kidding. Now either they had to wrap up really quickly the day they shot that scene, or they were being sneaky by original making you feel like he wants to be taken away (which doesn't work well when you flashback to the scene to make a point), but that just seemed really awful to include.

After that little nitpick, along with a few others like the usual sorts of things cropping up in a Doctor Who episode (some, key word being SOME, of the CGI was bad, like the man being sucked into the carpet, and some (less as funny as last series) cruelty to old people). (Which reminds me, when is the Dream Lord cropping back up). The main complaint with the episode comes down to Rory and Amy, they are given very little to do with the episode, as they walk around aimlessly doing nothing but eluding to nothing more than getting some of the plot worked out before The Doctor comes down to stop it. As I mentioned before, it's pretty clear where they are from the moment we are shown the wooden frying pan, so the whole time they come up on screen, the episode gets bogged down, although they are fun to watch, they're not given a lot to do. Plus why would an 8 year old boy have a dollhouse, especially one so old fashioned in such a rural area as a council estate.

As the episode ends, one line got me worried as to the final conclusion of the series, and I know this is getting caught up on superstitions, but it's worth mentioning before I conclude. The line was "it's good to be back together, in the flesh", I really don't want the final reveal to be that The Doctor is a part of the Flesh when he is shot dead, it would be such a cop out, considering it's been done twice so far this series alone.

But, Night Terrors...

What a brilliant episode, and although it has it's slow moments, it's actually far more welcome than the typical episode, the pacing is actual a relief for the most part, after the rush of last weeks episode, that ran 5 mins more than a proper run time. There are only a few moments I felt that this could do with a speed boost. It also proves to be the best looking episode so far, with plenty of scary going around. Next weeks episode looks to be the slight dip in quality that is expected of the series, although I hope I'm wrong as it seems there is plenty of potential.

8/10 

Foggy on Doctor Who - Let's Kill Hitler

Following off from my cover of the series so far, Series 6 comes back in full swing with Let's Kill Hitler.

Warning as the following will have spoilers, and no, that isn't a pun!

Let's Kill Hitler is a great episode the kick the series back up again, it ties up a lot of loose ends left over from A Good Man Goes To War and doesn't leave much open except some overarching mysterious of the whole series. It's very funny and very emotional in equal measures, acting is superb all around and the script is equally as sharp and entertaining, as it was getting through the mandatory stuff.

Let's Kill Hitler starts off with Rory and Amy driving around a crop field following directions which leads them to The Doctor, we learn that The Doctor has been searching for her stolen baby Melody Pond although out the summer (and it is made clear that between the airing of series part time finale and return, that's all The Doctor has been doing). However, before he can have the time explaining how he has failed to find her, we are introduced to Mel (Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink) who is Amy and Rory's troublesome friend, who knows all about The Doctor, and has the police quickly chasing after her. Armed with a gun and a time lord she always dreamed of meeting, she decides to hold him to gun point and make him take her back in time to, you guessed it, kill Hitler.

The strange thing about this episode, is that it all works really well as a whole, but it has a few little nitpicks here and there, while A Good Man Goes To War is full of great moments, but the episode as a whole feels very loosely tied together.

The first main problem that I encountered with the episode was the set up of the character of Mel, other than the fact that she came off rather annoying in her few moments on screen, she was set up very briefly for a huge twist where it is revealed that she is Melody Pond (which didn't take very long to be revealed). It's just hard to be surprised where your character is quickly introduced, especially when this is the very first time you hear from her. But as it was quickly revealed, it's hard to really get caught up on the idea, if it was dragged out until the end of the episode, it would of felt slightly lazy and contrived.

The other problems I have are more nitpicks than complaints, like for the titular character of the episode, Hitler is quickly dismissed off, it seemed more like he had more of a cameo of himself than an actual point, more a ploy to get an attention catching episode name than an actual plot device. It's also strange that Doctor Who is stealing ideas from lame Eddie Murphy films, it pulls it off better alas, but still, Eddie Murphy. More strange is seeing Karen Gillian and Arthur Duvall act and dress as teenagers.

And that's really it for problems with the episode, the episode is very well written, bar the problems I had above. It really complicates matters for most the characters, and really pushes the bar for fucked up nuclear families on TV. It's never overly complex within it's own storyline and definitely doesn't bite off more than it can chew like that other episode I keep seeming to refer back too. It's just a simple stuff to cover list, gets it done and adds a lot of charm to keep the episode running.

The episode, as I said before, is really funny, and so far, the only one that hasn't tried to squeeze horror into it. An earlier scene involving guns and a banana is certainly the comedic highlight of the episode, along with nice scene involving The Doctor asking the Tardis to show a hologram of someone who he hasn't screwed up the life off, showing all the previous assistance he's had over the last few years, which ends with a really heartwarming ending.

Add humour bonus for the evil killer robots which ask you to "Keep calm while we terminate your life"

Let's Kill Hitler will probably go down as a Red Herring, a well written Red Herring, but, ultimately, seeming to cross off people on a list of whodunits (again, not a pun). But it continues the themes of the series so far, and adds general emotion as well as laughs to a good, almost old fashioned Doctor Who adventure.

9/10

Foggy looks at Doctor Who's latest hurrah!

Doctor Who returns to TV tomorrow, and to give me something to write or moan about, I've decided to start writing some reviews of the episodes, they won't nearly be as lengthy as my film reviews, but they should make interesting reads none the less. However, as I'll start midway through both a series itself, and a strong revival of the show, I should give a good over view of the last series and a half, so that readers like you can see where I am coming from.

David Tennant's run with the character of The Doctor was quickly coming to a close, and so was it's head writer Russell T. Davies. Davies was a good writer, who of course, like many people my age, was introduced to the series via his pen. Series 1 of the revival was fantastic, it was scary (scared me a ton anyway at the age of 10) and adventurous, very creative and mysterious and had a good overarching story. This continued through to series 2 and 3, although towards the end of series 3 you started to see his creativity starting to drain away, come series 4, the show became awful, with The Doctor fighting lard people with very obnoxious Cathrine Tate. News broke that Davies was stepping down as head writer and so was Tennant, so the BBC geared a last hurrah to the couple by commissioning 4 specials to end the run of the two and got Steven Moffat, the writer of most of the best episodes of the previous 4 series, prepped up for a complete revamp.

The specials where, well at least to me, mostly awful. Only one of them was well made, and even then that's in comparison to the others. And the final Christmas two parter made a complete dogs dinner out of Tennant's final hours of his role. And then we came to Matt Smith, I wasn't really hopeful from what I saw of his first moments as the doctor, he looked like his eyes where going to pop out of his head. He looked like a kid on a sugar rush, and not the very old time traveller The Doctor was. Although I was dismissive at the time, due to it being such a short amount of time we saw him as the character, I still had that dreadful thought that the man would be completely irritating to watch.

Needless to say, I had very little to worry about.

Series 5, was a delight to watch, although it had a few dud episodes, i.e. The Lodger and The Hungry Earth, it was still a very strong series. It had a lot of over arching storylines that where smartly crafted into the foreground and a very emotional revelation towards the end of the series. It was very creative science fiction, the best thing about Doctor Who is that you can pretty much do anything you want, and series 5 shows that throughout. It brought the series to new heights, it added the fear factor back in, and brought a new mature element to the plots without it loosing it's child audience.

Doctor Who had never been so good, and had fans literally eating out of it's hands, and the best thing is...

Series 6 so far has topped it.

With the love revolving around Series 5, the natural move for the BBC was to give the show a huge push in the USA, (which also involved it's Spin-Off Cousin, Torchwood, to become a US-UK co-production, but I'll talk about that once that series has finished). So not only for the first time did the show air at the exact same time as UK in the US, but the opening two parter was set in America.

The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon practically blew the entire series 5 out of the water alone. Heck the first 10 mins of series 6 did that. They killed of The Doctor in one quick swipe, obviously, he came back, but the fact still remains that The Doctor died or rather will die in this series. But then the two parter continues to reveal an evil, terrifying alien race called The Silence, with creepy imagery, and strange mind games, Doctor Who had become a far more sinister show. And if you was blown away with the opening of the two parter, then you will be left breathless with the end of the two parter as we see a little girl regenerate.

Which then leads me to Curse of the Black Spot, and the one very fundamental flaw with this series as a whole. It fires away at 100 mph, and then they completely fall to a halt to deliver a typical Doctor Who adventure, when you want to know more about what happened. But the main thing that really hurts Curse of the Black Spot is that it's the worst episode out of the series, and it is only made worse with it's terrible placement. If this stood alone, and not directly after a mind blower, it would of been passable, but the fact is, the episode is dull, it's slow and nothing happens, or is learnt. Even taken as swashbuckling fun, it's a bore.

Which leads me to The Doctor's Wife, which, if Curse of the Black Spot is the worst the series offers, then it's quickly made up by this heartfelt look at the character by Neil Gaiman. The Doctor's Wife is a completely unique episode where the tardis is converted into a woman, therefore becoming The Doctor's Wife, since the tardis is the only character to follow the doctor though his travels all this time. The episode is very dark and very light, but balances them in equal measures, where Curse added very little to anything, Wife adds little to the plot, but adds all sorts of depth to the characters while never becoming boring, it's always moving and never predictable.

Which then takes us onto The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People, a two parter that feels like it should be more an episode and a half, which is probably the main problem the show occurs when doing a two parter. The Rebel Flesh is slow, it's never bad, but it takes it's time getting a move on. It falls on cliches quite a few times, and rarely surprises. It's also at the time the shows horror factor started to frustrate me, with every episode having to be scary, Doctor Who was starting to lose it's child audience, and lost the whimsical adventurous side the the show. Don't get me wrong, I like the fact that Doctor Who is going back to scary, but you start to lose effect when it's only scary, and no episode has a lighter tone.

The Almost People was more of the same, and the entire two parter was just creating a plot device which was used in the half time finale, and sure to be used again later in the series.

Leading onto A Good Man Goes To War, which, when I say The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People was stretched, this was way too condensed. This is a problem Moffat encountered in The Beast Below in series 5, he has a lot of very, very good ideas, but most his ideas make whole new worlds, and when shoved into one 45 min segment, it feels very rushed and all over the place. And with a lot of loose ends to tie up from the previous series and this one, the only way it would work was to really give it a second part. A Good Man Goes To War is a very good episode as with almost all the episodes, before I start to sound like I hate it, the acting is superb and it continual keeps you on you toes, but it's really hard to get behind an episode where you can't breath and respect the situation there in and feel real emotion, at the start of the episode you don't really understand what this army is for, or why it is so menacing, which really keeps you from getting into the episode. Although, with that in mind, it pushes the series into more darker, complex situations.

I think A Good Man Goes To War was mainly hurt by it's hype, it was called a game changer, and while it did that, the twist the show offered was a bit of a "Ahh that's cool, but hardly shocking" It ended up being a slight letdown by it's own following, regardless, I will still follow the show to a bitter end, as I may not seem the most keen on Series 6 Part 1, I like 3 of the episodes, loved 3 of the episodes, and only disliked 1. That's good odds to me, and a lot of part 2 seems to be focusing on more hardcore sci-fi elements.

Plus, the first episode is called Let's Kill Hitler, you can't suck with that name!

Check back tomorrow for a full review of Let's Kill Hitler!

Foggy Reviews: The Inbetweeners Movie - Apparently how British teenagers live...

Britain is in turmoil, the streets are being torn apart, shops are being looted, factories are being set alight, cars turn over, as the youth of the country is coming out onto the streets in the mass and doing what they supposedly do best, get drunk and fuck shit up, because of something about there rights. But this week all that madness stopped, why?

Because The Inbetweeners Movie came out and none of those people are going to pass up the opportunity to check this out. Sure they think they're in poverty, but they throw there cash down to go in the nearest multiplex, especially if they're have an Orange phone.

Actually, I think cinemas where banking on them all busy looting and what not, because earlier in the week, I looked at the times and they were showing this in the smallest screen they had about 3 times a day, I go in on Wednesday, they've sold out 3 screenings all at the same time that they added half an hour earlier and had a 4th one going in there biggest screen reserved only for 3D films.

Well I can't really talk about the movie without talking about the show first.

I have problems with the show, but needless to say, it is funny, and if you haven't seen it, go check it out. I like it enough, but even then I'm in the minority, everyone loves this show. The Inbetweeners is a British Sitcom known most of all for it's all out crude attitude that comes with being a suburban teenager, and is supposedly written based on actual events that occurred in the writers in there age.

My problem with The Inbetweeners is the fact that the characters are mostly ignorant idiots, even when they're supposed to be smart. There is one all out idiot, called Neil, one naive idiot which is Jay, and the other two are Will and Simon, who are more social retarded than stupid, but become to desperate that they do stupid things. This is ok for a setup, but these character become more and more obnoxious throughout the 3 series run, to the fact that it's less what a character would do realistic, and more the writers trying to jam comedy down our throats.

Add the fact that the filthy dialogue was becoming old the time the third series came around, and I was the person who turned around and said this series of Inbetweeners just isn't funny. The problem is, like any cult, and typical, British sitcom, the audience was gathering around by the time series 3 aired. And all the audience of course said "Oh this is so close to our lives, it's genius!". Than I all out started to hate the series.

That people my age actually associated themselves to a bunch of desperate idiots, who by then, ended almost all the episodes with throwing up or pissing. Come on guys, you are better than this. You honestly believe this desperate attempt at comedy is your life.

(And yes, I do know I sound like I complaining at a show just because it became mainstream, but screw you, I have my reasons)

Of course, I still recommend the show, all series of it, even the third has a lot of great moments, even one of the best at the end of the series. And I also understand that I might honestly be the only person with these feelings. As one of my friends put it drunkenly to me "We thought you was going to hate the new Harry Potter movie, when you said it was shit, we all honestly thought you were serious and didn't think you was joking..."

Thanks for that Jamie, that kinda hurt. But the point still stands, I'm critical!

Now, I baffled on long enough, the movie.

I enjoyed it.

Yeah, it was good.

Not perfect, but pretty entertaining.

Yeaaaaahhhhhh.....

WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY!!!! It's a comedy, it made me laugh, I can't really elaborate over that. What you think after a couple long paragraph of bitching about the show, I can write equal amount of words loving the film, I'm being a critic, I can only criticise.

Okay, I'll started off with some of the flaws I had with the film. The main one being the same as the TV show. The characters are still idiots, the two that are supposed to be, I can understand. But there is a very long set piece scene involving one of the characters trying to sell his clothes for money, and you are just think that what is happening is just plain IQ slamming abysmal, and any person doing this would serious need medical attention through out his entire life span, and this is from one of the smarter characters, with the other one standing by his side, it's just plain stupidity, and it the lowest point of the film, and it adds nothing.

And, of course, the film hits a few predictable gags, some of which are pushed far enough to be funny, others of which seem desperate, most of which occupy the trailer, which didn't do much for my hopes. However I don't think I would of been as annoyed with this if I wasn't with someone who literally just consistently said "HurHurHurHurHur..." on endless repeat throughout the entire film.

But with some of the flaws of the show rearing it's ugly head, they actual rectify something that never occurred to me before. There is actually genuine charm in this film unlike the show. Now I understand you have about 10-12 mins to create charm before an ad break to destroy that to bring you back in for the last 10 mins, but this film shows that these rising stars and writers do genuinely have a knack for chemistry that the series never really hits. There are moments that are moving between the characters, and there was even a moment where they avoid a cliche that actually shows that these are more like characters, than forced comedy pawns.

And it's probably the most consistently funny film this year, I never all out laughed, but there were few moments I was thinking it was slouching, and unlike Hangover 2, wasn't clasping to recycle the same shit again and again.

Although, I'm sure The Inbetweeners Movie will once again show what a huge regret it was for the government to drop the UK Film Council, if anything just by the consistent sell out screenings on Wednesday (Which I'm guessing lead to my awful cinema going experience, they were showing a reel too small for the screen, so I ended with two huge black bars either side of the screen). It's kinda sad a truly innovative film like Attack the Block is struggling to make it's small budget back, when this, ultimately, very safe endeavour, is grasping audiences in the masses, and it would of become more of a success before it hits US soil (if it does) than that film probably ever will.

Foggy Reviews: Cowboys and Aliens - Whoever wins, we get an awesome movie!

You know that one film that comes out every year that completely takes you by surprise, whether it be when you see the trailer for a film, and you don't expect what you see, and then you suddenly see yourself grasping at straws just to see it, and then when you see it your totally blown off your feet.

Well that isn't this movie...

No, this is that other movie, the type of movie that when it is first brought to your attention, you simply know that it is going to be awesome, and then you twiddle your thumbs watch everything that comes out about it and that same expectation level sits right there. That was where I sat with Cowboys and Aliens. At least I thought for a long time until a few months ago, and my hype died down, not just mine, but all the hype surrounding the film. At some point, this was believed to be the film to save summer from sequels and comic adaptation (although, it's a comic book adaptation itself, but it's not popular enough so it get away with it). And then boom, slowly no one gave a crap about it and it was then almost beaten by Smurfs (those blue assholes).

However, I remand optimistic that this would be that one fun film that spoke sorely to me, and me only (along with a few million people, but so what).

Thankfully, it does. Cowboys and Aliens is one of the few films I can say can hold it's head high and say it's a fun movie and stand proud of it. It isn't a complete leave you brain at the door film, but you can certainly zone out for the certain amount of time the film runs for and not feel like it is pandering towards you.

It's actually very hard to see what the critics are really complaining about when it comes to the film (Currently at 45% on Rotten Tomatoes), most the complaints are that the film takes itself too seriously, yet other complaints say the films too silly, what are people expecting. I'll set the score straight. For the most part, Cowboys and Aliens is straight up Western for the first 15 min, which then shortly is interrupted by science fiction, the two genre's then fight up to see which is best, at which we are constantly given a very strong western, with typical western characters, thrown into a very typical science fiction film.You end up with an interesting view on both genres, both played very straight. It creates a very unique blockbuster, combining all the cliches of both genres into one to see how they work against each other. And for the most part, not all the time but for the most part, they work well.

Daniel Craig plays amnesiac cowboy called Jake Lonergan, who wakes up in the middle of the desert unable to remember anything, he soon heads to a small town where we find out he's a wanted criminal, who has a heft bounty on his head. We soon find out he's pissed of the local Harrison Ford for stealing his gold, prior to amnesia and is about to be sent off to jail when, out of all the unlikeliest of things to happen, aliens attack.

Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are the two names carrying this film (according to IGN, James Bond and Indiana Jones have never been in the same film before, and according to me, all the editors of IGN where born yesterday), and the two of the have terrific chemistry between one another. Among them is Sam Rockwell as the pussy bartender/doctor who is thrown into the mess and must man up to save his wife. They even have the kid from Last Airbender proving he can act (a little). And Olivia Wilde walking around a ton, acting all mysterious and cryptic.

However, what makes all the secondary cast work, is the excellent writing for each of them, you do get a feel that this is a small Western town, all the character know each other, and all have there personal dilemmas floating around, some out in the open, some very subtle. And quite a bit of the time, they have some tragic endings, some happy. But the whole reason this entire film works are these characters, through the whole film, this isn't an alien invasion movie, where they fight the aliens, it's simply a rescue mission. A lot of the time, they are running away from the attacking forces, not until the climax they start to fight back. There is just something relaxing to seeing a film where the characters just feel so fluent.

Now onto the other half of what the title suggest, the aliens. The aliens themselves are nothing ground breaking, but they are very very intimidating, they are scary, especially when the are filmed within limited light. They have a very freaky gimmick of them opening there chest and having arms reach out that is genuinely unsettling. My only slight problem was that I was under the influence that the creatures where going to be more practical effects, instead of total cgi. Now, no complaint with the special effects as the genuinely look impressive, but everything is always more intimidating up close and personal, when they are actually there.

The film also isn't without it's crazy amount of 12a violence, they have aliens heads exploding, blown to pieces, limbs flying everywhere, bodies detached from legs. This is a film that literally gets away with murder.

There is only one fatal flaw to this film, that really stops it's hoped of being perfect. Since a film like Cowboys and Aliens has never been done before, the creators genuinely see the fact that they don't really have to change much in means of real game changing. They feel like they are getting a free ride for adding Cowboys and Aliens, and while it is fun seeing a typical western film and typical sci-fi film get thrown into a blender. There are a few moments where you kind of wish they avoided playing that cliche, or that character, and instead delivered a bit more of a surprise.

Cowboys and Aliens get the joke, it understands subtlety of a joke. So instead of smacking you in the face of meta jokes and humour, it plays itself as the straight man. "Oh yeah, this is all a bit silly, but that doesn't mean I can't be good" unlike films like Machete and Drive Angry, where it has to tell you that it's stupid but it's cool to laugh, we know. Cowboys and Aliens risks itself at being humiliated for have a silly premises to a serious film, however, it's the other films that humiliate themselves for approval, while Cowboys and Aliens simply looks down and tells the world how little a crap it thinks of our opinion, and that's why it works.

Thanks for reading and leave comments below!