Saving the Day

On November 23rd 1963, when I was minus 32 years old, history was written. A science-fiction tv show with a plot that is hard to explain without sounding like a lunatic*, premiered on BBC1, laying the foundation for a universe that would go on to enthrall audiences 50 years later. I only started watching the show - the newest part of it, that is - this year, yet I must've been traveling with the Doctor in his TARDIS in another life, because I feel like I've been a part of this for as long as I can think. For people who know next to nothing about the show and its universe; I strongly advise you to have a look at this rather introductory post I wrote a while back and maybe dip your toes in some of the episodes. For Whovians; you have certainly come to the right place (working them quotes right there), for the 50th anniversary party goes on. Today and forever. Because we don't want to go either.

My feeling about the event of the year is 904% of satisfaction: I really have nothing whatsoever to complain about. I feel like each and every existing and non-existing desire of my Whovian heart has been fulfilled to the most ridiculous extent. In fact, you could show me any random bit of The Day of the Doctor and I'd be able to explain to you how much and why I'm in love with it. But of course, none of that will happen. No, no: my list of 50 things I love about the 50th is not at all random. It was calculated by a very complicated formula which would take hundreds of years to explain - it goes something like "$∨fa∞ + ⌘n⏎⇒Λgi x2 = rlΩΦgen♫ius℠ - ✗− ⅗¥≥ + 2: en⅕€¥ergy℠™⏎ + bra⌃⌥ins se⅙⌘ = ⏏xin✪ess✚∨÷°¶℗ + tumblr". Let's see how it worked...

* Thank you for that lovely quote, Mr. Tennant.

Seriesly: 9 Reasons to Watch The Escape Artist

IT'S THE DAY PEOPLE!!! By the time you read this, I'll be in Insane Fangirl Mode, which is why I'm writing it on beforehand. I can't promise to prevent Insane Fangirl from misbehaving at least a bit in this post though, but bear with us...

So the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who aka The Real Reason Why Television Exists is happening today and we're all slightly exited (ALLONS-Y!!!). We are going to see the above person (David TEN-INCH) returning to his role as the 10th Doctor when we'd just finally accepted the fact that he was gone for good after three seasons (He walked those 500 Miles for good, didn't he?). So excitement aside, the 50th Anniversary is worse than christmas itself - we've waited for it (not it, him!) for so long, but it (HE) is never going to come back again. And as if that's not enough, Matt Smith will be leaving the show in the upcoming Christmas Special. Time to buy a storage of tissues then. As for long-term consolation, there is but one option: find a Plan B. No chance of seeing David Tennant as the Doctor again (re-watches and the possibility of Mad Moffat finding some way to revisit Tenth aside)? Well, there's plenty of other high quality material to choose from.

Well, I don't know about you, but Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger is currently 2nd on my new-holiday-movies-to-watch-this-holiday-season-list. Since, despite what supermarkets are telling us, christmas time hasn't started yet though, I will recommend a watch that is well-suited for any season of the year. Except for summer of course (anybody knows that watching David Tennant movies or shows in summer is highly dangerous and may result in a considerable raise of blood-pressure and body temperature). Here are my...

The duration. 9 seasons of Supernatural? Sounds frightening. Not because you're in danger of making it through all of those episodes, but because it is going to ruin your life to some extend. You'll be slipping into that addiction everyone who's ever watched a whole show knows so very well, characters holding you in a comfortable yet grim headlock and not letting you go until you've finished what you've begun. Something like Sherlock can be even worse, driving audiences crazy with insanely long periods of silence and incomparable cliffhangers that will haunt you for months following. I think this has exterminated (yeeeee-haaaa) all doubts on whether one should bother to sit down for 3 hours and watch a definite mini-series.

The BBC argument. Ever since TV was invented, British television has marked the ideal way to go for European television. While America has gone the commercial way, the UK believed in national quality entertainment. Right now, I can't say which one is better, I only know that German television sucks at both ways. But the BBC has never produced anything I've disliked. On the contrary, their output of the last few years has been amazing and thus they've managed to spellbind audiences from all over the world with shows like Sherlock, new Doctor Who, Downtown Abbey and many others.

 The intelligence. The Escape Artist doesn't try to gloss its ruthless material up in any way. From the title sequence to the editing, everything is kept on a calm, quiet level which is going to detract people looking for CSI-ish sensation but is ever the more rewarding for an audience interested in story and psychology. 

Two hot dudes. Another kind of reward, but you'll only get it if you can stand the rest. Also, one of the dudes is sort of sick - actually very much so - which makes this even more interesting. It raises questions like "How pretty are a psychopaths teeth allowed to be?" and "Why isn't the good-girls-only-fall-for-bad-guys working?".

The cruelty. The Romans watched people fighting lions, we watch actors pretending to commit cruel actions and fight each other in ways that we'd never want to fight ourselves. We think it's entertaining, don't we? Problems are entertaining, action is entertaining - cruelty is, to some extent, entertaining. And The Escape Artist is very cruel. Which is, oh well, you see where I'm going.

David Tennant wears suits. Like a famous poet once said, "nothing suits the undisputed/ oft-saluted/ suitor of repute/ like aaaaaaaa" and so on. 

Law. Boring? Unimportant? Dry? I personally think that law is very interesting. And why do so many people watch Judge Judy anyway? Or CSI? Because it matters! Sure, there are boring law films and boring law shows - but The Escape Artist isn't one of them. It's not The Escape Lawyer for a reason, folks.

 The twist. Spoilers *winkface*. Not that you're going to get any here. No, no. I'm the last person to spoil anything to anyone (apart from Torchwood and some bits of Doctor Who - but my sister can take it). Seriously, I hate spoilers. And I love twists. But they're hard to avoid once you've become a part of that crazy thing called Fandom and joined tumblr as well as liked several of those weird pages on facebook. Luckily, as I can't stress enough, The Escape Artist is a rather small show (so far) with a rather small following. So you're not in danger of spoilers - yet. But if you want to find out what happens in the end, hurry up and watch it, because one can never be safe enough.

David Tennant talks Scottish. Any further questions? 

And now, let's just appreciate that this exists:

Happy 50th Anniversary everyone!

Breaking Smiles and Breaking Thrills

We're mid-way through the Breaking Emotions Blogathon and I can already announce that this is my favorite blogathon of the year so far. Dropping out of the 5 Obstructions sort of disqualified that one from the first spot. This week, participants are asked to show off their dimples (I wish I had really cute ones, but sadly their rather unincisive) while sitting on the edges of their chairs/ sofas/ bathtubs/ beds/ wherever else you like to watch a movie. *

* As always, my choices are in no particular order. 

Smiles

American Psycho • Business Cards

Yes, everyone, I finally caught up with American Psycho just yesterday. And it is brilliant. It's a great slasher film, a great psychological drama and a great satire all at the same time. The awkwardness of it all kept me from laughing but I basically smiled my way through this movie. I knew about the business card scene before but had never seen it - it marked the peak of my smiling curve. Well, apart from the scene where a blood-smeared, naked Christian Bale runs around with a chainsaw.

Aiyyaa • Dreamum Wakeupum

This movie is so brave and colourful, I couldn't help but love it. The only thing I disliked were a certain female side character and, to some extend, the ending. Otherwise, the creativity that went into this is amazing. Showing a woman obsessing about someone in an Indian movie is quite unusual, showing attraction towards dark skin perhaps even more and having a character dream about these absolutely wonderful, cheesy phantasies was the cherry on top. 

Shopaholic • The Google Scene

By now, everyone who visits my blog from now and then probably knows about my undying love for this movie. Rebecca Bloomwood always manages to make me smile. And come on, we've all been in that situation, haven't we?

Thrills

The Deep (2012)

Not to be confused with a certain 70s flick, The Deep is an Icelandic movie from last year that is bound to keep you on the edge of your seat (with one exception - I'm looking at you, Nik). Even the trailer is full of suspense and had both me and my family go "We have to see this". It's the sort of film that'll make you shut up and not complain about a fly for at least a month. Since it's a rather unknown movie there are no specific scenes out there on the internet but that's fine since, actually, the whole movie is one big thrill.

The Hunger Games • Countdown

The Hunger Games has a rather sick premise for a movie (or a book for that matter); you're disgusted by the society it portrays and the way they watch people fight each other and die as entertainment. Like the Romans who watched Gladiators fight each other. However, you're watching these people fight each other and die, and you root for them, you're thrilled - you're entertained.

Talaash • Aamir and Kareena

There's so much to be thrilled about in this movie. Be it the style, the quality of the story, the fact that Aamir and Kareena have great chemistry - anything. What thrilled me most about it are two things: its intelligence and its self-awareness. The scene I chose is not necessarily the best but it's one I keep getting back to. I love the poetry in the dialogue and the unbelievable perfection of Kareena Kapoor portraying a prostitute. No offense; she's one of my favorite actresses. I'm just saying she's perfect in that role. (Sorry for the lack of subtitles).

Learn more about the blogathon by clicking on the banner below.

Previous posts

Fear and Awkward • Tears and Surprise

Across the Universe Podcast, Eps 14: Noirvember

Find out about the stuff that dreams are made of, our new favorite perfume and the diminishment of cinema in this latest episode of the Across the Universe Podcast. Instead of growing mustaches, we decided to take part in the celebration of Noirvember, a tradition that was started by Marya Gates. Please note that there was no lack of enthusiasm or traces of sleepiness from any of the parties involved - we were just trying to imitate Humphrey Bogarts cool way of speaking.

Brought to you by my fellow Chicks With Accents; Sofia and Nik and my own humble self.

Content:

0:19 - Chick-chatter

2:57 - Trailer

3:19 - Interesting Movie of the Fortnight

22:05 - The Chicks discuss The Maltese Falcon (1941)

35:53 - The Chicks discuss Sweet Smell of Success (1957) 

48:07 - The Chicks discuss Sunset Blvd. (1950)

1:16:28 - Plugs and Goodbyes

Soundtrack:

Artie Shaw - Nightmare

The Velvet Underground - Femme Fatale

Jim Sturgess - Across The Universe

Please give us your feedback on our facebook page, write us an email at acrossthenuniversepodcast@gmail.com or follow us and write a review on iTunes or Podomatic.

Breaking Tears and Breaking Surprise

The Breaking Emotions Blogathon continues with the sound of both tears and jaws dropping to the ground. This week, participants are requested to search out two (sadly) rather seldom cinematic feelings, the first being tears (as in super-sad-Leonardo-di-Caprio-how-am-I-supposed-to-live-tears-feeling*), the second being surprise (as in oh-my-gosh-who-thought-of-this-I-am-utterly-speechless-feeling*). **

* These are my own interpretations of the feelings and do not necessarily express the views of mettelray.

** My choices are in no particular order

In real life, a simple mistake or tiny argument with someone is (sometimes) enough for my eyes to turn damp - an irritating abnormality which makes life unnecessarily complicated. However, I rarely cry in a movie theater, and even more seldom in front of a tv/ laptop screen. Which is irritating too, because I'll sometimes seem like a coldhearted freak. Anyways, when I do start crying, it's not easy to stop.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower • the last 20 minutes

Literally, I started crying the moment Charlie tells Sam how they're both alike and how he thinks she's beautiful each of the two times I saw this movie. Even now, rewatching just that scene, I'm a nanometer away from tears. I also never really stop crying at the end of this one. Every time I think it's getting better, something very sad (Charlie's breakdown) or very philosophical (the ending) happens.

Broken Circle Breakdown • almost the entire movie

This movie is just one big, sad hole. I have never been as big a mess in public as when I watched this Belgian tragedy in theaters. I don't even remember when I started crying but again, after I had started, I never really stopped. This song is very much at the end of the movie and it's sort of a culmination of a lot of sad feelings. So if you need something that fits the weather before christmas movie season starts, do check out Broken Circle Breakdown. 'Cause it'll break you down, guaranteed.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button • the ending

What really got under my skin when I watched this movie as a moody teenager that hadn't seen many great films yet and didn't like showing her feelings to other people, isn't in this video; it's the old Daisy holding the baby Benjamin. I don't know what exactly about this scene touched my so much but it only got worse when I saw what you can see in the above video. I didn't only leave my tears in the theatre, but I got something in exchange although until this day, nobody knows what it was. Something among the lines of joie de vivre but with a dash of melancholy. 

Fight Club

Somehow, I managed to maintain a life completely unaware of Fight Club. Even as a blogger, it took a long time until it was in my movie title vocabulary, meaning that I had heard about it and knew who was starring in it. Otherwise, I didn't have a clue. And honestly, I'm very proud and very happy about the fact that I experienced Fight Club without knowing a thing about it's plot and twist. And neither should YOU, person who hasn't seen this, so don't you dare watching that clip.

Atonement

This one would fit just as well into the tears category but to me, it's the surprising factor that makes it all the more worthwhile and is part of what makes it stand out from other dramatic love stories. That whole backstory, the development of the various storylines and then that tragic ending make Atonement one of my favorite films of all time. And don't tell me you saw that revelation coming when you first saw this one.

Magnolia

This is probably the most WTF kind of surprise of the three movies I've chosen. People had told me that something weird was going to happen but this? I didn't expect this by any means. 

Learn more about the blogathon by clicking on the banner below.

Previous posts

Fear and Awkward