Sherlock Holmes
Dear Kathryn,
Well, the very two things that stuck out to us so much in the first movie remained ever-present for me as I watched this sequel: the chemistry between the two male leads and the strangely intellectual dimension to Holmes’ physical skills. Whereas I think you described the first installation as a long trailer for the true act with Moriarty (and I whole heartedly agreed with your interpretation at the time), I can’t say I enjoyed this second one nearly as much as the first. There were a few moments – when Holmes met with Moriarty in his office, for example – when the tension between the two, and Jared Harris’ acting in particular, was quite stunning. But I felt like the whole movie ran like a series of vignettes that, while quite beautifully produced, nevertheless lacked much narrative coherence. I thought the genius of Moriarty would bring us a great story – he seemed mostly to bring more explosions.
So, on to these two ever-present ponderings: first, the male lead chemistry. I don’t quite know what to make of it! I couldn’t tell if I was frustrated that they Read the rest of this entry »
This is the new James Bond
Dear Natalie,
It is a bit bizarre to write this up on Christmas Eve, because I found the American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo anything but restful, peaceful, or even that hopeful. Still, I can’t stop thinking about it, so that has to count for something. Let’s leave aside the question of whether or not this movie even needed to be made given the excellent Swedish trilogy that is already completed (really, was this just for lazy Americans who won’t read subtitles?), because something different was going on in this film and it started for me with the opening titles.
Did you feel like you had accidentally stumbled into a James Bond film when the titles started to roll? Read the rest of this entry »
This is the way the world ends
Dear Natalie,
You know how you bitch and moan about something – like, say, an intensive training class you have to take at work or a really sucky season of Dexter – and then when it is over you actually feel a mellow glow of kindness to the whole experience and linger a little too long at the goodbye cookies and punch? You know it is all nostalgia and retrospect and some cheap sentimental ploy by the speaker, mixed with the euphoria of being done with whatever you were stuck doing, but you can’t quite help it. That is how I feel about the finale to Dexter. Read the rest of this entry »
Reprise: Made for this world
We are all mourning the long hiatus of The Walking Dead and in the interim we’ve kept adding to this final conversation. Read on for our extended discussion of the mid-season finale.
Well Moth Chasers, this “mid-season finale” really tied together so many of the themes we’ve been exploring in our conversations: what constitutes a new normal and new norms in this apocalyptic world, relationships between family bonds and care for strangers, and the models of leadership that will survive/allow others to survive. And we finally got to the bottom of what happened to Sophia (more or less), meaning that at least one of the reasons for staying on the farm is now gone. Read the rest of this entry »
The Beast is Coming for You
Hey Kathryn,
Sigh. This is all so disappointing. I was trying to explain how awful this season is to my sister (who tried to quit watching before Trinity and definitively quit after Trinity because the show had gotten so dumb) the other day, and she pointed out that much of what I’m describing as frustrating has been going on for a long time; I’m only just noticing it now. And I had to wonder if she was right.
I don’t know why I’ve always forgiven the outlandish storylines that rely on impossible events and Dexter getting away with things he could never get away with (really, Homeland Security didn’t trace his wormwood tip call?!). I think it’s a combination of the fact that there’s always been enough action and suspense to keep me engaged and the acting has always been so superb that I forgive the clunky writing, even convincing myself that this clunkiness is part of its charm. But with the utter lack of suspense this season (not only with the “is Gellar real?” crapstorm, but also with the total letdown in any and all suspenseful action sequences Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t really like people all that much
Martin,
So Sons of Anarchy: sitcom or soap opera?
Hold on, I’d better explain why I’m asking that question. I’ll be upfront: I think this finale demonstrated some of the glaring weaknesses at the heart of SOA. And so now I’m having to recalibrate my expectations of just what Sons is capable of. Because it’s capable of a lot – it can, as I’ve said before in recent weeks, demonstrate an exhilarating capacity to raise tremendous dramatic stakes, it can put together fantastic action sequences, and it can traffic in tremendous pathos (mostly on the strength of its cast rather than its writing, I’m finally realizing). But here’s the problem with Sons: it is, apparently, utterly incapable of messing with its formula. Read the rest of this entry »
It was all a devil’s errand
Well, dear readers, it is confession time. Natalie and I both watched this episode much earlier in the day. I even watched it as it aired last night. But as we just discovered via disheartening emails to each other, neither one of us could come up with much to say. So I suppose that is something to say in itself.
In the interest of disciplined procrastanalysis I suppose I should say more than “ugh, how boring and predictable” even though that is pretty much all I felt. Read the rest of this entry »
Tell me you love me…
Travis,
Wow…what a crazy two weeks in SoA land.
I have mixed feelings about these episodes. Obviously, they’re sort of awesome…but in a sense, they’re also incomplete emotionally. So much has happened and so much has been revealed to and amidst our various characters, but so little of (aside from Clay being shot) it is new to us as the viewer. This, of course, isn’t really a problem–at least not in any traditional sense, but it does suggest an interesting sort of relationship between us as viewers and our material. Read the rest of this entry »
This really is a family…as sure as the one I was born into
Kathryn and Natalie both posted separate “takes” on The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I. Below is Natalie’s post. You can read Kathryn’s post here. And check back soon for a conversation where they respond to each other.
Oh my, Kathryn – I cannot wait to hear what you thought of this film!
You might remember that while the rest of the Twilight fanbase HATED the final book, it was – and remains – my favourite. There is more than enough ink spilled (keys stroked?) on the conservative sexuality agenda buried (not that far beneath the surface) in the Twilight universe, and there is definitely plenty of evidence for that agenda in both book and film. But what continually intrigues me about the whole Twilight empire is how by the end of it all, we have this constant unraveling of the conservative themes through the strange – certainly abject – empowerment of the central figure, Bella. Read the rest of this entry »
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies
Kathryn and Natalie both posted separate takes on The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I. Read Kathryn’s post below. You can read Natalie’s post here. And check back soon for a conversation between them.
Dear Natalie,
Well, here we are. Over two years after we started this blog around a conversation about the Twilight books and Breaking Dawn is finally in theaters. Not all of it, of course, but we are finally getting to the best part about the series and for my money this was hands down the best film and I thought it was nearly perfect. Perfect, that is, not as a film to be compared to all other films, but perfect as rendering the internal feeling of Meyer’s book better than Meyer did herself. I think I remember correctly that we both loved the final book best and I’ve been waiting, sometimes with kind patience sometimes with annoyed exasperation, to get through the other films to this one. Read the rest of this entry »
