The Months that were- February and March

           Okay so I am officially Mrs. Lazypants who did not post her end-of-the-month post for February out of sheer laziness. I'm sorry! To make up, I will do a big post for both February and March (yaay more effort for me). I actually watched and *gasp* read a lot in the last couple of months so here we go.

Firsts:
(February)

1) Afternoon Delight- Squandered potential.
2) The East- Pretty engaging plot but it kind of gets a bit bleh towards the end.
3) Capote- Saw it after PSH's death. I must watch/rewatch all of his films by the end of this year.
4) Last Night- For the podcast. Best Keira Knightley performance by a mile.
5) Before the Devil Knows You're Dead- I really liked it though some of the parallels between PSH's character in it and his death were depressing.
6) Pather Panchali- Saw it in class. Pretty good in spite of being too slow in parts.
7) Nebraska- Loved it completely. I found it incredibly human and touching and funny.
8) Philomena- Quite good too. One of those tales that sound so unbelievable but work because they are (apparently) true.
9) The Lego Movie- I'm sorry that I'm about to do this but EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! Loved the hell out of it. So clever, so fun.
10) Only Lovers Left Alive- Pretty cute and a nice addition to the vampire lore since it's about what happens after you have had those murderous cravings. Loved Tilda and Hiddles and ALL the literature references (pretty sure 80% of those would've gone over my head 2 years back).
11) Aparajito- My least favourite among the films of the Apu Tilogy but works because of Karuna Banerjee.
12) Highway- Randip Hooda officially made truck drivers look hot in this but man, Alia Bhatt is annoying. And the ending sucked!
13) Apur Sansar- My favourite out of the trilogy because of the setting and the focus on Apu.

(March)

14) Kill Your Darlings- It was decent enough with incredible chemistry between DanRad and Dane DeHaan. Some unfortunate soundtrack choices though.
15) Nymphomaniac vol 1- Easily the most entertaining Lars von Trier movie that I have seen. Liked it loads.
16) Nymphomaniac vol 2- And of course things then had to go v.v.v.v. dark. Not as good as the first but I did like Joe's story overall.
17) Queen- Absolutely adorable and funny and inspiring. More movies like this, Bollywood. Please!!
18) Thumbsucker- The main guy reminds me a great deal of Jesse Eisenberg. That's all. Meh movie.
19) Midnight Cowboy- I don't know what I was expecting but it was certainly not this. Loved it and the performances.
20) Full Metal Jacket- Officially my favourite war movie. Just brilliant. I so want to learn that opening monologue by Hartman.
21) Legend of the Guardians- Only Zack Snyder would have animated owls fighting with animated bats in slo-mo. Not cool, man.
22) High School Musical- After avoiding this film for 8 years, I had to give in and watch it for the podcast. Everyone just looked so stupid!
23) Life is Beautiful- I loved it. I cried and laughed a lot.
24) Girls Just Want to Have Fun- Silly but fun. Needed more Helen Hunt.
25) Fracture- Aww the Gos was so young in this. Still hot though. Good movie too.
26) The Thomas Crown Affair- Almost a little too style over substance but god that chess scene was hot! Also gave me my new banner.
27) This Is England '86- Hilarious in some parts and brutal in others. One very unique and unforgettable coming of age tale.
28) The Long, Hot Summer- Paul Newman *fans herself*
29) 300: Rise of an Empire- It was okay-ish. Eva Green was fun and Jack O'Connell was the right kind of eye candy.
30) Macbeth- The Polanski version. Saw it in class. I'm so bored of this story already.
31) Blue Velvet- I was scared going in but I shockingly loved it.
32) Drugstore Cowboy- I liked how raw it was but it did very little for me otherwise.
33) Muppets Most Wanted- Fun fun fun! Danny Trejo and Ray Liotta ftw.
34) Snowpiercer- Pretty fantastic. Great concept, themes and production design. Good acting overall too, especially from Chris Evans and a wonderfully crooked Tilda Swinton.
35) Top Gun- Turns out I've never watched this properly, and with good reason. What a bore.
36+37) Gangs of Wasseypur parts 1 and 2- Clubbing them together because I saw them together minus 40 minutes at the end of the 2nd one which I saw the next day. As a result, they're one big movie for me, and I liked them sooo much! Best way I can describe it is that it's Scorsesian/Godfather-esque with an Indian masala twist.
38) Belle de Jour- For the podcast. Sexy, weird and Catherine Deneuve is a goddess.
39) Blow Out- Excellent! So thrilling and so dark, but in a good way.
40) Dom Hemingway- I was perhaps expecting too much so I was a tad disappointed but I still enjoyed the hell out of it.
41) American Gigolo- As hot as Richard Gere and his clothes were, I found the movie quite dull.


Rewatched:
(February)

1) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- I still adore this film. I really wish the sequels get made with the same team.
2) Blue is the Warmest Colour- As mesmerising and devastating as the first time.
3) Harold and Maude- For the podcast. This movie makes me happy.
4) Bright Star- I was okay with it the first time I saw it but this time 'round it just shattered my heart. So beautiful.
5) Bridget Jones' Diary- Valentine's Day tradition.
6) Casablanca- Ditto.
7) Mud- I maintain that Tye Sheridan's performance is one of the absolute bests of last year.

(March)

8) Rebel Without a Cause- For the podcast. I could see the flaws in it more clearly this time, since I'm not a teenager with a lot of feels anymore or whatever but it's still fascinating.
9) American Psycho- A friend of mine saw it for the first time and started gushing over it so *obviously* I had to keep her company. This movie is hilarious.
10) A Streetcar Named Desire- Marlon Brando *fans herself more*. Total fucking asshole in this but holy moly, so hot!
11) Reality Bites- All I could think of was that I had seen it first when I was about 12 and did I even get any of it then? Also, come back Winona!
12) Fargo- Like Bright Star, I wasn't in love with it the first time I saw it but I was totally blown away on this rewatch. *in Marge Gunderson's accent* Yeah? Yeahhhh!
13) Bachelorette- I read one line of dialogue from this somewhere and then I just HAD to rewatch it. I adore this film and I don't care who knows.
14) L.A. Confidential- I forgot how clever this film is. Not one frame is wasted. Also the only film in which I can bear Russell Crowe.
15) The Talented Mr. Ripley- Saw it after ages and remembered why it was in my original top 100 list. Great movie, great performances.


TV shows

1) True Detective, season 1- I was as amazed and hooked as everyone else. Cinematic and dark as hell, it was incredibly engaging and had some amazeballs performances. I must say though, as much as I liked the finale, I just thought the show had a bigger scope which it didn't deliver on completely. Still, a nearly masterful series. a) Favourite episode- A tie between "Who Goes There" and "The Secret Fate of All Life". The former because those 6 minutes and the latter because of the way it subverted all expectations. b) MVP- Silly question. Matthew McConaughey gave a better performance but Marty Hart was made to be played by Woody Harrelson. Both. c) Favourite quotes-

Marty: "You're like the Michael Jordan of being a son of a bitch." HILARIOUS!

Rust: "Once there was only dark. If you ask me, the light's winning." Simple and inspiring.

2) Girls, season 3- It was a very uneven season for me and I might not watch season 4. One huge reason is how much the writers themselves seem to hate Hannah. I don't know how to feel about her anymore. And if I have to listen to Marnie sing one more time, I am going to break something! a) Favourite episode- "Beach House" Shoshanna had a fabulous breakdown and there was a choreographed dance number. I HAD to love it. b) MVP- Zosia Mamet's Shoshanna and Andrew Rannells' Elijah. The former because she really is the heart of the show for me even though she is grossly overlooked and the latter because he makes me laugh in all his episodes. That photograph at the end :') c) Favourite quotes- 

Soshanna: "Thank you, it's really helpful to know you were a fuck-up too." The story of Girls.

3) Teen Wolf, season 3B- This was a dark season (was it a season? Er...). I love Dylan O'Brien and everything but I wish they'd just let him be cute and awkward Stiles again. I also really appreciated the introduction of Japanese mythology in this. Usually, these supernatural shows stay so geographically constricted. a) Favourite episode- "Insatiable" Exciting and shocking. RIP Allison Argent. b) MVP- Can I just give this to the Oni? Agreed, they didn't really have to act but they were so cool! Shoutouts also to Sheriff Stiles, played by Lynden Ashby and the police officer with the pretty eyes (I can't be bothered to find out his or his character's name). c) Favourite quote-

Stiles: "Everyone wants you, you’re like the hot girl that every guy wants.”

Scott: "I'm the hot girl? I'm the hot girl."

Isaac: "Yes you are."

I don't think I need to explain this one.

4) Brooklyn Nine-Nine, season 1- Heyyy this was so much fun! I really appreciate how it avoids all sorts of cliches. a) Favourite episode- "The Bet" made me laugh a lot but at the same time "Charges and Specs" took some really intelligent decisions for where the show is going to go from here. b) MVP- Andy Samberg's Jake Peralta is so silly and hilarious and his perfect antagonist Andrew Braugher's Captain Holt is fantastic too. I love both of them equally. c) Favourite quotes- 

Holt: "I think I am...getting a text message. Bloop! There it is." This has to be watched to be appreciated.

Books:

1) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling- Aww this was cute. I am actually pretty stoked about the upcoming trilogy. Some of these creatures sound super cool.

2) The Sandman Collection (all except Fables and Reflections) by Neil Gaiman- I'm completely hooked on these series. So smart and imaginative and some of the concepts are incredible. The only flaw I can think of is that it's like HBO- too many unnecessary boobs.

3) The Sandman: The Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman/Yoshitaka Amano- Oh this was just so beautiful to look at. Very simple but powerful story too.

4) Death: The Time of Your Life by Neil Gaiman- I was a little disappointed. I thought it would be more rock'n'roll.

5) Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn- I thought this was fantastic. Loved the themes at play, the language and the Dunnes! Crazy mofos! Can't wait for the movie.

6) Four Major Plays by Henrik Ibsen- I was hooked. Such fascinating characters. Loved A Doll's House and Ghosts. The Master Builder was a bit cray cray though.

7) Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller- Amazing. I really want to see it performed on stage.

Final tally:

                                        Firsts: 67                                         Rewatched: 20

                                                                   Total- 87

         And that's it. I *might* be starting a new series of posts in April so there's that. Also it's my vacations and therefore I don't know how much I will blog. We'll see.

"Nothing is undefeateable."

           Once again, series 7 part 2 has failed to reach the expectations set upon it. However, it might have been unfair on my part to expect that "Nightmare in Silver", penned by celebrated sci-fi fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, could be as amazing as his perfect "The Doctor's Wife" from series 6. For one, it was a very different story. While "The Doctor's Wife" was about the oldest friend and companion of the Doctor, his "Sexy" TARDIS, "Nightmare in Silver" is about one of his oldest foes, and one that I find exceptionally boring and unimpressive, the Cybermen. Still, there were missed opportunities that were almost made up for by a most jaw-droppingly spectacular performance by Matt Smith. Almost.

1) The episode follows the end of the previous episode "The Crimson Horror" when the two kids Clara babysits, Angie and Artie, have discovered that she is a time traveler and they blackmail her to take them on one of her adventures. So where do they go? The biggest amusement park in the universe of course- Hedgewick World. He even has a golden ticket.

2) I will like to say from the get-go that the children were unnecessary and annoying, and I properly wanted Angie to die. SO FUCKING PISSING OFF!!
3) So the place has been closed ever since the war with Cybermen. It is under the surveillance of military troops. The Doctor uses his trusty psychic paper to get them off their back .

4) They meet the owner, Webley, who takes them on a tour where they encounter "the 699th wonder of the universe" a Cyberman.

5)The Doctor obviously gets scared but Webley tells him that the Cyberman is deactivated and is only for playing chess a la the Hungarian chess-playing machine, the Turk. It defeats Artie and when The Doctor pokes around, he finds out that it is operated by a dwarf named Porrindge.
6) Porridge was played by the excellent Warwick Davis who was another saving grace of this episode .
7) After the kids have a go at the anti-gravitational Spacey Zoomer and Clara thinks that they should leave, the Doctor refuses because he has seen some funny insects.
8) These funny insects are in fact Cybermites who are awakening the Turk-Cyberman and the two other deactivated Cybermen. The Turk-Cyberman even attacks Webley.
9) In the meantime, Angie, being the annoyong teenager that she is, has wandered off, in spite of the Doctor telling them not to (not everyone is Clara and Brian, Doctor) and gone to the troops leaving Artie alone who gets kidnapped by a Cyberman.
10) When The Doctor, Clara and Porridge go to the troops to get Angie, another Cyberman attacks and using super-speed kidnaps Angie. These effects were v. cool.

11) So the Doctor puts Clara in charge of the troops and tells her to make sure that no one blows up the planet while he goes and rescues the children.

12) I really liked Clara as the captain. She finally got to be spunky like how Oswin was. As all communication with the rest of the Empire is cut off, Clara relocates the troops to Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle.
13) The Doctor finds a Cybermite, and after telling it that it is beautiful, he uses it to transport himself to wherever the Cybermites are getting their signals from. Here he finds that the minds of the children and Webley have been incorporated in the Cyberiad, a sort of psychic network between the Cybermen and while the former are just on stand-by mode, the latter is well on his way to become a Cyberman. He informs the Doctor that the Cybermen that were wounded in the battle have been coalescing in that place and the tourists that go missing are used as spare parts for them. They needed children's minds to further upgrade themselves because of their imagination, but they had stopped coming after the amusement park was closed. He hails the Doctor as the saviour of the Cybermen and then tells him that they don't even need children even more as the Cybermites have been scanning the Doctor's brain that is exponentially more advanced. The Doctor reminds them that he is useless to them as he isn't human, but Webley-Cyberman informs him that they accept any living matter now and then throws the Cybermites on the Doctor who then incorporate him into the Cyberaid too. Well, nearly.
14) The thing is, the Doctor is too smart and too strong for the Cyberplanner in his head and still controls a large portion of it. Matt Smith here is fantastic. His right side is shown as the part controlled by the Doctor and the left by the Cyberplanner, or as he calls himself, Mr. Clever. The way Smith jerks around going from side-to-side or personality-to-personality, subtly changing his mannerisms, his voice, his expressions- it just goes to show why he indeed is one of the best actors to play the Doctor. His flaily movements and twirling have never been more effective than here. As I read in a review, no one can possibly be a better nemesis for Eleven than darker Eleven himself. It was just incredible watching him in this episode. I must add here that this episode has made me even more excited for his movie How to Catch a Monster, aka my most anticipated film of all time, as he is playing the antagonist in it and my god, he will be just beautiful.

15) Also, there are conversations between the Doctor and Mr. Clever inside the Doctor's mind and it is absolutely stunning. I loved the Gallifreyan versus Cyber-tech look. Plus the part when all the Doctors are shown.

16) Mr. Clever and the Doctor decide to play a game of chess to take control of the 0.238% of the his brain that isn't under any of them, and whoever wins it, will get to control the whole brain. Also, if the Doctor wins, the children are to be freed and the Cybermen should leave without killing anyone, and if Mr. Clever wins, he gets access to all of the Doctor's memories, including information on time travel.

17) A Cyberman attacks one of the soldiers in the troop. When Clara asks the erstwhile captain what their strategy against the Cybermen was, she answers it was blowing up the planet, a command that only she can give. Still, Clara takes the detonation device from her.
18) As Mr. Clever and the Doctor play their chess game, the Doctor uses his knowledge of how Cybermen operating systems could be disrupted using gold, the one in his golden ticket, and takes control of his brain for a while.
19) The ex-Captain wants to follow her duty by activating the bomb, but a Cyberman kills her. So Clara and the rest of the troop decide to fight the Cybermen, and Clara kills one in an extremely cool manner by the only anti-Cyber gun they have.

20) The Doctor comes to the castle with the children, informing Clara of their situation. He's super funny here. He tells her to tie him up, hands free for chess of course, and continues the game.

21) When he removes the golden ticket, Mr. Clever comes back and starts taunting Clara and tells her that she is the impossible girl. Even though Clara is so far too much of an enigma and hence slightly bland, I still adore all her conversations with Eleven. Her reaction to both Mr. Clever and the Doctor here is very entertaining to watch.

22) Oh when Eleven says "Fantastic" and "Allonsy". All the joys!

23) Clara decides to electrify the moat around the castle, and then Mr. Clever who is pretending to be the Doctor, calls her and tries to wean information out of her. She sees through him, but he still manages to get hold of the detonator and breaks it and then, in an almost spine-chilling moment, informs her that all the Cybermen are ready and coming. And there really are loads.

24) I'll stop here. The chess game is won in three moves, a lot of Cybermen attack, we meet the Emperor, and there is even a marriage proposal.

          This episode was created to make the Cybermen scary again. I have never found them scary except perhaps in "Closing Time" when the absolutely adorable Craig is being made into one. But even then, it was probably because I couldn't imagine someone so full of life to become so dull. I guess Gaiman did manage to give the Cybermen a slight edge. I did like the super-speed and how one of the Cyberman takes off his head to fool the soldiers, but nothing more. The Cybermites were pretty creepy though and I did love the way both Webley and the Doctor looked with the Cyber-tech on their face.

           I felt that the whole concept of Cybermen lose in an amusement park was completely wasted. The park wasn't exploited as a setting at all. Even the comical castle had nothing comical about it. Then there were the children who could have easily been scrapped. Clara did not really seem to care all that much about them, but in her defense, she does have an astonishing amount of faith in the Doctor. Angie was annoying as hell and I literally groaned everytime she spoke. The soldiers were kind of boring. Only Davis as Porridge was interesting and endearing.

          The look, as it has been this entire series, was pretty spot on, even with the limited settings. And then of course, there was Matt Smith. I know that no one would even consider Doctor Who for a serious award, but if that ever happened, this is the episode which could get him a lot of accolades. He was simply that incredible in it. Also, smart move making an entire episode on Smith's profiles, which are gorgeous.

        Next episode is the series finale, when we finally find out about who Clara is and how she will save the Doctor when he goes to Trenzalore and his greatest secret is revealed. "The Name of the Doctor" better be good and not continue this series trend of not reaching expectations. It has already been leaked and I am in super-paranoid mode trying to avoid any and all spoilers. The only preview I have read has been v.v.v. positive, and I am cautiously hopeful that it will rock. Also, the Doctor will cry which will kill me. Plus, River Song returns. And then there are the Whispermen which look terrifying.

AAA what does this all mean?

5 Days to Doctor Who- Neil Gaiman

As I said yesterday, one of the best new Doctor Who episodes has been "The Doctor's Wife" which was written by the renowned sci-fi fantasy writer, Neil Gaiman. I have actually read quite a few "Best of Eleven" lists with this episode topping them because it brought the Doctor in contact with his 'Sexy' TARDIS for the first time ever. The episode was beautifully funny, spooky and touching.

This is why when it was announced that Gaiman would be writing the penultimate episode of series 7 called "The Last Cyberman" "Nightmare in Silver", I got v.v. excited. Steven Moffat has told him to make the Cybermen "scary again" which makes sense because I find Cybermen super dull. Gaiman is going back to Classic Who for this and apparently incorporating everything of and about these aliens since the 1960s. We will also see inside them. Warwick Davis to star.