Twitter announced that it’s going to allow countries to censor certain tweets of their citizens, yet another backlash against internet freedom. Twitter was instrumental in toppling some of the terrible, oppressive governments that saw their end in 2011. Please also take the time to tell Twitter that they need a backbone. I’m not sure what changed their mind, but they could probably use your support to do the right thing.

And now, onto less serious business. Films 8 and 9 in my film challenge.

#8 – Oranges and Sunshine (2010)
Dir. Jim Loach
Written by Rona Munro (screenplay), Margaret Humphreys (book)
Stars Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving, David Wenham

Based on true events, Oranges and Sunshine is an emotionally hard-hitting film that should definitely receive a viewer’s full attention. It concerns a woman, a social worker, named Margaret Humphreys (Watson), who inadvertently stumbles across a huge international scandal — the unpleasant truth that hundreds of English children were shipped off to Australia to start “better lives,” ripping them away from both their families and their true identities.

The performances of the principle actors, particularly Watson and Weaving, are incredibly powerful. While the film can be difficult to watch because of its very weighted subject matter, it’s incredibly well done. The cinematography in particular is beautiful, from the muted English landscape to the bright and colorful Australian hills.

Rating: 5/5

#9 – Frauds (1993)
Dir. Stephan Elliot
Written by Stephen Elliot
Stars Phil Collins, Hugo Weaving, Josephine Byrnes

Written and directed by the man who would go on, the next year, to direct The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Frauds is a difficult film to rate. On the one hand, there’s nothing wrong with the plot. Unfortunately, much like Collins’ antagonistic role, the film suffers from being overdone. The motivations of his character are vague at best, and he’s so unlikable that you want him to get what’s coming to him. But the film doesn’t even give you that. Byrnes does a decent job as the wife on the end of her rope, the only sympathetic person in the entire thing. Weaving is completely wasted in a part that’s terribly inconsistent — he does the best that he can, but overall the film doesn’t let him develop anything.

Which is really what I didn’t like: the inconsistent nature of the film itself. The first half of the film is enjoyable, with intrigue and playful humor, but the second quickly degrades into manic shenanigans — there’s no depth, no development (other than the main characters into madness), and you don’t really care about what’s going on. I’m giving it a 2/5 for the first part of the film, which I did enjoy. But the film deprived me of any sense of follow-through, and there wasn’t anything meaningful for the main characters. So for that, it gets a lower rating.

Rating: 2/5

#5 – Sherlock, Season 2, Episode 03 – “The Reichenbach Fall” (2012)
Dir. Toby Haynes
Written by Steve Thompson
Stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Andrew Scott

The Reichenbach Fall is inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s original story, “The Final Problem,” in which Conan Doyle attempted to kill off Sherlock Holmes so that he wouldn’t have to write the detective’s adventures anymore. (His publishers, and swarms of letters from fans, changed his mind.) It’s eluded to in-episode, as Moriarty describes ‘our final problem,’ but I’ll try not to spoil too much (being that American broad audiences won’t see the episode for quite a while).

The episode has a distinctly different feel from the other episodes–which isn’t surprising, as it has both a different director and a different writer–but it still manages to keep hold of that distinctly Sherlock feel. The Reichenbach Fall is an emotional and tumultuous thing to watch, full of ups and downs, filled with great performances by all of the principle actors. Andrew Scott does an especially great turn as Moriarty in this one.

All that’s left is to beg Gatiss and Moffat to get started on the third season.

Rating: 5/5

#6 – Wild Target (2010)
Dir. Jonathan Lynn
Written by Lucinda Coxon
Stars Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Rupert Grint

Wild Target has a fairly simple premise. A hitman is ordered to take out a thief, but ends up falling in love with her instead. It’s based on a French film called  Cible Emouvante, a fact I didn’t know before–but in hindsight, it makes a lot of sense. The film has a zany, quick, very French feel. Instead of being filled with existential French humor, however, it’s full of very dry and English tongue-in-cheek humor, an odd juxtaposition that takes a few minutes of watching the film to get used to.

Though it’s not exactly deep, Wild Target is both entertaining and cohesive–you never feel lost in the plot. The performances of the main cast are adequate. On the other hand, because it lacks anything beyond face value, I can’t see myself watching it again. But I didn’t regret seeing it the once, and that’s something.

Rating: 3/5

#7 – Earth (2007)
Dir. Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield
Narrated by James Earl Jones

A companion piece to the television series Planet Earth, Earth follows–among others–three families across the globe, through the change of seasons. Polar bears, elephants and humpback whales take the front seats, but many others are also featured. It’s full of the breathtaking photography that made Planet Earth such a success, and has the distinction of being the second-highest grossing nature documentary of all time. James Earl Jones’ warm narration propels you through the stories that make up the rest of life on this little blue planet.

In fact, by the end, I could really only level one complaint: tone. Earth starts off sweet and, though not optimistic, pleasant. But by the middle, the documentary swerves off into “everything is terrible forever” territory and then, by the end, tries to pick up back to its original sweet tone and doesn’t quite make it. Also, if you’ve seen or own Planet Earth, there’s no reason to really watch Earth, since most of it is featured with better focus in the series.

Rating: 4/5

Today I finished reading China Mieville’s Kraken. It took me a while. For several reasons, but the biggest being that there’s simply too much book and not enough story. I love the setting of Kraken, its magic, its universe, but the book dragged on for too many pages. I gave it three stars on my Kindle account, and I’m sticking with that. It’s a fun read and, if you get the opportunity, I recommend delving into it, especially if you’re a fan of urban fantasy. But it could have been better.

Without further ado, it’s time to assemble more of my 102 Movies challenge.

(source)
#2 – Sherlock, Season 2, Episode 01 – “A Scandal in Belgravia” (2012)
Dir. Paul McGuigan
Written by Steven Moffat
Stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Lara Pulver

Okay, okay, so this is cheating — a little. Sherlock is technically a television show, not a movie. However, each episode is an hour and thirty minutes long,  which is — or used to be — the minimum running time for a film. So I’m fudging the line a little bit, but Sherlock is a cinematic effort. If you’ve seen it, I’m sure you’ll agree. Everything from the cinematography to the acting is film-level, and season 2 has certainly raised the bar for quality. Lara Pulver turns in a masterful performance as Irene Adler, as suave as she is confident, and I loved the modern changes to the story.

If you’ve not had the pleasure of seeing Sherlock at all, I highly recommend it. A modern retelling of the classic stories of Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch (quite a name, I know) as the enigmatic detective, and the always welcome Martin Freeman as his accomplice John Watson. The modern retellings are fun and, for a person who’s read all of Conan Doyle’s stories, seeing the references to other tales can be a fun time in and of itself. A Scandal In Belgravia is full of them in the very first minutes of the episode, what with the amusing titles of John Watson’s blog entries. “The Speckled Band” becomes “The Speckled Blonde” and “The Greek Interpreter” becomes “The Geek Interpreter.”

The first season of Sherlock is on DVD in the US, and is also available on Netflix Instant. Each season is three 90-minute episodes.

Rating: 5/5

(source)
#3 – Sherlock, Season 2, Episode 02 – “The Hounds of Baskerville” (2012)
Dir. Paul McGuigan
Written by Mark Gatiss
Stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Russell Tovey

The Hounds of Baskerville is, of course, an adaptation of perhaps the most famous of Sherlock Holmes stories, “Hound of the Baskervilles.” The original story has everything: romance, adventure, suspense, and an overall feeling of the supernatural. It’s fitting that Sherlock‘s version has the same range, though some things are in smaller amounts. The homages to the original story kept the Holmes geek in me very happy, from the names of the principle characters on Dartmoor to the same chemistry of an initially friendly, harmless character being the villain. But I’ll say no more — spoilers, as Doctor Who’s River Song would say.

Gatiss’ writing is nearly flawless, and the performances of Cumberbatch and Freeman are on the same level. While some of the pacing occasionally slipped from A Scandal in Belgravia, the pace of Hounds matches its suspenseful material well.

Rating: 5/5

#4 – Attack the Block (2011)
Dir. Joe Cornish
Written by Joe Cornish
Stars John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Alex Esmail

I’d heard about Attack the Block in the way I often hear about new movies, these days: my haunt, Tumblr. I saw a .gif animation of the antagonists of the film and was sufficiently intrigued to try and locate a copy, which took some looking. But, a copy secured, yesterday I sat down to enjoy it.

It’s definitely not your average movie. In-story, it takes place on a single evening. The protagonists, a teen gang in South London, aren’t your average heroes, either. They bicker and squabble in a very real manner (kudos to the actors), adding the gravitas that the movie really requires for the other half to work. The other half, of course, is made up of terribly violent alien entities with teeth that glow in the dark. It’s not a gorey movie, but it does have its splashes of blood. They get fended off with typical weapons, like guns and a sword, and not so typical weapons, like fireworks and gasoline. It’s a survival story, both survival from a sudden alien threat and survival in a harsh low-class environment of drugs and violence.

Attack the Block is definitely enjoyable, and is a nice, fresh look at the “alien invasion” genre, sort of how Shaun of the Dead was a fresh look at the “zombie” genre. It has some great visuals and, while you may not like the protagonists, you’ll still be pulling for their triumph.

Rating: 4/5

One thing, among others, is new this year. I’ve taken on a challenge that entails me watching 2 new movies (new to me) every week. The full challenge was 365 new movies, but I don’t have that kind of time. I love movies — to put it lightly — and was pleased to have an “excuse” to watch more of them. I won’t be truly reviewing any of them, but I will be posting what I watch here. (My Film Writing class sort of burned me out on writing a good review.) And I’ll write a few words and rate them according to how I liked them. Depending on the movie — if I watch something so amazing I want to write an entire paper, that’ll get posted, too.

So last night I watched my first movie. #1 – Phoebe In Wonderland.

#1 – Phoebe in Wonderland, 2008
Dir. Daniel Barnz
Stars Elle Fanning, Patricia Clarkson, Felicity Huffman, Bill Pullman

 Phoebe in Wonderland concerns the titular character, Phoebe Lichten, a girl struggling with a great many things that she doesn’t understand. Among these things are her mother, her school and, ultimately, her place in the world. She also struggles with having to wash her hands a certain number of times, repeating or saying things that she shouldn’t, jumping a certain number of steps, and jumping over and on squares in the correct order.

A thread woven throughout the entire movie, giving it its name, is Alice In Wonderland: Phoebe wants to be in her school play of Alice, her mother’s writing a book about it, and Phoebe starts seeing the characters everywhere she goes. Since Alice is about growing up (among other things), this makes sense, but is still frightening and confusing for Phoebe — and also her mother, who is struggling to understand her.

This isn’t a feel-good movie, though it has some comedic moments: it’s a surprisingly hard-hitting look at mothers and daughters, growing up, and understanding how our minds work. It’s also rewarding, as it has a good ending — perhaps to make up for the emotional turbulence in the rest of it, but also as if to tell us that good endings are possible, just like in books.

It’s not all rainbows and sunshine, as far as technical aspects are concerned. The portrayal of a few key characters is pretty flat, which impacts the rest of it; indeed, it sort of jarred me out of the experience of watching the story unfold (hence my rating). But overall I found it to be quite enjoyable.

Rating: 3/5

And yes, before you say it, I am one of the dinosaurs that still uses Livejournal. Actually, once upon a time, I used Deadjournal – and I still know at least one person who does. I met one of my greatest friends on DJ, and am forever grateful to the website for that. But I made the switch over to LJ, mostly for the communities but also because of the endless accounts. I used to make a zillion accounts for my writing characters and crafted entries for them and made them argue with each other. It was fun.

However, LJ in the past couple of years was bought by a Russian company. It’s still being overseen by the same people in San Francisco, but there were immediate changes. One of them was an increase in Russian spam comments. I get at least one a week. But there have been changes to the core of the website itself that people haven’t appreciated, and came without want. (Much like whenever Facebook changes its layout.)

So, rather than put up with it, a lot of people are jumping boat over to Dreamwidth. DW is like how Livejournal was six years ago. There were no flashy things you could buy people, no Russian spam. You could decide how your layout looked exactly, and there were free and paid accounts. Simple. Elegant.

Once I’m all settled in, I’ll post a link.

Today I woke up and it was raining. This is one of my favorite kinds of weather. I live in California, where rain is as rare as a person with a sense of decency. So for it to be raining is a momentous occasion. In fact, I’ve just come in from frolicking in it (in my raincoat, of course). Not for very long, since I’m getting over a bug that was handed to me from a party over the weekend.

Anyway, Shore has been added to the Flash Fiction section — it’s an official story. And now, back to writing.

Today is overcast, a bit foggy, and cold–my favorite kind of weather. And with that comes the inspiration of my Muse. I’ve updated the Unfinished & Unedited writing section to include a new flash fiction piece that has yet to be edited, Shore.

Who knows? There might be more updates there later.

The Muppets

In the same way that dry sarcasm was taught to me by Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Muppets taught me about musical comedy and how absurdist humor can be the best kind of humor. I’ve devoured all of the Muppet shows that we have on DVD, have seen all but one of their movies, and the new Muppet movie coming out a week after my birthday was just a sign.  Here’s the trailer, just in case you somehow managed to miss it.

I wanted to love it, because the Muppets returning is something that would make these turbulent times special. And so I, and my significant other, filed into the movie theater to be entertained. And entertained we certainly were!

The movie follows the classic Muppet theme. Celebrity cameos, outrageous pop musical numbers, a breaking of the “fourth wall,” and a sweet earnestness that was missing from the previous Muppet movie (for me, at least). Every inch of it was magical. It cemented itself as “fantastic” in my head because the theater we were in was packed to the gills with children, and they remained completely silent–completely enraptured–the entire movie.

Go see it. I can’t type it strongly enough!

Stephen Fry in America

This recommendation is actually belated, since SFiA came to America several years ago now. I watched it then, and I loved it, but there was no way of introducing it to the rest of my family. I’d had to watch it on Youtube, fractured apart in many different videos. But there is hope! Netflix Instant just added it to its library. And I was thrilled to see it.

For those of you who don’t know, Stephen Fry is one of Britain’s greatest living comic treasures. He starred with Hugh Laurie (who is now known as Dr. Gregory House) on A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and in Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster. He also hosts a show called QI (Quite Interesting), a show that abolishes ignorance in the world around us, which is wretchedly hard for Americans to watch; I have to get my fix via Youtube.

In SFiA, he travels to each of the 50 states, bringing a different perspective to viewing the USA. He finds different spots than are usually looked at in these documentaries, and visits historical sites with a delicate touch. On the whole, as I did the first day I watched the first episode some years back, I highly recommend SFiA.

Disneynature’s “Oceans”

Nature documentaries are what Disney did so well just fifty or forty years ago. And, thankfully, they’ve decided to go back to it, first with “Earth” and now “African Cats” and “Oceans.” Oceans is what I watched most recently, yet again over Netflix Instant.

Though the compression over Instant wasn’t kind, Oceans was still a very beautiful and different kind of experience. The narrative weaves between understanding how the ocean works and how we relate to the ocean, making it easier for kids to see the ways that we are connected. Narrated by Pierce Brosnan, it touched on the more majestic–and the more bizarre–denizens of the deep, such as Blanket Octopus and the massive Blue Whale. If you love looking at sea life and learning about how it all connects, and if you love seeing the sometimes unreal-looking visuals of the deep, Oceans is definitely for you.

When I write, there are a few conditions that have to be met–if I’m going to be productive. One of them is that I can’t have music or loud, distracting noise. Otherwise I start typing the lyrics of the songs. Occasionally I can write with orchestral music on, but there’s no real purpose, since I usually tune it out anyway. Another condition is that I can’t be bothered. If I have to get up and answer the door a lot while writing, my muse dies and gives me nothing. If people keep calling me, or trying to talk to me, I lose my motivation to write.

I know every writer is a little different.

And, yes, the image has nothing to do with this post whatsoever. Fiesta!

The first time, I wrote “she knew her name because it was on the lapel of her uniform” as “she knew her name because it was on the label of her unicorn.” Yes, right. Not sure whether I need more sugar or less of it.

Yup. I’m a dork when I’m tired.