Buys
The Hollow Crown TV adaptation of various Shakespeare plays in the Henry cycle just came out in Region 1. Guess who grabbed a copy?
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: The people I watch movies with regularly and I are starting a little thing we call a "cultural exchange", which involves one of us, on a biweekly basis maybe, bring a film to the group. A film that has a personal connection to ourselves, but would be a discovery to the rest. Marty (Ferro Man in my current RPG group, @MartyLight on Twitter, our resident horror expert) started the ball rolling with Detention, which I can only describe as Scary/Not Another Teen Movie if any of those films were actually clever, funny and watchable. The references' main focus is every movie/TV of the late 80s-early 90s with teens in them and more besides, putting The Breakfast Club, Freaky Friday, Scream, Weird Science, Mean Girls, Donnie Darko, Buffy and Freaks & Geeks in a blender with an unhealthy dollop of acid. The result is naturally bizarre, sometimes falling to non sequitur, but surprisingly entertaining and visually inventive. It's the kind of thing movie buffs (though maybe not FILM buffs) can watch and rewatch, looking for new inside jokes and Easter eggs.
The group met again for Kung Fu Friday, of course, this time with the third Lone Wolf and Cub film from the 70s, Baby Cart to Hades. Feels like a dip in the middle of the narrative, frankly. While there was a savage rape in the first film, this one repeats the motif entirely too many times, making the first act particularly unbearable. It also doesn't feel as coherent as previous efforts - no doubt because it's following the manga's structure - with two separate episodes squeezed into the film, one about freeing a woman from indentured servitude and another about a corrupt deputy official. Both have their moments of badassery and emotion, but it's still a weak structure that requires more exposition. It's definitely more talky. And the violence is neither as gory nor as clever as in the previous films. Bit disappointing, I'm hoping it picks up in the next chapter.
I've made my thoughts on Doctor Who's The Happiness Patrol public in the daily reviews (a fun satire with a silly monster), but if we look at the DVD's extras... The commentary track, moderated by old faithful Toby Hadoke, has some pleasant thoughts shared by Sophie Aldred, script editor Andrew Cartmell, writer Graeme Curry, director Chris Clough and composer Dominic Glynn. The making of adds more and includes a number of outtakes. There are a lot of deleted and extended scenes besides, a photo gallery, isolated score and production note subtitles, but the big one is a 45-minute documentary on Doctor Who's politics, both the show's and the Doctor's, from the very first story up to about The Christmas Invasion in the new era, with lots of Who writers chiming in with insight.
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
IV.vi. Hamlet's Letter
Your Daily Splash Page this week features a splash from every DC title, alphabetically, from Smash Comics to The Spectre.
The Hollow Crown TV adaptation of various Shakespeare plays in the Henry cycle just came out in Region 1. Guess who grabbed a copy?
"Accomplishments"
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
IV.vi. Hamlet's Letter
Your Daily Splash Page this week features a splash from every DC title, alphabetically, from Smash Comics to The Spectre.
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