Doctor Who: In the Forest of the Night

I've been enjoying this season of Doctor Who so far. Definitely more than the second half of season 7 and about as much as the first half of season 7. Although I've liked all of the episodes, none of them really stood out until last night's episode. This whole season has been a buildup between Clara and the Doctor, and then Clara, the Doctor, and Danny. I feel that last night's episode was a turning point for Clara and it made me like her more.

"In the Forest of the Night" begins with a young girl from Clara's school finding the Doctor in the middle of a forest. He's confused because he's meant to be in the middle of London and all he can see is trees. Well, that's because a forest has grown up overnight across the whole globe. In this episode we get to see more of Clara and Danny's students, and a different group than those we've seen before. They were adorable, as children are wont to be. And I liked that Clara called them "gifted and talented" when they were clearly not. I felt it was a good way for her to make them feel better about themselves, to remind them that they are special even if they're not incredibly super smart. She even brought up again the idea that things like fear can be a superpower. I also liked that she made a point about Danny loving his students and not leaving them for anything. I think it's one of his strong points: his compassion and caring for others.

In regards to the Danny/Clara/the Doctor debacle, it doesn't get resolved in this episode. Danny does discover that Clara is still traveling with the Doctor and asks her to be honest with him about her feelings on the whole situation. I understand that the relationship between Danny and the Doctor is strained and get why it's like that, but I love that Danny is trying to be reasonable. He just wants the truth, which he totally deserves. And I would love if they could get along with each other but that's not likely to happen any time soon. Side note, I really love how expressive the Doctor's face was in this episode. He got very up close and personal with people and his face was just brilliant.

Now, on to the 2 things I loved the most. 

1. Clara forcing the Doctor to leave when they think there is no solution. Let me start by saying that I figured out before the Doctor that the trees would protect Earth from the solar flare. You saw them not catch on fire so that should be a big hint that they would survive a solar flare. I felt really smart getting that before them. However, it takes them a while to realize that and they are under the assumption that everyone on Earth is going to die. This is when Clara says that Danny would never leave the students behind. He wouldn't escape in the TARDIS if it meant the students would die, and they would never get over leaving their parents. And then Clara says she doesn't want to leave because she doesn't want to be the last of her kind. She tells the Doctor to leave and he says that Earth is his home too. I like that he's so attached to our little planet. Clara tells him that Earth and humanity want to save him, that he needs to leave and do something worthwhile with his life. She's finally giving him up and she's content with the decision. Of course, the Doctor realizes that the Earth will not be destroyed and comes back. We're not given any indication of where this leaves Danny and Clara or Clara and the Doctor. I guess that's something we'll have to learn next week.

2.Fairy tale. This episode was so very fairy tale in nature. The dark forest, the lost children, the wolves and tiger, the red coat. Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood were both mentioned in the episode. It just felt so much like a fairy tale and those are my favorite. So it definitely helped me like this episode a lot. They mention sticking to the path and losing the path, and leaving breadcrumbs and the possibility of gingerbread houses. It very much appealed to the child in me. And I love what the Doctor said about forests.

"The forest. It's in all the stories that kept you awake at night. The forest is mankind's nightmare."

Side note, I also loved that the music sounded very LOTR at several points. It was a nice touch to add to the mythical, fairy tale feel of everything. 

El Laberinto Del Fauno

Or for those of you who don't know Spanish, Pan's Labyrinth. The direct translation is actually The Labyrinth of the Faun or The Faun's Labyrinth, but those titles weren't considered cool enough and it was changed to Pan's Labyrinth. This leads some people to believe that the faun in the movie is Pan but that's not the case. He's just a faun. Part of the reason people believe the faun's name is Pan is because of Greek mythology. Pan was the god of the wild, flocks, and hunting music. He was depicted as a faun. Actually, the Roman equivalent was even named Faunus. So you can understand why some people would be confused by the title Pan's Labyrinth.

Ok, mythology lesson over. I saw Pan's Labyrinth for the first time recently. It's a movie that I had always been interested in seeing but was wary of since it looked scary and I don't do scary. I can happily say that I was not scared by the movie. On the contrary, I was enthralled. It was beautiful, both story-wise and film-wise, and it was dark. It was certainly a creepy movie, very creepy in fact, but I loved it. It's quite possibly one of my new favorite movies.

Now in case you missed something from the title, Pan's Labyrinth is a Spanish film. Unlike some other foreign language films, there is no English version. If you don't speak Spanish, the best you can get is a version with English subtitles. Personally, the subtitles didn't bother me. It wasn't an issue having to read the subtitles and follow what was happening visually. Honestly, I liked the film in Spanish. I think it made it more authentic. That was the way the film was made and is intended to be seen, and it works.

What really draws me to the film is the story. Pan's Labyrinth is, without a doubt, a fairy tale. But it's the way fairy tales are supposed to be, meaning it's dark, violent, and not always happy. In fact, the story has very few happy moments and quite a lot of violence. So if you want a happy fairy tale, watch a Disney movie. Don't get me wrong; I love Disney and I love their Princess movies. But those are not the original fairy tales. Disney makes everything nice and happy, and that's not the way things really are. If you want something a little closer to the original, see Into the Woods this Christmas. That at least follows the original tales until what happens after "Ever After" (seriously, go see Woods.). So the fact that Pan's Labyrinth is dark and what a fairy tale is intended to be makes me very happy.

One of the "fairies"

Pan's Labyrinth is actually two stories woven together. The fairy tale centers around the princess of the underworld, who went to the human world, forgot who she was, and died. Her father, the king, believed that one day the princess would be reborn and find her way back to the underworld. In the real world, it's 1944 in Spain. Ofelia, the main character, is traveling with her pregnant mother to stay with her new stepfather. Her stepfather is a Captain in charge of finding and eliminating the nearby rebels. Nearby is an old labyrinth, and Ofelia is lead there by a fairy. There she meets the faun and learns that she is the reincarnated princess of the underworld. She is told she must complete 3 tasks before the full moon or she will never return to her real home. Ofelia works to complete these tasks while Captain Vidal gets closer to finding the rebels. During this time, Ofelia's mother has her baby, a son, and dies. More stuff happens but I don't want to give the ending away. It's surprising and I think has more of an impact if you go into it without expectations. 

I will say, however, that you wonder by the end if Ofelia is making up the fairies and faun as a way to cope with the world around her, or if it's all really happening. There are several things that happen throughout the film, though, that lead one to believe everything was real and that Ofelia really was the princess of the underworld. Plus, it's nice to think that she is the princess after everything that happens in the film.

As for the violence in the film, I hope you have a strong stomach. I can handle a lot but I had to look away a couple of times. Captain Vidal is cruel, sadistic, and evil. In fact, my mom and I both thought that Vidal and his soldiers seemed very similar to Nazis, except Spanish. Even their uniforms reminded me of Nazis. As far as allusions go, that was a perfect one to get across just how evil Vidal was. 

As for the visual aspect of the film, it is perfect. The film actually won 3 Oscars: Art Direction, Cinematography, and Makeup. And all three are amazing. The faun, fairies, and Pale Man are all incredibly realistic. The lighting between the different worlds, between the human world, the underworld, and the labyrinth, are very different yet flow so well. And the way that scenes change is beautiful. They flow seamlessly from one scene to the next, from one world to the next. It's amazing how perfect and real the movie feels. It's part of the reason the movie is so good.

I highly recommend seeing Pan's Labyrinth if you haven't yet. It's not as scary as it seems; I personally find it quite beautiful. Just remember that it is a real fairy tale. It's dark, gruesome, and creepy. But if you look past all of that, you will find the beauty in the story. To end, here is the story that Ofelia tells to her brother, to give you a taste of the beauty and sadness in the film.

"Many, many years ago in a sad, faraway land, there was an enormous mountain made of rough, black stone. At sunset, on top of that mountain, a magic rose blossomed every night that made whoever plucked it immortal. But no one dared go near it because its thorns were full of poison. Men talked amongst themselves about their fear of death, and pain, but never about the promise of eternal life. And every day, the rose wilted, unable to bequeath its gift to anyone...forgotten and lost at the top of that cold, dark mountain, forever alone, until the end of time."

The Blob

"Beware of The Blob

It creeps and leaps

And glides and slides

Across the floor

Right through the door

And all around the wall

A splotch, a blotch

Be careful of The Blob"

So opens the classic 1958 horror movie, The Blob. Let me start by saying that I don't do horror movies. I don't like slashers, I don't like scary, I don't like horror. I can tolerate suspense and once I've seen a movie I can usually watch it again since I know what's going to happen. However, classic horror movies are a different story. I find them hilarious. Especially the Universal monster movies. They're cheesy and ridiculous and I love them. So you can understand how excited I was to watch The Blob, an excitement that only increased once I heard the theme song. It's totally my new favorite song; I even bought it on iTunes after we finished the movie. 

Watching movies with my family is always an experience. With The Blob, it started early in the movie. My dad asked what year the movie was made and my mom responded "19cheesy". She then equated the Blob sticking to the old man to the spray-on shoes in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. She preceded to gasp in (fake) horror throughout the rest of the movie whenever the Blob grew larger. I, on the other hand, struggled not to laugh through a large portion of the movie. "Campy" comes to mind when I think of the film, along with "cheesy" and "ridiculous". Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie. It was great and I'm glad I finally got the chance to watch it. But movies like The Blob or Dracula or Frankenstein just make me laugh. They're the kind of horror/monster movies that I would marathon-watch on Halloween. Note to self: spend Halloween watching old, ridiculous horror/monster movies. I'm also glad that I can finally say I've seen a Steve McQueen movie. And yes, he was certainly attractive. Now I just need to watch one of his more serious movies. 

Two things that I found especially funny in the movie: 1. Movie tickets were much cheaper back then; they were complaining about leaving during the movie and wasting their 80 cents. I wish tickets were still that cheap. 2. The fact that the Blob is so scary. To me it looks like a giant ball of jello or something. It's not scary at all. But you have to enjoy the solution to stopping the Blob: freezing it. They send the Blob to the Arctic so it stays frozen. Too bad the polar ice caps are melting and global warming is happening. Guess the Blob is going to make a comeback. 

Other than the theme song, my favorite thing was one of the options on the DVD menu. It said "color bars". And yes, it meant the color bar test pattern. If you clicked on it, an image of color bars showed up. They created a whole option on the DVD menu for color bars. How authentic. 

Divergent

I never had the chance to see Divergent while it was in theaters. I kind of wanted to but I was afraid it was going to be like half the other YA series out there. I still haven't read the series, although my mom keeps begging me to, but I have finally seen the movie. I can definitely say that I'll be reading the series soon now. I really liked the movie. It was interesting and thought-provoking but not overly YA. It was a good mix of sci-fi and reality, in a manner that is different from other books or movies like it. There are several points that I really liked about the movie which I'll be discussing after a brief summary.

The story is set in the future, in post-apocalyptic Chicago (no explanation behind the apocalypse is given but that's ok). Society is split into 5 factions, each one based on a disposition: Abnegation (selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (honest), Dauntless (brave), and Erudite (intelligent). Every year, all 16 year olds take a test to determine which faction they belong in. They can chose to ignore their results and just pick a faction, but either way, if you leave your birth faction you cut ties with any family. Faction before blood. Beatrice takes the test but the results are inconclusive. She is one of the few people who is Divergent. She makes the choice to leave Abnegation and join Dauntless, where she changes her name to Tris. Things aren't good in the beginning but she manages to toughen up and become top of her class. Then Erudite goes crazy and tries to wipe out Divergents and Abnegation. Tris and Four, her instructor in Dauntless and then boyfriend who is also Divergent, stop the attack on Abnegation and go on the run. There, brief summary.

So, what I liked about the movie. First off, there was no love triangle. I'm sick and tired of every YA story having a love triangle. Heck, I'm tired of any chick flick or romantic movie having a love triangle. It's cliche and annoying. But Divergent had no love triangle. And the romance wasn't even a major focus; it was clear that they had feelings for each other but it happened slowly and over time. I'm all about romance; I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. But that doesn't mean I necessarily want a girly "Oh my gosh, I love you and I'll die without you and I want to have your babies" kind of movie. Unless it's Jane Austen, I generally need more than just romance. So the fact that Divergent is about more than the relationship between Tris and Four is very appealing to me. Now as I've said, I haven't read the books yet so for all I know that changes in the later books. But for now, it works for me.

Now it's possible that the words "post-apocalyptic YA series" brings to mind another series that you've probably heard of called The Hunger Games. Divergent is similar; it's post-apocalyptic, people are split into different groups, someone is trying to wipe out one of those groups. However, the premise is different (and I almost like it better than the premise for The Hunger Games). People aren't split just randomly and assigned something to mine or create or catch. Instead they are split by dispositions, by a personality trait. Then, based on that trait, the Factions work in jobs that need that trait. Candor are judges, Dauntless are police, etc. I love the idea. It's original and brilliant. And it would work except for Divergents, for the whole point of the series. The problem is that people aren't just one thing. People are kind and brave and intelligent. The system sounds plausible but people aren't made like that. The Erudite leader, Jeanine, keeps saying that the real enemy is humanity and free will. She's all about conformity but she wants things to be her way. For someone in the Faction of intelligence, she is very ruthless and hardhearted. It's interesting; I like it.

I really did enjoy the movie. The story moved at a nice pace. If it had been a standalone movie it might have seemed slow, but as the first movie of a series it was the perfect setup. I liked being able to watch Tris go from a weak girl from Abnegation to a strong young woman of Dauntless. I think the casting was perfect. I was afraid I wouldn't like Shailene Woodley because of her association with The Fault in Our Stars, something I have neither seen nor read and have no inclination to. However I really liked her as Tris and thought she did a good job going from naive to serious. And of course I can't complain about Theo James too much, although I'm also a fan of Jai Courtney. But overall, I really enjoyed the movie and I'm excited to finally read the series.

In Remembrance of Robin Williams

As I'm sure you all know, Robin Williams died earlier tonight. He was definitely one of the funniest actors I've ever seen, not to mention being a good actor in general. I can't remember the first movie I saw him in. Obviously Aladdin is up there but I wouldn't have known at the time that Williams played the Genie. However it remains one of my favorite movies of his.

Williams was known for being incredibly funny. When Christopher Reeves was in the hospital after his horseback riding accident, Williams visited him pretending to be a Russian doctor. Reeves said his visit was one of the first times he laughed after his accident. During filming for Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg frequently called Williams and had him tell jokes over the phone to cheer up the cast and crew. This was during filming for Aladdin so Williams mostly spoke as the Genie. He also improvised most of his lines in Aladdin, and did a very good job at it as his lines are some of the best.

I think we can all agree that his role as Genie is one of our favorites. Not to mention Mrs. Doubtfire, which is incredibly hilarious and heartwarming. I also love him as Peter Pan in Hook. It's one of my favorite versions of Peter Pan and I think Williams did a great job of portraying a grown-up Peter. I also love Jumanji, especially his scraggly beard near the beginning. The way that Williams gave some of the lines in the movie and his absolute fear of the game make the movie seem more real and are part of what I love about the movie. His turn as Teddy Roosevelt in Night at the Museum and its sequels is adorable, and I'm glad they were able to finish the last movie before his untimely death. One of his funniest roles is as Bob Munro in RV, a movie that is guaranteed to make my family cry from laughter. But possibly my favorite role of his is as John Keating in Dead Poets Society. I know some people think the movie is unrealistic, which yes it may be a little, but what I love so much about it is the idea that a professor can be that influential in a student's life. And for someone who is so well known as the funny man, Williams is a very good professor.

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I think a Robin Williams marathon is going to happen in the near future. What better way to remember Williams than by watching some of his best movies again? Although his death was unexpected and sad, we can always remember him as a brilliant, funny actor who managed to make us laugh at the drop of a hat.

"No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world."

John Keating, Dead Poets Society

Guardians of the Galaxy

SPOILERS! Part of the reason I like The Avengers so much is that it's about a group of people who struggle to get along because they're constantly butting heads and arguing, yet they have to get along in order to save Earth. It's such a ragtag team of superheroes, several of whom think they should be the ones in charge or know more than everyone else, and yet it works. The chemistry between the characters is wonderful, and the movie is the perfect combination of funny and dark. My other favorite Marvel movie is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Not only was it better than its predecessor, it was just a fun movie. The cast was great, the dialogue was good, and the plot was spectacular. It was fun, it was dark, and it was amazing. Now, what does all of this have to do with Guardians of the Galaxy?

Well, you've probably heard people and critics say that Guardians is the best Marvel movie yet. I can honestly say that they're not wrong. Even my sister, who loves Marvel but wasn't that concerned about seeing Guardians in theatres, said that it is probably now her favourite Marvel movie. It's seriously that good. It's funny and dark and absolutely ridiculous and two of the main characters aren't even real, but it works. It works so well that at San Diego Comic Con they announced the release date for the sequel. And this from a movie that looked like it had the potential to be as completely ridiculous as Galaxy Quest. I also think it was brilliant to release it at the end of the summer. I know part of the reasoning was they were unsure how the movie would go over, but I think it's good to end with such a strong movie to usher the summer out. They start with blockbusters so why not end with one?

Let me start by saying that the cast was brilliant. The five main characters were perfect and even though one of the characters was a talking raccoon and one was a walking, talking tree, you had no problem believing they were all real. The animation for Groot and Rocket was great and they ended up being huge fan favorites. Drax was hilarious due to his inability to grasp sarcasm and metaphors. Gamora was awesome and further proof that Zoe Saldana is seriously badass. And for someone who hadn't really been a main character yet, Chris Pratt did a wonderful job as Peter Quill/Star-Lord. He was funny, he was a smartass, and he was relatable. And even though the 5 characters start the movie fighting each other, they were able to come together eventually.

As for the bad guys, you didn't really see them a lot in the trailers so you weren't sure what to expect in the movie. I loved Ronan's contacts and thought that he was a good villain, although he wasn't the real villain as he was working for someone else. I didn't expect to see Thanos in Guardians; our first glimpse of him was at the end of The Avengers and he was definitely a surprise in Guardians. And I loved Nebula. You could hear how they'd changed Karen Gillan's voice to be a little metallic but I didn't expect that to mean that her entire character was metallic and malleable. And the Collector was as creepy as always. I don't trust him and I knew that his appearance in this movie would not be a good thing.

Visually the movie was amazing as well. As I mentioned, Groot and Rocket were both incredible. So were the rest of the characters who were different colors and such. I loved the bright colors of some of the characters' skin, from Gamora's bright green and Nebula's blue to the bright pink of others. It's a cool and simple way to set humanoid aliens apart. And speaking of aliens, I loved how much of the galaxy we got to see. In Thor: The Dark World we got to see a little more but it was still centered around Earth and Asgard. And honestly, Guardians had almost no reference to the previous Marvel movies so it was almost possible to forget that it took place in the same universe. I also liked the whistle-guided arrow thing that Yondu had and thought it was cool how quickly he could trigger it. One of my favorite visual effects was the ship-net that the Xandarian's created to try to stop Ronan. It was really cool how their ships interlocked and formed a barrier, although I feared it would only work for so long and I was right. And Ronan's ship was pretty impressive and much larger than the Xandarian fleet so it clearly wasn't going to end well.

But my favorite part of the movie was the soundtrack. I'm being completely serious when I say that I'm going to buy the soundtrack. It was awesome. It's full of classic songs that are just fun and perfect for dancing. Other than Rocket and Groot, it was the highlight of the movie. Plus, the first time we see Chris Pratt as Peter he puts his headphones in and starts dancing around, and it's when he strikes a pose that the title of the movie comes up. The music was just perfectly incorporated into the movie. Heck, they used it at the end as a way to distract Ronan. The music helps make the movie and the movie is incredible.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

I've seen the original Planet of the Apes, as well as the remake. I found the original highly amusing and the ending probably would have shocked me if I hadn't known the plot twist to begin with. The remake mainly just confused me, as I had seen the original already and was expecting it to be a straight remake. Instead they kind of changed things around somewhat and it wasn't exactly like the original. Up until Rise of the Planet of the Apes, those were the only two movies in the series that I had seen. And I loved Rise. It was dark, it was new, and it was amazing. And I can honestly say that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was almost better than its predecessor.

Where to start? First off, I appreciated that the apes still spoke mainly using sign language. Although they have the ability to speak, it's something that the first generation of apes had to learn to do, which means it would not come as naturally to them as it would to future generations. Plus, it made a distinct difference between the humans and the apes. But enough about genetics. The apes in the first movie were amazing to watch. They were so lifelike and realistic, and they continue to be that way in Dawn. I think Andy Serkis is a brilliant actor and it never ceases to amaze me what emotions he can convey and how much he puts into his performance without physically being on screen as himself. Also: horses; the apes were finally riding horses and for some reason I really love that.

On the human side of things, I continue to love Jason Clark. If you haven't seen Lawless, find a copy and watch it. It's a great movie and part of the reason I like Jason Clark. I thought his performance as Malcolm was really good. He had to deal with this crazy new world he found himself in, while also taking care of his teenage son and worrying about his future. His remark that no kid should have to see what his son had seen was sad, because his son would have been 6 or 7 when everything happened and his mother died. I also enjoyed the dynamic between Keri Russell, who played Malcolm's second wife, and Kodi Smit-McPhee, Malcolm's son. Having a new stepmother is awkward enough without the extra stress of the end of the world and super smart apes. I thought Smit-McPhee was adorable in his awkwardness and I liked the quiet and calming personality of Russell.

As for the relationship between the humans and the apes, I find it interesting and a little sad. Malcolm and Caesar try so hard to keep the peace but other humans and apes ruin it. Gary Oldman's character was all about power; in this case, literal power to bring back the electricity. The humans needed a source of power, and the search for that inadvertently lead them to the apes. It also lead the apes back to the city and the humans' home. The search for power ended up being the downfall of the humans and what sets off a war between apes and humans. However, there is another component in the creation of the war. And that is what I find so fascinating about this movie.

The concept of betrayal and having your own agenda, which you'll follow without caring who may die along the way, is something that is very human. For centuries humans have been stabbing each other in the back, turning on one another, and pretending to be something we're not to convince others to trust us. The apes in Dawn believe that all humans are bad and all apes are good. They cannot even fathom the idea that there may be good humans and bad apes. Which makes the betrayal of Koba all the more poignant. Caesar says that Koba learned only hate from humans, after his time spent as a lab rat, or chimp. But Koba also learned about betrayal. Yes, Caesar is foolish to continue trusting Koba when he is clearly losing his mind a little. But that doesn't mean that Koba had to act in the manner he did. He abused Caesar's trust, manipulated Caesar's son, attempted to kill Caesar and blame it on the humans, and then took over as the leader of the apes and started a war. That is such a human thing to do. And I think it was a brilliant touch.

I found Dawn to be as good as Rise in every aspect. The music was amazing, the apes were incredible, and the story was brilliant. It was one of the best sequels I've seen in a long time; Winter Soldier is the only other recent sequel that I thought was as good as its predecessor. I can't wait to see how they're going to wrap up the series, although we all know how the story ultimately ends. And while I would like to see the same humans in the next movie, I kind of liked having a new set of humans who had to interact with the apes and learn to understand them. And if the majority of critics can find almost nothing wrong with the movie and think it was amazing as well, then you know it's a good movie.