The Adventures of Tintin

My only previous experience with Tintin was seeing a few episodes of the cartoon when I was a kid. They made enough of an impression though that I was interested in seeing the movie as soon as I heard about it, especially based on the amount of talent involved in its creation. Directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson, written by three talented British writers, and starring a pretty solid cast. It's actually a pretty darn small cast - if you don't count the bad guy's many henchmen, the film has only a handful of characters with real roles, and there are all of maybe two women who have any lines at all. But it's not really a film focused on dialogue, or subplots, or anything that doesn't relate directly to the central quest. If there's ever a movie that earned the term "breakneck pace", it's this one. It stomps on the gas pedal in the opening minutes, and never lets up until it's all over. Even the exposition scenes are packed with action and visual trickery. That and the fact that the script crams together elements of three different Tintin stories lends the movie a sort of rushed feeling, like there was just too much adventure to get through and not enough time. But while it can be tiring by the end, the movie is so packed with charm and fun that I couldn't help but enjoy it the entire time.

Jamie Bell stars as Tintin, a young European journalist (Bell is British, though in the original books he's Belgian) who frequently gets involved in larger-than-life adventures when following a story. He finds a scale model recreation of a famous lost ship, and when he refuses to sell it to a man played by Daniel Craig named Sakharine, he gets kidnapped and brought on board a boat. There he meets its captain, Haddock, played by a drunken and bumbling Andy Serkis, and the two (along with Tintin's dog Snowy) escape, attempting to find the treasure that Sakharine is really after. The treasure ties into Haddock's family history, and he and Tintin become unlikely friends on their quest to solve the mystery of his past. Serkis gives quite a fun performance, even if he resorts to rhyming exclamations a bit too often. Bell fits well as Tintin, it's fun to see Craig play a villain, and Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are once again a likable pair as Thompson and Thomson.

Of course I haven't really mentioned the fact that the film is animated, or any of the controversy around that. I've seen numerous people complain about the realistic look the movie goes for, rather than exactly mimicking the original art style. There have also been repeated references to the uncanny valley, though I've come to accept that people will now complain about it every time something animated even attempts to resemble reality. Maybe some people really are instinctively put off by any computer animation that isn't completely cartoony, but I was able to watch this entire film without noticing anything that really bothered me. The movie walks a very fine line by obviously being animated but still having extremely detailed nuances in the texture and animation of its characters, but I thought they pulled it off for the most part. I also think they really took advantage of the animated medium, especially in the crafting of the action scenes. There's a heck of a lot of them, and almost every one manages to do things that real life action wouldn't. The highlight of the whole film is a chase scene in a single take, through a Moroccan city and with numerous different characters involved at various points in both the chasing and being chased. Obviously being animated makes such a scene feasible, but even with that caveat, it's still a complete marvel of planning, design, and coordination to pull it off. That it isn't quite the film's climax is a symptom of the fact that the creators might not have known when enough is enough, but it's still a great scene. The last moments of the film are pretty explicitly setting up a sequel, and I hope the movie is successful enough for one to get made, because they did a great job of establishing a really fun and endearing setting, and I'd like to see Peter Jackson take his turn at the wheel.

Doctor Who - Season 6

I'm still not totally sure on how I feel about the Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who. The show is still written consistently better than it was during the Russell T. Davies run, and Matt Smith is definitely my favorite Doctor of the three I know. But I'm also not sure about his grand plan for the show. Not only does the show have a more persistent running storyline each season, it's pretty clear that he has one big story that he's taking years to tell. And while that's fine for some shows, I'm not sure it's really the best thing for this one. I like Doctor Who when I have no idea what's going to happen next. Is he going to discover something sinister happening on a seemingly benign alien planet? Is he going to get trapped with a bunch of scientists on some remote research station? Is he going to bump into a noteworthy figure from Earth's past and figure out what weird thing inspired their work? That element of surprise and the feeling that anything could happen is still there in the show, because only a handful of episodes each year dedicate more than a few minutes to the ongoing plot. But just the idea of there being a single story driving the 11th Doctor's entire existence seems anti-Who to me.

At least the story is fairly interesting. It involves the fate of the universe of course, as every major Who storyline does. It also involves his current companions, Amy and Rory; River Song, the fellow time traveler he met back in season 4; and a creepy conspiracy involving a sinister group that's out to get him for some reason. It's a bit too reliant on using time travel as a crutch, both an explanation for and a solution to every problem, though it's kind of hard to complain that a show like this uses a lot of 11th hour gimmicks and cop outs to resolve the ridiculous situations that arise. I just hope it ends up being worth it. It's a fun show to watch, but Doctor Who has a long history of conclusions that seem disappointing next to all of the events that build up to them.

In terms of this year's actual episodes, I don't think they were as a whole really stronger than last year's, though I thought there were definite high points. For one thing, having an episode titled "Let's Kill Hitler" is fun, even if that's not really what it's about. The two part season-opener introduced a great new Who monster in a similar vein to the Weeping Angels; creepy aliens called the Silence, who you forget everything about the second you can't see them anymore. "The Doctor's Wife", written by Neil Gaiman, is one of the show's great one-offs; a story about the TARDIS taking the form of a woman, and finally getting a chance to talk to the Doctor face to face. The second half went on a nice little horror kick, with a couple effectively creepy, well directed episodes that had a lot of fun with the spookier side of the show. As far as Who finales go, this year's was pretty acceptable. It was kind of just a bunch of crap getting thrown at a wall, and some weird choices were made, but at least I have a much better idea of where everything is going, and some weird loose ends were tied off. The next season of Who won't begin until next fall, and it won't end until 2013. But at least there's the annual Christmas special to look forward to.

Television Update 7: Holiday Specials

There seemed to be an unusual amount of special episodes of shows I watch around the Holiday season this year, so I thought I'd go over them. To get here, the episode didn't have to be Christmas themed, but it did have to be separate from the standard season airing schedule for the show.

Doctor Who - "A Christmas Carol"

Hey, an episode of Doctor Who actually aired in America on the same day as in England! It's a Christmas miracle! While Russell T. Davies' Who Christmas specials tended to at least acknowledge the existence of the Holiday, they also tended to be about everything except it. Now that Steven Moffat's in charge of the show, he's put the Christmas back in Christmas Special with one of his better episodes, and definitely the most holiday-themed Who I've seen. The episode is obviously a take on a story that's been retold countless times, but Moffat and the cast make it work surprisingly well. Michael Gambon plays a man in control of a planet's dangerous cloud layer who takes family members for collateral on loans, and is very much a future version of Scrooge. Needing his help to save a ship full of people including Amy and Roy, the Doctor takes the role of the various Christmas ghosts and creatively uses the TARDIS to try to change his mind. The time travel twists on the classic story freshen it up quite a bit, and there's a lot here to justify Moffat's conception of the show as fairy tale more than science fiction. A very fun, very British hour of television.

Futurama - "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular"


This special is a lot like the Anthology of Interest episodes from the past, showing three silly short films within the Futurama framework, although this time there's nothing to frame the different stories and everyone dies at the end of all three, making them decidedly out of continuity. They're all based on a different holiday and also have sneaky environmental themes attached, providing a Christmas story about seed contamination, a Robanukah story about the depleting Petroleum reserves, and a Kwanzaa story about honey bees disappearing. It's far from one of the best episodes the show has done, with many of the jokes falling flat and yet another Al Gore appearance feeling a bit redundant at this point, but I'll give it a pass because each segment made me laugh out loud at least once. A bit scattershot, but they were probably constrained by the short running time for each bit, needing to hit multiple themes in each one, and finding a way to kill off the cast at the end each time, so the end result is respectable if not outstanding. A decent hold over until the next season starts.

Robot Chicken - "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III"


There was actually a proper Christmas episode that aired before this, but it appears to be part of the regular fifth season which is starting up soon, while this is definitely a special. While the Family Guy Star Wars tributes have a clear purpose to go on for three episodes, retelling the story of the original trilogy, the Robot Chicken Star Wars episodes have been all over the place with all six movies, making a third seem less necessary. And at an hour long it could have easily dragged. Luckily the writers saved it with a real concept this time, going forward chronologically through the whole series, following Emperor Palpatine's ascent to the throne. It's still just an excuse for a lot of random gags and jokes, but the general progression makes it more interesting than it could have been. Their take on Palpatine is still pretty funny, and a lot of the sketches are among the best and most elaborate they've ever done. It's still definitely just more Robot Chicken in places, but I liked the episode more than I expected.

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! - "Chrimbus Special"


The Awesome Show's apparent ending earlier this year was a surprise heartbreak, though they've changed that sentiment in the last couple months with a new tour (that I missed getting to go to), a new hour long episode, and an announcement of a coming movie as well as the possibility of more seasons if they feel like it. That's all great news, and the holiday "Chrimbus" episode was hilarious as expected. Chrimbus is a warped version of Christmas much more focused on the receiving aspect of the holiday than the giving side, and it's an opportunity for more awkward audience reactions, mildly disturbing song and dance numbers, and one off sketches. The episode works as an excuse to bring back all of the old favorite guests, from known celebrities like Zach Galifianakis to fan favorite oddities like Ben Hur. There's a couple more ridiculous Cinco products to throw on the gigantic pile, and a multi-part arc with Carol and Mr. Henderson that wasn't exactly necessary but still pretty outstanding. More fun for Tim and Eric fans, and if it had ended up as the last thing they did, it would have been a nice send off.

Sherlock - Season 1

It's apt that this modern day take on Sherlock Holmes was co-created by Steven Moffat, the man currently in charge of Doctor Who. In both, the titular character is a brilliant, fast-talking eccentric who solves mysteries and hangs out with British people. The difference is the Doctor is a time traveling, immortal alien while Holmes is, in his own words, a high-functioning sociopath and the world's only consulting detective. Sherlock is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, a man who is as talented as his name is crazy, and he creates a pretty fascinating, updated take on the classic character. One of Holmes' more interesting characteristics is how he can be a complete master in certain fields of knowledge but absolutely clueless in others, and Cumberbatch takes it to the next level, portraying a real enigma of a man who doesn't really know how to do anything but analyze situations and explain deductions extremely quickly. The always-likable Martin Freeman plays Dr. John Watson, a field medic experiencing adverse effects after what he experienced in Afghanistan. He's set up as Holmes' roommate, and after that the two form an uneasy but persistent friendship as Watson begins accompanying him on cases.

So there's only three episodes to this season, as it really feels more like a trilogy of films more than a TV show. Each episode is about an hour and a half, and tells a full story as the pair solves a case, or to be more accurate, Sherlock solves a case while Watson mostly compliments his brilliance. There's not really much of a chance for a formula to form beyond what I've already said, and it's probably to the show's benefit that the number of cases is so low since it allows each one to be fully fleshed out and intriguing as possible. There's a lot of interesting touches that could have become distracting but instead help serve the modern vibe they're going for, such as a lot of quick cuts and closeups to simulate Holmes' thinking process and popping up text that characters are reading on screens to keep the conveying of information elegant. Unlike some other cop shows, the fun is watching the characters figure things out instead of trying to do it yourself, and none of the plots are as simple as they appear at first. The third and final one re-introduces Sherlock's greatest nemesis in fairly grand fashion and ends on a cliffhanger, an effective way to leave the audience wanting more and assuring them that there will be. I don't know if Freeman's commitment to The Hobbit (which I am in great favor of) will affect the show down the road, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what they do.

Doctor Who - Season 5

So my favorite Who writer Steven Moffat taking over the show didn't result in a tidal wave of total amazingness, but it was still definitely my favorite run of the show to date. Obviously that praise is a bit limited since I never saw it before the reboot, but it was still pretty darn good. It's greatest strengths were definitely the main cast. Matt Smith is pretty brilliant as the Doctor, maybe not reaching the peak of David Tennant's best moments just yet, but I was sold on him from the opening scene of the season. He manages to pull off some of Tennant's wackier tendencies while also coming close to capturing the gravitas of Christopher Eccleston in his angrier moments, while Tennant had to settle for saying "I'm so sorry" in a monotone. And Karen Gillan (not to be confused with Kieron Gillen) as Amy Pond is my favorite companion of the series as well. She's not exactly the greatest actress, but none of the companions have been, and she combines Martha's easiness to look at with an actual interesting connection to the Doctor that makes her pretty likable. Also, Rorie kicks Mickey's ass as far as companions' boyfriends go.

Since the reboot Who has typically followed a pretty familiar formula, with about ten stories spread over thirteen episodes, mostly watchable on their own but teasing a connective storyline that finally reveals and resolves itself in the finale. Season five doesn't really change this, though it did feel more cohesive as the connections between episodes were more obvious and there was more opportunity for speculation as it was more like a mystery than some loose series of references. I did enjoy said climax as much as any the show has done, though the best stuff was again in some of the episodes preceding. One thing this season did lack was a truly stand-out, completely amazing episode that people will remember for years, but on the other hand there were no heinously terrible ones that people will remember for years for the wrong reason either. It's too bad there was no "Blink" this time, but I think I'd take that trade.

There was the predictable return of classic Who villains like the Daleks, Cybermen, and Moffat's own Weeping Angels, the latter of which I enjoyed quite a bit, though the best stuff tended to be more character focused. The typical meeting-a-long-dead-celebrity episode featured Vincent Van Gogh and was surprisingly good, the one where the gang is stuck between two realities and can't tell which is a dream was quite enjoyable, and the one that's basically a sitcom with the Doctor moving into a London flat was pretty funny even if he seemed just a bit overly oblivious to human behavior. A couple stories, like one in a London that's floating through space and another with vampire-like aliens terrorizing Venice, felt like throwbacks to the show at its most unremarkable, but they were at least competently done. I enjoyed the way they wrapped up the season's arc while leaving tons of possibilities for future adventures, and the set up for this year's Christmas special was pretty great. I figure more time at the helm can only improve Moffat's show running skills, and I'm really excited to see what's next.