Jadotville

I dedicate this post to Thomas Tiger Clancy.

One of the neighbours in the small town land where my mother
grew up

He served there

Its an Irish film for an international audience. I am too young to understand if it works as a period piece. The African scenery is wonderful and there are familiar
faces from Game of Thrones. (Roose Bolton) again playing a devious second fiddle. As well as the bf of the older sister from Mooneboy

The villain of the piece is Mark Strong playing Connor Cruise O'Brien

If anything the film tones down O'Brien. The film also depicts the UN in a bad light. President Kennedy is am off screen character motivating the two diplomats.

Its a pretty standard war film. There is a Belgian widow and a dramatic punch to add a Hollywood shine but as a simple action film. Men fighting and dying it works

Carrie Fisher

                  1956-2016

             Actress-wit-writer

                Princess Leia

Hide, Doctor Who

I re watched this and liked it better,

(I have since learned my problem with Ms Coleman's Clara was a common one) 

Edited Feb 2020

The start is exquisitely filmed and set . A man and a woman alone in a haunted house
The episode is a period piece of the seventies. Its nicely done. The male guest star was involved in WW2 black ops. A`` Baker street irregular'' Another Who / Sherlock crossover

The female guest star is an empath. Non objective equipment as the Professor refers to her

We see the beginning of Clara's death wish. She has to be double dared into looking

There is a ``whose hand is that?'' joke

Clara and the Empath drink whiskey. They would both prefer tea

The professor and the empath, are investigating a ghost. The professor thinks the Dr is working for an unnamed ministry Air perhaps - intrusion counter measures

The ghost is a time traveler -in the  Orson pink mode. Humanity messed up big with time travel

We see the beginnings and end of Earth. Clara is disturbed by this.

The episode ends with the empath warning Clara about the Dr. The Dr had come to this place to have the empath  scan Clara ...Here we have 11th Dr acting like McCoy suspicious of his companion. Keeping his enemies close

Rogue one.

I liked it.

A bit more nuanced then the rest of the Starswars stable.

Forrest Whittaker Saw Guerra is speaking with what I think is an argie accent

The dialogue is much better. Than I had expected -  The two leads are fine. Its nice to see Peter Cushing again

Soy me solo

Peru

The Rings of Athken

So we met or reacquainted ourselves with Clara last week in the Bells of St John.

The episode starts in flashback we see Clara's mother meeting her father. Naturally mom saves dad because... The Dr observes from afar. BTW I hope Matt Smith kept the Beano summer special

The purpose for the Doctor's observations is to see if there is anything unusual regarding Clara's birth Parent's marriage and Mother's death

Bryan Robson is name checked Is he the only footballer mentioned in Who?

But all is mundane .Clara is a pretty young ordinary lady. Who buries her mother

Dads hair is obviously whitened at the grave side

So on with the plot. The Dr and Clara visit the above mentioned rings
They both can breath in space

So the Dr and Clara visit an intergalactic Christmas market with lots of Aliens. All humanoid of course and glowing blue fruit. The Dr. name drops Susan. In passing. We learn that the local currency is based on sentimental value. Which raises a question. Surely there are differences in sentimental value. Clara talks about hiring a hover bike
So about 100 dollars? A thousand 10 thousand depending on what we are comparing it to. Jet ski or private plane. So the ring (her late mothers
Is worth how much in comparison to say tickets to her favourite movie. She saw up the West end with the girls)

Imagine if the Dr had produced a blue peter badge- a university of California student pass

Anyhow Clara meets a lost little girl and consoles her. The girl is frightened about speaking and singing in public. There is a festival in which the old god
Is sung to sleep.

The singing is beautiful.
There is a  Mos Eisley cantina of the Aliens. Watching little girl lost performing her song

Anyhow the song is interrupted and the girl is transported across the sky to another asteroid

The Dr walks off to be challenged by Clara. We don't walk away

So again with Chekov's hover bike

Indiana Jones reference the Dr and Clara and little girl lost are facing a mutant angry gumby in a glass tomb

The Dr outsmarts him. But gumby is just an alarm... The Dr must face a God. The angry looking planet

Despite  Matt Smith doing his Rutger hauler impression from Blade Runner

Clara saves the day

It was alright. Clara is pretty. The Alien market looked too cobbled together. The singing was nice. Unnecessary digs at religion too

The Bells of Saint John

Its a tribute to Peter Moffat that the onscreen exit of Amy and Rory stayed with me. I really did not enjoy this episode or indeed the latter half of season 7

There is not much wrong with Clara . she is very pretty . Indeed she is.

Well what happens. The great intelligence is Stealing peoples minds over the internet. So first Clara must be shown as  something of an idiot. She asks if she can go on the internet after the female stage school brat

Oh yes and Carla is looking after a black British family. No I do not have a problem with this. I think the show is too pleased about it

The Dr has taken refuge in 12th century Cumbria sought sanctuary in a monastery . The maudling monk anyone
There is a nice scene where the Abbot comments on the Doctor's malady being due to a woman. Thus the novice crosses himself

I wondered about the existence of a stone monastery in Cumbria after the Harrying of the North

So the phone rings. The Dr answers and Clara speaks 
Mmm. We later find out its Missy who gave her the number.

So its Missy who beats the Great Intelligence

There is some backdrop porn of London. The Shard. Houses of Parliament . So forth. There is a whole swinging London-cool Britannia vibe being projected for the US audience

The Dr and the great intelligence do not meet on screen.

Celia imrie plays her part well. Showing her  range in her final scene. A cool calculating chief of operations of a culthu horror . Turning up and down her brainwashed staff intellects as needed. Dismissive of Human life.
Then a lost little girl. Who it seems spent a life time as a slave to an alien malevolence

Interesting story for Big Finish there

It grew on me.

Thriller

3 years old

An Unearthly Child.

I  will admit I watched this in response to a challenge. I had heard no less than Steven Moffat describe the first episode of Who as a classic. However it was the reviewer He Who Moans
Who stated ``you cannot call yourself a Dr Who fan if you have never seen this''

I am glad I took the bait 
The first episode is great. We are brought to an English high school in the early sixties. Whether a secondary modern or a grammar we are not told.
Meeting  two teachers Susan and Ian. The professors have become equally intrigued and bemused by Susan a pupil of precocious understanding and also rank ignorance. They decide to follow her home
 They do not find a council house or a bungalow. But a scrap yard. Susan seems to disappear into a police box
The teachers are challenged by an old man. Who accuses them of tresdtresdpass and refuses to answer what he is doing with, or to Susan
This is the strength of the episode. The episode hints but never says. That Susans grandfather is having an unhealthy relationship with Susan A criminal one.

Despite watching this 53 years in the future, the tension is still there...