Easter Hols

Another term, another big catch-up write-up to cover what I've been doing these past couple of weeks. Well, for part of it, I was far out in the depths of Dartmoor and thus couldn't get to a cinema without hikacking the tractor and making a daring getaway; I only got as far as the next field, unfortunately, as the feral ponies foiled my plan. However, I do have a few things I can talk about:


American Gods



It's hardly surprising that a geek like me is a Neil Gaiman fan, but I've actually only dipped my toes in his writings, a few library copies of Sandman here and there, the odd book, most notably Good Omens which I swear I will adapt one day. However, I picked up a copy of American Gods during the tragic Borders closing down sale and finally got time to rip into it as I enjoyed the solitude of the Devon countryside. 


It's an engaging mixture of the mundane and the supernatural, incorporating mythology into modern-day America. The premise is this: when people came to America, they brought their gods, but quickly forgot them, leaving them to live ordinary lives as best they can. The story is about the conflict between the old gods and the new, with plenty of twists and turns and a whole array of characters, taking mainly from the minor European pantheons (is it possible to have a plural of "pantheon"? Is it by definition singular? Hmm) and from Africa.


Anyway, s'a good book and worth a read if you have some disposable time.


Clash of the Titans


Apparently no one on earth - no one I know anyway - has even heard of the original. This makes me sad, because I love the original with its stop motion animation and its craziness. At least it got a nod when Jake Sully Perseus finds a clockwork owl in the weapons room.


The trailer for this film had me pretty excited, and it didn't really prove a let down. The trailer does, by the way, give away most of set pieces, but that's how you sell a film! 


The story is classically structured, but then what would you expect? It was nice to see the narrative unfold neatly with its mid-points and crisis-points, its protagonist and its themes. It didn't go in the direction I hoped it would, and which the tag line almost-but-not-quite hinted - Damn The Gods. It's a shame because they set up a strong line throughout the film that the Greek pantheon (yet again with the pantheon business) were a bunch of bastards 90% of the time; Zeus and Poseidon are both explicitly stated to be rapists, in addition to which they quite merrily go around killing people and stabbing each other in the back. It was all going so well, but then, at the end, Zeus is let off and they all share a laugh. Shame. 


Also on the negative side is that Gemma Arterton's flat as Kansas voice insisted on being there. She's very pretty, I'll grant, and not a bad actress, but her vocal expression is nil and sounds always looks as if it were dubbed with expert attention the lip sync but with no concern given to the performance. Good to see she'll be rocking the toga again in Prince of Persia. 


The rest of the cast were very strong, with plenty of recognisable names and faces: Pete Poslethwaite, Sam Worthington*, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes*, Hans Matheson, Polly Walker*, Tony Nicolas Hoult and Effy Kaya Scodelario. Oh, and there were flying ponies. Gotta love that.


My last word on the film is this though - I could not get over a small giggle every time they said "Argos". Curse you, retail outlet, for spoiling the name of an ancient civilisation!


*all of them thoroughly typecast as, respectively: a hero, a deformed villain and an amoral woman.








I was going to write about Doctor Who here, but I think I need a post of its own to contain the outpouring of love I have for Steven Moffat et al.