... Two TV productions that couldn’t be more different, but they pretty much constitute my personal highlights from the month of January in television and bode almost forebodingly well for the next 11 months.

I’ve seen the first half hour of Summerhill twice now – the 2-hour feature was split into 4 half-hour episodes for broadcast on children’s television, a choice completely – even beautifully in these times – in keeping with the overall message in the production about children’s rights, about children being fully capable of the same decisions grown-ups are allowed to make, etc. Like I wrote on tumblr, I don’t even know if real children watch children’s television anymore, but it’s nice that its there for them if they want to.

I couldn’t wait to see the remaining 90 minutes tonight and I was not let down at all. I’ve half the mind to finally switch to including British TV movies in my definition of “movies” therefore really this post should possibly be in the movie section as I imagine it will turn out to be a more fulfilling 120 minutes than at least 50% of the dross I’ll subject to myself before December is out. It was a beautiful idea to start with, almost a shame it’s taken 8 years to make something of it, the music is gorgeous, the cast firing on all cylinders from the cute Holly Bodimeade to the supporting cast of the inspectors, Geraldine McNulty as the headteacher, and yay Martin Ball (sorry, such a whore for mentioning people I’ve seen live on stage :P). It’s pretty much the benchmark for television this year … like I said, forebodingly early.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles came as a total surprise to me. Though I loved Terminator 3, I’ve still not got around to seeing it a second time since the first time, and in that time I’ve allowed my opinion to somewhat slide to the point where I approached this series with as much trepidation as excitement. It turns out that comparison to the second sequel to James Cameron’s original doesn’t bear pursuing; all three of the first episodes of this show quite comfortably compare to the best of the movies, Judgment Day – and given that both Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong have for obvious reasons been recast, that’s really quite a thing to find myself saying. Each episode seems to follow that great direction in Cameron’s screenplay to T2, “OKAY, BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS, HERE IT COMES…” and seriously, for a TV show, the brilliance of the pace cannot be understated, it’s truly overwhelming. Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker and Summer Glau are a perfect threesome, so good that I didn’t question the recasting from the classic movies for a second (okay, I didn’t do for “Rise of the Machines” either, but kudos is still due). I can only hope it keeps up the pace. The worst I’ve heard on the IMDb message boards is that it’ll be cancelled after 2 seasons – like omg! lol. Two seasons sounds like a hit to me

I guess a minor apology might be in order here, ‘cos I think I may have kinda sniggered at the “For Your Consideration” posters that came out for this movie, asking consideration not just in categories such as visual effects and such but right up to Best Picture. Now I’ve seen it, not only can’t I understand its exclusion from a bunch of categories (most particularly yet another great song – this one by Kate Bush, can’t believe I hadn’t heard about it – bashed out by the triple nod to “Enchanted”), but also the ridiculously whiny critical response from pros and ams alike. This movie is beautiful!

Yes – if you haven’t read the books and manage to miss the first few minutes of it (in which case, serves you right – learn to watch movies from start to finish and come back, mmkay?), you might have problems figuring out the minutia of the the plot. Myself, I’ve not yet read the books, though I’ll be plowing through them in the coming months, that’s for sure – weird thing is, it occurred to me as the story unfolded that one reason I wasn’t too keen on the books (in addition to the slightly shameful, “ugh, they just copied Harry Potter” knee-jerk reaction) was that, kind of like with the Lemony Snicket books, it just seemed so familiar to me already … like, everyone else seemed to be wowed by this set-up, for example with the daemons, while my response was like, “okay got it,” lol. I love that the explanation of things like this don’t bog down the entire movie as some people seem to have required. It reminded me of the subtlety of exposition in The Last Mimzy. I can’t express how much I envy kids last year, seeing all the great movies including this one; they’ll have learned more in around 10 hours than they’ll learn all year in the classroom. People didn’t think the movie conveyed the depth of the books enough? How deeper do you want in a kids’ movie than a child’s soul being ripped from their body? As I said to someone straight after the end credits rolled – compare it to the first two Harry Potter movies? And just wow.

Two paragraphs and I haven’t even mentioned Dakota Blue Richards. Again, a minor apology … stupid knee-jerk reaction to her casting was something along the lines of, “how dare she steal Dakota’s name and be blonde!?!?” lol. Well, because she’s wonderful, that’s why. She has to do more in terms of physical, emotional, interacting with visual effects, than I think it’s safe to say any young actress has had to deal with in their first role (and not just first big screen role, it’s her first role ever) and she pulls it all off practically flawlessly. When she spits on the army and says, “Go on, then. Go on …” ... God, goosebumps city. If you read my reviews you might’ve noticed I have a thing for young, precocious and forward heroines, and they really don’t come much more forceful than Lyra, and Richards is Lyra. There’s a moment where she rides the polar bear, and I mentioned a few times before here how I love “girl and horse” movies, and that moment is like a “girl riding horse” moment except the horse is a polar bear, lol. I just realised how dumb that sounds now I’ve said it, but that moment gave me such a rush, I wish the shot were longer.

The visual effects certainly give Transformers a run for their money (ha, which probably means Pirates will win :() ... one drawback being that though the effects, the animals etc are fantastic – particularly the polar bears and as already mentioned, thanks to the jawdroppingly convincing way Richards “interacts” with them – I could really feel a change in the fluidity of the camerawork when the effects came on strong. It kind of revolves around the set-pieces in a dreary mechanical way that I found distancing.

Anyway, long story short, I pretty much adored it. Going by the vast majority’s response, it seems to me the movie is a lot like the compass itself. I was just talking earlier tonight to someone about how beautiful the thing is in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix about them not being able to see the Thestrals unless you’ve known death. Maybe it’s something like that going on here. Anyway, I certainly saw everything here. This movie tells the truth – if only you know how to read it. And I certainly can’t wait to read the books if there’s even more of the same in them.

It’s just impossible to describe this movie so I’m not even going to try, except to say that though it took a while to get started, longer to even come close to comprehending (I’m still working on it, as is probably annoyingly evident), there wasn’t a moment where I wasn’t completely absorbed in it.

It might be the “something even better” from 2007 I wondered about in my Oscars post last week. It might just be a load of claptrap – the thought certainly crossed my mind more than once over the 100 minutes. But going by the feeling it left me with … a heady mix of sadness, worthlessness, joy that just felt like a warm blanket when I was 2 or something … this movie goes further out there even than Vanilla Sky yet what it comes down to in the end is so real and right and wholesome … for now I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. A second viewing is a must … but whatever the case, it’s certainly a mindblowingly original piece, and a far cry from anything I could’ve expected from my occasional dips into writer-director John August’s blogs about it, that’s for sure. It honestly felt almost like a religious experience, and I know how corny that sounds but I just don’t know how else to describe it. A lot more Elle Fanning than expected (well – I didn’t actually know she was in it, lol, so that wasn’t gonna be hard) didn’t hurt either

“If only we were among friends! Or … sane persons!”

What a way to start the year this is (okay I watched Hot Fuzz again before it, but didn’t have much to add to the old review, though it did rise significantly up the 2007 list). I don’t think it had ever really occurred to me before, so thanks I guess to ITV for putting it on early yesterday morning

The lyrics are even more incredible than I remember – this is a guy really loving words, like it’s more often than not the sound of the words taking precedence way over any meaning – “I’ll tell you once, I’ll tell you twice / You better wise up, Janet Weiss.” “You’re as sensual as a pencil.” It almost reminds of Tim Rice at his most fun (I know, different people might take that comparison differently; for the record, I love Tim Rice, this is a positive thing I’m saying).

What struck me too on this viewing is how surprisingly clean the movie is. On the sex front it’s as tame as a pantomime, it’s all implied though if you’ve got any hormones whatsoever I’d be shocked if you weren’t turned on at some point – I personally find it just about the sexiest film ever, like, even Tim Curry is somehow a turn-on lol. There’s the fairly shockingly gruesome killing of Eddie but even that’s more in the sound mix than anything else. I guess if you’re offended by words like “transvestite” and “transexual” it might hurt a bit, but really it’s not even as crazy as I thought it was. It only really strikes one as so utterly subversive etc when you’re able to recognise all the symbolism in it like the rainbow colours and the triangle on Frank N Furter’s medical tunic etc.

“It’s not easy having a good time. Even smiling makes my face ache.”

Ultimately it’s how the ridiculousness of it all just builds and builds (I still remember how much I lost it the first time I watched it that moment when Riff-Raff and Magenta burst in in their alien regalia, lol) only to be cut through by the key line of the whole thing, “Don’t dream it, be it,” and then to cap it all the King Kong reference with Rocky climbing the RKO tower.

I don’t know, sometimes I think I take these things a little too serious considering they are at their core just a little kind of homage or spoof, but, y’know, I always let my heart make the final decision when it comes to movies, and the “Don’t dream it, be it,” and the RKO thing … they really make this movie for me, it’s not just a weird cult entertainment for me, it actually means something. I watched it for the first time almost 10 years ago and if I said it wasn’t at least partly responsible for the things I’ve gradually learned to accept about myself in the years since, may I be struck down for such a giant lie. You can take that last sentence however you want ‘cos I’m still a little averse to being specific. This movie just says how wonderful it is to be yourself and though it almost sounds ridiculous, to not be afraid of things that are pleasing to you. There is simply no better message for a movie to have. If it feels good, why knock it? We badly need another movie like this for today, pronto. I’ll keep my personal detailed ideas on that notion to myself for now

“For better or worse … we’re human again …”

What’s everyone’s beef with this? Invasion of the Body Snatchers is just one of those stories that always works, and this new version, despite all the problems in its making (and yes, they do show – but I do wonder if we’d notice or care so much if certain people didn’t spend as much, if not more, time dwelling on what’s behind-the-scenes as they do on what ends up on the screen), is no exception.

Basically, it had me at “another Body Snatchers remake”, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Oliver Hirschbiegel, a really nice John Ottman score and all manner of supporting cast members. I wanted to see this movie. If you think there’s nothing here to love, then you know enough already about your own tastes to not bother watching. But if you think you might quite like it, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in the slightest.

I think the highest praise I can give it is that I almost accidentally gave it the acid test by watching it today, having only slept a couple of hours this morning … my head was practically dropping off my shoulders during the Olsen twins movies, but by the end of this? I was bolt upright.

The only thing I’d personally complain about is the quite astonishingly conventional car chase and cure-all ending. I’m pretty sure they must’ve shot some kind of ending with a twist (first thing that came to mind for me was the rather obvious thing of the people on the helicopter having fooled her or something) – literally any kind of twist, no matter how corny, would’ve been more satisfying than that simple line I began the review with (don’t get me wrong, it’s a great line, I love it – but like that’s literally the ending of the movie and it’s not enough).

In the end, like all the other versions of the story, it leaves you thinking. It’s one of those movies that makes a frighteningly convincing case about something that we’re meant as “humans” to turn our noses up at. It actually makes you pause and go, “hang on … why not just let them take us?” Well, it did me at least. Perhaps I’ve said too much, lol. I know I wasn’t alone on the whole “wait a sec, Vader is talking perfect sense!” thing in Revenge of the Sith lol … Anyway … Equilibrium kinda did all the emotional deprivation thing a little better, but sometimes there’s room for many deliveries of a similar message and this is one such instance. For me it all comes together in the scene between Kidman and her son, a scene I was really longing to see, when they are both feigning a lack of emotion for fear that the other is “one of them”. Which I’ve found is exactly what far too many of us do for way too much of our time here recently.

Kind of like Meet the Robinsons, there was actually a long stretch here that I look back on now bewildered, where I was just absolutely gobsmacked about how stupid a turn the movie had taken. If you’ve seen the movie you’ll know where – if you haven’t, you’ll know when you see it … I’m not gonna spoil it. Just to say, you’ll either go with it or not. I’m glad to say I went.

Like last year’s The Prestige and moreso The Fountain this just sits leagues above anything else I’ve seen this year so far, and I won’t be able to explain exactly why until I’ve seen it at least a few more times – though, maybe that’s why … because it’s not a movie whose beauty can be put into words (... that’s why it’s a movie …) I said reviewing Millions how Danny Boyle is about the most consistently brilliant director working today, and the guy doesn’t make it easy on himself changing genre with every production. I think what I said there is still an understatement. People have compared this movie (favourably and otherwise) to Kubrick’s 2001. Kubrick also changed genre with every movie. Honestly – if anyone out there is wondering who’s filling Stanley’s boots these days … allow me to nominate this guy.

Again, kinda covered my reaction to this in the Dolls review, though that was admittedly before this one’s halfway mark, at which stage I have to admit, it gets quite a bit better. I wouldn’t rule out returning to this one purely for Ken Foree’s wild performance – the sight of him bursting into the basement in red Y-fronts shouting “you been messin’ with that damn machine again?”, then later running in simply wailing is certainly a highlight, and the movie doesn’t dip much after that point (his red football shirt later got almost as big a laugh out of me). It’s very much Re-Animator all over again but everything’s just a little better … the music and the visuals most of all. Fun as it was though, it’s got nothing on Dolls ... and more than anything, it felt to me like a cheap and silly Altered States.

Mm-hmm. Crazy. I kinda covered this and From Beyond in the Dolls review but for the sake of completion, here goes. This has its humourous moments, but I really found it pretty boring in the end. I literally can’t think of much more to say about it. The music is okay – especially the main theme … but it’s so obviously a barely modified version of Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho theme (and the shower scene string stings appear towards the end also), even that’s not really a good reason to watch the movie. If there is a good reason it’s maybe Jeffrey Combs in the lead. While not up there with The Tall Man, Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, etc (I always forget about him, anyway), Combs definitely made something out of Herbert West that’s really worth seeing at least once – though, I hate to say, even that for me tired towards the end here.

I’m very glad I finally decided to watch this one before Halloween, not least because I’m sure I’ve actually been disappointed by it before. It’s mostly fun … kind of as funny and competent as the couple of family-friendly “spoofs” I’ve watched recently … only with added tacky Peter Jackson gore – just … not as funny, not as gory, and far from as interesting in the story department.