Mrs Coulter has been so
duplicitous up till now that you tend
not to believe a word she says so her seemingly heartfelt speech into his
episode about the bond between a mother and child may or may not be as sincere
as it seems. It’s the centrepiece of an absorbing episode which advances the
plot slowly but with increasing tension.
Spoilers after the, ahem, break...
It’s been twelve years
since Avatar helped change the face of cinema. Its motion capture and
digital work was pioneering in 2010 yet is far more familiar these days. That
has not always been a good thing. When you can make anything happen using software
and technology can the things that make good drama work- the characters, the
story, the emotions- still be present? In the case of this long-delayed sequel
the answer is a resounding Yes! Like a lot of people, I had some doubts but I
have to say that he’s pulled it off yet again. Fact is that James Cameron has
never made a bad film so in retrospect why wouldn’t this one work? Try to
ignore the way it was made and focus on what has been made. Of course, if you
disagree and you didn’t care for the first film I don’t think this will change
your mind. For me though The Way of Water ticks all the boxes of what a
great film should be and you need to see it on an IMAX screen as intended.
However big your television it will hardly fit this goliath of a movie.
Some sea sprayed spoilers ahoy..
aka Looking for Lyra. It’s a good thing they include a
Previous On…montage at the start of this episode because its been two long
years since we last saw Lyra and co and I have to admit I’d completely
forgotten whereabouts we are up to and that she’d been bundled into a trunk and
carted away by her mother Miss Coulter. Not only is there that recap but the
episode opens with an impressive narration and paintings that outline the
situation.
Reviewed by
Chris Arnsby. Mike Smith:
“The difference is that tonight Top of the Pops is live from Television Centre
so anything could happen in the next thirty minutes, some jolly good tunes
coming your way like down here we have the second highest new entry of the
week. At number four. The Pet Shop Boys and You're Always On My Mind.”
[4] PET SHOP BOYS: always on my mind. Mike Smith's opening line sounds like the second half of a sentence. Who is he talking to? My guess, the continuity announcer probably said something like “and now it's time for our regular Thursday night visit to Top of the Pops...” and Mike Smith being live could follow on directly.
The Pet Shop Boys now have a well established performance style. You've got
Neil Tennant's deliberately understated persona, where he does whatever the
word is for the opposite of making love to the camera. He's got a new move in
his diffident toolbox, he stands at the microphone with his arms folded. It's a
piece of closed body language, unexpected from a pop star which -of course-
makes him stand out and be more distinctive than if he was bopping along to the
song. And Chris Lowe wears a hat. This week his hat has the word POSH written
on it. He also wearing a super jumper with a silhouette of a robot on the
front.
Reviewed by
Chris Arnsby. Gary Davies: “Hi,
good evening. Welcome to Britain's number one pop show. In the studio tonight
we have T'Pau, we've got the Proclaimers, and Paul McCartney.”
Janice Long:
“And, interrupting
their world tour to be with us, at twenty two, it's The Hooters, Satellite.”
The great Xmas Single people forget!
You just may have heard it, you may not even have heard of
it but of all the Xmas songs from the last sixty years `Run with the Fox` has
to be one of the best. Yet somehow it never seems to feature when the annual
parade of Crimbo singles shuffles into play. You know the ones you always hear,
you know what people think of them (I even did a post about them a while back).
What you never seem to hear is `Run with the Fox`. So this post is to tell you
about it and at the end give it a listen and see if you agree.
Is that the question?
In this personal film Matthew Jacobs ventures into the heart of Doctor Who fandom which he initially imagines may not greet him with kindness. After all he was the writer of the 1996 TV Movie an attempt to relaunch the show - the name of this film comes from a melodramatic moment in that movie. However, the production failed to lead to a series and remained the only episode produced during a fifteen-year wilderness period. When he steps into the world of Doctor Who conventions what will he find and how will he be received? And, really, is that even what Doctor Who Am I is about?
Reviewed by
Chris Arnsby.
19/11/1987
Simon Mayo: “Hi, welcome to Top of the Pops with a
very big Barry White, a not quite so big Donna Summer, and a waif-like Steve
Wright.”
Steve Wright: “Yes it's true!! Welcome!! We're going to start off with Maxi Priest!! Some guys have all the luck!! Here!!”
If my mental
map of the Top of the Pops studio is correct then Maxi Priest is
standing on what would previously have been the stage with three perspex
pyramids in the background. You can see it in the 12/11/1987 edition, it's the
one Mirage performed on and opposite was the V-shaped stage used by Alexander O’Neil.
Wide shots suggest all the old stages have been swept away although the same
basic layout has been kept; a stage set into the corner of the studio, then
steps leading up to a bridge, then steps down to another stage. Having all the
stages look the same gives consistency and when cameras shoot of the edge of a
stage the scenery appears to continue off into the distance. Has this change
been driven by a desire to make the studio seem bigger, like the one used for Top
of the Pops USA? Take a bow Grenville Horner, who is credited with Design.
I assume he's the person responsible for the new look.
Brian Whitehouse (for it is he) delivers a nice camera move at the end of Maxi Priest's song. The camera pulls back for the standard wide shot of the studio then pans left and keeps going, and going, until it finds Simon Mayo standing on the stage opposite, and then it pans round him some more, until one of the Top of the Pops logos is visible in the background. Does Maxi Priest have a couple of siblings called Mini and Median? (John – Yes.)
The songbird has flown but the songs live on…
