Night Terrors

Doctor Who fans seem to have issues with Mark Gatiss' scripts. I don't know why. I know the episodes written by him are not always the best in the series, but often that's not due to the script itself - more due to direction, design or performances...

Luckily, I don't think that Night Terrors suffered in any such way. In fact, this is a beautiful little story that isn't massive or epic or important, but rather a bit creepy, a little bit sad and a lot good looking. Of course, others will inevitably disagree and that's up to them. For me, the dolls are the most nightmarish of Doctor Who monsters we've had since 2005 and the whole idea behind this story was lovely.

So, [spoiler] George is afraid of everything, but because he's an alien his fears are manifested into terrifying realities once banished to the cupboard. It's up to the Doctor and his friends to talk George around and convince him not only that the monsters that are so real don't have to be, but also that his family love him very much. This is a very human story with a genuinely creepy monster. Yes, monster. A perfect Doctor Who idea - creepy dolls in a giant dolls' house. Wonderful!

So it seems that this episode may have silenced at least some of those criticising Gatiss' episodes. Maybe. For me this is just what the series needed. A break from the arc. This felt like the perfect episode for Matt Smith.

Once again, this episode highlights the reason why Matt should be cast beside children more often. He works so well with the kids. And the actor playing George was odd enough to pull of being an alien alongside Matt, who is exactly the same.

The ways in which the characters in this story ended up "in George's dolls' house" were also scarily everyday. An old woman sucked into a heap of black rubbish bags, a nasty old man sinking terrified into his grubby carpet while his beloved dog watches on nonplussed, a falling lift... 'Horrors' that can be seen in most kids' everyday lives - I mean, whose nan DOESN'T have a carpet like that?! Complain if you want about how this one "clearly depicts a drop in budget" but I think it's the normality of the setting combined with the simplicity of the "monsters" that makes this one so enjoyable! What little SFX there were in this one were excellent, though! Those transformation scenes were what we were promised with the Ood/human switch in Planet of the Ood - truly horrific and completely unsettling. 

What, then, of the possible similarities with previous Who episodes? The creepy kid/alien (Fear Her), the miniaturisation of companions (last week's LKH), the Love Conquers All ending (The Doctor Dances) and, if you're being picky, bins eating people (Rose)... If you look hard enough there are similarities to be found. But then, that's what Doctor Who does sometimes. It's not as though they were direct lifts from other stories, just similar themes! I have no problem with that :)

However, I do have a problem with this: I bet some of you switched over after the episode finished and watched The X Factor instead of Doctor Who Confidential, didn't you? And in doing so you missed the best thing I've seen in ages - namely Arthur Darvill having a chat with Jamie Oram (George) in the back of a lighting van, didn't you?! You MUST catch up on that because it might have been the cutest thing I have ever seen. 

Sorry to go all gushy there. Bottom line; I loved Night Terrors. Wonderful, creepy stuff! Bravo!

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

There have been many time travel movies throughout the decades, from the classics like The Time Machine, to Back To The Future, The Jacket, The Butterfly Effect and the brilliant indie movie Primer. All have a different take on how it all works. But none of them have entertained the nerd within me more than the hilarious and complex Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. Not a new movie - it came out in 2009 - it almost passed everyone by. I'm not really sure why, because this low-budget gem is lovely!

It follows two Sci Fi (sorry, Science Fiction, or SF) fans who spend their time working nerdy jobs in the day and talking nerdy stuff in the pub by night. Along with their cooler, more sceptical, critical friend they inadvertently end up on an isolated trek through time via a time leak in the toilets of their local, helped along the way by one sexy SF time travel chick and hunted by another. Full of twisty-turny (I struggled to not write Timey-Wimey) scenes exploring the more complex, responsibility-laden aspects of time travel. I won't give the game away, but for a movie set exclusively within a pub it is amazing.

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel stars Chris O'Dowd (The IT Crowd), Marc Wootton (My New Best Friend) and Dean Lennox Kelly (Being Human, Doctor Who). Watch it if you can!

✰✰✰✰★

The Inbetweeners Movie

Today I went to see The Inbetweeners Movie starring Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison, based on the fantastic and juvenile hit E4 series. If you know the show then this movie will do it for you - if not, watch the show on YouTube first, you need to love these characters before you can forgive them for ANY of the things they do in this movie.

This review is not exactly spoiler free, but it doesn't matter, since nobody watches this show for the plot line. I sat in a dark cinema and laughed for almost 2 hours straight today and remembered why this little show holds such high office in my heart.

I'm not a LOLer. I do the "blow out through your nose and raise the corner of your mouth" chuckle. But when I watch The Inbetweeners I LOL. A lot. And the movie - although it's not quite as laugh-out-loud-at-able as the tv series - manages to pack at least one big laugh every ten minutes. When the news of an Inbetweeners movie broke there was only one premise that could be followed. It's one that has been done before, but there was nothing else that would have worked as a movie. Yes, it's "Boys On Holiday".

And dear lord alive, what a holiday. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong, but also - since they're on the big screen - things go right too! The film follows the four on their Pussay Patrol in Malia, chasing gash across the beach and - shockingly - getting some! But it's not as straight forward as it sounds. 

As I say, it's not a very original concept, but it's effective. Ten times funnier than Kevin And Perry Go Large, thankfully. And as much as I don't want to give away the gags - of which there are MANY - I do want to mention a few of my favourite moments in the film. 

First off, Neil's "shit in the childrens' toilet" dilemma had me unable to breathe - partly due to laughing too hard, partly due to the sheer vomit-factor. It is unbelievable. Also "coke through the nose" inducing are the shapes our zeroes throw on the shiny floors of Malia's least-cool club. I now have a "dance" that is ironic and funny and entirely manageable for someone with two left feet, such as I. I cried laughing at Will's dance moves, cementing the fact that Simon Bird is a genius firmly in my mind once more. If you haven't seen him performing stand-up then search for his Student Chortle Award sets on YouTube now. 

Look out also for Jay's encounter with an ants' nest, Simon's misjudged romantic ending (I am still laughing about this, poor sod), Will's lost glasses and Neil's wonderful ways with women. 

Ah, Neil. The only member of the crew who has accepted the fact that you only live once and while on this Earth you may as well just enjoy yourself. The happiest Inbetweener, worried about nothing. He takes a large chunk of the laughs in the movie, something his character is short of in the show, I think. Also, a perfect piece of casting genius sees Anthony Head playing Will's dad (Head being the real life dad of the actress who play's Carli) and we learn, once and for all, why Will's parents split up in the first place. 

The film is often very near the knuckle - sometimes finding itself immediately on top of the knuckle - and crosses the boundary into male full frontal nudity (we see at least two of the boys' cocks - something I wish I could un-see). The romantic sub-plot is beautifully pitched and surprisingly believable - it gives hope to all of us who would call ourselves honorary Inbetweeners. I loved this movie. At last, the "loser boys on holiday" cliche actually works. It's the show's sense of sick humour and then some. Lovely!

✰✰✰✰★