Veronica Mars
You must have heard of the tv series Veronica Mars. Maybe you’ve followed it right from the start, like me. If not, and you’re curious about the series, read on.
On a superficial level, VM is just like other American series for teens – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Roswell and many others. The difference is that VM is also a series about a PI. Veronica is not only a high school student (in the first two seasons), but also a private investigator.
At the beginning of the series. the school where Veronica is a student, and the little town where she lives, is stunned by the brutal murder of Veronica’s friend, Lilly Kane. She was the daughter of an IT millionaire and was found dead on the family’s patio. One of the suspects in the case was Lilly’s own dad.
Veronica’s dad, who was the sheriff of their little town – Neptune, California (imaginary town) – was the one who dared to accuse one of the most prominent citizens of the town. He lost his job over that. At almost the same time his wife leaves him.
What’s left of Veronica’s family is now poor and impopular and Veronica can’t hang out with her old, rich friends.
She makes a new friend – a guy who has just moved into town – but she’s still obsessed with finding out who killed her best friend and to regain the good reputation she and her dad used to have.
Throughout season 1 she keeps getting closer to the solution of the crime, but she also solves other crimes, for instance for people from her school. She also gets to know a computer expert, called Mac (her real name is Cindy, but she hates that.)
In the last episode of season 1 Veronica finds out who killed her friend, but at the same time, she and her dad end up in mortal danger. She also falls out with her boyfriend, who is also her best friend’s ex. Unfortunately, she and her dad’s has him figured as the prime suspect for the murder.
At the beginning of season 2, Neptune High, Veronica’s school, is the victim of a major tragedy.. A bus full of students from poor families, end up in a traffic accident. Before long, it’s apparent that the accident is suspicious and Veronica decides to investigate. For instance, her ex’s new girlfriend is in the bus when it goes over the cliff. She is also the sole survivor of the crash, but ends up in a coma.
For various reasons, she hated Veronica, but ironically, it’s thanks to her that Veronica isn’t on the bus when the accident happens.
Just like in season 1, Veronica solves other cases too, but the main theme is the bus crash. After following a number of false leads, Veronica finds out who was behind the crash. This time too, she ends up in serious danger. She also finds out that she was raped, even though at first it looked as if she wasn’t – she’d had voluntary sex with her ex-boyfriend, who she thought was her half-brother.
Confusing? If you’d followed the series, you wouldn’t think so. In any case, her ex wasn’t her brother, but someone really had raped her while she was out cold. That’s where season 2 ends.
Now I’ve watched season 3 as well. Sadly, that’s the last one ever. I’m sorry about that, but on the other hand, no series can last forever. Also, I have to say that season 3 wasn’t nearly as good as the other two.
The reason I can really recommend this series is that it maintains a high quality throughout the two first seasons. The dialogue is great, the main characters are well defined, and the series writers don’t hesitate to deal with serious problems. Unlike many series I’ve seen in the past four or five years, this feels a lot more genuine.
Silent Witness
Silent Witness has been going on for several seasons already. I think I’ve been around for three of them, but that was late in the series. It started some time in the 1990’s. In any case, if you’ve seen Crossing Jordan you’ll have some idea about the genre.
Personally, I like Silent Witness better. I do have one, only one, which is unfortunate, favorite character, in each series, but usually I prefer the British series.
It’s set in London at a university (probably University of London, but what do I know? They might have more than one.), at the department of pathology of whatever they call it. Two pathologists work under a professor (well, there might be more pathologists, but the viewers get to follow these two). They perform autopsies and help the police solve criminal cases or eliminate the natural deaths from their lists.
Unlike in the American equivalent, there are no particular ‘effects’. There’s no cop returning in each episode (like Woody, played by Jerry O Connell). Instead there are new cops in each episode.
Sometimes, but not often, you get to take a look at the personal lives of the pathologists. That’s not always pleasant. For instance at the beginning of one of the latest seasons, Professor Dalton loses his wife and daughter in a very tragic accident. A car hits a cafe, killing everyone or almost everyone in there.
In Crossing Jordan, almost all the main characters irritate me. The ones in Silent Witness don’t.
It’s an interesting series and sometimes also exciting. I don’t think I can mention anything negative about it. Except for one thing, maybe. My constantly stressed out sister says she’s having trouble focusing on the episodes. They’re quite long. Movie length. Possibly they were meant to be shown in two parts. That would make it a longer series with shorter episodes. Like Crossing Jordan. Personally I prefer finished storylines. The only thing making movie length episodes a little tiresome is the commercial breaks.
In any case, I can really recommend this series if you like the cop series genre (or the pathologist, forensic subgenre). This one is just a little different. One detail: there’s a very beautiful song playing at the beginning and the end of the show. It sounds like gregorian chant or at least some type of religious music. I’m no expert, but I do know I find it really beautiful. One more thing. I think Harry, the youngest male pathologist, is kind of cute, if not really hot, if that means anything to anyone. 🙂
Transamerica
Transamerica is an American movie from 2005. It’s about Bree, who lives in California and is seeing a psychiatrist. The reason for this is that Bree really is a man, who wants to have a sex change operation.
‘She’ needs two psychiatrists to sign in order for ‘her” to go ahead with the surgery. Everything seems to be going really well, when suddenly, out of the blue, Bree gets a phone call from a seventeen-year-old boy who’s been arrested for drug possession and prostitution, in New York. The kid claims to be Bree’s son.
When Bree mentions this to her own psychiatrist, she realizes she won’t be allowed to have the surgery until she’s met and hopefully connected with the son she never knew she had. Not at all pleased, Bree sets out for New York.
Once there, she gets cold feet and tells Toby (the kid) she’s from a church – ‘The Church of the Potential Father’. She takes him back to his apartment, hoping she’ll be able to disprove the claim that he’s her son. Unfortunately, she recognizes a photo of a girl she/he dated at college.
Her plan to just drop the kid off at his place and go back and tell her shrink that they connected, but not that much, just falls through. Her ‘son’ wants to come back to California with the ‘missionary’ who bailed him out. He’s hoping for a career in the movies.
She gets talked into buying a used car to drive back home and when she leaves she has her son with her.
While talking to the boy she learns he has a stepfather and she makes a detour so she can reunite the two. That plan too, falls through, when she learns that the stepfather used to sexually abuse Toby for years, and that was why he ran away to New York to become a prostitute.
Once again, her plans didn’t pan out and when their car is stolen, Bree is forced to return to his/her parents. They are delighted to find that their wayward son has had a child. Bree isn’t quite as delighted to be back. Unfortunately, there’s a falling out between Bree and Toby, after he finds out who Bree really is.
Bree returns to California alone and has the surgery. One day Toby shows up again. You get the impression things might work out after all, even though they’re an odd family.
This movie surprised me by not being nearly as tragic as I thought it would be. Actually, I found it both comical and interesting. Both main characters and most of the minor ones were really good. You begin to care about them and want to know how they get on.
There are plenty of fun scenes, as well as some that are a bit tragic, but the main impression is quite nice. A feelgood movie in a quirky sort of way. Of course, you have to be prepared for nudity and some adult situations, but those are not the main point of the movie.
I really enjoyed this movie, you might like it too, just be aware of what it’s about.
Pride and Prejudice
I’ve already seen Pride and Prejudice, at least once in some version or other, but that doesn’t matter. I love Jane Austen’s books (most of them anyway), but now I’m talking about the movie. One version was a tv series, but like I mentioned before, in whatever form, I love them. I’m not sure about a comics version, but who knows? Some Japanese comics can be really good and so are the French/Belgian ones.
In any case, the actors (Donald Sutherland, Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen) did a great job. The funny thing is, I’d already seen McFadyen in a tv series, and I didn’t like him there at all. In the movie, he was a lot better.
The plot can be summed up in a few words, even if there is much more underneath, so it’s not the basic plot that is so fantastic, it has to be the way it’s done. Jane Austen was brilliant in her deceptive simplicity.
You might want to consider how people lived in those days. For families in this social class (not nearly as wealthy as you might think) finding suitable husbands for their daughters was vital. At the same time, a woman’s life was sadly limited.
Jane Austen herself, who was a published writer, lived more or less on sufferance. When some domestic chore perceived as more important, was to be done, poor Jane had to pack up her writer’s stuff and move.
That reminds me of our own Selma Lagerlof. Once, right after she won the Nobel Prize in Literature, she was invited to some house in her home province. She assumed she was the guest of honor, because of winning that prize. When it was time to sit down at the table, she entered the room first. Her hostess was quick to reprimand her. “Wives first, Selma, dear.” Apparently, we hadn’t progressed any further in the hundred years or so that had had passed since Jane Austen’s time. Just a little food for thought.
One interesting detail about the movie is that there were two different endings shot. One for the America audience and the other for Europe.
In the American version there was something sentimental and the one we got to see here, in Europe, was quite fun. Watch the movie if you like historic chic lit. If not, don’t.
Spirited Away
Spirited Away is a Japanese movie from 2001. Chihiro is a sullen, ten-year-old girl. She and her family are moving into a new house. Her dad chooses to take a shortcut, to the new residential area, and ends up getting lost.
Quite soon Chihiro gets a bad feeling about the trip, because she catches sight of some ugly, rather scary warning figures. But naturally her parents won’t listen to her. After all, she’s just a little girl.
They arrive at what looks like an abandoned amusement park. There’s a restaurant filled with meat. Chihiro’s parents begin to eat, declaring that they will pay later. But Chihiro refuses. She thinks everything is scary and ominous.
Before long, it gets dark and faceless spirits show up. Chihiro runs back to her parents, but can only find two big pigs.
She tries to run away from the spirits and ends up hiding, but meets a mysterious boy, Haku, who promises to help her. He gets her work in a bathhouse for spirits and gods. It’s quite a scary job, and the people are odd, but Chihiro struggles on. She has to find a way of saving her parents who are due to be slaughtered and turned into food at that restaurant. In other words, they must have eaten other people in the form of pigs.
That’s quite funny, actually. As a vegan, I wouldn’t have been the least bit tempted to try that meat and besides, whatever kind of food it was, I would never have eaten anything without paying. But I don’t know what kind of customs they have in Japan. On the other hand, it’s always possible there was some kind of magic involved, so the parents might not have been able to help themselves.
In any case, it’s a funny, exciting and fascinating movie. I’m quite new at Japanese animated movies, but this one and Howl’s Moving Castle appealed to me. Don’t expect it to be anything like the usual, western type of animated movie, which seems to be almost exclusively for very young children (pre-school age). On the other hand, Spirited Away doesn’t seem to be intended for your average grown up, but it’s definitely for teenagers and young adults and anyone who’s young at heart.
This movie isn’t full of blood, violence and brain matter, but it can be frightening for younger kids. Of course, that’s not who this movie is intended for. I liked it a lot. The fantasy- or fairy tale ambiance was something I appreciate a lot. It’s well drawn and well made in every way. I can really recommend it.
Monsoon Wedding
Monsoon Wedding is an Indian Movie from 2001. When I saw it, I’d heard a bit about it and I was pretty sure I was going to like it. I wasn’t disappointed. It wasn’t just the plot, which was interesting enough, or even the cast – vivid, engaging characters. I think one reason I loved this movie was the colors, the vast milling crowds in the background and all the aspects of culture, like architecture, religion, the different languages and so on.
The story is about an extended family and friends who gather for a wedding. A young woman is getting married. Guests arrive from all over the country and abroad. The young bride-to-be is actually having an affair with a tv presenter. That strikes me as a little unusual for India.
Main characters are the closest family of the young woman getting married. She has a cousin living in the house, after her father’s death, and a younger brother.
It doesn’t take long to realize that the cousin is upset about seeing one of the guests. Her concern increases when she realizes that he’s very eager to befriend a little girl, another relative. While the rest of the story unfolds, you find out that the guest in question once sexually abused the bride’s cousin. She agonizes over the fate of the little girl and in the end, there’s a confrontation and her secret is revealed to the majority of the family.
The groom finds out that his bride-to-be has been involved with another man. Naturally, it complicates their relationship.
Another character that interests me, is the servant girl, Alice. As she works hard to serve the guests of the house, she watches the wedding preparations and you get the impression that she feels it’s high time she is married too. The man in charge of the wedding arrangements is the one she focuses her attention on.
She too, encounters complications, before her dream comes true.
Another character that attracts attention is a young man just returned from Australia. He has dyed hair and loves to go clubbing. You sense a culture clash, but appearances might be misleading. After all, dyed hair, clothing and visits to dance clubs are only superficial.
This movie fascinated me. One reason might be the fact that I’ve always found Indian and other cultures extremely interesting. I think it’s a movie that could be of interest to many different people. Perhaps not those who only like comedy or action, but in fact, you get a little of everything here, except special effects. Watch it. Enjoy. Chances are, you’ll love it too.
Interstate 60
Here’s the next movie in my series of comments/reviews on movies and tv series I’ve seen recently. I’d never heard of Interstate 60 until a friend recommended it to me.
It’s about a guy who’s got a birthday coming up. He happens to run into a creature who’s a real, genuine trickster – one of the few all American creatures who grant wishes. Not a genie, a human-type guy who calls himself O W Grant (One Wish Grant).
Just like all tricksters, Grant is unreliable. His wishes are often tainted and contains a trap. Many who have had a wish granted get killed or are tricked one way or another. A man that we get to see, gets run over by a car, immediately after having his thoughtless wish granted. Another one wanted to eat as much as he wanted, but hadn’t taken into consideration that he’d be constantly hungry and that it would get incredibly expensive.
The main character of the movie, Neal Oliver, wants an answer to what he’s going to do with his life. For once, this makes O W Grant take an interest, so he sends the guy off on a long trip through an America he doesn’t really know. You might say it’s an alternate universe.
Here Neal finds a town where drugs are legal – at least one – and it turns everyone into zombies who live for dancing in clubs and during the day they walk around like robots, sweeping floors or emptying garbage cans around the town. One difference between this town and the real world is that kids become adults at 16. A desperate mother hitches a ride with Neal to get her 16-year-old son back, but when she realizes she can’t, against his will, she uses the drug too and after that she’s happy again, but her mind’s a blank.
You also get to see a girl who has become obsessed with finding the perfect sex. She tries to get Neal first, but when he realizes that he’s only going to be a number in her notebook, he refuses, and claims that he’ll be the one she remembers because she couldn’t get him.
That makes her have a go at seducing Grant, but gets a nasty shock.. I won’t go into exactly what that is. The movie is full of crazy, drastic jokes, but there’s an underlying theme.
When Neal wakes up – because he seems to have dreamt it all, yet not – he has his answer. He knows what to do with his life. (Lucky guy!).
The movie is quite fragmented, but it’s all connected somehow, and besides, most of it’s fun and interesting. I can really recommend this movie, though I don’t know for sure that you’ll all like it as much as I did. At least try it and see what you think.
Howl's Moving Castle
The movie Howl’s Moving Castle, by the Japanese movie maker Hayao Miyazaki, is based on the Welsh fantasy writer, Diana Wynne Jones’ book by the same name. There’s quite a bit of difference between the movie and the book. Many of the DWJ:s fans hate the movie. Some of the movie fans have never read the book, and don’t know what they’re missing. I’m among the few people who like both the movie and the book. There’s a lot missing, but at the same time, it’s fascinating to be able to see what you’ve only been able to imagine before.
Howl – who is reputed to steal young girls’ hearts – really is as vane and as metrosexual as he appears to be in the book. Really pretty. Naturally he doesn’t actually steal the girls’ hearts, he merely seduces them, make them fall in love with him and then leave them.
The main character of the movie is actually the castle from the title. Wouldn’t you love living in a castle that can move to any place you like? It can also change appearance, according to Howl’s will. The reason for that is the fire demon Calcifer. In a way, he has a sort of symbiotic relationship with Howl, or rather with the castle. Calcifer is what makes the castle live.
Perhaps I ought to begin with a brief resumĂ©. The main character – unless you count Howl – is a girl named Sophie. She’s the daughter of a now dead hatter. Her mother died young, but her father remarried, so Sophie has a stepmother. In the book, there are also two sisters, but in the movie just one. That can make the movie a bit confusing, but I guess not everything fits into a movie.
Sophie knows that an oldest daughter never does well for herself, so she doesn’t have any high expectations. She does however have plenty of common sense and both feet on the ground.
One day she meets a very handsome young man who helps her get to her sister, who works at a pastry shop. She also meets a witch – The Witch of the Waste – who curses Sophie. Suddenly, she’s not a hat maker apprentice, but an old lady. She doesn’t want to stay on like that, so she wanders off.
In the wilderness Sophie sees the famous moving castle and meets a scarecrow, who keeps showing up wherever she goes. The scarecrow helps her get into the castle by its back door. Once there, she hires herself as Howl’s housekeeper(/cleaning lady.
She hopes to find a way to break her curse, but to do that she has to help Calcifer break his. The plot is quite complicated. It gets worse, because everything feels rather fragmented due to the film maker trying to fit everything into the movie.
Despite that, I like the movie. It’s a fascinating, exciting adventure. If you like fantasy and animated films, I’m sure you’ll like this one. You should probably read the book too.
I just want to mention something about the voices. Whiny Calcifer’s voice is done by Billy Crystal. I watched the Swedish version with a Swedish comedian as Calcifer, but I can easily imagine Billy Crystal being just right for the part.
Abhorsen
Abhorsen is the last book in the trilogy about Sabriel. There isn’t that much more to say about this book. It continues the struggle against the powers of evil. Sabriel’s son finds out his true calling. He was the Abhorsen-in-training but is that really right for him?
In this book Lirael returns and so does the Disreputable Dog. She does what she does best – being ‘Disreputable’. Even when there’s a price to pay, she finds a way of – circumventing it, or close enough.
You’ll meet more ‘living’ dead and what’s even more frightening – a human who’s been contaminated by the evil. He’s good, but something inside him isn’t and there isn’t much hope for him. It’s obvious from the start that his journey can only end in tragedy. Unless his friends, Lirael and Sabriel’s family, can do something to save him.
At the end of the book I’m still satisfied with the story and the characters, so I can recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy with a difference. In fact, this trilogy can be counted among my favorite fantasy reads ever.
Lirael
Lirael is a Clayr without The Sight. She can’t see into the future. The Clayr are a people of ‘Seers’ who live under a glacier far to the north. Basically near the North Pole, it seems. Lirael is an outsider among them. When she’s grown up, and still hasn’t had her ‘Sight’, she finds work in the great library.
The library is an enormous place, filled with locked rooms and chambers that aren’t safe to go into. It’s been created over generations and not every librarian even remembers every single room in it, or the safeguards placed on their doors.
Here is an example of how huge and dangerous the place is: when Lirael first begins to work in the library, she’s given a whistle, so she can call for help if she needs to.
Quite soon after beginning her work there, Lirael finds a small figurine of a dog. It has the unusual characteristic of being able to come alive – at full dog size. The dog tells Lirael her name is ‘the Disreputable Dog’.
She becomes Lirael’s only friend, and helps her explore the vast library, after hours. That part of the book is sort of an adventure of its own.
Then one day, Lirael learns her true destiny. Not until then does the reader find out her connection to Sabriel.
Lirael has to leave her home and travel far away to help stop a great evil from spreading. There she finally finds out what her true calling is.
Her quest takes her beyond the boundaries of life itself.
This story is very dark and frightening. You’ll encounter many ‘living dead’ and several of the characters are in grave danger.
Like the first book in the series about Sabriel, Lirael is very well written, exciting and scary. I immediately liked Lirael and to some extent identified with her. I haven’t found my place in life either. Not that I think I’ll ever find my ‘destiny’, like Lirael did, but it makes it easier to understand her situation, despite the obvious differences.
I liked the mysterious and even ominous library and most of all ‘the Disreputable Dog’. A very good companion for such a dangerous quest.
If you liked Sabriel, I’m sure you’ll like Lirael too.
