Reviews of the Bosch

                Last week I mentioned how I would have been completely satisfied if the stellar “Heaven Sent” had been the series finale. Nonetheless this week we end the series with “Hell Bent” and I have to say I still would have preferred the former.                 One of the things I never really liked about Clara was how much she was built up as one of the most important figures in the universe of the show which compared to how she acted and what we saw of her never felt right. Hell, at times it was insulting! Who does this person think she is? Why is she supposed to be better than the greatest companions of the past fifty years? It was a characteristic that really made me revile Clara for a while. Last series however, we began to see her as an ordinary human with more of a consistent personality, and life outside of and non-dependant on the Doctor. It wasn’t ...

                When I saw the first teaser for The Good Dinosaur I was excited! It looked bold, clever, and visually magnificent. There was no dialogue, and the set-up seemed promising. Pixar already made a comeback with Inside Out (still the best film I’ve seen this year) and now it looked like they would be upping their game even more. Now I’ve been to see it and it’s …okay.                 The premise depicts a world in which dinosaurs never went extinct and over millions of years evolved up to the point when humans came along. The story in this set-up follows a young Apatosaurus called Arlo the weakest in his family, who gets lost after a personal tragedy, and with the help of an infant human he names Spot, tries to find his way home again.                 It sounds like a famili...

             People sometimes forget how intrinsically linked art and music are. They’re both forms of expression that can mean anything to the viewer. Literature and film can also be interpreted in multiple ways especially when done right, but there’s always more context, in story and character, not to mention they’re less universal across language and geographical barriers. A lot of great paintings, sculptures, and works of music have little context and thus can convey much sharper contrasts of interpretation from person to person, which in a way is art at its purest intent, something which you think couldn’t be conveyed in film; that is until Walt Disney who recognized the shared traits of music and art decided to coalesce them on film. Fantasia has the most appropriate title. Though it’s not a real word, it has that epic, grand connotation that promises the fantastical and stunning visual extravaganza it soon delivers on. Initially it was...

                Being alone in a strange place can be an eerie and uncomfortable thing. In my days as a theatrical tour guide I’d often have to lock up at night, which did mean walking around dark old caves alone. During those routines it’s not unusual to feel there’s a Veil behind you every moment and it’s certainly not a predicament you want to be in for a very long time.                 Yet such is the predicament the Doctor finds himself in. “Heaven Sent” is very fascinating in that the Doctor is just about the only character, and therefore all of the dialogue is him monologuing. Which sounds stale, but it isn’t. There’s such an atmosphere to the episode and smartness in its character and construction (good on you Moffat! And you too director Rachel Talalay) not to mention a sense of unease and dread that never loses momentum or power. The eventual reveals are i...

             When people think of John Hughes, they think of teenage angst, high school social issue films with some comedy thrown in. Specifically, people think of The Breakfast Club and why wouldn’t they? That film captures so authentically the outlook youth have of the world and how their environment influences them, as well as being a great study of characters and an overall tremendous coming-of-age story. But while many would cite this as the greatest in Hughes’ repertoire, I happen to think differently. One of his adult comedies works better not only in its great sense of humour, but its ability to have deeper more meaningful themes and characters, more universal than the ones depicted in The Breakfast Club .                 I’m sort of breaking my rule for Back to the Feature here in that unlike the other films I’ve reviewed for this series, I HAVE seen Planes, ...

               Okay, there may have been dark imagery and situations in Snow White , but Pinocchio is just twisted. What’s scary is it’s not half as twisted as the book it’s based on.                 Oddly enough Pinocchio feels like more of a Grimm Fairy Tale than Snow White does, in that it’s trying to get across a good moral by telling a story that shows the harshest alternative consequences. It’s also a much less traditional story throwing twists and turns and building on each successive conflict with a greater one.                 The story is about a wooden puppet called Pinocchio brought to life by a mysterious Blue Fairy as reward for the good deeds of his craftsman an old childless man called Gepetto who’s been wishing his puppet was a real boy (just go with it, it wasn’t so cre...

                Well THAT happened!                 In some ways “Face the Raven” is incredibly bold. In other ways it’s pretty formulaic. But in other ways it’s creative. At the same time it meanders. But… Overall it’s good. Not a great episode but enough good stuff in there to make it work. It’s going to be a memorable episode for sure. But before going into spoilers…                 The Doctor and Clara answer a call from Rigsy (the kid who’s the only thing I remember about “Flatline”). A tattoo has appeared on the back of his neck that’s counting down with no idea where it came from. The Doctor after examining it, realizes it’s a life clock counting down to his death. Eventually they are able to pinpoint the location he got it: a hidden alleyway in London leading to a fairly well preser...