Film and TV Review 2013
Another great year for genre TV and film, with SF/Fantasy/Horror dominating the schedules and (sometimes) the box office takings and TV ratings. We are perhaps in an era that may be looked back on as one of mass acceptance for the genre. Mind you, there have been some major misfires as well as the plaudits.
(Comments from Mark and Rob follow.)
In film, it was a case of ‘Another year, another set of connected sequels’ to gain box office money.* From Marvel/Disney we had Iron Man 3, evidently the biggest grossing movie of the year globally. It was more bravura acting by Robert Downey Jr., who now owns that role of Tony Stark for me, and a visually dazzling movie, but for me a film let down by its admittedly minor but still grating ‘cute kid’ sub-plot. It still did brilliantly well at the box office, as did Thor 2 at the end of the year. The Wolverine also performed well, setting things up for the next XMen movie, eagerly awaited next year. Again, very enjoyable for me in its Asian setting even if the ending was a bit of a let-down.
I thought Iron Man 3 (Rob’s review on his blog http://robbedford.blogspot.com/2013/05/iron-man-3.html ) was fantastic and really brought the struggles of Tony Stark together very well. The ‘cute kid’ sub-plot wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. The focus of PTSD was quite smart and the screen writers were able to swap a lot of elements from the famous Demon in a Bottle storyline into the film. The whole bit with the Mandarin was brilliant for its execution and how the true nature of the character was not spoiled by mass media. Thor 2 could easily have been called Loki for Hiddleston’s awesome performance as the Norse trickster. Fun film overall.
We had the rather unexpected return of Vin Diesel’s Riddick in his third movie, which I was pleased about and quite enjoyed.
In the ‘animated family film success’ department we also had Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University, with less success for Epic, The Croods and Turbo.
More successful was Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, which despite positive reviews didn’t do amazingly well in the US, but spectacularly well outside of it, enough to generate possibilities of a sequel. Some of the characters were incredibly annoying, parts of the script were dire but the visuals were stunning and it was the best 3D movie I’d seen since Avatar (although there is one more I’ll mention later) and for me it was nice to see a world apocalypse away from North America for a change.
I sat in the theatre watching Pacific Rim thinking del Toro made the move specifically for me. I grew up watching and loving Kaiju flicks featuring Godzilla and Gamera, and this film took that idea to its logical next step. For all the giant monsters fighting, it was smarter film than people would like to give credit.
In terms of world apocalypses then World War Z seems to have done well. It was so *not* the disaster-of-a-movie everyone was saying before it came out. Whilst very different from the novel, it was fairly well received and, although a little patchy in places in terms of pace, not bad.
Most successful of all (at least at the time of typing this) was The Hobbit 2: Desecration of a Short Book, which had added female elves and Orlando Bloom, seemingly to link to the ‘other trilogy’ of films (as well as perhaps extend the range of action figures and computer games no doubt associated with the film). Although it has only been out a matter of days at the time of typing this, general impressions are that it is less dull than the first, and no doubt will be one of the year’s great successes in terms of box office returns. Yeah, no plans for Rob to see the second Hobbit film.
Similar comments can also be said for Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which has done very well and most reviewers claiming that it’s better than the first movie.
In the DC camp we had the newly revised and revamped Superman movie, Man of Steel. I really liked this one, but I know there were some fans who didn’t. For me, the epic-ness worked and the breath-taking action sequences, whilst admittedly some of the ensemble cast were rather underused. Henry Cavill managed the near-impossible for me, though by being as good as Christopher Reeve.
I had a lot of problems with Man of Steel, it looked great especially the early scenes on Krypton. However, Snyder’s Pa Kent was a horrible betrayal of the greatest male influence on the character of Clark Kent. I didn’t have too much of a problem with Superman’s ‘solution’ for Zod, but a lot of the destructive scenery of Metropolis was problematic to say the least.
In the horror department we had a glut of sequels – Insidious 2, Paranormal Activity – god-knows-how-many, etc. However the diamonds amongst the rough seem to be Byzantium, a vampire movie that’s not perfect but pretty good, and The Conjuring which seems to have had the word of mouth effect that the Woman in Black did a couple of years ago. I enjoyed a lot of the summer’s sleeper hit, The Purge, but it went badly wrong quickly for me.
Insidious 2 was quite good, but for me, The Conjuring was one of the best horror films I’ve seen in a number of years and one of the two or three best I saw in 2013. From the outset, the characters believed in the story, there was no hesitation in the characters to take action. Brilliant performances all around, particularly Lili Taylor and Patrick Wilson.
The importance of ‘saving the kid’ was echoed in lots of movies this year: Iron Man 3 I’ve already mentioned, Pacific Rim had it too. It was also in Elysium but not as much as I had feared. Elysium was ‘District 9 in space’, a stunning looking movie and a pleasantly original tale of ‘them and us’. Matt Damon was great, Jodie Foster was underused, Sharlto Copley‘s portrayal of the hired killer Mr. Kruger was rather over the top, but in the end the film suffered from a too-obvious and too-simplistic conclusion.
Just to turn things around a little, in Ender’s Game we had kids saving the world. I personally have yet to see the movie of Ender’s Game, so I can’t really make a comment at this stage. Having re-read the book just before the movie came out, I must admit that I didn’t like the “It’s Harry Potter in outer space!” spin given to it in some of the media. Critic’s views of the film were mixed, although I’ll be giving it a look when it appears on DVD/Blu Ray. At the time of typing it has yet to make its $110m budget back, so sequels are unlikely.
Oz The Great and Powerful was another movie that looked great but perhaps depended a little too much on its source material – in this case, a reliance of knowing the world of Oz beyond the 1939 film/first book.
At the World’s End and This is the End were both comedies with varying moments of brilliance and despair. This is the End was more fun than I thought it would be, and smarter than I thought it would be. I’m not a fan of Jonah Hill and he didn’t bother me too much in this one.
Robot and Frank was a low budget film that passed many people by, but one I suspect will be appreciated more with time. Whilst its budget was small, its script was good, and everyone I know who saw it enjoyed it.
In the ‘OK but not great department’ this year: Oblivion looked great and was determined to be an original SF movie, rather than be based on a series/franchise with some echoes from the 1970’s greats, but in the end couldn’t quite hold it together.
Star Trek: In Darkness continued to polarise the watchers. Some were impressed by the re-imagining of The Wrath of Khan, whilst others (like me) wished they’d been a bit braver and actually written a more original script.
Of the films that deservedly crashed and burned, After Earth was a shaky premise to start with, RIPD was a great idea with an unfunny script, and The Lone Ranger was this year’s John Carter, in that it was generally panned before it came out. Having seen it, in my opinion, it’s not as bad as some would have it, although it’s not totally great and could do with losing about half-an-hour’s running time. In the same way, Jack the Giant Killer wasn’t bad but seemed to pass without much notice, and the remake of Carrie seemed to leave a lot of people wondering, “Why bother?” The Host however was a weak film based on a weak book. Designed to attract people needing a new Twilight fix, it failed on most counts.
My favourite movie of the year though was Gravity, which was a film that surprisingly demands to be seen on as big a screen as possible and in 3D. Whilst I accept that Sandra Bullock and George Clooney don’t play characters too far from their usual, and the script is clichéd, the sense of wonder and danger that I felt at the end of the movie gave me a new admiration for those who travel into space for real.
The majority of the films I saw in theaters in 2013 were not genre.
TV.
Onto TV, another strong year for quantity, if not quality. Game of Thrones continued to conquer all, with the events of the Red Wedding in Season Three in particular causing much horror (and hilarity, for those who knew what was coming!) around the globe.
In the UK one of the biggest TV events of the year, not just for genre, was the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, which was everywhere in the UK in November. It entered the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s biggest simulcast for its 50th anniversary episode, shown in 94 countries and six continents at the same time.
I was very pleased with Day of the Doctor, but what I thought was even better was An Adventure in Space and Time, the docu-drama which told the story of how Doctor Who came about. As an American with not as much Whovian knowledge, I learned quite a bit and thought David Bradley (who seems to appear in every genre thing nowadays from Harry Potter to Game of Thrones to this) was great as Hartnell. I think my feelings about the Matt Smith era may be similar to yours, Mark. Some good points throughout, but I grew very weary of having Amy and Rory (and to an extent River Song) shoved in my face. Good call, Rob. I must add that I too thought Adventures in Time and Space was a much more fitting tribute to the 50-year history and legacy of the Doctor.
Although I have followed the Doctor on and off for pretty much all my life, for me, personally, the end of Season Five of Fringe, a proper ending to the whole series, was one of the major milestones for the year. I don’t think I’ve been as attached to a series as Fringe for years, which has grown in scale, complexity and quality over the past five years. Still missed by me, but I am so glad it had chance to tie things up correctly. (Rather like Breaking Bad, which although not genre seems to have been very popular this year.)
I’m still making my way through the 4th season of Fringe and enjoying it. Breaking Bad ended, yes and with quite a flourish. Easily the best TV Drama I’ve ever watched, with the episode Ozymandias being perhaps the finest hour of television I’ve ever experienced. I say experienced because if you’ve followed the show from the beginning up until that point, you did not simply watch Ozymandias you experienced it in a visceral fashion, at least as much as viewers experienced The Rains of Castamere episode of Game of Thrones featuring the infamous Red Wedding.
Of the continuing series, Arrow seemed to improve in Season Two, though still left me rather cold, personally. As did Grimm, though I did try, Rob! Supernatural by all accounts seems to have got better in Season Eight after a rather patchy Season Seven.
I enjoyed the first season of Arrow and the second season was even better. Some smart scripts, great looking action and overall a pleasant looking show. Grimm continues to work quite well for me even if one of the storylines in the second season seemed to take forever to resolve.
The Walking Dead was pretty well received in Season Four. The second half of season 4 and the first half of season five formed a very satisfying story arc, for me. American Horror Story I understand continued to be weird too, though, whilst True Blood and The Vampire Diaries maintained their now rather tired blood-fest. By contrast, the latest version of Dracula, starring Jonathan Rhys Myers, was one of the worst versions I’ve seen in a long, long time, keeping character names but pretty much nothing else in its reimagining.
The TV version of Stephen King’s Under the Dome I initially enjoyed much more than the book, but as I really didn’t like the book that may not be a recommendation! There were some changes along the way. However, the cliff-hanger ending was one of the biggest let-downs of the year for me. I’m hoping it picks up the pace a bit in the second season.
Similarly, Agents of SHIELD was a series I wanted to like but really, really struggled to keep watching. With the mid-season break currently in effect, I’m not sure I’ll go back to it when it returns. Whereas Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to hesitate when bring elements from the Marvel Comics Universe into the show, Arrow embraces these elements in a very smart way. While S.H.I.E.L.D. is entertaining, it seems to be playing things too safe and is not the show it could be, which I think is the source of many viewers’ frustrations. For me, it’s the characterisation. The awful Kiera Knightley-alike (Jemma Simmons) and her gooning sidekick (Leo Fitz) make me want to turn the programme off. When the programme wanted me to mourn the potential loss of Elizabeth Henstridge’s character, I would have been quite happy to lose both of them. The saving grace for me is Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, otherwise I would have stopped watching long ago.
Interestingly, there has been a few developments of TV series from films this year. Bates Motel, from Hitchcock and Robert Bloch’s Psycho was much better than I thought it was going to be, and Hannibal, based on The Silence of the Lambs books and novels is the goriest and creepiest series I’ve seen since Millennium.
Two other shows have stood out a great deal for me and both of them are on the FOX network. The first is Sleepy Hollow and lifts some very superficial elements from the classic story. A time displaced Ichabod Crane is woken in present day because, as it turns out, he was part of a special militia George Washington put together to fight the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It sounds bat-shit crazy and shouldn’t work, but it is a blast. Orlando Jones (who interacts extremely well with fandom) plays Police Chief Irving, the boss of police officer Lt. Abbie Mills who found Crane. Think Fringe, but focusing on supernatural/horror elements and themes rather than pseudo-science themes. Sleepy Hollow is a good mix of monster-of-the week and mythology building for the show. Oh, I forgot that one! Totally agree, though: Sleepy Hollow was surprisingly much better than I expected. And as you’ve said, it shouldn’t work, but it does. Unlike Agents of SHIELD, the characterisation works for me.
The other FOX show is the future police procedural Almost Human, featuring genre mainstay Karl Urban as John Kennex, an officer who lost his leg in a skirmish with criminals and is partnered with a combat model android. The series plays with the typical police procedural elements, but weaves in some interesting futuristic technological advancements. The chemistry between Urban and Michael Ealy, who plays his partner, is excellent. Haven’t seen this one in the UK yet, but it has Karl Urban in it, so I’d be happy to give it a whirl. No signs yet, though.
What we have had, a good six months after US viewers, Rob, was Orphan Black, which I know you’re a fan of. The timing is rather odd, seeing as how it is funded by the BBC! But it has gone down quite well, and I understand Season Two is on the way in the US soon?
Of course, Orphan Black was the best new TV show in 2013 for me. I was sucked into the Clone drama on its first airing and was completely blown away by the performance of Tatiana Maslany, who plays several roles on the show. Often, she plays layered roles in that she portrays one clone pretending to be another clone. A very, very smart show. I oversaw the re-watch of the show for Tor.com (http://www.tor.com/tags/Orphan%20Black%20Rewatch) at the end of the year. The show returns to BBC America on April 19, 2014.
In terms of SF television series honourable mentions to Syfy’s Defiance, which had some good ideas, but ultimately disappointed me. I understand Falling Skies has continued to improve, now into its fourth season. Warehouse 13 was renewed for a final, if shorter, fifth final season.
Defiance was pretty enjoyable, at times it felt like a lot of other shows that have come before it (Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, FarScape) and others it swung in its own direction and surprised me with some of the storytelling decisions. The creators have built a very rich backstory/mythology for the story/universe so I’d like to see them explore that some more. I’m looking forward to the second season.
However Revolution went the way of Terra Nova and bored me to tears, with me giving up after eight episodes. Unlike Terra Nova, it is now into Season Two. I’m of the same mind with Revolution, although I may have given it a bit longer than you. The plucky, headstrong kids on the show grated on me. The standout for me was one of the actors portraying two of the main villains is excellent (Giancarlo Esposito who was terrific on Breaking Bad as Gustavo Fring) but he was marred by everything else on the show. Particularly the main villain who portrayed the title character on the very short lived (but fun) The Cape.
And so things continue apace for next year. More superheroes movies on the way, more genre TV, which even if it hasn’t always been to our personal tastes, showed that there’s enough around to watch, should you choose it.
And that’s it for this year. Hope you’ve enjoyed our ramblings: all the best for 2014!
*According to Digital Spy, “Of the 20 highest-grossing films of the year, all but four were sequels or based on books, comics or existing intellectual properties.”
