DCT Podcast Episode 22: 1917

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Da Couch Tomato Podcast, Episode 22, discussing 1917, the film's technical achievement, and how shooting with one shot actually limits the filmmaker's options.

Background music used is the 1917 score by Thomas Newman.

Hosts: Sting Lacson and Rachel

Rating: 9.15/10

Sherlock. Series 2, Episode 3: "The Reichenbach Fall"

How to Make a Series Finale


Dear everyone on television:


Here is how to make a proper series finale:

1. Get a BAFTA award-winning actor to do some really powerful acting for the opening sequence.

"I want another BAFTA."

Here you will see the intensity and the depth of the acting of Mr. Martin Freeman. We'd like to think that the BAFTA award-giving committee carefully deliberates before awarding an actor, and whenever someone tells us that another actor should've won the award, we just show them the opening scene. Also, we're pretty sure Benedict Cumberbatch will win a BAFTA for this one.


2. Please fans of the original canon.

Next item on my Christmas list: that hat.

And you can do that with... the deerstalker. Yes, the famous deerstalker hat, begun by Holmes illustrator Sidney Paget, and immortalized by countless Sherlock actors throughout history. That was a great way we introduced the hat in episode 1, don't you think?


3. Get a good director. 

Manila London Kingpin.

In our case, we got Toby Haynes. This is actually the first time we've used him for Sherlock, but he's already churned out spectacular work on Doctor Who. Check out the crown jewels sequence, and you'll see what we mean. The classical music isn't just some random soundtrack─that's Jim Moriarty's iPod playing. So that entire sequence was viewed from Moriarty's point-of-view. That was what was going on in Moriarty's head!


4. Get a good writer.

"Now where did that screaming girl come from?"

We can't be expected to write each and every episode now, can we? We've got other things to do, you know. So we got a writer who at least understands the vision of where we want this to go. Someone who knows how to stay true to the essence of the canon. Good job, Steve Thompson. Anyway, Thompson just did the technicalities. The story and the plot all have that traditional Moffat flavor.


5. Give them one hell of a villain.

"I'm going to conquer Hollywood with my nice American accent!"

Admit it, isn't our Jim Moriarty a great villain? Andrew Scott's one brilliant actor. Complete psycho: check. Heath Ledger's Joker: check. Complete psycho: check. Multiple personalities: check. Did we mention complete psycho? Of course we did.


6. Give it a WTF ending.

Seriously. WTF.

Yes, no one does WTF endings better than Steven Moffat. We don't want to spoil anything, so in case you haven't watched our series 2 ender, we're not going to mention our WTF ending here. But we'll give you a clue. "Sherlock Holmes is Jesus Christ." And we don't mean that in a Matrix kind of way.


Okay, everybody. Now that you know how to do a proper series finale, we don't ever want to see a terrible series ender. Or we will burn you. We will burn the heart of you.


Sincerely,
The makers of



Sherlock (Series 2, Episode 3). UK. 2012.



*DISCLAIMER: "Not really us." ─S. Moffat and M. Gatiss



Rating: Nine and a half out of ten.




*some info from IMDb
pics from VLC




You may also want to check out the review of Sherlock Series 1.

Sherlock. Series 1

What do both Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have in common, aside from both being writers of Doctor Who, and proper Whovians in themselves? The answer is that they are both big fans of Arthur Conan Doyle, and the ones who came up with the idea of putting the Conan Doyle's famous creation smack in the middle of second millennium-London.

This is the first time I've actually encountered a TV show with only three episodes per series ("season" in the US), with each episode lasting 90 minutes. I'm familiar with the 6-, 12-, and 24-episode series, but not this. Anyway, I'm not complaining. I just wanted to mention that I learned something new from the Brits. Yet again.

This first series came out in mid-2010, and fans had to wait a year and a half for series 2. Blame it on Peter Jackson, whose film The Hobbit created scheduling conflicts for Martin Freeman, who plays Bilbo Baggins, and maybe Benedict Cumberbatch as well, who voices the dragon Smaug. But the BBC decided to start the year right, by bringing series 2 on New Year's Day itself, creating the grand fireworks display between Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler.

But before we go onto the review of the first episode of series 2, here is a recap of the entire first series. Clicking on the episode title links back to the original review, which is actually already here, so it wouldn't be necessary to click it. Unless you want to give this blog more hits, then by all means, click away.


1. "A Study in Pink"

I've been a fan of Sherlock Holmes since grade school. Although I admit, I haven't read the entire canon. But I've read quite a lot. And if you've been a fan of Holmes for some time now, you'll recognize the title from A Study in Scarlet.

Then you get to the part where Sherlock asks John:

"Afghanistan or Iraq?"

Sherlock. Episode 3: "The Great Game"

Among the three episodes of Sherlock thus far, this is probably my least favorite. Make no mistake, I love all of them. But if I had to choose which one was my least favorite, and if I had a gun to my head, then I'd say it's "The Great Game".

First, there's just too much going on.

Too much, in fact, that Sherlock just got an orgasm.

There are five phone pips here, each pip being one mystery, so that's five mysteries in all. And although each of the five mysteries can stand alone, they are merely sub-mysteries of one big mystery. Which involves...

Professor Moriarty, which is my second point here.

I know Moriarty is psycho. But Andrew Scott is just creepy. It's the way he delivers his lines─like he's definitely unhinged. He should've been killed. Plus, he looks a bit like Jim Parsons.

My new favorite character in this show (like we have a lot to choose from) is none other than this guy:

"Who? Me?"

Yep. Mycroft Holmes. Sherlock's brother. Played by Mark Gatiss. If you think the name rings a bell, it should. You've seen it before.

Yes, he's the writer of this episode, and the co-creator of this series. And he's a bloody brilliant actor.

I loved the root canal bit.

Sherlock (Episode 3). UK. 2010.


Rating: Eight point five out of ten.



*some info from IMDb and Wikipedia
pics from VLC