365 Days, 365 Movies: October & November

Grace Kelly: Fancy

It's been a crazy 11 months, but October and November finally saw me meeting my goal of watching 365 movies in 2015. Since the majority of the films I'd watched before October were from 1990-2015 (with over 150 coming from the last two years),  I thought I would focus more on 'classic' cinema for October and November, particularly old musicals (because Netflix) the films of Katharine Hepburn (who holds the record for most Oscars won) and Grace Kelly. It ended up being a fun couple of months filled with adorable old-timey accents.

I also got to pick my 365th movie, which I chose with a little trepidation.  I decided to watch two of my favorite movies, Rope and Home for the Holidays, as my lead-up movies, and I decided to watch Citizen Kane as my 365th. I'd never seen it, and people seem to like it, so it seemed like a good choice.

Best of 2013 Part 1: Television and Music

Oh, 2013! What an interesting grouping of days. It's a strange thing, looking back on a year, because it's hard to remember anything that happened more than a month ago. Was there music before Beyoncé's December album? Was there television before the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special? It's difficult to say; the mind grows cloudy. Still, in an effort to fully look back at the last year, I've compiled a list of what I feel to be the top pop culture events of the last year, conveniently ranked and separated by genre. Travel with me as we, in Part 1, look back at the television and music events that made 2013 so 2013:

A Moment, Please, for Amy Pond

Spoiler Alert if you aren’t caught up on this season’s Doctor Who.

(Seriously, it's a pretty big spoiler)

Amelia Pond Williams, wife of Rory Williams and mother of Melody Williams AKA River Song, ended her two season run in last Saturday’s episode of Doctor Who.

Companions of the Doctor seem to serve a few functions. First, they are constantly asking questions, which makes the exposition in Doctor Who (of which there is a lot) seem less clunky. Secondly, they act as an audience surrogate, providing a relatable entry point into the series. Sure, some companions aren’t exactly relatable, but they’re certainly more human than The Doctor.

What I find to be the most important function for a companion, though, is her own journey with The Doctor and the lessons and character growth along the way. Each of the Doctor’s companions has a story to tell, and Amy Pond’s was always one of maturation, of growing past being ‘the girl who waited’ and into the girl who lived.

This season (or series), however, Amy has seemed, more than ever, to be spinning her wheels. Once she chose Rory over the Doctor, the writers didn’t seem to know what to do with her.  Karen Gillan is absolutely wonderful in the role, but this season has found very little for her to do, especially these second-half episodes. Even her (possibly) penultimate episode, which focused primarily on her, was just rehashing old material about her life and the choices she’s made.

Amy Pond was a wonderful character. She was delightful and fun, which was a nice counterpoint to Matt Smith’s more tortured Doctor 11 (though nobody did tortured Doctor better than David Tennant). I look forward to her return.

But -- for now -- goodbye, Amy Pond, most whimsical of all the Doctor Who companions.  You will be missed.

And goodbye, Rory.

UPDATE: Okay, so I was totally wrong about this. Not only were Amy and Rory back in a small way in the last episode of this season and the Christmas special, they will both be back with the Doctor for another half season. I literally have no idea how their story lines are going to continue any further, but I know better than to look a gift Doctor Who in the mouth.

Harry Plotter: Movie 4

The fourth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released in 2005, a mere 6 years ago. It was directed by Mike Newell, which makes it the last movie in the Harry Potter franchise to be directed by someone other than David Yates. While the book is a fluid, interesting, and captivating read (check out our review HERE), the movie often feels disjointed, rushed, and uninspired. It’s almost as if the filmmakers decided on where the action sequences should go and then just built the rest of the story around them. They don't seem to care when characters are left out or important story lines are dropped, and the reworking of certain events to fit into their specific narrative arc feels clunky. It’s unfortunate that such an engaging book was turned into such an odd movie. Yet, despite its obvious faults, the film does carry with it a certain magic, especially when the action stops long enough to leave room for the smaller, more human moments.

The Four Triwizard Tournament Champions

Flower of my Heart

First, let’s talk, as we often do, about casting. Most prominently