Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments: Rory Williams (Doctor Who)

Picking out Big Damn Hero moments can be tough with this era of the show, because I’m mainly concerned with our characters as they are, not “alternate” versions of the characters.  That means episodes like “The Pandorica Opens” / “The Big Bang,” “Amy’s Choice,” and “The Wedding River Song” are out of the running.  Let’s see what else there is (spoilers ahead.)

Recognizing the Mystery (“The Eleventh Hour” – Series 5, Episode 1)

Rory won’t become a companion until later in this season, but he still shows off his companion potential here.  He’s the only one to notice that the hospital’s coma patients are wandering about the village.  Plus, he not only sees the pattern, he keeps record of it (pictures) and tries to tell someone in authority, even though he knows it sounds crazy.  Really, he does more companion stuff in this episode than Amy, and she’s the one who gets a TARDIS invite at the end.

Standing Up to the Doctor (“The Vampires of Venice” – Series 5, Episode 6)

Rory’s first adventure puts him in an uncertain position.  He’s just found out his fiancée “ran off” with a time traveler on the night before their wedding, and when he, Amy, and the Doctor arrive in 16^th-century Venice, he struggles to keep up with the other two, who are far more accustomed to TARDIS life.  Still, when Amy is in trouble, he brings the Doctor to a halt and takes him task for the way the people are so eager to “impress” him that they put themselves in danger.

Rescuing Melody (“A Good Man Goes to War” – Series 6, Episode 7)

“A Good Man Goes to War” is an obvious Big Damn Hero episode for Rory, what with the sword/gun, centurion getup, and BAMF Cybermen ultimatum.  It’s sort of too obvious for me, more an action figure of Rory than the real thing.  So, if I’m gonna single out a moment, it’s one that feels like Rory:  coming for Amy after he’s recovered Melody, lamenting that he’d planned to “be cool” as he’s overcome and starts to tear up.  Badass, but very human – that’smy Rory.

Reaching Amy (“The Girl Who Waited” – Series 6, Episode 10)

The main Amy here is an alternate, but Rory’s himself (and wonderful,) so I gladly count it.  Sent in to get Amy out of Two Streams, with the Doctor on comms but stuck in the TARDIS, Rory is devastated to realize how long Amy has been alone.  However, he never lets her think he loves her any less for being older, his only regret being that they weren’t together.  When she refuses to help rescue younger Amy, he finds a way to get through to her, and after he’s reunited with younger Amy, he still looks out for the older one and doesn’t view her as any less “real.”

Creating the Paradox (“The Angels Take Manhattan” – Series 7, Episode 5)

Maybe dubious, since this brave action banks on rewriting time, but even if Rory’s “come back” from the dead before, he still can’t know for sure.  The gallows humor asking “who else” could die twice on the same night is so Rory, and I like that, even as he’s decided that jumping off the building is the only way to create the Angels-destroying paradox, he’s still terrified to do it.

Spotlight (2015, R)

Other than Mad Max and The Martian, this is one of the first “Oscar films” that was on my radar for this year.  (I’d have seen it sooner, but I was waiting to watch it with someone else.)  Excellent movie, a fine example of a journalism drama along the lines of All the President’s Men, The Hour, or State of Play.

Spotlight tells the true story of the Boston Globe’s investigative “Spotlight” team, which in 2002 broke the story of the Catholic Church’s complicity in helping to cover up sexual abuse performed by priests.  Robby, Mike, Sacha, and Matt are initially on the fence when their new editor gives them the task of digging deeper into the story of a priest caught molesting children, but the further they delve, the more they recognize the horrific pattern at work and realize just how much has been required to allow such a calamity to fester as long as it has.

This is the latest film from Tom McCarthy, of The Station Agent and The Visitor (he was also one of several writers credited for Up.)  He’s nominated here for both his directing and his screenplay, which he co-wrote with Josh Singer.  In some ways, it feels nothing like a Tom McCarthy movie; there’s no sign of his favorite arc, a loner pulled reluctantly into the world by a relentlessly cheerful fellow who’s unilaterally taken him up as a new best friend.  However, that story obviously has no place in this one, and as much as I love that template, I’ve definitely felt at times that McCarthy has a clear “type,” and it’s good for him to branch out from that.  And the movie does include some big hallmarks of his understated writing and directing.  His talent for dialogue that’s both incredibly engaging and 100% naturalistic is remarkable, and though the movie starts slowly, it builds in pitch and tension until suddenly, two hours have gone by, the movie is over, and you’re staring at the credits slightly shell-shocked.

As soon as the team starts getting in contact with survivors and hearing their stories, everything kicks off in a big way.  So much care is given to explaining how complicated and effed-up the whole thing is, the ways in which the priests prey, not just on their victims’ bodies, but on their spirits as well.  From there, the suspense ramps up as we see how deep the story goes, what lengths the Church will go to to protect its image, and how more than just the Church has been guilty of helping to keep this under wraps.  Just stunningly well done.

No doubt about it, this is movie stuffed to the gills with Actors You Know.  Everyone does great work, and for me, there are no real standouts, although Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams both snag nominations in the supporting categories as Mike and Sacha, respectively.  The film also features Michael Keaton, Brian d’Arcy James (who I know best from theatre, especially Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party,) John Slattery (McCarthy alum for The Station Agent,) the always-great Stanley Tucci, original Sweeny Todd Len Cariou, and Liev Schreiber.  (Note:  there’s one character we only ever hear on the phone.  I knew I recognized the voice, but I needed the Internet to be able to place him.  It’s Richard Jenkins, who starred in The Visitor.)

Warnings

Strong thematic elements, sexual references (including descriptions of child molestation,) language, and drinking.

News Satire Roundup: February 8th-February 11th

Monday, February 8 – The show was on fire tonight.  Between the widespread entrance failures (what was Carson even doing, and I loved Trevor’s remark re:  Kasich, that when the moderators can see your empty podium and still not realize someone is missing, you know they’re not planning to ask you any questions,) Trump as the T-Rex of the GOP, and Rubio’s inability to prove that he’s not a robot, the Republican debate provided some hilarious fodder to work with.  I always love Jessica, and her piece about Beyoncé’s Super Bowl halftime show was splendid; Guliani criticizing Beyoncé for forcing “middle America” to think about race was simply preposterous, and Jessica gave him what for.  It was fun to see guest Gillian Jacobs.  She and Trevor calling out Dan Harmon to write a Communitymovie made me smile, and I like her fangirling over Hedy Lamarr.

Tuesday, February 9 – The story on candidates in New Hampshire pandering to Dunkin’ Donuts was short but sweet – I especially loved the Goldman Sachs dig about Clinton and Bush campaigning in the drive-through.  Cruz and Trump trading barbs on who loves waterboarding more was terrible but sadly unsurprising; Trevor didn’t have to do much more than shake his head and go, “Are you kidding me with this?”  The story on Clinton’s recent endorsement struggles with female voters felt a little unpolished to me, not hitting quite as hard as it could have.  Jessica’s gloriously-scathing follow-uppiece, though, was a thing of beauty.  She lambasted any suggestion that she votes with her vagina, whether that be by following the “boys” who support Sanders or voting for Clinton solely out of uterine solidarity.  The musical guests, The Suffers, had a nice, laidback groove that I enjoyed – a little different, but cool.

Wednesday, February 10 – Most of the primary craziness was covered well; highlights included Kasich going from “invisible” to 2^nd place, Rubio’s supporters assuring him they knowit’s his fault, and Sanders polling well with “Your Facebook Friends.”  Roy’s field piece, trailing a pair ofhardcore Carson supporters in New Hampshire, really interested me.  I loved that its stance was so moderate, showing both the goofy (the couple thought a tinny “Yankee Doodle Dandy” emanating from an article of clothing “got the message out,”) and the reasonable (they wanted to hear what every candidate had to say, not just Carson.)  Olivia Wilde was the guest, promoting Vinyl on HBO.  They also talked about Body Team 12, an Oscar-nominated documentary short she produced, which sounds fascinating.  Wilde is an actress I’ve liked so much better after she stopped doing House (though not as much as my girl Jennifer Morrison!)

Thursday, February 11 – Lots of short segments here.  The Supreme Court blocking Obama’s climate plan was depressing.  A porn site using its ads to help charitable causes sounds wild, but I guess I could see it; I liked Trevor’s postulation that social change was the sites’ plan all along.  Jordan’s piece comparing Trump to a ringmaster was fine but unremarkable, though interviews with Trump supporters are always crazy, and I enjoyed the Coney Island performer Jordan spoke to.  Best segment of the night, for me, was the piece on assorted fast food woes.  I loved Trevor’s childhood aspirations to “eat a Big Mac and end apartheid,” his mutual outrage with Roy over the high calories in a McDonald’s salad, and Roy’s suggestion the government take a page from Denny’s, which paid “reparations” to a Black couple it treated badly.  The interview with Ben Stiller, talking about Zoolander 2, was a bit meh, nothing special.

Room (2015, R)

I’ve never read Room, and I’ve never been sure it’s one I need to read.  I’m still on the fence as far as the book goes, but the film, while intense, is gripping and incredibly well-done.  It paints a tight, unflinching portrait of two people facing up against an impossible prison (premise spoilers.)

5-year-old Jack has always known the world as he’s known it.  The world is a Room, with a bed, a wardrobe, a toilet, a sink, a bathtub, a table, two chairs, a TV, a door, and a skylight.  He, his Ma, and the things within Room are real.  Everything else is “just TV” – except perhaps Old Nick, who comes at night while Jack hides in the wardrobe, bringing them food and other necessities by magic.  This is life as he understands it, and it’s what Ma has always told him.  But not anymore.  Now, Ma tells him the truth.  Outside Room, there’s an entire real world filled with the real things that TV depicts, not invents, and Ma used to be one of them.  Until Old Nick took her and trapped her inside Room.  Now, Ma needs Jack’s help so he can escape and see that world.

We’ll start with the acting.  Brie Larson, as Ma, is the leading actress frontrunner (sure thing?) at the Oscars, for obvious reasons.  Her portrayal of Ma’s desperation, exhaustion, resourcefulness, love, rage, depression, reassurance, courage, and terror is masterful.  She’s so magnificent, but at the same time, so subtle.  Even though Ma’s circumstances are massively extreme, she doesn’t feel like a “big, Oscary role.”  She feels like a person, doing what she can to get her and her son through extreme circumstances alive.  Young Jacob Tremblay brings as easy artlessness to Jack, always coming across as genuine despite his environment.

Any time you see such great work from a really young actor, you look to the director, and Oscar-nominated Lenny Abrahamson does his job admirably.  In addition to bringing out Tremblay’s performance, he skillfully conveys just how small and claustrophobic Room is, while at the same time making the single, limited space feel cinematic.  Just as we can see how horrific Room is, we can understand why Jack doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with it.

Emma Donoghue (also nominated) adapts her own novel.  Again, I haven’t read the book, but since the author and screenwriter are the same person, I assume it’s at least a reasonably faithful adaptation.  The story is riveting, the subject terrible yet engrossing; by focusing so much on Jack and Ma as people, Donoghue generally keeps the film from feeling like shock-value torture porn.  I will say that some of Jack’s dialogue, the way he words things with obvious capital letters and no articles – like Room, Wardrobe, and Skylight – feels off to me.  I get that his language for and understanding of things, like the rest of him, hasn’t had a chance to develop in the usual way, but his dialogue (and Tremblay’s delivery) is otherwise so fluent that it doesn’t quite work.  I think he maybe needed to be just a little more ungrammatical, and then the Room/Wardrobe/Skylight stuff wouldn’t feel so conspicuous.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements, abuse (physical, sexual (not shown onscreen,) verbal, and psychological,) violence (including self-harm,) and language.

Tangerine (2015, R)

I’m putting this film with the other #OscarsSoWhite movies I’ve watched lately, though I don’t think it would have been a likely contender regardless of the main characters’ races.  It’s too small, too meandering, and too vulgar – while Oscar films can be any of these things, it’s rare to find one that’s all three.  However, I heard positive things about it and really wanted to see it, particularly since a movie starring trans actresses of color seemed like a really satisfying answer to (the, naturally, nominated) Eddie Redmayne playing a trans woman in The Danish Girl.

Tangerine follows a pair of sex workers through a tumultuous Christmas Eve in L.A.  Sin-Dee, fresh out of jail, has just learned that her boyfriend/pimp cheated on her while she was away.  Not remotely one to bottle her feelings, she’s on the warpath to find him and/or the “real fish” (i.e., cisgender woman) who’s been knocking boots with him.  Her best friend Alexandra tries to be supportive, but she’s dreading Sin-Dee’s flair for drama, and besides, she has her own concerns to be thinking about – her first onstage musical performance at a bar later that evening.

I don’t think this is quite the film for me, although that’s not down to its quality.  Instead, it’s more a matter of sensibility.  It’s a very “roll with what’s happening” movie, following Sin-Dee and Alexandra throughout their day.  That’s frequently outrageous, sometimes gross, sometimes trashy, occasionally humdrum, always serpentine.  While it has a definite throughline of Sin-Dee wanting to find and confront her boyfriend, the plot wanders toward it rather than building up to it.  It’s a super-indie trait that I can find tiresome when it’s sustained over a full movie.

But that’s why I didn’t connect with it.  I know many like that style, and I’d say the film does it pretty well.  Plus, while my attention wavered on the characters’ journeys, I enjoy the characters themselves.  Sin-Dee can be a self-involved piece of work with a hair-trigger temper, but she’s also funny, resourceful, and more vulnerable than she lets on.  Alexandra’s long-suffering support for her friend ranges from amusing to sweet, and I like her no-nonsense attitude.

And yeah, I love that these trans characters are played by trans actresses.  Neither Kitana Kiki Rodriguez (Sin-Dee) or Mya Taylor (Alexandra) had screen experience before this film, but both give spirited, naturalistic performances that embody their roles to a tee.  One thing I’ve realized about cis actors playing trans is that, for me, part of my attention is always on how well they play trans.  Never mind the character’s personality or emotions; there’s always a part of my brain going, “How’re they doing?  Can I buy that?  Is this portrayal respectful?”  But it shouldn’t be like that.  When I watch Jennifer Lawrence, I don’t think, “She’s great at playing a woman,” and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s films don’t make me muse, “He’s so believable as a Black man.”  Binary gender is understood, race is understood (though not as much as it really needs to be.)  Genders outside of cis-male and cis-female should be as well (along with disability, more consistently.)  Then, like here, we can get straight to looking at the nuances of the characters instead of concentrating on how the performer handles groundwork that ought to be background detail.

Warnings

Sexual content (including multiple sex scenes, solicitation, and some nudity,) violence, language (including transphobic and homophobic slurs,) drinking, smoking, and drug use.

Brooklyn (2015, PG-13)

Having seen Brooklyn, I’m a little surprised it was nominated for best picture.  Not that isn’t an excellent film – it definitely is – but even now with the expanded best picture category, it doesn’t quite seem like the sort of film that would get nominated.  It feels… too small, maybe?  Not a big enough story?  I’m not sure why it seems that way.  Maybe after last year’s boys’ club, I’ve been conditioned not to see a young woman’s relatively personal character journey as “Oscar material.”  Nevertheless, I’m very glad it didget recognized because, as I said, it’s really wonderfully done.

Eilis can’t see a future for herself in Ireland.  With the help of her loving sister, she’s able to book passage on a ship bound for Ellis Island.  Brooklyn in 1951 is an entirely different world – while Eilis is surrounded by the Irish community there, she still doesn’t feel “home.”  Gradually, though, she begins to grow into her new country as well as herself.  Friendship, opportunity, and love all wait for her to be bold enough to chase after it.

This is a lovely film.  The period details are nicely realized, Eilis’s struggles are by turns stark and quietly heartbreaking, and by the same token, her rewards are a joy to watch.  I love watching the profound changes in her that develop slowly and subtly over the course of the movie.  The relationships on display here are also great.  I get a huge kick out of both her landlady and her fellow lodgers at the all-female boarding house where Eilis is placed (side note – very nearly everyone in this movie is a woman, and I think that’s really neat) and enjoy the sweet romantic plot that weaves its way through her story.  And even though most of their interactions take place through letters, Eilis’s relationship with her older sister is really moving.

Writer Nick Hornby (of, among other things, An Education and About a Boy) is up for best adapted screenplay.  I have absolutely no knowledge of the novel Brooklynis based on, but I’m definitely a fan of the writing here.  The humor sparkles – the boarding-house scenes really are a highlight – and never feels overwritten.  Similarly, sadder moments are penned (and framed, by director John Crowley) with a delicate touch and earnest emotions.

Our third major nomination goes to Saoirse Ronan (who I saw first as Briony in Atonement and more recently as the lead in Hanna.)  She’s superb as Eilis, deftly portraying every stage of the young woman’s evolution with her beautifully understated performance.  Ronan carries the film, no question – I’m pretty sure she’s in every single scene, and she has a talent for telling you everything that’s going on with Eilis without saying a word.  I also want to mention Emory Cohen, who’s greatly likeable as Eilis’s potential beau.  Additionally, the film features Harry Potter alumni Julie Walters (Molly Weasley,) Jim Broadbent (Professor Slughorn,) and Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley) – all three are great, especially the fantastic Walters (sadly, none of them share any scenes together.)  I’m not familiar with any of the actresses who play the other boarding-house girls, but each one is a delight in her own specific way.

Warnings

A little sexual content (including one sex scene,) a bit of gross-out stuff, some language, and drinking/smoking.

The Playhouse (1921)

Can’t go wrong with this one.  Probably Buster’s most astounding technical cinematic feat, with its veritable cornucopia of Busters, and it’s darn funny to boot.  One of my favorite shorts of his – it never fails to amaze me.

Thinking about it now, the plot is thinner than in many of Buster’s shorts.  While the recurring gags rise and fall masterfully, the story is mainly a series of vignettes centered around the hustle and bustle of a vaudeville playhouse (like the Fatty Arbuckle short Back Stage, it draws a lot of inspiration from Buster’s childhood experiences.)  Buster plays an intrepid stage hand who, despite his talent for fouling up any act he comes near, continues to find new ways for the show to go on.  Meanwhile, he deals with the pitfalls of being in love with one half of a twin act.

This short, of course, is most famous for its tour-de-force opening sequence, in which Buster dreams that he’s everyoneat the playhouse:  a bevy of audience members, the conductor, every person in the pit band, the backstage crew, a dancing duo, and a nine-man minstrel act (yeah – not cool.  That said, it’s mercifully short, and while the blackface is obviously terrible, the acting/jokes don’t seem pointedly offensive.)  When we think of how impressive it can be to see the same actor performing opposite themselves on camera today – like on Orphan Black, where the double-/triple-/quadrupling is so seamless – seeing Buster do it in 1921 is practically magic.  They’re all Buster, every last one of them.  The man danced to a metronome to make sure he’d be in step with himself, shot anywhere from one-half to one-ninth of the frame at a time, and employed a cameraman who could hand-crank the film at preciselythe same speed in every take.

(I should point out that The Playhousehappened because Buster broke his ankle filming an aborted version of The Electric House and couldn’t do serious stunts or tumbling until it healed.  First, I guess necessity really is the mother of invention, and second, this is what Buster taking it easylooks like, people – playing more than 20 characters in the same short!)

But it’s not just a technical marvel.  It’s also delightfully funny, both in the dream sequence and in the rest of the short.  I love all the Buster’s little touches throughout the dream, particularly the various gags in the pit – I like the conductor continually scratching his back with his baton and the clarinetist playing so hard he almost drops his clarinet – and the nicely-differentiated audience members.  Later, there are some fun twin gags (including the hilarious closing image,) an amusing chase, an aquatic escape, an original and alarming application of breaking glass in case of emergency, and Buster doing an absolute bang-up job of pretending to be a monkey.  Also, there’s a pair of one-armed veterans in the audience who both applaud by clapping the other guy’s hand, and they just kill me.

Unsurprisingly, we see a couple of familiar faces.  Big Joe Roberts plays the temperamental stage manager (although to be fair, with Buster as a stage hand, he has good reason to be temperamental,) and Virginia Fox appears as the twin Buster has his eye on.

Warnings

Slapstick violence and a brief, unfortunate scene of blackface.