Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween folks! I managed to wear my costume twice, for a party on Saturday (also celebrating the end of my job/start of a new job then) and tonight when I went with my bf, niece, sister and friends to some celebrations in the park. Needless to say it was too crowded, cold and a let down but still nice to actually do something seasonal on the day! I also carved pumpkins, naturally.

I only got to watch one Halloween film, Hocus Pocus, which I watched with my friend last night. I forgot how much I loved that film, since the 20th anniversary is next year I'm going to hold out for the blu-ray I assume they will release then. I've heard rumours of a remake too, don't think it would work but who knows. For a kids' film they got away with a lot, which I don't think they would now. It's so amazing though, and just such a fun film, with probably the best onscreen witches I've seen. They're proper witches, they've got the weird hair and nails, the strange gestures, the cool costumes (Winnie had green and black stripped stockings), they can cast spells, they have a magic book, they want to suck the souls out of children, they fly on broomsticks, they're just proper evil witches.

I might watch Trick r Treat tomorrow just for kicks, or possibly The Company of Wolves or The Addiction.

Battle Royale and The Hunger Games- Knowing the Enemy

The key difference between Battle Royale and The Hunger Games is that Battle Royale has an edge because the competitors know each other, they are friends and do not want to kill each other, with the obvious exception of Kazuo Kiryama who in the book suffered from a brain trauma, whilst in the film he was a willing transfer student without any real explanation for his bloodthirst. Even Mitsuko Souma is only killing to survive but given the choice she would probably opt not to be in the game, she is at heart a wounded, tragic creature looking for love not more violence in her life.

In The Hunger Games we are presented with two characters who defy the game and effectively inspire a rebellion, even when they are thrown back into the games they manage to survive to help finish the rebellion. In Battle Royale we have two survivors but they survive thanks to the catalyst that is Shogo, without him it's easy to see Shuya and Nuriko being victims of the game. Shuya contemplates peace amongst his classmates at several times, he does not want to accept the reality of their situation, nor does Nuriko who kills only at the end and is too weak thanks to an infected arm injury to survive unaided. Peeta most likely would have perished without Katniss but Katniss herself needs no catalyst, her push comes from within, spurred by the death of Rue as well, she fights unaided and saves herself and Peeta in the process. At the end of it Katniss and Peeta find success and freedom, though at a heavy price, whilst Nuriko and Shuya are forced to keep running, their rebellion does not continue, rather they are fugitives and though there is a dream of going to America one wonders if they could ever succeed.

For me I prefer Battle Royale for many minor reasons but one key major one- the players know each other, it is this that makes the violence and death between them that much more gritting and shocking. It is one thing to kill a stranger for survival but to kill your own friend? It also gives us a chance to see mistrust, betrayals and misunderstandings amongst the characters, granted we have that with Katniss and Peeta, but not so much with the others.

In Battle Royale there are numerous examples of the fragile ties between friends and couples either being strengthened (the girls with the megaphones, Shinji, Hiroki, Yutaka and Keita (movie), Hiroki and Chigusa, and others) or wrecked (the lighthouse group, Keiko and Shogo, Kazuo's group (book), Mitsuko and Yoshimi (book), and others). It just adds depth to the plot and characters and makes you care more when they are forced to kill each other, their ties give them more development and history as well. It also prompts one to wonder how well you can really know someone.

Whilst the Hunger Games' tributes mostly lacked development, many went unnamed and were killed in the initial bloodbath, and of the few that had development, it was hard to care when they died as Katniss had no ties to them save for Rue. These children know only the ones from their own district and even then they might not really know one another, Katniss and Peeta for example had a history but no friendship before the game, and it seems unlikely that Rue and Thresh were close, although Clove and Cato appeared to be, whilst Glimmer and Marvel had few ties between them.

Yes Katniss feels guilt over the few kills she made, but given she did not know these people and they each gave her a reason to kill (Marvel killed Rue and Cato almost killed Peeta) it's understandable and almost forgiveable. Whereas in Battle Royale everyone knows their victims, sometimes closely (the lighthhouse group, Shogo and Keiko), and sometimes they killed without any real reason, paranoia and misunderstandings in several cases. The Hunger Games is a widely publicized event, some tributes even train and volunteer for it, the kills can be spontaneous but they can be planned too, with the Careers we see them setting up explosives around the food before going on the hunt, they are methodical and deliberate with their actions. In Battle Royale the games are heard of but not widely, it's like winning the lottery, no one expects to be the next victim, and so (with the exception of Kazuo in the movie, and Shogo in the book/movie/manga) these students don't have any pre-planning and most are too scared to come up with a strategy, and in too much shock to even consider hunting their own friends. With THG we have a collection of potential hunters mixed with victims, with BR the mix is less even, it's mostly victims with only two clear hunters (Mitsuko and Kazuo), one of whom (Mitsuko), is adapting to the situation but never actually planned for it, and one determined survivor (Shogo).

You could argue that The Hunger Games presents a situation where you suddenly find yourself in a situation were allies you make quickly become enemies and strangers friends, making the unexpected much more likely. With new relationships like this and so much at stake there is more unpredictability, for example how loyal is Peeta to the Careers, how far do they trust him and how far will he go to secure his ties with them? Did he kill a tribute to save his reputation with them? Was he always planning on uniting with Katniss? Yet, you know not to get close to these people and you don't have the time to become best buddies either, even if a tribute doesn't become a lone wolf, their alliances are out of practicality. It's a lot easier to school yourself into not becoming close to someone because you know you have to kill them than to school yourself into killing people you already know.

There are also the suicides, THG never suggests that anyone is so desperate not to kill or be killed, perhaps slowly, that they will consider the ultimate out, and thus take back some control over their fate, even if it is slight. Shogo suggests to Shuya and Noriko that it is their only way out of the game. Battle Royale gives us five suicides- couples Kazuhiko and Sakura who jump over a cliff, Yoshimi and Yoji who hang themselves (movie only, and there is speculation that Mitsuko murdered them, in the book she killed them both), and Yuko who jumped from the lighthhouse after her accidental poisoning of Yuka led to her friends killing each other. There is also Keiko, it is entirely possible that she purposely goaded Shogo into killing her to save him, not quite suicide but close, though this never really becomes clear (again movie only, in the book he didn't find her until she had already been killed, and in the manga she was not shooting at him but at a potential attacker, he only realised this after he killed her).

The first two couples do it to escape, they are a romantic tragedy, with Sakura in particular it is about not giving into the game, she simply refuses to play. For Yuko she is overcome with guilt for misjudging Shuya and considering killing him, murdering her own friend and inadvertently bringing about the deaths of all her friends, it is too much to bear, not only is she guilt stricken but she is now alone and cannot deal with it. The Hunger Games doesn't give us any characters who even contemplate this dark path, though not everyone is ready for conflict and killing, many avoid it (including Katniss for the bulk of the Game), no one is ready to consider a rebellion and escape through suicide. Only one can survive and those who avoided the bloodbath are essentially left waiting for death, or survival by sheer luck.

The Hunger Games ends with a note of hope edged with threat, Battle Royale ends with loss and despair, Shuya and Noriko do not think to beat the system themselves, instead they must run whilst Katniss chooses to fight. In Katniss' world it seems that if the system can be beaten then the entire government can be shaken down but in Shuya's world if the system can be beaten you can be assured that the government will only toughen itself up further ensuring it is never defeated. This is easier to see with Battle Royale given that the threat is clear from the start when Yoshitoki Kuninobu and Fumiyo Fujiyoshi are both brutally killed before the games even start. This is a sign not to defy the authorities and that their future deaths is very certain. In addition to that they are all forced to wear collars which will explode if they try to take them off, are caught in a danger zone or more than one of them is alive at the end of the three days. In THG the threat by comparison is never that clear, it is only later in the series after Katniss has survived her first game that we hear how relations were threatened and murdered, how even winners were subjected to abuse and so forth. What is the push to kill each other in the games though? Do they just simply not want to wait to starve, drown, burn or be killed by muttations? That wouldn't exactly be good entertainment for the Capitol public if they chose one of these numerous deaths instead, nor would it really be a Hunger Games. At least that way if you had to die you could die without blood on your hands. What is the real threat here?

In both cases you're going to die anyway but it's much more clear in BR when two students are murdered before, that is what kicks the students into bitter reality and drives them to immediate paranoia and murder, they've seen two people die and realise what fate they will suffer. The tributes on the other hand do not have this bold example, yes many of them are poor and see death throughout their lives, but surely that only numbs them to it rather than spurs them to avoid it? The motivation to survive is obvious in both but the threat of what will happen if they don't obey and slaughter each other is a lot weaker in THG.

Skyfall- SPOILERS

I've just seen it, and warning this will, as usual, be a full SPOILER filled review, so if you haven't seen it then don't read this!

Skyfall slices and dices bits of previous Bond films, bringing them together in a plot that is ultimately about Bond himself, M, their pasts and their relationship with one another. The plot focuses around the villain Raoul Silva, he's a mastermind hacker and he seems to have a personal grudge against M to the point of bombing MI6 headquarters and bringing about numerous deaths and moments of destruction throughout London. Bond, having survived being gunned down by his own agent on orders from M who wanted the villain Bond was grappling with stopped at all costs, has returned but he's not the same at first. Bond finds himself dealing with age, his gunshot wound and a dependency on pain killers and alcohol as well as having being out of commission for three months.

As the plot winds on it becomes clear that M does know who they're dealing with but has kept it quiet. In a moment of guilt, and perhaps concern for Bond, she confesses the man's real name and her reason for betraying him. Raoul was once a MI6 agent until M betrayed him to the Chinese, she informs Bond it's because he overstepped his boundaries, drew attention to himself and she got 6 agents in return. Raoul as a result suffered torture and found himself betrayed again when the cyanide pill he was given did not kill him but instead burned his insides.

For me this film was hit and miss, parts of it didn't feel like a Bond film at all, and parts of it really did. The plot definitely dragged in parts and ultimately as great as the story between M and Bond was, it ended up overshadowing the villain and gave us a plot that could've worked well in any film. Thankfully we had the Bond cars, the girls, and the return of Q and Moneypenny to remind us that this was indeed a Bond film.

First the villain, played with great success by Javier Bardem, he was the perfect Bond villain. He was memorable, he was wicked, he was OTT at times and though his goal was simple his methods were not. In addition to that he had depth and history, enough to make the viewer feel for him at least a little. He was betrayed and tortured for his loyalty and when he tried to escape his suffering he merely ended up suffering more. One can imagine that it drove him a little mad. I wonder when his techie skills first developed, and how? Surely he was noticed for this at MI6 and thus worth keeping, and surely his name then should have flagged up as a potential hacker as how many people out there could hack into MI6? Maybe they thought he was dead, maybe he was a late bloomer though his skills seem so great I imagine they'd take years to learn. Personally I just don't enough about computers etc to know.

Also, why were his henchmen following him? They hardly shared his goal, one can assume money but then where did he get it? Hacking? Eventually surely a trail would pop up. I know I'm just nitpicking, for me he really was a great villain, he was sinister, cruel and cunning, and he executed one Bond girl with ease. Yet true to the nature of Bond villains, he also failed to just simply execute Bond when he had the chance, of course it was part of his plan, he wanted captured after all, but it seemed like a nice throwback to the usual Bond villains.

The Bond girls, yeah okay it's meant to be Bond women now but come on, will that stick? It's an honour to be a Bond girl, do we need to get PC about it? 'Oh well I'm not running about in a bikini so I'm not a Bond girl', Wai Lin didn't run about in a bikini, nor did Anya or Tatiana, and Jinx did but she still kicked butt, and Rosamund Pike, as Miranda Frost, insisted she was a Bond girl rather than Bond woman. Besides, apart from her obvious sexy curves and looks what makes Sévérine less of a Bond girl and more of a Bond woman?

Sévérine is the sacrifical lamb, why she's touted as the leading Bond girl I don't know, she's in and out of the movie quickly. She's stunning but that's it, she seems to think long pauses equal drama, her motivation is a little vague and then she's gone. She's a damsel, the typical secondary Bond girl really, she's there to look good, sleep with Bond, and die for dramatics. She gets a little hint of a personality in that she was a prostitute as a child, and possibly ended up with Silva as a form of escape only to become his prisoner. That's sad, you feel for her, but then suddenly Bond's in the shower with her and that's that. They've only met, does she just take life as it comes or is she hoping to sweeten the deal, ala Andrea Anders? Bond's already on her boat, she doesn't need to have sex with him, they've just met, and she was abused, isn't Bond once again playing the anti-hero by taking unfair advantage of a fragile woman? And why didn't she react when he first entered the shower? He could have been anyone, her guards weren't to protect her after all, rather to keep her, what happened to the tough woman with the gun?  And why on earth did she bring Bond, she wanted saved, but surely she knew bringing him to the island was her own death sentence? Did she think Silva's guards, her prisoners, would just okay her bringing this stranger to the island? No.

Silva kills her in a chilling moment, he puts a whiskey shot on her head and taunts Bond about his aim before getting him to try and shoot the glass off. Threatened himself with a gun to his head, Bond takes the shot and purposely misses. Silva then takes the shot and... Well and we have a shot of the glass falling and Sévérine's head going down though she remains standing. In fact she's in the exact same position she was before Silva made her stand up straight, so is she actually dead? Where was the blood? Why is she standing? Well okay maybe her body's just leaning on the thing behind her but come on, that just wasn't clear. Needless to say she is never mentioned again, and Bond seems to have not even the slightest bit of remorse for her.

Eve on the otherhand was the real Bond girl/woman, a field agent who shot Bond in an attempt to kill a man he was fighting with. She becomes an ally and a potential love interest, they have a flirtation that never fully goes anywhere, a hint at who she will become. She manages to be the tough girl with the gun and the beauty in the dress, a spy and a handy ally, she saves Bond from being blasted in the face. I loved Eve, I really did, great performance from Naomie Harris but then alas, Eve became Moneypenny. How could this tough, ruthless, funny, clever and skilled woman end up becoming a secretary? She was able to match Bond's wiles perfectly, resist and charm him at the same time, and almost match him. Alright, not a great shot, (thank frig), but still tough, though admittedly the film continually hints that she doesn't have what it takes to stay on the field.

Yes I'm glad to see Moneypenny returned and matching Bond's wiles and being flirty and smart does fit in with the role of Moneypenny but so does never having James as well, a pity because I thought they were well matched. It also means Eve will presumbly be little more than a cameo for Naomie from now on, consigned to the desk dreaming of when she almost had 007.

M is the true Bond girl, portrayed by the amazing and talented Judi Dench since Goldeneye. In Skyfall we finally learn more about M just as we prepare to say goodbye in a shocking twist. M is easily the most complex character next to Bond, she can be cold, even cruel and certainly deadly, her job isn't for the emotional or faint hearted and yet somehow, against her better nature, she lets Bond break through. As Gareth Mallory suggests she is attached to Bond and her fondness for him clouds her judgement. She lets Bond back into the field despite him failing all his tests but is it because she truly believes in him or because, as Silva suggests, she is sending him to his death? After all she did betray Silva and she has lied to Bond.

In the end it's obvious she's still a good guy she just does what needs to be done even if that sometimes means badness for the greater good. When Bond cries over her death it's truly heartbreaking, it's obvious against his own better nature too he cared deeply for M, and we can assume she for him. Perhaps she was a mother figure to him too just as she was for Silva, or perhaps it was simply love and respect born out of years of loyal service, she was a never a friend but she was certainly an important part of Bond's world.

So with one M gone enter another, Gareth Mallory. Played by the wonderful Ralph Fiennes, he seems like he can fill Judi's shoes, his character is tough too but ultimately for the good guys. He insists M has a chance to defend herself before the minister with regards to Silva, he allows Q to effectively break the rules and risk a scolding from the PM by using M as bait for Silva and helping Bond lay out the trail, and he even risks his life for M by getting shot by Silva as he pulls her out of range.

Q is brought back this time as a young nerd, he's talented but not perfect as he effectively helps Silva hack MI6 for a second time but then redeems himself by helping lay out the breadcrumb trap. He's not about the gadgets, as he says they don't do that anymore, and he's almost cheeky in suggesting Bond is old and done whilst he is paving the way for the future.

The opposite of his predecessor in many ways, he's young and modern with no flashy gadgets, but he's still intelligent, scornful of Bond, and sharp tongued. I quite liked him and I'm happy to see Q returned to the franchise.

So with M now a male and Q and Moneypenny back in the franchise the series seemed to have stepped back. Strange when it was all about going forward with liberated women, giving us a female M to show that women could be tough and in control, and Bond women who were equally ruthless and not damsels. Now we're back to a male M, the leading lady is a damsel and the tough female gives up the exciting life to be a secretary. Is it as bad as it sounds though? Well for me no, yes I'd have liked a better Bond girl, giving us Wai Lin, Jinx, Vesper Lynd and Melina Havelock was a step in the right direction, alright keep the damsel for the secondary girl if you must but not the leading one. Not every girl is a superhero but not every girl is a Bond girl either, these girls are meant to have something extraordinary about them, they're exotic and fantastical, they should stand out for all the right reasons and not be immediately forgetful.

Stepping back to the old ways is good though because Bond is Bond for a reason, change too much and we just have a generic action hero. Bond is Bond because he has the cars, the women, the gadgets, the tuxedoes, the drinks, the gambling instincts and the charm. I have to say I do agree with people saying Craig's Bond is more of a Bourne, an insult in ways though given Bond came first. Still he had his casino moment and his martini moment, even if it was an aside, he had his beautiful Bond car, the popular Aston Martin, he had Q and Moneypenny, he had his charm and he had his ruthless side as well. Daniel Craig is a brilliant Bond, make no mistake, and he's left his mark on the character just like his predecessors, but for me he ranks behind Moore and Dalton, I just can't quite warm to his Bond the way I could to Moore's, or understand him the way I did Dalton's.

I also like the comparisons you can make to the other Bond films- the sacrifical lamb of Sévérine is consistent with the series, in particular I would compare her with Paris Carver from Tomorrow Never Dies and Andrea Anders from The Man with the Golden Gun. All three women are connected with the villain, they seem to have gone to them to escape and ended up captive for it. They help Bond to escape and ultimately pay with their lives, but not before Bond has his way with them. There is a connection to golden girl Jill Masterton too who worked for the villain Auric Goldfinger and paid the ultimate price for her betrayal of him by letting Bond make a fool out of him and bedding the agent, though she did make it clear that she was not Auric's lover or had gone to him out of desperation. Equally, comparisons can be drawn with Thunderball's leading lady Domino, a prisoner of her lover effectively, leading villain Emilio Largo, she is tortured by him for bedding and aiding Bond but does not pay the ultimate price, instead it is she who kills the villain because she is a leading Bond girl not a secondary one.

Eve is like what Mary Goodnight and Anya Amasova should have been and what Jinx and Wai Lin were. She's not just Bond's ally, she is his equal. She's not afraid to take risks and get her hands dirty, and she's just as good with a gun in her hand as she is in a dress. She's feminine but tough, able to hold her own and match Bond's wit, charm and strength.

The Aston Martin returns, really it's the ultimate Bond car, sleek, beautiful and memorable it's from Goldfinger, Thunderball, Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale.

Plot wise we have a villain much like Alec Trevelyan. A former MI6 agent he was betrayed by his own people and left to die but he survived and set about gaining his revenge. Alec was betrayed by Bond who lied about the length of time on a bomb, whilst Silva's betrayal was by M herself. Both villains have all but gone mad, their scars are physical and mental. Whilst Alec's revenge went much deeper as his parents were, in his mind, betrayed by Britain, and he plans to carry it out by bankrupting Britain, Silva's revenge is just for M but he takes it out on MI6 personnel and the London public, killing who he must to make her feel guilty and reach his goal.

Ultimately, I did enjoy Skyfall but I did not love it. It's flawed like most movies and yes the actions sequences are great but the plot does get bogged down with Bond and M's history, yes it was fantastic to finally learn about Bond's history but that ended up taking up more of the movie than anything else.

The Man with the Golden Gun

At first I wasn't much of a fan of this film, save for Christopher Lee's performance, but after giving it another go I actually found it quite enjoyable. Bond is working on helping solving the energy crisis by getting the Solex Agitator, a device which uses the sun to create energy but he is taken off the case by M when a golden bullet with 007 carved into it is sent to MI6. This bullet is the trademark of the infamous assassin Francisco Scaramanga who murdered 006. Bond decides to track Scaramanga down so that he can best the assassin and resume his case. The plot thickens when it is revealed that it was actually Scaramanga's lover Andrea Anders who sent the bullet and that Scaramanga works with Hai Fat, a wealthy businessman who ordered the hit on scientist Gibson who was going to give MI6 the Solex Agitator, which Scaramanga's henchman Nick Nack then steals from Gibson's corpse.

The film is full of action, it has a great opening song and Lee is amazing as the villain. Downsides- the Bond girls lacked development, J. W Pepper's casual racism and general presence was irritable, and the whistle sound ruined the famous car stunt. Upsides- Roger Moore was on great form as James Bond, the plot was decent enough, Herve Villechaize was entertaining as Nick Nack and Soon-Tek Oh was good as Bond's native ally Lieutenant Hip.

Based on Fleming's last book unsurprisingly the plot deviates largely from the book, Anders is a film only character and thanks to her lengthy presence, Mary Goodnight's character loses out on screen time and development. On the plus side, Lee claims that Scaramanga was fleshed out more to be less of a thug and more of the anti James Bond.

The beautiful Maud Adams plays Andrea Anders well, expressing fear and desperation, and making her one of the highlights of the film despite her character's first name never even being mentioned. She is an intriguing and tragic character, she is Scaramanga's lover, though he only makes love to her before a kill. Her origins are never fully explored so we never learn how she ended up with Scaramanga, all we learn is that she wants to leave him but is too terrified to, so she tricks James Bond into coming. What's really sad is that the hero actually becomes an abuser/user in a fashion, he breaks into her room, twists her arm for information, threatens her and then lets her trade sex for salvation. It is puzzling why she is reluctant to tell Bond about Scaramanga when she sent the bullet, my theories are that it's either because she didn't realise who Bond was ( Bond never introduced himself so he could have been any one of Scaramanga's intended victims), or fear overcame her and she became reluctant to go through with her plan. Even after all this he still fails her as Scaramanga kills her in cold blooded fashion, shooting her when she is watching a boxing match waiting to give the Solex to James and no doubt thinking that freedom was at hand. Bond barely laments her death and is killing of Scaramanga is not an act of revenge for her.

She was a strange and curious character, and in Bond's defence, she didn't take back her offer of sex when he suggests she give him the Solex in exchange for Scaramanga's death. Thus her sleeping with Bond might be to sweeten the deal but it does seem like less of a necessary action and more of a willing one, hard to see why given Bond has been nothing but cruel. Even Goodnight comments that James must be good if Anders is willing to give him the Solex before he kills Scaramanga. It's such a shame that this character, much like the wonderful Aki, has no written counterpart that might offer some more insight to her.

Mary Goodnight, another character I'm certain didn't get her first name mentioned, and if she did it wasn't by James. Beautiful and charismatic, she's the main Bond girl though she takes her time to appear on screen and her appearances are largely overshadowed by Anders until the latter's death. An agent of MI6, like Tiffany Case, she shows potential and then loses it in favour of the character becoming ditzy entertainment, which is a pity.

For me Goodnight had potential, infatuated by Bond, I don't view her attraction as a weakness, though she certainly does, it's understandable and it could have worked well for her character with better guidance. It's not unbelievable and if done properly it shouldn't come across as annoying either, foolish yes, he's a womanzier after all, but understandable. I was rooting for her when she said to Bond, 'Killing a few hours as one of your passing fancies isn't quite my scene' but alas she ruined it soon after by showing up in a loose, short dress in his room and confessing that she's weak, whilst also admitting that she thought it would never happen, thus ensuring James that he doesn't have to try hard with her. Even after he rudely bustles her into a wardrobe to seduce Anders, Goodnight still wants him, thankfully she shows potential again by being cool towards him but her character goes to rot when she becomes a bumbling prisoner on Scaramanga's island who feels the need to wear a bikini, presumably one of the late Anders'.

To be fair, it's not unheard of for a girl to want a womanizer who mistreats her, even humiliates her despite her better judgement, so that I can understand. Even getting bundled into the boot was exactly her fault, she was trying to be clever and put a tracking device in there, but then when you remember she's not an amateur and working for MI6 then suddenly it is stupid after all, especially when it means the Solex is risked. For a MI6 agent she showed little competence, she did manage to help Bond find Anders' car and she successfully bumped off a henchman but really that's it.

For the leading lady she deserved more time and development but instead went the way of Honey, a bikini clad blonde with little onscreen appearance, which might have worked fine if it hadn't been done before and she was meant to be working for MI6.

I feel sorry for Britt Ekland as she thought Goodnight would be the same as the novel counterpart, which would have been much better. Still, she was nowhere near as bad as Stacy Sutton or Christmas Jones, and she did have her pluses.

Though the film's humour was mostly a miss, I don't think this film deserves the harsh criticism it has recieved. The action is good, the plot decent enough, not as ridiculous or as complicated as some of the Bond films' plots, the villain is menancing and developed and the cast were good. I liked Bond's mix of edge and charm and, as always, I loved Roger as Bond.

Red Riding Hood 2012

First this, known as Wicked/Bloody/Evil Red Riding Hood, it's trying to be sneaky advertising itself as an entirely new costume, but it's just a variation, the exact same costume without the tears and bloodstains has been around for a few years now. I guess it's just an attempt to cash in on the latest zombie and Gothic fads these days. I've noticed zombies seem to have displaced vampires in popularity, pretty sure they will soon make a movie or tv series based on Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series and then fairies will take the top spot. A lazy effort to make a gothic Red costume but I do still like it, maybe because of her make-up and pose. Of course as always if you want the gothic or bloodied look there are other versions out there.

This one is on Amazon and ebay, known as Little Dead Red Riding Hood or Little Dead Riding Hood. This costume seems to be relying on the bloodstained stockings and face and unsurprisingly the stockings aren't included, you can buy bloodstained stockings but they don't have bows. There seems to be a minor blood spatter on the sleeves but I can't see any on the apron. Really this is just a Red Riding Hood costume, you may as well just pick any Red Riding Hood costume you fancy and bloody it up yourself.

If you want to go down this road I would suggest just bloodying the costume yourself, doing your make up bloody and adding slash marks, maybe blood slash marks on the apron and ripped ones in your cloak or skirt. Make yourself look mauled by the wolf, surely that's what made her dead after all.

At last there is finally an adult Little Red Riding Hood costume with wolf ears, a variation on the popular red skirt and checked sleeves, country girl styled costume, it's found on Wonder Costumes as well as other sites. I don't like the costume itself and the cloak is so short it's practically just a hood, the tween costumes do a much better effort and include a tail, but if you like the ears through the hood then so far this is the only adult option. Again you could DIY like I did last year, but it's hard finding good ears and a tail, mine weren't too great. The ears on this costume stand out at least.

You will find this if you search 4 piece Red Riding Hood costume or even just new, if you want a gothic version then this is a good way to go. However without a basket and/or wolf I don't know how people would definitely know who you're meant to be. The hooded cloak is barely there, it's too thin and short and the outfit looks super tiny, I'm not sure how well it would fit.

Found under 3 piece Red Riding Hood and Wolf Bait, it's just a variation of another Wolf Bait costume, in fact the only difference I can see is the corset, it's got no added lace detail, and honestly it looks nicer with the detail.

Sexy Red from Costume Craze, it's subtle but pretty, although the corset seems too low, or stretched or something in the photo. The skirt is long but the slash adds a nice touch, this would do for people who do want to be more subtle with the costume, the capulet is a good length if you don't want one trailing behind you or getting in the way but the skirt is probably too long for people who aren't tall, but some high heels and you should be sorted. Also, it does look tight even on the model so be wary.

This I love, it's so cute! It's in a plus size and I honestly don't know if you can get it in regular. The cloak is a good length, the skirt is nice and simple and the sleeves are cute, the corset looks cheap but hey it's a costume, you get what you pay for, and I love the bow.

Dark/Gothic Red Riding Hood is great if it's the gothic look you want,a nice, dark shade of red with black, and a great length for the cloak. I'm not sure what the material is or how well it fits, it's a good effort though for the gothic look of Red.

You can also go for the steampunk look, you'll find this on ebay and possibly etsy as well as other sites. I'm not sure what all you get, the corset obviously, but whether the shirt and skirt are included I'm unsure. Still, it's a great idea. You can go all out for this one or be more subtle, think pocket watches, clockwork, cogs and goggles.


So this year why not try dead Red, gothic Red or steampunk Red?

October

It's October, my favourite month of the year! Halloween is coming, Autumn is in full swing, the leaves are in beautiful colour, there are conkers and a chill that makes sitting by the window with a heater and nightgown a treat rather than the miserable necessity caused by grim winter. Autumn is usually pleasant to walk in, not too cold yet and not too wet either, instead the air is crisp and all around there is beauty in shades of gold, crimson, amber and brown.

I've put out some of the Halloween decorations, still have to get my bat collection out, my Halloween costume is almost ready and soon I'll be carving pumpkins with my boyfriend and niece. I've already watched Sleepy Hollow, The Howling and Dark Shadows, next it will be Trick R Treat, maybe The Addiction and towards the end perhaps The Nightmare Before Christmas. I wish there were more good flicks out there to watch out this awesome season, as you might have guessed I'm not into the gory ones, they give me nightmares, I don't even really consider myself a horror fan given what passes for horror these days, it's just an excuse for gore, I'd rather the old style any day- cheesie Hammer style or better yet something with a decent plot more in line with a thriller, maybe some vampires that don't sparkle or some werewolves that look realistic. When it comes to Halloween itself, something about the season would be great, as it is all we have is Trick R Treat, Halloween is obviously set during the holiday but not about it, as is Hocus Pocus. I'm pretty sure we'll get the sequel to Trick R Treat when we get the Joseph Bat Little Red Riding Hood film (sigh).

I guess what I'd like to see is an improved Trick R Treat, more action and more character development and maybe a little less confusion (the vampire, not a vampire thing lost me a little), of course given how many characters and stories were going on this film, I daresay I'm demanding too much. As others have said it handles its entertwining plots like Pulp Fiction, they're not in order, characters from one story show up in the background of other stories even after their demise, and there is a thin link between all the plots, in this case Sam. Like Pulp Fiction it did an awesome job of handling its many characters and out of order plot, making sense in the end and giving us great entertainment with a few surprise twists along the way.

Still I want more! Maybe have the group of kids fighting back and bonding instead of getting killed off one by one, let's defy the cliche of horrors, although admittedly the brats did deserve it, but I would have liked to see more development with Rhonda and Schrader, although she did make her choice to leave him. I would've liked to have seen more of Laurie's friends too, maybe seen their characters grow, see how they pick their victims, if they leave any potentially nice guys alone, if they turn anyone etc. Of course how long would this film be if that happened? Really I'm looking for a novelisation or a series lol. I'm thinking Once Upon A Time styled with a new costumed character each episode, each subplot somehow linking into one like in the film.

In the sequel I'd be up for a better, or rather better clarified vampire, a headless horseman, maybe a witch and perhaps even a segment going down the road of a Buffy and Simpsons episode were people are turned into their costumes. I have to admit I LOVED that Buffy episode, Season 2, it was called Halloween and had Buffy as a medieval woman to impress Angel, Willow as a tramp under a bedsheet styled ghost costume, and Xander as a soldier. Thanks to Giles' old frenemy Ethan the characters and several extras turned into their costumes, Buffy became a damsel from the past, Xander a soldier and Willow a literal ghost, it was great! Fear Itself from Season 4 sounds like it was a pretty good episode too though I only have vague recollections of it, it was set at a college party where the haunted house became a real haunted house after some party planners unwittingly drew a symbol that conjured a demon of fear. In that episode Buffy was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, personally I didn't think much of the costume but I think it was meant to be last minute, Oz went as God, something I remember my own friend parodying one year, Xander was James Bond, Willow was Joan of Arc and Anya was a bunny, would've been interesting if those costumes had come to life.

Willow's costume was pretty epic but probably heavy and uncomfortable to wear. I remember one year a friend of mine got a replica costume of Frank from Donnie Darko, I nearly crapped myself when I had to answer the door to him, alas by the time we got to the club he was just too warm in his costume and knew it would only get worse so his girlfriend had to drive him home. Luckily she was able to make it back and rejoin us in the queue. I remember we foolishly went out the night before Halloween that year and then we went out the following night for Halloween itself my friend and I were just too tired, don't know how our other companions kept up their stamia but as I recall we faded fast. That year I was the March Hare, my boyfriend at the time was the Mad Hatter and my roommate was Alice, his boyfriend was Frank, so it was a pity as he had to leave as he could've been our less than white rabbit, would've worked especially well since we did a gothic theme for it.


I wonder what's better, making your own costume or buying one? I made my own March Hare costume (in fact apart from Frank we all made our own costumes, which included a man dressed as a female cheerleader, and another dressed as the professor from Back to the Future), and it turned out pretty great. The following year I decided to make my own, having to rush out of work and get changed in fifteen minutes so I could get in the queue in good time with my friend who was also working I ended up forgetting bits of it. I was Red Riding Hood with a red/pink corset, a black skirt, a cotton red hooded cloak, and stockings, I couldn't find my garter belt, and I forgot my husky teddy. I didn't have a basket either, this really was just a cheap student effort and if it weren't for the cloak no one would have known what I was. My friend bought her costume however, she was meant to be Malice in Wonderland but no one got it and just thought she was a maid, which is exactly what she looked like, maybe if she'd had time she could've added a pocket watch, a white rabbit teddy or something along those lines. I did love my cloak though, I was sad to throw it out, I managed to wear two years in a row but two years back I decided to just buy a Red costume (it took 3 times before I got the right one) and the cloak, which was dirty, had to go.

When I bought a Girl Scout costume and wore it, it worked brilliantly, I loved it and it was original. No one else had thought of it and I was able to accessorise with a cookie box and pigtails, most of my friends bought their costumes too and they looked great but those who made their own, it was harder to tell. This year however, I'm risking making my own again, I'm going to be a Jurassic Park Game Ranger, thankfully I have a badge that says as much so hopefully there will be no puzzled looks, and my boyfriend is going to be my dinosaur, Yoshi lol.

Disney Fairyland- Spoilers

Once is back! Starting off much like the first episode of season 1 with a prince on horseback rescuing his princess by waking her up with a kiss but this time it's Phillip and Aurora, not Snow and James. I loved Phillip, always my favourite Disney prince, the live action version is nice to look at and not a bad actor. Aurora I wasn't fussed on, the Disney version is blonde and her dresses are blue, pink and a black, brown and white pauper version, not purple. This Aurora is brunette with a purple dress, now I did complain that Once looked like it was going for live action Disney rather than live action fairytales so I shouldn't be complaining that Sleeping Beauty looks different from her Disney counterpart, right? Okay so I'm hypocrite but if she's not a live action Disney version ala Belle and Cinders then why is she called Aurora? Why not Talia, Rosamond or Briar Rose like the original tales, or somerthing new even? I did read though that in the Perrault version she is a brunette, so maybe it's harking to that but again why call her Aurora and her prince Phillip then? At least they followed Disney in that her prince knew her before the curse unlike in the Basile, Perrault and Grimm's versions where a hundred years pass before a prince who doesn't know her finds her and breaks the curse either simply by being there or worse, by raping her and causing the curse/prophecy to be undone by her child suckling the flax from her finger. Compared to those versions a kiss is a little bit more pleasant and romantic.

I kind of liked Mulan, Jamie Chung seemed a little wooden in the role but then maybe that's the way they wanted her to play Mulan- strict, no nonsense, and in love with Phillip, which I guessed right from the start lol. I know a lot of people didn't respond to that and indeed it seems a pointless addition given that Phillip and Aurora are meant to be, one true love and all that, but hey Phillip and Mulan did spend some time adventuring together so you can understand how feelings for Phillip grew. Not sure about her outfit, it was class but one viewer mentioned its Persian, certainly Aurora's castle looked Persian but Mulan is Chinese, although this is Fairytale land so that doesn't apply here evidently.

So since we need to keep the fairytale aspect of things going, Mulan, Aurora and Phillip's country was conveniently unscathed by the curse, that is it was frozen in time for 28 years (don't how this was known to Mulan since she was frozen too) but it wasn't destroyed unlike the rest of fairytale land, thus Aurora and Phillip's adventure is actually in the present and is not a flashback, as we realised with the ending of Emma and Snow following the Dementor styled wraith there. Convenient? Yes. Predictable? In a fashion. Still good? For me most definitely!

So pluses of the episode? Aurora's castle looked amazing, reminded me of the Tanith Lee version of Sleeping Beauty oddly enough. Phillip was pretty great too and Mulan wasn't as bad as expected, though she didn't fit in despite best efforts. We got some fairytale action and better still it's in the presence now and the ending with Snow and Emma going there indicates we're going to see a lot more. The mysterious character at the start has me intrigued, and Dr. Whale came across as quite the badass, hoping his character reveal will be good.

Negatives? For some reason though James calls Snow, Snow as they remember now, Snow persisted in calling him David and not James. The wraith did look a Dementor as everyone is pointing out, in fairness though, you can see how they came up with that look. It's a Scottish word for a ghost, specifically a water spirit, possibly viewed as old women who lured people to their death by drowning, then there were seen as a person's doppleganger and a warning of their death, and finally, it's a ghost, usually shadowy like being, and as this source mentions Tolkien popularised their image with his Ringwraiths, which came before Dementors. Of course the soul sucking thing seems more Dementor than myth. Also, Mulan just doesn't fit in, not with Philip and Aurora, it's a nice touch but it doesn't work for me, taking Philip out of the picture to substitute him with Mulan is just annoying. Also, Aurora comes across as whiny, alright I'll give her slack, she's been sleeping for 28 years and woken up to find her family gone and her kingdom in ruins, so she's a right to moan but even still, she's annoying. Worse, Regina appears to have forgotten Jefferson, the character I was hoping to see most since I'm assuming the Huntsman is long gone, whether it's an act or not remains to be seen. They never did explain how he vanished into the hat from Emma only to reappear to help Regina bring some poisoned apple into the real world.