His Dark Materials (Season 1)

During the night of the great flood, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) placed an infant girl in the protection of the master of Jordan College (Clarke Peters).  Twelve years later, Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) eagerly awaits a visit from her Uncle Asriel.  During his brief visit, Lyra learns about something called dust, which attached to adults but not children, whatever that meant.  Moreover, the talk of dust is treated as the gravest sin, a topic that should never be discussed.  Though she wanted to travel north with him on his further research, she was left behind.  However, Marissa Coulter (Ruth Wilson) arrived at Jordan College soon after and enlisted Lyra as an assistant.

In this world, humans have an external soul that is called a daemon (pronounced demon).  Though the daemon of a child can change shapes, it settles into one form after puberty.  Lyra's daemon is named Pan.  The religion of the world is an oppressive form of Christianity that is maintained by the Magisterium, a militant order that deploys armed airships and ground troops in the later episodes of the series.  The world also has an underclass of folk called Gyptians, a gypsy-folk whose children have been targeted for abduction for unknown purposes.  The abductors are called Gobblers.  Then there are the armored bears, polar bears who live in the cold north, wear suits of armor, and maintain a kingdom.  They look like normal polar bears who just happen to have the power of speech.  Not particularly dexterous paws and yet they have buildings and skilled craftsmanship items.  Interesting.  Lastly, there are witches.  Witches are long-lived - the only one who appears claims to be 300 years old - can fly without a broom and move like the Flash.

Before Lyra left Jordan College with Miss Coulter, she was given an alethiometer.  It is a peculiar device that can answer any question, but few can deduce the meaning of the answers.  Where most must spend years to learn how to decipher an alethiometer, Lyra has a natural ability.  She is thus an unmatched augur, able to know the unknowable if only she can craft the right question.

The story follows Lyra as she traveled north, having different allies along the way.  Initially, she is with the Gyptians, then she teamed with Iorek Byrnison (Joe Tandberg) the Armored Bear and Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manual Miranda) the Aeronaut.

Meanwhile, in our world, Will Parry (Amir Wilson) is the son of an explorer who went missing 13 years ago.  He is a highschooler who boxes after school.  His mother, Elaine, suffers from anxiety and Will is more her caretaker than vice versa.  As it happens, Carlo Boreal (Ariyon Bakare) of the Magisterium has a doorway between worlds.  He believes that Will's missing father, who was exploring in Alaska, may have found another path between worlds.

With how central dust is to the plot, it is not well explained.  Is it the physical manifestation of sin, thus it sticks to adults but not children?  Is it a byproduct of the clash of worlds, most easily investigated at the northern lights where cities in the sky can be viewed with the right lens?  Why is the Magisterium ramping up to Def Con 1 over a couple of scientists investigating the northern lights?  Even after 8 episodes, it is unclear why there is panic.  Perhaps this adaptation missed something.

Dafne Keen is good as Lyra.  In the previous adaptation, The Golden Compass, I developed an almost instant dislike of Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) because she lied with glee from the moment we met her.  This Lyra likewise proves to be a talented liar, but it is a tool rather than a personality trait.  Lin-Manuel Miranda is a downgrade from Sam Elliot as Lee Scoresby.  He's okay, but he doesn't pass as a Texan.  As for the armored bears, there is no matching Ian McKellan and Ian McShane from the 2007 version, but the new actors are adequate.

Overall, pretty good.  The longer format provides for more explanation of some characters and development of the world.  The character development of Lyra, Lord Asriel, and Miss Coulter greatly benefit from a miniseries format.  Good popcorn fun.

Split

Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) is at a birthday celebration for one of her classmates, Claire.  She is very solitary and was only invited because it would have been rude for her to be the only one excluded.  After the party at the mall, Claire's father insists on giving Casey a ride home.  She reluctantly accepts.  No sooner are they in the car than they are kidnapped by Dennis (James McAvoy), who uses an aerosol drug to subdue them.  The three girls awaken in a windowless room.  Soon thereafter, Patricia (James McAvoy) assures them that Dennis is not to touch them.  Later, Hedwig (James McAvoy) tells them that the Beast is on the move.  Kevin (James McAvoy) has split into 24 personalities and has regular appointments with Dr. Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley), usually in the persona of Barry (James McAvoy) the aspiring fashion designer.

 

Casey is clearly damaged from the start and the reasons for that unfold in flashbacks about a hunting trip she had with her father and uncle.  She is the one best able to communicate with the various personalities.  Where Claire and Marcia want to leap at the first opportunity to escape, Casey wants to bide her time.  Anya Taylor-Joy played Thomasin in The Witch, though she was blonde in that role.  It nagged me though the movie as I tried to figure out where I had seen her before.

 

Though it is a movie about a crazy man kidnapping three teen-aged girls, it is often funny.  Hedwig fancies himself as a dancer and demonstrates his mad skills to a Kanye West tune.  He is also the most easily duped, which proves useful and strange.  Dennis is a neat freak, upset when anything is dirty or out of place.  It is funny to see that the various personalities are in extreme conflict.  McAvoy's performance is the movie and he did surprisingly well.

 

This is M. Night Shyamalan's latest effort to resuscitate his career after a string of turkeys (i.e. The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender) and it's good.  The Visit was both scarier and funnier but this is certainly entertaining.  Thumbs up.

 

Victor Frankenstein

The story opens in the circus, where a young nameless hunchback (Daniel Radcliffe) is a clown and - quite surprisingly - physician.  Yes, this hunchback has such a gift for anatomy that the circus allows him to treat injuries.  When a trapeze artist falls and is at threat of dying, the hunchback quickly diagnoses the problem and determines a fix that saves a life.  Victor Frankenstein, who is there to witness, is truly impressed.  He steals the hunchback away from the circus and makes him a partner is his great project.  Interestingly, the initial project is a chimpanzee named Gordon with parts from a variety creatures.  After a successful demonstration of the life-giving power of a good electrical jolt, the pair win a sponsor who will allow them to try something much bigger and more human.

 

The hunchback, who turns out not to be a hunchback, is given the name Igor by his new friend.  Igor was Victor's roommate but Victor refuses to elaborate.  Hmm.  For a maltreated circus clown, Igor is inexplicably brilliant and possess an encyclopedic knowledge of anatomy.  He grasps Frankenstein's ideas with ease, though often seeing the trees and ignoring the forest.  He also has a better grasp on how to act in polite company than Victor.  On top of that, it is implausible for such a gifted medical mind to have been unaware that his affliction was not a hunched back but something entirely treatable.

 

Victor (James McAvoy) is a true mad scientist.  He is full of passion and mood swings.  He might be considered manic-depressive, though mostly manic.  Wow, really manic.  He is impatient with those who cannot grasp his genius.  Unrestrained by ethics or morals, he will do whatever it takes to create life.  After all, if he can conquer death, will not that outweigh any ill done on the path to achieve it?

 

Inspector Turpin (Andrew Scott) has an uncanny knack for seeing the truth of things.  When first introduced, he demonstrates a keen ability to intuit the truth from the lies that are offered.  Though it is never explained why, Turpin is obsessed with a case that involves the theft of animal body parts that have occurred.  Though I thought I knew the reason why he was obsessed, it was never confirmed in the movie.

 

Lorelei (Jessica Brown Findlay), the saved trapeze artist, falls madly in love with Igor.  She did the same thing as Sybil in Downtown Abbey, falling for the chauffeur.  It is peculiar that Igor the clown - not a lot of skill required - was pursued as he attempted to escape the circus but Lorelei - a major attraction - was abandoned after her injury, not her first.  Her happy acquisition of a sugar daddy who has no sexual interest in her is perhaps a bit too convenient.  Like Igor, she adapts to polite society with surprising ease.
 

Of course, it wouldn't be Frankenstein without the monster.  The monster does look impressive but doesn't last.  Heck, it didn't get out of the castle to wreak havoc on the peasants.  Like much of the movie, the creation and destruction of the monster is entirely too convenient.  Too much is left nice and tidy.  However, Igor does get a letter from Victor in which Victor declares his plan to try again.  Was there a plan for a sequel?  I rather doubt this will be successful enough to see that happen.

 

The movie was fun to watch and had a surprising amount of laughs - all provided by Frankenstein, not the clown.  Go figure.  James McAvoy's wild and frantic Frankenstein was great fun.  McAvoy's Frankenstein had more energy than the lightning bolt that gave life to his monster.