Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

kirkers9 Like many others, I had very low expectations for this Christmas Special. Beyond the fact that the specials have been quite uneven in quality throughout the decade-long run of the New Doctor Who, the nearly disastrous 8th Series featuring Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor -- or is he really the unlucky 13th, after John Hurt's star-turn in the 50th Anniversary episode "Day of the Doctor"? -- led me to delay watching the Special for several months. After enjoying precisely one of the 8th Series episodes ("Time Heist"), a solid but by no means classic offering, I was pondering a life containing only Doctor Who reruns through Series 7. I finally got around to watching this Christmas episode online in early spring 2015 without having read a word about it. I must say I found the episode delightful and thought-provoking even on second and third viewings. It does indeed mine rich veins of classic science fiction themes ranging from time/reality inversions most recently explored in the film "Inception" to bio-invasive species from the "Alien" series, with a healthy collection of genre references ranging from Ghostbusters ("who ya gonna call?") to The Thing (polar research station and all). The dream sequence with Clara, Danny & the Doctor draws heavily upon a similar scene from the film "Star Trek Generations" of a generation ago. Finally, there was the self-referential material: another exhilarating Christmastime sleigh ride through the sky, and the close parallels between the Dream Crabs and prior villainous denizens of Who- ville created by episode writer and current show-runner Steven Moffat such as "The Silence" and the Weeping Angels.These borrowings could have proved tedious and distracting, but Moffat avoids the pitfalls and uses his own revived creative spark to integrate them all smoothly into a rather different configuration complete with holiday-tinged themes of belief, trust and redemption. Moffat & Co keep all the juggling balls smoothly rotating in the air in a piece that feels much larger than its 60 minute running time, minus adverts. (How the continuity might feel with frequent sponsor breaks I can only imagine, but it is an experience I now spare myself almost entirely with the aid of online streams and downloads.)The result was a truly exciting, genuinely frightening, mind-bending and above all emotionally touching episode that despite the obvious nods to Christmas (can anything be more so than Santa Claus?) really held together as a genuine contribution to the Doctor Who universe and to the art of on-screen science fiction. After much wasted effort, the relationship of Clara and Danny "the PE" now seems to have emotional depth, thanks to a belated dream sequence in which Danny is firmly acknowledged as having died. There is a certain sadness that this multicultural relationship could not have been nurtured more effectively within Doctor Who, but at least it has a good ending here. If somehow it is not over, thanks to some "timey- whimey" or (as Santa puts it here) "dreamy-wheamy" twist in the tale, I can only hope it will be treated as gently, effectively, and realistically as it was in this episode.All the inside, self-deprecating humour comes off without a hitch. Favourites include the "killer question" about Santa's sledge being bigger on the inside (who hasn't pondered the possibility since being introduced to the TARDIS?), the Doctor claiming turf rights over scientific explanation and Santa's spot-on "dreamy-wheamy" retort, and the Doctor being on St Nick's naughty list (where I had put him myself in an earlier review of the 8th Series). The prickly-funny exchange between the Doctor and Clara over her "fetching" things managed to significantly advance the current state of female companions in Who- culture while using well under a minute of running time.Initially I thought to criticise the use of what seems like wishful thinking (complete with a kumbaya hand-holding circle at one point) to overcome the Dream Crab spell, but on reflection it seems to me as valid or even more so than any number of techno-geek quick fixes that Moffat & Co might have devised. This episode is really not about medicine, science or technology, but about exploring human nature. In that context, I must thank Moffat for not featuring the sonic screwdriver as a "deus ex machina" the way it has in far too many episodes, particularly in the past couple of series. Although it is brought into play near the end here, it seems to have been done only as a respectful nod to Who-culture rather than serving as a key plot device.As the Doctor says at the end, he has been offered a second chance, but doesn't know who to thank. He might start with Moffat & Co, who finally pulled up their socks and produced a cracker of an episode. Another group deserving of thanks (and solicitude) are discerning viewers who have had to suffer through quite a bit of dissatisfaction lately. Prior to this episode, I for one had all but given up on the series. Notwithstanding original show-runner Russell T. Davies' views about the series now being immune from cancellation, even Doctor Who cannot long survive abandonment by viewers who value quality above cult-status when the show goes as seriously off the rails as it has recently done.Now that current show-runner Moffat has apparently written himself out of the proverbial doghouse with "Last Christmas", I fervently hope he grasps this second chance with both hands and uses this window of opportunity to come up with some truly great scripts for the 9th Series. This Christmas Special should serve as the gold standard by which to measure other potential episodes. With so few episodes comprising each series, it won't take more than 2 or 3 bombs to sink the good ship "Who-ville" at this stage, at least as far as this viewer's future participation is concerned.

yvonneshusband Let me start by stating that I cannot understand what some Doctor Who viewers had against Matt Smith. As someone who has watched the show since the midpoint of Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Time Lord, I found Smith's 'wisdom of a 900 year old, emotional development of a twelve year old' incarnation of the Doctor as an inspired take on the character, particularly in view of David Tennant's more grounded, self-assured version. The debut season of Moffat and Smith is, to me, the best season of 'New Who' ever, the capper being the sublime 'Christmas Carol' that we now watch in our house as part of our Christmas ritual every year (those who bemoan the loss of the cardboard and bacofoil days of Pertwee and Baker should really go watch those episodes with a more critical eye; apart from a few stand-out stories, most of the 'classic series' is as bad as any of the sci-fi from the 70s and 80s). Unfortunately, Moffat couldn't replicate the quality of that first Smith season, the plots and stories getting more and more ridiculous until by 'The Time of the Doctor' last Christmas, it was quite obvious that Matt Smith had decided he wasn't going to suffer the same fate as Sylvester McCoy by being at the controls of the Tardis when the show was cancelled. However, despite some pretty dire episodes in Peter Capaldi's first season (not helped by the fact that some of them had been quite obviously written for the 11th Doctor), the show has regained some ground, this year's Christmas special probably being the best since 'Carol'. The highlights were Nick Frost's Santa, obviously, played almost as another Time Lord (which in itself makes perfect sense), the (hopefully final) appearance of Danny Pink, who's confidence and sense of command now that he's dead make him a far more convincing soldier than almost anything his character did while he was alive and not forgetting the elves, Dan Starkey getting a chance to act without the potato head for a change. Capaldi's Doctor still needs some work though, the shifts from world saving hero to grumpy git and back are still too abrupt and jarring, but I'm looking forward to next season, if it builds on this successful Christmas outing. Maybe St Nick could return next year?

tlfirth It's hard to imagine how Steven Moffat came up with this one, but it is clearly something quite extraordinary. He himself even claimed it to be "the strangest episode I've ever written". From the truly terrifying moments with dream crabs sucking characters' brains to the light-hearted sleigh ride over London, this is definitely one of the most bizarre episodes of the series, but definitely a clever one.To begin with, I would like to praise the cast for their performances, especially the two mains and guest actresses Faye Marsay and Natalie Gumede who provided convincing portrayals. Capaldi was his own Doctor in this one, continuing to build on the success of his performance in Series 8. Coleman was, as usual, on form, with genuine emotional development throughout, and her "older" character matched the emotional feelings we felt with older Matt Smith in the Time of the Doctor. Of the guest cast, Faye Marsay's dance number was hysterically great.In terms of the story, there was an evident contrast between the scary Arctic base and Clara's Christmas dreams. This provided some great dark moments and helped to progress the story in a very original way. The Doctor's messages were of great importance and really transformed the light-hearted scenes into an intense story. Of the good points, I enjoyed most of the Arctic scenes, especially those where the Doctor asked each of the scientists what first words they had on their log books. It had a very nice Steven Moffat touch that I always admire in an episode of Doctor Who or Sherlock. The Doctor and Clara revealing their lies was a nice lead-on from the finale. Also, Clara's aging scene was quite emotional and it seriously made me believe that she would be leaving altogether.But it was trickery, of course. This was one of the few gripes I had with the episode - a false ending. In addition, the sleigh ride was a little cheesy, and was too reminiscent of Matt Smith's A Christmas Carol, but younger viewers will certainly enjoy it.Overall, a strong outing for Christmas with a impressive cast and clever, albeit confusing, story. Let's hope this leads us directly and nicely into Series 9, where I hope to see some big changes. Isolation has been a big problem with recent episodes and they haven't been allowed to explore further than the Earth or the Moon. Perhaps it's time to take the show a step further into science fiction.8/10

SpoodermanDerp "Last Christmas" is an intriguing episode with great performances with a rather dark Christmas theme.As the final special to wrap up Series 8 starts, it seemed like another mediocre Doctor Who episode. But as it progressed, it gained attention and mystery. The concept for the episode is not the one you would expect compared to the past specials. It has a rather dark atmosphere (which the 12th doctor is known for) and the new monsters were terrifying than ever. The episode's plot revolves around a group of people including Clara and the Doctor stuck in North Polo with a bunch of dream crabs trying to get them. But what they don't know is that they might all be in a dream, within a dream and so on. Nick Frost surprisingly delivers an excellent portrayal of Santa Claus and didn't go all childish and cheesy. Capaldi remains intact as he gives yet another fantastic performance as the dark and rude Doctor in which fans should be able to get used to this by now after one whole series and a special. Clara had some definitive and emotional moments, yet some felt a little bit useless and drawn-out. There are a ton of great and well executed shocking moments in this special which is bound to glue audiences to their seats. Certainly the highlights of this episode were the concept and shocking moments. There were also a ton of references in the episode which will give you a smile or at least make you laugh. Of course, the Christmas theme was present in the episode as well. However, the Christmas Theme did not balance kind of didn't balance with the dark atmosphere of the episode at start. It felt like at the end they remembered that all they did was add Santa so they squeezed right in some Christmas spirit in which it did work for the most part. To put it in one sentence, the Christmas special felt like Inception, but with Santa in it. Nonetheless, it is certainly one of the best Christmas specials Doctor Who has had so far.-Slow start, +the dark atmosphere and mystery throughout the episode, +the new monsters were terrifying, +nice concept (which seemed to be a little like Inception) +great performances, -some drawn-out scenes -the balance of the Dark atmosphere and Christmas spirit didn't blend well.Verdict: 8.5/10