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Clearly, my life lacks glamour and time travel.
Monday, June 7th, 2010 10:36 amIn Comics:
Frenemy of the State, Issue 1, Text by Rashida Jones, Christina Weir, and Nunzio DePhillips, Pictures by Jeff Wamestar: I love that Rashida Jones' inspiration for this comic was along the lines of "What if Paris Hilton is actually laughing at all of us and her whole persona is all an act?" Unfortunately, the execution of this premise is somewhat wobbly so far. Even with three authors, there's a major plot confusion problem: flashbacks should be labeled more clearly, or time doesn't appear to flow well in the story. The artwork is good enough, but strangely plain when I think more detail would be appropriate. After all, Paris and her ilk are all about the accessories and little details; any characters based on them should have the same touches. But there's good potential here for the socialite-turned-spy story to become interesting and funny, and I am intrigued to see how the cliffhanger ending gets resolved. Tentatively into this for the time being, if, for no other reason, to read more comics written by women.
Demo: Stranded, Text by Brian Wood, Pictures by the ever-awesome Becky Cloonan: I love how this story takes the seed of "if you could go back time and tell your previous self something" and lets that seed grow and grow into a tremendously touching and well-observed story about growing up and defeating the demons that (literally) haunt us. Elisabeth is a time-traveller who uses her ability in her work to make deals for companies, although it's never specified just what she's making deals about (stocks?). But she's haunted by her past history of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her father, and the story largely unfolds as she travels back in time to try and fix these scars. As usual, Becky Cloonan's artwork is pitch-perfect for the story and the swathes of dark ink hint at more behind them, leave the characters stranded on pages or illuminate a particular expression that makes the story click. I hope, hope, hope that she will be Comic Con because I want to thank her for telling such complex and beautiful stories with her brushes and ink.
In Movies:
Sex & The City 2: Uhm... I'm not sure how to approach this. It wasn't as bad as I expected, but it... was really bad in places. I mean, racial/cultural sensitivity is not the point of this film, not by a long shot, but more of it would not have gone amiss. (A lot more.) On the other hand, I went in expecting very few things and was not too terribly disappointed. There were insane outfits (yay!) and there were a few good character-building moments (Miranda is still my favorite character, by far). But this movie felt like it was written by committee, and out of however many writers, there was only one who really liked the original series and didn't want to portray the women as caricatures of themselves. For example, there's a sweet moment when Carrie leaves a very generous tip for her butler at the swanky hotel they're staying at after she's learned that he only gets to see his wife every three months. The note she writes, urging him to use the money to go and see his wife sooner, is classic Carrie and reminded me why I liked her so much. But then she's freaking out a second later like a 60s sitcom housewife screaming at a mouse on the floor over something stupid, and I thought, will you just shut up already? The central conflict of the movie (Carrie and Big's decision to remain childfree) is an interesting one as well, but it's drowned out by the cacophony of sexually related puns (not all of which are bad, per se, just kind of forced), sequins, and an entirely unnecessary visit from an old flame. This movie also contained a laundry list of situations that made me ask Who does that?
To whit:
1) Charlotte bakes cupcakes in a vintage Vuitton pencil skirt. Who does that?
2) Carrie goes shopping at a spice market inMorrocco Abu Dhabi in a Dior t-shirt and ballgown skirt. Who does that?
3) Samantha applies hormone cream to her lady bits at work, in her glass-walled office. Who does that?
4) Stanford has swans at his wedding reception. Also, Liza Minelli performs "All the Single Ladies", which is a sequence of... something. Who does that?
It's not that I expect complete and total verisimilitude in my romantic fluff movies, but the more time I spend wondering about what kind of crazy lifestyles the characters lead, the less time I spend caring about the movie in general. I feel a great affection for this series, even though I acknowledge it's not perfect. I'm just disappointed that the movie brought the series' flaws to the forefront, instead of its strengths.
On TV:
Doctor Who: "Vincent and Me": No spoilers, just great affection for this episode. Simply put, this is sort of journey I'd love to take with the Doctor. And the line about Michelangelo being a whiner? Priceless. [EDIT to add: spoilers in the comments for previous episodes.]
Frenemy of the State, Issue 1, Text by Rashida Jones, Christina Weir, and Nunzio DePhillips, Pictures by Jeff Wamestar: I love that Rashida Jones' inspiration for this comic was along the lines of "What if Paris Hilton is actually laughing at all of us and her whole persona is all an act?" Unfortunately, the execution of this premise is somewhat wobbly so far. Even with three authors, there's a major plot confusion problem: flashbacks should be labeled more clearly, or time doesn't appear to flow well in the story. The artwork is good enough, but strangely plain when I think more detail would be appropriate. After all, Paris and her ilk are all about the accessories and little details; any characters based on them should have the same touches. But there's good potential here for the socialite-turned-spy story to become interesting and funny, and I am intrigued to see how the cliffhanger ending gets resolved. Tentatively into this for the time being, if, for no other reason, to read more comics written by women.
Demo: Stranded, Text by Brian Wood, Pictures by the ever-awesome Becky Cloonan: I love how this story takes the seed of "if you could go back time and tell your previous self something" and lets that seed grow and grow into a tremendously touching and well-observed story about growing up and defeating the demons that (literally) haunt us. Elisabeth is a time-traveller who uses her ability in her work to make deals for companies, although it's never specified just what she's making deals about (stocks?). But she's haunted by her past history of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her father, and the story largely unfolds as she travels back in time to try and fix these scars. As usual, Becky Cloonan's artwork is pitch-perfect for the story and the swathes of dark ink hint at more behind them, leave the characters stranded on pages or illuminate a particular expression that makes the story click. I hope, hope, hope that she will be Comic Con because I want to thank her for telling such complex and beautiful stories with her brushes and ink.
In Movies:
Sex & The City 2: Uhm... I'm not sure how to approach this. It wasn't as bad as I expected, but it... was really bad in places. I mean, racial/cultural sensitivity is not the point of this film, not by a long shot, but more of it would not have gone amiss. (A lot more.) On the other hand, I went in expecting very few things and was not too terribly disappointed. There were insane outfits (yay!) and there were a few good character-building moments (Miranda is still my favorite character, by far). But this movie felt like it was written by committee, and out of however many writers, there was only one who really liked the original series and didn't want to portray the women as caricatures of themselves. For example, there's a sweet moment when Carrie leaves a very generous tip for her butler at the swanky hotel they're staying at after she's learned that he only gets to see his wife every three months. The note she writes, urging him to use the money to go and see his wife sooner, is classic Carrie and reminded me why I liked her so much. But then she's freaking out a second later like a 60s sitcom housewife screaming at a mouse on the floor over something stupid, and I thought, will you just shut up already? The central conflict of the movie (Carrie and Big's decision to remain childfree) is an interesting one as well, but it's drowned out by the cacophony of sexually related puns (not all of which are bad, per se, just kind of forced), sequins, and an entirely unnecessary visit from an old flame. This movie also contained a laundry list of situations that made me ask Who does that?
To whit:
1) Charlotte bakes cupcakes in a vintage Vuitton pencil skirt. Who does that?
2) Carrie goes shopping at a spice market in
3) Samantha applies hormone cream to her lady bits at work, in her glass-walled office. Who does that?
4) Stanford has swans at his wedding reception. Also, Liza Minelli performs "All the Single Ladies", which is a sequence of... something. Who does that?
It's not that I expect complete and total verisimilitude in my romantic fluff movies, but the more time I spend wondering about what kind of crazy lifestyles the characters lead, the less time I spend caring about the movie in general. I feel a great affection for this series, even though I acknowledge it's not perfect. I'm just disappointed that the movie brought the series' flaws to the forefront, instead of its strengths.
On TV:
Doctor Who: "Vincent and Me": No spoilers, just great affection for this episode. Simply put, this is sort of journey I'd love to take with the Doctor. And the line about Michelangelo being a whiner? Priceless. [EDIT to add: spoilers in the comments for previous episodes.]
