Book/Movie/DVD Meanderings as of 5/11/08
Sunday, May 11th, 2008 04:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
retsukoSurprisingly enough, I have actually gotten a little bit of reading done even as my program winds up, plus lots of movie nonsense. Granted, this is a list that's been compiled over about a month, so... Anyway, I think the following list illustrates the strange dichotomies in reading/viewing tastes that I have.
Movies:
Iron Man: I was honestly surprised to like this movie as much as I did. I think Robert Downey, Jr. turned out to be perfect for the role, and the story was very well-paced. Tony Stark's bad boy past was shown in enough detail that we understood how he'd changed, but not in so much detail that I wanted to smack him; his subsequent decisions regarding his responsibility to people were understandable and even a little moving. I was also glad this movie didn't hammer its ideology down the viewers' throats unlikeSpiderman other comic book movies I could mention. Terence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow were good, but neither had much to do.
And then, of course, the Samuel L. Jackson snippet was all kinds of comic-nerd-pleasing. Not quite the Nerd-vana that Comic Con is, but very close.
And then for something completely different, and pretty much on the opposite end of the entire cinematic spectrum, "The Painted Veil." I need to read this book now. I enjoyed the performances in this film very much, but it was very much a FILM and not a movie. It also, for at least the first 45 minutes or so, flirted with my designation for movies which I have dubbed, "Whiney White People and their Pathetic Little Problems". There was a lot of white privilege in this movie, and a lot of whining, somewhat necessitated by the storyline and setting. But then something clicked. Maybe it was Diana Rigg as the French nun who confesses that her relationship with God is stagnant; maybe it was the Chinese colonel who opened up to the main character about this resentment of the Occupation of his country by foreign powers. But either way, the film became something more than it was, and I was swept along by the story and teared up at the (inevitable) tragic ending. This is not a happy film--drama with a capital "D", but it is worth seeing.
And then, way previously to either of these, which, ironically enough, I had forgotten: "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Oh, gosh, this was so funny, but for me the best part was the ending, when the main character's musical puppet extravaganza, "Dracula!", is shown in its finale, complete with "Avenue Q"-style puppets. It was total genius. Hell, I could have watched an entire movie just of that. Fortunately, the rest of the film was funny as well, although it constantly flirted with the line between laughing at someone because they're funny, or laughing at them because they're sad. Do not see this movie if embarrassment squicks you. I usually don't mind it, but there were a few moments where I didn't feel very good laughing at the poor schmuck main character who was clearly in pain. But then I think of his song about Dracula losing his mojo, sung in Bela Lugosi accent, and all is forgiven.
Books:
Demons are a Ghoul's Best Friend: Utter, complete, and total fluff. And it's like a bag of cheetos: I can't stop myself! I love the characters, I love the setting, I love the mystic psychic stuff... and oh, I think I ate/read too much. Victoria Laurie, please write another one, so I can gobble it down.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret: This unique children's book is a fusion of graphic novel and traditional children's book narrative storytelling. I read it all in one sitting. The story flows nicely and is interspersed with beautiful pencil drawings of the characters and the setting of the story (Paris, 1920s.) I cannot wait to find a smart child to give this to... and then watch the movies that are pivotal to the story's conclusion with them. Lovely, wonderful book.
Free Comic Book Day HAUL!:
Besides "Tiny Titans" and "Owly" which I picked up to send to some younger friends in Japan, Dark Horse was the best bet, with a 20-year art retrospective (with a very cool Adam Hughes 'Hellboy' pic) and the free 'Hellboy' comic short story, "The Mole", which was definitely on the more surreal end of things, as Hellboy stories go. The X-Men short from Marvel about Pixie (a character I'd never heard of) actually turned out be quite good as well. The colors were simply luminous, the Bad Guys appropriately menacing, and the magic effects quite beautiful. By the time the X-men themselves showed up, I had almost forgotten the comic was about them.
DVDs:
Robin Hood: The new BBC one. Despite all the historical anachronisms (especially language and costuming) I love this series, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yebisu9 does, too. The whole series is just plain old fun, even when the writers overload with clunky comparisons to today's political situations. It also helps a little that the actor playing Robin Hood looks a lot like my sister's boyfriend, but with more facial hair. So I keep thinking that Mark has shown up in our TV set, suddenly, as an ace archer and all-around awesome guy. (Which he is in real life, of course--awesome, although not ace archer. It's just weird to have that moment of deja vu.)
Movies:
Iron Man: I was honestly surprised to like this movie as much as I did. I think Robert Downey, Jr. turned out to be perfect for the role, and the story was very well-paced. Tony Stark's bad boy past was shown in enough detail that we understood how he'd changed, but not in so much detail that I wanted to smack him; his subsequent decisions regarding his responsibility to people were understandable and even a little moving. I was also glad this movie didn't hammer its ideology down the viewers' throats unlike
And then, of course, the Samuel L. Jackson snippet was all kinds of comic-nerd-pleasing. Not quite the Nerd-vana that Comic Con is, but very close.
And then for something completely different, and pretty much on the opposite end of the entire cinematic spectrum, "The Painted Veil." I need to read this book now. I enjoyed the performances in this film very much, but it was very much a FILM and not a movie. It also, for at least the first 45 minutes or so, flirted with my designation for movies which I have dubbed, "Whiney White People and their Pathetic Little Problems". There was a lot of white privilege in this movie, and a lot of whining, somewhat necessitated by the storyline and setting. But then something clicked. Maybe it was Diana Rigg as the French nun who confesses that her relationship with God is stagnant; maybe it was the Chinese colonel who opened up to the main character about this resentment of the Occupation of his country by foreign powers. But either way, the film became something more than it was, and I was swept along by the story and teared up at the (inevitable) tragic ending. This is not a happy film--drama with a capital "D", but it is worth seeing.
And then, way previously to either of these, which, ironically enough, I had forgotten: "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Oh, gosh, this was so funny, but for me the best part was the ending, when the main character's musical puppet extravaganza, "Dracula!", is shown in its finale, complete with "Avenue Q"-style puppets. It was total genius. Hell, I could have watched an entire movie just of that. Fortunately, the rest of the film was funny as well, although it constantly flirted with the line between laughing at someone because they're funny, or laughing at them because they're sad. Do not see this movie if embarrassment squicks you. I usually don't mind it, but there were a few moments where I didn't feel very good laughing at the poor schmuck main character who was clearly in pain. But then I think of his song about Dracula losing his mojo, sung in Bela Lugosi accent, and all is forgiven.
Books:
Demons are a Ghoul's Best Friend: Utter, complete, and total fluff. And it's like a bag of cheetos: I can't stop myself! I love the characters, I love the setting, I love the mystic psychic stuff... and oh, I think I ate/read too much. Victoria Laurie, please write another one, so I can gobble it down.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret: This unique children's book is a fusion of graphic novel and traditional children's book narrative storytelling. I read it all in one sitting. The story flows nicely and is interspersed with beautiful pencil drawings of the characters and the setting of the story (Paris, 1920s.) I cannot wait to find a smart child to give this to... and then watch the movies that are pivotal to the story's conclusion with them. Lovely, wonderful book.
Free Comic Book Day HAUL!:
Besides "Tiny Titans" and "Owly" which I picked up to send to some younger friends in Japan, Dark Horse was the best bet, with a 20-year art retrospective (with a very cool Adam Hughes 'Hellboy' pic) and the free 'Hellboy' comic short story, "The Mole", which was definitely on the more surreal end of things, as Hellboy stories go. The X-Men short from Marvel about Pixie (a character I'd never heard of) actually turned out be quite good as well. The colors were simply luminous, the Bad Guys appropriately menacing, and the magic effects quite beautiful. By the time the X-men themselves showed up, I had almost forgotten the comic was about them.
DVDs:
Robin Hood: The new BBC one. Despite all the historical anachronisms (especially language and costuming) I love this series, and
yebisu9 does, too. The whole series is just plain old fun, even when the writers overload with clunky comparisons to today's political situations. It also helps a little that the actor playing Robin Hood looks a lot like my sister's boyfriend, but with more facial hair. So I keep thinking that Mark has shown up in our TV set, suddenly, as an ace archer and all-around awesome guy. (Which he is in real life, of course--awesome, although not ace archer. It's just weird to have that moment of deja vu.)
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-12 03:55 am (UTC)I have the Painted Veil on my queue so I'll get to that eventually.XD
no subject
Date: 2008-05-12 02:28 pm (UTC)TPV was lovely, but it is not a "happy" movie by any stretch of the imagination. Just so you know. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-05-12 04:12 pm (UTC)I like bittersweet movies as much as happy ones. The former quite often leaves a bigger impact, too. Though I do end up crying like a huge sap in them...