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Three movies
[possible spoilers]
Howl's Moving Castle
As everyone knows, the movie is never the book. I had to keep reminding myself of that, as one sister was subtracted, a number of characters flopped good/bad alignments, a war was added, not-England subtracted, a pet added, a magic ring added, much technology added, and the castle itself grown much larger. Oh, and Howl's womanizing has almost completely vanished, too. Which made it hard for me to focus on the plot: I can't tell whether I'm biased based on the book, or it was about as random as the plot seemed in Spirited Away. That said, it's a pretty movie, and I'm glad I went to see it, predictable as the ending was. (Yes, random and yet predictable; it's the path, not the destination, that varies.)
The Fantastic Four
I don't know any of the background (ie comics) for this, so I have much less to take issue with in the variance from canon (for whatever value of canon). On the other hand, I thought it was a bit too fast paced, not taking enough time to show as much of the whys of character change. And the woman ended up in far too subsidiary a role when not using her superpower. That said, it's a very fun adventure, with lots of fascinating effects. I particularly liked the effects for the flaming man. And the sound track was pretty good, too.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Another adventure movie with lots of effects, though not of the sf-sort. The plot is reasonably ridiculous, and there are enormous holes left open at the end, but even so, it was rather satisfying. Perhaps some of that is seeing the female protagonist be at least as effective as the male, not at all fluffy or an adjunct. A fun summer flick, if you like mayhem and an occasionally scantily-clad female. Lots of explosions and red-shirts dying; I'm still amazed that any parent would bring a stroller-aged kid to this movie, and more surprised that they'd try to reason with the kid when s/he started to cry rather than taking him/her out immediately. Much eye-rolling in the rest of the audience.
Howl's Moving Castle
As everyone knows, the movie is never the book. I had to keep reminding myself of that, as one sister was subtracted, a number of characters flopped good/bad alignments, a war was added, not-England subtracted, a pet added, a magic ring added, much technology added, and the castle itself grown much larger. Oh, and Howl's womanizing has almost completely vanished, too. Which made it hard for me to focus on the plot: I can't tell whether I'm biased based on the book, or it was about as random as the plot seemed in Spirited Away. That said, it's a pretty movie, and I'm glad I went to see it, predictable as the ending was. (Yes, random and yet predictable; it's the path, not the destination, that varies.)
The Fantastic Four
I don't know any of the background (ie comics) for this, so I have much less to take issue with in the variance from canon (for whatever value of canon). On the other hand, I thought it was a bit too fast paced, not taking enough time to show as much of the whys of character change. And the woman ended up in far too subsidiary a role when not using her superpower. That said, it's a very fun adventure, with lots of fascinating effects. I particularly liked the effects for the flaming man. And the sound track was pretty good, too.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Another adventure movie with lots of effects, though not of the sf-sort. The plot is reasonably ridiculous, and there are enormous holes left open at the end, but even so, it was rather satisfying. Perhaps some of that is seeing the female protagonist be at least as effective as the male, not at all fluffy or an adjunct. A fun summer flick, if you like mayhem and an occasionally scantily-clad female. Lots of explosions and red-shirts dying; I'm still amazed that any parent would bring a stroller-aged kid to this movie, and more surprised that they'd try to reason with the kid when s/he started to cry rather than taking him/her out immediately. Much eye-rolling in the rest of the audience.
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That has always been Sue Richard's problem, to the point that in the mid-eighties it almost became an in-joke. I remember one special issue, where Sue had to save the day due to a very particular problem (her toddler son Franklin suddenly overused his powers to a devastating degree), that opened with her getting very pissy on some feminist talk-show because the interviewer basically asked / berated her about always being the weak chick in the background. The moment she lost her long blond sixties hair and got this empowered short cut, she became interesting.
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Over here it's a 15 certificate, is it all-ages in the US? Or do they not just bother enforcing the age restrictions?
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It's funny, because the greatest criticism they kept lobbing at it was "the story is to European and not Japanese." Um, yeah. It's a European-style book. Had the reviewer bothered to check that out? Not once did the critic actually note that the movie was based on a book. And it was a 4-5 minute review.
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Because DWJ has lots of these
Shooting pubic hair? Radio-dial breasts? Snake genitalia?
Re: Because DWJ has lots of these
Snake genitalia?! I think I have to wash my mind out with soap now, thanksverymuch.
Re: Because DWJ has lots of these
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(Anonymous) 2005-07-05 05:59 am (UTC)(link)no subject
Oh, and the actual Japanese fairy tales I've read have been nice; different aesthetic than European ones, but still cohesive and understandable.
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MANDATORY DWJ FOR ALL.
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