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x_losWatched: Hot Fuzz (we've all seen it before, but still cute), and Ghost Ship (WAY cleverer than the shitty cover and lame previews might have implied)
Gave in and bought: The Liar over The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within (though having glanced at it I need this book at some point), because Iowa City's Barnes and Noble has to special order Moab Is My Washpot and doesn't even offer Making History. Which is disheartening given my serious alternative history kink. Though I don't know about the supposed breakdown into screenplay format at points. Dubious Erin is dubious. I like format experimentation as much as the next ludicrously pretentious girl, but, er, script format in the midst of a prose piece to "allow a lot of information to be shared in a relatively short space of time," quoth wikipedia? It sounds a little cheapish, but we'll see. He's a good writer, so it's probably 1) more elegant than it sounds and 2) fine. Also, wiki REALLY could have spoiler-warning'd me. I'm going to have to wait till I forget all this to read the thing. Luckily I'm quite tired, so sooner said that done.
Surprisingly Prarie Lights is for once even less well-stocked. Not a damn book by the man. Given that this is not the case across the pond, cross-Atlantic marketing has apparently done this man no favors--I mean, his parts on American television are smallsmallsmall, and I've never seen him do a single interview promoting his literary or theatrical work. I read ONE on V for Vendetta, but I think it was in the Guardian--so I'm cheating anyway there. Maybe he just prefers not to cultivate this market? Or maybe he's tried and failed or been told by someone in charge of representing him that he's Too British For Us (and I could definitely see that)?
*EDIT* Also having wiki'd him, I think I'd like to see an ep of QI. It sounds weird but potentially promising.
Ghost Ship: mild to heavy *:*SPOILERS*:*
Ghost Ship has some gorgeous shots, and a montage scene of death that outdoes Revenger's Tragedy. The ghost-girl, Katie's, acting is interesting. The transition between her humanity and her after 50 years of being a ghost is well done. A lot of the world building holds together neater than these things usually do in horror movies, and the dynamic between the living and dead captains is understated and compelling.
Every horror movie faces the challenge of reinventing gore, making it startling again. The Dancing Scene near the beginning is shocking, artistically compelling (minus the cheesy but forgivable hand-twitching that reminds you this IS a lowish budget horror movie), and even a bit felt. The previously mentioned montage scene of death is chaotic, choreographed--operatic, really. It's persistent music and film-school-esque showy jumpy transitions (not Keen Eddie bad, mind) don't really detract from the running women, the sensuously dumped rat poison, the burbling arcs of vomit, the carefully toweled-off sweaty faces of the cradled dying. Katie's expressions during all this--the disgusted wince at her own childish scream, the stoicism in front of a firing line, the hard flicker of pity--do more to tell you about the nature of her current ghostly existence and the horrors of the last forty years aboard the boat than any info-dumping might have.
That said: watch for crap tropes. Femme Fatale is stale and insufficiently driven for the amount to which she figures into the origin story and the contemporary action. Angry Dead Crewman Angrily Blames Captain Even Though It Obviously Isn't His Fault Despite His Noble Guilty Conscience. Latino man dies first, black man second. Points for Ridley-esque heroine and not making a giant deal about the Dude Who Loves Her, but still, even though Katie's a good character-- Little British Supernatural Schoolgirl: she gets around
The film was apparently originally conceived as a the story of four salvagers who get marooned on the ship they attempt to salvage, a tight bottle-episode psychological drama as the salvagers turn against each other, growing paranoid as they drift without real hope of rescue. You can see this lineage in the better-than usual characterization and the uneven but sometimes very good acting.
The addition of a fully realized horror component thus builds on a firm skeleton, and The Twist, while thoroughly cued, does not reach gagging, 'current M. Night Shamlan movie' levels of obvious. Eugh. Just remembered The Happening for a minute. *shudder*
We were debating as to whether The Twist could have been better handled, but while Sam wanted to Gaimen it out with more on the nature of the representative of Evil, and L sort of elected to go with better explaining elements of why he was unique, I felt the audience understands the basic trope at work well enough to not need a ton more mythos? Also, while L is probably right about the details of what he's doing needing a more careful examination in the film, I can't imagine how the movie could go there without ham-fistedly elevating the villain to mythic super specialness or bungling what's an 'evasive-without-being-frustrating-and-seeming-lost' villain M.O. L points out it would work better in a book, and is right.
So overall, an imperfect but relatively well done film that UTTERLY bombed. Poor marketing, methinks. I wasn't interested in seeing the film in theaters. I remember all too clearly the poster that convinced me of this, with a cheesy skull 'Little Photoshop of Horrors''d 'round its prow. Thanks all the same, but no.
L and I's attempt to buy and watch Daywatch failed epically, btw. Though we may do Into the Wild tomorrow.
Gave in and bought: The Liar over The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within (though having glanced at it I need this book at some point), because Iowa City's Barnes and Noble has to special order Moab Is My Washpot and doesn't even offer Making History. Which is disheartening given my serious alternative history kink. Though I don't know about the supposed breakdown into screenplay format at points. Dubious Erin is dubious. I like format experimentation as much as the next ludicrously pretentious girl, but, er, script format in the midst of a prose piece to "allow a lot of information to be shared in a relatively short space of time," quoth wikipedia? It sounds a little cheapish, but we'll see. He's a good writer, so it's probably 1) more elegant than it sounds and 2) fine. Also, wiki REALLY could have spoiler-warning'd me. I'm going to have to wait till I forget all this to read the thing. Luckily I'm quite tired, so sooner said that done.
Surprisingly Prarie Lights is for once even less well-stocked. Not a damn book by the man. Given that this is not the case across the pond, cross-Atlantic marketing has apparently done this man no favors--I mean, his parts on American television are smallsmallsmall, and I've never seen him do a single interview promoting his literary or theatrical work. I read ONE on V for Vendetta, but I think it was in the Guardian--so I'm cheating anyway there. Maybe he just prefers not to cultivate this market? Or maybe he's tried and failed or been told by someone in charge of representing him that he's Too British For Us (and I could definitely see that)?
*EDIT* Also having wiki'd him, I think I'd like to see an ep of QI. It sounds weird but potentially promising.
Ghost Ship: mild to heavy *:*SPOILERS*:*
Ghost Ship has some gorgeous shots, and a montage scene of death that outdoes Revenger's Tragedy. The ghost-girl, Katie's, acting is interesting. The transition between her humanity and her after 50 years of being a ghost is well done. A lot of the world building holds together neater than these things usually do in horror movies, and the dynamic between the living and dead captains is understated and compelling.
Every horror movie faces the challenge of reinventing gore, making it startling again. The Dancing Scene near the beginning is shocking, artistically compelling (minus the cheesy but forgivable hand-twitching that reminds you this IS a lowish budget horror movie), and even a bit felt. The previously mentioned montage scene of death is chaotic, choreographed--operatic, really. It's persistent music and film-school-esque showy jumpy transitions (not Keen Eddie bad, mind) don't really detract from the running women, the sensuously dumped rat poison, the burbling arcs of vomit, the carefully toweled-off sweaty faces of the cradled dying. Katie's expressions during all this--the disgusted wince at her own childish scream, the stoicism in front of a firing line, the hard flicker of pity--do more to tell you about the nature of her current ghostly existence and the horrors of the last forty years aboard the boat than any info-dumping might have.
That said: watch for crap tropes. Femme Fatale is stale and insufficiently driven for the amount to which she figures into the origin story and the contemporary action. Angry Dead Crewman Angrily Blames Captain Even Though It Obviously Isn't His Fault Despite His Noble Guilty Conscience. Latino man dies first, black man second. Points for Ridley-esque heroine and not making a giant deal about the Dude Who Loves Her, but still, even though Katie's a good character-- Little British Supernatural Schoolgirl: she gets around
The film was apparently originally conceived as a the story of four salvagers who get marooned on the ship they attempt to salvage, a tight bottle-episode psychological drama as the salvagers turn against each other, growing paranoid as they drift without real hope of rescue. You can see this lineage in the better-than usual characterization and the uneven but sometimes very good acting.
The addition of a fully realized horror component thus builds on a firm skeleton, and The Twist, while thoroughly cued, does not reach gagging, 'current M. Night Shamlan movie' levels of obvious. Eugh. Just remembered The Happening for a minute. *shudder*
We were debating as to whether The Twist could have been better handled, but while Sam wanted to Gaimen it out with more on the nature of the representative of Evil, and L sort of elected to go with better explaining elements of why he was unique, I felt the audience understands the basic trope at work well enough to not need a ton more mythos? Also, while L is probably right about the details of what he's doing needing a more careful examination in the film, I can't imagine how the movie could go there without ham-fistedly elevating the villain to mythic super specialness or bungling what's an 'evasive-without-being-frustrating-and-seeming-lost' villain M.O. L points out it would work better in a book, and is right.
So overall, an imperfect but relatively well done film that UTTERLY bombed. Poor marketing, methinks. I wasn't interested in seeing the film in theaters. I remember all too clearly the poster that convinced me of this, with a cheesy skull 'Little Photoshop of Horrors''d 'round its prow. Thanks all the same, but no.
L and I's attempt to buy and watch Daywatch failed epically, btw. Though we may do Into the Wild tomorrow.
