Cultural stuff - Movies, Books, TV

[shadowkat]

I did watch Alias this week ...was not impressed.



It may just be me, no wait, I know it's not just me - I read cjl's review on ATPO, so it's definitely not just me - I think the show jumped tracks. It changed a key plot point to such an extent that I found myself scratching my head and going...okay, did not follow that. And nope does not work. And oh, that's so stupid and conventional and predicatable and less interesting then the previous idea. Damn it all to hell. I'm switching to West Wing next week and it sucks that I skipped it this week, since West Wing is actually getting *really* good and actually moving its characters in interesting and new directions. Plus - it occurred to me half way through the episode that I'd seen most of it before, done much better, on La Femme Nikta.

Alias was actually sort of entertaining me until the break point - when Syd tells Vaughn that she hates her father because he executed her mother. Uhm okay. What? That is not what I saw last season. The story I saw was that her father was manipulating her just as Lauren's mother had been manipulating her.
That was the big reveal. Jack was, pause for suspense, just like Sloan. That
story even worked with Syd despising him - that made sense. Does not make sense that she'd despise him for killing Irina, since Irina has tried to kill her about six times over the last three seasons already. Also makes no sense that he'd think the news Irina hired a hit on her would destroy her, since, ahem, she's tried to kill Syd six times already in the series. Bored now.
So I think - why such a stupid story line? Oh that's right they need a reason for Nadia and Syd to be at odds, because the prophecy is that one of the sisters will kill the other. And this also backs up Irina trying to kill Syd, since hey this protects the daughter she never knew, put into hiding, and
mistreated. So Nadia is probably going to want to kill Syd's daddy now. God,
I hope not, because that would just be incredibly lame. Also why would Nadia care? Nadia doesn't know Irina. The only person Nadia knows or cares for is well Syd and Sloan. No, too stupid and conventional. Guess what? That's what they did. Sigh. Television shows. Oh and the previews for the next few weeks?
You guessed it: Nadia and Syd fight. Syd and Vaughn go into a mission and one, gasp, may not make it out alive. (yeah right, we can only hope.)Oh well, at least the villian was pretty.

Methinks I'm watching West Wing next week instead - next week Josh Lyman is running Jimmy Smits campaign, Martin Sheen can't move his legs, and Donna/Will are running Gary Cole's campaign, plus we have Tim Matheson as the slimey ex-VP. Oh good drama. Top notch character actors. No stupid leggy females with bad accents and only three expressions. Yes - I'm there. Bye Bye Alias. Can only watch one, you know, since no TIVO (me, poor American, well moderately poor - there's levels obviously, not a rich one)Nice knowing yah.


Lost was *really* good. I think this may be my new favorite show. Tantalizing dark characters. This week we dug a little deeper into Kate and Sawyer, but not too deep. Also not predictable. I honestly have no clue where they are going with this one and I like that. The characters are just getting more interesting and multi-faceted. It's willing to go to that dark place. And isn't quite as exploitive as Alias is regarding eye candy hijinks. Plus, so far, the stories track. Continuity. Still there.

Really looking forward to next week's episode.

Medium - this show has potential. I like Patricia Arquette's character. Not overly predictable. Love Arliss Howard who plays the husband, haven't seen him since American Gothic. Also nicely creepy with a touch of warmth and grit. And any show where the heroine states that she just doesn't have the constitution to handle being an attorney is okay in my book. Neither do I. Neither do I.

Joan of Arcadia - lovely episode on Game Theory. Once again the concept emerges that we are playing the "infinite game" and the important thing is to stay in the game no matter how hard it seems. Joan reminds me of me in high school - dorky, awkward, and not very good at school - struggling. While my younger brother seemed to be a brain and jock all wrapped into one. (Okay maybe not as much like me...)I like the game metaphor. It makes sense. Every move we make - has a ripple effect. And is important. Even leaving the game affects the game. Each move has an effect on other moves. What is important is to keeping making those moves. IF you jump out - you have no idea how many moves you could have upset. Everything you do - matters. Reassurring, uplifting, and scarey all at the same time.

Veronica Mars - growing on me. This week's episode was fantastic. Flawless. The reflection of Mack's situation on Veronica's perfect. And Mack?
One of the most realistic portrayals of a high school student I've seen.
My high school experience was a mix of Veronica Mars and Joan of Arcadia, I think.

On the book side of the fence - The Princess Bride by William Goldman is a pleasant surprise. Much better than the movie and not what you think at all. Well - I guess it depends on what you think - I thought, oh it will be an adventure tale told by an old man to his grandson. Nope. It is Goldman's satirization of 18th and 19th Century Adventure novels by people such as Alexander Dumas. He makes fun of things like the overuse of parentheses. Descriptions of clothing or packing or 19th Century practices. Very tongue in cheek. Very funny.

Next book for the book club appears to be Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem. So apparently I am destined to read this novel whether I want to or not. (Not the first book the book club has arm wrestled me into reading.)
Feeling rather ambivalent about it at the moment, even though I loved his first book Motherless Brooklyn about a private eye/gangster body guard with Touretts Syndrom.

On the movie front - saw House of Flying Daggers with cjlasky.
I preferred Hero. No clue why. Maybe because the romance was downplayed. Here it is just a tad over the top. Movie was beautiful though. Wonderful sense of color. Like watching lots of beautiful paintings. Would have been better I think if they'd cut the last fifteen minutes of it. I give it a B. Is worth seeing on the big screen - since it is so pretty.

Okay must go to bed now.

As an aside - appreciation of cultural things like books, movies and tv shows is such a subjective thing. Don't believe me? Check out a couple of the critics best and worst lists. Quite funny. One critic's best pick is on another's worst list. Hee. See? Totally subjective. So take the above opinions with a healthy grain of salt. Just my opinion after all.

Comments

[deevalish.livejournal.com]

I was not too impressed with Alias, either. And I've been watching it since the beginning. Last season was aimless and there's a disconnect with last wednesday's ep and last season. I know that JJ Abrams, the show's creator, wanted to get it back on track but it didn't really work. I'll still give it try next week.

I much preferred Hero over House of Flying Daggers. Both were gorgeously filmed and art directed but the love story in House was too much for me. A friend at work pointed out that there was a love story in Hero as well. But there was a huge difference between that love story and the one in House.

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

I tried watching Alias this week. I've never seen the show before, and since so many seem to think it's a great show, thought I'd give it a look. Bored now. Won't watch it again. Can't say the acting was very impressive, either.
I am totally hooked on Lost. It has actual character development, good acting, and intriguing plot lines.
Guess that proves your point about every thing being subjective (something I really saw with Buffy), so whatever turns your crank, I say.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I much preferred Hero over House of Flying Daggers. Both were gorgeously filmed and art directed but the love story in House was too much for me. A friend at work pointed out that there was a love story in Hero as well. But there was a huge difference between that love story and the one in House.

Thanks. I agree. Nice to see I'm not alone in that. And that is the reason I preferred Hero as real.

The love story in Hero was more of a subplot, so understated, and yet in my opinion more real. More emotionally gut-wrenching. I cried for that love story in Hero. I laughed at the one in House, which was an odd reaction I know. My difficulty with the one in House was it played on so many of the romantic cliches - "I'll kill you before I'll let you be with him." Come on. If you really loved her, you'd just be happy she was alive. OR - "we can't ever be together because we are on opposite sides and I owe my ex-lover for saving my life." Then of course - they all keep popping up again after we think they've died. I liked the twists in House, but the love story didn't work for me - I rolled my eyes during it. In Hero, the love story was between the two assasines who'd spent their lives together, who were literally husband and wife - their conflict wasn't something so cliche as another lover - that was the mislead, in fact in Hero they scoff at the idea that either assassin would be so petty as to fall victim to jealousy - their love was more trusting and adult. No the conflict between them was their beliefs or ideology. One believed they needed to kill the Emperor for both vengeance and the sake of their country, the other took a more pacisfist approach and believed killing the Emperor would just make it worse and it was better to spare him.

It's interesting because some people prefer House because it doesn't have the ideology Hero did. Their main problem with Hero was the ideology (just like so many people disliked The Incredibles because of ideology - it rubbed them the wrong way.) The whole plot in Hero about how you shouldn't kill the Emperor because he is uniting the country - even if he is doing it violently. The ideology of Hero turned them completely off, (I think because the Emperor uniting the country with violence bore too close a resemblance in their minds of other more recent and equally nasty dictators and any movie that showed support of that as being mildly a good thing was anathema. ie. It hit a raw wound..) - they disliked the movie because of it's politics.

I guess I'm odd, because the ideology of Hero really didn't bother me that much. Don't get me wrong - I'd hate that message if I saw it in the film, but I didn't. I did not read the film in the same way they did. To me - the message was violence does not stop violence. Killing the Emperor will not solve the problem, it will just make it worse. If we don't kill the Emperor and show the Emperor that violence is not necessary to accomplish a task by our actions - then perhaps he will figure it out. It is a risk, but it is not as bad as killing him - only to have someone as bad or worse taking his spot. All we can do is let our actions be our example. If we choose violence than we justify his actions, if we choose peace, we don't. That was the message I saw in Hero. I did not see and still don't see the message others saw, including many critics, that it was a propaganda film about how bringing the country together for the good of all is the most important thing no matter the cost. I also did not appreciate people scolding me for not seeing that message and telling me that I was wrong and they were right. And making me feel guilty for liking a movie and not seeing the facist propaganda that they did. (sorry for the off-topic there..., but seeing House again reminded me of that argument.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

To really like Alias - I think you have to be a Jennifer Garner fan. The supporting characters aren't developed enough and don't get to do enough outside of her - for it to be possible to watch the show and ignore the lead. It was possible to do that with BTVS
at times, because Xander, Willow, Spike, Giles, Dawn, Angel, Cordelia, Oz, Anya, Tara - they were all developed and had episodes that were devoted to them with Buffy in the background. You did not have to like Sarah Michelle Gellar to like BTVS.
That's not true about Alias. And it may be at the root of my problem with the show - Garner, I'm ambivalent about - neither like nor dislike. I don't get her appeal and will not spend money on her movies, but I don't hate her either. I just don't think she's a very good actress.

That said - I've watched Alias since the beginning - hung in there during S3, and have only given up on it a few times. The best seasons were 1 and 2, when Will Tippin, Francie, and Irina were on board - Syd was playing double agent with Sd6 and her romance with Vaughn hadn't totally taken off. Haven't enjoyed it much since
Irina and Will left and the romance between Syd and Vaughn took front and center.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the pilot for Medium, too--Patricia Arquette's character is an interesting take on the supernaturally gifted heroine--not super-young or super-cute, with everyday family responsibilities. And the Texas sheriff was awesome. I hope they find a way to bring him back eventually.

[maggiesox.livejournal.com]

I'm glad someone else enjoyed Medium...I haven't heard much from anyone else, and I was starting to worry that we were the only ones thta watched it!

The Princess Bride is really one of my all-time favorite books- I've always enjoyed it far, far more than the movies, and I think the ending is far more in keeping with the story itself.

[deevalish.livejournal.com]

I saw the message that others saw but, like you, it did not bother me. It just made me think a bit on it. How interesting that these assasins and trained warriors ultimately became pacifists, not true Gandhi-type one's but pacifists none the less.

My other response to the love story in Hero was that that love was also not an ideal one. These two (Sky and Snow) people did love each other very much but Snow's sense of honor became very distorted. So much so that her love for Sky transformed a bit into a love of knowing that she had this ultimate weapon of which to exact her revenge on the man responsible for the death of her father and the demise of her people. He was her instrument. I think that Sky was a little blind to this in the very beginning but, as we see in the end, he stuck to his conclusion of what he felt should be done, not what he had been groomed to do all this time.

I agreed with the message that violence does not necessarily mean it should be met with violence. Killing the Emperor would only bring into the court one of his corrupt advisors who would've been likely overthrown after much bloodshed. Better to impress upon the Emperor, a very smart and sharp minded man, that all these very clever and infamous assasins came upon the conclusion that he was better off alive than dead. It's a start.

[cjlasky.livejournal.com]

Finally got you aboard the Veronica Mars bandwagon.

(One down, two million more fans to go to avoid early cancellation.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I agree. The characters on this show have a realistic quirkiness that I like. Not beautiful models like on all the other shows. The Texas sheriff was particularly interesting. Looks like a show that might actually show-case some interesting
character actors and delve more into character than just the procedures. Most of the procedurals bore me because they spend too much time on the procedures (which aren't real procedures anyway) and too little on the characters. This one seems to be the opposite. And I happen to be a fan of Partricia Arquett which doesn't hurt.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard much from anyone else, and I was starting to worry that we were the only ones thta watched it!

Trust me to find the shows that few people are watching and are a little quirky and cultish. (as long as they aren't on Premium channels like HBO and Showtime, which I can't afford.) Although I think Medium is actually being watched - if you believe the commericials. They are certainly going out of their way to promote it.

I like it - it's sort of under the wire, not overly flashy, with solid performances.

Haven't made it to the end of Princess Bride yet, but am looking forward to it now. Before I figured it would be just like the movie. What is interesting about the book is how different it is from the movie, and how much more satirical.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I saw the message that others saw but, like you, it did not bother me. It just made me think a bit on it. How interesting that these assasins and trained warriors ultimately became pacifists, not true Gandhi-type one's but pacifists none the less.

(nods) Yes, that's how I saw it too. It's not that I didn't see the message, but that it didn't bother me for the reasons you state so well here. Thank you for putting my thoughts in words. I've been struggling to explain these thoughts for a while.

My other response to the love story in Hero was that that love was also not an ideal one. These two (Sky and Snow) people did love each other very much but Snow's sense of honor became very distorted. So much so that her love for Sky transformed a bit into a love of knowing that she had this ultimate weapon of which to exact her revenge on the man responsible for the death of her father and the demise of her people. He was her instrument.

Exactly. (nods in agreement again). That's what I liked about it. It was a dark love story in a way - because Snow in a way was using Sky as her champion, when he refused to play the role she set out for him - she was faced with the choice whether to accept him or destroy him. Very complicated relationship - far more so than the relationships in House, even though more screen time was spent on them.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Me too! I like Veronica Mars! I just haven't been around on Tuesday nights to catch more than a few episodes, so far, but at least it hasn't been canceled yet, so I'm hoping to stay with it. I'm still having trouble distinguishing the two rich brat boys--one used to be Veronica's boyfriend; the other, not so much, but they look too much alike. Bad casting. Or maybe they're supposed to be each other's evil twins? ;-)

Agreed. My difficulty with the show to begin with was the similarity between many of the male actors - Duncan/Logan look way too much alike. For a while they had three of them - Duncan/Troy/Logan who all looked exactly alike - of the three Logan seemed the most distinctive.
That actor is a young version of Mathew Lillard. Also reminds me of the roles James Spader used to play, but not as interesting or hot as Spader. (He makes me miss Spader, Marsters, and Lillard actually.)

That said - the show is growing on me. The last few episodes, including this weeks have been excellent. Which is a good sign. It started out weak then got *really* good - cutting out the actors who didn't appeal (the teacher, Troy) and picking up on ones who did (Mack, Logan's parents, the Sheriff) - also emphasizing the bitterness Veronica feels over the smugness. It's a nice mix of noir and high school angst, with more focus on adult storylines than most high school shows have.

Also find myself liking Medium in spite of myself. I want to disapprove of it, but Patricia Arquette is too good, and the understated style helps. If they'd done it all creepy and sensationalistic, it would be easy to dismiss.

Have had exactly the same response. I keep expecting it to do the smulchy predictable thing and it keeps surprising me. This week's episode for instance - instead of having them realize, whoops we put an innocent man on death row - the heroine realized she may not always be right. (Don't get me wrong - I'm against the death penalty, I just don't like it when dramas hammer you over the head with it - much prefer they stand back, give you the tale, let you make up your own mind.) I guess - I hate pontification in drama, maybe because I hate it when I do it myself? ;-) It's a weird show - I find myself liking the characters, interested in the story, yet uncertain of the message.

Princess Bride, the book, is indeed fabulous. I read it way back when and enjoy it so much. Ever listened to Goldman's commentary on the PB DVD? He so loves the book, and the screenplay, and he worked so hard to get the movie made, and was so excited to be involved with it. He wants to maintain that jaded persona he creates for the novel's narrator, but you can tell how much the story means to him.

This is a DVD that I'm going to have to consider buying at some point.
It's on my wish list along with: Noises Off, Grosse Point Blank, Spirited Away/Castle Calistroga and Zero Effect. I know, weird choices, but all they oddly make me happy for different reasons.
Have yet to see the DVD - so can't comment on it. Maybe a rental in the near future.