Really, really tired. I would like to discuss
The Amazing Spider-Man, but I feel kind of drained. So drained that I saw it on Tuesday and still don't have the energy to say anything substantial about it. So drained that, while this entry sounds pretty bubbly, it took me an hour to write. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of good things about it, and
I kind of wish it were possible to put this movie and the Raimi movies into a blender and have a series that had Peter's parents and Gwen Stacy and the Lizard as the first villain (you can pick either set of Aunt May and Uncle Ben, they both work for me) and some of the action scenes from each one and Willem Dafoe showing up later as Green Goblin for the series-wide Big Bad, and we will just totally forget the Sandman thing happened at all, and maybe Venom can happen but it would happen less ridiculously, and Mary Jane can come in after the Gwen Stacy storyline, and Andrew Garfield will be in all of it. The problem, though, is that
apparently there was a whole 'nother movie in here that got butchered out because reasons, and that's why you get a closeup of Connors' wedding ring for no reason, and Peter acts like his father was "irresponsible" to run away even as we see a shopped-in newspaper clipping saying that his parents DIED, and That Nefarious Guy disappears with no explanation because his actual death scene was cut (per that blog post), and Connors is just randomly like I'VE GOT IT!
EVERYBODY BE LIZARDS NOW, and then some people apparently turn into lizards but we never actually see them be lizards, and I guess Peter just forgets about trying to find Uncle Ben's killer because whatevs, and all these things look like they're going somewhere and then they don't. If they had released the movie Marc Webb originally made, I think I would have loved it. I never really cottoned to Tobey Maguire, although the first and particularly the second Raimi movies were pretty good, and there was a lot of potential here that is currently lying on a cutting-room floor somewhere. I hate to say it, but
The Amazing Spider-Man is... a lot like
Prometheus in some ways. There are some great visuals and some really good acting, buuuuuut there are questions that get no answers and the pacing is really weird. Except that you can probably enjoy this one for what it is with a lot less nerd rage afterwards.
I could
probably sit down and do a Fifteen Minutes of this, but I don't know that I need to do another one quite so soon after
The Avengers (which is
here, and
Prometheus is here). I suspect it would inevitably be anticlimactic. I probably could have also done
Snow White and the Huntsman (I saw that. Did I mention I saw that?), but I probably couldn't come up with anything funnier than the tiny bit I dropped into the Avengers one, so. Also, seriously, I don't do these very often anymore, so that is my usual year's entire output in about three weeks. I'm still working with the anemia thing and the bipolar/depression thing and other health issues and such. Seriously, I do not understand how it is already July.
ALSO, I almost forgot to mention: that LJ Repost thing was a
horrible, horrible idea. The Facebook/Twitter/G+ buttons are fine, but, I am serious,
do not repost people's LJ entries to your f-lists. It will only end in tears and fire. Possibly cars flipping over and exploding, I think we had a couple of those as well. That said, I would like to thank the Whedon multi-fandom for being surprisingly positive about the whole Avengers thing--I have not had a single negative comment on that front. I mean, now that I've said that, I probably will, but, you know, let's celebrate what we have.
ALSO-ALSO, the best thing I saw on the internet in the last two weeks:
@silkskinned: TWITTER. I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR SIX HOURS AND SUDDENLY HARRY POTTER HANDS KATIE HOLMES A SOCK
GO KATIE GO!
I actually forgot that the Sandman thing ever happened, and you just reminded me. THANKS A LOT.
Go Katie go! *waves pom-poms* I've been reading up a bit on the whole Scientology deal since the news hit, and jeesus is it terrifying. Especially the interrogation of children (tw for child abuse at the link.) Also Cruise just seems like a controlling jerk in general; there was an article I landed on where he said he insisted on calling his wife Kate because "Katie is a child's name, and she is now a child-bearing woman." ECH.
What's this about Harry Potter, though?
I felt like where they were going with that was Uncle Ben implying (but not actually saying!) that "with great power comes great responsibility," and, by extension, Peter needed to stop using his super powers to be a dick. After some conversation they had, you could see that he was kind of like, "...oh." Maybe also the one he had with Gwen's father about how the police actually wanted to use the car thief to get to the larger crime ring. But the second half of the movie seemed to just kind of throw its hands up in the air, and if they were trying to get that across, I'm not sure they fully did.
What's this about Harry Potter, though?
In the HP books, if a house elf's master gives him an item of clothing, it sets him free. Which happens with Dobby--Harry tricks Draco's father into giving him a sock. "Dobby is a free elf!"
It did make it worse because the Raimi version was tonally and structurally so coherent and, much as I didn't want to sit there comparing them, they kept using the same plot beats (like ending with a funeral) but with a lot less elegance or meaning behind them. And yes, a mash-up of both versions is what they should have been heading for (loved Spidey one, most of two, and three We Do Not Speak Of).
I'm rarely on LJ nowadays so I completely missed this, but wow, they're trying to get into reblogging now?
Oh, and that Tweet is a masterpiece. :P
Edited at 2012-07-07 06:43 pm (UTC)
(You didn't mentioned you'd seen it and I kind of wondered if you'd just decided to wait for DVD on that one, since it's such a movie-heavy summer season already. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it, since though I kind of loved it, for reasons, I feel like there's a lot to criticize it for. However, I also dig how much effort it can be to Articulate Thoughts, esp. in such an aforementioned movie-heavy season when there's so much clamoring for your attention. I still salute you for doing two m15m's so close together that were both so beautiful.)
As for Katie Holmes, you go, girl! Mind you, I was profoundly annoyed by the Hollywood Reporter article repeatedly referring to Isabella and Connor Cruise as Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's ADOPTIVE children. They're their kids, get the fuck over it, Hollywood Reporter.
I would like to see what those cut scenes would have added to the movie in general. I suspect they'll be on the DVD and maybe they'll do one of those versions where scenes have been included. It won't stop me from seeing the movie again of course.
And I'm glad this whole Katie/Tom divorce thing is putting the spotlight on Scientology. It's a dangerous cult and more and more people need to be aware of the dangers they hold.