With a second season of Jessica Jones on the way I decided to watch the first couple of episodes again... and ended up watching the whole series.
I'd remembered roughly what happened, but that didn't detract from a second viewing at all. If anything I probably enjoyed it more, because I wasn't endlessly speculating about what might happen and just enjoyed what was there.
The way that the villain is introduced so slowly is one of the highlights of the writing. The uncertainty of whether the Purple Man has really returned, combined with the general disbelief of the people around Jessica, and Jessica's fearful recollection of the past, all ratchet up the tension.
It's a good job that they got an actor as good as David Tenant to play Killgrave. Because by the time you actually see him he needs to be properly creepy... and he is, bigtime. (even for an Englishman like me, who normally chuckles at the American stereotyping of the English villain ... BTW you know Tenant is Scottish, right?)
Krysten Ritter is perfectly cast as Jones. She is beautiful ... in that gothic way that makes you think she could quite easily punch you in the mouth if you say the wrong thing. Maybe that's just me. I also liked the contrast with her "sister" figure Trish - the more conventionally "pretty" blonde, who turns out to be more violent given half a chance.
Opening doors by breaking the lock never gets old. The only effects that seem cheep are the jumps, which are mercifully rare, because they are a bit unintentionally comical.
Luke Cage is in it more than I remembered. I probably wont watch his season 1 again (the first half was good but it quickly ran out of steam) and definitely wont watch any more Iron Fist (apart from in The Defenders) as he is just annoyingly stupid.
But I digress. Jessica Jones. One thing I got again was the sense of devastation that all the victims of Killgrave felt. Some of them had been made to do terrible things; and even though they wanted to believe that they had no choice, there always seemed to be remorse and doubt that they weren't actually to blame. And a terrible fear that he might control them again.
Many people fear losing control. Losing control and being aware at the same time would be horrific. This show portrays that very well.
A new question that popped up on second viewing was why did Kevin become so nasty? This one is hard to answer, because Killgrave puts on an act for Jessica which is hard to penetrate. While he is trying to win her, you don't know if he genuinely sees the light during the hostage scene, or if he is just saying what he thinks she wants to here.
There is a great example of his wickedness when he is being hassled by a guy selling magazines in the park. Killgrave is looking thru the mags and the guy wants to know if he is going to buy one. Instead of just telling the guy to be quiet he makes him throw a cup of hot coffee into his own face.
The skill of the writers is to just give you enough doubt that Kevin is really bad; then you are all the more horrified when he does something else terrible.
So even though I knew the ending. Taking the journey to it a second time was just as interesting as the first.
Thursday, 21 December 2017
Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Fantastic Four (2015)
I didn't write about this film when it came out, because there was so much hate for it at the time that I thought I must have seen a different film from everyone else.
I liked it.
I've seen it 4 or 5 times on Blu-ray since; and I still like it.
There are some reasons why I think many people hated it. Any one of these reasons might put some people off... all of them together hit a critical mass (pun intended).
1) It is very dark
All of the main characters start off pretty unhappy. Reed's family don't understand him - so much so that he wishes he were adopted to explain why he doesn't love them. Ben's family is abusive. Sue's family were presumably massacred in Kosovo. Johnny has a bad relationship with his father - and his mother is never mentioned.
If that wasn't enough, Victor is just one big heap of no fun. Clearly he has a thing for Sue, but we don't know any details of their history, if any, just that he is jealous of Reed when he perceives a relationship developing. And it's not surprising that given the power and the means, he decides to destroy the whole of Earth and live by himself on Planet Zero. You can't get much darker than that.
2) The humour is very dry
A dark film needs some humour to give points of respite. There is plenty of humour in Fantastic Four, but it is very dry and plenty of people, or even entire cultures, might well miss it.
I once tried to explain an English joke to someone from Finland. Unsuccessfully. So I am not going to try and analyse the humour of this film here. You are just going to have to accept that at least one person (me) thought that there were funny parts in this film...
3) Another origin story
At the time this movie came out there was a general antipathy for origin stories. Particularly re-booted origin stories. Marvel Studios had moved on to the next level, as had Fox with the X-men, and even Sony had realised that their next Spiderman film couldn't start again with the origin story.
The origin of the Fantastic Four is so well known that you don't need to tell it again. Even with a different slant. Something happened to give them their powers. What happens next is the interesting part. Sadly we will never find out where this arc goes, as the movie sank so badly that sequels are impossible.
4) A smart woman
Now we are getting to the controversial issues. Unlike the 2005 version, Sue Storm is a strong, smart, independent woman. Remember how she had to take off her clothes to escape the bridge; or how she fretted about her wedding arrangements in the sequel? That Sue was a simple, do as you are told, American gal.
The 2015 version is more equal to Reed than any other man (bar Victor). She plays a key part in the story by finding Reed when everyone else has failed for a year. She isn't just a love interest for Reed - in fact they don't even progress beyond friendship in this movie. And she isn't American...
Some people find smart women threatening.
5) A black man
Perhaps the biggest controversy around this movie was the casting of a black man as Johnny Storm. It was a brave move. If the rest of the movie had been exactly what the masses wanted, then you might, just might, have pulled it off.
But anything out of place gives someone who is consciously, or unconsciously, racist a chance to say "It was bad because of XYZ" when they mean "How can Johnny be black?"
Many people are racists.
6) A mean Ben Grimm
It is quite striking how awesome The Thing is in this film. And how angry he is with Reed, not just for the accident, but for the abandonment afterwards. That seemed very realistic to me.
Compare that with the 2005 version where they tried to convey the same thing, but failed by depicting The Thing as a comedy figure for cheap laughs. Even worse, they turned him back into Ben Grimm so that he could nobly choose to turn back into The Thing to save the day - what rubbish.
7) Josh Trank's tweet
A day before the release, director Josh Trank tweeted "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would've received great reviews. You'll probably never see it. That's reality though."
We will probably never know if the studio interference messed up the movie, or if some sanity was restored to a flawed project. Either way, dissing your own movie the day before it is released seems petulant at best.
So there you have it. Fantastic Four is a good bit of entertainment, I thought, and an interesting treatment of the well known characters. Unfortunately there are too many reasons for people to not like it.
I remember the time when all superhero films were terrible, because CGI did not exist and disbelief can only be suspended so far. Maybe that makes me much more tolerant of the flaws in today's movies.
I liked it.
I've seen it 4 or 5 times on Blu-ray since; and I still like it.
There are some reasons why I think many people hated it. Any one of these reasons might put some people off... all of them together hit a critical mass (pun intended).
1) It is very dark
All of the main characters start off pretty unhappy. Reed's family don't understand him - so much so that he wishes he were adopted to explain why he doesn't love them. Ben's family is abusive. Sue's family were presumably massacred in Kosovo. Johnny has a bad relationship with his father - and his mother is never mentioned.
If that wasn't enough, Victor is just one big heap of no fun. Clearly he has a thing for Sue, but we don't know any details of their history, if any, just that he is jealous of Reed when he perceives a relationship developing. And it's not surprising that given the power and the means, he decides to destroy the whole of Earth and live by himself on Planet Zero. You can't get much darker than that.
2) The humour is very dry
A dark film needs some humour to give points of respite. There is plenty of humour in Fantastic Four, but it is very dry and plenty of people, or even entire cultures, might well miss it.
I once tried to explain an English joke to someone from Finland. Unsuccessfully. So I am not going to try and analyse the humour of this film here. You are just going to have to accept that at least one person (me) thought that there were funny parts in this film...
3) Another origin story
At the time this movie came out there was a general antipathy for origin stories. Particularly re-booted origin stories. Marvel Studios had moved on to the next level, as had Fox with the X-men, and even Sony had realised that their next Spiderman film couldn't start again with the origin story.
The origin of the Fantastic Four is so well known that you don't need to tell it again. Even with a different slant. Something happened to give them their powers. What happens next is the interesting part. Sadly we will never find out where this arc goes, as the movie sank so badly that sequels are impossible.
4) A smart woman
Now we are getting to the controversial issues. Unlike the 2005 version, Sue Storm is a strong, smart, independent woman. Remember how she had to take off her clothes to escape the bridge; or how she fretted about her wedding arrangements in the sequel? That Sue was a simple, do as you are told, American gal.
The 2015 version is more equal to Reed than any other man (bar Victor). She plays a key part in the story by finding Reed when everyone else has failed for a year. She isn't just a love interest for Reed - in fact they don't even progress beyond friendship in this movie. And she isn't American...
Some people find smart women threatening.
5) A black man
Perhaps the biggest controversy around this movie was the casting of a black man as Johnny Storm. It was a brave move. If the rest of the movie had been exactly what the masses wanted, then you might, just might, have pulled it off.
But anything out of place gives someone who is consciously, or unconsciously, racist a chance to say "It was bad because of XYZ" when they mean "How can Johnny be black?"
Many people are racists.
6) A mean Ben Grimm
It is quite striking how awesome The Thing is in this film. And how angry he is with Reed, not just for the accident, but for the abandonment afterwards. That seemed very realistic to me.
Compare that with the 2005 version where they tried to convey the same thing, but failed by depicting The Thing as a comedy figure for cheap laughs. Even worse, they turned him back into Ben Grimm so that he could nobly choose to turn back into The Thing to save the day - what rubbish.
7) Josh Trank's tweet
A day before the release, director Josh Trank tweeted "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would've received great reviews. You'll probably never see it. That's reality though."
We will probably never know if the studio interference messed up the movie, or if some sanity was restored to a flawed project. Either way, dissing your own movie the day before it is released seems petulant at best.
So there you have it. Fantastic Four is a good bit of entertainment, I thought, and an interesting treatment of the well known characters. Unfortunately there are too many reasons for people to not like it.
I remember the time when all superhero films were terrible, because CGI did not exist and disbelief can only be suspended so far. Maybe that makes me much more tolerant of the flaws in today's movies.
Monday, 11 December 2017
Stranger Things - season 1
After I watched Stranger on Netflix (a brilliant Korean thriller, check it out) I googled around to see what other people thought of it. But I couldn't find much because all my searches for Stranger returned results for Stranger Things.
Since the tone of the reviews was almost universally positive, I thought I would give it a go.
It's quite entertaining. Mainly because of the "spot which movie they are copying now" game that you can play while watching. I mean, it starts off as ET and finishes with Carrie vs Alien. With a bunch of others in the middle.
All the same, it's joined together quite well and I enjoyed it for the most part. So as long as no-one tries to acclaim it's originality or hail it as a work of genius... then I'm happy to take it as a nice bit of fluffy entertainment.
Since the tone of the reviews was almost universally positive, I thought I would give it a go.
It's quite entertaining. Mainly because of the "spot which movie they are copying now" game that you can play while watching. I mean, it starts off as ET and finishes with Carrie vs Alien. With a bunch of others in the middle.
All the same, it's joined together quite well and I enjoyed it for the most part. So as long as no-one tries to acclaim it's originality or hail it as a work of genius... then I'm happy to take it as a nice bit of fluffy entertainment.
Wednesday, 6 December 2017
The Punisher
I think that The Punisher on Netflix is a pretty good treatment of the character. He's not someone that I am an expert on - he popped up in several Spiderman comics when I was a regular reader in the 1970s and 80s; and of course he appears in the Civil War comics - I tend to think of him as the guy who kills people.
That's a tricky brief. You can't run a whole season on the premise of Frank Castle going round killing people. And you also can't change the character to make him a nice guy who's just been unlucky.
The Punisher isn't a nice guy. He resolves issues by killing people. He makes himself judge, jury and executioner. That is the character.
So I wasn't expecting the series to be that great. Even though he was well done in Daredevil Season 2. I thought that a whole series of his own might be too much.
But I think Marvel have really pulled this off well. The balance between "justified" killings and wanton violence is about right, I think. As is the balance between "pity" for Frank because of his back-story and "fear" of him as a soul that lost itself to violence long before his family were murdered.
The surrounding story weaves nicely between past and present. Episode 10 is a classic example of reshowing a simple scene from several perspectives out-of-order and revealing a little more each time. Something of a microcosm of the whole season.
In terms of plot there aren't many surprises. You can see most of the turns coming, although there are a few "wow" moments which stand out. It is really the quality of the character development that shines, supported by just enough action to keep you on edge.
Perhaps the only thing I didn't like was the ending. I found myself thinking "no, not like that" as the last scenes played out. It felt quite final to me. Of course there is always a way back for a second season... and he may reappear in other Marvel shows... but it seemed like a definite attempt to say "OK, we're done now".
That's a tricky brief. You can't run a whole season on the premise of Frank Castle going round killing people. And you also can't change the character to make him a nice guy who's just been unlucky.
The Punisher isn't a nice guy. He resolves issues by killing people. He makes himself judge, jury and executioner. That is the character.
So I wasn't expecting the series to be that great. Even though he was well done in Daredevil Season 2. I thought that a whole series of his own might be too much.
But I think Marvel have really pulled this off well. The balance between "justified" killings and wanton violence is about right, I think. As is the balance between "pity" for Frank because of his back-story and "fear" of him as a soul that lost itself to violence long before his family were murdered.
The surrounding story weaves nicely between past and present. Episode 10 is a classic example of reshowing a simple scene from several perspectives out-of-order and revealing a little more each time. Something of a microcosm of the whole season.
In terms of plot there aren't many surprises. You can see most of the turns coming, although there are a few "wow" moments which stand out. It is really the quality of the character development that shines, supported by just enough action to keep you on edge.
Perhaps the only thing I didn't like was the ending. I found myself thinking "no, not like that" as the last scenes played out. It felt quite final to me. Of course there is always a way back for a second season... and he may reappear in other Marvel shows... but it seemed like a definite attempt to say "OK, we're done now".
Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Legion - season 1 - part 1
I am half way through Legion ... which isn't on Netflix ... or TV ... so I am renting it on disc from Cinema Paradiso.
One disk = 4 episodes = half of season 1.
Yes, I am stalling. I don't know what to say about it. I don't know if I like it or not. It is weird. But good weird, or bad weird?
I'm still left guessing that the main guy (from Downton Abbey) is going to be called Legion at some point? I don't think I have heard the word uttered once yet. Which is odd. Half way through the season and the title doesn't actually mean anything, yet?
I could look it up. But then I would probably find spoilers and I would rather have some surprises / suspense to look forward to.
The atmosphere is good. There is intrigue. But the few action sequences, so far, have been a bit rubbish.
So I don't know where we are going here. Will the early promise fizzle out like a dud firework... or explode just after you though it was done?
I will watch the second disk. With some apprehension. And fingers crossed for a big finish.
One disk = 4 episodes = half of season 1.
Yes, I am stalling. I don't know what to say about it. I don't know if I like it or not. It is weird. But good weird, or bad weird?
I'm still left guessing that the main guy (from Downton Abbey) is going to be called Legion at some point? I don't think I have heard the word uttered once yet. Which is odd. Half way through the season and the title doesn't actually mean anything, yet?
I could look it up. But then I would probably find spoilers and I would rather have some surprises / suspense to look forward to.
The atmosphere is good. There is intrigue. But the few action sequences, so far, have been a bit rubbish.
So I don't know where we are going here. Will the early promise fizzle out like a dud firework... or explode just after you though it was done?
I will watch the second disk. With some apprehension. And fingers crossed for a big finish.
Saturday, 18 November 2017
Suicide Squad is good
I heard it again yesterday from a critic reviewing Justice League. Blah blah blah "and the derisable Suicide Squad" blah blah blah.
Lazy, lazy, lazy. Some people still think it is cool to slam SS. It won an Oscar? Oh woe; the world is ending; this is as bad as Trump winning president.
Get over yourself, or fuck off back to Twitter where no-one is listening.
DC has many problems with its films. Primarily because there are many good Marvel films and they are trying to catch up... without looking like they are copying someone else's homework.
DC fans are different from Marvel fans. I think Suicide Squad is the most Marvel-like film that DC have done... which is a problem? I don't get it.
Marvel's "secret" is simple. It's a balance between light and dark, humour and action. All the DC films barring Suicide Squad have got that terribly wrong (with the exception of The Dark Knight, which can carry the excessive darkness by playing two differently dark characters, Batman and Joker, against each other).
I think there is another factor which whipped up the anti-SS feelings in the echo chambers of social media. Sex. The character Harley Quinn is overtly sexual and that is a problem for critics. Female critics have to decide if the film is exploiting women and using the character primarily as a sex object. Male critics have to do the same... but if they "get it wrong" then they are going to be lambasted as sexist pigs.
If the critics want to play safe then they can just pan the film for anything else they can think of and dodge the sex issue entirely. That's what a lot of them did. They did the same with Sucker Punch, which was so sexy (a major point of the film) that I could almost see the cold sweats on the male critics as they thought "I can't possibly give this a good review without being crucified by every woman I know".
And social media is inherently negative. You only have to look on Twitter for a few seconds to see that. People love to get their teeth into slagging something off. Take a few genuine fans who have legitimate gripes about how the source material has been translated, some critics desperate to not mention sex, press a few buttons and you have a meme that Suicide Squad is the worst film ever made.
Suicide Squad is not a terrible film. It's not even a bad film. I have seen a lot of terrible films and even more bad films. On balance, based on the film itself and not what other people say about it, I think it is actually quite good.
Lazy, lazy, lazy. Some people still think it is cool to slam SS. It won an Oscar? Oh woe; the world is ending; this is as bad as Trump winning president.
Get over yourself, or fuck off back to Twitter where no-one is listening.
DC has many problems with its films. Primarily because there are many good Marvel films and they are trying to catch up... without looking like they are copying someone else's homework.
DC fans are different from Marvel fans. I think Suicide Squad is the most Marvel-like film that DC have done... which is a problem? I don't get it.
Marvel's "secret" is simple. It's a balance between light and dark, humour and action. All the DC films barring Suicide Squad have got that terribly wrong (with the exception of The Dark Knight, which can carry the excessive darkness by playing two differently dark characters, Batman and Joker, against each other).
I think there is another factor which whipped up the anti-SS feelings in the echo chambers of social media. Sex. The character Harley Quinn is overtly sexual and that is a problem for critics. Female critics have to decide if the film is exploiting women and using the character primarily as a sex object. Male critics have to do the same... but if they "get it wrong" then they are going to be lambasted as sexist pigs.
If the critics want to play safe then they can just pan the film for anything else they can think of and dodge the sex issue entirely. That's what a lot of them did. They did the same with Sucker Punch, which was so sexy (a major point of the film) that I could almost see the cold sweats on the male critics as they thought "I can't possibly give this a good review without being crucified by every woman I know".
And social media is inherently negative. You only have to look on Twitter for a few seconds to see that. People love to get their teeth into slagging something off. Take a few genuine fans who have legitimate gripes about how the source material has been translated, some critics desperate to not mention sex, press a few buttons and you have a meme that Suicide Squad is the worst film ever made.
Suicide Squad is not a terrible film. It's not even a bad film. I have seen a lot of terrible films and even more bad films. On balance, based on the film itself and not what other people say about it, I think it is actually quite good.
Saturday, 11 November 2017
Stranger - season 1
I really hope that there are more seasons of Stranger, because I really enjoyed it.
Probably the best TV detective drama I have seen since The Bridge. And it reminded me a lot of The Bridge at times, since it has a socially detached main character who teams up with his "opposite" to solve the crimes.
The plot is clever, with suspicion switching from character to character and back again. And the acting is great; particularly from the leads.
One thing I like about foreign language detective dramas is that you cannot look away for a second, otherwise you might miss something important. That makes the whole experience very immersive. And also you notice things that you might not if it were in English - the cultural details of Korean society were there to see - all that bowing and apologising.
The episodes (16 of them) are quite long too, which also drags you in. I think most of the episodes were just over an hour long, and the finale was nearly 90 minutes.
The last 20 minutes of the finale sets us up nicely for a second season. So let's hope that we don't have to wait too long for it.
Probably the best TV detective drama I have seen since The Bridge. And it reminded me a lot of The Bridge at times, since it has a socially detached main character who teams up with his "opposite" to solve the crimes.
The plot is clever, with suspicion switching from character to character and back again. And the acting is great; particularly from the leads.
One thing I like about foreign language detective dramas is that you cannot look away for a second, otherwise you might miss something important. That makes the whole experience very immersive. And also you notice things that you might not if it were in English - the cultural details of Korean society were there to see - all that bowing and apologising.
The episodes (16 of them) are quite long too, which also drags you in. I think most of the episodes were just over an hour long, and the finale was nearly 90 minutes.
The last 20 minutes of the finale sets us up nicely for a second season. So let's hope that we don't have to wait too long for it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)