Now I know I'm not supposed to like "The Spirit" but... aw hell I'll go ahead and do it anyway.

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Finally got around to watching "The Spirit" on dvd. Though it was roundly panned as a bad movie because of lousy acting, too many characters not enough plot, Miller directing, etc... I actually liked it.

First off: It was gorgeous to watch if you like that style of mixing Black/White graphic novel like shots with gritty real action. If you liked Sin city it's more of the same with similar effects but stood on it's own. It didn't seem quite as violent (or at least violent in a different less graphic way somehow) than Sin City. I actually did think Sin City was great.

Second: I didn't take the movie too seriously going in. So it was all a pleasant surprise when it did work well. There were laughable parts by design and then others that I just found amusing or funny by myself. But then I sometimes laugh at the damnedest things. I found this movie entertaining. Not the first or last time I will like something others don't. Reviews don't really tell me if I'll like it or not. They just don't pay folk like me to review movies... (now there's a surprise right?)

Third: No one in this movie is hard at all to watch. Eva Mendes as Sand Saref was a knockout (all the women in this movie were lookers...) Spirit was okay and Samuel Jackson (Octopus) was good. Yes, the characters were a bit shallow but pleasing to watch. They had to work with the lopsided dialog they were given and sometimes it was well... silly while angling for that dark noir, detective, thriller, angsty action pulp process.

If you like graphic novels, gritty stuff like the first Batman movie and thought the way they shot (and pieced together) Sin City was amazing then go ahead and buy or rent The Spirit. It won't knock your socks off by a long shot and I wouldn't skip anything truly important to watch it but... you likely will enjoy it. Perhaps a guilty pleasure to be had whilst complaining of all those reasons to not like it so you don't have to say "Yup. I liked it" to anyone.

And yes, I admit the running moody narrative of the Spirit himself got mildly annoying at times and didn't add much really to the, er, plot but oh well. Trying to add to the overall picture of the pained psyche I suppose.

I doubt Eisner would have been exactly crazy about The Spirit but most movies aren't perfect or even remotely perfect.
The artist in me that would love to put some of her stories into graphic novel format likes watching these movies a lot.
I can understand however why many people wouldn't have liked it. It isn't a fantastic movie but it's definitely watch-able.

Don't go by me though, I loved The Crow, Sin City, Pulp Fiction and thought Kill Bill was somewhat amusing.
Hopeless eh?

G'night,

Laura

Alan Moore's "Watchmen" in a movie: not fantastic but not bad either

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Finally decided to see “Watchmen” in the movies tonight.
I wasn’t at all sure that I really wanted to see it.
You see I was one of the few people out there that wasn’t crazy over the “V for Vendetta” movie though I really liked the graphic/comic series. The story and actors were good, and the movie wasn’t bad but it wasn’t what I wanted it to be.
Alan Moore wasn’t at all behind the Hollywood production of “Watchmen” so…
By the way Alan Moore is really rather odd but damn good at writing interesting series and being himself I suppose. He’s in “The League of Extraordinary Gentleman” as far as I’m concerned.

I’ve been a long time “graphic (for lack of any better term) novel” reader, though not a fanatic.
Couldn’t afford to be one. Started with comics, and underground comics, Heavy Metal before it turned into well… whatever. I still have the first 3 years worth saved around here somewhere and a few Fat Freddy’s Cat too. Began reading comics and graphic novels early on (Once upon a time I wanted to be an illustrator and went to college for Advertising Art and Design) and never stopped loving the comic/graphic medium to this day.

Unfortunately I got rid of all my comic books (girls weren’t supposed to read them: grow up and all) so when I moved out of parents house they were all given away.
Based on my reaction to the comic book tables at a few I-Con/Otacon visits I’ll never go to a comic-con I’d just sit and cry. Sadly, I had just about everything all the original stuff.
It’s not their monetary value that I get upset about it’s just that it makes me want them back to read and have. I loved comic books with a passion. It would have been better if I realized my interests were mine before I tried to “grow up” and be someone that I wasn’t as comfortable with.
Ah well, water under the bridge.


Back to Watchmen: I had mixed feelings about this movie. Yes, I enjoyed it and it followed the story all right… It wasn’t as gory as it could have been, yet not too watered down either.
Full frontal male nudity sort of (it’s CGI of course). Though Dr. Manhattan was done fairly well and the other characters were fine, I found something lacking in the movie. Maybe it’s because I enjoyed the comic series? I think I’ll have to see it again to fully decide if I really liked it or not, sometimes I have an attitude towards a movie and it effects the viewing. Certainly entertaining enough.

The distraction problem I had with the movie was that I couldn’t get Zena Warrior Princess out of my head (not that Laurie/Silk Spectre was anything like zena really I think it was her haircut, dark with bangs, or something)
Now Zena alone wasn’t too bad if it wasn’t coupled with a strange association in my mind between the unmasked Night Owl (Dan Dreiberg) and Chevy Chase of SNL/Fletch era. I know that’s weird and I seriously don’t get it myself but it took me more than half the movie before I wasn’t distracted by it. Don’t know why Chase got in my head but it definitely wouldn’t have even occurred to anyone young anyway. It’s just weird, maybe it was the glasses, or his mannerisms, no clue.

I’ll watch it again at some point, to give it a fairer chance.
Thumbs up I guess… but with reservations. Btw: semi-gratuitous comic book sex is thankfully far shorter than the silly Night Owl/Silk Spectre scene in Watchmen (seriously hitting the fire button… really lame) Don’t listen to me however, go see it whether you read the comics or not, you’ll probably like it… It was reasonably violent though so if you don’t like blood, etc., you might not. Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan and The Comedian were pretty good castings.

Some comic/graphic novels make better cross overs for movies than others especially if you’ve read them previously: for instance I loved Sin City and thought The Crow was absolutely stunning.
Pretty hard to compare with The Crow, at least in my mind.

I’ve said before that I have odd taste in movies and reading materials for a female it seems.

G’night,

Laura

And on the seventh day she rests...

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I know Sunday is supposed to be the traditional day of rest but I take Saturday if I can.
I mean that I take a day of rest from the news.
Well, I do watch some news on Saturdays especially if something is going on but I keep it to a minimum otherwise.
Sunday has "Meet the Press," "Hardball," "This Week," and "Face the Nation" to start with...

So on this day of rest I clean or go shopping, write, read or some other pastime.
Okay so maybe rest is a misnomer...
Today it was Lasagna dinner, and movie with son #2 along with two of his friends.
We saw "Taken." Really enjoyed it too.
I've said before that I love action adventure movies and this was a good one.
Liam Neeson was great, the dialog was all right and it kept fairly suspenseful all the way through.

If you don't like action, violence, car chases, things shattering, guns, things blowing up, etc.- you won't like it.
Needless to say I loved it. Oh sure it was a little unrealistic but I really liked it, then again I loved "Live Free or Die Hard" so don't take my word for it. I do know what I like anyway.

We were lucky it wasn't a really long movie and that I have a new battery in my car because we were running late and I left my headlights on low the whole show. Which is odd because I never leave my headlights on. Oh well. Turned out fine.
We walked in only a minute after the show started and nothing happened early in the movie it was all mostly set up.

Want to see "Push" next and eventually "Star Trek" (of course), "Land of the Lost," and maybe "Inkheart." I've all ready seen "Underworld: rise of the Lycans" not a surprise right? lol.

So g'night,
I'm just finishing up Cross Country by James Patterson and I believe it's technically Sunday now.

Laura

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Twenty days left of the Bush administration... a Happy New Year.

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Oh what a year!

Scandals like John Edwards, Elliot Spitzer and the latest of course: Rod Blagojevich.

Notables: Sarah Palin and Tina Fey, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, the Dalai Lama, Paul Krugman, and almost anyone except Joe the Plumber.

People I will miss: Eartha Kitt, Issac Hayes, Heath Ledger, Bo Diddley, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Jim McKay, Paul Newman, Sidney Pollack, William F. Buckley, Bobby Fischer and Suzanne Pleshette.
This isn't a thorough list of those we lost in 2008, there were many. The two I will definitely miss the most: Tim Russert, the moderator of Meet the Press and George Carlin, a great comedian and social commentator.

There were many disasters ranging from the earthquake in Sichuan Providence, China; terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India; Israeli/Hamas/Gaza strip crisis to the cyclone that hit Myanmar. A tough year for many places in the world. The USA had floods, hurricanes, fires, tornados, ice storms and those are just the "natural" disasters.

Best line of 2008:
A Sarah Palin response in the Katie Couric interviews: "As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state."
All I remember saying to myself after that response was "Wow that sounds like a really bad sci-fi movie." Then laughing later when SNL with Tina Fey had fun with that one.

There were some good tv shows (think House or CSI) and bad ones (like Do Not Disturb).
Music had a good year not a great one, but in 2008 Chinese Democracy was released finally despite Axl Rose.
Movies: Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr., The Dark Knight with Heath Ledger as the Joker, and of course WALL-E.

The Bush presidency draws to a close after the 2008 election of Barack Obama for the next four years.
The economy craters, Madoff scams, Paulsen bails out some banks, and Letterman and McCain make nice again.
Angelina and Brad are still together so all must be on the right track for the future... right?

But with no regard to humans, time continues to march on and once again the Holiday season draws to a close and a new year begins.
There is still great possibility for 2009.
Let's all come together and require our elected officials to get to work.
We need them to pay more attention to the needs of our country and begin problem solving instead of creating new problems.

Happy New Year everyone.
Stay safe and sane.
I shall have a quiet night nursing my horrible cold.

G'night

Laura

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