Enchanted, Skinwalkers
"Spiteful, vindictive, very large, but never crazy."
We saw Enchanted on Monday night, and now I really want that on a shirt.*
It was an extremely cute movie, even if I spent about half of it going "Oh, no way! They aren't going to go the--AAAAAAGH!" Because they totally did do that. I recommend it.
The idea of moving between a fantasy fairy-tale cartoon world and live-action modern Earth is rife with possibilities for humor. Sargon and I have decided that Giselle is going to be so unhappy when she finds out about Aunt Flo. Then again, it'd be hilarious to hear her singing the Happy Little Tampon Song. I believe that spacezombie gets credit for that idea, from waaay back when we were watching The 10th Kingdom.**
As an aside, James Marsden is so incredibly cute, and I very much want one, but I don't think they make cat carriers in his size. Alas. (Please tell me I'm not the only one to have noticed that he looks like a housecat. Specifically, old-school Puss in Boots.)
We also rented Skinwalkers last week. Now, I'd heard that this was a truly terrible movie. To my surprise it proved to be okay.
I thought it had a weak beginning. There was a lot of "We must find The Chosen Child before the Convergence of Plot Points, when the Capital Letters will converge and render us all Powerless!" It was stilted and awkward. It picked up, though, and by the time they hit the road and things started to go wrong, it was much more interesting.
Yes, the mystical child bit has been done to death, but the actor was genuinely funny, and they at least gave it an interesting twist -- even if it only came at the end of the movie.
I also liked the villain's story arc. They avoided giving him a simple ending, and I thought that was a wonderful dramatic decision. I don't know if I buy Jason Behr as the stroppy werewolf alpha -- he was pretty ex-boyfriend Billy Fordham in the vampire-wannabe episode of Buffy, for Pete's sake -- but even if he didn't have the forceful sort of presence I'd have been casting for, he at least tried, and I have to admit he looked hot doing it.
My only real disappointment is that there was no strong wolf element. At no point did any of our werewolves actually change shape. Oh, sure, they grew some fur and they got some facial prosthetics, but it's very hard to do early-stage transformation makeup without making the subject look like an extra from CATS. They tried, and it looked pretty good, but it wasn't wolfish . . . except in the very last fight scene where both Natassia Malthe and Jason Behr got some of the most interesting and unsettling werewolf facials*** I've ever seen. That last shot of Varek, where we see him at his most animal -- freaking out, fangs bared, drooling -- was amazingly effective. They at least made a stab at accurate canine dentition, which is nice of them.
Don't mistake me; it's not a good movie. It's a good B movie. A 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. It was severely bad in places, but there were a few good bits -- plus some werewolf sexin' with two extraordinarily good-looking people, so that's a win.
Anyway. I'm going to end on that note.
Up next, a link roundup!
* Even though it's a lie -- I am definitely certifiable.
** Which is a wonderful little mini-series detailing the adventures of a New York girl stuck in a fairy-tale kingdom. I highly recommend it, too, for very silly fun.
*** . . . But, then, I suppose a werewolf facial would always be pretty unsettling.
We saw Enchanted on Monday night, and now I really want that on a shirt.*
It was an extremely cute movie, even if I spent about half of it going "Oh, no way! They aren't going to go the--AAAAAAGH!" Because they totally did do that. I recommend it.
The idea of moving between a fantasy fairy-tale cartoon world and live-action modern Earth is rife with possibilities for humor. Sargon and I have decided that Giselle is going to be so unhappy when she finds out about Aunt Flo. Then again, it'd be hilarious to hear her singing the Happy Little Tampon Song. I believe that spacezombie gets credit for that idea, from waaay back when we were watching The 10th Kingdom.**
As an aside, James Marsden is so incredibly cute, and I very much want one, but I don't think they make cat carriers in his size. Alas. (Please tell me I'm not the only one to have noticed that he looks like a housecat. Specifically, old-school Puss in Boots.)
We also rented Skinwalkers last week. Now, I'd heard that this was a truly terrible movie. To my surprise it proved to be okay.
I thought it had a weak beginning. There was a lot of "We must find The Chosen Child before the Convergence of Plot Points, when the Capital Letters will converge and render us all Powerless!" It was stilted and awkward. It picked up, though, and by the time they hit the road and things started to go wrong, it was much more interesting.
Yes, the mystical child bit has been done to death, but the actor was genuinely funny, and they at least gave it an interesting twist -- even if it only came at the end of the movie.
I also liked the villain's story arc. They avoided giving him a simple ending, and I thought that was a wonderful dramatic decision. I don't know if I buy Jason Behr as the stroppy werewolf alpha -- he was pretty ex-boyfriend Billy Fordham in the vampire-wannabe episode of Buffy, for Pete's sake -- but even if he didn't have the forceful sort of presence I'd have been casting for, he at least tried, and I have to admit he looked hot doing it.
My only real disappointment is that there was no strong wolf element. At no point did any of our werewolves actually change shape. Oh, sure, they grew some fur and they got some facial prosthetics, but it's very hard to do early-stage transformation makeup without making the subject look like an extra from CATS. They tried, and it looked pretty good, but it wasn't wolfish . . . except in the very last fight scene where both Natassia Malthe and Jason Behr got some of the most interesting and unsettling werewolf facials*** I've ever seen. That last shot of Varek, where we see him at his most animal -- freaking out, fangs bared, drooling -- was amazingly effective. They at least made a stab at accurate canine dentition, which is nice of them.
Don't mistake me; it's not a good movie. It's a good B movie. A 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. It was severely bad in places, but there were a few good bits -- plus some werewolf sexin' with two extraordinarily good-looking people, so that's a win.
Anyway. I'm going to end on that note.
Up next, a link roundup!
* Even though it's a lie -- I am definitely certifiable.
** Which is a wonderful little mini-series detailing the adventures of a New York girl stuck in a fairy-tale kingdom. I highly recommend it, too, for very silly fun.
*** . . . But, then, I suppose a werewolf facial would always be pretty unsettling.