movie: The Avengers
Okay, so The Avengers was indeed pretty cool. I get what one of my students said, though--it felt longer than it was. There was a WHOLE LOT of set-up, and then a WHOLE LOT of action/explosions. One of Whedon's strengths as a writer is trusting the audience to 'get' stuff, and so it didn't take as long as it could for the set-up, so... I'm okay with it. Whedon also likes to write for the hard-core fans, so I'm certain there are things I would notice after a second viewing that I didn't have time to absorb after just one viewing. (This doesn't automatically mean I'll rewatch it, but I'm entertaining the possibility.)
So consider me on the "Black Widow" fan list now--for the character and in other aspects that go into making a movie. We never see her being seductive; instead she pulls off the fascinating trick of making someone believe he has power over her, and using that appearance of powerlessness to manipulate him into revealing information. I'm pleased with how the camera angles and costumes didn't objectify her--at least not any more than the men, at any rate. From what I've seen in Hollywood, it takes a lot to make producers believe that a female character can be sexy without having to make it something blatantly overt, so yay for subtle sexiness that comes from the fact that Johansen is appealing without having to hammer us over the head with that fact. Oh, and Romanoff is competent. Competence can be very sexy.
Huh, I didn't realize I had a whole paragraph of things to say about Natasha. Hey, please send any Natasha gen-fic my way. :) Het is also acceptable, but gen would be AWESOME.
CLINT! I liked him more than I expected I would. Now that I think about it, this comes at least in part because he has the history with Natasha. And I would love to know more about that--how did he and SHIELD find a way to get to Natasha enough that she is now a, uh, believer (for lack of a better term). She's doing this work out of faith rather than as a mercenary. Though she would probably hate me using the word faith. Heh.
Other stuff! Loki was duly villainous in a pulchritudinous way, Coulson was the ultimate fanboy and broke my heart, Thor's biceps are probably bigger than his head now. Captain America continues to be adorable, the Hulk makes me want more backstory almost enough to watch one of those movies*. Iron Man has an actual healthy romantic relationship and therefore Pepper Potts wins my eternal awe at managing this. Maria Hill should get a raise. And the world needs to give Nick Fury some kind of medal.
*Okay, so I did, in fact, watch one of those Hulk movies. Ang Lee's--with Eric Bana as the Hulk. It was pretty enjoyable. But now I'm curious about this Hulk. Possibly curious in a way that would be better served by fic or actual comics, though... only I don't read comics, so fanfic it is!
Posted at Dreamwidth: http://rose-griffes.dreamwidth.org/245733.html. Comment where you wish.
So consider me on the "Black Widow" fan list now--for the character and in other aspects that go into making a movie. We never see her being seductive; instead she pulls off the fascinating trick of making someone believe he has power over her, and using that appearance of powerlessness to manipulate him into revealing information. I'm pleased with how the camera angles and costumes didn't objectify her--at least not any more than the men, at any rate. From what I've seen in Hollywood, it takes a lot to make producers believe that a female character can be sexy without having to make it something blatantly overt, so yay for subtle sexiness that comes from the fact that Johansen is appealing without having to hammer us over the head with that fact. Oh, and Romanoff is competent. Competence can be very sexy.
Huh, I didn't realize I had a whole paragraph of things to say about Natasha. Hey, please send any Natasha gen-fic my way. :) Het is also acceptable, but gen would be AWESOME.
CLINT! I liked him more than I expected I would. Now that I think about it, this comes at least in part because he has the history with Natasha. And I would love to know more about that--how did he and SHIELD find a way to get to Natasha enough that she is now a, uh, believer (for lack of a better term). She's doing this work out of faith rather than as a mercenary. Though she would probably hate me using the word faith. Heh.
Other stuff! Loki was duly villainous in a pulchritudinous way, Coulson was the ultimate fanboy and broke my heart, Thor's biceps are probably bigger than his head now. Captain America continues to be adorable, the Hulk makes me want more backstory almost enough to watch one of those movies*. Iron Man has an actual healthy romantic relationship and therefore Pepper Potts wins my eternal awe at managing this. Maria Hill should get a raise. And the world needs to give Nick Fury some kind of medal.
*Okay, so I did, in fact, watch one of those Hulk movies. Ang Lee's--with Eric Bana as the Hulk. It was pretty enjoyable. But now I'm curious about this Hulk. Possibly curious in a way that would be better served by fic or actual comics, though... only I don't read comics, so fanfic it is!
Posted at Dreamwidth: http://rose-griffes.dreamwidth.org/245733.html. Comment where you wish.