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Belated Very Happy Birthdays to germaine_pet, lordshiva, diachrony, ladyk8, fenchurche, eurydice72, and Happy Birthday in Advance to flake_sake!We had a locksmith come in to fix our laundry room door, which had mysteriously decided to lock itself yesterday, trapping a load of wet clothes in the dryer and us out in the hall yanking at the frozen doorknob for, I kid you not, hours on end. The landlord's whole
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I mean, aside from the examples you mention (Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away), the notion of exiled fairy folk launching an uprising against the human civilization that's driven them into hiding is also exactly the same premise used in Pom Poko and The Great Yokai War. Between Mononoke, Pom Poko, and Great Yokai War, that's at least three iterations of the exact same plot, every single one of which demonstrates the basic competence of the creators by pointing out the ecological theme of the fairy rebellion and giving the angry forest sprites a clear and somewhat sympathetic agenda. In this version, though, the closest thing we get to a motive for the villain is the very strong impression that he's hot for his sister.
So yeah. I'll forgive creators who try something new and can't quite make it work, but screwing up a lazy, carbon-copy ripoff is just contemptible.
And wow, that was some weak-ass characterization. Having overcome her "I'm a horrible murdering freak" complex, Liz has just turned into a generic Shrewish Nagging Girlfriend who gives Hellboy a hard time for not picking up his socks. And the new German team member? Who would have guessed that he's a heel-clicking martinet obsessed with rules and regulations? The writers must have stayed up all night coming up with that one!
On the other hand, Brothers Grimm was a pleasant surprise. I like how the brothers' real-life magic adventure incorporates the elements of every classic fairytale - red riding cloaks, wolves and woodsmen, finger-pricking sleep charms, mirror mirror on the wall - but in sufficiently weird and incongruous ways that we can still give the Grimm brothers and/or their interview subjects credit for spinning these details into the actual stories we know today.
And man, the spider-horse was freaky!!
As for Death Race 2000 and its dystopian ilk, I'm going to spend the rest of this week lurching around muttering to myself about how "Corman tried to warn us, but we just didn't listen!" Now that it's too late to prevent the dark infotainment-saturated future that '70s and '80s sci-fi warned us about, I guess we're just supposed to concern ourselves with how the hunky-yet-sensitive protagonist feels about it inside. >:-(
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I actually didn't pick that up - I almost would've given a couple of more points for that. As is, I don't feel that guy had a motivation at all, beyond "grr, I'm a badass!" And I forgot to mention the other plotline about the BPRD coming out in the public eye, which turned into a confusing sludge of dynamics from X-Men and throw-away-your-badge cop movies, let those two things naturally go together or something. HUH?
Having overcome her "I'm a horrible murdering freak" complex, Liz has just turned into a generic Shrewish Nagging Girlfriend who gives Hellboy a hard time for not picking up his socks.
But babies will make everything better.
Now that it's too late to prevent the dark infotainment-saturated future that '70s and '80s sci-fi warned us about, I guess we're just supposed to concern ourselves with how the hunky-yet-sensitive protagonist feels about it inside. >:-(
Yeah, weird, but I'm more disturbed by the fact that we're living inside Max Headroom rather than interested in some beefcake's personal issues. The self-involvement in these stories is really getting obnoxious.
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Oh yeah, I forgot about that plotline too. But it's okay, so did the writers. (Didn't that happen with Blade 3 as well?)
But babies will make everything better.
You know, a woman who randomly bursts into flames and has just learned that she's been knocked up by a seven-foot demon with horns and a big stone hand might have more urgent concerns on her mind than who's gonna do the dishes. I know that playing Hellboy as a totally regular dude is kind of the basic character concept as far as the movies are concerned, but those two are going to have child-rearing concerns that make The Incredibles pale by comparison.
Yeah, weird, but I'm more disturbed by the fact that we're living inside Max Headroom rather than interested in some beefcake's personal issues. The self-involvement in these stories is really getting obnoxious.
Sssh! We're not supposed to talk about society! Concentrate on the man-pain!
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