Movies, old TV, and comics
So I watched Slumdog Millionaire last night. It was a very pretty movie. Lovely colours and camera angles and some pretty nice music. But I didn't love it. At all.
I had a few problems with it.
The premise was far too contrived for me. EVERY QUESTION brought back a terrible memory from his past! And with each memory brings Sadness. Therefore Jamal was a morose, un-emotive twat who I couldn't relate too. I knew he was going to win, so there was no suspense (Until the very last question, but by then I didn't care about Jamal so I didn't care what happened to him. Too little, too late.), and with him so downplayed, there was nothing to latch onto other than the scenery. The beautiful, beautiful scenery.
I didn't believe anyone's motivation, especially Latika's. She made a choice to stay with Salim, presumably to be raped and beaten. Then when Jamal finds her again after all these years she is mad at him! I liked her up until that point, but she made that choice, and she had no place to be angry with him.
The third problem? Fucking CHRIST I wouldn't visit India if you PAID ME!! Holy SHIT! That movie must have killed India's Tourism business.
But before I watched Slumdog, I watched some good Ol' AEon Flux. Oh, Peter Chung, you imaginative and crazy, crazy, bastard. How I love you.
The downside of watching AEon Flux? I wanted to watch The Maxx afterward....
God, it irritates me that The Maxx doesn't get the love and recognition it so rightly deserves. I know I'm a Maxx fangirl, but even if I weren't, I still find The Maxx to be far more subversive of the Super Hero Comic book genre than other so called Subversion. Watchmen, I'm looking right at you, fucker. The Maxx showed me that not all comic books were super heroes. That not all cartoons were nice. Never mind that The Maxx made it's existence known to me during a very hard time in my life. My dad had just died and X-Men had been canceled. But The Maxx was there to give me a new direction in my comic book obsession, which my dad fostered in me. It also sparked my interest in philosophy, psychology and taught me about non-linear narrative.
It just bugs me so much that The Maxx is never, never on any top 100 lists of must read, influential, or best comics of all time. Never. And it's always the same comics that are on those lists.
Y the Last Man
The Killing Joke (Which is a great book.)
Watchmen
Arkham Asylum (Which was cool...)
Transmetropolitan (And I love me some Transmet, so no ill will is meant)
Sandman
Sandman again
League of Extraordinary Gentleman
Preacher (WTF? I couldn't get through the first Graphic novel)
The Dark Knight/Returns (Cool store, loathe the art. Sorry.)
Sandman yet again
X-Men: Days of Future Past (...er....really?)
Fables(First two GNs were good. Got bored after that.)
Swamp Thing
Animal Man
Notice something about these stories? Most of them are by established, comic writing gurus like Ellis (I like you Warren, again, I mean no ill will.), Gaiman (I don't see what all the fuss over Gaiman is about. Really. I think he's over-hyped.) Miller (WHORES!), Morrison (DRUGS!) and Alan Moore (MAGIK!). It just gets me. It really does. There's more out there than the Holy Gods of Comics. Let's make a fresh list, sometime soon, so that people can get some new shit.
So, what would be my top 10 comic list?
1 - The Maxx
2 - Poison Elves
3 - Transmetropolitan
4 - The Killing Joke
5 - Batman: Secrets (More Sam Keith. Heh)
6 - WE3 (wow, this dropped on the list. Used to be number 3 or so.)
7 - Marvel Zombies
8 - Johnny The Homicidal Maniac
9 - Runaways
10 - Watchmen. There's no denying it's influence and place in Comic book culture. Let's just stop creaming our panties over it, shall we?
So, what's your list?
I had a few problems with it.
The premise was far too contrived for me. EVERY QUESTION brought back a terrible memory from his past! And with each memory brings Sadness. Therefore Jamal was a morose, un-emotive twat who I couldn't relate too. I knew he was going to win, so there was no suspense (Until the very last question, but by then I didn't care about Jamal so I didn't care what happened to him. Too little, too late.), and with him so downplayed, there was nothing to latch onto other than the scenery. The beautiful, beautiful scenery.
I didn't believe anyone's motivation, especially Latika's. She made a choice to stay with Salim, presumably to be raped and beaten. Then when Jamal finds her again after all these years she is mad at him! I liked her up until that point, but she made that choice, and she had no place to be angry with him.
The third problem? Fucking CHRIST I wouldn't visit India if you PAID ME!! Holy SHIT! That movie must have killed India's Tourism business.
But before I watched Slumdog, I watched some good Ol' AEon Flux. Oh, Peter Chung, you imaginative and crazy, crazy, bastard. How I love you.
The downside of watching AEon Flux? I wanted to watch The Maxx afterward....
God, it irritates me that The Maxx doesn't get the love and recognition it so rightly deserves. I know I'm a Maxx fangirl, but even if I weren't, I still find The Maxx to be far more subversive of the Super Hero Comic book genre than other so called Subversion. Watchmen, I'm looking right at you, fucker. The Maxx showed me that not all comic books were super heroes. That not all cartoons were nice. Never mind that The Maxx made it's existence known to me during a very hard time in my life. My dad had just died and X-Men had been canceled. But The Maxx was there to give me a new direction in my comic book obsession, which my dad fostered in me. It also sparked my interest in philosophy, psychology and taught me about non-linear narrative.
It just bugs me so much that The Maxx is never, never on any top 100 lists of must read, influential, or best comics of all time. Never. And it's always the same comics that are on those lists.
Y the Last Man
The Killing Joke (Which is a great book.)
Watchmen
Arkham Asylum (Which was cool...)
Transmetropolitan (And I love me some Transmet, so no ill will is meant)
Sandman
Sandman again
League of Extraordinary Gentleman
Preacher (WTF? I couldn't get through the first Graphic novel)
The Dark Knight/Returns (Cool store, loathe the art. Sorry.)
Sandman yet again
X-Men: Days of Future Past (...er....really?)
Fables(First two GNs were good. Got bored after that.)
Swamp Thing
Animal Man
Notice something about these stories? Most of them are by established, comic writing gurus like Ellis (I like you Warren, again, I mean no ill will.), Gaiman (I don't see what all the fuss over Gaiman is about. Really. I think he's over-hyped.) Miller (WHORES!), Morrison (DRUGS!) and Alan Moore (MAGIK!). It just gets me. It really does. There's more out there than the Holy Gods of Comics. Let's make a fresh list, sometime soon, so that people can get some new shit.
So, what would be my top 10 comic list?
1 - The Maxx
2 - Poison Elves
3 - Transmetropolitan
4 - The Killing Joke
5 - Batman: Secrets (More Sam Keith. Heh)
6 - WE3 (wow, this dropped on the list. Used to be number 3 or so.)
7 - Marvel Zombies
8 - Johnny The Homicidal Maniac
9 - Runaways
10 - Watchmen. There's no denying it's influence and place in Comic book culture. Let's just stop creaming our panties over it, shall we?
So, what's your list?