Multi Media Discussion

ddt, I agree completely. The film is a huge disappointment, largely attributable to the unbelievably hacky writing -- it's certainly visually beautiful, but it's also totally incoherent on every level from plot to character motivations to worldbuilding.

Sounds like The Tree of Life

Okay, that's an illustrative comparison.

Big Questions like "why are we here?" that translate to "should there be a purpose to my life?" or "what does it mean to be alive?" (which seem to be what the Big -- and ultimately Unanswerable -- Questions for Tree of Life) have personal meaning and immediate and long-lasting effect on your life, even in the asking. That sort of evaluating itself can change how you act in the world. Big Questions like "did aliens seed human life?" lead us to... aside from a yes or no, what?

I suppose what this gets at is what really was fucked in the Prometheus script. In addition to the plot requiring that "scientists" all perpetually carry the idiot ball (note that of course characters can make stupid and wrong decisions, and that's often interesting drama, but here the plot would not have worked if people did contradictory, stupid, inconsistent actions) and other characters just suddenly expositing things they couldn't have known, these so-called Big Questions were just pasted on in order to say the script had Big Questions. Just the same as the fucking Daddy Issues. They're checkboxes, twitches that Lindehof can't help throw in and never think about why, or what their implications might mean to characters, etc. The metonym of this would be early on, when David is watching Shaw's dreams, and when "mother" is mentioned the dream shows... her mother. It's as subtle and creative as a first-year B School student's powerpoint presentation. "Because, you know, we couldn't know that Shaw thought about her mother unless we SHOW her mother, right? And that's how dreams work, right?"

I can't possibly say if pasting on these shallow attempts at tropes were deliberately cynical, but they were sure as fuck lazy. And I guess that's what really makes me angry: the lack of care or effort or respect for the audience.

ddt

DPBD: in other news -- watching "Iron Sky" right now and it's hilarious (intentionally).

ddt

Where are you watching this? Have not heard of it.
Newman/knight?

I don't know if that's really a cameo, but a character just said, "Can't be any different than playing Wing Commander". Awesome!

ddt

DPBD: hahahah! At an international meeting, the "not Sarah Palin" U.S. president demands, "Okay, who did NOT arm their spaceships?" And the Finnish ambassador slowly puts up his hand. He's the only one.

ddt

Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter
Loved the book. Movie, not so much.

Any other adults watching The Legend of Korra? The first episode sets up some really interesting questions (racial divides and rights, what happens if someone actually tries to be Batman).

ddt

We watched the whole first series, and the new season. Love that show.

How did your daughter like the scene in "Korra" where the airbender guru asks his children something like, "Is there any chance you won't be that kind of teenager?" and the older daughter looks up over her book, and solemnly intones, "I can make no such promises"?

ddt

They agreed with the sentiment. They found the scene quite amusing. You're just watching the first episode? The season finale was Saturday. Have you watched the original Last Airbender series?

I saw a few of the original series, but it didn't capture me. I'm liking the civil unrest and potentially real questions Korra is bringing up (though I'd be a sad panda if they dismiss the Equalists as Just Evil -- it's not a bad point, and could be a really interesting turn for kids to think about in a might-makes-right, superhero-ish world).

Just started on Korra. Have the whole first series and will find time to get through it (in unrelated news: work? what's that?).

Yeah, I can't imagine how amusing and chilling that scene must be if watching with one's own children. Ha!

ddt

I'd recommend the original series if you like Korra. It's definitely more traditional, the "small group of heroes on an impossible quest against Big Evil" a la Lord of the Rings, but it has the same humor and great characters. I really like the way that they established a Western-friendly show with characters set in a definitely non-Western cultural context. The new series, by virtue of the technology alone, has lost a lot of the Asian/Inuit feel that the original had.

Still, both series are amazingly good for a "kid's show."

I saw Brave over the weekend. I liked it. Definitely a smaller story than most of the Pixar epics, with only five or six characters with any depth, but a good story, well told. I didn't really care for the Pixar short before the movie, though.

If only my kids hadn't kept pointing and snickering every time the character voiced by Craig Ferguson spoke. Between the Late, Late Show (which I TiVo and watch every evening) and How To Train Your Dragon, he has become the Voice of Scotland to them.

Have you seen his "Craig Goes to Paris" and "Craig Goes to Scotland" episodes of the Late Late Show? I have to admit, the former would be something I'd teach as an example in, say, Dogma 99 or guerrilla filmmaking.

ddt

Yes, I saw those. I wish he'd spent more time investigating the cultures, and less on guests. (Exception: Mila Kunis.) But I know that I lack the finer sensibilities with regard to making television or movies. Or anything else, really.

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ddt
"Craig Goes to Scotland"

Is that as classic as when Conan visited Ireland?

Conan visiting anywhere can be pretty classic.

I watched Brave a few days ago with my daughter. While it's not in the same league as Nemo, Toy Story & Wall-E (way better than Cars 2 though) I agree with this analysis in that it's a long overdue film and it was very important that it was made.

My daughter is currently majorly into princess mode; everything is princess this and princess that (I've somehow ended up being christened "daddy princess" - apparently after extensive coaching by her aunty). We watched Sleeping Beauty the other day and I noticed princess Aurora's discernible qualities were:

1. She was pretty
2. She could sing
3. She would sob uncontrollably on her bed whenever she didn't get her way.

These are not good gender stereotypes to entrench into impressionable minds at a young age, and variations of this Disney princess syndrome are unfortunately everywhere in society.

So, two thumbs up for Brave and fingers crossed there are many more movies like it.