By Consequence of Unfortunate Events...
Watched A Series of Unfortunate Events last night. It really is quite a good movie. I believe I shall purchase it, possibly waiting till Rogers Video has some used copies for $20. Or possibly shelling out $10 and cashing in my Bay gift card.
Its very clever, and makes me want to read the books. Jim Carrey has somehow been genetically modified by age into Matt Frewer (Max Headroom, Generation-X, Sherlock Holmes, Psi-Factor, many others). Which is great...because Matt Frewer is cool.
My main observation is that Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are a three-man MacGyver. Those three characters were, frankly, amazing. And Jude Law as the narrator was just great.
What really blew me away about the movie was the ability to make something that looked almost like real life...but was set in an unspecified time and place. I think it was supposed to be England, but it could just as well have been New England, or New York. For all I know it could have been in fricking Madagascar. Time, similarly...there's stuff that looks like its right out of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, especially the clothing. But the cars have this '20s gadget feel to them, with all these cool buttons and levers that remind me of something the Shadow or the Spider would drive. But at the same time, in one of the deleted scenes Jim Carrey mentions a cell phone, there are CAR PHONES!, and the black police detective speaks English that is all too modern.
Which really reminds me of the Way Down. It's in its own little world, where anything outside is revealed only as nessecary, and even then is of unspecified location. Necropolis is, in theory, an American city. But there are elements of other cities in it.
Anyway, I think I shall buy the movie. Its worth it.
Now, some unfortunate complaints:
I looked at two comics yesterday, and my faith in the industry dropped. The new issue of The Authority introduced...well...it introduced the thing the fans have been talking about for years, but I now realize makes very little sense. Jenny Quantum, the cute cuddly 8 year old who's actually been aging in real time (more or less), gained a new power. She gained the ability to access what I like to call "The Garden of Ancestral Jennies". Which is to say that all the Spirits of the past centuries have a city, in the middle of the aether, where they hang out. This is when I point out that the only reason Jenny Quantum is NAMED Jenny Quantum is because she was given that name by an insane scientist, in honor of the Spirit of the previous century who came before her, and who was a public figure of great influence and adoration.
It, thus, makes, no sense for the previous spirits to ALL have been named Jenny. Jenny Steam, Jenny Crusade, Jenny Stone, Jenny Fire...this is like one step above Mega-Man, and his arch nemeses: Wood-Man, Stone-Man, Fire-Man, and I-Don't-Give-A-Shit-Man. Also...when did Jenny get the power to talk to the regular Garden of Ancestral Memory?
Jenny Sparks is dead. Long live Jenny Sparks. And down with the imposters.
Secondly, I flipped through the new Spectre book. I wish to have words with whoever created it. Apparently not only has the Spectre decided to kill all magical creatures as the only way to erradicate evil...he has decided to lump Animal Man into this. When the hell was Animal Man mystically powered? He's powered by fucking alien genetic grafts! They're not magic!
On the upside...Enchantress is fucking hot. And there were characters I haven't seen in YEARS, including Rag Man, Blue Devil, I think I saw Abra Kadabra (...who isn't magic either, considering that it was established in his FIRST appearence or so that his powers are hyper-tech based, and it was set up YEARS ago that his powers are based on nano-tech weapons loaded into his skin). And apparently a sentient chimp who I think might be a reject from Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew.
That is all.
Its very clever, and makes me want to read the books. Jim Carrey has somehow been genetically modified by age into Matt Frewer (Max Headroom, Generation-X, Sherlock Holmes, Psi-Factor, many others). Which is great...because Matt Frewer is cool.
My main observation is that Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are a three-man MacGyver. Those three characters were, frankly, amazing. And Jude Law as the narrator was just great.
What really blew me away about the movie was the ability to make something that looked almost like real life...but was set in an unspecified time and place. I think it was supposed to be England, but it could just as well have been New England, or New York. For all I know it could have been in fricking Madagascar. Time, similarly...there's stuff that looks like its right out of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, especially the clothing. But the cars have this '20s gadget feel to them, with all these cool buttons and levers that remind me of something the Shadow or the Spider would drive. But at the same time, in one of the deleted scenes Jim Carrey mentions a cell phone, there are CAR PHONES!, and the black police detective speaks English that is all too modern.
Which really reminds me of the Way Down. It's in its own little world, where anything outside is revealed only as nessecary, and even then is of unspecified location. Necropolis is, in theory, an American city. But there are elements of other cities in it.
Anyway, I think I shall buy the movie. Its worth it.
Now, some unfortunate complaints:
I looked at two comics yesterday, and my faith in the industry dropped. The new issue of The Authority introduced...well...it introduced the thing the fans have been talking about for years, but I now realize makes very little sense. Jenny Quantum, the cute cuddly 8 year old who's actually been aging in real time (more or less), gained a new power. She gained the ability to access what I like to call "The Garden of Ancestral Jennies". Which is to say that all the Spirits of the past centuries have a city, in the middle of the aether, where they hang out. This is when I point out that the only reason Jenny Quantum is NAMED Jenny Quantum is because she was given that name by an insane scientist, in honor of the Spirit of the previous century who came before her, and who was a public figure of great influence and adoration.
It, thus, makes, no sense for the previous spirits to ALL have been named Jenny. Jenny Steam, Jenny Crusade, Jenny Stone, Jenny Fire...this is like one step above Mega-Man, and his arch nemeses: Wood-Man, Stone-Man, Fire-Man, and I-Don't-Give-A-Shit-Man. Also...when did Jenny get the power to talk to the regular Garden of Ancestral Memory?
Jenny Sparks is dead. Long live Jenny Sparks. And down with the imposters.
Secondly, I flipped through the new Spectre book. I wish to have words with whoever created it. Apparently not only has the Spectre decided to kill all magical creatures as the only way to erradicate evil...he has decided to lump Animal Man into this. When the hell was Animal Man mystically powered? He's powered by fucking alien genetic grafts! They're not magic!
On the upside...Enchantress is fucking hot. And there were characters I haven't seen in YEARS, including Rag Man, Blue Devil, I think I saw Abra Kadabra (...who isn't magic either, considering that it was established in his FIRST appearence or so that his powers are hyper-tech based, and it was set up YEARS ago that his powers are based on nano-tech weapons loaded into his skin). And apparently a sentient chimp who I think might be a reject from Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew.
That is all.
posted by Derek the Bard at 3:51 p.m.
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