Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Free Form Comments

Say whatever you want to in the comments to this post -- random, off topic thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions, recommendations, criticisms (which can be anonymous), surveys, introductions if you have never commented before, personal news, self-promotion, requests to be added to the blog roll and so on. If I forget, remind me. Remember these comments can be directed at all the readers, not just me.

ALSO. You can use this space to re-ask me questions you asked me before that I failed to answer because I was too busy.

AND you can use this space to comment on posts that are old enough that no one is reading the comments threads anymore.

You do not have to have a blogger account or gmail account to post a comment -- you can write a comment, write your name at the bottom of your comment like an e mail, and then post using the "anonymous" option.

WRITING FOR THIS BLOG. If I see a big free form comment that deserves more attention, I will pull it and make it its own post, with a label on the post and on the sidebar that will always link to all the posts you write for this blog. I am always looking for reviews of games, tv, movies, music and books.

26 comments:

James said...

I was all Bah Humbug at the Morrison/Quitely Batman rumour - too good to be true and all that - but Zom Mindless Ones (a blog Morrison is a fan of) appears to imply accuracy...

Streeborama said...

Could someone please be kind enough to post a link to part 10 of the Morrison All Star Superman interview at Newsarama? I've been trying to read the interview in it's entirety - but the search function at Newsarama is the shits.

James said...

'Ere y'are.

To Anyone Who Said Tyler Mane Was A Bad Sabretooth: You are my enemy, and this looks super-shitty.

Gordon Harries said...

I'm watching the 'Mid-season' fianle of Heroes. I don't think I'll be back.

Kind of the opposite of good.

Streeborama said...

Thanks, James. May your first child be a masculine child.

Marc Caputo said...

Geoff: re: the MI franchise - I love all three for different reasons (a la the Ocean's trilogy), but give the edge to M-I:II for its sheer insanity and greatest deviation from the roots, not to mention that Cruise doing all his stunts delivered one of the last great action films of the Die Hard era. Abrams' is very good, but I still would have loved a Stone or (even more) a Joe ('Narc') Carnahan MI:III

Jason said...

The Woo Mission Impossible really annoyed me. The simple-minded plot was such a disappointment after the maze of the first film, and the hyped up action seemed less like insanity and more like "isn't this cool?" posturing. (Hence, the only time in an M:I story that "this message will self-destruct" means it will explode rather than simply disintegrate ... because explosions are cooler, even though on a practical level that is stupid.)

Also, it was the film that made me realize I never again need to see that trick where somebody flies through the air while holding/firing a gun with each hand. I guess that's Woo's signature, but ... I dunno, should I really be awed and thrilled by it each time?

I'm maybe just not Woo's intended audience.

Kenney said...

I found the Woo MI to be completely underwhelming. I only saw it the once at the theatre, but I remember walking out feeling unfulfilled. I should maybe check it out again with a fresh set of eyes to see if I feel the same way. I definitely loved Face/Off and Broken Arrow, but John Woo's style felt too overdone at the turn of the century for me. It might sound silly to say, but it's a little too cartooney for my tastes.

MI: 3 doesn't have anything as memorable as the pentagon heist scene from MI:1, but it definitely doesn't get enough credit for pushing things forward in the action genre. It, along with Casino Royale and the Bourne stuff, definitely turned the page for me in what I want from a lot of action movies now. Though, don't mistake that for me being done with the big dumb action movie, for I still love me some Transporter.

James said...

"Y'know what? Kick! Kick! Let's call it... y'know what? Let's call it Kicking Impossible! Let's call it... let's call it Kicking Impossible."

If nothing else, we can thank Mission Impossible 2 for giving us Hugh Jackman as Wolverine instead of Dougray Scott.

And the first one is clearly best, crazy folk.

Marc Caputo said...

M:I 1 is great for the set pieces and twists.

M:I 2 is awesome for the unrelenting and totally insane action, but also for Thandie Newton and a surprising expansion on Woo's pet theme, duality.

M:I 3 gives us the type of film I'd want to see done more in the series, if it were to go. Abrams did a great job. I wouldn't want to see DePalma or Woo try another.

And James, I've thought many a time about how Kubrick going overtime on Eyes Wide Shut gave us Jackman. Pure happy accident there.

Ping33 said...

James: at least Liev Schreiber is a good actor... at least Liev Schreiber is an actor. I dunno, I thought the movie looked better than X3.

Anonymous said...

I saw an interview somewhere and Ving Rhames (he was in that movie, right?) said that in the scene in the third movie where the team are zipping down the river in the speedboat Tom Cruise was grinning from ear to ear and humming the MI theme, which is totally what I would be doing.

MI:III is fascinating to me because it is a good movie that is totally missing any kind of suspense whatsoever. You are never in any doubt that the team are going to succeed in whatever subterfuge, kidnap, break-in etc. that they are engaged in. Rather, Abrams knows this and spends a lot of time lovingly showing us why and how exactly they are going to succeed in great detail (answer = technology) so all you have to do is go along for the ride. And I for one had no problem with that.

Plus he'll throw in some suprisingly great, nicely-formed action set pieces like the bridge scene. And these, like the espionage parts, also show a great attention to detail that skews them slightly - Cruise gets blown sideways into the car - a small thing but enough that when you see it in the trailer you kind of pause and go "I think I'll go see this.")

All of which is to say, I guess, that I think Abrams is a bright guy and a craftsman in his approach.

James said...

ping: I dunno man, is Sabretooth all that nuanced a character? I thought the wrassler looked great with his black contacts and stuff - Leiv Schreiber looks like a puddy tat romping around. And I don't see how "do you even know how to kill me" beats any of the line deliveries in X1.

Matt Jacobson said...

I am confused by two comments in this thread: that there was action in MI2, a movie I fell asleep during both of my attempts at watching it, and that Eyes Wide Shut gave us Jackman. Someone please explain.

Also I shamelessly self-promote my blog, which I have been writing regularly at.

James said...

Dougray Scott was signed and sealed as Wolverine for X-Men, but was still shooting Mission Impossible 2 when Singer started production. And I guess Mission Impossible 2 was behind because of Eyes Wide Shut overrunning (didn't know that). Hugh Jackman was the last-minute replacement.

Matt Jacobson said...

I was not aware of that. Neat. Thanks!

Marc Caputo said...

Yeah, Kubrick was a freak for reshoots.

And as for whether or not there was "action" in M:I II, c'mon! I don't want to turn into that guy from "Clerks" - "OOHH! Navy Seals!", but I still reserve a bit of affection for the whole Die Hard-inspired genre of action films. And let's be honest - yes, there was a lot shit blown up real good and a lot (OK, maybe too much) of flying gun battles, but I look at it as a logical extension of/final word on this kind of thing, possibly to the point of commenting on it.

But you know what? For all my fanboy love of slo-mo gun draws and all, there is NOTHING - not even the ceiling drop piece in I, that can match the racetrack scene in II. There's such a level of wit, pacing, tension and editing in that scene that I would hold up as a master's level course.

And did I mention Thandie Newton? Good God, that woman is gorgeous.

Geoff Klock said...

Mission Impossible 2, which I was disappointed with in theaters, was on TV recently, and I discovered it was even worse than I remembered.

Marc Caputo said...

And I was similarly horrified at Face/Off about a year back. Maybe it's my Tom Cruise mancrush, but I love II. I saw III once in the theater, but got that and I in FL this summer for $6.99 each in the supermarket. Now I'm gonna have to do a marathon before my semi-annual Sports Night one.

Kenney said...

Mikey, you're right about the lack of suspense. I think there is some there, but really you as a viewer know you're following a group of the most capable people on the planet, and they only need to "get there" to be successful. I dug that.

James said...

"Cruise gets blown sideways into the car"

I much - MUCH - preferred the version of this in the trailer, where he's thrown into the car and a split-second later the fighter plan screams overhead. It's just so overloaded with ACTION!, y'know? There's a bigger delay in the movie, and it's not as exciting.

And not that I'm in any way a connoisseur of Asian Cinema, but I don't there's a single English-language John Woo film that holds up.

Paycheck, maybe.

Kidding.

James said...

I JUST CAN'T STOP FREE-FORM COMMENTING:

Saw another TV spot for The Spirit this morning, and all of a sudden I want to see it.

I think it might be because I disliked that Sin City looked Dumb and Cartoony, whereas this one is actually being played Dumb and Cartoony, so it seems more appropriate. Plus I have a Big Dumb Crush on Scarlett Johansson.

Marc Caputo said...

James: anyone who's anyone knows it's HARD TARGET!

Also, not only is NOT dumb to have a ScarJo crush, it's dumb NOT to have a ScarJo crush.

Actually, it's quite insane. But again, everyone, go look at Thandie Newton in M:I II. WOW.

hcduvall said...

Marc is right. Hard Target is...alright.

Before I saw MI:2 in the theater a friend challenged me to count the number of times it switched to slow mo. I lost track at 16 when we weren't at the titles yet.

I want to speak up for Woo and say he may have running that crap to the ground (and doves and children's choirs) but at least he's not being derivative, since he started it. It's his right to turn into a hack.

And I want to see Battle of Red Cliffs, which was the last movie Woo made, which (amongst its historical and literary origins) is basically Dynasty Warriors the movie.

Streeborama said...

Woo's English language work certainly pales in comparison to his earlier masterworks such as The Killer and Hardboiled. I thought Face-Off was decent enough. The premise was pretty goofy - but it gave Travolta and Cage a chance to play each other which was fun to watch.

Unknown said...

Before this thread dies off, I would just like to say something sacriligious: I think Hard Target is easily Woo's best film. It is also his most bananas (it actually trumps Face/Off, although that gets serious points from me for its title - just the best possible, most howlingly awful, great pun for the movie given its central conceit. In fact, I bet they came up with the title, and reverse-engineered the movie from there.)