chelseagirl (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chelseagirl) wrote2006-05-30 08:39 am
chelseagirl) wrote2006-05-30 08:39 am
Entry tags:
movies and, well, Who, this time.
That last one was getting awfully long . . .
Last night we rented Casanova. Not, alas, the David Tennant series (is that out on DVD in the UK?), but the rather fluffy Heath Ledger film. Venice = pretty. Jeremy Irons was silly. I've never ever seen Jeremy Irons being silly before. He was kind of doing an Alan Rickman imitation, actually. And, hey, if it were true that every great seducer is just looking for a protofeminist who's good at swordfights, with whom he would happily settle down in monogamous bliss, wouldn't the world be a better place?
And we saw X-Men. Blessings upon![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethynyc for telling me what happened after the credits as, oops. Dunno. What I knew about X-Men before the first film: There was somebody called Wolverine, and someone else called Jean Grey. So I'm that ignorant movies-only viewer about whose reactions the true fans may be saying "well if you didn't know the real story . . ." Conceptually, the whole curable disease vs. next stage of evolution was good, if not developed as thoroughly as it might have been. It was rather a bold move to kill off or de-X nearly every interesting character in the thing. Scott was whiney, so that was okay, and I got why Rogue did what she did, but much of the carnage seemed to obviate any possibility of further sequels, unless it's the Wolverine-and-Storm Show.
Magneto/Erik had me stumped. The scene with his tattoo from the camps, his genuine dismay at Charles' death, and the moment at the end when he sits by himself over the chessboard were prime McKellen acting. But the way he simply turned his back on Mystique, his best and most loyal ally, because "you're not one of us anymore" made me lose that perverse sympathy the character tends to evoke in me. And the whole "woman scorned" explanation for her cooperating with the authorities was irritating even beyond the typical misogynist cliche. I guess she had no way of going after him herself, which I would have understood, but selling him out?
And of course, we saw "The Idiot's Lantern", which had M. all "look, look, it's the Ally Pally!" (Do they shoot some external shots outside of Cardiff? Obviously last season they did, but this season too? Because he swore that was the real Alexandra Palace, where he used to go for CBer rallies, since it was the highest ground in the vicinity.) Fun episode, not tremendously deep but with, as people have said, the Doctor and Rose rather more sympathetic than they have been in some of this season's eps. Did like the oppressed-housewife-asserting-herself bit, and liked that Rose was actually making some fashion concessions to the historical period. She could *never* have run in those shoes, though, which is something I've always appreciated about her typical boots and trainers. Would have liked Magpie to have made some final redeeming self-sacrifice, but hey, sometimes that cliche needs to be avoided. Overall speculation on the Rose and Ten relationship. I buy RTD's explanation that Nine was in love with Rose even though he wouldn't act on it, but Ten . . . past the flirtiness in New Earth, and the struggles Rose had with her feelings in School Reunion, I'm beginning to feel as though Ten sees Rose as his BFF (at least, BFF of the moment) and perhaps nothing more. He fell for Reinette hard and fast. And though it was clear to Mickey that Doctor-and-Rose was a closed corporation, it's feeling much more like a BFF/father substitute kind of thing. Er, feel free to disagree completely!
Last night we rented Casanova. Not, alas, the David Tennant series (is that out on DVD in the UK?), but the rather fluffy Heath Ledger film. Venice = pretty. Jeremy Irons was silly. I've never ever seen Jeremy Irons being silly before. He was kind of doing an Alan Rickman imitation, actually. And, hey, if it were true that every great seducer is just looking for a protofeminist who's good at swordfights, with whom he would happily settle down in monogamous bliss, wouldn't the world be a better place?
And we saw X-Men. Blessings upon
bethynyc for telling me what happened after the credits as, oops. Dunno. What I knew about X-Men before the first film: There was somebody called Wolverine, and someone else called Jean Grey. So I'm that ignorant movies-only viewer about whose reactions the true fans may be saying "well if you didn't know the real story . . ." Conceptually, the whole curable disease vs. next stage of evolution was good, if not developed as thoroughly as it might have been. It was rather a bold move to kill off or de-X nearly every interesting character in the thing. Scott was whiney, so that was okay, and I got why Rogue did what she did, but much of the carnage seemed to obviate any possibility of further sequels, unless it's the Wolverine-and-Storm Show. Magneto/Erik had me stumped. The scene with his tattoo from the camps, his genuine dismay at Charles' death, and the moment at the end when he sits by himself over the chessboard were prime McKellen acting. But the way he simply turned his back on Mystique, his best and most loyal ally, because "you're not one of us anymore" made me lose that perverse sympathy the character tends to evoke in me. And the whole "woman scorned" explanation for her cooperating with the authorities was irritating even beyond the typical misogynist cliche. I guess she had no way of going after him herself, which I would have understood, but selling him out?
And of course, we saw "The Idiot's Lantern", which had M. all "look, look, it's the Ally Pally!" (Do they shoot some external shots outside of Cardiff? Obviously last season they did, but this season too? Because he swore that was the real Alexandra Palace, where he used to go for CBer rallies, since it was the highest ground in the vicinity.) Fun episode, not tremendously deep but with, as people have said, the Doctor and Rose rather more sympathetic than they have been in some of this season's eps. Did like the oppressed-housewife-asserting-herself bit, and liked that Rose was actually making some fashion concessions to the historical period. She could *never* have run in those shoes, though, which is something I've always appreciated about her typical boots and trainers. Would have liked Magpie to have made some final redeeming self-sacrifice, but hey, sometimes that cliche needs to be avoided. Overall speculation on the Rose and Ten relationship. I buy RTD's explanation that Nine was in love with Rose even though he wouldn't act on it, but Ten . . . past the flirtiness in New Earth, and the struggles Rose had with her feelings in School Reunion, I'm beginning to feel as though Ten sees Rose as his BFF (at least, BFF of the moment) and perhaps nothing more. He fell for Reinette hard and fast. And though it was clear to Mickey that Doctor-and-Rose was a closed corporation, it's feeling much more like a BFF/father substitute kind of thing. Er, feel free to disagree completely!