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olorielwhich I finally got to see yesterday. (Jörg got a crapload of BluRays for Christmas, including this one.)
I was duly disappointed. To me, it was a solid but uninspired action movie, which would've been OK, except I'd definitely been expecting more from a movie that elicited that sort of response from my trusty f-list! It got entertaining whenever the characters bickered amongst each other, and Tom Hiddleston was pretty good, but he could've used more lines and a less ludicrous backstory. (And yes, I did enjoy flicks like Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk, so it's not the Marvel Superhero concept as such, it really was this particular incarnation.)
As I don't want to harsh anyone's squee, I'll let it rest at that.
On the other hand, I was really positively surprised by Prometheus, which we saw the day before yesterday. Prometheus, as you probably know, is sort of Episode I to Alien (which clearly makes it a great Christmas movie :P), so I hadn't expected much; what little reaction I saw wasn't overly positive, either.
It was actually... pretty well done. Of course, they never manage to create much continuity on a technical level, but you can sort of explain that away. My initial response was "ok, solid scifi, but no more", but when we found ourselves discussing implications and interpretations the whole next day, it got clear that it was sort of more.
Of course, it only works as long as you're willing to do the Suspension of Disbelief thing, and there sure are a couple of plot-holes, but it's pulled off pretty well.
The Huge Question is "Why did the "Creators" first create humanity and then decided to wipe them out via the Aliens", and I have two pet theories.
a) Creating mankind was actually an accident. That scene you see in the beginning is a ritual execution, sort of like Socrates with the hemlock? Only this "hemlock" disintegrates the whole dude. (In the extended scenes, there's actually a whole bunch of priest-like dudes who hand that dude the "hemlock" cup before they leave in the space ship, so it's clearly either a sacrifice or an execution.) So he was a criminal, maybe a thought-criminal? ANYWAY THEY WANTED TO OBLITERATE HIM, THAT'S THE POINT. But then from the remainders of his DNA came humanity A.K.A. a whole planet peopled with basically that dude's descendants.
And when the "Creators" realised that... they wanted to make amends. Because having a whole planet full of genetic descendants of their thought-criminal is kinda the opposite of obliteration. (The rock paintings? Well, that's genetic memory or somesuch. Shut up, there are worse plot holes.)
b) The "Creators" are doing this whole creation business for a hobby. First they did humanity kinda sorta in their own image (and the initial scene is some sort of immolation rather than execution), and later on they came up with something superior, i.e. the pretty-much-unkillable killer exosceleton face-hugger chest-burster acid-bleeder alien creatures. And now they simply want to replace the flawed old model with the less flawed new model. It ain't personal.
I'm kind of hoping there won't be a Prometheus II. Unlike Jörg's brother (who was disappointed that this movie raised more questions than it answered), I don't mind unanswered questions. It's always better than getting an answer you don't like.
- - -
However, my Christmas highlight of the year is this!
Time for two little trips to the department of backstory.
Backstory I:
Jörg's brother hasn't read a book ever since he got married, like, 13 years ago. No time, no motivation, no focus, whatever. When we were on Norderney last summer, Jörg gave him The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (in German) in case he got bored; after two days, Marc returned it, saying he just couldn't focus on a book long enough to read it.
Backstory II:
Jörg got a crapload of BluRays for Christmas (I may have mentioned this before), among them The Hunger Games. We ended up not watching this one together, so Jörg tried to give Marc a brief summary of the story; eventually he said "You know what, we've got the book, why don't you read that if you're interested". Except we only have that trilogy in English. Marc hasn't read in a long time, as I said, and never in a language other than German. Jörg still insisted Marc take The Hunger Games along.
Now yesterday Marc returned home. He called in the evening. "I should throttle you some time," he said, and when Jörg asked why, Marc explained that he'd spent every moment since he got home over that bloody book. Didn't check his e-mails, didn't unpack his bags, just fed the cats and sat down and read The Hunger Games. Later on, Jörg called him again (to discuss something from Prometheus :P), at which point Marc was all "I NEED TO GO TO BED BUT I CAN'T PUT THE DAMN BOOK DOOOOOWN". We asked where he was, which was apparently the point at which the interviews end.
We advised him to put the book down, because he probably wouldn't be able to once they actually were inside the arena.
Totally my Christmas highlight for this year. (Yes, I'm a book snob. Can't help it!)
And that's all for now! Christmas is over, back to Home Improvement...
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Date: 2012-12-27 11:19 am (UTC)b) The "Creators" are doing this whole creation business for a hobby. First they did humanity kinda sorta in their own image, and later on they came up with something superior, i.e. the pretty-much-unkillable killer exosceleton face-hugger chest-burster acid-bleeder alien creatures. And now they simply want to replace the flawed old model by the less flawed new model. It ain't personal.
I could go with that.
I haven't seen the EE, but I will so at some point.
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Date: 2012-12-27 04:32 pm (UTC)Do! Most of the deleted scenes really add to the story (or at least make things clearer), and I just don't get why they cut them out in the first place.
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Date: 2012-12-27 11:23 am (UTC)I'm not sure how much sense Avengers makes without having seen Thor and Captain America tbh. I fell in love with Thor, Steve and Loki that way and then you know Tony is amazing.
Going to see it in a large crowd that LOVED the movie might have been the clincher for me though. We were there during opening night and WOW did that blow me away. The audience in the second showing was alright, but not as amazing as the first. I ended up going 7 times with
I wish you could have been with us the first time. I get why it wasn't possible, but I think it might have made a difference. Then again... I went to see "the Uhmaaaaaazing Spiderman" with a similar group of friends and I hated its guts, so maybe it just wasn't for you.
*squishes tight*
I love you anyway, even if you don't share my undying love for anything Avengers. ♥
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Date: 2012-12-27 05:16 pm (UTC)I might as well say "I'm not sure how much sense it makes without having seen The Hulk" ;)! I think it works as a self-contained story. (I don't even know whether Hawkeye and the Black Widow already have their own films? Even without them, it makes sense, doesn't it?)
Thing is, I really enjoyed some of the things that shone through - Cappie's Blast from the Past sort of attitude, Tony, Loki. (I'm not that wowed by Thor, even though this certainly is the nicest version of him I've ever encountered. ;)) The snappy dialogues! But they just weren't enough to make me love the movie. It was like there were various good puzzle pieces, but they just didn't seem to fit. And then there was the Chitauri storyline - worst of it was the Chitauri as the motivation behind Loki (rather than just allies he's using). Aside from that, I can't really put my finger on why I didn't care much for this movie. I know I'd happily have watched one entirely without epic battles, just about all of these characters snarking at each other.
It probably boils down to Hype Backlash (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HypeBacklash). After all the excitement from you and all the others, I was expecting something brilliant, rather than just a solid action movie with some awesome lines and too much wreckage. I'd probably have enjoyed that, if only I hadn't expected so much more!
Then again... I went to see "the Uhmaaaaaazing Spiderman" with a similar group of friends and I hated its guts, so maybe it just wasn't for you.
Yeah, that happens. And it really sucks to be in a crowd of people who love a movie when you yourself are underwhelmed (or worse)!
I love you anyway, even if you don't share my undying love for anything Avengers. ♥
Hey, more Avengers for you! ♥
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Date: 2012-12-27 05:36 pm (UTC)But yeah, I'm rambling and I had been reading Thorki and Stony fanfic before. I think that Black Widow was in Iron Man 2 and as far as I know there will be more movies.
I think I know what you mean though, I watched Skyfall and it rocked my world, but now all of these people are shipping and making art and fic and I'm all "eh... wot?" and then Inception, don't get me started on that, yes it was a good movie for what it was, but it gave me no feels whatsoever and I watched the whole thing three times. O.o
Ok and this is the last of my praise for Avengers, and then I'm done :) Black Widow, I was totally against her being in the movie at the beginning, because I thought she'd be a love interest, but she wasn't she was feminine and vulnerable and then she was hard and cool and kicked just as much arse as the others and SHE CLOSED THE FUCKING PORTAL! And just. I love her for that, for having an amazing figure, for being a good role model and for not being there purely as eye-candy, I mean she was WAY to dressed for that.
*Squishes you tight*
Did you see "The Hobbit" yet? How did you like it, if you did?
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Date: 2012-12-27 05:53 pm (UTC)That was actually another moment of Meh for me. I mean, he's Loki. He comes with history. I'm fine if he's a nasty trickster all of his own accord; I'm not so impressed by turning him into a teary-eyed softsock. I'd have preferred it indefinitely if he'd really acted from his own accord, all the time. Blah.
(And ok, if your geek heard didn'T go "ooooh" at the last Iron Man suit thing I won't be able to understand, because HELL that's some cool tech)
Well, it's established that the Iron Man suit is cool tech. ;) I was more impressed by the way Tony played it. (OK, and Loki's reference to that scene in the end. "If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now.") As I said, the banter is great, the characters as such are great, I can't really put a finger on just where exactly the film fell short for me, aside from Loki's motivator being so bloody blah. XD
Black Widow (and that one female security officer) are still totally the Token Women on the set. But I'll admit they're both cool badass Token Women, which is worth a lot. (I was less impressed by Gwynneth Paltrow's character. I'd certainly prefer Stony.)
Anyway. ^^ As I said, I probably would've liked it if I hadn't expected too much.
No, still didn't make it to the theatre! I do love the Hobbit Chronicles book, though; by now I wonder whether I actually need to see the movie, as so much of the visuals is in there. If I get any chance to see it before it's out of theatres, though, I will. (Otherwise, oh well, I'm sure there'll be a double feature next year, and a triple feature the year after that...)
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Date: 2012-12-28 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-29 10:07 am (UTC)I was just disappointed that movie!Loki didn't even get the idea of stealing the Tesseract and subjecting humanity of his own accord -- instead, there was some Chitauri bully (if it was made clear who the pseudo-Emperor was, I didn't catch it) who told Loki to go and do that, and kept pestering him with "when will you finally open the portal so our army can help you". Which really gave the impression that Loki was being played, which didn't fit the way he was otherwise portrayed, as far as I was concerned. :(
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Date: 2012-12-27 02:56 pm (UTC);D
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Date: 2012-12-27 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-27 11:45 pm (UTC)But then, that's my opinion, and yours is perfectly valid, too! :)
I'm thrilled Marc found a book he couldn't put down!
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Date: 2012-12-28 02:33 pm (UTC)See, but even the duress bit is bothering me. I want him to act all of his own accord, damnit! (And he's definitely considering himself a god, no matter what he actually is, eh?) It just didn't fit for me. :( Yeah, maybe it works better if you know Thor, but ATM I don't really care enough. >_>
I really wanted to like it! :(
Me too! He called again last afternoon to say that he'd finished the book, but was sorry about the unrequited love story, would there be more on that in the following books? I almost cackled. XD
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Date: 2012-12-28 03:47 pm (UTC)(And he's definitely considering himself a god, no matter what he actually is, eh?)
Yeah, he does. But as I said: insane. As I read him, he needs to be more, better than everyone around him, because otherwise he's nothing.
I really wanted to like it! :(
It happens; there are things most of my flist likes that I don't.
He called again last afternoon to say that he'd finished the book, but was sorry about the unrequited love story, would there be more on that in the following books? I almost cackled.
HA! I'll confess-- I've only read the first one, and even that one I was relecutant to. I haven't been in the mood for dystopias, and the subject matter (the games) bothers me. But even I know a little about what doesn't happen romantically.