Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Mar. 20th, 2005 03:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxJust watched the last of the DVDs that I rented. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Found the "making of" to be interesting with the story of the guy who had spent seven years trying to make it. And I also found the movie to be interesting and artistic. There were times when the art direction overtook the story and became distracting, but as a general rule I found the aesthetic of the movie beautifully done. I respected the work of the artists. Also in general the story was reasonably good. Jude Law was amiable enough in the role. Enjoyable even, but he isn't Harrison Ford. It would have been better with a young Harrison Ford. Jolie was enjoyable in her bit part. You could see the sparkle of someone having fun. Gwennyth Paltrow, however, was leaden. Just, positively leaden. Please, no one ever cast her in a action role ever, ever again. The woman cannot run in a way that isn't distracting to the movie. Also, Paltrow is no Kathryn Hepburn, Roslyn Russel, or Irene Dunn. Hey, I love those 1930's bantering relationships on screen and Paltrow just didn't pull it off. She didn't have the arch wit, the fun and delight in the banter. Her banter plodded along. Banter shouldn't plod. She didn't pull off the perky, plucky heroine. She just seemed like a stiff snot of a girl in the role. She had the 1930s "look" but not the soul or the elan for the role. Please, Hollywood, keep her in deadly earnest dramas from now on.
On a different note, Oxygen is running some costume drama movie, and Adrien Brody looks quite in keeping with 1790s. He would make a pretty good Valmont.
On a different note, Oxygen is running some costume drama movie, and Adrien Brody looks quite in keeping with 1790s. He would make a pretty good Valmont.
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Date: 2005-03-20 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 10:40 pm (UTC)Also, have you seen Gwyneth Paltrow give a good performance in an earnest drama? I'm not her biggest fan, but I'd like to see if she has potential.
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Date: 2005-03-20 11:38 pm (UTC)By the same token, I didn't maind Paltrow in "Mr. Ripley" as well. And I didn't mind her in "Sliding Doors." In general, though, I tend to think she comes off as a cold fish. I wasn't endeared to her in the Young Shakespeare movie either.
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Date: 2005-03-21 04:27 pm (UTC)As for Ford, great action hero. :-)
And well, Paltrow. Hmm. Ok, so I didn't mind her in Sliding Doors, but as she played the lead (in an, to me, questionable accent) ... *coughs*
Oh, I didn't really like Shakespeare in Love either. Too... twee, possibly. But Geoffrey Rush was great, and I guess Fiennes was *groans for the pun* fine (and, on a shallow note he does have gorgeous eyelashes). But Paltrow, not stellar, no. Nor did I like her very much in Emma, but I have some issues with Emma Wodehouse as a character, even if I love the book.
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Date: 2005-03-21 06:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-21 08:27 pm (UTC)Oh, as for your comment in Barb's journal; I could be wrong as to the identity of author X, but if I'm not I'll just say that I don't read the fic any more (because as much as I admire the ability to write beautiful prose, I do need recognisable characters and a plot that doesn't suck), I just like to read about book recs and the like.
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Date: 2005-03-21 11:22 pm (UTC)And I don't think it's criticism. Honestly, this person writes well (and a hell of a lot faster than I do). And to make so many people happy, she has to be doing something right. It's just that the first fic of hers that I saw rec'd that I read... I hated. And it wasn't because it was bad writing. It's because I didn't like what the characters were doing. Is that criticism or a matter of differences in preferences? I don't know. I just know I didn't care for it, so when I see that story rec'd (and I do, often) I just think I'm missing something.
I think Barb is right and it's easier with mainstream fiction to say what you like and don't like and to see that it's not a reflection on the author. It's more difficult in fandom where everyone is just one step removed from one another, and we (in theory) like the same set of characters.
And while Author X was a specific person in my post. She could actually be a couple of people. Author X could be a completely different person whose work I read years ago who created the Spike-fic I most hate. The fic was beautifully written. Well paced. Utterly engrossing. And I hate it with seething gobs of hate because of the slant it had on the characters. BEAUTIFULLY written fic, but it rubbed me in a lot of terrible ways. So the author is talented and the fic has value. I just hate it for the story it told. But... is that criticism or just differences in preferences? I kind of think it's preference as there's nothing other than the story I didn't like that I can knock about the fic.
But then as much as I admired her skill, if I hate the story then I can't really rec her work. The thing is, I can't criticize her on any legitimate grounds because it's good work. So at that point it is just preference.
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Date: 2005-03-20 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 11:39 pm (UTC)