Links, and a question

[selenak]

Dr. Who:

The Future in Sepia by lizbee is a wonderful look at Martha during Human Nature.

And speaking of Martha, one of the things the BBC does for both Dr. Who and Torchwood is creating websites. This season, we get a blog for Martha, and the most recent entry covers what happens before Human Nature. It's the kind of thing thing you wouldn't see in an episode because there is no threat around, just the Doctor telling her more about the Time War, taking her to the Eye of Orion and, being the Doctor, taking her to the Eurovision contest next: here.


Pirates: there is a great Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio interview, in which the talented gents that penned all three movies chat away and admit Elizabeth is their favourite character. I knew that, guys, and I approve.


Now, question for Heroes watchers: I had been looking for an icon what would show a certain scene in the finale without giving away what happens to people who haven't watched it yet, or indeed that it is an icon from the finale, and I think I found it, but I want some opinions whether the icon would be unspoilery to use first. It's this one:







So, what do you think?

Comments

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

I'd say that for this icon to be spoilery you would need previous knowledge, like that this made from promo pictures of the finale, and even then it doesn't explicitly indicate what happens. In my opinion.

That said, given the nature of this fandom, the twelve year old in me finds the caption a little ambiguous. But I'd say that's up to the beholder as well.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, you have a Prestige icon! I loved that movie. (Cleolinda's version wasn't half-bad, either.) (And talk about dysfunctionally close brothers...)

Okay, that's reassuring. And hey, we all have an inner twelve years old...

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, you have a Prestige icon! I loved that movie.

It was very good. I had read the book first, and the film still worked extremely well (In fact it does improve on the book in several significant aspects). Brotherly dysfunction was certainly rampant, no kidding... Also, Andy Serkis working for David Bowie? Bizarre and strangely appropriate. Cleolinda's version was very funny, although I think I love her takes on Troy, Van Helsing and 300 even more (two of these movies I haven't even seen, and oh man, do I wish I hadn't seen the third one as well.).

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I hadn't read the book, but gathered some differences later via fannish osmosis, which deterred me from reading.

Brotherly dysfunction was certainly rampant, no kidding...

The Borden Twins: the one pair of brothers to make the Petrellis look completely not co-dependent and well-adjusted.*g*

although I think I love her takes on Troy, Van Helsing and 300 even more (two of these movies I haven't even seen, and oh man, do I wish I hadn't seen the third one as well.).

I saw only one (Troy); which one did they drag you in?

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

I hadn't read the book, but gathered some differences later via fannish osmosis, which deterred me from reading.

The book isn't bad, either, but I would call it less accessible, especially where the characters are concerned (Borden is a lot more interesting/sympathetic in the film, for instance, which seems to a large account because of his voice in the book - being lower class he doesn't express himself very eloquently or emotionally accessible, and that makes him look pretty blunt as opposed to Angier. It would have been very interesting if the book had actually played with that, but alas it didn't). It also has an additional subplot/timeline that is pretty useless and was thankfully left out by the movie.

The Borden Twins: the one pair of brothers to make the Petrellis look completely not co-dependent and well-adjusted.*g*

And giving the role to Christian Bale only enhances this impression. It's like "Advanced Bruce Wayne/Batman - now with less Daddy issues, but additional wife-and-child angst."

I saw only one (Troy); which one did they drag you in?

Van Helsing. Seriously, as a loving fan of Alias I am very used to convoluted storylines and huge leaps of logic, but that one had so many plotholes that not even the addition of a kickass, angsty heroine in ridiculous costumes could save it. I mean, at one point they couldn't remember which one of Draculas brides they had killed, so they made the wrong one reappear. And the plot makes no sense at all, it only relies on people behaving like complete morons, from Dracula killing Dr. Frankenstein (who is the only one who could have helped him achieve his amazing plan - and trust me, you don't want to know what that one was about, because it beats every Pinky-and-the-Brain conquest scheme in idiocy - so he offs him in the first couple of minutes, naturally) to Anna Valerius' brother offering himself as bait for a werewolf, just so that he can then be bitten and add to her angst.

There is also an amnesia plotline - more pointless angst; if Heroes really does it, they should not do it this way - the most cringeworthy vampire lore this side of Anne Rice, Richard Roxburgh as a Dracula who is only slightly less intimidating than Count Count from Sesame Street, and David Wenham as some sort of 19th century Q with really dumb wisecracks, but most of all the film is boring. In fact, it may be one of the most fascinating train wrecks I ever paid for seeing.

So, and how was Troy?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Borden is a lot more interesting/sympathetic in the film

That was what I heard; also that the book makes Angier the clearly more sympathetic one, whereas the film really manages not to fall into the good guy/bad guy dichotymy, presenting them both on a level until the last ten minutes, when Angier is the first to cross the line to murder (and, err, multiple murder and suicide, depending on how one looks at it) and Michael Caine who is as much an audience pov as you get switches sides in abhorrence.

And giving the role to Christian Bale only enhances this impression. It's like "Advanced Bruce Wayne/Batman - now with less Daddy issues, but additional wife-and-child angst."

rozk wrote a great review for the Times Literary Supplement in which she observed how perfectly cast the leading roles were, considering Jackman is the one with the flashy showman background, musicals and all, and Bale the intense professional method actor.

The other thing which the casting did was cause about every doppelganger slash combination possible to be written, as I found out when I looked for fanfic...

Van Helsing: ooooohkay. Glad to have missed it.

Troy: actually had some stuff I liked in it, though one needs to abandon one's sense of authenticity going in, so one doesn't mind the Lamas showing up.*g* I should say in advance that as opposed to most people on lj who care about Greek myths, I can't stand Achilles, and the Achilles/Patroclos relationship might have made people misty eyed through the millennia and is dearly beloved by slashers, but not by me. So I couldn't care less about the cousin bit.

So, the depiction of Achilles worked for me, because it was mostly unsympathetic, with flashes of humanity showing up in situations like Priam begging for his son's corpse (aw, Peter O'Toole). Moreover, I thought the Paris characterisation was a good solution: he was neither boo-hiss cowardly villain nor particularly heroic, and for all that his range isn't the largest, Orlando Bloom had the courage to play Paris defeated by Menelaos as genuinenly terrified, literaly crawling away, and haunted by that for the rest of the film. Eric Bana was solid as Hector, and Sean Bean as Odysseus. Oh, and I also thought Petersen was really clever with the Achilles and Thetis scene. Because on the one hand, he had made the decision not to include the gods as characters, and on the other, he did bring it up that Achilles was supposed to be the son of a goddess, contributing to his inhuman alien-ness and attitude towards everyone else's belief in the gods. The scene in question has both Achilles and Thetis at a beach, with Thetis standing in the water. If you know your Greek mythology, you are, of course, aware, that she's a sea nymph, and it's a great touch. If you're a moviegoer who knows nothing about Greek mythology whatsoever, then Achilles is just talking to his mother about long life versus eternal fame.

The downsides: well, the movie is a narrative mess. It wants to be LotR and really isn't, for lack of a Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh as scriptwriters who manage to make multiple characters and their storylines come to life. As a result, a lot of them never do. (Case in point: the two Atreus boys, Menelaos and Agamemnon. Thompson at Heroes is more dimensional and layered....) And it never can quite decide whether it wants to present a contemporary pov on the story it tells, or try for archaic atmosphere. Just not Petersen's best.

[harmonyangel.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's necessarily spoilery, either. It certainly wouldn't occur to me what was happening if I hadn't watched the episode.

Also, *waves* I've friended you; I hope you don't mind. Mutual friends, mutual interests, RP interaction, all that good stuff. You certainly don't have to add me back. :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*waves back* Au contraire, friend away!

And thanks, that's reassuring.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to Martha's blog. I'm not sure if it had her voice exactly right, but it was still interesting.

[bimo.livejournal.com]

Dr. Who: The Future in Sepia by lizbee

How on earth do you always manage to find such amazing little gems, first the Will story and now this one?

Read both and loved them! Lots of thanks for the recs :-)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

On my friends' list, or linked to same.*g* Glad you enjoyed!

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

I'd just presume that the picture referred to differing viewpoints, and I don't think it's spoilery.