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truepennyMirrorthaw and I went to see The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and then out to dinner. Am feeling much better about world and own place in same.
Random comments.
Mmmm. Stuart Townsend pretty. I am so exceptionally glad they backed off of casting him as Aragorn, but he makes a beautiful Dorian Gray. Also, he looks like Jack Sparrow's well-scrubbed younger brother, which is going to provide me HOURS of mental entertainment.
Also, I cannot hate a movie that has Sean Connery in it. I just can't do it. If I couldn't hate that dreadful Bond movie where they "disguise" him as a Japanese man, I can't hate this.
Why did they have to give Richard Roxbrough such a crap role? He's soooooooooo good.
Am v. v. v. annoyed by the rampant and blatant sexism, but aside from that comment, I don't think I have anything to say about it. Peta Wilson did a gorgeous job with what she had, but she barely had enough straw for a straw-man, much less bricks.
Tom Sawyer needed to die. Or be revealed as a double-crossing villain. Or something.
On the other hand, I was very impressed with Jason Flemyng as Jekyll/Hyde. He was super.
I haven't read The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (although believe you me it's on the list), so I'm not going to comment on what they did or did not do with their direct source material, but the way they were playing fast and loose with the canon on Dorian Gray and Jekyll/Hyde (RLS's Hyde was (a.) a smaller man than Hyde and (b.) EVIL. Evil, evil, evil. And non-negotiable evil. He'd be on Moriarty's side because it would let him kill more people.) was indicative of people who didn't care about their source material--as was the introduction of Tom Sawyer (the reason given is that the studio didn't think Americans would care about a story that didn't have an American in it. Meaning that Americans shouldn't have cared about Moulin Rouge! or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or either Harry Potter movie or ... I'm going to stop now before I actually start frothing at the mouth).
So basically, this was a big silly entertaining movie with a really smart entertaining movie dismembered and buried in it, probably beneath the ruins of Venice. I'm glad to have seen it (because once I read the book, I'll never be able to see it again, and Townsend, Connery, Roxbrough, and Flemyng were definitely worth watching), but I wouldn't have paid more than matinee prices for it, and I feel no urge to see it again.
And one last thought: am I a very bad person for the fact that one loop of my brain, for the whole second half of the movie, was writing Moriarty/Gray slash?
Random comments.
Mmmm. Stuart Townsend pretty. I am so exceptionally glad they backed off of casting him as Aragorn, but he makes a beautiful Dorian Gray. Also, he looks like Jack Sparrow's well-scrubbed younger brother, which is going to provide me HOURS of mental entertainment.
Also, I cannot hate a movie that has Sean Connery in it. I just can't do it. If I couldn't hate that dreadful Bond movie where they "disguise" him as a Japanese man, I can't hate this.
Why did they have to give Richard Roxbrough such a crap role? He's soooooooooo good.
Am v. v. v. annoyed by the rampant and blatant sexism, but aside from that comment, I don't think I have anything to say about it. Peta Wilson did a gorgeous job with what she had, but she barely had enough straw for a straw-man, much less bricks.
Tom Sawyer needed to die. Or be revealed as a double-crossing villain. Or something.
On the other hand, I was very impressed with Jason Flemyng as Jekyll/Hyde. He was super.
I haven't read The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (although believe you me it's on the list), so I'm not going to comment on what they did or did not do with their direct source material, but the way they were playing fast and loose with the canon on Dorian Gray and Jekyll/Hyde (RLS's Hyde was (a.) a smaller man than Hyde and (b.) EVIL. Evil, evil, evil. And non-negotiable evil. He'd be on Moriarty's side because it would let him kill more people.) was indicative of people who didn't care about their source material--as was the introduction of Tom Sawyer (the reason given is that the studio didn't think Americans would care about a story that didn't have an American in it. Meaning that Americans shouldn't have cared about Moulin Rouge! or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or either Harry Potter movie or ... I'm going to stop now before I actually start frothing at the mouth).
So basically, this was a big silly entertaining movie with a really smart entertaining movie dismembered and buried in it, probably beneath the ruins of Venice. I'm glad to have seen it (because once I read the book, I'll never be able to see it again, and Townsend, Connery, Roxbrough, and Flemyng were definitely worth watching), but I wouldn't have paid more than matinee prices for it, and I feel no urge to see it again.
And one last thought: am I a very bad person for the fact that one loop of my brain, for the whole second half of the movie, was writing Moriarty/Gray slash?
