A Vagina You Can't Take Home to Mother (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
arionhunter) wrote2010-12-23 10:36 pm
arionhunter) wrote2010-12-23 10:36 pm
Enjoying my brief window of free time
- Batman: Under the Red Hood - A Timm-worthy effort, certainly. Though nothing stands out, it's certainly a solid release. The script's strong, though the Jason/Bruce angst gets laid on a bit thickly in the third act. I'm growing to like Bruce Greenwood as Batman, though no one will ever replace Kevin Conroy. John Di Maggio's Joker is clearly a Mark Hamill imitation (it's not so much inspired by as aped), but it's not bad. (Especially amusing in light of the fact Di Maggio also voices Bender.) Jensen Ackles is clearly new to voice acting - he's given to noticeable blips of stiffness, as if the's waiting to react to a nonexistent physical presence acting opposite of him. Netflix-able or a good Redbox rental, but not $20 worth.
- Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam - Meh. Nothing from this short stands out in the least. Okay animation, okay VA work (good to see George Newbern returning as Superman post-JLA), glaringly noticable CGI made worse by poor attempts to mask it, and a clunker of the script every time Black Adam leaves the screen. The necessary expository bits are notably ungainly. The Captain's origin was never particularly deep, so the total lack of subtlety/subtext is maddening. An example:
Shazam: I was hoping this moment could wait until you were a bit older. Alas, the threat is upon us now, Billy Batson.
Billy Batson: You know my name?
Shazam: Oh, I know many things. For I am the Wizard, Shazam.
Billy Batson: Whoa.
Gee, because the Wizard cave wasn't a big hint or anything. The annoyance of exposition wouldn't be half as bad if they weren't sticking with a largely purist interpretation of Marvel's origin, wherein Billy's mind persists once he becomes Captain Marvel. So the story comes across as what it is: a cheap child wish-fulfillment fantasy. When Adam inevitably picks at Marvel's one weakness - that he has the mind of a 12-year-old - things are interesting but not particularly compelling. It's another "being good is hard" lesson that reminds me of why I despise the appearance of any actor under the age of ten in a Toei tokusatsu series*.
Honestly, the only impact this short had on me was increasing my desire to see Jeff Smith's "Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil" animated.
- Green Arrow - A good, by-the-numbers GA story. Nothing too fancy, but well-written by someone with a sense of the characters involved. All the main VAs are industry veterans, so its solid acting all the way around.
- Jonah Hex - I've never been particularly compelled by Hex as a character, nor Westerns, so any opinion I have on this is based on quality of work alone. It's decent, but not to my taste. If you like Westerns with anti-heroes, you'll like it. If you don't, you won't.
- The Spectre - Surprisingly good. It's a direct ape of the 70s/80s cop procedural (with appropriate screen film), and the format works great as a contrast to the stark morality of The Spectre. I'm unfamiliar with The Spectre, but this peaked my interest enough to consider pursuing more if I run across any collections cheap.
*Toei toku tend by their nature to be large-brush morality lessons, but when the script involves children it's like the writer felt compelled to scrawl their moral across the screen in bright pink crayon, in case you missed it the first three times an actor brought it up.
Because I can:
- Things making me annoyed this week, as I learn from a cis guy that 2010 is apparently the "Year of the Transsexual."
- Why I Don't Care That You're Not An Asshole, on the most important takeaway of the Haley Barbour mess.
- Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam - Meh. Nothing from this short stands out in the least. Okay animation, okay VA work (good to see George Newbern returning as Superman post-JLA), glaringly noticable CGI made worse by poor attempts to mask it, and a clunker of the script every time Black Adam leaves the screen. The necessary expository bits are notably ungainly. The Captain's origin was never particularly deep, so the total lack of subtlety/subtext is maddening. An example:
Shazam: I was hoping this moment could wait until you were a bit older. Alas, the threat is upon us now, Billy Batson.
Billy Batson: You know my name?
Shazam: Oh, I know many things. For I am the Wizard, Shazam.
Billy Batson: Whoa.
Gee, because the Wizard cave wasn't a big hint or anything. The annoyance of exposition wouldn't be half as bad if they weren't sticking with a largely purist interpretation of Marvel's origin, wherein Billy's mind persists once he becomes Captain Marvel. So the story comes across as what it is: a cheap child wish-fulfillment fantasy. When Adam inevitably picks at Marvel's one weakness - that he has the mind of a 12-year-old - things are interesting but not particularly compelling. It's another "being good is hard" lesson that reminds me of why I despise the appearance of any actor under the age of ten in a Toei tokusatsu series*.
Honestly, the only impact this short had on me was increasing my desire to see Jeff Smith's "Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil" animated.
- Green Arrow - A good, by-the-numbers GA story. Nothing too fancy, but well-written by someone with a sense of the characters involved. All the main VAs are industry veterans, so its solid acting all the way around.
- Jonah Hex - I've never been particularly compelled by Hex as a character, nor Westerns, so any opinion I have on this is based on quality of work alone. It's decent, but not to my taste. If you like Westerns with anti-heroes, you'll like it. If you don't, you won't.
- The Spectre - Surprisingly good. It's a direct ape of the 70s/80s cop procedural (with appropriate screen film), and the format works great as a contrast to the stark morality of The Spectre. I'm unfamiliar with The Spectre, but this peaked my interest enough to consider pursuing more if I run across any collections cheap.
*Toei toku tend by their nature to be large-brush morality lessons, but when the script involves children it's like the writer felt compelled to scrawl their moral across the screen in bright pink crayon, in case you missed it the first three times an actor brought it up.
Because I can:
- Things making me annoyed this week, as I learn from a cis guy that 2010 is apparently the "Year of the Transsexual."
- Why I Don't Care That You're Not An Asshole, on the most important takeaway of the Haley Barbour mess.