Friday Night Rants

--I saw the movie Wanted the other weekend. It wasn't much like the graphic novel, which I was somewhat of a fan of. (Although the first third of the film is pretty close in tone and story to the graphic novel in terms of Wesley--McAvoy's character--being a complete loser).

But that was all right. Like I speculated...the protagonist in the comic just isn't likable enough to build a major motion picture around. The audience has to pull for somebody. They'll pull for an anti-hero but not a nihilist punk. Furthermore--as I expected--they filmmakers changed (the) super villains (of the story) to super assassins. In the graphic novel the super villains of earth have not only eliminated super heroes but have also eliminated all memory of them. Consequently the league of super villains are in fact secretly running the world. But in the movie the assassins exist to "allegedly" in sure balance in the world. I was fine with the changes because the movie was still pretty entertaining and I can completely understand how the super villain aspect of the graphic novel might not have translated too well to a movie.

James McAvoy is on his way to becoming a big star and this movie shows his versatility in doing big Hollywood productions...(he's already got the hard hitting drama out of the way--Atonement...The Last King of Scotland). If one's a fan of stylized action summer popcorn movies than Wanted will certainly satisfy.

--This past week I also watched Batman: Gotham Knights. It's the latest straight-to-DVD DC Comics animated feature film. It's six interlocking stories (that are loosely based upon one another) that take place between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The animation is done in anime-style. Normally I would say that I'm not into anime but I really liked the animation in the movie. It was top notch. And it was cool how every story had a different style and flair. Some of the stories were better than others but overall it's worth watching if you are a Batman fan. I thought it was cool that Kevin Conroy did the voicing work of Batman. (He voiced the dark knight in Batman: The Animated Series, which also happens to be my all time favorite cartoon--no surprise there).

--For those interested...it's Fair Time in Decatur County.

--Jenny and I just watched The Usual Suspects. She had never seen it. I'm pretty sure she liked it...although not to the extant of my liking. I would have to say--and I've thoughts this for awhile--that The Usual Suspects is the second best movie of the '90's...behind only Pulp Fiction.

--I was reading an interview/article in Entertainment Weekly with Guillermo del Toro (he directed Pan's Labyrinth and the Hell Boy movies). But anyway he said two things that I thought were very interesting. In talking about making movies (and how Chuck Jones cartoons have inspired his work) he stated, "All movies should be designed like animation, where the style is the substance." Secondly, when talking about Boris Karloff's portrayal of Frankenstein, he said, "(Boris) Karloff embodies the most essential, existential quality of being human--a creature expelled from a womb of darkness and silence by an uncaring creator and thrust upon a world of fire, rain and hatred."

Guillermo del Toro has his shit together.