Filling the Well

There’s at least one spoiler in this.

It’s taken me awhile to figure out what to say about The Dark Knight. I’m still not really sure. The movie made me fairly unhappy. Enraged, actually. To start, this is The Dark Knight review I agree with. So there are at least two of us who didn’t like it. In a nutshell, the film’s chock full of relentless brutality and a lot of tedious technoporn. After two and a half hours, I just didn’t care anymore. Maybe I missed something. Sure, it’s a very well made, well acted, well put together movie. But I never want to see it again.

Here’s the really weird thing. Through the second half, I kept thinking of Robocop. Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci fi classic. At the time I saw it, Robocop was the most violent, brutal film I had ever seen up to that point. It was one of the very first rated R movies I ever saw in the theater. And I loved it. One of the most brilliant pieces of satire from the 80s. (Oh, Verhoeven, what happened to you?) The violence was part of the excess. Each time it happened, it was a shock, and it meant something. It worked because the film had a level of humanity that balanced it out.

During Dark Knight, I kept thinking, “This is now the most brutal and violent film I have ever seen.” Which is really, really funny, because Reservoir Dogs is another of my favorite films, and it’s massively violent — for brief, shocking moments. Again, like Robocop, the violence in Reservoir Dogs always shocks, and always means something. I have a really high tolerance for violence in movies. But Dark Knight tipped me over the edge. And it’s only PG-13, which is hilarious. I think it’s because there’s no actual blood. You have to have sprays of blood to earn an R rating. Dark Knight was just nasty, which apparently makes it all okay.

A lot of my feelings about this movie come from the part of my brain that has two degrees in English literature and is always analyzing and trying to ferret out meaning. This is one of those cases where people are going to tell me I’m reading too much into it, or not enough into it, or something. But I believe the art a culture produces tells us something about that culture. What does this movie say about my culture?

Most of what I wrote about this movie didn’t make it into this post, and that’s okay. Like I said, I’m still processing. I may also be annoyed because this is the third film I’ve seen in a week where the female love interest dies as a plot device, and it’s starting to piss me off.

But hey, how ’bout that Watchmen trailer? Holy crap! It’s awesome! I can’t wait! (That’s right. I had more fun during the two minutes of Watchmen trailer than I did during the movie.)

On this roadtrip:

• I was reminded how flat the flat bits of Nebraska are.
• I learned that the restrooms at Nebraska rest stops are air conditioned. Score!
• I hit and killed a robin. This upset me greatly because I like birds. They usually get out of the way, but this one zigged when it should have zagged. Sigh.

Saw Hellboy II last night after getting back home. I liked great big swathes of it, mostly in the first half. It’s like old school urban fantasy, with elves and cities and magic and troll markets and cool stuff. But the second half kind of fell apart, mostly because the characters kept acting stupid. I got annoyed. Daniel has a good, writerly analysis of the problem.

But old school urban fantasy? More, please.

There’s a level at which this can be seen as Pixar’s first horror film… Because boy, some of those images — scary!

I just told my mom that this film was made for people who love science fiction and musicals. Which makes me the target audience. I for one thought it was awfully good.

I almost didn’t go see this because I’d gotten so damned sick of the advertising bombardment. I’ve seen an ad for this before every movie I’ve been to for the last two months. Enough already!

But I’m glad I did, and here’s why: moments of knife-twisty political satire, apparently so subtle they seem to have completely slipped under most reviewers’ radars, because I can’t seem to find anyone talking about it. There’s even a millisecond nod to “Dr. Strangelove.” Yeah, I’ll agree, the movie isn’t the most brilliant comedy to come along. But I laughed, and I’ve been waiting 6 years for a mainstream film to make the kinds of digs this one did. “It’s nuclear! Nu-cle-ar!”

…people tell me I’d enjoy a particular movie “If you’d just turn your brain off.”

My response is always:  “I shouldn’t have to!”

Also, when they say about a movie with a high FX quotient and not much else, “At least it’s pretty.”

Because that’s going to end up being the epitaph of good Hollywood film making.

The Sci Fi Channel Saturday night monster movie has become an institution. They’ve picked up the tradition of movie house creature features and run with it. They’re formulaic, they’re silly, they’re bad. But there’s just something about them. Something alluring.

Behold: Warbirds! The tagline: “Before the Allies could drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, they had to get it past the Japanese fleet…and its island of deadly pterodactyls.”

BWAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!! This is so awesome. This is better than awesome. This is like that crazy role playing game where the GM started us out in Shadowrun then shoved us through a dimensional door into Space 1889. The last Sci Fi Channel movie I was intrigued enough to actually watch: SS Doomtrooper. Because wow.

But I really wanted to see “Warbirds” because the main characters are all WASP — Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. Stories about these women are few and far between, but they’re kinda my heroes. I even wrote a story featuring them myself. I felt obliged to give this flick a look.

For all its flaws, someone on the film did some research. The main character had a Fifinella (the WASP mascot designed by Walt Disney) patch on her flight jacket. That was cool. Also, Japanese Zeros battling giant dragons? Very very cool.

The whole making sense thing? Not so much. This aired a couple months ago now, but Sci Fi reruns these things all the time. I recommend watching with popcorn and a big bottle of merlot in hand.

So, what’s your favorite bad monster movie? Sci Fi Channel or otherwise.

I’m old enough to remember watching the Hulk TV series, which doesn’t really mean anything except I can laugh at the Lou Ferrigno cameo. Man, he’s taken good care of himself.

Oh, you want to know what I think about the film? Meh. It was…perfunctory. Nothing in it made me go “wow.” At least one scene made me go, “Oh, give me a break!” (Fuel is leaking from the helicopter! There are sparks! Oh noes, I wonder what happens next?!? ‘Splosion! Didn’t see that coming…)

I’ve been thinking a lot about what went wrong (in my opinion) with this film and find myself comparing it to “Iron Man,” which did just about everything right. Here’s what I’m thinking: “The Hulk” is muddled. The plot relies on a lot of cliche and hand waving to move itself along. The character arcs aren’t well defined. What this means is I don’t trust the filmmakers to tell the story, so instead of relaxing and enjoying the ride, I’m wondering how they’re going to screw up. “Iron Man” was a lovely scenic drive and “The Hulk” is a dark thickety path. It’s telling that my very favorite scene in the whole film was the very last one — that didn’t even have Bruce or Betty in it. (I can’t describe the scene — too spoilery. But if you’ve seen the film you know what I’m talking about.)

I want to add two scenes. No, not even scenes. A few lines of dialog. I can pick out three related character arcs: Banner doesn’t want power at all. Blonsky wants power and doesn’t care about control. General Ross wants absolute control over everything. This is a story about power: who has it, who wants it, and who deserves it. But the movie never brings these arcs to fruition. I think we need an exchange between Blonsky and Ross, when Blonsky is demanding more super-soldier treatment: Ross: “You’ve already had too much, you’ll lose control!” Blonsky: “I don’t care about control!” Ross is taken aback, and realizes he doesn’t control Blonsky. The audience realizes Blonsky isn’t a soldier — all those medals on his chest don’t mean anything, because he’s a madman. The other scene I would tweak: right before the last fight, in the helicopter: Ross has completely lost control, he’s rambling, Betty is begging him to do something, but all he can say is, “You don’t understand, that man is a monster, we don’t have anything that can stand up to it!” And nearby, Banner is staring into space, and he murmurs, “You have me.” Because he’s the only one who can actually control the power that everyone else craves.

That’s it. The pieces are already there. But the dialog never actually points to these pieces, the subtext behind all the action.  Sometimes you need to clear the path a little, to make it clear to the audience what’s happening. You can’t just have a lot of flashy action and expect the heart of the thing to shine through. “Iron Man” had heart.  This, not so much.

I haven’t even begun talking about how much I like Tim Roth and how I think it’s a shame he keeps getting cast in these thankless baddy roles. I’ll save that for another time. Also, I think Marvel Studios is in the midst of a hugely ambitious project, turning these films into a mosaic, with an interrelated story arc that promises to stretch over the next few years. I hope it works. That would rock.

Oh, and that very funny “You won’t like me when I’m…hungry” bit? Totally mine. I came up with that years ago. Just check the acknowledgments of “Kitty and the Midnight Hour.”

I mentioned about a month ago that I was trying to grow mint. Fine folks assured me that this was easy. But I have a bit of a brown thumb, so I was skeptical. It turns out, even I can grow mint. Here’s the little fellow now:

It’s just about enough to do something with. So what do I do with my fresh mint? Some lovely sauce or marinade? Nope. Mojitos!

I might have made it a bit…strong. Hee hee. So, with my mojito in hand, I popped “Serenity” in the DVD player and relaxed for the evening. (I’ve taken to stopping the movie before the really traumatic bits.) That’s another very well plotted flick. A question for all you Browncoats: the opening classroom scene: Does anyone know if it was filmed at the Huntington Gardens in California? Because it looks just like the Lily Pond area.

Update: Lookee! I was right! Huntington Gardens is on the list of filming locations!  Don’t know why I didn’t figure that out before…

“There is no charge for awesomeness. Or for attractiveness.”

I’m going to be quoting that for no reason for a long time, I think. So yes, I liked the movie. I laughed in all the right places. It had a lot of heart.

In other news, life gets back to normal today, I hope. I’ve been out of my house for over a week, and it’s so nice to be home. It’s been a busy month. July will be busy, too. But June should be pretty mellow. Fingers crossed.

Now, off to do all that work that’s piled up.

Has anyone noticed that all the really positive reviews of the new Indiana Jones basically say, “It was great because it wasn’t as hideous as it could have been!”

Which, I will grant, is true.  It could have been much, much worse.