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Aw, hell. Insomnia strikes again. I couldn't get to sleep 'til late, woke up every hour until 5, then just stayed awake. Aside from being the usual pain in the ass is the fact that I had planned to do my Yule vigil tonight and had tomorrow off, so I was counting on having a good night's sleep since I have to work all day and would therefore be up for over 24 hours... so do I try to call in sick for part of today, or what? I dunno. Blar.
In other news, we finally got out to see Narnia. My review follows.
First of all, let me get this out of the way. I know I have a satyr fixation already anyway, but I thought Mr.Tumnus was hot. There was a scene at the end with him and Lucy, and I found myself thinking "you know, she's going to grow up in Narnia, and there's not going to be any more humans to, well, be with, and Señor T. did indicate that he was hundreds of years old so he should still be around..." and you can see where I'm going. But yeah, he was the same guy who was in Children of Dune (James McAvoy), and I declare him teh hotness of the week.
Alrighty. There will be lots of comparisons between this and Harry Potter. The thing that struck me was the big difference in attitudes about doing what you're told. Harry and his posse seem to always be thwarting rules and getting away with murder- hell, the stories would stall out if the kids didn't ignore what they were supposed to be doing on a regular basis. But Edmund's greatest flaw that everyone complains about seems to be that he doesn't mind, he never listens, he doesn't do what he's told- he's not obedient. Now, I often got irked at how Potter and co. always seem to stroll around like they own the joint and treat pretty much all of the rules like irksome suggestions, but at the same time I thought Edmund was getting a bad rap. Then again, he was painted as a pretty unlikeable kid from the start. Really, his big crime was that he was a mean little fucker, but that seemed to be his sullen, kid way of dealing with the fact that everyone already treated him like the black sheep- or more appropriately, the willful goat, if we're going to use the Christian symbolism. It is telling that not being obedient seems to have been his biggest crime within that context.
But hey, at least he grew as a character. I was not sure what he did to earn the title "the Just"; then again, why did Lucy get "the Valiant" (more fitting: "the Cute") and Susan "the Gentle" (more fitting: "the Hermione-like know-it-all", who (also interesting in a Christian context) gets bitched at for "trying to be smart")? None of those names fit very well. It wasn't surprising that Peter got slapped with "the Magnificent"; he was being pushed into the role of valiant leader of the Narnian army (what, just because he was human? If I were that centaur general, I'd maybe ask to see a resume before handing over command of the army to some kid, but hey, this is fantasy). One reviewer described him as "irritatingly blond" which amused me... I was not that fond of his character. It seemed a little two-dimensional, but then fully developing 4 characters would've been a challenge. For that matter, naming him "Wolfbane" seems un-PC; won't wolves get to vote in the new Narnia? Oh yeah, quad-archy dictatorship.
Effects were wonderful. I saw some bitching about them, but those people are jaded. They looked fine. Beautiful in fact. Aslan was terrific. I did expect to be more moved by his death; in the book it was terrible. He was alone, ridiculed, pathetic, and my heart just broke for him. In the movie it seemed like a calculated military tactic... like "well, because of the rules I get to come back and keep the kid, put that in your pipe and smoke it, White Witch! Ha ha!" Perhaps it was the music, I dunno; I was all ready to be really torn up by that scene, and it didn't deliver.
Maybe it was the Disneyfication factor. There wasn't a drop of blood to be seen anywhere (except the picturesque wee little gash on the lip or forehead to trumpet "hey, been in peril here!!!") despite being up-close in a huge battle fought with messy axes and other pokey stabby things. Even when Aslan killed the Witch- cut to Aslan jumping on her and knocking her down, cut to the kids looking on avidly, cut to Aslan strolling over without a drop of blood on him anywhere saying "it's done." What's done? Sure I wasn't expecting a gore-fest, but still.
I could pick further nits (the Chronicle reviewer wondered "if everything including plants are sentient, what does everyone eat?" which is a good question, actually) but I don't want to make it seem like I hated the movie. I'm just enjoying snarking at little things. Overall I liked the movie and would recommend it. Despite what some people seem to think it's not a big Christian propaganda piece; tales of betrayal and redemption and even coming back from the dead are in all kinds of stories, so while you could look at it that way and decide to avoid the movie on that basis, you'd be silly to do so. Even the whole obedience thing seems more like a factor of the book being written in the 50's, when obedient was what good kids were. So ya, go see it.
Oh, last note- I got a feel for what a bummer war must be- not from the Narnia battle, but from the beginning with the German bombing. When the kids are running to the bunker and you see the night sky lit up with planes dropping bombs on your head, that was scary. I probably would've wet myself. War is hell.
In other news, we finally got out to see Narnia. My review follows.
First of all, let me get this out of the way. I know I have a satyr fixation already anyway, but I thought Mr.Tumnus was hot. There was a scene at the end with him and Lucy, and I found myself thinking "you know, she's going to grow up in Narnia, and there's not going to be any more humans to, well, be with, and Señor T. did indicate that he was hundreds of years old so he should still be around..." and you can see where I'm going. But yeah, he was the same guy who was in Children of Dune (James McAvoy), and I declare him teh hotness of the week.
Alrighty. There will be lots of comparisons between this and Harry Potter. The thing that struck me was the big difference in attitudes about doing what you're told. Harry and his posse seem to always be thwarting rules and getting away with murder- hell, the stories would stall out if the kids didn't ignore what they were supposed to be doing on a regular basis. But Edmund's greatest flaw that everyone complains about seems to be that he doesn't mind, he never listens, he doesn't do what he's told- he's not obedient. Now, I often got irked at how Potter and co. always seem to stroll around like they own the joint and treat pretty much all of the rules like irksome suggestions, but at the same time I thought Edmund was getting a bad rap. Then again, he was painted as a pretty unlikeable kid from the start. Really, his big crime was that he was a mean little fucker, but that seemed to be his sullen, kid way of dealing with the fact that everyone already treated him like the black sheep- or more appropriately, the willful goat, if we're going to use the Christian symbolism. It is telling that not being obedient seems to have been his biggest crime within that context.
But hey, at least he grew as a character. I was not sure what he did to earn the title "the Just"; then again, why did Lucy get "the Valiant" (more fitting: "the Cute") and Susan "the Gentle" (more fitting: "the Hermione-like know-it-all", who (also interesting in a Christian context) gets bitched at for "trying to be smart")? None of those names fit very well. It wasn't surprising that Peter got slapped with "the Magnificent"; he was being pushed into the role of valiant leader of the Narnian army (what, just because he was human? If I were that centaur general, I'd maybe ask to see a resume before handing over command of the army to some kid, but hey, this is fantasy). One reviewer described him as "irritatingly blond" which amused me... I was not that fond of his character. It seemed a little two-dimensional, but then fully developing 4 characters would've been a challenge. For that matter, naming him "Wolfbane" seems un-PC; won't wolves get to vote in the new Narnia? Oh yeah, quad-archy dictatorship.
Effects were wonderful. I saw some bitching about them, but those people are jaded. They looked fine. Beautiful in fact. Aslan was terrific. I did expect to be more moved by his death; in the book it was terrible. He was alone, ridiculed, pathetic, and my heart just broke for him. In the movie it seemed like a calculated military tactic... like "well, because of the rules I get to come back and keep the kid, put that in your pipe and smoke it, White Witch! Ha ha!" Perhaps it was the music, I dunno; I was all ready to be really torn up by that scene, and it didn't deliver.
Maybe it was the Disneyfication factor. There wasn't a drop of blood to be seen anywhere (except the picturesque wee little gash on the lip or forehead to trumpet "hey, been in peril here!!!") despite being up-close in a huge battle fought with messy axes and other pokey stabby things. Even when Aslan killed the Witch- cut to Aslan jumping on her and knocking her down, cut to the kids looking on avidly, cut to Aslan strolling over without a drop of blood on him anywhere saying "it's done." What's done? Sure I wasn't expecting a gore-fest, but still.
I could pick further nits (the Chronicle reviewer wondered "if everything including plants are sentient, what does everyone eat?" which is a good question, actually) but I don't want to make it seem like I hated the movie. I'm just enjoying snarking at little things. Overall I liked the movie and would recommend it. Despite what some people seem to think it's not a big Christian propaganda piece; tales of betrayal and redemption and even coming back from the dead are in all kinds of stories, so while you could look at it that way and decide to avoid the movie on that basis, you'd be silly to do so. Even the whole obedience thing seems more like a factor of the book being written in the 50's, when obedient was what good kids were. So ya, go see it.
Oh, last note- I got a feel for what a bummer war must be- not from the Narnia battle, but from the beginning with the German bombing. When the kids are running to the bunker and you see the night sky lit up with planes dropping bombs on your head, that was scary. I probably would've wet myself. War is hell.
