the_lady_lily (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_lady_lily) wrote2012-08-21 07:32 pm
the_lady_lily) wrote2012-08-21 07:32 pm
Entry tags:
Filmography
Tron - Legacy
I was a huge fan of the original Tron when I was a kid; I figured I owed it at least watched the sequel. It's not bad - it's flabby around the edges, and there's a whole playing into the 'identity of young man who doesn't know who he is and needs to battle it out on hostile terrain to work out his deal' trope that I've mainly talked about in the context of the classical films. This one is an interesting twist, in that it takes the crisis of identity right into the center of the technology which some people argue emasculates modern man and makes that the site for forging one's sense of self, as opposed to the classical reception films, which take the protagonist completely away from those influences and into a safe space to thrash out a new definition of masculinity. But there we are.
It probably goes without saying that the treatment of women is completely dreadful, and that there's a great big father complex in there, and that the pictures are quite pretty. I mean, I'm glad I didn't go and see it at the cinema, as I would have been cross, but it's fairly acceptable mindless brain-entertainment given my current needs.
X-Men - First Class
Ahaha. This is the film that exists to put James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in heavy stare erotic tension stand-off situations. It drips with unrequited homoeroticism. It's also not bad for the first two thirds - it's when it tries to create a resolution that it gets a bit flaily. Oh, and its treatment of women is also pretty fail-y, given that most of them don't wear much and they get a retro 1960s treatment which I presume somebody thought was period. There's also the 'token black guy dying' trope, which ARGH.
The film claims to show the formation of the X-Men and the pivotal role they play in stopping the Cuban Missile Crisis from becoming a crisis. A heavily simplified version of the Cuban Missile Crisis. But why not. It gives us the chance to do Cold War politics with the participation of a survivor of the Nazi death camps (Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr, who will become Magneto), within the context of a cultuer discovering it has mutants among it and trying to work out what to do. There's some fairly interesting social tension/discussion stuff there, and to be fair to the film, it does try to tease out some of the implications. Mainly through Erik and Charles Xavier (McAvoy) having deep and serious conversations where the wars taking place within the depths of Erik's soul become realised, if you see what I mean.
The problem is that the film ends with a bit of a Mexican stand-off that doesn't really go where it wants to - there's a bit of dramatic tension that just... doesn't hook onto anything. Which is a shame. I did like the cameo appearance of Wolverine telling Erik and Charles where to stick it... but I like reflexivity like that.
Overall, again, it's not a bad film - better than Tron Legacy. In fact, the chemistry between the male leads is astonishly good. But I just wish that there had been more of an effort to make the final third of the film narratively satisfying, and to round out the female characters.
I was a huge fan of the original Tron when I was a kid; I figured I owed it at least watched the sequel. It's not bad - it's flabby around the edges, and there's a whole playing into the 'identity of young man who doesn't know who he is and needs to battle it out on hostile terrain to work out his deal' trope that I've mainly talked about in the context of the classical films. This one is an interesting twist, in that it takes the crisis of identity right into the center of the technology which some people argue emasculates modern man and makes that the site for forging one's sense of self, as opposed to the classical reception films, which take the protagonist completely away from those influences and into a safe space to thrash out a new definition of masculinity. But there we are.
It probably goes without saying that the treatment of women is completely dreadful, and that there's a great big father complex in there, and that the pictures are quite pretty. I mean, I'm glad I didn't go and see it at the cinema, as I would have been cross, but it's fairly acceptable mindless brain-entertainment given my current needs.
X-Men - First Class
Ahaha. This is the film that exists to put James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in heavy stare erotic tension stand-off situations. It drips with unrequited homoeroticism. It's also not bad for the first two thirds - it's when it tries to create a resolution that it gets a bit flaily. Oh, and its treatment of women is also pretty fail-y, given that most of them don't wear much and they get a retro 1960s treatment which I presume somebody thought was period. There's also the 'token black guy dying' trope, which ARGH.
The film claims to show the formation of the X-Men and the pivotal role they play in stopping the Cuban Missile Crisis from becoming a crisis. A heavily simplified version of the Cuban Missile Crisis. But why not. It gives us the chance to do Cold War politics with the participation of a survivor of the Nazi death camps (Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr, who will become Magneto), within the context of a cultuer discovering it has mutants among it and trying to work out what to do. There's some fairly interesting social tension/discussion stuff there, and to be fair to the film, it does try to tease out some of the implications. Mainly through Erik and Charles Xavier (McAvoy) having deep and serious conversations where the wars taking place within the depths of Erik's soul become realised, if you see what I mean.
The problem is that the film ends with a bit of a Mexican stand-off that doesn't really go where it wants to - there's a bit of dramatic tension that just... doesn't hook onto anything. Which is a shame. I did like the cameo appearance of Wolverine telling Erik and Charles where to stick it... but I like reflexivity like that.
Overall, again, it's not a bad film - better than Tron Legacy. In fact, the chemistry between the male leads is astonishly good. But I just wish that there had been more of an effort to make the final third of the film narratively satisfying, and to round out the female characters.