Und die Tiere erfreuen.
Sep. 4th, 2006 12:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greygirlbeastThis morning I feel at least twenty years my senior. As if I slipped through some wrinkle in time somewhere in my sleep, and my face in the mirror reassures me that I must have slipped back again, but maybe this is the sort of hangover one gets from time-traveling in one's sleep.
My mother wants us to come to Leeds today. I don't yet know whether or not that will happen. I don't want to deal with the sun or the traffic. I don't want to leave the Perimeter, and I surely don't want to be in Alabama. All my clothes are dirty. There's a mountain of work. See? I have a zillion excuses.
Most of my writing time yesterday was spent dithering about with the Bradbury introduction. Finally, I realized I was only rearranging words, which should never be confused with actual writing or even revision, so I e-mailed it to Neil.
This morning, I'm in one of those moods.
Last night, I stir-fried string beans with red peppers, garlic, porta bellas, fresh basil leaves, lime, and thai chilies, and made a pot of jasmine rice. We had another bottle of the nice Syrah. We took Hubero out on Sophie's old leash and determined that he needs a better harness.
And then we made the mistake of watching Poseidon, Wolfgang Petersen's 2006 remake of The Poseidon Adventure. It's not so much that this is a bad movie. I mean, yes, it certainly is a bad movie, a very bad movie. But I expected that. The real crime here is that it's a dull bad movie. How anyone can take a story wherein a one-hundred-foot wave capsizes an ocean liner, forcing those trapped inside to find their way through the bowels of the inverted ship to the surface — and then make it dull is entirely beyond me. I've always had a soft spot for the original 1972 film. Of all those '70s disaster films, The Poseidon Adventure is probably the best. It has Gene Hackman, Red Buttons, Shelly Winters, Roddy McDowall, and Ernest fucking Borgnine. It has characters. It even has a subtext. By comparison, Poseidon has Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss (both of whom deliver their flattest performances ever), plus a bunch of interchangeable, blandly pretty people. This film isn't so much weighted down by the water filling a sinking ship as by what![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
setsuled has called "the glamour of dull." Honestly, other than Russell and Dreyfuss, I found it almost impossible to tell one character from another. Everywhere the original film succeeds, the remake fails. The upside-down hell of The Poseidon Adventure is here replaced by a purgatorial slog. Some of the SFX are pretty, but, surprisingly, not that much more impressive than the original. And instead of Hackman's bitter, agnostic priest, pitted against his god in his struggle to save a handful of survivors, we get Russell fretting about the pretty boy his daughter's sleeping with, doing noble things whenever the story calls for him to do noble things, because, you know, it's in the script. Everywhere the original felt epic, the remake feels somehow cramped and rushed. I was amazed that I could come to a film with such low expectations and still be disappointed. Please, tell me it tanked at the box office.
Afterwards, we watched the last two episodes of Serenity, "Heart of Gold" and the especially superb "Objects in Space," which managed to sweep away the haze of that dull, dull movie.
Mostly, I'm thinking it's time I read a little more and watch a whole lot less.
As for today, well, here it comes. We shall see.
My mother wants us to come to Leeds today. I don't yet know whether or not that will happen. I don't want to deal with the sun or the traffic. I don't want to leave the Perimeter, and I surely don't want to be in Alabama. All my clothes are dirty. There's a mountain of work. See? I have a zillion excuses.
Most of my writing time yesterday was spent dithering about with the Bradbury introduction. Finally, I realized I was only rearranging words, which should never be confused with actual writing or even revision, so I e-mailed it to Neil.
This morning, I'm in one of those moods.
Last night, I stir-fried string beans with red peppers, garlic, porta bellas, fresh basil leaves, lime, and thai chilies, and made a pot of jasmine rice. We had another bottle of the nice Syrah. We took Hubero out on Sophie's old leash and determined that he needs a better harness.
And then we made the mistake of watching Poseidon, Wolfgang Petersen's 2006 remake of The Poseidon Adventure. It's not so much that this is a bad movie. I mean, yes, it certainly is a bad movie, a very bad movie. But I expected that. The real crime here is that it's a dull bad movie. How anyone can take a story wherein a one-hundred-foot wave capsizes an ocean liner, forcing those trapped inside to find their way through the bowels of the inverted ship to the surface — and then make it dull is entirely beyond me. I've always had a soft spot for the original 1972 film. Of all those '70s disaster films, The Poseidon Adventure is probably the best. It has Gene Hackman, Red Buttons, Shelly Winters, Roddy McDowall, and Ernest fucking Borgnine. It has characters. It even has a subtext. By comparison, Poseidon has Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss (both of whom deliver their flattest performances ever), plus a bunch of interchangeable, blandly pretty people. This film isn't so much weighted down by the water filling a sinking ship as by what
setsuled has called "the glamour of dull." Honestly, other than Russell and Dreyfuss, I found it almost impossible to tell one character from another. Everywhere the original film succeeds, the remake fails. The upside-down hell of The Poseidon Adventure is here replaced by a purgatorial slog. Some of the SFX are pretty, but, surprisingly, not that much more impressive than the original. And instead of Hackman's bitter, agnostic priest, pitted against his god in his struggle to save a handful of survivors, we get Russell fretting about the pretty boy his daughter's sleeping with, doing noble things whenever the story calls for him to do noble things, because, you know, it's in the script. Everywhere the original felt epic, the remake feels somehow cramped and rushed. I was amazed that I could come to a film with such low expectations and still be disappointed. Please, tell me it tanked at the box office.Afterwards, we watched the last two episodes of Serenity, "Heart of Gold" and the especially superb "Objects in Space," which managed to sweep away the haze of that dull, dull movie.
Mostly, I'm thinking it's time I read a little more and watch a whole lot less.
As for today, well, here it comes. We shall see.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 11:04 pm (UTC)I do, indeed.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 08:35 pm (UTC)And the scense of Jayne sleeping really amuse me.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 11:05 pm (UTC)The spot of drool on his pillow...
no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 01:04 am (UTC)Just pulled Alabaseter out of my mailbox, now to go find a quiet place to hold up for a few hours.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 08:53 pm (UTC)Thank you for sharing your stories and your thoughts. Would you mind if I added you to my friends list?
no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 11:05 pm (UTC)Please do.
Sailors Fighting in the Dance Hall
Date: 2006-09-04 11:37 pm (UTC)I think the studios are aiming for such a low denominator that they're afraid of putting realistic people in movies, lest the audience begin clawing at the screen trying to free them.
Please, tell me it tanked at the box office.
Not as much as it deserved. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409182/business)
Re: Sailors Fighting in the Dance Hall
Date: 2006-09-05 12:30 am (UTC)*sigh*
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 06:05 am (UTC)Alabaster
Date: 2006-09-05 11:29 am (UTC)Mind if I add you to my friends list?
Re: Alabaster
Date: 2006-09-05 01:55 pm (UTC)I do not mind at all. :-)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 02:16 pm (UTC)When I see Andre Braugher is in a movie and still decide there's no way in hell I'm going to watch it...
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 02:29 pm (UTC)Well, Das Boot is brilliant, one of my "100 Best," but that was 1981. And Enenmy Mine had it moments. More recently, I quite liked In the Line of Fire. Air Force One was big dumb fun. Outbreak wasn't a total loss. Kind of liked The Perfect Storm. But then there's Troy, which was every bit as dumb and dull as Poseidon. Mostly, thinking about it, Petersen has entirely failed to live up to the standard he set for himself with Das Boot. Which is really kind of depressing.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 04:23 pm (UTC)Perzackly. He's made some fun, big, dumb action movies, but Das Boot was a fun, big, SMART action move. I keep waiting for the next one, and hoping someone doesn't come up with the bright idea of Das Boot II: Periscope Up!...