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[beccaelizabeth]

I watched Elektra on FilmFour.
After a while, I continued to watch it only out of a kind of ongoing fascination of the train wreck sort.
That was just... not very good. At all. I mean... eew.
The martial arts were just not up to scratch, the glowy CFI effects were kinda pointless, I've seen children's television that managed more creepy, and the psychological level was as messy as everything else, making it all a bit pathetic really. Oh, and the bit where the girl was being attacked by snakes was just... *raised eyebrow*. And the thing with the woman with the poison kisses was just not even *facepalm* because it's too dumb.
Also, even many comics have learned not to put female martial artists in high heels. Okay, with intermittent backsliding, but really, eew. And that outfit didn't work in 3D or when she moved. It was all very well when she was posing face on, but the rest of the time it kind of bulged or stuck out in weird ways. That's just not at all useful.

And to think I could have spent the time watching Doctor Who. or writing. or reading for college.

I did watch Girl in the Fireplace when it was on earlier. Is still veryvery good.

I wants to write for Doctor Who. I should probably start with fanfic so people can do the point and laugh thing on a smaller scale.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, please write some fanfic!

I haven't seen Elektra. I don't have the nerve to see Elektra. See, the Elektra stories in the original Daredevil comics are among my favourite comic book stories ever. Elektra was amazing. Do I want to see that ruined by a bad movie? No!

[beccaelizabeth]

Yeah, this is why I watch the Marvel movies but generally can't bring myself to watch the DC ones. At least not without twitching.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Most comic book-based movies so far have made me cringe, some more than others. I loved Unbreakable but it isn't based on a comic. 300 is a notable exception. Sin City was good, and faithful to the original, and actually brilliant, but the violence in it made me cringe anyway, even while I was admiring it.

I'll concede that the Spider-Man movies are probably good, except they are not my chosen interpretation of the character or the story, and I don't like Tobey Maguire or Kirsten Dunst. I did like K.J. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, though.

I think I liked the Flash TV series, but don't remember it much now.

Did they ever make or release the Green Lantern movie? I remember seeing a lot of publicity for it for a while, and then nothing.

[beccaelizabeth]

I don't think there's a GL movie yet.
There was a GL in the TV movie of Justice League.
... after I watched that version of JL I spent my entire next session with my pshrink talking about it. Bad. Very bad.

I think the Spider Man movies are okay, but I don't get much of what I look for in comics from films of comics. I love the depth and scope of the canon, the way I've been reading DC comics practically my whole life and I know about the characters going back to when they were in short pants. Especially now there's downloads of ye ancient issues. And I like the way the universe ties together. Which is what the Justice League is best at, along with Teen Titans and Justice Society. The way the 'families' with the different backgrounds and approaches work together, that's just fun.
Comics manage even more story than TV shows. Well, DW and Trek and suchlike have their own comics too, so naturally they have a lot of canon, and some comics get TV shows, though usually they mangle them... though I loved the TV series of Witchblade and rather hated what I tried of the comic, so I guess mangle is relative.

I keep trying to quit comics. They keep doing things that just give me rage, messing up characters and killing them and the treatment of women and the treatment of minorities and stupid comments from comic creators that make it clear what they saw in the characters was never what I loved about them, and... lots of reasons.
Yet thus far all I've managed to do is stop paying for comics. Which, er, isn't the same thing at all at all...

... that was a bit of a tangent, from films.

So, anyways: Spiderman - all very well, but not one of My Heroes, so I pretty much only watch the once.
Of course some versions of Batman and Robin manage to be very much not my hero either... *sigh*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

... after I watched that version of JL I spent my entire next session with my pshrink talking about it. Bad. Very bad.

Oh no! I am so glad to have been spared. Thanks for the warning.

I don't get much of what I look for in comics from films of comics

Yes, that's the bottom line. The medium is the message. What is best about any given character - Spider-Man, for example - doesn't necessarily translate to film, though they do rather well with the Steve-Ditko-like webswinging positions. Wolverine in X-Men was good, but the others were variable - and even Wolverine was compromised (or enhanced) by being made tall, dark and handsome instead of short, rough and ugly.

All the things you say about DC comics are true for me with Marvel, though I do love DC too, particularly the Batman related titles. (I'd read every comic written, every week, if only I had the time and the money.) No, that's not entirely true - I'd never read Frank Miller's current Batman series, because I hate it! I won't read anything written by Peter Miligan or Mark Waid, either.

I haven't get decided to never see another TV show or movie based on a comic again, but I've come close to it. I rather liked "Constantine" - even though it was very much not the John Constantine of my imagination (or the original creators') I enjoyed the movie. I thought they were true to the spirit of what I would want John Constantine to be, not the character as he developed in the comics.

So which DV characters do you most love? My top-faves are Supergirl, Batman, and Nightwing.

[beccaelizabeth]

my sense of order was much put out by the JL film. Ten years of detailed canon, almost utterly ignored. And the way they'd turned the comic book costumes into 3D clothes... *shudders*


My favourites in the DCU are the superheros who are not in fact super.

Oracle especially - girl in a wheelchair saves the world a lot, and is boss of a bunch of people. I loved the early Birds of Prey. What I saw as the defining thing they had in common was being women who had spent a long time defined by their relationship with men - someone's girlfriend, someone's daughter - and they were setting out to redefine themselves without them. I don't know if I'd see the same thing if I re-read the same stories, but that was what I got at the time.

I love the Batfamily when they're being family - it all goes down hill when the writers lose the distinction between a Batman who says he's a loner and a Batman who is a loner. Batman-and-Robin-and-Alfred is the absolute minimum unit of Batfamily, and usually they add in Oracle and Nightwing and a bunch of other people.

The Arrow family too, another set of regular humans trying to cope with superpowered opponents. Canary got her power back recently, but for most of the time I was reading she was defined by having lost it. She was a martial artist, primarily. And the others never had superpowers, just some sticks and some string and a whole lot of practice.

And the Arrow family are far more flawed than the Bats. I mean the Bats have their flaws, god knows, but they come from trying to be superhuman, trying to be so perfect as crimefighters they drop everything but the Bat part of their persona. Arrows are more likely to be dating the wrong girl, or dealing with the fallout from bad decisions like Arsenal being known as the one who was a drug addict or currently being a single father. Being excessively human, so to speak. Except actually the division isn't anything like that simple.

My all time favourite is Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle. The other Blue Beetles have their good points, and the current BB title is kinda awesome, but Ted was just... He has intermittent problems with his weight, and can't always get his costume over the resultant bulge. He's a kick arse martial artist now, but apparently he learned to deal with bullies when he was just the fat geek kid. Later he has a heart condition, which could kill him, but when he's really needed he keeps being there. And while he was for a while portrayed as a joke, he is in fact the guy who makes jokes because he understands all too well what's at stake. He was in a coma twice, his best friend technically died until Ted built him a life support suit, and all he has to face all these superpowers are some acrobatics and a few gadgets. When a new hero asks him if he's scared he says "All the time - but I never let it stop me."

... and the idiots in charge of writing decided to kill him off.
but we maybe getting him back soon cause his best friend is a time traveller now :-)
... I still have fear. There's way too many ways for that to go wrong. :-/

Booster Gold, BB's friend, is also cool, when done well. He got into superheroics for the money and the cool points, but after it got serious he stayed. He's been dead, he lost an arm for a while, he lost all his money, he lost his best friend. All his powers are in his suit, and he lost that for a while too. But he sticks around, because when it gets down to it he finds he is in fact a hero.

My favourite team wasn't the all-star Justice League with Bats and Supes and Wonder Woman, it was the League that for a while there was almost entirely killed off or depowered, the ones called second string or B list because they were mostly just in the League, not their own titles. They had UN sanction and a steady pay cheque. That got dumped for the League of vigilantes funded by inherited millions, and somehow this is seen as better than the ones that were more like superpowered peacekeeper/cops.

... aaaand I seem to have written an essay.
heh.

Okay: I like superheros who have to face up to the rest of the world having more power, more ability, than they do, but don't let it stop them. And I like it when teamwork saves the day a lot.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Ten years of detailed canon, almost utterly ignored.

They do love messing with canon. It's bad enough that they do it. Then they do it again. They love messing with our minds. And each movie seems to have its own canon attached - and every TV show. It's never the same.

The worst example, I suppose (though I never saw it) was the movie Catwoman, where Catwoman wasn't even Selina Kyle. What's with that? I'd love to see a really moody, film noir style Catwoman movie.

I too love Oracle. She's a great character - I love the way she is strong and smart and unusual. Actobatic bimbettes are a dime a dozen in comics.

And the Arrow family are high on my list of DC loves too, though I haven't read many GA stories since I was a kid. I've been reading the last few, with the wedding and the Amazon kidnapping.

I've hardly read any Blue Beetle, though what I have read made me like him enough. Am I right in remembering that he was in JLA stories done by Kaieth Giffen, whose writing I adore?

I hate it when they kill or ruin my favourite characters. Been there, done that, believe me - I'm a Supergirl fan.

I love underpowered superheroes too.

[beccaelizabeth]

I can't bring myself to watch Catwoman even though it's got actor-I-follow in it somewhere. I've never heard a good word about it. Well, except from the actor, who got paid, and said actress was nice to him.

Yup, the good era of JLI was Giffen/DeMatteis. Seperately they're pretty good, together they're awesome. Well, mostly awesome. I am fan - I can find something to complain about anywhere...

And I sort of gave up on Supergirl. Repeatedly, come to think. Character most messed around. So you have my sympathies.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I can't bring myself to watch Catwoman

I can't bring myself to watch Catwoman.

even though it's got actor-I-follow in it somewhere

Who is it?

I've never heard a good word about it.

Neither have I. The best I've heard was "nothing much happens".

I sort of gave up on Supergirl. Repeatedly, come to think. Character most messed around. So you have my sympathies.

Oh,yes. If anything can be done to a character, it's been done to Supergirl. I just read it when it looks good and don't worry about the rest. It isn't as if she really has any kind of continuity at this point to worry about.