Wednesday 3 September 2008

TV

Gilmore Girls
5x03 Written in the Stars

God, the Devil and Bob
1x06 God's Favorite
1x07 Bob Gets Committed

Lost in Austen
Part 1 (of 4)
Read some of my thoughts on this here.

Articles

Benjamin Button and the Curious Stories Surrounding Him by Brad Brevet
(from RopesofSilicon)
Somehow, all this fuss over The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has completely passed me by. Obviously it hasn't been big enough news for anyone other than the navel-gazing likes of AICN & co.

TMNT To Go Live Action Again by Glen Ferris
(from Empire Online)
"Following last year’s all-CGI TMNT and a clutch of movies and animated series, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may indeed be back in real-life if [their creator] Kevin Eastman is to be believed... “Although the CGI film did well enough to warrant a sequel, there has been much talk between Imagi and Warners to do a better ‘re-invention’ of the TMNTs... Back to basics, back to the origin and the intro of the Shredder." While it might sound like a great idea, the problem with "going back to basics and adopting the darker tone of their original comic books" -- you see, "far from kid friendly, their initial adventures were bloody and broody affairs" -- is that it would be too hard-edged to sell to kids and too ludicrous to sell to most adults,

Watchmen Trial Date Set by Helen O'Hara
(from Empire Online)
"The crux of the matter is that Fox is arguing that it still has distribution rights to the film, based on a 1991 agreement... the judge has ordered expedited discovery (a legal term which means "Show the other side all your paperwork already") but denied a preliminary motion to dismiss (in English, "I'll see you in court, Counsellor"), so the parties now have four months to examine each other's records, prepare for a case and work frantically on some sort of settlement on the side, before it all goes to court and out of their hands."

porn in the multiplex!

The full red band trailer (i.e. 18-rated) for Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Kevin Smith's latest comedic effort, is now available online.

Writers (and readers) at Empire seem to be reacting in much the way they might having watched a chunk of Zack and Miri's film -- "shaping up to be the man’s best for some time", "the perfect cross between Smith’s more caustic side and the ever-maturing sentimental streak", "the central relationship in particular looking particularly well-realised and full of warmth", "I haven't laughed that hard at a trailer in time", "the trailer is even funnier than i thought it'd be", "my most anticipated film of the year now has the best trailer I've seen this year"...

Maybe they were watching a different trailer to me. One that was funnier, for example, and had a warm central relationship. There were some amusing moments, but nothing that's going to have me rushing to see it on DVD, never mind at the cinema. Oh well.

"Midnight Sun" by Stephenie Meyer - Chapter 1

Earlier I reported on the leak of Midnight Sun, the uncompleted fifth book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. You can see what she'd completed for free, legally, here. I wouldn't recommend it though -- I made it to page 12 of the first 23-page chapter before I had to give up.

The novel retells the series' first book from the perspective of another character, and while this isn't particularly overt it does cloud things when you know it -- Meyer is clearly pulling some narrative gymnastics to slot this new perspective around established events, which will be a lot of fun for the series' fans but is awkward for a new reader.

The primary flaw with this lies in the fact that the first novel showed things from a human perspective*, while this utilises a vampire's -- not necessarily a fatal mistake, but for a newbie reader who doesn't know the characters it locks you out of the events that are occurring, while instead focussing on describing, at interminable length, the vampire's thoughts and feelings. This means it mostly reads like a fairly competent example of amateur/fanfic vampire writing, a sense that is exacerbated by the prose's style. It's not poorly written, but nor is it in any way exemplary -- unless you were looking for something slow and repetitive, that is.

So, having finally experienced a small chunk of the much-hyped (thanks to the forthcoming film) Twilight universe, I can assure you, dear readers, that I won't be bothering with any more of it. Except perhaps the film, depending on what the reviews are like, and once it's on DVD, and my rental site finally send it to me, which isn't likely to be very speedily.

* I should point out that I haven't read any other novels in the series, but know this from having read a little about it thanks to the upcoming film and this leaked manuscript.