Late discussion of films (and so on) I saw while flying across the Atlantic:

[redfiona99]

I try not to be that person, you know the one that complains bitterly about every change in an adaptation. Because quite often there are reasons. And the film-makers seemed to want an origin story, possibly because those are the "in" thing. The first two Tintin books are generally discarded for being terrible, leaving us with 'Tintin in America' as the first one, which I really like but is probably a bit too cartoony for most people's tastes (and slightly too on point about a few other things).

So they went with an origin of Haddock instead. And in the books it's "Crab With The Golden Claw", which isn't a brilliant story either. So they've smurged "Crab With The Golden Claw" with "The Secret of the Unicorn". I don't get why they didn't just do "The Secret of the Unicorn" straight but hey ho.

Where I start to get annoyed is when, instead of the villains being the very Anglophonically named Bird brothers, suddenly it's the definitely East of the Danubian Mr. Sakharine. Mr. Sakharine is an innocent victim in the books, and suddenly foreign villains annoy me at the best of times.

That's before they added on a stupid reincarnation plot. Stupid does not cover it in fact.

That being said, Red Rackham's first appearance was wonderfully cool.


It's perfectly competently made, but it's absolutely lacking in anything that resembles heart or soul.



I hadn't watched it before now because I was a bit worried that it was going to be one of two things:

1 - 90 minutes of people purring over bikes going past at stupid speeds, which is fun to do if you're the person, but boring if you're not.

2 - Morbid. Because, if we're honest, the Isle of Man TT runs on the blood of it's competitors (the average is more than one death per year), and yes, you have to mention that, but it's too easy to fixate on that.

It managed not to fall into either of those traps.

The Virgin airline entertainment book thingy didn't exactly make it sound enticing. They said it was excellent, and mentioned that it spent a lot of time with the incorrigible Guy Martin. Now the problem with incorrigible is that it's normally used to mean some arsehole who gets away with stuff that he shouldn't, and each avoidance of the consequences only makes them worse. This time it didn't. With the exception of one particularly jobsworthy time-keeper, you could see why everyone put up with him, even while he was doing mad (and maddening) things.

The other thing it did well was covering the way that the fans are just as mad as the riders, especially those that used to be riders themselves. There was one guy they interviewed, and they were talking about how dangerous the TT was and he goes "yes, I know" and waves his artificial arm.

And they mentioned that some of the lunatics riders are women. And anything that gives Jenny Tinmouth coverage makes me happy.

It also caught the exhilaration of why you'd do something quite so dangerous. It didn't downplay the risks of the TT either, one of the riders they interviewed at the beginning dies during the race and they follow it up and discuss the effects it had on his family.


Definitely worth a watch.

Then I rewatched Games of Shadows, and still feel about it the same way I did when I first watched it and then the first half hour of the Sherlock Scandal in Bohemia/Belgravia. I will get round to writing about Sherlock's second season. I think I am finally capable of not flailing about the end of the third episode.

On the way back I watched Pirates: An Adventure With Scientists! which is a bit slow to get going but is lots of fun once it does.

I also watched the US version of

Again, I spent my time trying not to be that person, you know the one that compares the originals to US remakes, but it's impossible not to. The really ooky thing for me, was (more than usual YMMV) how much more sexualised Salander was made in this. Even the rape scene. I was tremendously squicked at 30,000 feet.

This is not to say it was all bad, Fincher can shoot the heck out of scene and Stellen Skarsgaard and Christopher Plummer were awesome as always.

I also fell asleep mid-way through, but that could have had more to do with it being a transatlantic flight than anything else. I should probably try watching it again under less disadvantageous conditions, although I don't think this will help my squick issues.


Virgin flights also have TV shows on now, so I got to try out

Smash: I got bored half-way through the first episode. I think I'd like it more if there was more of Anjelica Huston's character. And less wangst. Also, more realism. Because yeah, there's no way Megan Hilty's character wouldn't easily have got the role because Katharine McPhee's character hasn't the vocal power or presence. Not amount of Jack Davenport being a Cowell-esque bastard will make up for that.

Alcatraz: Didn't get further than the first six minutes of the first episode. I've figured out my problem with JJ Abrams and his productions, it's like Vince Russo, I know his kind of twists already and there's nothing behind the twists for me to enjoy.

Hit And Miss: Very good. But a bit too Tony Abbot making everyone suffer for a transatlantic flight. Because Abbot is a master at making the characters believably good, bad, horrible, nice, messed up and human.

Once Upon A Time: Which I didn't watch when it was broadcast because it was on on Thursdays and Thursday is fencing day and will not be interfered with. I liked it, and can see why everyone else enjoys it so much, and if they ever show it on normal TV not on Thursdays, I'm definitely giving this a go. If only to see what the hell Gold's deal is. And yes, I know, I'm focussing on the wrong thing, but 1) I love Robert Carlyle and have ever since Hamish MacBeth, 2) I have been primed to enjoy him being cranky, tormented and not so nice by Stargate Universe, 3) Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin is the kind of character I ping for.

Comments

[coneyislandbaby]

There is much more of Anjelica Huston's character as Smash goes on, if that is of help, and Jack Davenport only gets more interestingly bastardy (interestingly means I want to see more of him, but then I would say that about anyone he played...), plus the role question is sorted out realistically as well.

Once Upon A Time is very good and I don't see anything wrong with wanting to know all about Gold even if I love almost everything about it and couldn't pick just one thing. Robert is amazing in the role, I think it may be my favourite thing he's done in years.