Counting among one of my more peculiar fixations, ever sine I was a young lad and dinosaurs just weren’t good enough anymore I’ve loved dragons. Though that never really translated into anything seriously embarrassing (Halloween costumes, immersion in Dungeons and Dragons role-playing games), it did mean that legends, fantasy novels, and – of course – movies were prime draws for me.
Unfortunately, cinematic representations of dragons in film have always grossly failed in capitalizing on the inherent, seemingly dummy proof spectacle of the concept. The only way they have succeeded is in grossly disappointing this dragon lover’s expectations.
The last few years have proven to be rife with letdowns. Though the novel was good, the film adaptation of ERAGON was atrocious. REIGN OF FIRE had a great concept and dragon designs/effects, but little else. Don’t even get me started on the mess that was DRAGON WARS, a film concept that should have been like a shot of adrenaline to my interest. The only dragon film even remotely close to being good was DRAGONHEART, thanks to both the effects and the effort made to show a lot of the dragon and imbue him with character (being voiced by Sean Connery doesn’t hurt either). The only problem was talking was pretty much all he did, and he was the only dragon left. It’s a sad fact that the best dragons we’ve seen in film are the few minutes of the one in HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE and the ending of the otherwise horrible DUNGEONS & DRAGONS movie.
All I can do is hope that somebody Hollywood will gets its act together and fully capitalize on the excitement of dragons, creating a movie that combines good story, good effects, good action, and – most importantly – good use of dragons. Then I’ll be sitting there with child like awe and wonder, giggling to myself with unbridled glee. Needless to say, I probably won’t bring a date I’m trying to impress.
With this year already featuring no end of groups boycotting films (THE GOLDEN COMPASS, THE LOVE GURU, TROPIC
THUNDER) with the vigor of over-rampant political correctness, I thought for the heck of it I’d also indulge my over-sensitive side and discuss some of the recent films that did actually manage to offend me. Needless to say, many will find my complaints utterly ridiculous, because – after all – what offends is subjective. That being said, any attempts to remind me that “Come on, it’s only a movie” will fall on the deaf ears of this former film student suffering from academic withdrawal. In fact, if that’s an argument you tend to lean towards then you may just want to skip the next few paragraphs. Well, probably the whole article.
For those of you who do stick around though, feel free to post away on the films that managed to irk your offensive bone.
300
I’m possibly one of the few people I know who really didn’t like 300, something I receive no end of chiding for in public (it makes for very hostile party conversation). Though I’ll concede visually the movie is stunning, I found the film to be incredibly racist with its monstrous and freakish portrayal of anyone who proved to be “the other” to the headlining Spartans. Remember the tent sequence? And what would a Frank Miller project be without a little homophobia (the Persian king) and masochism as well (Lena Headey’s character’s story).
SHOOT ‘EM UP
Speaking of masochism, SHOOT ‘EM UP demonstrates more callous, gratuitous violence towards women in its first fifteen minutes alone than I think I’ve ever seen in a film. Admittedly, it’s blowing out of proportion what in many ways is already inherent in the over-the-top action film – including a beyond reproachable villain – but it’s because it seems to project itself with such “Isn’t this cool?” enthusiasm that it becomes so hard to take for me. Saying “Nice tits,” to a dead corpse, or a character pleasuring himself by fondling the breasts of a dead corpse? That’s masochistic and not cool.
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On the TV Addict:
We offered up a serious PRISON BREAK fourth season spoiler, interviewed HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER showrunner Carter Bays and gave you a first look at 90210’s Shenae Grimes and Jennie Garth.
On the REEL Addict:
We reviews TROPIC THUNDER, confessed to crushing on Famke Janssen and are giving away a copy of the Jonas Brother’s CAMP ROCK on DVD, so click here to enter!
After reading the stunning news that Bernie Mac unexpectedly died at 50 this weekend, I couldn’t help but ask with complete sadness and resignation: what the heck is going on this year with celebrities dying prematurely?
Not to by any means devalue the deaths of older (yet no less significant) filmmakers like Charlton Heston, Richard Widmark, Bernie Brillsten, or Estelle Getty, but to a certain extent they were not necessarily shocking on account of their ages. But people like Syndey Pollack, George Carlin, Stan Winston and Tim Russert were anywhere between their fifties and seventies. Yes, okay not super young, but one would have imagined they should have had a good amount of years yet to live. That list of course doesn’t include Heath Ledger or Brad Renfro who were young, far too young to pass (even if their deaths were brought about themselves).
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On the TV Addict
We offered up a first look at GOSSIP GIRL Season 2, infiltrated the set of 24, interviewed SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE’s Cat Deeley and Mary Murphy and wrote a fairly controversial letter to Teen Choice Breakout Star Chace Crawford.
On the REEL Addict
We read between the lines of George Lucas’ recent interview with the Times Online, politely asked Hollywood to leave Asian martial arts stars alone and offered up our opinion on why a WATCHMEN movie wasn’t a good idea.
Whenever a film (like this one) gets universally demolished by critics, there are inevitably people who rise up to defend it. That’s more than fine since moviegoing (and taste) is a subjective thing, and what isn’t one person’s cup of tea, is another’s veritable feast of splendor (though I’d have to question someone who can become fully nourished on films like the above).
The thing that drives me nuts though is when people defend movies that are perceived as crap by the majority of others by either eliciting either the “Not everything can be CITIZEN KANE” defense, or the slight variant of “It’s not supposed to be THE GODFATHER, it’s supposed to be a silly fun movie.” If you’re actually a critic (or perceived as one anyway) then often you’ll also find yourself on the end of a snarky attack accusing you of being too cynical and jaded, and incapable of simply enjoying movies for trying to be “fun.” Heck, I don’t even consider myself a critic yet, but rather someone who runs a site that – in its current infancy stage – is still a passionate hobby of sorts (with nonetheless greater aspirations), and even I’ve been accused of this now and then.
I can understand somewhat where such knee-jerk defenses come from. After all, given how personal one’s taste in films can be, it’s not nice to hear everybody hates something you might have enjoyed. That doesn’t excuse lazy arguing though and personal attacks. You feel a film isn’t being given its due? Then make your case and back it up. Don’t resort to such childish accusations of “You don’t know how to have fun,” which really is little more than the argumentative equivalent of kicking someone in the shin and running away. Nor should you resort to such lazy defenses as the ones mentioned above.
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One of the many things direly wrong with last weekend’s horrible THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPREROR was the fact that it was yet another example of Hollywood’s inept mishandling of Asian movie stars. Watching Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh trod their way through the film just kept on breaking my heart, because they can do so much better, and - more importantly - deserve so much better.
Instead they, and many other successful Asian action stars (Jackie Chan, especially) are usually reduced to being embarrassing sidekicks (either to other characters, the narrative, or to special effects) or their martial art skills are exploited for the exotic novelty their five minutes of on-screen fighting present to North American audiences (”Oh, look, how neat. It’s martial arts!”).
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This REEL Addict will concede that last week was a little heavy on posters and trailers, as opposed to what I like to call “real” content. Rest assured, after I am done relaxing and celebrating today’s Civic Holiday here in Toronto, things will return to normal. My day job will occupy me less, my social life shall be cast aside in an act of hermit like celibacy, and I’ll be back to shamelessly soap box grandstanding about anything movie related I can think of.
On the TV Addict:
Alongside the first official cast photo featuring the new gang from 90210, we posted our predictions for their future. Interviewed singer turned actress Shirley Manson and America’s Favorite Serial Killer. DEXTER’s Michael C. Hall.
On the REEL Addict:
We continued our one-sided obsession with Zooey Deschanel, ranted about the idiocy of Shia LeBeouf and posted the teaser trailer for HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.
On the TV Addict:
We’ve got Comic Con covered. With feature articles on TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, DEXTER, THE BIG BANG THEORY and HBO’s TRUE BLOOD. Plus a first look at 90210.
On the REEL Addict:
We wondered if this is the best summer movie season ever, revealed are third Hollywood Crush: James Marsden and posed some DARK KNIGHT related questions.
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