The Alex Entertainment Report
Jan. 23rd, 2004 01:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteMovies: Saw Peter Pan last Monday. Liked it a good deal, but like life in Neverland, it is fading rather fast from memory. The film is a good family film, not as full of things to keep adults busy as Finding Nemo, but still something I think everyone over the age of 8 can enjoy. Jason Isaacs gives two good performances as Hook and Mr. Darling, the young actrees playing Wendy is spot-on perfect, and the actor playing Peter...well, he looks the part and has the right swagger, but he's not much of an actor yet. The look of the film suits the nature of the story as that of a fairy tale.
As for the concerns about the subtext of youthful love/lust becoming text, yes, there is less left to the imagination thanin the pervious version, but the critics who thought this was too sensual were, as always, idiots. These pre-teens act like pre-teens, with little more than flirting and a kiss, and anyone who is bothered by that should consider thmeselves lucky if their own pre-teen children are so innocent.
Saw The Lion King for the first time. Wish I were more impressed. While the visuals are quite beautiful, the plot is fairly light, and the promise of a large and interesting cast of all the animals of the jungle is quickly lost. The voice work is uniformly strong, but the songs are in general forgettable, if not just plain sappy. The effort to make a darker Disney film is also uneven. It's worth seeing, but I can't say it deserves all the praise it's gotten over the years.
Books: Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. Here is King's fairy tale, written in the 80s for his daughter, thus predating all the other children's books written by adult authors of late. OK, this is not strictly a children's book, but certainly any child over 10 who likes fantasy and fairy tales can enjoy this. The usual King gore and grit is scaled back vastly, and it's not that long by King standards.
And it's really good. King adapts a charming voice as a storyteller, practically becoming a character himself. The heroes are heroic but believable. The villain is a bit over the top, but neve ceasing to steal scenes while scheming. For non-fans, this might be a good place to start. For fans, it's a nice change. i wish King had written more books in this style.
TV: So, is anyone else watching Tru Calling? You've probably heard the premise, about a woman who works in the morgue, and who gets send occasionally by the dead back one day to prevent their deaths. It's a limited premise, because in order to do this, our heroine has to constantly lie and connive her way into total strangers' lives to save them, and because there are only so many kinds of deaths she can prevent. Beyond which, the writers have not done too well coming up with great mysteries for her to solve, and try very hard to offer convincing red herrings.
All that said, the show is pretty good, if not really worthy of great praise. Eliza Dushku, playing a much more likeable and human character than in her Buffy days, carries the show. As absurd as things get, she remains believably perplexed, concerned, and dedicated. I can see why she didn't want to play Faith when this was a choice. It's a better role to wear every week. The rest of the cast, while not brilliant, is also good enough to drag the show past the obvious twists and the difficulty of having to repeat the same scene when the reset button is hit.
After half a season, I find myself looking forward to this show. Not enough to tape it if I'm out, but enough to make sure that my Thursday night pre-shabbos chores are done. It's perhaps a perfect show for Thursday, brain candy after a long week. It also shows potential. Our heroine has developed a bit, gaining a boyfriend, sharing her secret with her brother and her happily odd boss at the morgue, and trying to cope with living days over. But whether the writers - who include former Buffy writer Doug Petrie - can come up with novel mysteries, I can't say. Alas, I don't expect it. And of course, if it's a genre show on Fox, I figure cancellation is likely in May.
Oh, and if you are wondering what else I watch, I'm still hooked on Angel and Smallville. The former is as entertaining as ever, and the latter seems to planning something yet more ambitious for the end of this season. I still watch The Simpsons on occasion, but a recent plot bore a resemblance to one from the lousy Jetsons revival of the 80s. Really. With each passing season, this show grows dumber, and I think even those who've been happy with it of late are getting antsy. Lastly, we watch reruns of Teen Titans taped off the WB. No, it's not the greatest cartoon, but the look is often delightful, and the scripts are surprisingly smart for a show aimed at 10 year olds.
Have a good one, all!
As for the concerns about the subtext of youthful love/lust becoming text, yes, there is less left to the imagination thanin the pervious version, but the critics who thought this was too sensual were, as always, idiots. These pre-teens act like pre-teens, with little more than flirting and a kiss, and anyone who is bothered by that should consider thmeselves lucky if their own pre-teen children are so innocent.
Saw The Lion King for the first time. Wish I were more impressed. While the visuals are quite beautiful, the plot is fairly light, and the promise of a large and interesting cast of all the animals of the jungle is quickly lost. The voice work is uniformly strong, but the songs are in general forgettable, if not just plain sappy. The effort to make a darker Disney film is also uneven. It's worth seeing, but I can't say it deserves all the praise it's gotten over the years.
Books: Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. Here is King's fairy tale, written in the 80s for his daughter, thus predating all the other children's books written by adult authors of late. OK, this is not strictly a children's book, but certainly any child over 10 who likes fantasy and fairy tales can enjoy this. The usual King gore and grit is scaled back vastly, and it's not that long by King standards.
And it's really good. King adapts a charming voice as a storyteller, practically becoming a character himself. The heroes are heroic but believable. The villain is a bit over the top, but neve ceasing to steal scenes while scheming. For non-fans, this might be a good place to start. For fans, it's a nice change. i wish King had written more books in this style.
TV: So, is anyone else watching Tru Calling? You've probably heard the premise, about a woman who works in the morgue, and who gets send occasionally by the dead back one day to prevent their deaths. It's a limited premise, because in order to do this, our heroine has to constantly lie and connive her way into total strangers' lives to save them, and because there are only so many kinds of deaths she can prevent. Beyond which, the writers have not done too well coming up with great mysteries for her to solve, and try very hard to offer convincing red herrings.
All that said, the show is pretty good, if not really worthy of great praise. Eliza Dushku, playing a much more likeable and human character than in her Buffy days, carries the show. As absurd as things get, she remains believably perplexed, concerned, and dedicated. I can see why she didn't want to play Faith when this was a choice. It's a better role to wear every week. The rest of the cast, while not brilliant, is also good enough to drag the show past the obvious twists and the difficulty of having to repeat the same scene when the reset button is hit.
After half a season, I find myself looking forward to this show. Not enough to tape it if I'm out, but enough to make sure that my Thursday night pre-shabbos chores are done. It's perhaps a perfect show for Thursday, brain candy after a long week. It also shows potential. Our heroine has developed a bit, gaining a boyfriend, sharing her secret with her brother and her happily odd boss at the morgue, and trying to cope with living days over. But whether the writers - who include former Buffy writer Doug Petrie - can come up with novel mysteries, I can't say. Alas, I don't expect it. And of course, if it's a genre show on Fox, I figure cancellation is likely in May.
Oh, and if you are wondering what else I watch, I'm still hooked on Angel and Smallville. The former is as entertaining as ever, and the latter seems to planning something yet more ambitious for the end of this season. I still watch The Simpsons on occasion, but a recent plot bore a resemblance to one from the lousy Jetsons revival of the 80s. Really. With each passing season, this show grows dumber, and I think even those who've been happy with it of late are getting antsy. Lastly, we watch reruns of Teen Titans taped off the WB. No, it's not the greatest cartoon, but the look is often delightful, and the scripts are surprisingly smart for a show aimed at 10 year olds.
Have a good one, all!
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Date: Jan. 23rd, 2004 12:16 pm (UTC)Agree. Eyes of the Dragon is definately a treasure. If only SK had been a fantasy author. *sigh*
Another nice children's book by an adult author is Dean R Koontz picture book "Oddkins". -H...