Qui est Monsieur Wilson?

“Shippers” - Proof that finding dozens/hundreds/thousands of people who like what you like doesn’t make it any less creepy.

 

Going to stay away from spoilers but I’m thinking a lot about The Avengers movie today and why I enjoyed it so much. Being a geek I’m inclined to enjoy super-hero movies, I already have a history with the characters portrayed and am 100% open-minded when it comes to their movie iteration. I’m so glad with what Marvel Studios has done for hero movies, up until Marvel took a hands-on approach with its franchises, they had been hit or miss(Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Ghost Rider all fitting squarely in the miss category) and for several reasons. They either didn’t get the character or mis-cast or tried to have cool action scenes in place of proper character development and so characters ended up feeling flat.

It seems when making a super-hero movie writers/producers toe the line between cheesy and cool, the ones that don’t work try too hard to bring what’s on the comic book to the big screen even though they’re two totally different mediums and what works for one doesn’t always work for the other. I love comic books, but they’re hardly ever true to life, it works because you as the reader are giving the characters a voice. When you place a real-life human being and make him say and do the things in the book they don’t always feel like real people or realistically motivated actions. For the most part, I can not work up any excitement for big summer action flicks because most of them feel like poor adaptations, even the ones that are original properties.

Speaking of adaptations. I watched Transformers and hated it, the core premise is silly, but that silliness shouldn’t extend to the lack of character in that movie(I haven’t seen any of its sequels so maybe that has improved?) The characters do not serve any purpose beyond the archetypes they represent. Sam was a nerd, Megan Fox was the hot unattainable girl, who maybe isn’t so unattainable and THAT’S THAT. When your big character moment is flashing your ass, you’re not a character. And Transformers is all about flashing ass. It’s all sizzle without any steak. We’re supposed to care about what these big (mostly undecipherable) robots do to the world but everyone we see is entirely uninteresting so why do we care if Sam dies? As long as his death looks cool it’s on par with the rest of the film and no amount of orchestral music is going to add any emotional gravitas to it.

With super-hero films, the ones that do it well tap into what it is about the characters that makes them people and what draws them to do what they do. In Iron Man it was Tony Stark seeing the damage first-hand that the weapons he gets rich from has made. Realising that his mind is an asset that could be used to better the world instead of just his own bank balance. And every action scene in that film serves a purpose beyond just showing how cool Iron Man is, as the audience we know what his point-of-view is and why he’s doing what he’s doing and because Robert Downey Jr. is a king amongst men who can make a millionaire playboy likeable, we care if he fails.

Long story short, that’s why I love Avengers, we already know the history, thanks to Marvel taking the time to produce QUALITY “prequels” means this movie can focus on character interactions rather than having to re-tell the story of who these guys are. Other than their abilities, there’s very little in common between these people and so we spend time seeing that friction and seeing the team become a unit rather than six individuals.

Avengers is Transformers with a heart, with a plot and with genuine humour. Go see it! 

I posted this sometime last year! I’m returning to this mindset. Right fucking now! Yay!! Friday Night Lights - saving lives!

“Friday Night Lights: Old people can still learn lessons!
I’m making my way through the final season of Friday Night Lights and am loving it so much that I just wanted to talk about it a little.

There aren’t many shows I watch and am emotionally invested in. I mean, I get shocked when the plot takes a turn or sad when somebody I like dies/gets hurt in some way but not quite like FNL hits me. I absolutely adore the lead character(Coach Taylor) of Friday Night Lights. He is a written character that I can truly say inspires me. When somebody in the show lies or disrespects him, I feel upset by it. I don’t think “Oh wow, that means THIS for the story..” or analyse it, I just think “Oh man, why’d you go and do that Tim Riggins? That’s Coach Taylor!”

So basically like a little girl I get all caught up in a melodramatic high-school drama. That might say more about me than it does the show but for the sake of my pride I’m going to say NAY! It’s the show! The show fell out of graces with me in the 2nd and 3rd seasons, as it just didn’t feel like the show I started watching in S1, so after watching seasons one to three - I stopped. It stopped being about the characters living in a football-crazy small town in Texas and more about the situations the writers could put these characters through so it became harder to relate to/understand and the focus was less on the team and the influence of the ever-inspirational Coach Taylor. So I was out!

Then the S5 finale happened. I saw Twitter light up with praise and I started to re-think my “I’m OUT!” position. I’m super glad I did. While it comes with its fair share of melodrama(specifically in Season 4) it also comes with a realness that gets me in my gut every time. Coach Taylor really does inspire me. It’s not lost on me how weird it is to say that but, it’s true. The main thing he taught me is: You don’t win all the time and you aren’t always put in a fair position but being the better person isn’t about “winning” or walking away with a prize it’s about striving to get there one day. Cliché as fuck and a lesson I’ve probably heard said a million times in TV shows, movies and life but, it took a character as well written and well acted as Coach Taylor to teach me that fact.

So, now that I’m not in college and unemployed, it doesn’t matter. I tried and will keep on trying to get what I want out of life because the only other option is giving up. While that is a way easier proposition, it’s not worth it.”