Courtesy of Joss Whedon & Jon Blum, this is one of those wonderful moments where you realize you’re having a ball at the expense of all the “not we” out there…
]]>Joss Whedon on the success of The Avengers:
RDA: What do you feel is the greatest achievement of “The Avoiders”?
JW: Getting “mewling quim” out there to the masses. Also, Hulk.
My yearly ritual as follows:
(1) Pull A/C out of closet…
(2) Scream in terror as ironing board, two vacuum cleaners, a swiffer mop, and an overwhelming combination of Christmas wrapping paper & toilet paper rolls fall on my head…as if the solar system’s asteroid belt had decided to collapse upon the Earth…
(3) Scream in frustration as it take 10 minutes, two cuts on my finger, and much sweat to remove the window screen…
(4) Sweat as if Niagara Falls was gushing out of every one of my pores…struggling with the white beast and trying not to drown in my own fluids…
(5) Curse the decrepit Red Green as duct tape & insulation fight for dominance in my living room…
(6) Replace long vertical blinds with short vertical blinds…yelping as the sharp edges of both sets of blinds remind me that I do not have the thick skin of the Incredible Hulk…
(7) Lie down in front of the first cool air of the year, and forget the torture of the previous 30 minutes of hell…
Once again, I have air conditioning…and once again, I want relieve the resulting tension by smashing a small village to rubble. I’ll have to settle for the gym instead…
]]>I’ve had an amazing hit rate with historical novels recently…and I’m wondering what the key is to success within the genre.
In my own opinion, success lies with the passion of the characters. All sorts of historical settings can be recreated…but what holds everything together is the believability of the characters that populate the tableaux of long ago. The fictional ones are hard enough — the best authors trying their utmost to create evocative people from scratch. But the greater success comes from what the author does with actual historical persons…no easy task, to be sure.
The Enchantress of Florence is magical, because it combines the requisite passion with a cross-section of astonishing fictional characters mingling with equally astonishing real people…and the end result is something amazing to behold. In fact, I’d be hard-pressed not to call this spellbinding.
The Mughal Empire itself is something not particularly familiar to western readers…but it comes alive as no place ever has thanks to Rushdie’s skill. This is a place of gold and glitter, side-by-side with muck and squalor. It’s a world of extreme richness colliding with extreme poverty, where nobility & honour fight to the death with duplicity & selfishness. In the middle of all this, the justly-famous Emperor Akbar deals with a fictional relative on one hand, and a literally magical queen on the other hand…all the while trying to maintain a balance to his kingdom.
And that makes up only HALF the book!
The same care & attention is evident in the section set in Medici Florence — the world of the Renaissance reincarnated in all its sizzling, sensual, zealous glory. Where Machiavelli & Savonarola mix with exotic & fictional Mongol princesses and Turkish mercenaries. In both locations, Rushdie unlocks emotional storms that threaten to swallow up two sides of the world…and the resulting literary adventure tends to leave one breathless in its wake. This isn’t simply a book to read…but to embrace…to experience, to luxuriate in the fragrance of imagined perfumes, the sounds of riotous citizens, and the feel of soft, flowing silks.
To read The Enchantress of Florence is to fall under numerous spells…all of which will transport you to a time and place where dreams & reality have a way of mixing in the most intoxicating of manners. This is a jewel of a novel…worthy of a place in the Mughal court it so beautifully documents.
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My original intent was to write about why the news of the death of Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, left me rather indifferent…but an evening of headache-hell and a night of insomnia will leave one with very few coherent thoughts, other than “please make it through the day without being hit by traffic”.
I’ll wake up later this week, I promise…in time for a second viewing of The Avengers, I hope.
]]>Story by Zak Penn and Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon
“There is no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army will come, maybe it’s too much for us, but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damn sure we’ll avenge it.”
Ok, it’s Sunday, and my review is posted earlier than planned…don’t pester me with trivialities.
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first:
The long-game that Marvel played to set THE AVENGERS up…laying foundations since 2008…is a double-edged sword. Most fans (even casual ones) of the super hero genre know about The Avengers as the ultimate team-acup of Marvel super heroes. But the background set up of the movie canon requires people to actually pay attention. Based on the box office, the anticipation built up by these methodically-laid paving stones lead to quite the reward. But it does leave us with gaps — most notably with the Black Widow & Hawkeye. There isn’t a great deal of investment into their backgrounds (certainly none at all with Hawkeye), and much of the character building has to be done from scratch by the actors themselves. Thankfully, Jeremy Renner & Scarlett Johannson act their socks off to try and build some subtext…but it’s not entirely successful. They’re still virtually blank slates, filling a role no different than Nick Fury’s subordinate agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
While on the subject of background, Captain America’s return to a vastly different world to his home base of America in World War II is very much glossed over…when its confusing nature was set-up with such gorgeousness & pathos in Cap’s very own film last year. The result is that the conflict of personalities between Steve Rogers & Tony Stark seems more of a macho pissing match than an actual collision of two different centuries, sensibilities & value systems. One-ups-manship as opposed to genuine misunderstanding between men of different eras. It should have been much more than that…but again, we gloss over the matter…
In spite of all of the above…The Avengers is best described as delicious. A feast for the eyes, a solace for the soul, and a balm for everyone’s sense of humour. Watching The Avengers is to embrace what it means to have a fantastic time at the movies. Special note for its success goes to director Joss Whedon. He takes all the experience he harnessed withy Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel & Firefly, and magnifies it tenfold. Here’s how he does it:
The script is also pure Whedon. The jokes are (1) funny, (2) unexpected, (3) sharp & pointed for each situation, and best of all, (4) brilliantly unexpected. The lines he gives to everyone in the cast gives them plenty to get their teeth into…especially to Robert Downey Jr. (the Shakespeare in the park moment at Thor’s expense is a scream). What’s even better are the visual gags that delightfully and hilariously subvert audience expectations…usually involving the Hulk. The gag about punching Thor out of the way was funny enough, but cutting off Loki’s pontificating becomes a rag doll moment that had myself & the entire cinema howling with glee.
The characterization in the film that IS developed is utterly gorgeous. Once again, Downey Jr. takes hold of Tony Stark and offers another layer to be stripped off the armour surrounding his psyche…but even more surprising is Mark Ruffalo’s take on Bruce Banner. The script is very generous with his situation regarding the Hulk, and Ruffalo’s walking-on-egg-shells-terror-mixed-with-resignation is the equal to any of his small-scale indie film triumphs. Further to this is the lovely nod to Iron Man 2 and Stark’s relationship with Pepper Parks. Only a Whedon script could fashion a set of cameo appearances for Gwyneth Paltrow that are full of sensuality, sweetness & strength…all delivered in a matter of minutes.
The rest of the film is what you would expect. The good guys band together to save the world, an open-ended conclusion sets up the sequel (again…don’t leave when the credits roll…you’ve been warned), some fantastic, exciting action that is paced so well you will never look at your watch (again, something which Michael Bey needs to take special note of…), and a score that I was humming as I exited the theatre.
There’s the key to success. I was pumped and energetic as I left that theatre, basking in the glory of a solid, enjoyable epic…and walking away carrying the entire movie in my heart with a single tune that I hummed for hours afterward. In short, this is the first Marvel film since X-Men 2 to lift me up to such a satisfied plateau.
To put it more bluntly: the 37-year old me appreciated The Avengers on an artistic level (with the few caveats mentioned above)…and the 11-year old me that still resides in my heart & soul thought it the most fantastic awesomeness I’ve seen in some time. I’m definitely seeing this again…and again.
9
Tonight is Avengers night for me. The tickets are printed, the time is set…now I just wait to see if the hype proves accurate.
But what am I really hoping to find with The Avengers? What I’m hoping for is something that I feel is sadly lacking in recent super hero films, no matter how brilliantly filmed: the heat-fluttering thrill — the joy of childhood, magnified on-screen.
The movies of today are so worried about being considered campy, silly, overwrought, overbearing, and strange that they go to enormous lengths in order to erase any sense of the fantastical.
Just look at The Dark Knight: a work that, on its own, is a complex & brilliant piece of film noir action movie heaven. It’s compelling, exquisitely directed, and stonkingly well acted. In every way, it’s a film that shines with professionalism, gloss and spectacle…
…but given a choice, I’d rather watch Tim Burton’s Batman & Batman Returns…in a heartbeat. Now why is that?
Because those movies have created a world that is bigger, stranger…a heightened reality where all our fears and joys jockey against each other. The design, the architecture, and the acting are on another, grander, slightly-askew level…one that most actors and directors are afraid of embracing in this day and age.
Just compare Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker to Jack Nicholson’s similarly-impressive take in 1989. Ledger’s posthumous Academy Award is well-earned…but I believe that part of that is due to the fact that Ledger embraced the (dare I say) campiness that Nicholson also channeled in Tim Burton’s film. However, because no one else is that brave, that all-consuming, that outrageous & psychotically loud in The Dark Knight, is it any wonder he stood out?
Let’s look at it from another p.o.v. — Captain America. His film from the previous summer was surprisingly enjoyable, but even then it was restrained and willfully dismissive of camp…as skewered through the metaphor of Steve Rogers’ original costume. As far back as X-Men in 1999, characters make fun of the old spandex-suits of the past, as if they were something to be utterly ashamed of & consigned to the dust bin of history. As if that’s what everyone in the audience fixed upon during a film.
Now look at Christopher Reeve — a man in a spandex suit. But does one person ever notice that detail when waxing lyrically about his four ground-breaking performances as Superman? Has anyone embodied a role so powerfully that their clothing simply didn’t register…only the impact of the personality? And why is that? Because — once again — the Metropolis of the Superman films is another heightened reality: playing on everyday cosmopolitan life in the 70s and 80s, and taking it to a sweeter, funnier, more exciting level. Directors & actors of these films were not afraid to pitch a particular performance to the intent of the story…without compromising their own dignity or that of their characters. Richard Donner had a word to describe his vision while making Superman: VERISIMILITUDE. Another reality…one big enough to give us heroes and villains on a galactic scale, but anchored in reality. Note that phrasing: anchored…but never enslaved to it.
In short, the first wave of hero movies — the Donner/Lester Superman films, the Burton Batman films — were full of an unabashed, unflinching, unashamed joy in the doing of things. Your heart thrills to what plays out on screen…and that, more than anything else, is what is absent from today’s super hero films. They’re too worried about looking unprofessional, about blending in to the real world…when the real world was NEVER what the first Superman & Batman films were about. They wouldn’t be caught dead being enslaved to reality…but today’s filmmakers & heroes seem too afraid to escape those chains.
Because of that fear, there have only been two films in the last 15 years to capture this old-school feel…both Bryan Singer productions (X-Men 2, Superman Returns), that dared to take old-school lessons to heart. But aside from those films…nothing. The Dark Knight might be a genius work of art…but I didn’t have my heart flutter any time during my viewing. Not like it did during all of Batman’s heroic reveals, the batmobile chase, or the confrontation between Joker & Batman in the cathedral tower in Tim Burton’s classic version. I came out of THAT theatre pumped, humming Danny Elfman’s classic theme tune…something I didn’t do with the musical wallpaper in The Dark Knight. As for Captain America, I’m willing to wager no children stood on their seats, beyond excited, enraptured with everything on-screen as I and many others were while watching Superman I & II — be it the thundering opening credits, or the battle against the three Kryptonian villains on the streets of Metropolis.
I have confidence in Avengers director Joss Whedon’s ability to find this old school charm & joy…if his work on Buffy & Angel proves anything, is that he understands the sensibilities of the generation that embraced Tim Burton & Richard Donner. I only hope my post-viewing Monday review will reflect that…and not lament another capitulation to cynical realism & the fear of verisimilitude that permeates all other films of recent years. Here’s hoping…
Note to all other fandoms: look at this brilliant picture and eat it! Hehehehe!
]]>So, on a lazy Sunday morning, I’d like to offer two former apprentices as an example of youth who aren’t self-serving & disengaged from society. Youths trying their best to contribute to their city, their province, their world…trying to create a more progressive, more liveable society.
Two young individuals out of many who continue to anchor me to the optimistic side of the equation…at a time when I could use a healthy dose of that optimism. Padawans that make an old jedi master smile with pride.
There are other stories of success out there…and I think I may just have to post a few more gushing sessions in future…
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The people of Alberta chose a progressive party that might actually reach for the future…one that doesn’t believe in lakes of fire for gay people in Alberta, or that they have an intrinsic advantage in being the whitest of white people, exercising their “conscience rights”. Let us all pause and thank any deity of your choice for sparing us four years of Ernest-Manning-in-a-skirt.
Oh, and lest we forget about our swanky-champagne-and-caviar-dreams second-string cabinet minister…Bev Oda apologized today in the House of Commons for her affair de Savoy.
Cue the chirping crickets in the bushes.
]]>(1) NO PROVINCIAL ELECTION? THANK GOD FOR ROBIN HOOD!
The NDP and the minority-governing Liberals make a deal to spare Ontario a return to the polls…and spare us all the slim chance of letting angry little Astroboy Tim Hudak and his non-Progressive Conservatives/bend down & take it from Ottawa boys and girls club run this province.
The deal involves introducing a 2-year surtax on the richest of the rich…those making over $500 000 a year.
Yes, it breaks a promise not to raises taxes. It’s also a tax on the ridiculously, filthy rich…who wouldn’t know the everyday trials & tribulations of working men and women in Ontario if their elegant lives depended on it.
I won’t lose any sleep over this accommodation. Class warfare…sometimes it works. Warren Buffet would agree…
(2) BEV ODA: NOT WORTH THE MONEY
Let me get this straight…a Harper second-string cabinet minister (as are virtually all the women in the Conservative cabinet…chew on that)…demanding to switch from a beautiful five star hotel in London to the toffish, creme-de-la-creme Savoy…on my tax dollar.
Umm…why?
Why does Bev Oda get to live like she’s a small, hobbit-version of Maggie Smith, swaning around in a modern-day re-enactment of Downton Abbey, with a limousine at her beck and call, and ordering $16-a-glass O.J. each morning?
Her office said she followed all Treasury Board guidelines and that when she travels, Oda considers “the most appropriate, cost-effective accommodations.” I wish my profession had such high standards for “appropriate, cost-effective accommodations.”
Remind me…our Prime Minister is (nee…was) supposed to be an economist…one you’d imagine would be trying to stop such pork-barrel indulgence on public funds. Maybe this is some kind of economics they only teach in oil-gushing Alberta-America land. And on that note…
(3) ALBERTA AT THE CROSS-ROADS
Or should that say “cross-hairs”?
Tomorrow, I’ll wake up and see if tonight’s Alberta provincial election result gives that province…and the people of Canada…(a) an actually Progressive Conservative government that doesn’t quite have its head all the way up its energy-obsessed posterior…continuing to guide the province’s destiny, or (2) a Jurassic throwback to Bible Bill Aberhart’s SoCred numb nuts…who think cowboys, uppity white people, and gays burning on lakes of fire are solid foundations for a 21st century government.
And I’m very afraid we’re about to get option #2…
]]>Aside from her cute new pig-tail look, she reduced everyone to tears when she removed something from her nose. When asked what it was, she gloriously shouted: “BOOGIES!”
She’s a genius, I tell you.
Here are a couple of pictures, as she partakes of today’s birthday feast…
“If one is to deal with people on a large scale and say what one thinks, how can one avoid melancholy?” —Virginia Woolf
I’m having one of those days…
It’s one of those days when I receive a bit of news…and wonder if I’m making a difference to this generation of students. That I’m fooling myself…that whatever impact I’ve had is fleeting & insubstantial.
After 13 years…a day like today makes me feel as if I’m simply going through the motions. That I’m shouting at the rain…a prophet on the desert, warning of what’s to come, to a dwindling audience.
Have I truly made an impact…or am I simply fooling myself? Am I some kind of anachronism, not connecting with students who have moved on to other inspirations…other influences? Have I really managed to add to the sum total of humanity by offering whatever wisdom I have learned in the course of my life to year after year of history students? Is my geeky nature, my academic experience, my desire for demanding standards, my passion for anything and everything that is intellectually satisfying…is it all just something that makes students shrug?
This feeling will eventually pass…but the melancholy resulting from a day such as today leaves me with an unhappy after-taste.
I hope I’ve contributed something to those graduates of mine, out there in the wider world. I hope I’ve given them something…anything…to take away & use in their own lives. I hope I’ve been more than just the amusing, geeky, Liberal-educated, SF/fantasy & literature-loving guy teaching politics & history. But there are days when I wonder if I’m just fooling myself. Perhaps I’m just a caricature.
Reason tells me to shrug it off…and I will. But for now, all I can do is hope that if I have made a difference, that it isn’t trifling or ephemeral. That my joy in sharing what I am with younger generations isn’t a substantial illusion.
To all my former students…I truly hope your time with me was worthwhile, however brief the journey. It would break my heart to ever think otherwise…
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