Quicky media update

[prog]

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: I liked this exactly as much as I thought I would, no more or less. Worth seeing, because it's very large in stature, if only physically. Doubt that I'll pay to see it again, unless it happens to appear in the February festival lineup.

The Spanish Prisoner: A 1997 film. Mamety goodness. I like all of Mamet's movies even though they're all just strange enough to make me resist loving them.

I'm curious about the ending... did the foghorn serve as a literary device, an acoustic strikeout of information that the characters cared about but the story didn't (since they were only talking about the McGuffin)? Or did it serve to make the ultimate outcome uncertain? I'm actually certain that it's the former case. It's an intriguing stylistic technique I don't think I've seen much (the playful name-bleeping in Kill Bill is not the same thing at all, being a very deliberate tease), but I bet it confused a lot of audience who thought it served the latter purpose. (And I could be wrong. But I don't think that I am.)

The Venture Bros.: I decree this show to be brilliant. It had to work hard to get me to like it, as on one level it's YA The Tick-like sendup of American pop mythology (a mashup of superheroics, "The Hardy Boys" and "Johnny Quest"). But it loves its characters, making them more than just flat goofball parody. It's a joy to watch.

Comments

[prog.livejournal.com]

I think the foghorn and the not-seeing-whats-in-the-briefcase were the same trick, just throwing a cloth over the film's McGuffin (the secret formula and the briefcase itself, respectively). I have a slight problem with how it was done in Spanish Prisoner because it can be misinterpreted as actual content (Oh no, they couldn't hear what he said!!) as opposed to just a playful cinematic tweak.

I dropped Netflix once I got Tivo + digital cable. I make request use of wishlists, and random schedule-surfing. (Spanish Prisoner was recorded as a result of a wishlist I set up months ago and forgot about, actually.)

[prog.livejournal.com]

Er, frequent use, not "request" use.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Yep, I haven't been wanting for good movies to watch (e.g. Il Postino recently got deleted due to space constraints before I got around to saving it). But there are definitely a lot of movies I've wanted to see but just don't seem to come around (at least on the channels I get in the HBO and IFC/Sundance packages).