Constantine, Schaft
Mar. 7th, 2005 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rusty_haloThis is neat. Illyria fans, check it out.
I've been off LJ all weekend. Must catch up.
I saw Constantine last night with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
drujan. I was actually very impressed; I was dreading, like, Van Helsing level of cheese. Or, even worse, Underworld level of cheese. As in, nonsensical plots (the fact that a story involves the supernatural does not absolve it from the need to make some kind of internal sense) and characters who make moronic decisions mainly to give them an excuse to angst around looking stylish.
So anyway. Constantine was much better than I expected. I sort of figured it might be; it hits most of my fictional kinks. The pale skinny sick fucked-up angry anti-hero, a dark and hot chick who actually exists as a character rather than as a romantic interest [and who isn't inexplicably superhero-ish], a story that emphasizes the power of free will (mostly). The Christian mythology/symbolism didn't bother me as much as I'd anticipated; it was just sort of a background mythology, like you see with movies that use ancient Greek religion as a frame, or Hinduism, or whatever. It didn't shove Christianity down your throat, I didn't think. (At least, not too badly).
I liked Keanu; he's great at this kind of role. I actually didn't have a single moment of "Oh, god, his 'acting' is painful," which I usually get at least once per Keanu movie. He can pull off that sort of dark/emotionally-restrained/conflicted-beneath-the-surface type pretty well. And I loved Rachel Weisz; she's gorgeous, she's dark, she's got depth, and this role gave her way more to do than "The Mummy." I think her character could've been a bit more active; the movie wasn't perfect, the man has to save the helpless girl, etc., but given the genre/cultural era, it was better than most. She made her own choices, had her own story, and didn't exist solely to complement the guy.
[really detailed spoilers ahead]
And I loved that they didn't kiss in the end. *cheers for the idea that there's more to life than romantic love*
Okay, and I also loved that Lucifer saved the day in the end. That was quite clever.
The thing I hated most was that it was such a blatant anti-smoking polemic. I am disgusted by smoking and would love to see it banned in public (my freedom to breathe clean air trumps your freedom to poison yourself), and I still found the anti-smoking stuff to be grating/condescending/ridiculous. It was sort of tongue-in-cheek amusing, but mostly just stupid.
So all in all, it wasn't a perfect movie. It had quite a few obvious flaws. But it was a lot of fun, and was much better than I expected.
I've been listening to a Japanese band called Schaft that released a record in 1994 called "Switchblade" with Raymond Watts doing most of the vocals. This is the record they are performing on that video I fell in love with. It's really, really cool. It's like this eerie atmospheric electronic type music, very vivid, sort of like you can close your eyes and just listen to it like you're watching a movie. And then Raymond comes in with these incredibly raw vocals that just blow you away. It's riveting.
ETA: I see there is a meme. Fanfic writers' appreciation week?
Fanfic writers I love, A-Z
:P
ETA (2): I just caught up with about 200 entries and, dude, what the FUCK were you people smoking this weekend?
I've been off LJ all weekend. Must catch up.
I saw Constantine last night with
drujan. I was actually very impressed; I was dreading, like, Van Helsing level of cheese. Or, even worse, Underworld level of cheese. As in, nonsensical plots (the fact that a story involves the supernatural does not absolve it from the need to make some kind of internal sense) and characters who make moronic decisions mainly to give them an excuse to angst around looking stylish.So anyway. Constantine was much better than I expected. I sort of figured it might be; it hits most of my fictional kinks. The pale skinny sick fucked-up angry anti-hero, a dark and hot chick who actually exists as a character rather than as a romantic interest [and who isn't inexplicably superhero-ish], a story that emphasizes the power of free will (mostly). The Christian mythology/symbolism didn't bother me as much as I'd anticipated; it was just sort of a background mythology, like you see with movies that use ancient Greek religion as a frame, or Hinduism, or whatever. It didn't shove Christianity down your throat, I didn't think. (At least, not too badly).
I liked Keanu; he's great at this kind of role. I actually didn't have a single moment of "Oh, god, his 'acting' is painful," which I usually get at least once per Keanu movie. He can pull off that sort of dark/emotionally-restrained/conflicted-beneath-the-surface type pretty well. And I loved Rachel Weisz; she's gorgeous, she's dark, she's got depth, and this role gave her way more to do than "The Mummy." I think her character could've been a bit more active; the movie wasn't perfect, the man has to save the helpless girl, etc., but given the genre/cultural era, it was better than most. She made her own choices, had her own story, and didn't exist solely to complement the guy.
[really detailed spoilers ahead]
And I loved that they didn't kiss in the end. *cheers for the idea that there's more to life than romantic love*
Okay, and I also loved that Lucifer saved the day in the end. That was quite clever.
The thing I hated most was that it was such a blatant anti-smoking polemic. I am disgusted by smoking and would love to see it banned in public (my freedom to breathe clean air trumps your freedom to poison yourself), and I still found the anti-smoking stuff to be grating/condescending/ridiculous. It was sort of tongue-in-cheek amusing, but mostly just stupid.
So all in all, it wasn't a perfect movie. It had quite a few obvious flaws. But it was a lot of fun, and was much better than I expected.
I've been listening to a Japanese band called Schaft that released a record in 1994 called "Switchblade" with Raymond Watts doing most of the vocals. This is the record they are performing on that video I fell in love with. It's really, really cool. It's like this eerie atmospheric electronic type music, very vivid, sort of like you can close your eyes and just listen to it like you're watching a movie. And then Raymond comes in with these incredibly raw vocals that just blow you away. It's riveting.
ETA: I see there is a meme. Fanfic writers' appreciation week?
Fanfic writers I love, A-Z
:P
ETA (2): I just caught up with about 200 entries and, dude, what the FUCK were you people smoking this weekend?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 09:13 am (UTC)But yeah, the look of Constantine was great. And Tilda Swinton is unearthly beautiful. Peter Stormare played his usual weirdo, but I forgive him. As for Keanu, he does pull off that role, and Weisz is stunning.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 04:26 pm (UTC)Yeah, Keanu is quite suited for this. I think age helps him too... gives him a bit more character, makes him less of a blank slate.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 04:32 pm (UTC)Plays Lucifer. He's also the scariest man ever in Fargo. Talented Swedish stage actor (as in Ingmar Bergman plays), and well, that prominent nose is not something you forget ever seeing.
Poor Keanu. ;-)
Re: Illyria
Date: 2005-03-07 09:19 am (UTC)Re: Illyria
Date: 2005-03-07 04:26 pm (UTC)Re: Illyria
Date: 2005-03-07 04:28 pm (UTC)Bitch. *G*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 09:23 am (UTC)Definitely better than Van Helsing. All in all, fun popcorn movie.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 04:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 09:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 04:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 09:44 am (UTC)Rachel Weisz is so good in this movie, and it is a better role than the one in The Mummy.
I've never heard of Schaft; now I have to look for them.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 09:56 am (UTC)But yeah, this was WAY better.
I definitely recommend Schaft. You can probably get the CD on eBay. And if you ever come across the video--it's amazing. A must if you like Raymond Watts. (Now I just have to figure out where to get PIG videos...)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 10:30 am (UTC)It had its moments - the Bond hommage was fun. Unfortunately it was too long and the producers were worried whenever the characters just *talked* - apparently they found dialogue as opposed to action truly scary.
As for Constantine: I watched it twice already. I thought Keanu was very adequate. No problems with his acting. Loved tilda Swinton and the whole design, liked the music, the Constantine character, Rachel Weisz. But Lucifer rocked. Did you see how he ran his toe up Constantine's inner thigh? *boggle*
Definitely a must-buy movie. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 12:50 pm (UTC)I only have KMFDM videos, too. Do they even have Pig?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 12:53 pm (UTC)There are, apparently, several PIG music videos, and some level of interview footage. A guy at thesickcity.com message board was going to burn it to DVD and send it to friends, but Sascha K threatened to sue him so he didn't. (Their version of kerfuffle, I suppose.)
I would LOVE to get my hands on that, but they're not exactly newbie-friendly over there.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 10:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 10:21 am (UTC)Maybe I should check that out...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 01:17 pm (UTC)2. Reply to ETA (1) - you totally cheated! No fair. :P
3. Reply to ETA (2) - crack, obviously.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 04:29 pm (UTC)Yeah, I'm sort of glad I was away for the weekend. Wow. I guess the good thing is that it seems to have helped a few people sort out their issues and fix their friendships. But man, mostly it's just a gigantic painful mess.
*so glad I'm not involved*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-07 06:05 pm (UTC)I'm sort of glad I was away for the weekend.
Ditto. I caught the beginning of it and was really uncomfortable with the direction things were going but I never imagined it would all blow up like this. I read a few posts and then just stopped 'cause I'm not directly involved and I *don't* want to be.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-14 07:57 pm (UTC)Thanks for providing such a wonderful archive for discerning readers. I loved it as a reader before I was there as a writer.