I miss Elvis Mitchell something fierce.
I totally agree with this statement. He had just a perfect balance of scholarship and fun.
I happen to be very biteable, pal. I'm moist and delicious.
Xander ,'Bring On The Night'
Buffista Movies 4: Straight to Video
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Frankenbuddha - Jun 07, 2005 9:23:14 am PDT #3826 of 10002
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
erikaj - Jun 07, 2005 9:54:52 am PDT #3827 of 10002
Always Anti-fascist!
Maybe it comes with the name.
Jessica - Jun 07, 2005 11:41:30 am PDT #3828 of 10002
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
DH's Batman Begins report, as given to me just now over the phone:
Oh hell yeah. Entertaining as ALL HELL. Batman fans will go crazy for it. The Batmobile rocks. Bale is the definitive Batman. Morgan Freeman is really good. Liam Neeson is really good -- playing his father-figure persona, but with just enough of a twist to make it really interesting. I want to see it again right now.
(There was more, but he was talking really fast.)
(He said the script had one major issue that was kind of a problem, and also predicts that I will be annoyed by the Chicago-ness of Gotham, and he's absolutely right, because I'm completely irrationally and unreasonably attached to Gotham being NYC.)
erikaj - Jun 07, 2005 11:44:58 am PDT #3829 of 10002
Always Anti-fascist!
well, duh. "Gotham".
Kathy A - Jun 07, 2005 11:45:23 am PDT #3830 of 10002
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
Whereas I'm totally geeking out at the idea of Chicago being Gotham--go home team!
I saw most of The Prophecy over the weekend (except for the first half hour or so) for the first time. Loved both Walken and Viggo, as well as the whole concept of Evil Angels and Lucifer ending up on the good side. For all the apocalyptic rhetoric being thrown around the screen, it was appropriately over the top and a very fun watch. (Viggo creeped me the hell out.)
Jesse - Jun 07, 2005 11:51:34 am PDT #3831 of 10002
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
When I went to Chicago, it totally felt like Gotham to me, so I don't mind that.
tommyrot - Jun 07, 2005 11:56:35 am PDT #3832 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
I know some Chicago scenes were filmed in Lower Wacker Drive, so they should look cool.
I was amused upon seeing a GPD (Gotham Police Department) car back when they were filming.
Prophecy rocks. I love the semi-dead folks that Walken's character forced to work for him....
Nutty - Jun 07, 2005 11:57:03 am PDT #3833 of 10002
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
Chicago-ness of Gotham, and he's absolutely right, because I'm completely irrationally and unreasonably attached to Gotham being NYC.
But, like, New York is Gotham. That's all there is to say on the matter. And nto just because I grew up under the impression that all cities were like New York, but because of, like, history and tradition and shit.
(I know that, in the official universe, Gotham is, like, in lower New Jersey, and Metropolis is in Delaware. But that is S-T-U-P-I-D dumb.)
Spider-man 2 also insisted on dropping obvious shots of Chicago into a New York setting. (Avowedly New York, in that case.) What is with this blockbuster-superhero-comic-movie pretending-that-Chicago-and-New-York-look-at-all-alike business?
§ ita § - Jun 07, 2005 12:00:11 pm PDT #3834 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I'm okay with Gotham being an NY analog, and not needing to look like NY. They've not drawn it recently looking like NY, have they? So why should the movie be bound?
I do like what I found while googling:
Gotham has also been, since the mid-15th century, a term for a place with foolish inhabitants. Whether this usage actually stemmed from the real village, or was just a name randomly adopted for the purpose is not known.
Jessica - Jun 07, 2005 12:06:20 pm PDT #3835 of 10002
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
It's not so much that it doesn't look like NY, and more that it looks really explicitly like Chicago. (Which I don't think is intentional, just that filmmakers tend to assume that audiences won't recognize places unless they're told to, which is why so many movies that take place in NYC have the CN tower in them.)
If Gotham is explicitly any real-world city, it's NYC. If it's not NYC, then it shouldn't be any real place.
(And I said it was irrational. So there.)