Mirrormask and Mars

[yendi]

We caught Mirrormask yesterday. Elayna liked it, although she thought it was too scary. I thought it was surprisingly good, frankly. Then again, given my opinion of McKean's storytelling skills (um, low, to say the least), I didn't go in expecting OMGGAIMANMASTERPIECE, which probably helped. McKean's actually a much better storyteller on screen than he is on paper (which isn't to say that I don't love McKean's art, but I like it on covers, frankly).

It also helps that I don't think that Labyrinth (to which this is a spiritual sequel) is a perfect film. Fun, sure. But it's flawed six ways to Sunday, and this managed to forge a much smoother storytelling path. There was a nice sense of creepiness throughout the thing, with humor that never overwhelmed the sense of urgency or danger.

There was definitely something a little creepy about putting a 20-year-old in the movie as a barely-post-pubescent teen, though.

Still, highly recommended, as long as you don't walk into the theatre expecting the cinematic equivalent of Sandman.

Speaking of that, we then watched Veronica Mars (on which there's an even greater age difference between actress and character, but since the character herself is supposed to be 18, it didn't disconcert as much) last night. And, hot damn. Oh, holy shit. Can't talk about this without some spoiler space, so:



My only gripes (just to get them out of the way): When Veronica goes spying in health clubs using a camera that's actually bigger than her head, don't you think someone would notice? And is the camera in the shuffle really possible?

The main storyline had me going nicely back and forth. I caught on, early enough, that the Casablancas family was involved in real estate fraud, and I really had figured that Beaver and Veronica were only going to learn that much. DIdn't think they'd get the Logan info. And poor Beaver -- he's basically the Butters of this show. Thought he was helping his dad, and basically got him indicted.

And I loved how nicely it tied into the bus storyline. Although things seem too simple. The guy who helped orchestrate a stunt involving a bus had Veronica's name on his hand and was ordered by Aaron to kill her? Seems way too straightforward. I suspect we're into red herring land, with the poor stunt guy possibly being sacrificed to distract her from something else (or just to hurt the chances of her dad and or Steve Guttenberg in the election).

And we've got major Wallace storylines. Or, more accurately, storylines happening around him. His girlfriend may be cheating on him (although I'm assuming that'll turn out to be a cousin -- the girl's not dumb, and I can't imagine her actually bringing her side-dish to Veronica's coffeehouse). And his mom has a past in Chicago.

Comments

[mister-wolf.livejournal.com]

I cry every time I read Signal to Noise.

[nomadmwe.livejournal.com]

There was definitely something a little creepy about putting a 20-year-old in the movie as a barely-post-pubescent teen, though.

Is that really any less creepy than all the TV shows that have 25-30 year olds playing highschoolers? :)

[aiela.livejournal.com]

MirrorMask was, to me, visually beautiful, but I thought the story was really lacking in originality.

[yendi]

I don't, which is part of my problem with McKean. It's a story that should make me cry, but the art pulls me out of it. That's okay in some senses (I took StN as deliberately dissociative), but McKean's style (like Sienkiewicz's) keeps me at an emotional distance, instead of immersing me.

[yendi]

In retrospect, no -- it would have been creepier, given the sexualization that happens to the character, have a real 15-year-old. It was just something that took me aback at first.

[yendi]

The story has definitely been done before, but it's especially rare to come across something original when the look of the movie is so important (again, going back to Labyrinth).

[mister-wolf.livejournal.com]

See, I find it very involving, for some reason. I'm pretty moved by Cages, too. Though in both cases it may be subject matter, rather than art, that so involves me.

[deus-x.livejournal.com]

I was a bit disappointed with MirrorMask, mostly because I saw Dave McKean's and pretty much expected the visual brilliance, but I saw Neil Gaiman's name and expected writing brilliance. For the most part, the plot seemed like a set of bookmarks or brief references to other stories, his and other fairy tales.

Like the bits with the sphinx: Very rushed and felt like, "You know those stories with riddles and sphinxes? That's this. Insert your impression of a clever girl here." Oh, and, "See this? Daughter yells at Mother just before she gets sick / dies / has a horrible accident. Insert macro here."

I think the thing I've always liked best about Gaiman when he's on his game is that his stuff will take a traditional or formulaic story but shuffle it all up and turn a few things inside out. I didn't see that signature much of anywhere in MirrorMask.

[deus-x.livejournal.com]

(Then again, I'm a picky bastard about it because I think I *was* all OMGGAIMANMASTERPIECE-expecty. I think I'll go rewatch Neverwhere now.)

[yendi]

See, the problem for me is that Neverwhere was fun, but noticeably flawed, and Neil only translated the screenplay for Mononoke. So I had no reason to believe he'd nail it with this screenplay (especially since I was one of about six people who thought that American Gods really didn't deserve the Hugo, and that Neil might really just be a master of short fiction and comics).