Day Fourteen, Valentine's Day, I did jack squat for word count because I was re-writing a story and broke no new ground. I may re-write the whole thing including the title.
The Noble Serpent- 270 words
I did manage to get out and see the movie Taken. It's a solid if a little by-the-numbers action movie about a spyguy trying to get his kid back from the thugs that have kidnapped her. I went to see the thing with a buddy of mine who went to film school and we argued about the best starting point for the movie. Like most film people, he argued for starting the movie as late in the story as possible. I argued that all of the character bits at the beginning of the movie which could essentially get dropped were probably there because of studio notes. Either way, its good stuff.
Did I read that right? If I can crack out 10K words a day, I can score bonus points?
I was apparently much more taken with Taken than you or your film school buddy. I thought it was much better than a by-the-numbers action flick, or maybe yes, it was by-the-numbers, but with a few interesting numbers added back into it that we haven't seen in a while. And I thought the before-the-action stuff was essential, although I won't go into why here, for fear of spoiling it. Folks should go see this (not perfect, but) very good film.
ReplyDeleteI liked it a lot as well. The argument broke down along the line of me being in favor of the first fifteen minutes for the class angle of the movie and Tim being against it in favor of more action sooner. There was an interesting aspect or two to the family dynamic that I think resonated when the old bloody spy world brushed up against the new information tech world.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, good stuff.
Exactly. Plus, I think most of the problems with action movies and the young tyros producing them is they don't spend that bit of time before the shooting starts, to let tension build and to get to know the characters just enough so that the details of the action matter. I'd like to know why I'm rooting for the protagonist.
ReplyDeleteSpoilers follow:
One of the things I liked most, in the old canard of the old good poor father vying for the daughter's love with the new rich bad father, they managed to squeeze a touch more life out of it by making both fathers essential to her rescue. Without the rich guy's jet and money, good poor father never could have been there in time to save her. A nice twist on the old cliche.
It seems we agree to agree.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that made me laugh in the beginning of a fairly grim movie is that in the early scenes with Mills (Liam Neeson), he seems to live in the same crappy apartment that Giamatti inhabited in Sideways. Maybe that crappy green apartment is the new Bradbury Building.
Well, you and I have both had to live in that same crappy green apartment more than once in our lives.
ReplyDelete