TGIF...

[fajrdrako]

I did something I almost never do today: I went on a shopping spree. I only had an hour at lunchtime, and I made the most of it: got a pile of things I needed or wanted in double-quick time. This included a pair of winter boots - good treads, and the logo of a tree. (How could I resist boots with a tree on them?) I badly needed to replace the ones I've been wearing. They're shot. There's a picture of a boot in the style I got here. It's made of leather and thermolite. I've no idea what thermolite is (and I'm too tired to look it up), but I like the way it feels. Like it says on the package: warm and light.

Also got a large container of Vitabath (the best shower gel ever), antihistamines, a ream of coloured paper for my apazine, groceries, a DVD player, and a DVD (Casino Royale with Daniel Craig). The latter was because the CD Exchange on Rideau Street is going out of business. So many stores are leaving Rideau St., so few (so far) coming back. I'm hoping this will change when some of the snazzy new condos open up and there are more people living in the area. For lunch, I had a smoked meat sandwich from Nate's - and if Nate's closes up in a few months, as they say it will, this may be the smoked meat sandwich I ever get there. Heck, I'm still mourning the Harvey's that used to be on the corner of Rideau and Nelson. The Pizza Pizza that's there now sells what must be the worst pizza in town.

This evening I watched The Fifth Element. I'd seen it when it first came out - only a decade ago? It seemed longer. I didn't remember it well. I remember being dissatisfied with it, despite strong visuals, but I didn't recall why.

Well. Now I know. The good things about it:

1. great performances by Bruce Willis doing what he does best and Gary Oldman being a total nut as the evil Zorg, and

2. brilliant visual design created by Moebius and Jean-Claude Mézières. Scenes and setting replicated things I've seen in French albums - even the shapes of things and the poses of character. Colour and composition. And the magic. And the aliens.



But the script? It has neither cohesion or tension. Characters are stereotypes. The story wanders. So did my attention. Milla Jovovich was disappointing, maybe because she had almost no lines and not much action. No one in the movie seemed very bright.


I thought I saw elements that influenced Doctor Who, or were influenced by it: some of the aliens reminded me of Sontarans or the Judoon; the motorways of the undercity, frequented by floating cars and clogged with exhaust fumes, were like the motorways of "Gridlock".

Comments

Fifth Element

[(Anonymous)]

But surely part of the movie's charm is that it doesn't apologize for being silly ?

---
Don

Re: Fifth Element

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

part of the movie's charm is that it doesn't apologize for being silly ?


Oh, absolutely. That was the best part of the movie. I would have been delighted by its silliness if only it hadn't been - too much of the time - boring underneath the silliness. As it was, the visual exhuberance and the general silliness go a long way towards redeeming it.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I want a whole movie all about Zorg.

Zorg the Magnificent...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

LOL - yes! Now, that would be fun to see!

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

2 good things about Milla:

1: "Multipass"
2: The bandages outfit ;) OK, I'm shallow. But hey, a friend of mine had a halloween party and someone came as Leeloo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/j-ez/2009187588/in/set-72157603146964786/)! Yes, I'm still shallow :D

The visuals *were* gorgeous in this movie.

The Fifth Element

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

1: "Multipass"

Yes, and badda-boom was fun too.

Love your friend's Leeloo outfit! Not, that's fun - ! I would have liked that more if I'd liked the way she looked in it. Are the other costumes in the picture from movies too?

If I may say so, I think "great visuals, loose story" is typical of many French graphic novels. This was at least true to its inspirational origins.

[lmondegreen.livejournal.com]

Where did you get the boots? I need a new pair myself and those look snazzy.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The boots are from Letellier's, on Rideau near Dalhousie. I was passing by, noticed their sale sign, and it turned out to be a good sale - $150 boots for $80. The fit, of course, is luck of the draw - usually when it's sale time, what's left is too small. I take size 8, which, in my exprience, is usually the first size they are all sold out of.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

Wow, I thought I was an efficient shopper, but that's incredibly impressive. Dare I ask how you managed to carry it all?

My favourite part of The Fifth Element — predictably, I suppose — is that music was an important part of the process, albeit in a somewhat stereotypical way. Although the traffic jam is a staple of dystopia, I agree that there's something about the staging of the one in Gridlock that seemed particularly "Fifth Element-y". I would even say that "great characters/visuals, but the story wanders" is becoming increasingly "Who-like", at least in the finales. I wish it weren't true.

Bruce Willis is one of those actors who drives me crazy because he's capable of so much, but doesn't always bring it. This isn't quite Twelve Monkeys, but at least he's not operating on autopilot like some of those brainless non-Die Hard action films!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I ask how you managed to carry it all?

Staggering a little, and probably invisible inside a sphere of shopping bags.

Actually... heh... it wasn't difficult to get it all back to the theatre where I work, only a few blocks away from where I was shopping. But I couldn't face the rush hour bus to go home with all that stuff. So I phoned maaseru and made a deal: I'd cook supper for her if she'd pick me up. She did. All was well.

I love finding places where Russell T. Davies' sources show in bits and pieces. I'm sure The Fifth Element had some influence on "Gridlock". Just as I am sure that the line about Captain Jack's team in Torchwood being (or not being) called "Excalibur" is a reference to the comic book Excalibur - a bunch of British superheroes who, among other things, fought interdimensional aliens in space and time.

Bruce Willis always manages to impress me even when the films he's in are less than impressive. When we are listing our favourite actors, I never think of him - yet I don't think I've ever failed to enjoy his performance, or at least something about his performance, in even the most shallow of his movies. I liked the Die Hard set: they're at least witty - both visually and verbally.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

I'd cook supper for her if she'd pick me up.

Sounds like a fair deal to me!

I love finding places where Russell T. Davies' sources show in bits and pieces.

And I can't believe that the fans in EOTW aren't a wink at Galaxy Quest. I can't believe RTD - or every one of the members of his nerd squad - failed to see that movie. I know it was ridiculous plot wise, but it's a beautiful moment. I wasn't so enamored of the Doctor leaping car to car in Gridlock, in part because it didn't have the weight of awe pulling against the cheese.

The first Die Hard is an extraordinarily good movie. Also helps to have Alan Rickman there to bring the class and a different kind of sex appeal, and Clarence Gilyard, Jr. and Bonnie Bedelia and James Shigeta all rock in their various ways, plus you have all the great small parts - even the guy who shuts down the power grid gets a laugh line. Willis is good, although sometimes the parts he takes just don't call for much. However, of the guys who are getting paid ridiculous amounts of money to make movies, he's one of the few who can deliver a performance. Some of the most amazing stuff I've seen him do is really early - the gunrunning wifebeater in Miami Vice and the lead in Shatterday. Then he goes into Moonlighting, and that is a shift!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Galaxy Quest

That was fun. It didn't quite live up to its potentiall, but it was fun, and had some performances that were better than they needed to be.

I wasn't so enamored of the Doctor leaping car to car in Gridlock, in part because it didn't have the weight of awe pulling against the cheese.

I liked it because it was visually fun. I can't intellectualize it much, but it reminded me delightfully of The Fifth Element - not a movie I really love, but one which has brilliant visuals. (Moebius is my god. Well, one of them.)

Alan Rickman was amazing in the first Die Hard movie. I'm not sure that isn't his best role ever.

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

I remember the first time we saw Fifth Element: I saw it with a bunch of people at a friend's house when one of us bought a used DVD. We sat there, slack jawed, NOT enjoying it at all, thinking it was annoying. Then the military guy showed up with Fat Princess Leia in tow to act as Willis' wife on the cruise, and I said, "OMIGOD. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A COMEDY!" and suddenly we all "got" it. We started laughing and laughing and now it's pretty much one of the favorite comedies of everyone who saw it that night. Right up there with "Ghostbusters," "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," and "Shaun of the Dead."

It was advertised so poorly when it first came out, as if it were some sort of serious futuristic James Bondian adventure, and it's just NOT. So many people must have been disappointed in the theaters. It's a flat-out comedy and it's a cult film. I like that I can turn it on at any point in the movie when it's on TV, watch a half-hour or so, and then turn it off and go about my business when I have to. You can also do that with Marx Brothers films!

[diurnal-lee.livejournal.com]

*Points and nods.* That pretty much covers it. It's a parody of pulp SF with over-the-top characters, hokey theme, limited roles for women, and a serial feel to the wandering plot. The kickin' soundtrack and visuals and the way the cast just completely throw themselves into the silly, make it a rollicking good time.

Now close one eye and squint at the gender roles and the feminisation of male characters, and have a little rethink about it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Good points all. I think my main problem with it - besides characterization, which is where it slips into the gender-oddities and a certain level of disappointment - is in the pacing. I found myself wondering what it meant when the 'perfect being' was pretty, female, naive, and unintelligible?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

We sat there, slack jawed, NOT enjoying it at all, thinking it was annoying.

Hee - a case could be made.

Then the military guy showed up with Fat Princess Leia in tow to act as Willis' wife on the cruise, and I said, "OMIGOD. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A COMEDY!" and suddenly we all "got" it.

Yes. It isn't immediately apparent what it is - it almost falls through the cracks. ("Crack" being a significant term here.) And it's playing with everything. Thing is, lots of movies are that dorky and doing it on purpose - you have to adjust your brain to realize that this is Fifth Element own version of outrageous satire.

Reminds me of two occasions. One was going to see My Dinner With Andre in the theatre. My friends and I thought it was hilarious and laughed at almost every line. But the rest of the theatre was serious and silent. Someone even asked us to stop laughing so much. We thought; "What? This is a brilliant comedy - are they taking it seriously?"

The other was seeing Van Helsing. maaboroshi and I thought it was hilarious send-up comedy and we were well into the movie before I realized it was really supposed to be fantasy-action-adventure. As such, it fell flat.

It was advertised so poorly when it first came out, as if it were some sort of serious futuristic James Bondian adventure, and it's just NOT.

Which is really a pity. As satire, it's got a lot going for it. I still think it isn't paced well enough to put itself across as it should - hence the fact that audiences didn't catch on. I'm not sure, but I think the only problem with that movie might be its pacing.

Definitely a cult film!

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

The other was seeing Van Helsing. maaboroshi and I thought it was hilarious send-up comedy and we were well into the movie before I realized it was really supposed to be fantasy-action-adventure. As such, it fell flat.

Wait...what? You mean it wasn't a comedy?! What with Kate Beckinsale in the most ridiculous corset ever and Hugh Jackman in hair extensions?!

Just kidding, but yeah, it's a silly movie and somewhat enjoyable on those terms. Stephen Summers is weird, he doesn't quite get it. One of my favourite examples of this is something I learned from the commentary of The Mummy - in the scene where Imhotep's mob has backed Our Heroes into a corner and he comes out of the crowd, fully constituted for the first time, Evy originally said, breathlessly, "Oh my God, he's gorgeous." And the preview audience fully expected her to end up with Imhotep! So they had to go back and cut that line out so the audience would know she's supposed to end up with Rick. Which didn't work with me, I still thought Evy seemed more interested in Imhotep, and that the real love story was with Imhotep and Ancksunamen. (To be fair, even when the Mummy was Boris Karloff, I thought that was the case, but with Arnold Vosloo and Patricia Velazquez, are you kidding me?)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Wait...what? You mean it wasn't a comedy?! What with Kate Beckinsale in the most ridiculous corset ever and Hugh Jackman in hair extensions?!

I continue to believe it was totally a comedy. And a funny one at that. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Evy originally said, breathlessly, "Oh my God, he's gorgeous."

Well... heh... he was. Really. Speaking for myself, I wouldn't look twice at Brandon Fraser if Arnold Vosloo was around... And really, in a movie that also featured Oded Fehr in cool face-paint, I couldn't figure why Evelyn wanted Rick at all.

I still thought Evy seemed more interested in Imhotep, and that the real love story was with Imhotep and Ancksunamen.

Oh, yes, without a doubt! They were the best part of the movie. I wanted to just reconfigure the whole thing.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

Honestly, there are very few people who could get my attention if Arnold Vosloo was around. He's somebody I feel is really unfairly trapped by his ethnicity and typecasting. He's big and dangerous looking, and so he gets cast for that, but he's capable of so much more (it's unfair that of the two people to come out of the South African theatrical scene in the 1990s, it's Charlize Theron who made it big! she's good, but he's better!). Two of his most impressive roles, to me, he's played gay characters, and it's not just "ooh, slash", it's that he played against/alongside type with a kind of feline intensity, without ever getting swishy. He'd be a great Torchwood guest, in fact, because he's not going to balk at any same-sex hanky panky, and Jack likes the alpha males, clearly. ;-)

I couldn't figure why Evelyn wanted Rick at all.

Well, quite. He's got nice green eyes. But Brendan Fraser is one of those people, kind of like David Tennant and Jonathan Frakes, where I absolutely love him in interviews, but I really don't care for his acting.

In The Mummy Returns, there were some breathtakingly sexy moments between Imhotep and Ancksunamen...and then she ran off and left him?! They've died for each other repeatedly, and she abandoned him for a little cave-in? Gimme a break! Although he then got to commit spectacular suicide for love, but still. Honestly. I found it a little irritating. Then again, the Live song at the end was all about them (and Ed Kowalczyk's voice does something to me that I can't explain, but I liiiiike it).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Honestly, there are very few people who could get my attention if Arnold Vosloo was around.

Well - true. Me too.

Two of his most impressive roles, to me, he's played gay characters

Which two?

He'd be a great Torchwood guest, in fact, because he's not going to balk at any same-sex hanky panky, and Jack likes the alpha males, clearly. ;-)

How I would love that! Tempts me to write a Torchwood/Mummy crossover, it really does.

Brendan Fraser is one of those people, kind of like David Tennant and Jonathan Frakes, where I absolutely love him in interviews, but I really don't care for his acting.

I keep thinking I would like him if I saw him in a strong role, but all his roles seem weak to me, which indicates... something. And yes, Jonathan Frakes is the same, though I'd never thought to compare them before. I liked Fraser best in Gods and Monsters, because I thought the script was good. It wasn't that he was impressive, but that he fit a certain type well. He's good at playing rather mundane men, and I and not much interested in the type.

Given immortality - I figure the story of Imhotep and Ancksunamen isn't over till it's over.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

Which two?

A terrible B-movie with Gary Busey and Michael Madsen called Diary of a Serial Killer (AKA Rough Draft). Seriously, Gary Busey in drag is something that no one needs to see. AV drifts sinuously through in a tux and rises above the crap as best he can. He's overtly gay in this one, but the better one is Hard Target. Forget Jean-Claude van Damme, it's John Woo's show. It's his first English-language film, and there's some beautiful stuff in it. He was having so much trouble wrangling JCvD that he left AV and Lance Henriksen, as the bad guys (and Henriksen has the most gorgeous haircut I've ever seen in my life), do what they wanted. What they did is the most obvious homoerotic "subtext" I've ever seen. And since I find both men incredibly beautiful (Henriksen is an amazing actor, and I like angular with gorgeous eyes, thank you very much, and a wacky sense of humour helps enormously), it's pretty much perfect. I wish there were a fandom. I've read one set of stories which were very good in their way, but a little too much on the violence for me.

I liked Fraser best in Gods and Monsters, because I thought the script was good. It wasn't that he was impressive, but that he fit a certain type well. He's good at playing rather mundane men, and I and not much interested in the type.

Yes, and even when he's "cut" (which isn't a look I particularly care for anyway), there's something...doughy about him. He just seems to be kind of a lump. Which is odd, because in interviews, he's obviously intelligent and engaging, but he just doesn't have much presence onscreen, IMO.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Seriously, Gary Busey in drag is something that no one needs to see.

Mind-boggle. I believe you on that!

Yes, I know and love Hard Target, it's mostly what I know Vosloo from, and I loved him in it. I certainly agree about him and Henriksen! I too would like to see Hard Target.

there's something...doughy about him. He just seems to be kind of a lump.

Yes, I'm not sure why. There's not much of a sense of motion or life-force - even when he's in motion. Something heavy and static about him.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

love Hard Target, it's mostly what I know Vosloo from, and I loved him in it. I certainly agree about him and Henriksen!

I do love them in that movie. I find them both very attractive separately (LH also has that devastating thing where he's great with kids - seriously the best kid actor I've ever seen, and not just in Millennium), but they also have a wonderful spark together. I love their little "spat" about being "professional".

And seriously, whoever cut Henriksen's hair in that film deserves whatever s/he got paid. I've never seen such a brilliant haircut.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Now I want to see Hard Target again. I only have a VHS copy; it would be good to have it in DVD. I don't remember Henriksen's hair. Do you mean like here?

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

There's nothing suggestive about that picture at all, is there?

::snort::

What I really remember is the back. If you remember, one of the first shots of him is in the car, from the back, watching the hunt. The feathering on his hair was amazing.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

When I watch it again, I'll look for the feathering on his hair.

And now I'm quite looking forward to it.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Frakes may be a mediocre actor, but I do think he's a very good director. Like George Clooney, I think his best work is behind the camera. George should just write and direct and create a really great role for cousin Miguel.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I agree about Frakes being a good (or at least decent) director, mediocre actor.

Who is cousin Miguel?

I have probably only seen Clooney in The Three Kings (which I loved) and Ocean's 11 (which bored me to catatonia). I also saw a bit of Ocean's 12 on TV, not by choice, and ... survived the experience.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

The thing about Frakes as a director that I really like is that there's an easy energy to what he does. I got so that I could immediately tell if he was directing a ST:TNG or Roswell episode just from the vibe.

Three Kings is an excellent movie, probably Clooney's best as an actor. He's just kind of "there" for me as an actor, but he's a good writer and a very good director. (Goodnight and Good Luck was excellent - and those lingering B&W shots of David Strathairn through cigarette smoke were pure eyelash porn.)

George Clooney's cousin Miguel is Miguel Ferrer (son of José Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney, whose brother Nick is George's father). He's an extraordinarily good actor, but because he's not textbook pretty, he got shunted over into character roles very early. That said, he's extremely good at those. He's also an accomplished rock and jazz drummer, and proved he can do comedy in the late lamented Lateline.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

(Goodnight and Good Luck was excellent - and those lingering B&W shots of David Strathairn through cigarette smoke were pure eyelash porn.)

I can't imagine why I have not seen this movie. I am mad over Strathairn.

Thanks for explaining Miguel Ferrer. As far as I know I haven't seen him.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

GN&GL is a very good movie. It's both historically grounded and somewhat stylized, which is a combination that I love! Plus, David Strathairn and Frank Langella. Okay, Langella is no longer Dracula, but he still has terrific presence.

Miguel Ferrer, I would recommend either Lateline or Where's Marlowe? (the latter is a comedy, but it's so dry a lot of people don't "get" it! He was on Crossing Jordan and is in the new Bionic Woman, but not even his presence can lift that out of the mire.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Nice icon.

Frank Langella is IMHO amazing. Just saw a clip with him yesterday from one of the Superman movies; he's great.

Re Bionic Woman: how sad! I haven't seen it, but it's one of those shows I've never heard anything good about.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Didn't Jean-Paul Gaultier design the costumes as well?

I always thought it looked cool and was very funny. Plus it's about the only film with Chris Tucker in it that I can bear to watch... Oh, and I love Ian Holm as the monk.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Didn't Jean-Paul Gaultier design the costumes as well?

Yes. really, that movie has the crème de la crème of French artists of the 1990s. I never really love Ian Holm in anything, but as the monk, he had the best lines - him and his little acolyte. And though I don't like Chris Tucker in anything, in this movie his manic glee shone through at its best. His hair kept distracting me, though.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Well, I got around the Chris Tucker element in it because his character was meant to be annoying as hell. So that worked :-)

Actually, I can just about bear him in Rush Hour, if I concentrate really hard on Jackie Chan.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I think I saw the first Rush Hour movie and though I squirmed a lot through the Tucker scenes, yes, Jackie Chan made it all bearable.

Though I don't hurry to see his films any more either, because I have an ongoing problem with comedy. Sometimes I love it. Sometimes I just don't find it funny and I get restless. Let's just say I like Chan better without Tucker!

[kimsrants.livejournal.com]

Fifth element is actually on of my favourite Bruce Willis films. I saw it when first it came out (which may have meant I was 13 at the time..and therefore completely in the grips of the shiny, colourful movie, without pacing, but with bruce willis and milla [she is smoking hot] and so none of the shortcomings of the film have ever even touched me) and thought it was fabulous.
Milla was childlike and funny [and hot].
Bruce was just...so... wow.
and Gary Oldman: he was Gary Oldman playing the best character name ever: Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg. And I just love it when Gary Oldman gary oldmans.

Oh it makes my heart sing.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Fifth element is actually on of my favourite Bruce Willis films

I always think of Armageddon as being the worst of his movies, story-wise, though I haven't seen them all and I don't thing there are any of his movies I didn't enjoy at least part of the time.

milla [she is smoking hot]

I wish I thought so! I should watch her in something else. I want to find her hot and instead I just find her kind of thin and boring.

Bruce was just...so... wow.

Par for the course, m'dear. he has such... I don't know ... charm. Spirit. Personality.

Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg

it's brilliant. It's wonderful. And you know, looking up Gary Oldman, I thought I'd seen him in a lot of things but I've really seen hardly any of his movies. Just a handful. I thought he was boring as Sirius Black (shh, don't say that too loud) and as Dracula, but brilliant in all his other roles - with a particular tip of the hat to Commissioner Gordon.

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Antihistamines. Those are important.

/random comment

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That is so true! I hate waking up in the night with my nose so stuffed I can't breathe.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

I definitely enjoyed Bruce Willis in Die Hard. However, I gave Fifth Element a miss, partly because friends had panned it and partly because I was still getting over my mother's death at the time. (I have forgotten the first six months of 1998 almost completely.)

Thanks for reminding me about Nate's. I certainly want to go there with you for lunch sometime before it closes permanently. However, I'm still fighting a cold this week and would not rather not spread it around before getting rid of same (understandably).

When I talked to her on Friday, Tasia suggested I try to get a weekend off sometime. Given how much I've been missing Scrabble parties, I really plan to do that ... but I have to make sure that I *can* get the time off first. (More on that later.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

it would be interesting to see what you make of The Fifth Element. Very visual, very French, very slick - loads of fun in its way, but in another way, loads of fun with a good dollow of tediousness. Worth seeing, anyway. Not quite as funny as it ought to be.

Take care of yourself. A weekend off would be good but mostly you need some rest.