Films I’ve seen this year that were worth the money I paid (as in: I can still recall having been to see them and enjoyed them): GINGER SNAPS, STATE AND MAIN, JURASSIC PARK III. I find that scary. In nine months, I’ve seen three films that have stayed with me.
Films I’ve missed that I really wanted to see, but was too crap to get around to it: SHREK.
So, a few weeks back, I saw What Women Want. I’ve been pondering it on and off since then. I can’t decide if the film was misogynist or not. Part of me thinks it was. Cute as it may have been, funny though it was, the central message does rather seem to be that What Women Want is a man. Granted, they don’t want the arsehole the Gibson is playing at the start of the film, but still, given the sort of character that Helen Hunt is playing, is does seem that despite all her success, all she’s achieved by standing on her own, all she really wants is Mel…
But there’s another part of me that wonders: Would “What Men Want” have been hugely different? Wouldn’t the answer to that have been “a woman”? Especially given that we are, after all, watching a romance… Yes, there’s an argument to be made that the whole image of women given in the film is as creatures that spend most of their time worrying, and basically being mildly neurotic. But again, I wonder: are men that different? Maybe they worry about different things, but I ssupect that were it not terribly un-macho to admit to being worried about well, anything one might discover that yes, men worry a lot as well.
Is it misogynist to make a funny romantic comedy that, as part of the joke, requires the woman to be weaker, any more than is would be misandrist than to do the reverse?
Watched Coyote Ugly last night. I’m not proud of it, but I was bored and Andrew had been given a review copy. It was dumb beyond belief, had gigantic plot holes, and reeked of cheese, was a good laugh nonetheless. If you can see it without paying any money to do so, I suggest you do.
Saw The Virgin Suicides last night. Currently listening to the soundtrack by Air. It’s good throughout, but the last track “Suicide Underground” stands out as a wonderfully chill and strange piece of work. Get hold of it.
Saw the Ring at the ICA last Friday, and have been meaning to mention it, because it was ace. Creepy as hell, like any horror film should be. Ranks up there with Woman in Black as a top horror. If you’ve any interest in horror, see this. Obviously, do not see any dubbed version that may be released, because it will be shit.
You got a lot of content last week – well, you got more than in the previous couple of weeks – so don’t expect wonders in the coming week. Still, I’m going to see X-men on Thursday, so I’m sure I’ll provide a report of it here, for those of you that give a damn.
Other than that, I’ve not got a lot to report, other than another weekend’s shopping, which I won’t bore you with here, suffice it to say that Tony Hawkes skateboarding on Playstation is more addictive than any game has the right to be.
Once again, a week without enough updates. So, what’s new? Well, there’s that big honkin’ plane crash, I guess. Someone I know posed an interesting question: As a result of this, will people be more concerned about flying Air France, or flying on Concorde? I suspect the later – all the press has been focusing on the fact that it was Concorde that crashed, not “an Air France plane”.
Hearing reports that the Director of Pi is attached to Batman 5, and will apparently be working with Frank Miller. I’m a little skeptical – Miller’s name has been linked with this for so long, but nothing has ever come with it. Each time there’s been a new Batman film, there’s the inveitable round of “They’re going to make The Dark Knight Returns” rumours… (NB: the link is to AICN, but it’s apparently turning up in Dreamwatch this month)