summercomfort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
summercomfort) wrote2013-07-22 11:52 am
summercomfort) wrote2013-07-22 11:52 am
Miscellaneous Opinions
Urg, need to get this stuff out of my head.
Pacific Rim
- Guillermo Del Toro, you are such a fanboy. The giant robot/kaiju fights were awesome, and you clearly love the genre. I also liked that you tried hard to create something that was inspired by and an homage to kaiju/mecha films, but stands on its own -- adding to the genre without violating it.
That said:
- If you're going to set the majority of this in Hong Kong, how about having some of the senior staff be actually Chinese? How about having some of crowd characters speak in Cantonese instead of Mandarin? How about showing Hannibal Chau as a shrewd businessman who isn't just selling kaiju parts to the oh-so-weird Chinese medicine market, but to international businesses as well? How about not having Hannibal Chau be played for laughs? (Oh! How about having Hannibal Chau be at least part Chinese?). If Tendo Choi (the bowtie guy, whose backstory is in the prequel comic) is supposed to be Cantonese/Peruvian, and has a grandfather who lives in SF Chinatown, maybe (a) have an Asian actor portray him, and (b) have him speak some Cantonese during the movie? I mean, everyone was spouting random Japanese ... why not random Chinese? Oh, also, the Chinese mech design doesn't seem Chinese at all (if the Chinese govt was designing a mech, it'd probably look more like this. As it currently stands, I feel like you set it in Hong Kong just because you wanted a major Asian port city but didn't want to do Tokyo because that'd be too fanboy.
- If the movie is about cooperation and working with others, it'd sure be nice if the Russian and Chinese pilots had speaking roles and personalities. (GDT mentioned in an interview that he shot another hour of backstory and character arcs for the main characters, but didn't count the Russian and Chinese pilots as the main characters, so... go figure. For screen time for the Australians.) It'd also be nice if the World Alliance politicos didn't just look like a collection of Americans and Australians. If Mako is supposed to be the "equal" of Raleigh, then let her deal with her own problems instead of playing white savior in a variety of situations.
This isn't even getting into how the Drift stuff is under-utilized. If you are sharing the same thoughts, wouldn't you be speaking at once? Wouldn't it be rather jarring and painful to take off your helmet mid-fight? (Which, like, everyone does. :/) Wouldn't Raleigh know that there were swords on the mech?
My Little Pony
Watched some episodes recently due to Jono's indoctrination in Chicago (see his blog for more). It's cute, and the different ponies have very strong character archetypes, but I can't deal with how flawed and upper-class-problems Twilight Sparkle is, especially since she's the main character. I'd like it a lot more if each of the different ponies has equal spotlight episodes.
Lois and Clark
Re-watched some episodes of Lois and Clark following our Superman podcast. Sigh, it has some really good ideas and character dynamics, but is ruined by the 90s execution. I wish there was a modern remake. I love that it's predominantly a show about Lois and Clark being intrepid investigative journalists (it'd fit in well with the crime procedurals genre!), with the added bonus that Clark has a 2nd job that is tough, bigger than he is, and which endangers Lois, but is sometimes helpful. I really like that halfway through the show, they decide that Lois is going to know Clark's secret identity and start dating him. They explore all of the problems of having a 2nd job (with a 2nd planner), and Superman's inability to say no to hospital openings and charity appearances, and Lois trying to have a normal relationship without exploiting Clark's super abilities.
Pacific Rim
- Guillermo Del Toro, you are such a fanboy. The giant robot/kaiju fights were awesome, and you clearly love the genre. I also liked that you tried hard to create something that was inspired by and an homage to kaiju/mecha films, but stands on its own -- adding to the genre without violating it.
That said:
- If you're going to set the majority of this in Hong Kong, how about having some of the senior staff be actually Chinese? How about having some of crowd characters speak in Cantonese instead of Mandarin? How about showing Hannibal Chau as a shrewd businessman who isn't just selling kaiju parts to the oh-so-weird Chinese medicine market, but to international businesses as well? How about not having Hannibal Chau be played for laughs? (Oh! How about having Hannibal Chau be at least part Chinese?). If Tendo Choi (the bowtie guy, whose backstory is in the prequel comic) is supposed to be Cantonese/Peruvian, and has a grandfather who lives in SF Chinatown, maybe (a) have an Asian actor portray him, and (b) have him speak some Cantonese during the movie? I mean, everyone was spouting random Japanese ... why not random Chinese? Oh, also, the Chinese mech design doesn't seem Chinese at all (if the Chinese govt was designing a mech, it'd probably look more like this. As it currently stands, I feel like you set it in Hong Kong just because you wanted a major Asian port city but didn't want to do Tokyo because that'd be too fanboy.
- If the movie is about cooperation and working with others, it'd sure be nice if the Russian and Chinese pilots had speaking roles and personalities. (GDT mentioned in an interview that he shot another hour of backstory and character arcs for the main characters, but didn't count the Russian and Chinese pilots as the main characters, so... go figure. For screen time for the Australians.) It'd also be nice if the World Alliance politicos didn't just look like a collection of Americans and Australians. If Mako is supposed to be the "equal" of Raleigh, then let her deal with her own problems instead of playing white savior in a variety of situations.
This isn't even getting into how the Drift stuff is under-utilized. If you are sharing the same thoughts, wouldn't you be speaking at once? Wouldn't it be rather jarring and painful to take off your helmet mid-fight? (Which, like, everyone does. :/) Wouldn't Raleigh know that there were swords on the mech?
My Little Pony
Watched some episodes recently due to Jono's indoctrination in Chicago (see his blog for more). It's cute, and the different ponies have very strong character archetypes, but I can't deal with how flawed and upper-class-problems Twilight Sparkle is, especially since she's the main character. I'd like it a lot more if each of the different ponies has equal spotlight episodes.
Lois and Clark
Re-watched some episodes of Lois and Clark following our Superman podcast. Sigh, it has some really good ideas and character dynamics, but is ruined by the 90s execution. I wish there was a modern remake. I love that it's predominantly a show about Lois and Clark being intrepid investigative journalists (it'd fit in well with the crime procedurals genre!), with the added bonus that Clark has a 2nd job that is tough, bigger than he is, and which endangers Lois, but is sometimes helpful. I really like that halfway through the show, they decide that Lois is going to know Clark's secret identity and start dating him. They explore all of the problems of having a 2nd job (with a 2nd planner), and Superman's inability to say no to hospital openings and charity appearances, and Lois trying to have a normal relationship without exploiting Clark's super abilities.