Kate ([info]kate_nepveu) wrote,
@ 2008-02-02 22:39:00
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Entry tags:movies

In which I dislike much-beloved, critically-acclaimed works

Yesterday, I got through a song and a half of Into the Woods before giving up. Meta or no, I can't listen to two and a half hours of that.

On the other hand, tonight we watched all of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind in the hope that it would stop being anvilicious cloying Mary-Sue-powered crap. Imagine our disappointment!


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[info]yhlee
2008-02-03 03:53 am UTC (link)
(a) Yeah, I am trying to figure out how to ditch my CDs of it, because the music doesn't work for me (and if the music doesn't work, it doesn't matter how good the lyrics are).

(b) I literally have fallen asleep in the middle of Nausicaa on the two occasions that I was obliged to watch it. Good for napping, I suppose!

You should try Avatar! Cool martial arts, great worldbuilding, interesting characters, fascinating technology, gorgeous animation, and now I shut up before I make a nuisance of myself. (It came to mind because there seem to be some Miyazaki influences in the visuals, particularly the S1 finale.)

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-02-03 03:04 pm UTC (link)
(a) Library donation? Get someone on LJ to send you a SASE?

It was like running into a glass wall.

(b) Falling asleep would have been preferable.

I've been eyeing _Avatar_, certainly, and I see it's NetFlixable, so we'll consider it.

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[info]orzelc
2008-02-03 03:54 am UTC (link)
On the other hand, tonight we watched all of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind in the hope that it would stop being anvilicious cloying Mary-Sue-powered crap.

Halfway through the movie, the dog got up, and curled back up with her back to the tv, presumably in disgust.

When it ended, I said to Kate, "Well, that was anvilicious..."

"Seriously," said the dog. "All that peace and love stuff was a bunch of crap."

"It was a mite heavy-handed," I said.

"Harmony with nature, my ass," said the dog. "Let me outside. I'm going to stalk and kill something small and fuzzy."

And you know, I kind of agree with her.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-02-03 03:05 pm UTC (link)
I heard this comment when you first made it, and watched over your shoulder as you typed it, and you know what? Reading it *still* makes me laugh.

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[info]oyceter
2008-02-03 04:04 am UTC (link)
Yeah, Into the Woods really didn't work for me as well. Actually, from the little I've listened to, only Sondheim's Assassins and Sweeney Todd seems to work for me, and Sweeney probably only works because of familiarity. I had a very hard time listening to Sweeney the first few times. Assassins works better for me because it's musical pastiche and actually has melodies I can sing to.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-02-03 03:07 pm UTC (link)
It might be a matter of similarity with popular music. The only two musicals I listen to regularly are _Rent_ and _Chicago_, after all.

Oh well! YMMV.

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[info]telophase
2008-02-03 04:24 am UTC (link)
I watched all of Into the Woods. While I thought that the meta was way too heavy-handed, to the point that it was a bunch of songs about life sung by people that happened to be dressed in fairy-tale outfits, instead of songs about fairy tales thagt happened to comment on life experiences, what REALLY irritated me was the way that every woman who had sex outside of marriage ended up dead.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-02-03 03:08 pm UTC (link)
. . . no-one warned me about that!

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[info]telophase
2008-02-03 03:53 pm UTC (link)
No one warned me about that, either! It was all "It's meta! It's Sondheim! It's all about what happens after the happily ever after!"

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-02-03 04:08 pm UTC (link)
Boo, unexpected misogyny!

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[info]thomasyan
2008-02-03 05:26 am UTC (link)
The Mary-Sue in Nausicaa worked for me, but I can sort of see how it could be found sporkworthy. Have you seen Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)? Miyazaki has described it as a return to the themes of Nausicaa, which he decided he originally got wrong. I'm not sure what you'd make of Mononoke. Since it was described as Miyazaki's swan song, I was hoping for a lot and instead was disappointed. It occurs to me that our rankings for these two movies could easily be opposites.

Edited at 2008-02-03 05:26 am UTC

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-02-03 03:10 pm UTC (link)
We did, but ages ago and my principal impression is that we didn't really get it.

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[info]leighdb
2008-02-04 07:01 pm UTC (link)
I didn't get it either, but I thought that was because I had missed the first twenty minutes.

OTOH, judging from the opaqueness of the rest of it, maybe not.

It was very pretty, though.

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[info]montoya
2008-02-03 06:28 am UTC (link)
So I read the subject line, and I think, "Ah shit, I knew she shouldn't've read that Kirstein book right now."

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[info]papersky
2008-02-03 12:37 pm UTC (link)
Me too.

But as I also hate Into the Woods, I'm happy.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-02-03 01:29 pm UTC (link)
Sorry--the Kirstein was perfect and I should've said so before.

People said interesting things about _Into the Woods_ in the meta panel at Nippon 2007, or possibly in the LJ discussions around it, and so I was willing, but the music was just like a glass wall.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-02-03 01:28 pm UTC (link)
Oh no! The first half of _The Steerswoman's Road_ was lovely, just the ticket, and I was remiss in not saying so here. I'm hoping to read the second half today and then booklog it soon.

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[info]skwidly
2008-02-03 06:26 pm UTC (link)
Yay!

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[info]janni
2008-02-03 07:32 pm UTC (link)
I loved Into the Woods, precisely for the meta. (Just to be a dissenting voice here. :-))

I can't remember if you were watching Princess Tutu or not. Would be curious what you make of it, if so, as the two seemed to me to have a lot in common ...

Edited at 2008-02-03 07:32 pm UTC

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-02-03 07:36 pm UTC (link)
That's why I was trying it!

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[info]martin_wisse
2008-02-03 10:11 pm UTC (link)
Not liking Nausicaa?!!!

Heretic Outcast Unclean!

Naah, I can see its flaws, but I liked it enough not to be bothered by them.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2008-02-03 10:14 pm UTC (link)
Hey, whatever works for you.

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