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vanitashazeAfter being thoroughly impressed by Jude Law's work in Sherlock Holmes - and damn, I cannot WAIT until that comes out on DVD - I decided to check out the rest of his ouvre. For such a well-known star, he has a surprisingly short resume, and really only a handful of his parts have been leads. As soon as I can find a copy, Wilde is next on the list... For now, I've contented myself with The Talented Mr. Ripley (his breakout role) and Cold Mountain. I like the former, but surprisingly, it's the latter that's my favorite of the two, and this is something I did not expect.
For one, it's a romance epic - two and a half hours! - set in antebellum South. For another, it has Nicole Kidman starring opposite Law, and Renee Zellweger starring opposite her. To my shock, I LOVED THEM ALL. This is a rare occurrence, ya'll. Usually I'll hate at least one of the leads, but they were all fantastic, interesting characters with distinct personalities, and the relationships between them were intriguing, even complex. Law's Inman was especially heartbreaking - god, you fucking broke for him - but the ladies were wonderful as well. And Ruby. OH RUBY. YOU ARE AMAZING AND STRONG AS STONE AND KICKASS AND EVEN A LITTLE TRAGIC. NEVER EVER CHANGE. I wasn't too thrilled about Kidman's character Ada at first, but with the addition of Ruby, and she became deeply fantastic. More than anything else I think it was the relationships that made this movie: Ada and Inman's (the cabin scene, oh my GOD, and the bits before and after it), but Ada and Ruby's was also very well done, and we even got some hints of Ruby-Inman interaction. I loved how he asked her permission to live on her farm, and the single tear as she gave Inman and Ada the cabin. And the trousers. Let us not forget the trousers. (For some reason, though I don't particularly care one way or another in the present, I have a deep love for women in historical drag.) I would totally ship Ruby/Ada, if Ada weren't so obviously obsessively in love with Inman*. As it stands, I fully maintain that Ruby is in love, grudgingly, with Ada (maybe sexually, maybe platonically). It's clear she feels threatened by Inman, and one of the wonderful surprises of the movie was that he totally let her take top dog on that one. The movie had to end the way it did, with Inman's death - he was a tragic character, and there was never any hope for him of a happy ending - but I'm sad that I'll never get to see more of their interactions, new relationships and negotiating and learning to fit themselves around each other, like we saw with Ruby and Ada.
I'm not saying it didn't have some problems (hello, Ruby's abusive father, and the mysterious absence of race/class issues!) or that it wasn't unconvincing at some moments (the beginning twenty minutes, erk, or the happy-family ending, though that last line was haunting). But overall, it was very very good, an excellent example of an Odysseus epic, and Law was fantastic. The little cameo tragedies - all the people he came across in his journey - were also very cool. With the exception of the creepy minister, I loved all of them. Really, I was worried that this would turn into Yet Another Antebellum Movie Glorifying the South With Bonus Sex, but with Inman's heroes journey, Minghella (the director) took a story very rooted in time and place, and made it timeless. The people Inman comes across are strange, often bizarre, but archetypes in their own right. Like the Odyssey on film.
*Though not nearly as much as he's in love with her, or the idea of her. That's the other thing I really liked: in many ways Ada and Inman were in love with the idea of each other, people they constructed from a handful of moments, and by the time they meet up again, they're so completely different people, and then they acknowledge that, and it's better this way. What's real is different than what they've been toting around in their hearts, but it's not lesser.
In other news, I got my![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
deancastiel Secret Angels Three assignment back, to which I have two words: What the...? I am not well-suited for these prompts at all.
For one, it's a romance epic - two and a half hours! - set in antebellum South. For another, it has Nicole Kidman starring opposite Law, and Renee Zellweger starring opposite her. To my shock, I LOVED THEM ALL. This is a rare occurrence, ya'll. Usually I'll hate at least one of the leads, but they were all fantastic, interesting characters with distinct personalities, and the relationships between them were intriguing, even complex. Law's Inman was especially heartbreaking - god, you fucking broke for him - but the ladies were wonderful as well. And Ruby. OH RUBY. YOU ARE AMAZING AND STRONG AS STONE AND KICKASS AND EVEN A LITTLE TRAGIC. NEVER EVER CHANGE. I wasn't too thrilled about Kidman's character Ada at first, but with the addition of Ruby, and she became deeply fantastic. More than anything else I think it was the relationships that made this movie: Ada and Inman's (the cabin scene, oh my GOD, and the bits before and after it), but Ada and Ruby's was also very well done, and we even got some hints of Ruby-Inman interaction. I loved how he asked her permission to live on her farm, and the single tear as she gave Inman and Ada the cabin. And the trousers. Let us not forget the trousers. (For some reason, though I don't particularly care one way or another in the present, I have a deep love for women in historical drag.) I would totally ship Ruby/Ada, if Ada weren't so obviously obsessively in love with Inman*. As it stands, I fully maintain that Ruby is in love, grudgingly, with Ada (maybe sexually, maybe platonically). It's clear she feels threatened by Inman, and one of the wonderful surprises of the movie was that he totally let her take top dog on that one. The movie had to end the way it did, with Inman's death - he was a tragic character, and there was never any hope for him of a happy ending - but I'm sad that I'll never get to see more of their interactions, new relationships and negotiating and learning to fit themselves around each other, like we saw with Ruby and Ada.
I'm not saying it didn't have some problems (hello, Ruby's abusive father, and the mysterious absence of race/class issues!) or that it wasn't unconvincing at some moments (the beginning twenty minutes, erk, or the happy-family ending, though that last line was haunting). But overall, it was very very good, an excellent example of an Odysseus epic, and Law was fantastic. The little cameo tragedies - all the people he came across in his journey - were also very cool. With the exception of the creepy minister, I loved all of them. Really, I was worried that this would turn into Yet Another Antebellum Movie Glorifying the South With Bonus Sex, but with Inman's heroes journey, Minghella (the director) took a story very rooted in time and place, and made it timeless. The people Inman comes across are strange, often bizarre, but archetypes in their own right. Like the Odyssey on film.
*Though not nearly as much as he's in love with her, or the idea of her. That's the other thing I really liked: in many ways Ada and Inman were in love with the idea of each other, people they constructed from a handful of moments, and by the time they meet up again, they're so completely different people, and then they acknowledge that, and it's better this way. What's real is different than what they've been toting around in their hearts, but it's not lesser.
In other news, I got my
deancastiel Secret Angels Three assignment back, to which I have two words: What the...? I am not well-suited for these prompts at all.
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 05:11 am (UTC)this is me, by the way.
Date: 2010-01-28 09:44 pm (UTC)Off to read...
Re: this is me, by the way.
Date: 2010-01-28 11:35 pm (UTC)Re: this is me, by the way.
Date: 2010-01-29 09:43 pm (UTC)Re: the fic - ooh, lovely! I totally want that to be canon, and I love how they dealt with Inman respectfully, realistically, made him a consideration - a condition - instead of an imposition, and with Ada, somewhere between Persephone and Eurydice. (To continue on the theme of Greek mythology...) I totally want this to be canon. Speaking of things that I want to be canon, this (http://apocalypsos.livejournal.com/1021115.html) is very high up on the list. (I thought you might like, because it has awesome Mary.) Summary: AU. Thirteen times Mary knows her scars are beautiful.
Re: this is me, by the way.
Date: 2010-01-29 10:07 pm (UTC)Anna femslash!! *enthuses*
Re: this is me, by the way.
Date: 2010-01-29 11:21 pm (UTC)*Dean literally got dragged out of Hell by his, and said angel is still on probation.
Anna femslash? Anna/Cassie? Awesome!!
Date: 2010-01-30 01:46 am (UTC)And it will not be all about Dean. (Ha!)
But of course! That's got to be a requirement! *cheers*
Dean literally got dragged out of Hell by his, and said angel is still on probation.
Ahahaha. I can't really blame people feeling that way, considering events that came AFTER that!
Except for the part where I've got to finish it by Thursday & get it Jossed, or work with new canon.
Date: 2010-01-30 02:14 am (UTC)Ahahaha. I can't really blame people feeling that way, considering events that came AFTER that! Point.
Also, "reward"? I so desperately want it for poor Jimmy, but I doubt he's going to get anything than the standard package, i.e. a reaper and a smile. But then again, that's kind of comparing apples to black holes, isn't it. I mean, what on earth does "reward" mean to a soul, or spirit, or whatever's left? Do the dead even have a concept of bad or good, pain or pleasure, anymore? Ghosts do, obviously, but they seem to kind of dead folks trying to still be alive, and it drives them insane. Then again - I could see Jimmy choosing to stay behind. If he thought Amelia was in danger and he could protect her somehow - not even rationally, just that parent's bone-deep assumption that "if I'm around, everything will be okay" - he might do it.
*Which for me raises a lot of interesting thoughts about the demon-commanding and angel-commanding symbol systems, and how they're probably sort of related - they both have "get the fuck out of here" commands, for example, though one is more permanent than the other (exorcism vs. the bloody-hand angel whoosh) - but obviously not exactly, as there's some discrepancy between them. Are they like language families? Did one grow out of the other? Personally, I think that what these symbols represent, the "rules" angels and demons refer to, has always been there, even before they created the symbolic representations of them - concept before word, in a way, except that's arguable. Is a table a table, before it's a table, or is it a flat surface supported by four long, thin blocks of wood? You see what I mean. Maybe it is possible to create new commands, because the concept behind them has always been there (somewhere between the way that time is not linear, but rather things are and always have been, will be, and Schrodinger's cat), and you're just figuring out a way to write them up.
Oh, erk. Metaphysics. I doubt any of that made any sense.
Re: Except for the part where I've got to finish it by Thursday & get it Jossed, or work with new ca
Date: 2010-01-30 04:52 am (UTC)his body exploding "like a can of chunky soup" - which, by the way, ew
Yeah, ewwww.
That makes sense re: the Novaks, though I hadn't thought of it. Poor Novaks. I will continue hoping they lived, even if angels come figuratively knocking on their door again to possess Claire, but yeah. (I read a Claire/Jo now-AU short futurefic recently that was kind of lovely, but it was premised on angels being able to protect/hide humans from demons.)
Do we know anything of what happens after the reaper?
Oh, it made sense, I just have nothing myself to add at this time :)
Re: Except for the part where I've got to finish it by Thursday & get it Jossed, or work with new ca
Date: 2010-01-30 05:12 am (UTC)Speaking of, where the hell has Bobby been? I know it's only been two episodes, but it feels much longer.
I read a Claire/Jo now-AU short futurefic recently that was kind of lovely, but it was premised on angels being able to protect/hide humans from demons. Really? May I have a link?
I don't think so, no. In fact, I think it was implied that not even the reapers know what happens after. At least, the first time Dean encountered a talkative one - "In My Time of Dying", I think? In "Death Takes a Holiday", there might be conflicting information. (It's been so long I don't really remember, and I don't have access to my Supernatural avi stash right now.) Really, continuity problems wouldn't really surprise me. SPN TPTB have never been very good in regards to that.
Re: Except for the part where I've got to finish it by Thursday & get it Jossed, or work with new ca
Date: 2010-01-30 05:42 am (UTC)"This is how we have to try" (http://aesc.livejournal.com/391075.html?mode=reply) (PG-13), "Staying safe goes both ways."
Yeah, I don't recall either. Hm!
Re: Except for the part where I've got to finish it by Thursday & get it Jossed, or work with new ca
Date: 2010-01-30 05:57 am (UTC)...How does the public even get episode names, anyways?
An
Re: Except for the part where I've got to finish it by Thursday & get it Jossed, or work with new ca
Date: 2010-01-30 06:05 am (UTC)"The Song Remains the Same" is what's listed on the CW's site, so I'd think that'd be it.
I wish the story were longer, too. I'd love to see more of their life together.
I wish I could get my SHIFT key to stop sticking. (Bet toting it out in 20 F weather didn't help.)
Date: 2010-01-31 03:00 am (UTC)It's interesting - I don't really care about the Winchesters' life on the road, but something about Jo on the road, hunting - probably doing the exact same thing the Winchesters do - intrigues me. Maybe it's the company she keeps. (For some reason, the Jo of
Erk. I wish the gods of fanfiction would once again smile upon me. I've been in such a horrific dry spell since "To the Pioneers and Their Covered Wagons". It's like - title? Plot? POV? Characterization? I really want to write these bits, but they are just not coming cleanly. (And I'm not whining, I swear. Well. Maybe a little bit. Ranting, more like.)
Re: I wish I could get my SHIFT key to stop sticking. (Bet toting it out in 20 F weather didn't help
Date: 2010-01-31 03:09 am (UTC)I don't really care about the Winchesters' life on the road, but something about Jo on the road, hunting - probably doing the exact same thing the Winchesters do - intrigues me. Maybe it's the company she keeps.
I feel exactly the same way.
Rant on! :)
Re: I wish I could get my SHIFT key to stop sticking. (Bet toting it out in 20 F weather didn't help
Date: 2010-02-06 10:07 pm (UTC)RANT RANT RANT RANT RANT RANT RANT.
Though actually, I am kind of pissed about the treatment of Anna in the new episode. This shall make the femslash hard. But it will be done, nonetheless!
Probably.Re: I wish I could get my SHIFT key to stop sticking. (Bet toting it out in 20 F weather didn't help
Date: 2010-02-07 04:42 am (UTC)Re: I wish I could get my SHIFT key to stop sticking. (Bet toting it out in 20 F weather didn't help
Date: 2010-02-07 06:37 pm (UTC)...For some reason I really want to work Uriel into it now. I have no idea how I will actually do that, but still.
Re: I wish I could get my SHIFT key to stop sticking. (Bet toting it out in 20 F weather didn't help
Date: 2010-02-24 05:40 am (UTC)I think that could be potentially awesome!
Re: I wish I could get my SHIFT key to stop sticking. (Bet toting it out in 20 F weather didn't help
Date: 2010-02-24 11:58 am (UTC)Re: I wish I could get my SHIFT key to stop sticking. (Bet toting it out in 20 F weather didn't help
Date: 2010-02-24 06:35 pm (UTC)