Abre los Breakfast That You Refuse
Jun. 4th, 2007 01:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishElizabeth Bear, The Chains That You Refuse
Short stories by the acclaimed author of Cat v. Monkey. They range from "decent" to "really quite good." Of particular note: the _Last Call_-esque "One-eyed Jack and the Suicide King," the cyberpunk character study "Two Dreams on Trains," the odd Western "The Devil You Don't" (a sequel to the equally odd Norse-mythic "Ice"), and the title story. Especially the last line. And the one Jenny Casey story whose title I have totally forgotten. I should probably actually read /those/ books now, too. Good stuff.
Also: I picked this up in a used bookstore because it had a weird-looking cover. I later determined that that's because it was an ARC. Upon reading it I found out why publishers don't want ARCs resold: it's not only typo-riddled but fraught with typesetting markups as well. Bleh. Going to have to acquire a real copy of this one so that I don't keep getting thrown out of the story by the formatting oddities.
Neil Jordan (dir.), Breakfast on Pluto
I went to see this because it had Cillian Murphy as a transvestite, and also a cameo by Gavin Friday. I wasn't really expecting anything other than some light amusement and a bit of spot-the-actor. Instead I got a really fun romp through northern Ireland and London in the back half of the twentieth century, with a flamboyant half-mad viewpoint character and an ever-changing supporting cast (though a few of, um, her boyhood friends recur off and on), and quite a bit of spot-the-actor. (Stephen Rea! yay!)
It's different from _Idaho_ mostly because, well, more things /happen/ in _Pluto_. Which isn't to say that there's really a plot, as such, there aren't events driving towards some sort of revelation/resolution. There's just Kitten, looking for his mother, and encountering all manner of odd characters as s/he goes. Recommended.
Alejandro Amenabar (dir.), Abre los Ojos
I watched this when it came out ten years ago and thought it was incredible. I can't tell if I've gotten smarter or if knowing the Big Reveal makes the whole movie less good. There are brilliant bits (when Cesar picks up the sketch of Sofia, for instance), but overall the plot feels forced and doesn't really say anything new and revolutionary about the Human Experience. Which, frankly, if you're going to go with It Was All A Dream you're sort of obligated to provide. Otherwise you've just got an exercise in plot-wankery. (On the bright side, bonus points for explicitly /not/ making it a rehash of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.")
The acting was all perfectly competent. Which is to say I didn't notice it at all; I was too busy disliking every single character. (Untrue. The psychiatrist was a good guy. Other than him, though.) They're all either shallow or desperate (Cesar is both by turns), and generally failed to give me reasons to care about them as opposed to the weirdness/madness going on around them. Which, well, as mentioned above, ehh.
Having said that, I'd watch it again, with someone who hadn't seen it before. The brilliant bits are worth sitting through in company.
Short stories by the acclaimed author of Cat v. Monkey. They range from "decent" to "really quite good." Of particular note: the _Last Call_-esque "One-eyed Jack and the Suicide King," the cyberpunk character study "Two Dreams on Trains," the odd Western "The Devil You Don't" (a sequel to the equally odd Norse-mythic "Ice"), and the title story. Especially the last line. And the one Jenny Casey story whose title I have totally forgotten. I should probably actually read /those/ books now, too. Good stuff.
Also: I picked this up in a used bookstore because it had a weird-looking cover. I later determined that that's because it was an ARC. Upon reading it I found out why publishers don't want ARCs resold: it's not only typo-riddled but fraught with typesetting markups as well. Bleh. Going to have to acquire a real copy of this one so that I don't keep getting thrown out of the story by the formatting oddities.
Neil Jordan (dir.), Breakfast on Pluto
I went to see this because it had Cillian Murphy as a transvestite, and also a cameo by Gavin Friday. I wasn't really expecting anything other than some light amusement and a bit of spot-the-actor. Instead I got a really fun romp through northern Ireland and London in the back half of the twentieth century, with a flamboyant half-mad viewpoint character and an ever-changing supporting cast (though a few of, um, her boyhood friends recur off and on), and quite a bit of spot-the-actor. (Stephen Rea! yay!)
It's different from _Idaho_ mostly because, well, more things /happen/ in _Pluto_. Which isn't to say that there's really a plot, as such, there aren't events driving towards some sort of revelation/resolution. There's just Kitten, looking for his mother, and encountering all manner of odd characters as s/he goes. Recommended.
Alejandro Amenabar (dir.), Abre los Ojos
I watched this when it came out ten years ago and thought it was incredible. I can't tell if I've gotten smarter or if knowing the Big Reveal makes the whole movie less good. There are brilliant bits (when Cesar picks up the sketch of Sofia, for instance), but overall the plot feels forced and doesn't really say anything new and revolutionary about the Human Experience. Which, frankly, if you're going to go with It Was All A Dream you're sort of obligated to provide. Otherwise you've just got an exercise in plot-wankery. (On the bright side, bonus points for explicitly /not/ making it a rehash of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.")
The acting was all perfectly competent. Which is to say I didn't notice it at all; I was too busy disliking every single character. (Untrue. The psychiatrist was a good guy. Other than him, though.) They're all either shallow or desperate (Cesar is both by turns), and generally failed to give me reasons to care about them as opposed to the weirdness/madness going on around them. Which, well, as mentioned above, ehh.
Having said that, I'd watch it again, with someone who hadn't seen it before. The brilliant bits are worth sitting through in company.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-04 10:54 pm (UTC)Have you seen Open Your Eyes? I've only watched that remake, and I remember being disappointed by the ending.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-05 02:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-06 02:11 am (UTC)I have not seen Vanilla Sky, despite its starring both Penelope and Tom Cru(i)(z/se). I think I specifically avoided it because of Tom Cruise.
The /very/ ending of _Abre los Ojos_ (black screen, a female voice saying "Relax . . . relax . . . open your eyes") was good. The ending in general? Not so much.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-06 01:15 am (UTC)