The early reviews for "V for Vendetta" look promising!

[Benfea]

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/v_for_vendetta/

This movie should be of special interest to liberals living in Bush's America. The following review sums that up fairly well:

http://www.scifimoviepage.com/vforvendetta.html

What's really funny is that the producer Joel Silver is (if I remember right) a conservative.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. It does look good.

We'll see soon enough!

[MountainLaurel]

2. Are you thinking of Ron Silver? n/t

[Benfea]

5. No, Joel Silver

Correct me if I'm wrong. I heard he's a conservative.

[LostinVA]

47. No -- it's Ron Silver

[Orrex]

63. Heigh-ho, in any case.

[djeseru]

3. I've had my eye on this one for a while.

But I've got my fingers crossed too. :)

[Orsino]

4. Loved the graphic novel...

...and the trailers look good. I'm flabbergasted that such a film could be made in today's political climate.

I'm crossing my fingers, too.

[Benfea]

6. You know, I never finished it.

I read it back when it was originally published as a regular monthly limited series comic book, but for some reason I only read the first half or so. Not that it matters. I read it so long ago that I can't recall any details, only that I really liked what I read.

It's reviews like this that have me practically salivating.

[underpants]

7. So is the guy in the mask the evil ruler?

I hope that isn't a spoiler but from the trailers it looked to me like they could be the same person---you know he creates an evil that must be taken down and then HE takes it down.

[Orrex]

9. If he is...

then that would be a pretty radical departure from the source material.

[underpants]

11. Hold it hold it hold it -this isn't based on a frickin comic book is it?

Please tell me it isn't.

[Orrex]

13. Graphic Novel, if you please

;)

Yes, it's a comic book, but it's one of the finest achievements in the genre.

[Benfea]

16. I hate the phrase "graphic novel"

It's so pretentious, and in my opinion, the phrase demeans the medium by insisting we have to use a different word when it's directed at an adult audience. If it combines pictures and words, and if the pictures are used to help tell the story (rather than just illustrate it), then it's a comic book. Period.

[Orrex]

22. Geez. Tough crowd

Really, I don't care one way or the other. I have a stack of comic books in my attic, and some are 30 pages while others are 150 pages. I only use the "graphic novel" label when I'm trying to sound overblown and super-serious. Hence the winking smiley! ;)

[Orsino]

38. And a damned fine comic book it is.

IMO, it ranks right up there with Sandman as one of the greatest modern fiction achievements in any medium.

I can understand reluctance to see a men-in-tights superhero movie--though some of those are very worthy--but V For Vendetta is something different. It's an unflinching look at political oppression and violent resistance, without the pompous moralizing of the usual four-color fare.

If you hate comic books, or movies based on them, this might be one to see anyway. I hope.

[underpants]

19. comic book

and comic book movies suck.

[Benfea]

24. Hush yo' mouth. Ghost in the Shell rules! -NT

[FVZA_Colonel]

40. It's good, but Akira was better.

[Benfea]

51. That's a matter of opinion. -NT

[Orrex]

25. Even Ghost World?

I thought that was pretty cool.

What about Road to Perdition while we're at it? I didn't think that it was the best film ever, but it was a creditable movie IMO.

[Orrex]

28. Hey, something else occurred to me

You object to "comic book movies," which is your prerogative of course. Do you also object to "kiddie book movies" like Harry Potter et al?

[Benfea]

31. I don't object to "comic book movies"

I object to the use of the phrase "graphic novel."

It's a very silly euphemism. A comic book is a comic book (and I happen to enjoy certain comic books a great deal). The Harry Potter movies were a blast (I'll never grow up).

[Orrex]

32. Wait, now I'm confused

I thought you posted that "comic book movies suck."

Did I get that wrong? That's what I was responding to, but sorry if it wasn't you!

:hi:

[Benfea]

35. That wasn't me.

Many comic book movies are indeed disappointments, but that wasn't me who posted that. *points up*

My favorite comic book movies are Ghost in the Shell (and sequel), Akira, and Unbreakable.

[Orrex]

58. Here's the problem

I was replying to Post 19 by Underpants, but you replied as if I'd responded to you.

[Orsino]

39. There might be a significant difference between the two.

If comic books are monthly installments containing one adventure each, historically without arcs linking them, a graphic novel deserves its own terminology. Something approaching a novel in scope and character development, yet using the sequential-art mechanics of a comic book? "Graphic novel" seems a good term, and not in itself pretentious.

[Benfea]

44. Comic books are a medium, not a genre

What you do with the medium is irrelevent. It doesn't stop being TV just because you're showing sitcoms instead of dramas.

[Orsino]

54. You see no difference between novels and short stories?

For the record, I didn't call comics a genre, either.

[Orrex]

62. I did -- my mistake

Here's the offending post. I should have used the word "format" or "medium," or maybe "style" instead

[underpants]

56. No

[Benfea]

15. It is.

But don't worry. It's not your typical musclebound-oafs-in-tights variety of comic book. It has a lot more in common with 1984 than it does Spider-Man.

[underpants]

17. Oh cripes

I sat through Constantine and then found out that it was a comic book.

I'll wait until I can see it for free somewhere.

[Benfea]

21. Read the reviews before you make up your mind

Trust me, this one's different.

Here, chew on this one for a bit:
http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2006/02/index.php

[Ravenseye]

42. Constantine was a terrible adaptation

They radically changed the character and the world he lived in, and everything. It was practically a different story alltogether.

[CBGLuthier]

55. wait a minute, you go to a Keanu movie and you blame

comic books for it sucking?

[underpants]

57. River's Edge

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000206/

That didn't suck. Matrix had lots of action in it...uh....

[CBGLuthier]

59. I liked Little Buddha

Speed didn't suck but mostly because of Dennis Hopper.

And I am rather fond of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. :-)

[Benfea]

10. The guy in the mask is... *SPOILER*

…the title character "V".

One cool thing about the story is that we never learn his full name, we only know him as "V" and furthermore, both in the books and the movie, he never takes his mask off and we never see his real face.

V is the anti-hero who is working to destabilize the fascist government in future Britain. Although he's working to overthrow a great evil, I wouldn't quite call him a hero. He does some pretty disgusting things in his crusade to destroy fascism.

[Orrex]

14. Caution--spolier in Benfea's post!!

[Benfea]

18. Sorry. -nt

[Orrex]

8. It looks good, despite the fact that it's by the Matrix Bros.

Don't get me wrong--The Matrix was pretty cool (though I didn't find it to be the mind-blowing philosophy lesson that far too many people identify it to be), but the two sequels were all but unwatchable.

I've loved V for Vendetta since about '91, and I'd have to say that it seems like they've got the "look" right. Natalie Portman was a great bit of casting. If it weren't her, they'd probably have gone with Scarlett Johannsen or Keira Knightley.

[Benfea]

12. Regarding the philosophical underpinnings of The Matrix:

Initially, I also pooh-poohed the philosophy of The Matrix.

Then I stumlbed across all these cool essays on the Matrix web site:
http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/new_phil_frames.html

The essays are really interesting and worth reading, but the really relevant info is who wrote these essays:
http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/new_phil_contribs.html

Some of them are philosophy professors from Ivy League schools. There is a lot more going on in this movie than just adolescent or Dicksian existentialism (which is how I originally interpreted it).

[Orrex]

20. Yeah, but those essays all appear to be post hoc

Anyone can spin a cool explanation after the fact to fit the onscreen story. Heck, I can even explain why the Terminator would bother with an internal text display.

[Benfea]

23. Ivy League professors don't write essays about Terminator. -NT

[Orrex]

26. Then I'll just have to get myself hired there, won't I?

Essays of that nature are little more than fan fiction. The fact that the "fans" in this case are Ivy League professors is interesting but doesn't convince me that the movie is any deeper.

Besides which, it explicitly buys into all that Ken Wilbur gobbledygook, so...

[Benfea]

27. Just read the damn essays.

Even if you didn't care for the movie, some of the essays are pretty darned interesting.

[Orrex]

29. Yowza! Such fire!

If they'll help me better understand the deep metaphor of "blue filter means real-world and green-filter means Zion," I'll give them a shot.

[Benfea]

30. I didn't read them for the movies.

For me it was a gateway into a better understanding of philosophy.

If you poke around the web, you'll find an interesting number of essays on the theological elements of The Matrix.

[Orrex]

33. Well, that's valid I suppose

In the end, it doesn't really matter what sparked the essay, if the essay is good on its own merits.

[Benfea]

36. I'm a diehard atheist...

…and I still found some of the theological essays (not available at the link I provided) terribly interesting. Given that I have zero interest in religion, I completely miss religious themes in movies and was surprised at the amount of religious symbolism in The Matrix (everything from Buddhism, to Judaism, to Gnosticism, to Christianity, etc.).

[Nikia]

34. My husband and I read the novel based on the screen play

In some ways, I wish that I hadn't read it. I still want to see the movie, but I think that some parts would have been cooler if I didn't already know certain things ahead of time.

[Benfea]

37. Yeah, spoilers are a bitch in this particular story.

The Puppetmaster isn't a programmer, he's a program!

Sorry. Once I start spewing spoilers, I just can't stop myself.

Soylent green is people!

[Shine]

41. Cool! I'm sure we'll check it out.

:hi:

[nytemare]

43. Seems John Hurt has come full circle from his role in "1984" to this.

Should be interesting. Now, he is "Big Brother'.

[LostinVA]

45. It has Natalie Portman in it -- of course it's good!

If she stood there for two hours reading the phone book, it would be good.

[Benfea]

52. Erm, Natalie Portman was in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Hence, your assumption that her presence makes something good is patently false. :P

[LostinVA]

53. No, her presence in it is good!

[Benfea]

61. It doesn't make the MOVIE good, however. -NT

[LostinVA]

46. I think you're thinking of Ron Silver

[Benfea]

50. I coulda swore that I read somewhere...

…that Joel Silver is also a conservative.

[NYdemocrat089]

48. I've been wanting to see it since I saw the trailer.

I'm sure it won't come to our theater(no good films do).

[Benfea]

64. Do you live in a small town, I take it? -NT

[Benfea]

49. Major spoiler in the Time magazine review!

If you haven't read the comic books, do not read the Time magazine review. They give away a major plot twist that happens relatively early in the film.

[NewJeffCT]

60. just watched the trailer on QT

Might be one of those movies where I ask the wife for permission to go out to see it...