let the wild rumpus start?

[freckles_and_doubt]

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the live-action film version of Where The Wild Things Are (trailer here, I'd be interest to know what you Sendak-fan witterers think). Possible pros: it's live-action rather than CGI, it's not being directed by Stephen Spielberg, the trailer features my favourite Arcade Fire song, it's Spike Jonze. Possible cons: they're making a film of a beloved book, which by all the rules is doomed; I'm not sure it'll survive independently of Maurice Sendak's incredible artwork; the Wild Things talk; it's Spike Jonze. I shall content myself with the mantra Alan Moore occasionally mouths (post James Cain) but never quite got behind: Even If The Film Turns Out Crap The Book's Still On My Shelf.

In other news, Elizabeth Bear's cat talks in alliterative skaldic verse. Apparently. And, appropos of nothing, tonight I initiate jo&stv into the mysteries of lasagne-construction. They have to swear an oath, and get the tattoo, and everything. Also, we're going to watch Wanted.

Last Night I Dreamed: a confused journey to Mars, which was unexpectedly terraformed and growing forests and vast fields of vegetables. I think Venus may have been as well, only the fields were all on raised platforms held up by giant pillars, so the excessive moisture could drain out of the soil. Much of the dream was taken up with preventing atmospheric sabotage, and with the whinging of the spaceships full of farm workers who didn't like the long commute.

Comments

[bronchitikat.livejournal.com]

Where the Wild Things Are as a live action film? Think I may just pass, & stick with our (ex-public-library) copy of the book.

We borrowed it yeeeeeears ago when our son was about two & read it to him. A few mornings later we heard him reciting the words to himself, bright lad.

Main trouble with FotBs is that they fillet the text for the basic plot, then alter it & throw in all sorts of unnecessary bits which would be far better left out for bits that really were in the book. That & the characters rarely look or sound as they should. Well done Peter Jackson with LotR, mostly.
Then you get the BotF & discover quite what a thin plot the film actually had, & how much was padding with big screen shots (remembers International Velvet)

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

For a 10-sentence story, Wild Things has some lovely word sequences. Also, I'm vaguely hopeful that expanding it out from said ten sentences may mess with it less intrinsically than trying to cut down an actual novel to the Hollywood attention span.

[bronchitikat.livejournal.com]

Just wondering, how much of the current attention to surfaces & appearance may be laid at the door of the film & TV industries.

When people read books for entertainment the books tended to concentrate on what people were thinking, & why, something you can't do as will in visual media.

Or is it that when people read books for entertainment it was a middle & upper class pass time - as they were about the only ones to have time available for such things?

Breaking silence to squee

[origamitiger.livejournal.com]

It could be shit but having made 2 Where the Wild things are costumes, I have to go, just have to!

http://www.cjcurrie.com/newphotos/maxandmoshe.jpg

[mac1235.livejournal.com]

I liked the movie Wanted more than the comic because I hated the comic.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I have only even vaguely heard of the existence of the comic, so I don't think it's going to affect my un/enjoyment one way or the other.

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

The trailer for "Wanted" was so bad it put me off seeing it.

[mac1235.livejournal.com]

It was a slow month

[rumint.livejournal.com]

I quite enjoyed Wanted. I hadn't read the comic, and went in with low expectations.
Despite being deeply mad, it was entertaining, and would make a good Unknown Armies or other surrealist campaign setting.

(September is my 30th anniversary as a DM, so excuse me if I evaluate all art for it's roleplaying potential - Venus DiMilo - quest to recover her arms, to awaken the trapped goddess/demon... ;)

[(Anonymous)]

Hrmph. WtWTA doesn't look very promising to me in terms of staying true to the spirit of the book. But I'm willing to wait and see. The book is one of my all-time favourites, so it'll be hard to live up to what I would expect.
everymoment

[khoi-boi.livejournal.com]

I am a WtWTA/Sendak fanboy, and I'm not very enthused by the trailer. It's OK to expand the book, I had no problem with Horton hears a Who, for instance. But 2 things worry me:
1) Max looks like being changed into a sensitiveemosoul (TM) who just can't handle his mummy's new relationship, rather than the little dog-poking monster he is in the book.
2) Explosions? WTF?

Other than that, the Wild Things themselves look well done (flashbacks to Ludo of Labyrinth there for me), but I'm ambivalent.