A Bloody Big Ship
Oct. 26th, 2015 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hilsSo I just got back from seeing SPECTRE and I'm going to flail about that in a minute but first let me flail about something else.
So a couple of weeks ago there was a Hannibal convention here in the UK. I missed it because I was in the US at Wincon but everyone had a great time and I had loads of tweets from friends saying they wished I was there (<333). Shortly afterwards it was announced they were doing another one so of course I had to go. Tickets went on sale today and because I don't get paid until Wed I was going to wait until then. My friend Bill offered to get my ticket for me and I could pay him for it on Wed. Good thing he offered because from what I understand they sold out in about 10 mins.
EEEEEEE! Hannibal con! So now I have three conventions on my calendar for next year. Nine Worlds in August, WriterConUK in Sept (I think), and Red Dragon in October.
YAY!
So now let me flail about SPECTRE
I'm going to be upfront and say that while I have seen every James Bond film multiple times I have never been a particularly big fan once I was old enough to realise how misogynistic they are. Mostly I just have to ignore the gross parts and focus on the daft action scenes.
Even my faves (Goldeneye and Skyfall) have their gross moments. What makes those two stand out is that they got me reading fic. Bond/Trevelyan for Goldeneye and Bond/Q for Skyfall. It lessens the pain a bit.
SPECTRE is very much in the same vein as those movies. Lots of it is fun, there's some great shippy moments, but there's also some really gross bits. I had to actually look away when Bond attempts to seduce Monica Belucci who is so scared for her life she is actually shedding tears. And to make it worse the 'romance' scene ends with him pinning her wrists above her head. It's awful.
But there are loads of great Bond/Q moments. I feel like Sam Mendes read all the best Bond/Q fics and picked up on the dynamics from that. There's Bond/Q cuteness, Q and Moneypenny working together to help Bond, M getting reluctantly dragged into their shenanigans. All key aspects to the best Bond/Q fics. Q HAS CATS AND IT IS CANON NOW! Q RESTORING BOND'S ASTON MARTIN IS ALSO CANON \o/ <3
Moneypenny was awesome even despite the fact that this movie, like all the other Bond movies, fails the Bechdel test. She was loyal, competent, didn't take any of Bond's shit, has her own life outside of Bond's world. It was great! Bond looks so put out when he realises she has a boyfriend. Oh, look, a woman who does not consider you to be the centre of the universe!
And, of course the villain was Blofeld. In a movie called SPECTRE it was hardly not going to be him. I doubt anyone was surprised by the reveal.
I'll be interested to see where they go from here. I'm sure they're not done with the franchise but having Bond choose life, so to speak, at the end by leaving with Madeleine at the end was an interesting choice. Nicely shot btw with M on one side of the bridge and Madeleine on the other and making Bond choose which way to go.
So, we'll see what happens. I enjoyed it. I'd put it about level with Skyfall in terms of enjoyment I think, even with the gross misogyny.
Anyway, that's just my initial flailing. I'm sure I'll think of more. In the meantime I'm going to read all my old fave 00Q fics :D
So a couple of weeks ago there was a Hannibal convention here in the UK. I missed it because I was in the US at Wincon but everyone had a great time and I had loads of tweets from friends saying they wished I was there (<333). Shortly afterwards it was announced they were doing another one so of course I had to go. Tickets went on sale today and because I don't get paid until Wed I was going to wait until then. My friend Bill offered to get my ticket for me and I could pay him for it on Wed. Good thing he offered because from what I understand they sold out in about 10 mins.
EEEEEEE! Hannibal con! So now I have three conventions on my calendar for next year. Nine Worlds in August, WriterConUK in Sept (I think), and Red Dragon in October.
YAY!
So now let me flail about SPECTRE
I'm going to be upfront and say that while I have seen every James Bond film multiple times I have never been a particularly big fan once I was old enough to realise how misogynistic they are. Mostly I just have to ignore the gross parts and focus on the daft action scenes.
Even my faves (Goldeneye and Skyfall) have their gross moments. What makes those two stand out is that they got me reading fic. Bond/Trevelyan for Goldeneye and Bond/Q for Skyfall. It lessens the pain a bit.
SPECTRE is very much in the same vein as those movies. Lots of it is fun, there's some great shippy moments, but there's also some really gross bits. I had to actually look away when Bond attempts to seduce Monica Belucci who is so scared for her life she is actually shedding tears. And to make it worse the 'romance' scene ends with him pinning her wrists above her head. It's awful.
But there are loads of great Bond/Q moments. I feel like Sam Mendes read all the best Bond/Q fics and picked up on the dynamics from that. There's Bond/Q cuteness, Q and Moneypenny working together to help Bond, M getting reluctantly dragged into their shenanigans. All key aspects to the best Bond/Q fics. Q HAS CATS AND IT IS CANON NOW! Q RESTORING BOND'S ASTON MARTIN IS ALSO CANON \o/ <3
Moneypenny was awesome even despite the fact that this movie, like all the other Bond movies, fails the Bechdel test. She was loyal, competent, didn't take any of Bond's shit, has her own life outside of Bond's world. It was great! Bond looks so put out when he realises she has a boyfriend. Oh, look, a woman who does not consider you to be the centre of the universe!
And, of course the villain was Blofeld. In a movie called SPECTRE it was hardly not going to be him. I doubt anyone was surprised by the reveal.
I'll be interested to see where they go from here. I'm sure they're not done with the franchise but having Bond choose life, so to speak, at the end by leaving with Madeleine at the end was an interesting choice. Nicely shot btw with M on one side of the bridge and Madeleine on the other and making Bond choose which way to go.
So, we'll see what happens. I enjoyed it. I'd put it about level with Skyfall in terms of enjoyment I think, even with the gross misogyny.
Anyway, that's just my initial flailing. I'm sure I'll think of more. In the meantime I'm going to read all my old fave 00Q fics :D
no subject
Date: 2015-10-27 09:08 pm (UTC)I'm totally not in the loop with James Bond. I think it's because I grew up with Pierce Brosnan as Bond and I so, so, so can't stand the guy. Skyfall was actually the first Bond movie I went to see in a theater when it came out and it was a lot of fun. Admittedly, it was partly because we went to a First Class theater and sat in fancy leather seats with waiters serving us cocktails, haha. But I also really liked the movie and I've been thinking I should check out the old ones, especially with Sean Connery. However, it was good to hear about Spectre from your POV. I'll probably go see it and I know my impression will be less detailed because I know so little but I like reading about things like that from people like you who know more about it and then noticing little details I wouldn't have picked up on otherwise.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-28 04:04 am (UTC)SPECTRE. AHHH.
I'm seeing it on Thursday night. So damn excited!! =] =]
It's supposed to be the best Bond film out yet.
no subject
Date: 2015-11-05 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-11-06 08:39 am (UTC)