Edging further towards the end of the night. Chocolate stains on my fingers. DANGER: DIABOLIK on the TV. Life is good….

Nine days out of comission on the blogging front. Not good. Not planned, but not good. I’m gradually sliding back into action on the Novel, and instead of ploughing ahead on sections I haven’t read yet, I’m trying to work on getting the first few chapters into decent shape. I figure it might help to actually have a decent foundation to work on before I start building the upper floors…

More soon. My fingers are aching, and it’s far too late for this kind of stuff…

To follow up yesterday’s lengthy diatribe, here’s a DVD Times review of V for Vendetta that makes even better points about the problems with the movie, and isn’t afraid to admit that aspects of the original are a little politically naive. And that will definitely be all I have to say about the film.

Promise.

One of the reasons I haven’t been blogging much recently is that things are still a little tough at the moment, and I don’t want this to turn into a non-stop moan. That kind of thing might (you never know) get kinda tiresome.

Something that brightened me up was rediscovering the Angry Alien website, and finding that there are even more examples of 30 Second Bunnies Theatre. Go look at it- it’s quite, quite wonderful.

I’ve spent most of the day doing reviews, and listening to the latest Doctor Who audio drama produced by Big Finish productions, which was much better than I expected. I’m trying to get another chunk of work out of the way- tomorrow, I’ve got a screening, and I’m working on plot outlines and character breakdowns. Same for Tuesday. Then, from Wednesday, I’m back in novel-writing mode. Financially speaking, we’re very rocky at the moment- and I’d rather go all out for the next few weeks and get this bastard done, then have to worry about money. We’ve got enough to tread water for a while, and a load of money came in over the last few days. It’s rather hard at the moment, and I need something to smile about, so it’s writing until my fingers fall off. I’ll try and blog, even if it’s just a few incoherent sentences. I’m also trying to rearrange and redesign my website to make putting things up easier. There’s a whole load of Hotdog stuff that needs to go online, simply because I’d like it to go to some use now that I’m not going to get paid for it.

Sunday night is- as we’ve said before- movie night. Two weeks ago, we had The Station Agent, which is a lovely, charming little Indie film- a bit self-consciously ‘indie’ at times, but a great turn from Peter Dinklage. Last week, we went LOTR crazy, and did the Fellowship of the Ring extended edition across Saturday and Sunday night- and then did The Two Towers during the week. Tonight is the first half of Return of the King- and it’s quite fascinating watching them this close together and realising that, yes, these are absolute, stone-cold cinematic classics that people will still be watching in thirty or forty years time. They have their ridiculous, camp moments (there’s a scene between Merry and Pippin in Two Towers which I cannot take seriously, simply because it’s shot exactly like the traditional “romantic scene leading up to a kiss”, and Peter Jackson’s style does have some holes) and yet, they manage to sustain over 9 hours of movie in a genuinely amazing way.

V for Vendetta opened this week- and I wanted to get my thoughts and annoyances down on paper. Most of the American press seems to have liked it- and large proportions of the UK press has gone “Oooh! Controversial! Pretty!”, with only a few people acknowledging it’s got serious problems as a film. There are serious, serious spoilers in the following, because I wanted to talk about the core changes to the story (I’m a big fan of the graphic novel) and how they’ve effectively blunted one of the most interesting aspects of the story.

Anyhow. Here you go. Spoilers abound- you have been warned…

V FOR VENDETTA
(OR, HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND DISLIKE THE WACHOWSKIS)

Politics and action movies make strange bedfellows. As a huge fan of the original comic, the idea of a decent film ever being made out of V FOR VENDETTA seemed fairly unlikely- but the idea of it being made in the current political climate was even unlikelier. The fact that, among politically astute films like SYRIANA and GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK that we’ve got a film- from Joel Silver, no less- that pushes the limits of what you can get away with in a studio film as far as V FOR VENDETTA does is a remarkable, amazing thing. It’s a brave, provocative, and often highly adventurous movie, and as someone who lives in London, it did often feel like a charged, strange and almost dangerous experience.

Doesn’t mean I liked it, though.

As a hardcore Alan Moore fan, of course, I’m going to fall into the “difficult to please” category- and at the preview screening I was at, two late forties blokes who had “comics geeks” written all over them suddenly got up and left after only thirty five minutes. Of course, I don’t know if they were making a stand against the butchering of their favourite comic or if they’d just remembered that they’d left the gas on, but anyone who loves the comic is going to find the movie a mix of the smooth and the very rough. Out of all the Moore creations to make it to the screen, V does get closest to the original text, and whatever it faults, this is a long, long way from the shrieking disaster that was LXG. There are a number of sequences which are, note for note, almost exact- and even where bending has taken place, it’s still surprising how faithful they have tried to be. A lot of the mistakes I was worried they might make turned out to not be there.

Unfortunately, it’s still ended up feeling very similar to FROM HELL, where material that is very weird, very subtle and very English in origin is being handled by Americans who don’t have a clue what it’s like to actually live here. For anyone who watches LOST, it’s rather like the episodes which focus on Charlie’s past- and which, for anyone who lives in the U.K., always seem to consist of creaky accents, clichés and “Lord, luv a duck!” cockernees. Like FROM HELL, any subtleties in the bad guys have been sanded away- the minute you see Tim Piggot Smith as Creedy, he’s wearing the panto villain sneer he’ll wear for the entire movie, and virtually everyone else in the Government seems to be a fat, corpulent grotesque who’s just wandered out Polanski’s version of OLIVER TWIST. They’re villains from the same mould as the Merovingian in the Matrix sequels, as if having someone as a preening, sneering Eurotrash is enough. The fake newscasts that pepper the film are flatly unconvincing (looking more like crappy cable channels than national broadcasters), there’s an entire sequence that proves the Wachowskis are major Benny Hill fans (and no, that’s not a good thing…), and the fact is that having a villain exclaim “Bollocks!” at regular intervals is only going to get you laughed at in the UK.

Spoilers follow, as I’ll try and go into detail about what worked and what didn’t in the changes made from comic to screen- but to wrap up the non-spoiler section, V FOR VENDETTA is both hugely challenging and hugely flawed. The bits that work are fantastic- but, for the most part, they’re where you’ve got Alan Moore to thank rather than the Wachowskis. And however talented they may be, they’re still the men who wrote the Architect speech in MATRIX RELOADED. Consider yourself warned…

MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW:-

Okay, as far as the structural changes go- most of them, I can understand why they were made. V is a very weirdly structured comic, partly due to being completed over a number of years and there being a major gap before the story was completed. It’s also worth stating at this point that the original comic is not perfect in itself- it means a hell of a lot to me, but I’m not approaching this from a “How dare they ruin a MASTERPIECE!!!” The original V is flawed in a number of ways- but it also has much more intelligence, ambiguity and subtlety than the film was able to actually extract.

Subtlety is certainly in short supply in the first sequence, where Evey gets attacked by a gang of operatives from the “Finger”- the heavy mob of the Fascist Government- who seem to be even more Dickensian than the people they work for. In the comic it’s pretty clear that Evey is going to be raped before V rescues her (even more disturbing considering Evey in the comic is much younger) but here, it’s cue for a couple of really dire gags- the kind of “I shall taunt you, little girl!” nonsense that turned up in FROM HELL several times, and doesn’t bear any resemblance to reality. It’s like the Wachowskis went through a few Hammer films, a few Guy Ritchie films, copied out the words that sounded convincing, and just threw them in at random.

Then you’ve got a certain amount of Wachowski action- and what will tentatively be referred to as the “V” speech, the point where the film gets in serious danger of losing its entire audience. Apparently not convinced that the audience might already believe that V is a flamboyant, dangerous and insane individual, they give him one of the worst monologues I’ve heard in a very long time. Inspired by the chapter titles in the original comic, where every title begins in the letter V, it’s a nonsensical spew of drivel that just goes on, and on, and on, and on…. And then just when you think it’s going to stop, it goes on again. At that point, I was seriously depressed- and then, they blew up the Old Bailey, and suddenly the film started to brighten up. A little.

There are a lot of major structural changes- and the biggest change of the lot is the relationship between Evey and V. Both characters have an “arc”, and there’s much more that goes on between them- some of it is interesting, some of it I don’t like, but I know that it’s one of those examples where I’d only have been completely happy if they’d stuck word for word to the comic- and even then, I’d have probably found something to grumble about. Trouble is, it’s less interesting than the comic, and somewhat haphazzard, mainly thanks to the fact that the script has humanised V. He’s much more fey, much quicker to anger, less enigmatic, gets upset ridiculously easily, wears an apron, and- very different from the comic- is actually apologetic about the fact that he puts Evey through days of torture.

I understand why they did it, but it blunts V’s character. The thing that’s fascinating about him in the comic is that he’s utterly mad and quite dangerous to be around- he tortures Evey almost to the point of insanity, and is totally unapologetic about it. His sinister sense of humour, his love of vaudeville, and- most notably- his blackly comic modes of execution for the people who “made” him are almost totally absent from the movie. (There’s also an utterly bizarre reference to him having “no eyes” and having been mutated by the medical experiments done to him- which turns him into a convenient superman, rather than, as in the comic, just someone whose mind has broken in very distinctive and terrifying way). There’s not quite the sense of fairy tale weirdness about V- he’s just a looney in a mask for too much of the time, and it’s a shame to see him done that way. Hugo Weaving does an excellent job with the voice, but it’s in the quietest moments (such as the scene where he appears in the bedroom of Delia Surridge- one of the best in the movie, and very close to the comic) that he really nails it. There’s too much bombast from V, too much snickering, and not enough exploration of the fact that a bloke in a mask can be a very, very scary thing when done right.

Natalie Portman as Evey has her own fair share of problems- the main one being a seriously creaky English accent that leaves her sounding stoned at various intervals. She’s an incredibly variable actress- sometimes she’s brilliant, and sometimes she’s stilted as hell, and this performance rides between these two extremes. She has some extremely good moments, but it’s far from being her strongest work, and the relationship between her and V gets a little too soapy at times to be entirely believable.

Okay- I could go into more detail, about how the sequences involving Prothero and Bishop Lilliman are overplayed and lacking the sheer level of creepiness that the comic managed, or how casting John Hurt as the Big Brother-style leader might be a nice nod to the 1984 movie, but just results in a one-note performance of deafening shoutiness. But what I really want to talk about is the serious changes to the backstory of the original comic, and the way the film has thrown out much of the ambiguity.

Basically, a large section of the film is driven by a conspiracy connected to V’s background, and the medical emperiments that made him what he is. In the comic, the place where this happens- Larkhill Resettlment Camp- is just one of many “concentration camps” set up to dispose of undesirables. They’re the dirty little secret that everybody knows about, but nobody wants to actually admit to. In the movie, Larkhill is actually the top secret front for experimentation into bioweapons and viruses which are then used to set off a national disaster, and destabilise the country so that the Fascist organisation “Norsefire” can seize control. Now, this is an interesting idea, and it does give the whole story a “mystery thriller” aspect which, admittedly, works an awful lot better than the hackneyed whodunit that was welded onto FROM HELL.

The trouble is, it blurs and confuses one of the comic’s main themes- the idea that Fascism as an idea can “just happen”, and that the people who are being ruled by the Norsefire government are just as to blame for the situation. In the comic, V is spurring them into action, getting them to take control of their own destiny- but even he admits that the choice is up to them, whether they form the new state of leaderless Anarchy that he dreams of, or if they just go for replacements for Norsefire.

The idea of manufacturing chaos via a fake terrorist attack is very relevant- but it doesn’t need a group of evil supergeniuses manufacturing a disaster for fascism to exist. Suddenly, the “ordinary people” in the movie, the 90% of the population who voted Norsefire into power are absolved of any blame. They’re not sheep, blindly following the pack- they’re poor unfortunate common folk (mainly depicted as cliches that wore out their welcome in the Seventies- I was amazed to not see any flat caps or whippets) who have been lied to and manipulated by shamelessly evil men who don’t have a decent bone in their body.

We’re supposed to give out rousing cheers when chief bad guys Sutler and Creedy are killed- but what happens when the flames from Parliament have died down? The movie V is very keen to tear down the old order, but doesn’t seem to have a clue as to what should replace it- no surprise that the comic version’s joyful worship of Anarchy didn’t make the grade in a studio picture, but the fact that he’s not offering the people anything other than a funky fireworks show takes the heart and soul out of the original story. We’ve ended up with a version of V that has lots of parallels with today’s political situation, but which has been shorn of a lot of the more ambiguous ideas that made the original so interesting, and so universal. It’s a movie that’s too busy telling you what to think to let you actually draw your own conclusions.

Finally, on a few technical notes, while the rumours that the Wachowskis directed several sequences may be unconfirmed, it’s very easy to believe. The sequences where the film comes stylistically alive are often, unfortunately, shamelessly Matrix-esque- even down to an exact replica of the “Neo walks out of the revolving door” shot from the original MATRIX. There’s a raindrop p-o-v shot that’s shamelessly over the top, and some seriously overdone stuff at the climax involving flashing blades and tumbling knives that really should have been left out. It’s weird, because away from these sequences, and the admittedly hugely powerful section where Evey is tortured, it’s a flat, colourless film that smacks of a 1st AD making his debut and not having anything resembling a vision for the film. So many of the dialogue sequences are shot in a dreary, unimaginative manner, lacking any kind of energy and style, and the score from Dario Marianeli is appalling, frequently out of place and slathered over almost every single second of the movie. I ended up praying for the orchestral dirge to end, and as a result the moments when we got major explosions accompanied by the 1812 overture were doubly welcome.

If you’ve never read V FOR VENDETTA- then you will probably enjoy the film. Some of the above may bug you, but it possibly won’t. Trouble is, if you haven’t read V FOR VENDETTA you really should, as there’s very little the movie does that the comic doesn’t do much, much better. It’s a fascinating and truly strange addition to the world of comic book movies- but it was a cinematic experience that I largely found rather frustrating and depressing, and one that I’m not going to be in a rush to repeat anytime soon.

**********

Ah. Feel a bit better having gotten that off my chest…

An A4 envelope went in the post today, with the first copy of my non-fiction book proposal. This thing didn’t even exist two weeks ago, and now it’s on its way to an editorial director. Okay, it probably won’t get any further, but the last time I felt like this was 1997, when I took a ridiculous gamble on an idea that I knew couldn’t possibly work, and then suddenly found myself in meetings at production companies feeling spectacularly out of my depth. I haven’t actually taken these kind of chances in a very, very long time, and I think there’s a small chance that they might actually work. I’m making slow progress on the novel, as well- at the moment, I’m trusting to my instincts, and just trying to get the spine of the book down so that I can stop worrying about the basic characterisations and start building the world around them. Some might think that it would be wise to have everything in my head first and not just a vague idea of where I’m going- but I’d far rather build as I go. And, at heart, this is for me anyway. Things might change spectacularly in a few months anyhow- life is always on a razor’s edge, I’m just feeling it a bit more than usual.

I’ve also got to find better ways of dealing with negativity and anger. George and I had what could technically be referred to as a major upset on Monday, and although there were reasons why it happenned… it also made me realise exactly how much I care about her, and how much I want this to work. The trouble is, we’re still getting used to the dynamics of living together, and finding ways of dealing with negative feelings without taking it out on everyone within range is a difficult, tricky thing. I have no idea what the future holds, but I want to try and handle it with a grin, a wink, and a hey nonny nonny.

Next week really needs to be a writing week. I want to try and get myself into a rhythmn- while I didn’t really manage anything on Sunday (I had a screening, and was concentrating on the book proposal), Monday ended up going quite well, and I hit the right level of energy. I want to do that again, and I want to do some new stuff for Division X as well- I’ve been told that I should think about sending out some of the stories up there- which feels weird. I don’t even know what they are, and I like not knowing what they are. I think, for the moment, that I should not worry, relax, and try and write some more weird shit. Might be good for me.

Plans change- it’s a terribly important thing to remember. Today was supposed to be fairly heavy work, but I got to midday, realised I hadn’t slept well, and that I was aiming to do some serious writing tomorrow- and decided to stop. Instead, I did some cleaning in the bathroom- and while sometimes, I turn cleaning into the kind of thing my Mum used to do, sublimating annoyances and upsets into furious polishing and scrubbing, this afternoon was calm, relaxed, and exactly what I needed. I feel curiously elated by it, and ready to hopefully take on the next few days with a wink and a grin. I have the sneaking suspicion that I’m going to need it.

The novel keeps getting bigger in my head. It’s kind of scary, but I’m trying my best not to be too intimidated by the whole thing, and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it once again. Part of me is slightly annoyed that the week is going to be broken up by three days of subbing- but the rest of me is viewing this quite sensible as an A++ good thing to happen.

Past the middle of the week, and I’ve been asked to do three days of subbing next week. It’s great news, and it means that we’ll be financially doing a little better. I’ve also, somewhat unexpectedly, revived a book idea that I had a while back- something non fiction, and film related. It’s all going well so far. I guess I’ll just have to see exactly how it goes. I do feel a hell of a lot more creative at the moment, though- not being able to spend money certainly focuses your mind like nothing on earth, and I’m hoping that from Saturday onwards, I’ll be back in the swing of things writing wise. I want to get this novel done. I seriously, seriously want to get this novel done.

Also trying to not get seriously scared over the US Government’s “Let’s find a new ass to kick” attitude towards Iran, as they seem to be going out of their way to play the part of arrogant power-mongering bullies. Yes, there’s a problem there- yes, something needs to be done, but maybe it’s a slower, diplomatic and democratic process, rather than imposing sanctions, pissing everybody in the country off, and adding to the pile of people in the Middle East who already view America as the enemy. There’s a very interesting comment on this subject on the Guardian website here, which puts across a number of sensible, rational solutions to the problem. Of course, it’s pretty unlikely that anyone is likely to listen, but at least people are trying…

Blimey. I think that’s the most political I’ve ever been on this blog. I’ll try not to make it a habit.

Proving how spectacularly behind the times I am, it’s taken me a little while to find these wonderful parodies of Brokeback Mountain, which basically take the principle of spoof trailers one step further, by finding gay love stories in some obvious (and some not so obvious) places.

Most of these are on IFilm- so, if you haven’t seen these yet, brace yourself for:

Brokeback To The Future

Star Wars: The Empire Brokeback

Top Gun 2: Brokeback Squadron

Brokeback Heat

Gosh. I just got mentioned on Neil Gaiman’s blog- having met him a while back at the Anansi Boys launch, I thought I’d send through the link to the Mirrormask review I did for Channel4.Com via his website. I sent it through a while back, and nothing happenned, so I figured it had probably just gone the way that all e-mails do when they’re buried under a thousand other e-mails.

Not so. And click here for the brief (but worryingly accurate) proof:

I’m a writer.

Gulp.

I’ve actually managed to generate a manuscript that’s two hundred pages of single space text (so proper, double-spaced manuscript, I’m getting on for 400) and this is what I want to do. I’ve also been wrestling with a major bout of depression since I stopped writing. Trouble is, I’m monumentally uninspired by film journalism at the moment, but I need to be earning a little more. I know that there are small, annoying things I need to do in order to keep myself going and keep things afloat. Things have been tough financially before- but they’ve never been tough while someone else has been involved. I feel terribly responsible and that I need to find a way of looking after George and helping out more- and yet, I think I know for certain that the only way I can do that is by writing. Lots, and lots of writing.

We’ve got another party coming up, and I really need to send out some invites. The last few days have been rather up and down mood-wise, and I haven’t been sleeping right- but I’m hoping that things will get better soon. All this is making me realise exactly how important George is to me, and how much i care about her. It’s also making me realise that the stuff I’m writing is very strange, very energetic, and might have the smallest chance of working.

Saw V FOR VENDETTA on Monday- and, let’s just say, it wasn’t the most entertaining two hours of my life. As a big fan of the comic, I was expecting to be disappointed- and it’s not as bad as either FROM HELL or LXG, but it’s still heavily flawed. For shame!

Stuff to do tomorrow. Have to knuckle down, and get myself out of this rut!

More soon…