Everything Is Nice

Beating the nice nice nice thing to death (with fluffy pillows)

This Film’s Crap, Let’s Slash The Seats

with 5 comments

M John Harrison lists some interesting science fiction. Rather brilliantly he adds:

Some of these picks come with a caveat: I don’t much like either the metaphysics or the outcome of Flatliners, for instance, but I think the basic idea–killing yourself for fun–is so sound it makes up for a lot. To avoid revisionary items like “the first 20 minutes of Stargate but the rest is such shite”, I curbed this tendency.

Presumably something similar applies to Event Horizon. I should have bloody asked Harrison to contribute to the BSFA pamphlet I am putting together about science fiction writers on science fiction film . Somehow he slipped my mind.

Harrison also sneakily has Under The Skin by Michael Faber on this and his fantasy list. I must get round to reading both it and The Weight Of Numbers by Simon Ings.

Written by Martin

2 May 2009 at 21:03

Posted in books, films, sf

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5 Responses

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  1. >>Presumably something similar applies to Event Horizon.

    Quite right, Martin. (It applies to some of the novels too…)

    –Mike

    uzwi

    2 May 2009 at 21:08

  2. There are certain turns of critical phrase that are over-used. “I really liked the first x minutes but then it fell apart” is one of them, largely because, as the big man points out, really good bits do make up for a fair amount of shite.

    Exhibit A : The opening Montage of Watchmen.

    Evidently the new Wolverine tries to pull a very similar trick.

    I often wonder about the creative psychology behind weirdly superior sections of a film. for example, the opening bit of Stargate is pretty good (tense and a blend of the alien with the familiar). Was that bit written last then or did someone have that really strong idea and then fail to build a film around it?

    Another good example was that Denzell Washington film where they could see into the past. Whole film was built around the idea of a car chase with a 48-hour time lag.

    Jonathan M

    2 May 2009 at 22:41

  3. I must get round to reading both it and The Weight Of Numbers

    Yes, yes you must.

    Niall

    3 May 2009 at 08:57

  4. Under the Skin is rubbish.

    Ian Sales

    3 May 2009 at 10:57

  5. At the risk of starting a debate that would spoil our host, I found Under the Skin surprising, terrifying, and superbly written.

    Graham Sleight

    3 May 2009 at 17:48


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