well, I got so many great comments on that last post that I decided to reply out here.
Firstly, Roody, you should recommend me some W.J. Williams stuff. I’ve never read any, and I’m not sure where I would want to start. Of course, I’ve got like a dozen books on my shelf at home to read (as soon as I finish the two novels I’m in the middle of right now), but I want to add some to the list!
Second, Hollywood can suck it, as far as I’m concerned. ;)
kill bill part deux… was just not for me. I’m probably just not enough of a film buff to have understood (or cared) about how this movie was an homage to anything or anyone. Sure, there were different styles of film (more so in the first one, I felt–I’d have liked to have seen another cartoon/anime part in the second film) but I guess I feel like Tarantino just didn’t take that idea far enough for me to have enjoyed it for that aspect.
Also, I think the second film sucked in comparison to the first one. For instance, I LOVED the action scene with the crazy 88 in the first one, but lets just say the second one didn’t live up to its action-scene expectations for me. I didn’t feel like the first movie was too long, but I DEFINITELY felt that way about the second one. The first one was non-linear, but without being confusing in any way… but during the second one I didn’t always feel like I knew where in the story we were. I’m not going to say any more about what I didn’t like in the second one cause I don’t want to give anything away here… but lets just say that I enjoyed the trailer for Hero (yes, the same one I just bought on DVD) more than I did the movie we were there to see.
Next item on the agenda–categorizing movies by ‘good’ versus ‘worth seeing’. Was kill bill v.2 worth seeing? Yes. Was it good? Definitely not. I guess I just think a lot of campy and/or action intensive movies are worth seeing, but I would never call them good overall. For me, personally, a good movie has to have plot, acting, writing, action, special effects and cinematography that all at least compare in some positive way to movies that do any of those particular traits really well. The movies that just have one or two aspects going for them are usually mediocre at best. But I usually don’t even mind a mediocre movie if it does something really well. Fight scenes, for instance. Kill bill v.1’s fight scenes made the movie worth seeing for me, but it basically had very little other redeeming value in my opinion.
And of course there are infinite other possible categorizations for movies. The imagination is the limit.
First off, I was off in Boston so sorry about the delay. I’d try to find Days of Atonement. I’ve been meaning to re-read that one for a while just to make sure it still holds up over time but I’m pretty sure it does.
Also, he has a sort of funny and intriguing “Crown Jewels” series, the second one being my favorite (I have the third but have yet to read much of it). It’s about this space opera world where certain thieves get permits to steal as long as they follow certain rules that they have to work around. They’re basically celebrities and are always working to outdo eachother and get awarded points for their cunning.
The second book in particular (can’t recall the name offhand but I’m sure it’s mentioned on his webpage) has a great classic movie feel to it. In fact, I lost the book when I lent it to my parents trying to get them to read it.