lemonbalmgirl: (yes we've got a video!)
Knowlingly watching the US film version right after watching the source material pretty much guaranteed that I'd dislike the film version, but I kind of knew that.

Obviously the film felt very truncated compared to the series and a lot of characters were removed from the story. In some ways that was a good thing, since you can only do so much in two hours, but it also made some of the remaining characters seem like miracle workers for accomplishing as much as they did. (And a few of the characters that were left in this version still ended up feeling like they were just taking up space and not accomplishing much?)

I was supremely happy that 1) they axed the romance subplot, and 2) that they didn't shoehorn in a new romance subplot between Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams.

I also read a little background on the production of the film and I think I would have liked it more if the original actors had stayed on board (Brad Pitt as Cal & Edward Norton as Stephen). I think that also would have helped with the perceived ages of certain characters (Ben Affleck, 37, married to college sweetie, Robin Wright, 43, both of whom went to college with Russell Crowe, 45 - I had trouble ignoring how young Affleck was compared to the other characters considering what their relationships were supposed to be. He just *looked* too damn young!)
lemonbalmgirl: (star lady)
I've been rewatching "State of Play" (2003 BBC series), which I haven't seen since before the 2009 US film remake came out - I'm pretty sure annoyance with the remake is why I heard about the show in the first place.

I'd forgotten a lot of the smaller plot points and just how many familiar faces are in it. I forgot how annoyed I become at John Simm's character, and that David Morrissey's character isn't as conniving as I expect. I wish Rory McCann's character had more screen time, along with Philip Glenister's. And I basically love Bill Nighy in everything ever.

I've got one more episode to watch, and I can't quite remember how everything wraps up.

I'll probably look for some fic later tonight...

EDIT: Finished the last episode. David Morrissey's character was hiding more than I remembered. As I said earlier, there were a lot of finer plot points that I'd forgotten, but overall I still really like the show and I'll probably watch it again in a few years.

I'm going to watch the film version tomorrow, partially because I want to see how they've updated the technology used in the plot. The technology, what's used now vs. in 2003, was definitely a subject that kept crossing my mind while I was watching.

Profile

lemonbalmgirl: (Default)
lemonbalmgirl

September 2017

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
101112 13141516
17181920212223
24252627282930

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios