Veronica wins, hands down.

[mrissa]

Saw "X-Men 3" yesterday afternoon. BLEH. Some of the little things were so stupid as to be insulting (well, so were some of the big things). For example, I would never have remembered where, exactly, Xavier's school was supposed to be. But they made absolutely sure to linger on the address plate on the gates, which made absolutely sure to list the state -- so there's a point when you ask yourself, "Wait. How did that person get to this climactic location in the specified time frame?" You wouldn't have had to ask that otherwise. They went out of their way to make it a problem. Extra stupidity, just for fun!

On the other hand, timprov and I are watching Season 1 Veronica Mars on DVD for the first time*, and it's a joy, because if you poke it with your brain, it pokes back rather than falling apart. The big plotty things, obviously, but little stupid things, too -- like Veronica knowing how to do a million things with her hair to make herself look different. You can look at that and think, "Of course a girl who was best friends with someone like Lilly Kane would know that kind of thing." The characterization fits. The places where it doesn't make sense are places where people don't make sense -- why is a basically decent, if boring and spoiled and pouty, kid like Duncan Kane friends with a waste of oxygen like Logan Eccles? Well, there were always guys like that in high school, "popular" kids where one was pretty decent, if willing to let his friend go too far, and the other was a total shit. (Girls, too, but the dynamic is different.) And then, as if that wasn't enough, they know how to humanize the waste of space while still leaving him a waste of space.

This is why I get annoyed when people say, "It's only a movie/TV show." Certainly it is; it's not a cure for cancer or an end to poverty or etc. etc. etc. But movies and TV shows are art forms, too, and they can do things well when they bother. And there's really no point to insulting entire art forms just to justify one example that didn't do very well.

*So please do not post plot spoilers in the comments to this post. This is a very plotty show. For the most part, I don't mind spoilers much, but this time I really want to see how they feed the information out over the different installments. I can skip posts in other people's journals, whether or not they use cut-tags. But please leave plot points out of mine.

Comments

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Regarding location, dtaylor pointed out that the school was on the East coast originally. So, the identical school is now elsewhere? Or maybe they have satellite locations and got a cheap rate from the builders for making them all exactly the same? Dunno.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The sign they showed in close up twice said it was in NY.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Then yeah, the travel time makes even less sense. I probably won't even see it, the first one pretty much satisfied my need to see X-Men on film.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I liked the first one. But I haven't read any of the comics. timprov was not sure whether I should get them from the library or not; anyone reading this should feel free to weigh in, keeping in mind that I am a largely non-visual person, so comics are not a good medium for me in general.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Novels! Oh goodness, off I go to Amazon and/or the library.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Also, my current "hearting" is mostly taking the form of demanding, "Where is Weevil? More Weevil!"

Veronica and Keith and Wallace are good, though. And I like that Wallace's love interest just kind of automatically became friends with Veronica instead of getting bitchy about Wallace's friendship with her. I like seeing opposite-sex friendships on TV.

Sometimes this show is good enough that I wiggle, though. Like Roo doing his food dance. Only a TV dance. Usually a characterization dance.

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

Such a good show for characterization.

And yeah, Weevil is teh awesome. Not that most of the characters aren't...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Even the ones I hate, I love hating.

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

I'll be interested in hearing what you think of the characters and the plot of Veronica Mars after you've finished with the DVDs. I'm going to be writing about it in my thesis, and I think that most of the bits of the first season which connect up with each other are absolutely beautifully handled.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I will be sure to let you know when we're done with season 1, then.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

To make sure I avoid spoilers of the show that ate my brain a while back... how far along are you with Veronica Mars?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We just finished the fifth episode of season one.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

You have a long way to go and a lot of surprises to come.

What I liked best about the show was the ending. It all comes together nicely and completes a story arc instead of inserting a cliff hanger to lead to Season 2.

[genevra.livejournal.com]

Oooo... I recently discovered Veronica Mars too! Yes, it does suck you in with wonderful plot, slowly unfolding along the way. I just finished disc 5 of season 1, and am very anxiously awaiting the next one from Netflix.

Enjoy it, and do let us know your thoughts along the way!

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

I'll be fascinated to see how or if your opinion of certain Veronica characters changes as you work your way through the show.

:)

Been watching it since it first appeared on UPN. Good writing there.

[laurel]

I keep debating with myself whether to go see the X-Men movie. I liked the others (though they are just fluff, really, but kinda fun fluff). My Dad says he liked it, I've seen really mixed reviews on my f-list with most being negative. Of course I haven't looked at those in any depth so as to avoid spoilers. Kevin and I haven't seen any movie in a theater in months and months, so it may fall a ways down the list.

As for Veronica Mars, I'm still ridiculously pleased with myself for picking it as a "must see" and encouraging my readers to watch it way back before it premiered (I got a review copy of the pilot). It debuted on the same night as Lost which I also liked, but I was one of the few TV reviewers who actually thought Veronica Mars was the better show (and I think after two seasons, it still is. Not that this is a competition, I like both in different ways). Most other TV columns and sites chose to feature Lost, I chose Veronica-- though I did link to the TeeVee take on Lost which was a rave. It's rare I'll go out on a limb for a show based on just a pilot.

Anyway. Part of my confidence stemmed from having seen Rob Thomas' previous show Cupid (if you ever want to check it out, I've got copies of all the episodes, though the video quality isn't the best). But first you get to enjoy seasons 1 & 2 and that's cool.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I liked the other X-Men movies, too. We have the DVDs. I really didn't like this one. It contained several blatant assaults to logic, among other things. Some people are saying that it's anti-woman, but the men are all total jackasses as well. All of them. Seriously. Maybe one exception, and that because he has almost no dialog. There is no character in this movie of any sex or color or moral/political alignment or fashion sensibility who did not deserve a swift kick in the pants. Even characters I've liked before.

After the first two episodes of VM, I was not willing to say that I was going to watch season 2, just that I was going to finish watching season 1. Now I'm willing to commit to season 2 for sure.

[the-flea-king.livejournal.com]

It's becoming a hobby of mine to read about people discovering season one, and watching their opinions evolve over the course of the show. Mars, Season 1 is probably one of the best seasons of televsioin anywhere, and it's very illuminating to read folks's reactions over time to it.