briarwood: AI avatar of me as a witch (V4Vendetta)
Morgan Briarwood ([personal profile] briarwood) wrote2007-08-20 01:01 pm

Movies and writing rambles

I saw Surfs Up on Saturday in a cinema full of amazingly quiet children. It's a nice film. Nice is the right word. It's not particularly innovative, nor particularly witty but it does tell a complete story and it's a diverting tale. I generally avoid kids films but the mock-documentary style of this one intrigued me enough to go see it. Blair-Witch-style camera work in a CG-animated movie? It's not overdone and actually, I really enjoyed the "interviews" with various characters.

Plus - surfing penguins! How can you lose? LOL!

Last week's movie was Waitress and that was...well, a tad disappointing. Good script, good story, fantastic lead actress (Keri Russell), and I did love the ending. I can't tell you why, 'cause that would be a spoiler, but it's the same reason I adore Halle Berry's Catwoman...not that the two films have much in common.

But the male romantic lead was Nathan Fillion and, hell, I know he can do better than this. There was very little chemistry between him and Keri and he darn-near sleepwalked through some scenes.

Like most films marketed as "romantic comedy" I was left wondering which parts were supposed to be funny, but that's probably just me. I recommend it for the story, but maybe not if you're a Nathan fan.

(BTW, I go to the movies just about every weekend - would you guys want to read my reviews on a regular basis? I can make more of an effort if it's something my friends would like to read.)

As for the rest of my weekend...

I am really regretting posting my latest SPN story as a WIP.

I have a rule: until I know how the story is going to end, I don't post anything. I don't even talk about it.

In the case of STB, I knew the ending a few days after Asylum con: inspiration hit while I was at Pizza Hut with [livejournal.com profile] garretsuze61 and I scrawled it down on the back of...no, it wasn't a paper napkin, but one of those little "extra" leaflet-type-menus they put on all the tables. So I was pretty confident, going in, as I always am, that I'd be okay to post. I'm not.

It's not that there's anything specific wrong with what I've posted, but I'm really not happy with this story. I'm not saying I won't finish it. I will. But when I finish a fic I always go back and re-edit. Usually, I don't make huge changes, just tighten up the prose, fill in plot holes and suchlike. In this case, I have a feeling I'm going to run into some big revisions.

Part of the problem is I'm most comfortable writing in pairings. STB is a threesome: not in the sexual sense, but in the sense that I have to give all three characters equal time. You know that saying "three's a crowd"? It really is. If I hadn't already posted three parts, I'd go back and change the beginning to kill Dean off, so I can tell the Sam/John story without him getting in my way. I did consider that when I started writing, but I thought it was the wrong way to begin. I can't do that now: it would change the story way too much. Dean is a wildcard; I can't predict what he's gonna do next in this story and it messes up my ability to plan ahead. He can't affect the ending: that's there, safe on my Pizza Hut leaflet, but he's changing how I'm gonna get there.

And each time I get an unexpected twist, I see places in the earlier parts where I should have laid groundwork, or done something differently.

I suppose if I hadn't already started posting, this might end up in my production hell folder. Starting to post is the closest thing I have to a guarantee that I'll finish the story. But I'm really wishing I hadn't.
ext_16267: (Default)

[identity profile] slipperieslope.livejournal.com 2007-08-22 06:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I manage a small library and I rec books easily with years if experience. And I love and collect all kinds of music so recommending CDs/artists - no problem.

But movies...

My tastes run to b/w classics and I just enjoy so few contemporary (2000+) movies. Plus I am way highly critical of comedy, especially and have not really found a funny movie since "Young Frankenstein" - I have to roar all the way through or forget it.

I have seen every movie on the AFI top one hundred but my library system acquires all of the current movies and so few excite me - the last exciting movie I saw was "Memento"... so I like having other people's insights to fall back on to help me along.

So much of library service is getting people to leave the building with something they at least think they want...

So thanks ; )