I can sense a change in the air. I already know what it is since I'm writing this from tomorrow, but even then, something felt different when I woke up this Sunday morning. Maybe it's because I watched my horror movie early for once, or maybe it's because the Saints won by an overwhelming margin over the Packers, or maybe it's because the parking lot at church is finally done--whatever the case, it signaled a clear change of direction in my life.
Speaking of horror, I watched V/H/S 2, which is clearly the best installment in the series--but that isn't saying much. A lot of people seem high on Gareth Evans' short and the one with the zombies in the woods, but since I'm tired of zombies lately, I like the first short the best even though most thought it was mediocre. I'm a sucker for cheap scares, and when it comes to the supernatural, nothing gets me like peeking through a doorway in first-person only to have a face pop up out of nowhere. It loses steam in the end like all ghost stories but at least the lead up was fun.
When you watch a lot of horror, you notice a lot of overlap and influences. The genre is notorious for recycling, so I couldn't help but notice the trend of "dejawing." In the Orphanage, old lady is missing a jaw; in V/H/S 2, the guy's missing a jaw; even in Hannibal, dead guy is missing a jaw. I'd mention Braindead too, but Braindead has everything so it doesn't count. Next to eye gouging, a dejawing is probably the most horrific example of facial disfigurement--aside from a complete cranial explosion anyways. It's unsettling to see a tongue hang out where a jaw should be, but missing any part of the body is cause for concern.
For the rest of the day, I watched Gotham up to the current episode. It's got an interesting parallel structure where Gordon's rise in the ranks is mirrored by Penguin's similar trajectory in the underworld. They both have to defer to the powers that be until their time comes to shine.
The set design has remained consistent and the city feels more like Gotham than it does in The Dark Knight where it might as well be called Chicago. I'm not too fond of Jada Pinkett Smith or Detective Angel Batista (from Dexter) as an Italian mob boss, but I give a lot of credit to the guy who plays Penguin since he's the perfect scumbag.
Jim Gordon is solid but nothing special. That's typically what happens when you play a straight-laced guy. Alfred is played interestingly, perhaps more like his counterpart in Earth One than the traditionally wry sarcastic butler we've come to appreciate. He's a bit abrasive, but a lot nicer than the special ops version of Alfred in the aforementioned Earth One.
As the series goes on, the plot has gotten more and more "cartoony," so to speak. The villains are becoming more colorful and I'm surprised by the level of violence on display. You got dudes getting their eyes poked out by metal spikes and contract killers running around burning councilmen in open oil drums. The onslaught of corruption and mayhem sort of reminds me of The Shield, but with flavor.
Watching all this Gotham got me curious about the comics. I read Batman: Year One, The Court of Owls, and Earth One. Earth One is a reboot of the series that hasn't had a followup since it was released in 2012. Year One, of course, is the definitive origin story. I had watched the cartoon movie that's based on Year One so I was already familiar with the plot. The movie featured Ben McKenzie (the guy who plays Gordon in Gotham) as Bruce Wayne, and Bryan Cranston lent his voice talents as Gordon. Funny how that works out. In Year One, Gordon is a real badass.
After exhausting the Batman issues, I felt like reading some more comics and put a few more Spider-Man issues under my belt. I like Batman as much as the next guy, but the web crawler will always be my favorite superhero.
I guess I relate more than a down on his luck Peter Parker than a billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne.
/eventlog
