Video Essay Roundup

Compiled by Carl Slaughter: That video essay contrasting Thanos in the comics with Thanos in the movies veered off into a contrast between Iron Man and Captain America.  Iron Man is a rationalist, trying to outmaneuver Thanos; Captain America is a romanticist, trying to overwhelm Thanos with raw power and courage; just as comic book Thano is a romanticist, trying to impress the woman he’s wooing, and movie Thanos is a rationalist, trying to solve an overpopulation problem.

Dave Cullen has some good insight into the betrayal of Star Trek main characters in J.J. Abrams films.  Abrams portrays Kirk as debonair, promiscuous, and crafty.  So I thought he nailed that character.  But Abrams also portrays Kirk as reckless and full of self-doubt.  Such a portrayal betrays the Kirk character as a natural-born leader.  Abrams portrays Spock as stoic, logical, and stern.  So, again, I though he nailed the character.  But Abrams also portrays Spock as given to emotional and violent outbursts.  The Roddenberry Spock struggles to control his human side.  The Abrams Spock is borderline psychotic.  The Roddenberry Spock makes an effort to understand people whose actions he disproves of.  The Abrams Spock just reacts to people.

Takes this reviewer a while to get around to it, but he finally points out that the sequels shift from exploration of dinos to hunt/exploit dinos.  Also, interesting trivia, the author of the novel sold the rights to the unfinished manuscript to the studio for 7 digits on Spielberg’s endorsement.

One thought on “Video Essay Roundup

  1. @tThe Star Trek critique. Lol! At least he did’n’t say it ruined his childhood. The notion that the writers ‘misunderstood the character’ or ‘vandalized it’ rather than decided to change it a little is rather naive. As for framing, I personally I loved the way the Enterprise was shot in the reboot movie. Oh, and once he starts talking about ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’ males, he loses all credibility so far as I’m concerned.

Comments are closed.