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I wish I'd never listened to Joss's commentary.
On my list of things I never thought I'd ever have to do, which I wish were still on my list of things I've never done: Pull dental floss out of my cat's butt. Yeah, seriously, I don't know. Why would he pull that out of the trash and eat it? What the hell is wrong with him?! It was just as disgusting as it sounds.
I have now watched The Avengers with Joss's commentary. I usually don't like watching commentary tracks, regardless of who's commenting, but in this case I felt guilty NOT to, considering so many overseas fans are missing out completely. (Empire's tweet was hilarious: "It's Shawarmageddon all over again!") Plus Joss is funny as hell. But I have to say, I kind of wish I hadn't listened to it. :/ I really, really did not like what Joss had to say about Hawkeye or Jeremy Renner. I mean, maybe I'm just inferring things more negatively than they were meant, but after listening to what Joss had to say, I am now very pessimistic about the direction they're going to take both the Hawkeye character and his relationship with Black Widow. Key points:
* In Joss's first 190-page or whatever script, Hawkeye wasn't even in it. Joss stuck the character in afterward, and he described making Hawkeye get brainwashed by Loki as a relief, story wise, because it was a way to get rid of one of the extra characters they had running around. Gee, that is EXACTLY how you want to hear one of your favorite characters described.
* Joss raved about all the other actors he worked with, but his comments about Jeremy were more muted... reading between the lines, I felt like he was making negative comments but spinning them to sound good. It's hard to explain without actually hearing him talk, but essentially: 1) He kept describing Jeremy as being very 'minimalist' in his acting; 2) part of that was that it was hard to even hear Jeremy talk; 3) once when he gave that feedback to Jeremy, Jeremy's response was that it was just going to be an establishing shot anyway, and Joss was like, "No, Jeremy, you have to act in all the scenes." Taken all together, I didn't get a very positive vibe about either Hawkeye or working with Jeremy, from Joss. :/ It wasn't like he didn't have ANYthing nice to say, but when you compare it to his gushing about the other actors, the contrast is even more obvious.
* Joss really didn't get into the relationship between Clint and Natasha much, even in a platonic sense. He did mention that they have history, but he doesn't really go into it or spend any time talking about its significance or how it was important to him to get that into this movie that has so much other stuff going on, etc. He didn't express any enthusiasm for it.
* He even calls Hawkeye/Jeremy "Loki" once. *facepalm*
And... that's really it. Which in itself is telling. I mean, yeah, Hawkeye was barely in the movie compared to the others, so it's not like he should take up a disproportionate amount in the commentary, but... I really felt the lack.
I've always been really hopeful that Joss's vision for Hawkeye and Black Widow was significant, that they were the 'romance' he wanted to develop in the movies, that their relationship was important to him, but if that's true, he was extremely low key about it in his commentary. Now I have almost no hope that anything is going to come of the relationship in future movies; in fact, I'm no longer even confident that Hawkeye is going to continue to be a part of the franchise. Yes, the commentary has brought me that low.
I could be totally wrong... I hope I am. Maybe I'm being too sensitive because I care too much about those particular characters and their relationship, maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. What did others who've listened to the commentary think???
UK fans who want Joss's commentary are apparently being encouraged by Disney to buy the U.S. Blu-ray (linking bundle I got), because the U.S. Blu-ray is region free (the U.S. DVD, which also has the commentary, is region 1 encoded, though). According to them, Joss recorded his commentary too late for the UK release (which, seriously Joss? I know you must be super busy, but think of your fans all over the world!). Their mistake, imho, was in thinking people would rather have the movie sooner, without the commentary, than wait, and get the commentary. It seems so OBVIOUS that that would not be the case. Anyway, they currently don't have plans to reissue a version with the commentary, because they don't feel that they can ask the fans to buy the movie twice. I thought that was a fairly reasonable alternative (though not ideal by any means), until I read that apparently there was some kind of fuck up with the transfer, and the UK got some other country's censored version of the movie, which edits one of the scenes (the death of one of the characters). There were some early conspiracy rumors that they did this to retcon the scene so that said character could actually come back to life at some point -- but I have to say, not only would that be super lame (especially since it'd only be true for part of the world), but having listened to Joss's commentary, I'm as convinced as I ever was that the character is dead and isn't coming back. Anyway, since the transfer error *was* actually a mistake, I think Disney ought to reissue/replace the discs for free, and if they do that, they might as well also include the Joss commentary. Edit: Also apparently the UK also doesn't have the shawarma scene, is this true? I have read differing reports. I always figured that "Shawarmageddon" would eventually pass, because while the scene wasn't filmed til after the movie had already premiered in many countries, there wouldn't be a reason not to include it on the DVD/Blu-ray version. O.o
I have now watched the first two seasons of Teen Wolf. I know many people love it, but god, what a silly show. I really only love Stiles. And I reallllllly love him. Derek's fine, but is hampered by the utterly silly werewolf mythology. I really like Erica -- or at least, I really like her origin story -- but they haven't developed her very well (or any characters who aren't in the opening credits, really). I want to like Lydia more than I do. I fucking HATE Allison, and Scott mostly bugs me also. Did no one notice when they cast Tyler Posey that HIS FACE IS CROOKED? OMG, it's so distracting. I've always felt that werewolves were kinda lame, and been far less interested in them than in vampires, witches, and other supernatural creatures. This show does not make me change my mind about that. When they "wolf out" it looks soooooooooooo fake and lame. >< They're not frightening at all; they just make me want to laugh. Whereas the vampires on The Vampire Diaries are actually scary looking (way more so than the vampires in the Buffyverse, which Teen Wolf's wolves remind me of -- but BtVS was made YEARS ago). Anyway, much of the mythology, 'plots,' and character development so far are dull at best and nonsensical at worst (the whole thing with Peter Hale is so WTF). I read my first Sterek fanfic the other day and it was good, but mostly because it was in Stiles's POV and very in character, so it was fun.
I have now watched The Avengers with Joss's commentary. I usually don't like watching commentary tracks, regardless of who's commenting, but in this case I felt guilty NOT to, considering so many overseas fans are missing out completely. (Empire's tweet was hilarious: "It's Shawarmageddon all over again!") Plus Joss is funny as hell. But I have to say, I kind of wish I hadn't listened to it. :/ I really, really did not like what Joss had to say about Hawkeye or Jeremy Renner. I mean, maybe I'm just inferring things more negatively than they were meant, but after listening to what Joss had to say, I am now very pessimistic about the direction they're going to take both the Hawkeye character and his relationship with Black Widow. Key points:
* In Joss's first 190-page or whatever script, Hawkeye wasn't even in it. Joss stuck the character in afterward, and he described making Hawkeye get brainwashed by Loki as a relief, story wise, because it was a way to get rid of one of the extra characters they had running around. Gee, that is EXACTLY how you want to hear one of your favorite characters described.
* Joss raved about all the other actors he worked with, but his comments about Jeremy were more muted... reading between the lines, I felt like he was making negative comments but spinning them to sound good. It's hard to explain without actually hearing him talk, but essentially: 1) He kept describing Jeremy as being very 'minimalist' in his acting; 2) part of that was that it was hard to even hear Jeremy talk; 3) once when he gave that feedback to Jeremy, Jeremy's response was that it was just going to be an establishing shot anyway, and Joss was like, "No, Jeremy, you have to act in all the scenes." Taken all together, I didn't get a very positive vibe about either Hawkeye or working with Jeremy, from Joss. :/ It wasn't like he didn't have ANYthing nice to say, but when you compare it to his gushing about the other actors, the contrast is even more obvious.
* Joss really didn't get into the relationship between Clint and Natasha much, even in a platonic sense. He did mention that they have history, but he doesn't really go into it or spend any time talking about its significance or how it was important to him to get that into this movie that has so much other stuff going on, etc. He didn't express any enthusiasm for it.
* He even calls Hawkeye/Jeremy "Loki" once. *facepalm*
And... that's really it. Which in itself is telling. I mean, yeah, Hawkeye was barely in the movie compared to the others, so it's not like he should take up a disproportionate amount in the commentary, but... I really felt the lack.
I've always been really hopeful that Joss's vision for Hawkeye and Black Widow was significant, that they were the 'romance' he wanted to develop in the movies, that their relationship was important to him, but if that's true, he was extremely low key about it in his commentary. Now I have almost no hope that anything is going to come of the relationship in future movies; in fact, I'm no longer even confident that Hawkeye is going to continue to be a part of the franchise. Yes, the commentary has brought me that low.
I could be totally wrong... I hope I am. Maybe I'm being too sensitive because I care too much about those particular characters and their relationship, maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. What did others who've listened to the commentary think???
UK fans who want Joss's commentary are apparently being encouraged by Disney to buy the U.S. Blu-ray (linking bundle I got), because the U.S. Blu-ray is region free (the U.S. DVD, which also has the commentary, is region 1 encoded, though). According to them, Joss recorded his commentary too late for the UK release (which, seriously Joss? I know you must be super busy, but think of your fans all over the world!). Their mistake, imho, was in thinking people would rather have the movie sooner, without the commentary, than wait, and get the commentary. It seems so OBVIOUS that that would not be the case. Anyway, they currently don't have plans to reissue a version with the commentary, because they don't feel that they can ask the fans to buy the movie twice. I thought that was a fairly reasonable alternative (though not ideal by any means), until I read that apparently there was some kind of fuck up with the transfer, and the UK got some other country's censored version of the movie, which edits one of the scenes (the death of one of the characters). There were some early conspiracy rumors that they did this to retcon the scene so that said character could actually come back to life at some point -- but I have to say, not only would that be super lame (especially since it'd only be true for part of the world), but having listened to Joss's commentary, I'm as convinced as I ever was that the character is dead and isn't coming back. Anyway, since the transfer error *was* actually a mistake, I think Disney ought to reissue/replace the discs for free, and if they do that, they might as well also include the Joss commentary. Edit: Also apparently the UK also doesn't have the shawarma scene, is this true? I have read differing reports. I always figured that "Shawarmageddon" would eventually pass, because while the scene wasn't filmed til after the movie had already premiered in many countries, there wouldn't be a reason not to include it on the DVD/Blu-ray version. O.o
I have now watched the first two seasons of Teen Wolf. I know many people love it, but god, what a silly show. I really only love Stiles. And I reallllllly love him. Derek's fine, but is hampered by the utterly silly werewolf mythology. I really like Erica -- or at least, I really like her origin story -- but they haven't developed her very well (or any characters who aren't in the opening credits, really). I want to like Lydia more than I do. I fucking HATE Allison, and Scott mostly bugs me also. Did no one notice when they cast Tyler Posey that HIS FACE IS CROOKED? OMG, it's so distracting. I've always felt that werewolves were kinda lame, and been far less interested in them than in vampires, witches, and other supernatural creatures. This show does not make me change my mind about that. When they "wolf out" it looks soooooooooooo fake and lame. >< They're not frightening at all; they just make me want to laugh. Whereas the vampires on The Vampire Diaries are actually scary looking (way more so than the vampires in the Buffyverse, which Teen Wolf's wolves remind me of -- but BtVS was made YEARS ago). Anyway, much of the mythology, 'plots,' and character development so far are dull at best and nonsensical at worst (the whole thing with Peter Hale is so WTF). I read my first Sterek fanfic the other day and it was good, but mostly because it was in Stiles's POV and very in character, so it was fun.