Blind Prophecy

Today was so nice I decided to take a quick trip to the local comic store for Free Comic Book Day (disappointed in the offerings this year, but did buy the Astonishing X-Men books that have come out since last August when I stopped buying comics every week). I also went for a walk in Burnett Woods and wandered home slowly, stopping by the Jewish Cemetery on Ludlow that I pass all the time but never really get close to.

Saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine yesterday. Here’s the thing, I’ve given Hollywood a lot of slack on the X-Men films. From the beginning, I’ve accepted that they were going to play a bit fast-and-loose with the back stories of the characters and eliminate some of the really far-fetched elements of the X-men universe (e.g. magic, aliens, cyborgs and robots, time-travel, etc.). But really, I’m starting to feel insulted. There is more to Emma Frost than “blonde, turns into diamond.” There is more to Remy/Gambit than “New Orleans, makes things explode.” There is more to Fred/the Blob than “strong, fat, vaguely Southern.” These aren’t minor characters they’re messing with, these are major characters with long, established and well-known stories. And don’t get me started on Deadpool. My point is simply that the movie was fine, it was well-acted and enjoyable, but I wish they’d rename it “Wolverine: A movie based extremely vaguely on characteristics of an X-Men comic book.”

I finished reading Chuck Palahniuk’s Snuff last night. I always sort of like Palahniuk’s work, particularly because he seems so aware of the novel as a form and takes interesting risks with the format. I get weary of the apocalyptic stakes-raising of each book, and I wonder if he could have told the same story in half the time and just as effectively by cutting 1/3 of the random trivia, but it’s fun to read and painless, so I don’t mind. In Snuff, we follow 4 characters around during a 600-man gangbang of world famous porn actress Cassie Wright, and it’s possible one of the 600 men plans to kill her. The characters, a veteran porn actor who will be “Mr. 600″, a washed-up actor running from rumors of his sexual orientation, a young man virgin with an unusual interest in the aging star, and the intelligent and philosophical talent wrangler keeping all 600 men in line. Palahniuk reveals the story and the characters one layer at a time until we know the deepest, most neurotic details of these 5 lives (Cassie gets revealed through the people around her) into his typically absurd climax of storytelling whether nothing really gets resolved and no one gets what they wanted.

Filed under: books, movies by Jere Keys