tales of the black freighter

no.40

It really bothered me that I didn't know why I recognized the name the Black Freighter. One would think that I would have looked online, knowing me, but nada. Didn't figure it out until I got Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter and heard Nina Simone signing Pirate Jenny during the credits. Hello, Three Penny Opera!

#1 The animated version of TOTBF was pretty kool, I love Gerald Butler's voice. I laughed out loud when he grabbed ahold of Ridley's head and it came tearing off..almost as good as when he ties it around his waist when he lands ashore. TOTBF is meant to parallel the moral decline of Ozymandias, which is does perfectly in print. I can't wait until this is dropped into the full movie, so that you can see the tale unfold.

#2 Under the Hood was AMAZING! Told in a 60 Minutes format, it gave incredible backstory, fleshing out the real text, photos, new clippings, etc. I read in a review that poor Carla Gugino, she's the only star of the movie and she has to wallow in the mire of the film. WELL, once the director's cut comes out and everything is integrated, she'll really get her do. Never in a million years did I think I'd be more excited about how this was filmed and presented - I think I liked it more than the movie. It blended how the media would be different is a world where super heroes actually lived - it's quite evocative of a transgressive world. Not everyone had the same motivation to become a masked avenger and this shows that. I just wish Jeffery Dean Morgan's Comedian would have had more than the one scene where he knocks the camera down. It would have been so fun to see more of him. The commercials were the best! I called the Nostalgia commercial, but the Seiko was fun, the Sani-flush, I remembered that!

#3 The addition feature that represented the making of the internal books was really great as well. Again, cannot wait until all is integrated into what will surely be a four hour mind meld via DVD.