the birds have less to say for themselves

So: I saw Kick-Ass a couple weeks ago at previews, and it predictably rocked, which was something of a foregone conclusion but still a lot of fun getting there :o)

Obviously all the good stuff we saw at the presentations last year were present and correct; but in context they take on slightly different aspects... yep to all the ultraviolence; but for the most part the ultraviolence is only how they let you see Mindy, and it's completely comic, played for the breathless, manic silliness that's wholly designed to make you squeal and gasp. It's the counterpoints that get you; the real, real violence that doesn't cut away. 

And the Daily Mail, reliably, wrote exactly the review everyone expected them to write (double page spread, 'Crime Against Cinema', one star, etc, etc, ad infinitum..) and so completely missed the point that it was quite painful. 

But then I finally saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last night, which was a teensy bit traumatic for my liking, and, well.. eh. I haven't read the books, admittedly, (apart from a tiny extract from Hornet's Nest that completely spoiled the whole twist about Lisbeth's background)  but there has been something a little fascinating about the real life drama going on after Stieg Larsson's untimely death so I was interested to go see the film after all the rave reviews. 

Heh.  It wasn't badly made or acted (Noomi Rapace was simply extraordinary) but some of it did feel like you were being repeated punched, over and over.. ( Dragon Tattoo... )