March 14, 2006
By Jeff Roedel
In his dark comic book fantasies like V for Vendetta, British writer Alan Moore likes his heroes and villains ambiguous. Terrorist and Guy Fawkes impersonator V is the typical antihero. He wants to change things for the better, but on his own terms. The end will justify any means imaginable, innocent bystanders be damned. In real life, the V for Vendetta creator likes things more clear-cut. He’s the hero, and DC Comics and Hollywood are the villains. Moore claims the movie industry in general, and producer Joel Silver in particular, hijacked his story. He has called the adapted screenplay for V for Vendetta “rubbish.” How British of him.
V for Vendetta is the latest project from Matrix makers the Wachowski…er, Brothers? After Larry Wachowski’s gender reassignment (no, this is not a Cayenne Report), let’s just call them the Wachowskis and leave it at that. So forget about Moore’s misgivings, the fact that a cross-dressing Larry left his wife for a dominatrix or that gorgeous Natalie Portman spends most of the film looking like Sinead O’Connor on a serious bender, and check out the trailer here. I think it looks pretty remarkable, like a dystopic political thriller that hopefully avoids all of the character development pitfalls and action flick cheese that sucked the promise out of the Matrix sequels.
V for Vendetta will certainly cause a stir with viewers. What constitutes terrorism? Does revenge equal justice? It’s also been interesting reading the advance press on the film. V and his protégé, Portman’s Evey, are extremely flawed heroes, but they’ve also been labeled terrorists. Rumors swirled that the planned November release of the film was delayed because of the London train bombings. I wonder if people would be calling Luke Skywalker and Han Solo terrorists if the original Star Wars had premiered in a post-9/11 world. What about the janitors on the Death Star, did they deserve to die?
Out on DVD this week are a documentary and a biopic about two 20th Century figures who are vastly important, but not all that famous. Townes Van Zandt: Be Here to Love Me rounds up peers Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson to wax lyrical on the songwriter’s legacy. The doc was produced by former Louisianan Paul Stekler. Look for a feature story on Stekler in the April issue of 225.
Hot on the heels of six Academy Award nominations, George Clooney’s Edward R. Murrow biopic hits stores on DVD. For younger views, Murrow was like the Anderson Cooper of his day—if Cooper drank black coffee rather than some obscure frappuccino derivative.
Finally, and this may be a sign of the Apocalypse, but the Hell’s Angels are suing Disney. The group of motorcycle enthusiasts claims the Mouse stole its name and skull logo for Wild Hogs, a film about middle-aged bikers starring Tim Allen and John Travolta. The whole incident sounds like a much better idea for a movie than Wild Hogs itself. Oh, well, I’m sure Disney has a lawyer or two.
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