reading an ancient text by candlelight.

[damkianna]

Tiny Dog is still tiny, still THRILLED BY EVERYTHING, and still hasn't figured out that if she, say, scratched at the door or whined or something, we'd let her out and the carpet would be much happier. **hands** But I'm sure we'll get there eventually.

Went to see The Adjustment Bureau with idriya and my parents last night. I really did adore a lot of it - unlike most of the movies I can think of that revolve around a romantic relationship, in this one, I liked both David and Elise, and I genuinely enjoyed watching them interact. \o/ I actually really did ship it. I thought the dialogue was mostly excellent, particularly during the first hour, maybe hour and a half; and I enjoyed the basic outline of the story.

However, there were also things that annoyed me. Thompson's little speech about free will and stepping back and the Plan: "We took you to the height of the Roman Empire, and then stepped back, blah blah blah Dark Ages." Um, EUROPE IS NOT THE ONLY PLACE IN THE WORLD, BUDDY. Wtf. If anybody ought to know better, it's a goddamn angel. Also, not even Thompson's thing about Elise becoming a great choreographer was enough to make up for the "It's not about her; it's about you" line. (Especially since it's revealed later that he was lying about like half the things he said in that scene, so who knows whether it was even true.) I don't understand why there were no supernatural ladies in badass suits and magic hats - I get that they're not human and we have no idea whether they need to reproduce, but why, in that case, did they all default to male appearances? (Don't answer that.)

I concede that it might have killed me a little inside if Elise had been the potential presidential candidate and had given it up for ~true love~, but, to be honest, their explanation for why David could not have Elise and be president at the same time was sort of feeble: she'll make you so happy you won't want to change the world for the better anymore? What? So, as long as they handled it better, I would have loved it if Elise had been the rising political star, and David had been the modern ballet dancer.

Harry was fantastic and awesome, but in the end, his role was pretty Magical Negro. :/ Also, I maybe ship him with David just a tiny bit. I'm glad that David's election team had WoC, but ... they didn't really have much of a role in the story. Blargh.

I also felt like around the three-quarters mark, it suddenly got a lot weaker. For eleven months, David nobly stays away from Elise for her own good, but then he's told she's about to marry somebody else, and suddenly he's all, "Screw it, I'll find her and explain everything and get her back! Consequences schmonsequences!" Which leads to the hat-door scenes, which I LOVED, and the chase through not!Heaven, and then ... "maybe you inspired the Chairman, too"? I dunno, maybe my expectations were too high after the beginning, but that line seemed pretty awful. And, of course, I can't understand why Elise didn't hunt him down to yell at him during those eleven months.

But! I really did enjoy it, and I would certainly watch it again. It was very funny, which is most of what a source needs to be for me to instantly fall for it even if other things about it are terrible; and I do love Elise's characterization, and David's, they were both adorable. I wish they'd done the conclusion better, but I really am a sucker for that "I'm going to sacrifice my happiness to save you, and you don't know why I'm doing it and think I'm a dick/that I hate you, but really I LOVE YOU FOREVER" thing. ♥♥♥ I admit it. /o\

So, overall: liked it very much. I question some of the abstract choices they made, and I think they made some mistakes, but I found it funny and enjoyable and sweet, and I actually enjoyed most of the romance, which does not usually happen to me.

My big project for today is a mass reorganization/update of all my ItO notes, so I can start poking at Book Two without having to worry I'll run into a big snarl later. Also, poking at a different genretwisting fic, because the one I have been working on just won't go. :P My life: so hard.