If Micheal Bay were to write a book, it would be filled with adverbs..... k I'm done bay bashing now.
I sat through one Micheal Bay film and for about thirty minutes I literally had no idea what was going on. There were just lots of fast cuts and close ups of CGI lumps of metal. I don't know what these lumps of metal were doing, he may as well have been filming the inside of an engine for thirty minutes, although this would have been more coherent. The sad part is that he injected more personality into these anonymous pieces of metal than he did into any of the cardboard cut-out human characters. I think my problem with Micheal Bay is that he is inept. If I watch one of his films I just see ineptitude in almost every scene.
I just thought of another one that kind of bugs me: the demanding but ultimately inspiring sports coach who takes a ragtag bunch of losers and molds them into a championship team. He's another character type who is usually portrayed as infallible - a drill sergeant with an inner Yoda. Has anyone ever read any stories about a championship team molded into a ragtag bunch of losers by a foolish, pig-headed coach? It seems to happen in reality pretty regularly.
The worst offender of this type is the coach from 'Remember The Titans'. There was this scene where he had the ragtag bunch of losers go on a night jog to Gettysburg and, get this, he proceeds to go on a speech about the soldiers who fought there and, somehow, the losers are supposed to be inspired by them. Two things: #1- It was supposedly based on a true story. Spoiler alert: The night jog never happened. #2- Can you explain to me how fighting in a war is in any way shape or form the same as playing a sport? That whimsical speech makes zero sense if you apply logic to it. Really, it's like inspiring a kid to study by talking to him about all the soldiers who fought and died during World War II. Kinda insulting when you think about it. Oh, and here is another trope related to football: - The parent who hates football doesn't see the greatness in the son who loves football. Conversely, the parent who loves football doesn't see the greatness in the son who hates football. In any case, the hater is going to be portrayed as this stuck-up, closed-minded idiot and at the end of the book/movie, the character is proven wrong and everyone cheers the son.
What you need halfway through a speech like that is one of the kids to say something along the lines of "my dad died in combat you ignorant cretin; how very dare you." (although according to the phrase used in the last part of that interjection my kid is about 70 odd years old).
lol, yeah one of them should've cut the coach off with that response. Imagine how embarrassed he'd be then.
Also, in reality, if someone were to give a rousing speech about something as inane as a football match I would probably be shaking with laughter. It would just be one of those inappropriately hilarious moments. EDIT: in fact thinking about it, I used to play weekend rugby when younger, and if someone had started waxing lyrical he would have had 15 people openly laughing in his face.
"Admitted?" I'll say that the first couple of novels are readable, but around no.4 there are two or three Randish soliloquies, and by no.6 I was skipping chapters of self aggrandizing preaching. Also around book 6 he slaughters a bunch of (basically) Buddhists, because they're interfering by being all peaceful.
Oh yes! I remember, well, not the film, or any of the actors or even which sport it was but I seem to remember the coach got this cardboard cutout of a model with a leopard print dress cut into pieces, underneath, the model was naked and everytime the team won a game, the coach would remove a piece of the dress ... *rolls eyes*
That sounds very silly. The kids could see more than that any time they went online. Or, in the pre-internet days, by checking out any porn magazine. Sheesh.
LOL. I think the film was from the 80's and I think the team consisted of men not boys. I have American Football floating around my mind as the sport but I could be very wrong there. John Candy plays a part in the memory too but I could also be wrong with that one. Curse my memory like a sieve ...
I'll tell you what else annoys me too. Those movies with the training montages, a mean, what the actual frig? As soon as one comes on we all know that he's either going to win the game/war/battle/fair maiden's hand or he's going to lose but learn a lesson or, the other side forfeits so he still wins! It's so annoying, that loser get's bullied, starts training (wax on, wax off ...) goes in for the retaliation and walks away with a couple of bruises and the girl ... ugh! Anyone remember Bloodsport? *rolls eyes* Guy lives in his cocky brother's shadow, brother gets badly hurt so the younger one goes off to train harder and win better ... And the montages are always accompanied by some lame music or song about working harder and becoming stronger and ... Right, going to stop now before I headbutt the keyboard!
MEN?? Why would men be motivated by taking pieces of a dress off a cardboard cutout? Oh, but Major League was a comedy. I guess it gets a pass.
I can't say I remember now since I read them as a teenager, before I learnt to critique writing properly. To my memory, Wizard's first rule was pretty good actually. Everything else afterwards were all a little meh, esp his infamous Soul of Fire with the chicken-that-isn't-a-chicken (but evil manifest) Oh and his wonderful final line for his 9th or 10th book - near the end of the series anyway - where it said something like, "And if Richard can't do it, then life isn't worth living." I've only read the first 6 books. I did try to get back into it so I could read the ending but by then I'd grown up and could no longer stand the writing lol.
I don't really hate any Eh Some are played out and easier to screw up but in the hands of a good writer then I'd like to think any cliche can be exploited and used properly.
I actually like the kind of "chaotic evil" villains as they normally have no conscience and/or remorse. I find that a villain who is not afraid to do nasty things is a lot more threatening than a villain who will hold back.
I can agree with you that chaotic evil is something pretty awesome. Not everything needs a meaningful back story but there are only a few people who can do it right. Sometimes they can create characters who are chaotically evil but it's just so corny that I cannot bare it for another second.
Definitely not a fan of some ridiculously empowered female character who scoffs at the world of men at every available moment and spends her waking hours contemptuously tearing down centuries of tradition to further her own ludicrous idealistic goals. Essentially most feminist characters in fiction. (I do also dislike the macho-man, such as Jack Reacher, who sleeps and kills is way through life with as much ease as I eat chocolate cake)
Yeah, they're both not very exciting characters to be around. .__. I mean, yeah, I get it, you have a specific sex part, now how about a bit of your personality and motivation. No? You're just gonna keep swingin' that part around like that's all you are? OK then.