#Considering that it's taken them like 2 whole years to film Season 7 I'm at least hoping that there's more effort put into the vocal direct

[kaythefloppa]

Not enough people talk about this, but the songs in Wild Kratts are complete ass and we should slander them to the fullest extent.

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

Rheneas and the roller-coaster? (My apologies for inflicting this one on you)

Robin. What the hell did you just make me re-watch.

Heh heh. Actually, in all seriousness, it's imho... not horrible. It is however very bland. Like, I'd gotten through all of Season 7 once but I had no memory of this.

The plot is stupidly unbelievable—railway realism is thrown out the window. Then again it is far more plausible than "Rusty and the Boulder" sooooo...?

The episode simply feels like such a nothingburger than I can't even bring myself to detail all the ways in which it falls flat. Let's just agree that, well, it does. I get the sense it was written with the aim of doing Rheneas's character a long-overdue favor but in the end it's just filler.

Having stipulated, however, that this ep is a low point in season 7... there are actually a couple kudos I want to give it.

Mild kudos:

1) Hey, the "rollercoaster" runaway ride might have been silly and stupid... but it is kinda fun? A little? A pale shadow of the shenanigans of "Boulder," but I can tell the film crew were enjoying themselves. It seems obvious that Mitton wasn't really in charge of this one or, if he was, that he was entirely checked out. No, whoever directed this, you cannot make an interesting action sequence just by filming the whole thing with the camera tilted 90°... it takes a bit more than that.

But. Nevertheless. The detail of the props actually getting wet as they veer by the waterfall is such a nice touch:

This (live water!) ^ is the sort of thing that makes the model series so fun to watch, even when the writing is shit.

2) Is the writing all shit, though?

[Disclaimer: I feel the TVS has already established context/continuity in Season 6 for the NWR/Fat Controller having taken over the narrow-gauge railway and starting to make some drastic changes; we see the engines adjusting to a management style very different from what they experienced in the plots that were based on the books. So I take FC's and Rheneas's exchange in that spirit. He's trying to show a gentler side than "I'm going to shut down your entire line on a whim." Rheneas is especially keen to use this chance to prove himself to a somewhat capricious owner.]

On the one wheel, I sort of hate how this is another in a long line of episodes in this era that continue to baby-fy Rheneas and Skarloey (who are in need of kind, brave, clever Rusty to look after them in a cruel world).

On the other wheel, this particular story—if it is considered strictly on its own, and not in that sad, sorry context—I feel does a plausible job of characterizing Rheneas? Who is not an easy character to work with, since even Rev. Awdry left him quite undeveloped.

I can see people (probably yourself among them?) preferring other interpretations of Rheneas. But honestly... this one is valid. If you need him to have some sort of weakness or flaw to motivate a story, "fears he's not exciting enough to be of interest to a train full of kids" feels legitimate. In RWS, one of his things was very much always seeming to be overshadowed by Skarloey's charisma. He's the quieter and more serious of the pair, and while he gamely gives it a go he's also nervous and not at all comfortable when the Thin Controller puts him on the spot to give a little speech on his birthday.

The "insecurity" motive gets way overused in TVS, of course—but as of Season 7 it wasn't quite overused yet. And, obviously it would be stupid to have Rheneas feel he's not up to most jobs, given that at this point he's got over a hundred years of badassery under his boiler bands. But the specific charge of "this is a very special day for the kiddos; make sure it's memorable for them!"... like okay, I can actually roll with this and easily believe in a Rheneas that's secretly going, Well, fuck. Then why didn't you have literally anyone else do it? I'm not the entertaining one.

*insert cute image of Rheneas licking his thumb and quickly flipping a handbook entitled How To Be Fun*

Sooooo... yeah. It's not a good episode. But I don't actually find it dire. It's within the usual range of Season 7 bland.

(Which I used to think was the worst... until I watched the next few seasons. At least Season 7 bland was still short and sweet, clocking in at under 6 minutes a pop!)

[ethanwalker00]

What I Watched in January 2022

Hey, so I'm going to test out this thing where I just talk about what I watched that month. Got the idea from Karsten Runquist on YouTube. This month isn't really in order of when I watched them, because I'm writing this at the end of the month.

The Suicide Squad

I actually watched the first half of this film sometime last year. For some reason, I never actually finished the movie until this year. It's great. Obviously. The comedy is on point and never really stops. The CGI is really good. It's such a step up from the first film, it's like it never existed. I don't know, man, James Gunn is just too good.

10/10

Oats Studios

A Sci-Fi anthology series by the guy who made District 9? Sign me up! A lot of the stories in this show were great concepts and there were a few that I really liked (mainly Bad President). That said, a lot of the episodes of this show were either way too short, or they felt more like teases for a full blown movie/show than an actual, contained story. I know that this was the point and Blomkamp released these to gauge the public's interest, but they could have done so better than that.

7/10

Archive 81

I was introduced to this show from a recommendation on the DarK subreddit, so I kind of came into this show with some expectations.

It isn't at the same quality as DarK, unfortunately. That being said, Archive 81 is still a fascinating show with an intriguing mystery surrounding it. The ending does fall off a bit, but the final cliffhanger is a really good one and I am looking forward to a season 2.

8/10

Scott Pilgrim vs The World (Rewatch)

Do I really need to talk about Scott Pilgrim? It's...fantastic. I don't know what else to say. Edgar Wright needs to direct all the movies. All of them.

10/10

Encanto (x2)

Encanto is just...brilliant. I can't really describe how good this movie is. It makes me feel things I hadn't before. I can't really relate to any of the problems that the Madrigal family face, yet it conveys them so well and so poignantly that I came out of this movie with a giant grin on my face. Mostly.

I have problems with the ending. I'm gonna talk about it real quick, so if you don't want any spoilers, just read past this.

I don't think the Madrigals should have gotten their powers back. They shouldn't have brought the Casita back to life. The whole movie, I felt we were building up to a certain message: that you don't have to be special to be, y'know, special. Putting your children and grandchildren on a pedestal and expecting them to live up to that for the rest of their life is a toxic mindset and it nearly drives the family apart in this movie. By the last five minutes, however, everything was pretty much resolved. Mirabel had reconciled with her grandmother, the family's relationship was healed, and they were rebuilding their home despite having lost their power. They had stayed strong and stayed together despite losing what they considered to have made them special. The movie then—to me, at least—throws that out of the window. The house is rebuilt and all of a sudden, everything is fixed. The magical house comes back to life and the family members who had powers just get them again. It turns out: no, you have to be special. You have to have these magical powers in order to be loved and respected. It feels wrong to me. And Mirabel still doesn't get any powers!

I don't know. It doesn't sit well with me, and its practically the only problem I have with the film.

8.5/10

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2

Technically, I started this before January, but I'm counting it because I finished it on, like New Years Day.

Jojo's is great. It's ridiculous and is in no way meant to be taken seriously. In fact, I wouldn't even call Jojo's well-written. But it makes up for that with its sheer charm. It's just funny muscled men punching each other and cracking memes for a whole season of anime. I love it. I will never forgive the Japanese.

8/10

Get Out

I'd seen Us before this film and knew to expect quality, but man, this blew Us out of the water. Almost every scene was edge-of-your-seat intense. The moment we step into this world, something feels...wrong, and you spend the whole movie piecing together what's going on, figuring it out at the exact moment that Chris does. It's really good and will probably improve the more I think about it. Watch it.

9/10

Utopia (Season 1)

I had no clue that this show existed. At all. I hadn't seen a single piece of advertisement. No poster. Not a single Youtube video about it. But I keep hearing people talk about it. I was convinced, at one point, that Utopia didn't exist. That my friends were messing with me, trying to make me believe that a fake show actually existed.

Imagine my surprise when it did.

Anyway, it's great. The art direction, the camera work, the dialogue. Pretty much everything was great. I don't really want to sing its praises until I watch season 2, but this is definitely worth a watch. Especially if you haven't heard of it like I hadn't.

9/10

Seven Samurai (1954)

I had to set aside time to watch this movie. It is really long. At three and a half hours, I was worried that I would be bored by Seven Samurai, but after finishing it, I don't really know what could be removed to make it shorter and still make sense. Each moment is painfully handcrafted and planned out. It's a marvel to watch and though I probably won't watch it again for a long time—its massive runtime being one of the main reasons why—it is going to sit in my brain for a long while. The characters, the directing, the costume design, everything is so well done and immerses you in 16th century Japan from the very first moment. I'm going to love this movie the more I think about it.

10/10