#Disney I’ll be judging the storyline when I watch the movie.

[kaleis-kingdom]

Okay so I haven’t seen Encanto yet since I wanna watch it with my family. While I don’t care about being spoiled, if you do and plan to watch it then skip this post.

I kinda wish Mirabel just… gave up on Abuela. Gave up on making her proud and just did what made her happy, not somebody else. Yeah I know the whole movie is about family, but honestly? Sometimes toxic is just toxic and you need to cut that person out of your life. From what I’ve seen, Abuela seemed to care more about the gifts then her family. I know family is important, but mental health is too, ya know? That doesn’t mean the desire to make Abeula proud isn’t there either, but she’s just accepted it.

And it turned out that Mirabel had a gift all along, correct? That… seems counterproductive. Mirabel has done just fine her entire life without a gift and has passed through every single struggle thrown to her. She got to a point where she was happy, finally having the chance to create a bond with her sisters, then it turned out what she knew was a lie and she did have a gift.

If I’m right, the other family members would loose their gifts if Maribel never had a gift, right? I’m not certain, but that sounds more interesting to me then Maribel having a gift and everybody getting their gifts back. You could do a lot with that!

Maribel and the husbands could help their family adjust to life without gifts, the village and family learning skills now they can’t rely on the miracle, perhaps finding out there are other people out there that was similar to how they were? And the Madrigals could help them from their experience, plus some reflection! Or an enemy with a gift shows up and the family and village find ways to defeat them without any gifts!

That’s just my thoughts based off of what I’ve seen though. I might make this an AU once me and my family watch it and I know more. And yes, I know it’s meant for kids. However I don’t think realized they could teach kids to deal with toxic family members despite their emotions or that you have to be the same as others to be accepted. Because those are the vibes I’m getting.

[purgetrooper77]

GOTG Christmas Special Review

I just saw the Christmas Special of Guardians of the Galaxy and I have to say it was so hilarious it should have been the third movie of the GOTG MCU series. But sadly it is considered to be a special to Disney. 

A few things to note out:

1. The Kevin Bacon cameo. I love the every single moment of his on screen with Drax and Mantis. 

2. The flashback animated scenes. In my opinion they were kind of bad but the story behind these flashbacks were amazing. Of course they’re not trying the same art style of What If... but hey who am I to judge? I don’t work for Disney.

3. The fact that Mantis is Peter Quill’s half-sister. To be honest, it actually makes a lot of sense when I think about it because why on Earth would Ego abduct a random girl and keep her in his celestial planet body thing and not impregnate her then kill her? But when she told us (and Quill) about her being an offspring of Ego, I knew everything was adding up.

4. Cosmo’s voice activation thing (I forgot what’s it called): I don’t know if my ears are playing tricks on me or if that was the intent but I could swear Cosmo sounds like a female. I really don’t have a problem with it but I guess the people working on the set might have heard it differently then the audience of the Christmas special. I’ll have to rewatch it again but if y’all want a TLDR: Cosmo’s voice sounds weird and I felt like it didn’t belong to Cosmo at all.

I’ll rate the GOTG Christmas Special a 8.5/10 for amazing humor, basic storyline of sister wanting to give her older brother the best Christmas he’ll have in his life, and the music. I love it when people make new music in the movies and I want to say that I want the soundtrack now. My mother (who was watching the special with me) also wants the Christmas Special Soundtrack but I guess I have to give it to her as this year’s Christmas gift (if I’m able to)

I know November is not over yet and Thanksgiving could be celebrated late for some families but dang it when I finished watching the special I knew I needed to write a review about this. If you ask, yes I’m now writing reviews now for any content from Star Wars, MCU, other Sci-Fi stuff no matter if it’s new or old. Currently I am working on beating Pokemon: Legends Arceus and I’m at the point where I’m close to finishing it so be on the lookout for that one. 

[rachelbethhines]

Vintage Shows to Watch While You Wait for the Next Episode of WandaVision - The 50s

So the first three episodes of Wandavision have dropped onto Disney Plus and like me you’re probably already obsessing over it. Also like me you’re probably jonesing for another fix while waiting for more as the episodes only come out once a week. 

But never fear, we literally have decades of cheesy comedy sitcoms to sift through to keep us entertained during quarantine. Along with the occasional action and/or horror stuff  if you’re so inclined. So if you’re trying to decide where to start I’ll be making short lists for each decade that coincides with each episode. 

1. I Love Lucy (1951- 1957)

The granddaddy of all American television sitcoms staring the first lady of comedy herself, Lucille Ball. While not the first sitcom to air, tv had been kicking around since the late 40s, this show did pave the way for many technical innovations for the new medium both on and behind the scenes. As such Elisabeth Olsen cited Miss Ball’s work as one of her inspirations for her role as Wanda in the series, as do many a woman entering into the comedic field. 

Also the show is just flat out funny. One of those rare 50s sitcoms that manages to overcome some of it’s more dated aspects through shear force of personality and peak comedic screwball antics. The only downside is you have to have Hulu to watch it as the copywrite is tightly controlled even to this day.  

2. Amos ‘n Andy (1951-1953)

The 1950s television landscape was overwhelemingly white. It’s no secret that POC had a hard time finding work in the field of entertainment let alone be the stars of the show. Amos ‘n Andy, a spin off of the earlier same titled radio show, was one of, if not the first black led shows on television and so deserves a mention just for that alone. 

Now I will not act as if this show is perfect or ahead of it’s time. The series was controversial even during its day for is depictions of racial stereotypes. Eventually the series was canceled because of protests from the NAACP despite being very popular in the ratings. However I’m a full believer that history should be observed and talked about in order to progress further so check out an episode or two on youtube and decide for yourself if it’s worth remembering or not. 

3. The Adventures of Superman (1952 - 1958)

Ok, not a sitcom, but as we all know, Wandavision isn’t just a sitcom it’s also a superhero show and this is one of the first tv series in this genre. It and the Fleischer Superman cartoons from the previous decade helped to make the juggernaut industry that we know today. 

Plus Superman did an official crossover with I Love Lucy, seriously. 

4. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952 - 1966)

Hardly anyone talks about it today, but Ozzie and Harriet is the longest running sitcom to date. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia being the only other show threating to up seat it come next year. However the two sitcoms couldn’t be any more different. 

The series stared the real life Nelson family who had got their start in radio as comedians and singers who then crossed over into tv. While the show was completely scripted it tried to hew as close to real life as possible, kicking off American’s obsession with platonic voyeurism. Much in the way Wandavision has the meta storyline of being watch in their own home. 

5. Father Knows Best (1954 - 1960)

Another radio to television entry here, however the series drastically changed the main character during the transition. During the 40s radio sitcoms were very biting and sarcastic, often either going the complete surreal screwball route or were satires of the day. This fell out of favor as tv became more dominated by commercials and advertisers feared offending their potential costumers. So things were greatly toned down as the decade progressed. 

Therefore when Father Knows Best hit the small screen gone was the rude and domineering dad and in his place we got the very model tv father; affable, gentle, loving, devoted, and very congenial. All traits we love to see in Vision some six decades later.      

6. The Honeymooners (1955 - 1956)

I physically can not make a recommendation list of 50s sitcoms and not mention The Hoonymooners. I just can’t. It’s one of the greatest sitcoms ever made and hugely influential. So much so that The Flintstones ripped off the series whole sale to the point that Jackie Gleason threatened to sue Hanna-Barbera. However there’s little such influence in Wandvision. 

See what made The Honeymooners stand out at the time and what gave it such longevity is the fact that the main characters were poor. They lived in a cramped and over crowded sparsely furnitured one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. They owed bills, they dressed plainly, they worked long hours at low paying jobs, and they were often dirty from said work. 

Much like how Wandavision will pull back the curtain a little to see the reality hiding underneath their suburban utopia, so too did The Honeymooners defy the the ‘perfect American dream’ that was soled on tv during the 50s to show us the trauma of poverty and the only thing that you can do when you find yourself trapped within that reality, laugh. 

7. Leave it to Beaver (1957 - 1963)

You can not get any more quintessentially 50s than Leave it to Beaver. The series has become synonymous with the decade and it’s take on the ideal American family life to the point where it’s become a punchline of numerus jokes criticizing the values and attitudes of the era. 

Does it really deserve such mockery? Who knows. I think one needs to watch it for themselves to decide. However it slots right into the aesthetic that the first episode of Wandavision is trying to recreate and it must have been popular for a reason, right? 

8. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959 - 1963)

We featured wholesome family sitcoms and screwball comedies with married folks but we haven’t covered any surrealist humor yet, and Wandavision is seeped into that sort of stuff. That’s because there really isn’t a lot of fantasy in most 50s sitcoms. So while the trappings for episode one of Wandavision is very 50s the effects and premise is more 1960s. 

That’s where Dobie Gillis comes into play. Like Wandavision, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is based off a comic book, or comic strip rather. However that comic was very down to earth and tame compared to the tv show. More fondly remembered as the inspiration for Scooby Doo a decade later, Dobie Gillis quickly transformed from a typical coming of age show about teenagers to a surreal, sarcastic, tongue in cheek comedy, complete with get rich quick schemes, spys, bongos, and a giant chicken. 

9. Bonanza (1959 - 1973) 

Yeah, I know all of y’all are judging me right now. “A western in a sitcom/sic-fi list? What are you thinking?” Well one really can’t talk about 50s television and not mention westerns of some sort. They permeated all mediums and dominated the cultural air waves. And Bonanza is far more than just a western.

Bonanza is literally every thing. It’s every genre at once; western, historical drama, sitcom, action adventure, satire, crime drama, soap opera ,and yes even the occasional foray into science fiction, albeit with a more Jules Vern take than a typical spaceman theming. 

If Wandavision is a melding pot of seemingly disconnected genres then it’s because Bonanza paved the way with it’s similar breakage of formula. 

10 The Twilight Zone (1959 to 1964)

Yeah, you probably knew this was coming. When not being a homage to sitcoms Wandavision is a downright horror movie, but not one with gore and mindless monsters. Rather the show evokes old school surrealist horror, like that employed in the famous (or infamous) Twilight Zone. 

What you probably didn’t know is that we have the I Love Lucy show to thank for it. See Lucille Ball and her then husband Desi Arnaz had created their own production company in order to make I Love Lucy. This production company,  Desilu Productions, is responsible for picking up Rod Sterling’s pilot and producing The Twilight Zone. 

Runner Ups

Good shows that have little to do with Wandavision but are good anyways.

What’s My Line (1950 - 1967)

Just a really fun game show. Stars of the day would sometimes appear on it including many of the sitcom comedians listed above

Have Gun - Will Travel (1957 - 1963) 

One of the very few pure westerns that I can tolerate. The lead actually cares about people and justice and will stand up to bigots.  

Dennis the Menace (1959 - 1963)

While I have fond memories of the 90s film, I thought it was a tad redundant to put on the list when there’s already Leave it to Beaver. 

So there’s the 50s list. On Wednesday I’ll post a list for the 60s and cover some of the more obvious stuff Wandavision was paying homage to. 

[namtanlovesfilm]

axelle judges non bl shows > My Dear Warrior

/!\ SPOILERS AHEAD

summary: Sky, an astronomer with an amnesic aunt, is a harcore fan of a manga called ‘My Dear Warrior’.  On her birthday though, Sky finds an old book which, through an attempted theft, makes Hoshi, Kairo and Luna, characters from ‘My Dear Warrior’, appear into the human world.

where to watch: kissasian

grade: 7,5/10

pros:

- great chemistry. Baifern and Oab were really amazing together and I really shipped them hard!

- the acting was quite good. the show is over the top but Baifern and Oab and even Kairo’s actor did a great job and had really good moments!

- the story is quite original with the fantasy elements mixed into what would be a very straight forward romance otherwise

- I really liked the cinematography. it was a really gorgeous show that incorporated fantasy elements very well in the normal world the characters live in.

cons:

- wayyy too long. I think it took me about three weeks to finish the whole show? which for me the bingewatching queen is ludicrous. but I did that because the show was just too long and lost me after episode 10. the story dragged on way too long and some storylines didn’t serve any purpose except waste more time to fit the 20 episodes. at the end of the day this would’ve been a way stronger and more interesting show if it was 12 episodes long.

- very childish. it’s gonna be the exact same criticism as I gave to Angel Beside Me (that I did like more than this show) because for me these shows are very similar on a lot of points. I watched the both of them more or less at the same time, the plot is about someone who’s not a human discovering the world for the first time and both are primarily romances. and both were kinda childish, though My Dear Warrior way more than Angel Beside Me. from the very first episode, I felt like I was watching one of those teen rated american shows I watched on tv when I was 12: the story is so simplistic yet made complicated with elements of magic and stuff we don’t understand but just happen that I never felt like I watched a show made for adults. now that’s not bad in itself, I mean I watched Andi Mack (a teen show on disney channel) at 18 because there was gay representation, but here I felt like that element of childishness held the show back and allowed it to not explain things correctly because the viewers are supposed not to question anything like in kid’s cartoons and movies.

- the characters’ actions didn’t make sense most of time and it was very easy to tell that they only did them to fit the plot. it just all felt very forced, for example when they go to the sea to search for the aunt: this whole storyline lasts multiple episodes yet doesn’t advance the plot one bit. I mean yeah Sky and Hoshi get officially together and f*ck, but they could’ve done it in Bangkok lol.

would I rewatch it: no

At the end of the day, this is a fine show. But I feel as though I’m reaching a stage where I’ve watched too many "okay” thai dramas (only about a year after I started really watching them lol) that I’m a bit more critical about them. And because I compared Angel Beside Me to My Dear Warrior, I’ll continue: if I had to recommend one of the two, I would recommend Angel Beside Me a lot more as, even though it had quite childish elements, it had a way stronger story that actually made sense.

[joancallamezzo]

Sorry i died for a bit. OKAY Beck yes she is hot, BUT i say selfish, because didn't she cheat? She would also lie. Idk its been awhile since i've seen the show. Also wHY does she not have any blinds??? She is straight up having sex in front of the window (when Joe is stalking her) LOL. I like the tension/dynamic that Peach brought other than that, didn't care for her much. Oh yes, i forgot about Indiana Jones, very good ride! I do hate the heat, but California is my baby. Could never leave her.

yeah honestly i don’t remember much about you s1. it’s been like two years? almost since i watched. but i remember i was rooting for beck the whole time... when she found the proof of joe being a killer i was literally yelling at my computer for her to get tf out of that apartment omg i was STRESSIN. i never felt anything at all like that about love. also i don’t remmeber beck cheating? did she???  i keep saying i’m gonna rewatch it since i have nothing else to do but then i watch survivor LOL. i’ll update you when i do finally rewatch with my new updated thoughts on her.ya the blind thing is stupid but it’s a tv show about a stalker i can’t fault her for that it was just a necessary part of the storyline LOL. in one of my many boredom moments during nyc trips and my friend went to the apartment and i am happy to report that the people who live there irl do have blinds on the window. but yeah i just remember peach being annoying af but again i don’t remember much from that season. didn’t she like almost catch joe tho? i was rooting for that!!!! indy is so good!!! it’s a lot like a ride they have at disney world that i love just with different theming so it was a fun time. i want to go back so bad i’m so sad. ur stronger than me i do not think i could ever put up with the heat year round yikes. i feel that tho i always talk about wanting to move various places (mostly nyc) but like in reality i love chicago so much and the thought of leaving her? sounds simply AWFUL. and portillos? could never leave her either idk if california has any restaurants that are iconic but boy portillos alone is enough to keep me in illinois. midwest 4 life!!

i agree. camp rock was just superior. hsm had a few bops, ie fabulous, but overall camp rock was the better movie and had the better music. ugh your frickin mind!!! wasn’t demi a judge when fifth harmony was on?? 5h on x factor.... iconic days. ah yes i remember. demi only like camila LOL. fun fact! my first ever tattoo was so fuckin stupid like simply the dumbest thing in the entire world but it was a demi tattoo LOL. love that problematic b*tch so much always will!!! i hope you get to see wicked too. the tour comes around to california pretty frequently. definitely more than it comes to chicago. would definitely recommend!! i want a full review if you ever do go!!!!

so i love kbell with my entire heart and always have but for some reason i cannot get into any shows she’s on other than veronica mars (and parks but that doesn’t really count) i’ve never even bothered to try tgp cuz it’s not the type of tv i usually like, but even things like house of lies that i thought i’d like i just can’t get into sigh. is it worth it should i try???

btw i was going thru my inbox last night and i have a ton of messages i never replied to that i assume were from you and they were so funny i was dying laughing thank u crew anon for being so iconic and hilarious but also sorry for ignoring so many of ur messages

[goldenscript]

get to know me! [part 2?]

tagged by @tendershepherd <3 love u!!!!

1. Which BTS song means the most to you?

if i had to choose one then save me because as cheesy as it sounds it really did help me out at one of the most confusing and worst points of my life. when i hear it, i get so happy and nostalgic about all those nights i spent not sleeping and just binging through dps and bangtan bombs that eventually led me to where i am now! plus!!! this was also when i really got back into writing which is really big since i only did it every so often in high school (sadly enough).

2. How do you feel about astrology?

i love it!!!! i feel like i’ve met a lot of people who will say that they don’t like or believe in astrology because they don’t like being defined by their zodiac / sun sign and stuff but imo i think it really is just a personal preference in whether you believe or even like it or not. to me, this is something i’ve grown up with because my mom loves it and seeing it become such a huge phenomena now is so fun! i honestly feel like my birth chart explains me really well and that’s kinda important to me since i’m the kind of person who likes to understand myself considering i’ve spent 19 years trying to figure who i am anyhow.

3. Do you think ghosts exist?

oh fuck yeah

4. What’s your favorite instrument?

i love the piano for sure. guitar’s nice but there’s something about the piano that has this alluring vibe that attracts me

5. Who was the last person to make you really smile?

seeing my friend before my english final :( i haven’t seen her in a few days and seeing her just really made me happy

6. What do you do when you feel vulnerable?

it really depends because when i’m in a vulnerable state i find it hard to articulate - both through words and just overall. this is mostly because i feel like i can be really nit picky with what i hear in response to how i’m feeling and so during these moments when i’m most irrational i try to sift through the emotions myself and figure out what’s going on. if i want another opinion or the company, i’ll go to my closest friends.

7. What is the last dream you had?

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm. i know i had this one dream where i was basically studying with wooseok from ptg and he was explaining something to me before he just stopped and looked up to meet my eyes then looked away. but me being me, i just grabbed his chin and kissed him and he got so blushy and it was really adorable because then we kissed again. gbjfbhrijgkmr

alternatively, there was this dream with lucas from nct where my best friend called me and asked me if she could give my number to her cute friend and i was like “yeah ok” because i was half asleep in my dream and wasn’t thinking. so, later that night, i wasn’t sure if it really happened until he called me and i was kinda shook but very happy and by the end of it, he’s like “i can call you again right?” and i’m like “yeah” and it was just really cute and cheesy and my first initial reaction was to tell @jungnoir, as always.

ok, bonus dream but i also had one where jungkook and jennie switched bodies and i knew it and i confessed to jungkook in jennie’s body that i liked them and i even kissed them and and and it was just wild because there was a gang that was the cause to the body switching and they wanted to talk to jungkook-jennie and jungkook-jennie wanted to talk to me but i was embarrassed and i was just wondering where jennie-jungkook was by the end of it

8. Are you a nature person?

i do like nature, but i also feel like i don’t belong in it since i’m totally privileged to the indoors life.... and horror movies man

9. What’s your favorite thing to do to relieve stress?

if i’m stressed with things to do i like to actually do the things i need to do instead of procrastinating (which is ironic since i’m actually procrastinating on this research paper due tonight but whatever). again, it really depends. sometimes i’ll just tackle tasks head on or i’ll make a small check list of what i can do then save whatever else i need to do. of course, this is done by priority so really it’s just me categorizing shit. if that doesn’t help and i have no motivation, i’ll go to the gym or even nap or surf tumblr just to take a breather.

10. Do you have any other blogs you’d like people to check out?

everyone i follow??? idk??? i could just as easily make a follow forever for this since i highkey rec all of ‘em

11. Marvel, DC, or neither?

both! i grew up reading some of the marvel comics and i used to watch justice league as a kid so i love both universes man

12. What do you want out of 2018?

i forgot to answer this one kjsdfhjshf but anyway i just want to finish the school year strong, go into my third year of college with a license, and probably finish my drabble games since i started ten million of those.

alternatively, i would also like to just get through the year and the direction it goes in

13. Do you hold grudges?

not really? i stop caring after while

14. Who is your favorite Disney hero/heroine?

Mulan, hands down. i asked my family to replay that baby until my family taught me how to rewind the vhs in the tape rewinder lmaooo

15. Do you consider yourself a positive person?

i consider myself more of a realistic and literally all of my friends will tell you this. like i can be positive but i give it a realistic spin because that’s what people need to hear even if it isn’t what they want. that’s what i need at least so i try to dish out things how i’d like to hear it

16. What is something you love that’s underrated?

otome games lmao. bigkrbhtgijerok i can feel @wonhopes judging me but they’re a guilty pleasure and the storylines are just fun

17. What is your dream job?

squish together a job where i can travel, write, and plan events and we got somethin’! besides that, i’d love to just be a writer with a steady income cuz u kno adulting demands the steady income part

18. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

i haven’t traveled enough to know where i want to settle but i wanna say maybe socal?

19. When was the last time you faced a fear and how did it go?

driving on the freeway really wasn’t as bad as i thought. i mean i’ve done it maybe like 3.5 times prior but this was the first time i did it in a van and i had like 3 people in there with me LOL. we all came out alive and no one yelled at me so i consider it a success

20. Which would you prefer to read: poetry, fiction, or non-fiction?

fiction

21. Where do you feel most at ease?

i can’t really think of a place besides my bed / room but sometimes i can feel insane there so i can’t say for sure. i feel pretty at ease when i’m with people i love so yeah!

tagging: @jungnoir / @workofteaguk / @taesthetes / @boosoonhao / @baechuni / @taegetes

[1800pizzagirl]

Dancing with the Stars, Season 25, Recap #7

Halloween Night on Dancing with the Stars is my favorite, especially when following Nick Lachey’s elimination and the real horror that is Disney Night and A Night at the Movies week.

A perfect place to have a heart-to-heart on DWTS is in their beautiful, reclaimed wood dance studio during the golden hour and Victoria Arlen and Val took advantage of that. While their dance was nice and sweet, it was not Halloween themed! Next! I’m Bored!

Did anyone else think it was odd that Jordan Fisher was Paso Doble-ing with his pack of bad boy wolves and found a cute, blonde, little mormon girl wearing Agent Provocateur? And then that they attacked her; likely ripped her to shreds and then she became a vampire? I mean, this storyline makes no sense within the realm of vampire/werewolf lore but I’ll let it slide. ALSO JORDAN WINS GIVE HIM THE TROPHY, THE COMPETITION IS OVER! GOOD NIGHT.

They have so much money for costumes on this show that sometimes their costume choices confuse me (ie. Nick Lachey’s Toms). So, someone please explain to me why they put Nikki Bella in a Ursala the Sea Witch dress that you would buy at Hot Topic for a preteen girl writing a 100 chapter Batman and Supmerman Alpha/Beta/Omega erotic fan fiction? Their dance had a stupid concept and I don’t care if Artem is single, I’d never date anyone that chooses a Starbucks-like coffee shop!

Vanessa Lachey must be feeling the sadness from Nick’s elimination because she was not looking like herself this week. Maybe it was because she was being attacked by a horde of zombies or that they made her wear a dress from a discount box at David’s Bridal.

For the second vampire dance of the night, Terrell Owens was a nerd that was seduced by a goth Ms. Robinson and then he turned into a vampire or he was already a vampire? I’m not sure. I think Terrell is funny and after watching Cheryl on Dance Moms for the past two weeks, I’d rather see her yell at Terrell than Chloe’s mom. I hope that they stay on this show longer but I think that they’re on their way out.

It wouldn’t be a real Halloween without some cultural appropriation! I think that Lindsey Stirling is an incredible dancer and I felt really bad for her during their Paso Doble. Can you imagine lifting your arm with gusto with a displaced rib? It must hurt like hell!

Frankie Muniz wanted to be the “bad guy” and I was really uncomfortable with the home invader stalker aspect of his dance. That’s not Halloween! That’s a real life fear that anyone that’s ever watched Forensic Files alone at night would face! Yet, the judges weren’t freaked out and gave him a perfect store, I guess “creepy stalker” works for Frankie.

The only thing I could really pay attention to during Drew Scott’s Charleston was Sasha’s awkward head bopping. I can picture Jonathan slapping Drew and telling him to “get his head in the game” as he deals with the fatigue from doing three different shows while training for DWTS. It’s hard being HGTV darlings!

Bruno Tonioli called “Team Monsters” jive the “nightmare at the garden center” and I couldn’t agree more, that was a mess.  Although that I have to admit that Mark Ballas’ creepy burlap sack scarecrow was excellent. 

“Team Phantom in the Ballroom” was a lot better and OF COURSE DREW SCOTT LOVES “THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA”!

I didn’t see that double elimination coming and it looks like Tom and Erin didn’t either! What was that about? Why didn’t they warn everyone the week before that it was a double elimination? I feel pretty disappointed that we won’t get to have more surprise visits from Nikki Bella’s fiance, John... John Cena. 

[themeatlife]

Avengers: Endgame (Spoiler-Free Remix Review), the Legacy of the Avengers, and the Future of Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

For those who haven’t seen it, I’ll discuss Avengers: Endgame - the movie itself without discussing or spoiling plot lines, and the larger impact it has on the legacy of the Avengers and the MCU.

Avengers: Endgame - A Review (Spoiler-Free Remix)

To begin, it’s kind of hard to judge the film on its own. Even more so than its predecessor Avengers: Infinity War, Endgame is largely dependent on the previous films. So the impact of it is less so on someone that’s only seen a handful of the Marvel movies than for someone who has invested time seeing the now 22-film catalog. With that being said, for those who have seen most or all of the other movies, wow. It is both extremely entertaining and extremely gratifying. If you are an MCU fan, Endgame was made especially for you.

While I won’t dive into what happens, what the movie effectively does is show just how far back the arc of the original six (Stark, Rogers, Thor, Banner, Barton, and Romanoff) goes and how far they have come.

Other than a couple of issues, the storyline works very well. I dug the balance it struck between the emotional weight, action, and humor. It was smart to have a lot of small moments early in the film where it focuses the interaction between characters. And it was a lot funnier than I expected it to be. The film as a whole is emotionally gratifying and clearly wraps up this chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is at max effectiveness if you’ve already invested the time in the characters’ previous stories, in particular the original six. If you know the original six’s stories in particular, you will thoroughly enjoy this movie.

Rather than a credits scene, the opening of the credits showcases each of the major Marvel heroes and villains over the years of the MCU, with the actor who played them and ends the sequence with the original six Avengers with the actors’ signatures displayed on screen. Cool way to salute the actors in some of the major roles over the years.

I’ll save my ranking the Infinity Saga movies for after Spider-Man: Far From Home (Marvel President Kevin Feige calls the latest Spider-Man the final installment in the Infinity Saga). You can expect that Endgame would rank very highly in my ranking.

The Legacy of the Avengers

What is the biggest impact the Avengers and Marvel’s Infinity Saga have had on pop culture?

It is crazy to think that when Iron Man came out back in May of 2008 when Marvel Studios was using Paramount to distribute, it was considered a risk. Robert Downey Jr had yet to make his comeback complete (Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes a year later marked his return full return to stardom). Iron Man was a few months before The Dark Knight came out and garnered critical acclaim and helped legitimize the comic book-based genre. And the MCU was in its infancy, no one thought it would become the bohemeth it is now.

Marvel Studios, whether intentional or accidental, helped mold and was molded by the changing methods of which people were consuming their visual entertainment. The early 2000’s saw the advent of binge-watching television, where serial series like Alias, 24, and Lost saw people prefer to consume episodes in bulk. Once Netflix got their streaming service going, the idea of binge-watching caught on everywhere. Television ratings waned as people watched things more on their time on devices other than an actual TV. People only tuned in to things when they are originally broadcast if they were billed as an event, like a series finale (or in Game of Thrones’ case a final season) or a live event like the Super Bowl. Similarly, film started becoming more event-based. Blockbusters had to be built up as an event to go to in order for films to be successful, more so now than any other film era. And in making an event out of their films, Marvel serialized their MCU movies like a season of Lost - individual episodes focused on a character or set of characters with the overarching story in the background until culminating in the season finale, or in Marvel’s case an Avengers movie.

So the biggest impact the MCU has had is shaping other movie studios approach to movie releases. After 2012’s The Avengers, many tried the serialized team-up event concept to varying degrees of failure. Universal flopped trying to launch a shared monsters universe with Tom Cruise’s The Mummy reboot in 2017. Warner Brothers has a semi-successful MonsterVerse going with Godzilla and King Kong. We’ll see how that progresses with the new Godzilla movie this summer. Warner Brothers also has the mostly failed DC Extended Universe. Starting strong with 2013’s Man of Steel but limping thereafter with lackluster installments in 2016’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad and 2017’s Justice League, DC/Warner Bros has seen more success with the mostly standalone attempts Wonder Woman in 2017, Aquaman in 2018, and Shazam in 2019. DC’s current strategy is kind of confusing though, with some plans to continue the DCEU, and other plans to do more standalone work.

So the fact that Marvel’s shared universe set of movies has worked and has been the only one to work so successfully is an anamoly and an achievement. Marvel was allowed to build its world over time, a luxury that was afforded to them by Paramount from 2008-2011 and by Disney when they were acquired in 2012. The first two phases of the MCU spanned ten films from 2008-2015, building a foundation for what the franchise is today. That type of patience has not been lended to DC in particular, something that ended up looking and feeling rushed and resulted in a less successful and less satisfying result in the DCEU.

The Marvel approach has changed not just the method of outside studios release strategies but also in releases within their Disney family. For studios to make money on these films, they have to culminate in an event to get people to the theater. Fewer and fewer indie films turn into financial successes, at least at the theater. So event movies galore are on the horizon at Disney. Disney proper has “live-action” remakes of classics animated classics Aladdin and Lion King coming out this summer and Frozen 2 in the winter. Pixar has Toy Story 4 set for a summer release as well, even though the third installment was originally thought to be the conclusion of the story. Lucasfilm has what has been announced to be the finale of the Skywalker saga in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker coming out this winter. Each of those marketed as an event, whether it be a nostalgic event, an unexpected continuation, or a conclusion of a story.

Up Next for the Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

While Marvel Studios has changed the movie industry and pop culture, it is hard to say what the next step for the MCU is. We know of a few things coming though.

With the announcement of Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, coming in November, there were MCU projects also announced to debut on the service. Loki, Falcon/Winter Soldier, and Wanda/Vision will all get series on Disney+. There will also be an interesting What If series where they were explore what if scenarios of some of your favorite Marvel characters.

The MCU’s film future is less set. We know that Spider-Man: Far From Home (co-release with Sony Pictures) comes out in July and is set in the immediate events after Endgame. After that, we know a few projects are in production but no definitive release dates have been set. Projects include a Black Widow flashback, origin stories for The Eternals and Shang-Chi, and sequels for Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther as well as talks of sequels for Ant-Man and Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Thor (although I think the route for the Thor character should be to join the Guardians).

And then there is 21st Century Fox. Disney acquired the entertainment wing of Fox proper earlier this year (I was scared of Apple taking over the world, but Disney is closer to doing so). Fox owned the movie rights to all the Marvel properties included in the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Fox’s run of X-Men movies presumably concludes this summer with Dark Phoenix. Since Marvel Studios now owns the movie rights to what has been traditionally two of the more popular Marvel brands, one would think some sort of reboot and integration into the MCU would be coming in this next chapter.

I’ll end on this. The Avengers Infinity Saga, the Star Wars Skywalker Saga, and Game of Thrones are all pop culture epics that will be ending their current chapters this year. It is hard to imagine the changing entertainment world will ever have subjects as impactful as these given the number of formats available and the vast number of entertainment options now available. Those three epics, especially the oldest being Star Wars, caught pop culture at a time when people would watch and experience the same thing. Soon, the event-centered entertainment world will grow smaller with less people gathering to experience and watch the same thing. Or maybe I’m wrong and every generation finds a way to galvanize to have that shared experience (Gone With The Wind, the original Star Wars, Titanic in the film world all being previous examples). I hope for the latter, but I can’t help but feel that the record-breaking Avengers: Endgame will be one of the last of its kind: an event that everyone wants to share and experience together.

[nathan-douglas-blog]

Sniffling a bit as he lay on the couch Nathan held a pillow to his chest “Poor Bambi.” He mumbled ignoring the noises of someone slamming a door as they entered the home. Nathan continued to tear up as he continued to watch the Disney movie. He really didn't understand why, even after so many times, the mother's death was always so heartbreaking. Not that he had honestly cared either. His siblings were off doing their own things, which left him by himself.

During these times he often would stay in and watch Disney movies, or something like that. Usually keeping to himself. It wasn't that he didn't like talking or playing with the other children in the neighborhood. He just found he had nothing to say to them, and they really had nothing to say to him either. Not anything nice anyway. Covering the bottom half of his face with the pillow he sniffled as the movie progressed in the next few seconds.

“What the hell are you doing?” An almost disgusted sounding voice sounded off behind him  “Why aren't you outside? It's too nice of a day for you to be in her- Are you crying? Again?!” Robert asked before looking away from him.

Nathan looked up as his father spoke  “I don't want to. I don't feel good. I- I want...”

“I don't really care what you want, Nathan.  You aren't learning anything from this crap.” Reaching down Robert went for the remote and snagged it out of Nathan's hand, then he turned the tv off “It's going to rot your brain, you know that, right? Is that what you want? Do you want to be stupid?” Tossing the remote to the side he snapped his fingers at Nathan “Get up.” The older male said, in an ordering tone.

Nathan turned away  “I am finishing the movie, then I'll go play outside.” He mumbled back. Not even giving his father a glance back as he moved to reach for the remote again.

Robert narrowed his eyes on the other and as they were reaching over for the remote he reached down to grab the pillow “I said now.”

Being stopped Nathan grabbed the pillow and started pulling back  “Let gooo!” He shouts, tugging violently, absolutely annoyed now.

“Nathan, I am your father. When I tell you to do something, you do it!” He tugged the pillow closer to him then pulling Nathan violently toward him “No questions asked. I will not be disrespected, not by you, in my home.”

Pulling harder Nathan glared up at the other  “I don't care what you say! I am not your property!”  With that, the pillow was let go as Nathan jerked back once more and sent himself flying backward from the couch and slamming hard on his back on the floor. Gasping he stuck his stomach out and grabbed onto his back shouting out in pain.

Making his way around the couch then the older male moved closer to his son, making a disapproving sound “See, now look what you did. You hurt yourself.” Lifting Nathan up a bit he moved him around better so he could see the damage done “It's not that bad, stop being a big baby. Walk it off outside.” With that, he stood again pulling Nathan up to his feet as he went to stand.

Sniffling, Nathan started hiccuping as he was rubbing his back as it continueds to sting. He narrowed his eyes on the other male before turning to do what they asked. Only to be stopped by them once again.

“Nathan, if you want. I have time, we can play a game or something outside. Catch?” Robert offered, trying to be nice now.

Nathan swallowed as the other offered, even though he hated sports. His father seemed to have some mission to make at least one of his sons, if not both, some sort of star athlete.  He nods then “Ah..y-yeah...c-catch. Okay, dad.” Forcing a smile on his face he turned to run away from the other.

A week later Nathan was hanging out in Bethany's room,  modeling a pink tutu he had gotten out of grace's old dress up stuff “See, Bee, I think being a ballerina would be coool!”   Moving then he took a seat at the toy tea table with his sister and rest his head in his hands “Dad would be so mad, though. If I told him that, huh?” The other was nice to talk to, they didn't really talk back. Or judge him.  Leaning back in his chair then he tilts it back on its back to legs and looked around as he placed a hand over his stomach, his black t-shirt having an image of Loki on it.

A few minutes later they were both sat on the floor playing with some barbies. Nathan leading with a storyline and helping Bethany with its progression “Noo, Barbie... We can't send Kelly to a boarding school. Why don't you take her to the pregnancy baby doctor instead, she needs to learn about birth...and stuff.” Nathan said, in a manly voice, as he moved Ken toward the Barbie in Bethany's hand.

Just as something of a climax was about to happen as Bethany and he was playing Robert walked in and grabbed Nathan by the upper arm and yanked him up “What the hell is wrong with you? Boys don't play with Barbies.”  He whispered grabbing Nathan's other arm and shook him once. Then yanked Nathan away, ripping the Ken from his hand and tossing it back into the room as they both exited.

Robert lifted Nathan up then, not wanting any resistance as he took his son away from Bethany's room. Then he walked down the stairs only to run into his wife who asked what her husband was doing and where he was planning on taking Nathan “Me, Austin, and he is going to go do some guy stuff.” Robert smiled at her “Also, I found him in Bethany's room playing with dolls again.  I think the boys might be feeling a bit overcrowded, so...” His wife nods and gives him a kiss, then runs a hand through Nathan's hair and tells Robert about the tutu then.

Getting placed back on the ground then Nathan was told to remove it  “But- But...It's not, I seen that-Boys can so wear them!”  Nathan shouted in protest “I am not girlie! I'm tough! Austin's the scardy cat!” He wrinkled his nose then only to watch his father roll his eyes at him and tugged the tutu out of Nathan's hand before handing it to his wife.

“Austin doesn't go around dressing up in girly things or playing with Barbie's. Or cries at stupid cartoons.  He also doesn't talk to his stuffed animals. And you do. And you need to get a haircut, it's getting to be too long.” With that, he picked Nathan back up in an annoyed tugging sort of way before saying goodbye to the girls and leaving the house.

[exoticarmy127]

Evermore: Why Beauty & the Beast lives on throughout generations

“Minutes turn to hours, days to years and gone. But when all else has been forgotten... Still our song lives on.”

Everyone knows the story: how a beautiful young woman fell in love with a hideous beast, lifting a 10-year-long curse from his castle and all who lived there. This is as the song goes, “A tale as old as time”, and anyone who’s anyone would have at least watched this Disney classic at least once. Though I’d like to believe we all managed to watch it more times that we would like to admit. 

But Beauty and the Beast is more than just a love story; a romance between two different people who at first hated each other but eventually grew fond of one another. No. There’s more to this story than what meets the eyes and the most recent live-action remake showed us exactly that and even made us realize what made us love this tale so much in the first place.

I grew up watching Disney films. These stories are the borders of my childhood; the foundation of my beliefs apart from the things taught by parents and teachers. Beauty and the Beast basically taught me never to judge a book by its cover. Funny I should say that considering Belle is portrayed as a bookworm. But it’s true that the tale taught us the value of beauty and how it is not determined by appearance but found within.

This is such a timely theme, considering we live in a world where physical beauty is so important. People strive to be beautiful—to stay beautiful. Judging by the countless beauty advertisements, movie actors and actresses that glitter under lights like stars, we have truly built a “beautiful world.”

Though from another perspective, is it really a beautiful world when there is so much wickedness going on? There are wars being fought; injustices prevailing; evil and insecurities residing in people’s minds and hearts. The world may look beautiful on the outside, but what about on the inside? In order to make this words truly beautiful, people must learn not to let hate rule in their hearts; to be good. I believe everyone is ‘innately good’, no one was born bad… much like the Beast who was only influenced by his cruel father, turning him heartless and unkind. 

People — mostly girls should also be more accepting of themselves. A lot of girls find it hard to tell themselves that they are beautiful, even more so to accept compliments from others. It is sad but this world has made its own standards of beauty which we have fooled ourselves into believing. If you think about it, it’s quite ridiculous to have a common standard for beauty since it’s subjective. We all have different perspectives. Best to keep that in mind next time you look into a mirror. 

Apart from that main message of this story, Beauty and the Beast actually teaches us more things about life—and ourselves—which was very evident in the live-action remake.

One being: girls can be heroines too.

It’s always the knight in shining armor; Prince charming who sweeps us off our feet or defeats the might dragon and saves the damsel in distress. Belle was actually one of the few Disney princesses who didn’t act like a “princess” and did more than just stand there and look pretty, hoping for Prince charming to come and save her from that so-called “provincial life”. Belle was a very active character and even ended up saving everyone in the end. She should definitely be a role model to young girls as she embodies a strong and independent personality which women need to take note of in order to break through ongoing inequalities in society. 

If Belle can save the day, why can’t you? And it’s actually quite amazing how recent Disney princesses like Moana and Elsa from Frozen—or even other classic princesses like Mulan are taking more active roles. 

Beauty and the Beast also has one of the most beautiful — and meaningful songs ever composed in Disney history. So when I discovered that there were going to be new tracks, I was simply overjoyed!

“Days in the Sun” was a beautiful track filled with much hope and longing. Although I adored “Human Again” (and I’m not going to lie, I was a bit saddened at first when I found out that it wouldn’t be in the film), I thought Days in the Sun fitted really well into the scoring and storyline. 

How in the midst of all this sorrow Can so much hope and love endure I was innocent and certain Now I'm wiser but unsure

- from Days in the Sun

Belle’s part in this song really stood out for me as it can be related to our world and how amidst all the sadness and hardships we go through, love and hope are the two things that thrive and keep us going. Also, is it not true that when we were younger and innocent, we were always certain of the things we wanted? Our dreams were pretty clear then and we had it all figured out on who we wanted to be like or what we wanted to do. But as we grew older, we changed—dreams change which often left us unsure. Being wiser doesn’t mean you would know everything…it simply means learning to question things—learning to doubt even.

“Evermore” was my favorite track for this film simply because the beast was humanized through this song…making us see that he is truly indeed a person underneath that beastly appearance.  

Now I know she'll never leave me Even as she fades from view She will still inspire me Be a part of everything I do Wasting in my lonely tower Waiting by an open door I'll fool myself, she'll walk right in...

And be with me forevermore

- from Evermore

It such a sad song and I loved how the Beast was able to show his sorrow at Belle’s departure and express his feelings for her through this scene. His act of letting her go was already a clear sign of his love for her but this song took it to a whole new level when he practically sang how he’d only love her forevermore and that no matter how far she may be from him, he would always be reminded of her.

While watching that scene, I couldn’t help but cry (yes I cried twice when I saw it for the second time) and its not only because I felt through the Beast’s pain but also because I realized we were all the Beast in a way. We’re all flawed, we’re all hurting, and we’ve all lost someone along the way; be it a loved one, a significant other, or a friend. But the memory of them remains and no matter how sad it makes us when we think about them and all that might have been, our experiences with them inspire us and has made us stronger. You know I’ve always believed you can’t un-love someone whom you “truly loved”. Because that love we gave was real, and you can’t really take it back. To move on, you can only love someone more. 

“How Does a Moment Last Forever” basically captured the essence of this beautiful tale. The whole song practically breathes and lives on quotes so I’m not going to mention my favorites because I would end up writing the whole thing. It’s a beautiful song about life and the beauty of its imperfections; and how love is what binds everything together.  

Beauty and the Beast truly has a lot to say about real life and it’s amazing how a fairytale can affect us so much. We fell in love with it in the books… when Disney released the animated version in 1991…and today as we witness it come alive in 2017. Beauty and the Beast taught us that beauty is found within and that love is a powerful catalyst. Most importantly, and I’d say this as it is not said enough, this story taught us about second chances and that it can be granted to those who try to change and become better people.

“Bittersweet and strange, finding you can change, learning you were wrong.” - from Beauty & the Beast

I truly enjoyed watching this film again and dare I say it was as good as watching it for the first time back when I was a little girl. Now that I’m an adult, it became more meaningful and the experience was spellbinding. This is why I think Beauty and the Beast will continue to live on throughout generations… because it is a story with depth; one that teaches us so much about ourselves... 

Teaches us that amidst all the sorrows and hardships, there is love and there is hope. And that’s basically all you need for wonders to happen. 

PS: And to all the hopeless romantics out there...or to those simply looking for their one true love, don’t lose hope. I think everyone thinks they’re not worth it but hey, if Belle can love someone who was as flawed as the Beast … someone can love you too. No matter how crazy or imperfect you may be. 

Related articles:

A Thing or Two from Cinderella: what a Classic Disney movie has to say about Life 

Web Masterlist | Mobile Masterlist

[gretchensinister]

Rules: answer all questions, add one question of your own and tag as many people as there are questions. (Um. That’s not happening. But if I’ve ever sent a chat message to you I definitely want you to do this.)

Tagged by @monsterbrush (I think you’re a spy trying to gather intel on me for some reason)

1. coke or pepsi: Caffiene-free diet coke  2. disney or dreamworks: Dreamworks has a cooler name, Disney has this whole surreal mythology thing with the parks and the fact that it basically controls US copyright law, it’s hard to compare and pick one on any scale 3. coffee or tea: Coffee, as long as there’s an actual liquid milk substance to go in it 4. books or movies: Both! 5. windows or mac: I’ll probably never voluntarily work with a mac, but mostly I don’t give that much of a crap 6. dc or marvel: DCAU FOR LIFE  7. x-box or playstation: The only videogame that I’ve ever said “yes, I must play this” that wasn’t playable on a computer was Journey, which was for the playstation 3, so playstation. 8. dragon age or mass effect: I have actually put mass effect on my tumblr savior blacklist, so I seem to have been more annoyed by posts about mass effect than posts about dragon age. But really I don’t know anything about them. People who do, is either something I would like?  9. night owl or early riser: Honestly I try to be both at once and then just end up wanting to sleep in the middle of the day 10. cards or chess: Cards because everyone who’s invited me to play chess with them thinks I’d be good at it AND I’M NOT 11. chocolate or vanilla: chocolate chocolate chocolate 12. vans or converse: Once I spent a whole semester at college never wearing shoes ever (until it snowed) and literally no one ever said anything, even at the movie theater 13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar: I feel most confident about pronouncing Lavellan or Cadash but otherwise I have no idea what’s going on here 14. fluff or angst: I just want a writer who has a clue what they’re doing 15. beach or forest: the beach but I’m really only in it for the sand 16. dogs or cats: cats 17. clear skies or rain: both, both, definitely both (at the same time) 18. cooking or eating out: I’m too ace for the joke I could make here. Anyway I really enjoy cooking and going out to eat at places that make food that I can’t make in my kitchen  19. spicy food or mild food: I just want a cook who knows what they’re doing (um...but I’ve also actually gone to a hot sauce festival, so) 20. halloween/samhain or solstice/yule/christmas: I can say “both” as many times as I want, right? 21. would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot: A little too cold, because while that would suck, at least I could wear my favorite styles of clothing year-round. 22. if you could have a superpower, what would it be: I really want the power to heal 23. animation or live action: Animation, because everything on screen is on purpose and there’s so much less mumbling than in live action 24. paragon or renegade: Looking at the two words, I prefer renegade 25. baths or showers: Showers, because I don’t like just sitting around in water. All the things I like to sit around doing don’t mix well with water 26. team cap or team ironman: Team I Feel Like Marvel Is Going To Need To De-escalate Their Storyline And I Don’t See Them Knowing How To Do That 27. fantasy or sci-fi: It’s a continuum, so, both/all 28. do you have three or four favourite quotes, if so what are they: “The parties are advised to chill."-Judge Alex Kozinski (Mattel suing Aqua over the song “Barbie Girl”)

“I always had the repulsive need to be something more than human.”—David Bowie

“Life is short And pleasures few And holed the ship And drowned the crew But o! But o! How very blue the sea is.”

― Clive Barker

29. youtube or netflix: I mean, if I had to pick one, I would pick youtube, because netflix has a lower chaos factor 30. harry potter or percy jackson: Harry Potter, but mostly because I saw a percy jackson movie and I absolutely hated what they did with the character of Persephone 31. when you feel accomplished: When I complete my writing goals, and when all the chores get done at work  32. star wars or star trek: I know more about Star Wars, but I’d like to get into Star Trek--I mean, I know there’s a fandom for it.  33. paperback books or hardback books: Paperback, because I’m usually reading three at a time so I prefer lighter formats 34. horror or rom-com: What is the point of horror with no romance or comedy? 35. tv shows or movies: Movies, but this means that I will eagerly see a movie by myself, but friends have to coerce me into watching TV shows, which I then enjoy 36. favorite animal: That one bigfin(?) squid because it’s enough of a diva to want to get filmed, but is confident enough in itself to not sacrifice any of its total horrifyingness 37. favorite genre of music: The playlist that you play while going with your best friend/lover to dispose of the body of someone you didn’t really like in a swamp in Louisiana 38. least favorite book: Atlas Shrugged fuck that thing 39. favourite season: Autumn--everything is very colorful and dead, and the chaos factor of everything increases 40. song that’s currently stuck in your head: I’m listening to music right now so I don’t have a song stuck in my head. But recently I had “We Built This City on Rock and Roll” stuck in my head for a long time at work 41. what kind of pyjama’s do you wear: Flannel pj pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt right now 42. if you could be any fictional character’s best friend, who’d you be?: I would be Sanderson Mansnoozie’s best friend, I feel like that would work out somehow 43. If you can only choose one song to be played at your funeral, what would it be: “Death is the Road to Awe” by Clint Mansell

44. Smiling or smirking?: I mean, when the time is right, you have to have both at your disposal 45. Harry Potter movies or books: books books books 46. Something you’re proud of: the fact that I’ve actually made money off of niche erotica 47. Dub or Subtitles?: Can’t knit with subs, so dubs it is. Unless I started watching something with subtitles. Then I just have to somehow watch a show without doing something else at the same time???????

[aclockworkfilmsnob]

Aside from some of Kubrick's films and Titus Andronicus, do you find any other film adaptations superior to their source material?

I found Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown to be a slightly better film than Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch was a novel. The book shifts gears a little too often, and has way too many storylines (always my go to argument to the book purists who somehow think more information = better) I still enjoyed it a great deal, but I find the Tarantino film superior. 

I felt that Disney’s adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame had a greater emotional impact than the book. I found Frollo to be more intimidating, more sympathetic, and overall more interesting. There’s undoubtedly a better way to tell the story (I’m sure the 1930′s film is excellent, whenever I get around to finishing it) but as it stands I do love the Disney film. 

I kind of hated reading David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. I could not connect with a single character, nothing grabbed my attention, and I never escaped the feeling of simply reading words on a page instead of experiencing a story. But when I watched the movie, which is mostly accurate to the text with the exception of one fantastic scene with Alec Baldwin, and I was blown away. It was fantastic, everything about it from the outstanding performances, great neo-noir esque cinematohraphy for night scenes, and an incredible score by James Newton Howard. While I struggled to get through even 1 page of Mamet’s text, I struggled just as much to pause James Foley’s excellent film. Though even my play and screenwriting professor, who is a huge David Mamet fan, says that his plays are meant to be seen, not read. So I’m positive Mamet knew what he was doing, but simply reading it by yourself is kind of painful. 

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I was never a die hard fan of the Addams Family TV show. But I am absolutely a die hard fan of the movie. 

John Carpenter’s The Thing is a much better film than the 1950′s horror movie it’s based on. 

If looked at as a remake, I consider Dredd to be marginally better than Judge Dredd. I don’t think I have to explain why. 

Though I have not read the Charles Portis novel, I found the Coen Brother’s adaptation of True Grit to be better than the 1960′s film with John Wayne. 

I have not read it yet, but I do plan on reading the book for Starship Troopers sometime in the future. From what I can gather it’s some schlocky ultra-right wing book devoid of any charm or humor, that glorifies fascism and is unnecessarily depressing. I think saying that I’ll like the Paul Verhoeven film more is a safe bet. Considering the fact that it’s one of my favorite movies, and it goes out of its way to mock and satirize the source material, I have a feeling that it won’t get favorable ratings from me. But hey... at least the remake is being more accurate to the book, that’s... fucking atrocious great.

As much as it is one of the worst movies to ever be seen in a theater, I have even less flattering things to say about Battlefield Earth’s source material. Granted, I did not read the whole thing, but rather tortured myself for the first 50 out of 1050 pages to see if I could get the same so-bad-it’s-good entertainment that the movie gleefully delivers me. But it’s just insufferably bad, and reading the plot synopsis left me feeling sick by the end of it. I fail to see how that piece of garbage could find a way to execute such an uninspired and lazy premise. The movie at least has an Ed Wood type of charm, where I personally enjoy find it’s complete and utter incompetency fascinating. 

[captainignatiuspigheart]

Ah, February, My Old Nemesis

Alright, that’s a bit melodramatic… I’ve perked up considerably and the prospect of February brings me neither fear nor hope. It’s been a very quiet week, or at least… I think it has. I’ve spent much of today in a courtroom in our dress rehearsal for Light Night: The Glowstick Trials on Friday at the National Justice Museum (you should come along, especially if you have kids – get em judged by strangers!), and I feel a little perplexed about what I might actually have done this week. Let’s see… Ah, I have it. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time doing minute photoediting at work this week, and I think it’s turned my brain inside out. Don’t get me wrong, I really love learning more about Photoshop (since I use it every day for book design and layout at Aconyte Books, and for doing a similarly wide range of graphics stuff for MissImp, I’d better learn to love it), but I’ve been kinda embedded in the same task, and can no longer perceive the colour blue. Ho hum.

Reading: Between Books

I’ve foolishly ended up reading a pair of books alternately. It wasn’t intentional, but rather situational. I am very fond of my Kindle – it’s amazing to read a book with one hand while brushing my teeth or wandering around the house, so it’s an automatic go-to. On the other hand (or both hands, I guess), I love to read real books with the paper-fondling and all that. So I’ve ended up on two. I’ll not review them before finishing them (that would be daft).

First up, Adam Roberts’ Splinter, which is a curiously Jules Verney adventure about a chap whose dad predicts the end of the world, and turns out to be correct (probably), leaving he, his father and a bunch of believers (in his father) are stuck together on a little chunk of Earth. It’s odd, and I’m struggling to drag myself back it a bit. On the plus side, it’s got this gorgeous cover by Darius Hinks (whose splendid fantasy novel The Ingenious we published back at Angry Robot. He’s a very fine chap too).

Second, I’m back in the Malazan world with Ian C Esslemont’s Return of the Crimson Guard. Kinda digging it. Also noticing more differences from Steven Erikson’s storytelling: there are far fewer “thus”es.

Doing: Lego

I’m at an awkward point in Lego building. I’ve failed to build anything for myself (as in, not as dictated by the instructions in an official Lego set) since my Wizard of Oz at the beginning of last year. That’s a combination of having very little time (mostly due to doing far too much admin for MissImp), and having relatively little space to get all the boxes out for rootling through them. I’ve managed to have a few breakdown and sorting periods which I find very relaxing, but I’ve not felt the necessary inspiration for building. Trying to build and getting nowhere is really grim. Last week I pulled a couple of boxes out and made some intricate and horrifically fragile gold gates, but didn’t know what to do with it.

But yesterday I had the day entirely to myself and after getting a few things done, I got everything out! Ah, six hours crosslegged on the floor leaves a chap utterly unable to stand, but it was totally worth it. I’ve expanded the gate, framed it and started building a structure around it. The tiled floor is very pleasing (I got loads of those quarter circle coral pink tiles from Leicester Square Lego Shop last year). The long hexagonal shape is putting enormous stress on some of the bricks, but I’m pretty chuffed with it. I suspect I’ve over-greebled the walls and will need to tone it right back down, but overally I feel deeply happy about the whole thing. It’s raised up so I can build some terrain and foliage around it when I’ve got some idea what’s going at the back. Some kind of tower…? It’s actually a little further along than these pictures show – check out Instagram for more continuous updates!

Gates!

Flooring!

Acquiring: The Dinosaur Films of Ray Harryhausen by Roy P Webber

I’m rarely able to help myself when it comes to Harryhausen stuff. The man was a fantastic artist, animator and all-round nice fellow. This one’s been on my list for a while, and I’ve finally added it to the stack. Unlike the recent (fantastic) Titan tomes on the Hollywood special effects genius, this one is all black and white and a lot more text and commentary. Accordingly, it’s going to take me a lot longer to get into and through, but I’m delighted to have acquired it.

  Acquiring: Fake Lego Mandalorian

Disney’s super-secret hiding of the baby Yoda spoiler in The Mandalorian was an absolute delight but it has left us with fuck all vital Baby Yoda merchandise! The AT-ST from that brilliant shrimp-harvesting episode (I’m trying to avoid spoilers) is the only real Lego set currently available, so I was utterly at the mercy of knock-off merchants on eBay. The Mandalorian himself has a rather cack helmet print, but the body and armour printing is great, and the overall quality of the parts ain’t bad. Baby Yoda filled my heart with joy though. Shame he’s got a slight nick out of his green face paint (revealing the generic pink below). I’m quite pleased. The Mandalorian is a fantastic show, by the way, the perfect space Western that Star Wars is supposed to be and you should watch it. I’m on my third re-watch now…

Watching: Titans

Ah, this is what I’ve been doing this week… I watched both of these shows last year, but damned if I could recall a single salient story sliver. Titans season 2 popped up on Netflix, and that seemed like a fine opportunity to dive back into season 1 with Marilyn. It’s really fun! I’ve got no idea who any of the characters are (save Robin and Wonder Girl). I feel this a a DC thing – other than Batman and his usual coterie of villains, I’ve never taken to and absorbed a general sense of the DC heroes and villains. The parlous state of their movie universe pretty much guarantees my feelings will stay this way. The show picks up a very violent Robin and a couple of his street-scrapping chums to protect a young girl who appears in dire need of exorcism. They team up with a guy who turns into a green tiger and a spectacular woman who can channel the energy of the sun into burning stuff. It’s proper comics far – somewhat perplexing about why anything’s happening, but it’s all done with a pleasingly gritty tone without too much winking or spandex. The fights are pleasingly violent too – it’s no fun being twatted with a staff, and Titans does not pull those punches. The effects are a bit poor occasionally, but it doesn’t really detract much.

Watching: Star Trek: Discovery

ST: Disco was a delight last year, and caning through it again while playing with Lego and every other activity is proving equally satisfying. I like Discovery because it’s got plenty of mental episodic drama, fun characters and splendid special effects. It’s really all I want from Star Trek. Like DS9 it’s got a strong narrative arc which pleases me, and the cast is pitch perfect (Michelle Yeoh, goddamn). As with all the prequel storylines, I end up completely forgetting that this much better looking, higher tech world with cooler uniforms is actually set way before the hilarious jumpsuits of Next Generation. Great fun, and I’m looking forward to its return with season 3.

Last Week, Sunday 2 February 2020 - lots of TV (Titans and ST: Disco), Lego funtimes (real and fake) and some bookish bits. #reading #lego #harryhausen #glowsticktrials #babyyoda Ah, February, My Old Nemesis Alright, that’s a bit melodramatic... I’ve perked up considerably and the prospect of February brings me neither fear nor hope.

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Inside Marvel Studios: Secrets About 'Black Panther,' 'Captain Marvel,' 'Thor: Ragnarok' & More!

It's a risk letting anyone see how the superhero sausage is made, but that's exactly what Marvel Studios did when they opened the doors of their offices to a pack of reporters on Monday night for an Open House. The itinerary for the event was shrouded in secrecy — Marvel's usual M.O. when it comes to anything connected to their Cinematic Universe — so each room on the tour contained some new surprise, unfolding like a game of Clue where the players were mostly actors named Chris.

RELATED: Talking 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,' Bad Guys and Baby Groot With Marvel Boss Kevin Feige 

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THE LOBBY: "A lot of people get to go into the office lobby, but few people get to come past here," our tour guide, executive producer Jeremy Latcham (The Avengers and Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man: Homecoming), says. The recently renovated offices occupy the entire second floor of their building on the Walt Disney lot in Burbank — a far cry from the offices the studio used to apparently share with a kite factory.

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Three iterations of the Iron Man suit loom over the lobby couches, giving the waiting room a Tony Stark's-lab-before-it-was-blown-up-in-a-terrorist-attack vibe, while Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana's costumes "straight from the set" of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 are on display next to the receptionist's desk, with a cheeky sign warning, "Obviously if you touch the costumes or stand on the stage, Baby Groot will push the button!" (The lobby is also the first and last place in Marvel HQ where anyone is allowed to take photos.)

Marvel Studios

THE DEVELOPMENT LOUNGE: Where the Marvel team develops their film slate and how the cinematic universe is all connected—and if the room is any indication, where they play ping-pong and pin ball. The room showcases a model of the Helicarrier from Avengers and another of Disneyland, walls lined with signed Marvel posters ("Kevin, you rock!" Saldana scrawled on Guardians of the Galaxy), and Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, is propped next to TV.

There's a mural painted on one wall showing Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa staring off at a tree full of panthers and — though Black Panther doesn't finish filming until Wednesday and won't hit theaters until 2018 —we assembled around a coffee table topped with an encased Baby Groot to watch three minutes of sizzle reel for the movie.

"This is not a world that we've ever seen--as big as it is, as advanced as it is, and also the respect and the homage paid to its past traditions," Angela Bassett, serving for the gods in regal headdresses and flowing white dreadlocks as T'Challa's mother, Ramonda, teased in the clip. Judging from the concept art and brief glimpses of behind-the-scenes footage, the film will be as lush as it is sci-fi: shots of T'Challa in his upgraded Black Panther suit in the jungle, fighting in a bar and giving a political speech. A mountain glowing with vibranium. At one point, if I'm not mistaken, I saw an armored rhinoceros. (I think I saw an armored rhinoceros. There are probably weaponized rhinos in Black Panther, guys.)

Marvel Studios

THE LIBRARY: "Obviously, a somewhat condensed comic book library," Latcham disclaims while gesturing to shelves full of comic books that run the length of an entire hallway. "Not quite everything we would want. We want all the comics. At all time." Littered amongst the comic books are various props from various movies: a stunt Eye of Agamotto (the real one is with composer Michael Giacchino), a model of an Orloni, the little alien Star-Lord uses as a microphone in the Guardians of the Galaxy opening credits, one of Captain America's real shields. ("There are a lot of shields that exist.")

Marvel

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT: Bypassing an innocuous enough cubicle farm, we're led to some of the most privileged offices at Marvel: of the "vis dev" team, headed by Ryan Meinerding, where one can find concept art for movies in all stages of production. Like in Meinerding's own office, where a computer drawing of Thanos, for the upcoming Infinity Wars, is being projected onscreen, showing a smirking Thanos sans his customary armor. "He's awesome. He's powerful. He's got a big glove with some jewels in it," Meinerding plays coy. (Indeed, all the Infinity Stones are present.) What about that tower of deconstructed rubble behind him? "Oh... [Laughs] I can't talk about that one." 

One office over, director Peyton Reed has popped in to work on Ant-Man & The Wasp. The walls are lined with concept art for the movie, including a gag with a bulldog chomping on Luis' shrunken van, a more metallic Hope van Dyne-era Wasp suit and rejiggered suits for Ant-Man and Giant-Man (Paul Rudd at various sizes). But is that Sharon Stone in the Janet van Dyne-era Wasp suit? Reed laughs, "It is not Sharon Stone."

And then there's something new: concept art of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, in a slightly darker and grittier take on her classic comic book suit, complete with the star on her chest and a shorter, blonde haircut. In another shot, she's seen fighting two metal robots with an inferno blazing around her fist. "It's just enough to inspire everyone, to get everyone super psyched," Latchman explains. "So by the time the Captain Marvel movie actually comes out, whether she'll be that exact costume? Who knows." It may change when a director is hired. "Actually, it does have a director. They've just--No?" Reed called from the back of the room. Latcham looked momentarily shocked before both laughed and said it was only a joke. (Or was it? Who knows.)

Marvel Studios

EDIT BAYS: A dimly lit room with one large screen and plenty of seating around it, where Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is on hand to edit visual effects. For us, though, he's announcing a new character in the film—but it is not a classic Thor character. "He features heavily in the Planet Hulk storyline which we're borrowing from," Waititi says of Korg the Kronan, an 8-foot tall rock creature in, as he puts it, "a 2017 metal bikini." 

"Being made of rocks, we really wanted to get someone like The Rock to play him, but there wasn't enough chicken or salmon in Australia to sustain both him and Chris [Hemsworth]," Waititi explains. "So, the next best thing was a hot--super hot--export from New Zealand. A great character actor named Taika."

Waititi provided a look at Korg in various stages of VFX, from the director donning the mo-cap suit ("The emasculation suit, as Mark Ruffalo likes to call it") to a rough cut of the scene where the lovable brute first meets and befriends Thor. I'll say this much: It's all very funny, closer to the tone of the director's last film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, than The Dark World. Korg also has a silent sidekick, Miek, an insectoid larva-thing operating an exoskeleton with knife hands. Miek is absolutely repulsive and so, so cool.

Marvel Studios

SCREENING ROOM: An intimate theater in which co-president Louis D'Esposito claims all Marvel films start and end, and where we are being treated to dailies from "Motherland"—the production title of Black Panther. The footage is raw ("Blue screens. Bad sound. You're going to hear cursing. You're going to see a grip's leg in one shot," D'Esposito warns) but it really is quite stunning.

We see bits of two sequences, the first involving King T'challa's correlation at Warrior Falls: his royal bodyguards, the Dora Milaje, rhythmically stomping and chanting aboard a ship. A shirtless Boseman descending a set of stairs into a pool of water and receiving the power of the Black Panther. The footage is beautiful and colorful and musical--unlike anything we've seen in the MCU thus far. The second, potentially more spoiler-y sequence, involves Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis from Age of Ultron, upgraded with some sort of prosthetic arm) meeting Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman from Captain America: Civil War) in a South Korean casino to discuss mixtapes and vibranium.

Following the dailies, D'Esposito cued a string of VFX shots from Spider-Man: Homecoming (or "Summer of George," as it was known). Director Jon Watts was busy scoring the movie with composer Giacchino, but our sampling of the 2,300 effect shots were so brief it's hard to describe exactly what we saw: Peter's pre-Civil War suit is the non-Stark Industries one seen in the trailer. One of the weapons wielded by the villains is a reclaimed and modified Ultron arm. Tom Holland's abs. "His body is real," D'Esposito joked. "We did not touch it."

Marvel Studios

THE COURTYARD: Our tour ends where it began, at an open-air courtyard in the center of the building where drinks and sushi are being served. "We go away and we have creative retreats together," Latchman adds. "Basically we'll rent a house in Palm Springs and we'll all go out to the desert with a big stack of Post-it notes and plan out the next Phase." What Marvel Phase were they discussing at their last retreat? "If I told you that, you guys would know everything!"

As a goodbye, we're greeted by president Kevin Feige, who oversees the entire operation and knows answers to questions that haven't even been asked yet. All Feige wants to talk about, though, is last weekend's Star Wars Celebration and The Last Jedi trailer. When the topic returns to Marvel's slate and specifics about, say, whether there's a Guardians of the Galaxy Easter egg in the new Thor trailer, he deadpans, "I can neither confirm nor deny." Alas, that answer is hidden somewhere else inside Marvel Studios.

[themeatlife]

Avengers: Endgame, the Legacy of the Avengers, and the Future of Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

#DontSpoilTheEndgame is over on Monday, so I’ll discuss Avengers: Endgame - the movie itself and the larger impact it has on the legacy of the Avengers and the MCU.

Avengers: Endgame - A Review

To begin, it’s kind of hard to judge the film on its own. Even more so than its predecessor Avengers: Infinity War, Endgame is largely dependent on the previous films. So the impact of it is less so on someone that’s only seen a handful of the Marvel movies than for someone who has invested time seeing the now 22-film catalog.  With that being said, for those who have seen most or all of the other movies, wow. It is both extremely entertaining and extremely gratifying.  If you are an MCU fan, Endgame was made especially for you.

Now, SPOILERS AHEAD!

I’m not going to explore all the plot points (because there is a LOT of plot), I want to hit on some of the major ones though.

Much of the first two hours of the film (this thing has a three hour run time) is spent in the melancholy post-Snapture.  The opening scene is Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye with his family as they disappear from Thanos’ snap.  Just in case you forgot the stakes that were established in Infinity War, well this will certainly remind you.  We see our heroes trying to deal with loss and trying to move on in the aftermath.  I like this touch.  Throughout the MCU, the writers and directors have always tried to a least have a sort of psychological realism, always visiting not only the epic battles but the emotional aftermath.  To reenforce this, next we see Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man and Karen Gillan’s Nebula stranded in space running out of resources to get to Earth (much of this featured heavily in the trailer). It looks hopeless until Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel rescues them and reunites them with the surviving Avengers at Avengers HQ in upstate New York. She doesn’t really have much of a role in the film outside of this and the some of the final sequences.

After hunting down and killing Thanos in the first 20 minutes of the film (Thor goes for the head this time), time jumps to five years later.  Earth’s mightiest heroes go on what Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man calls a “time heist,” a quest to use the quantum realm go to the past to collect the Infinity Stones.  Ant-Man’s return from the quantum realm having only aged 5 hours rather than 5 years spurs this. Not to change the past and prevent Josh Brolin’s Thanos from the Snapture, but to bring everyone back that was lost by the Snap, mainly because Stark now has a family with Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts and a little daughter he doesn’t want to lose.

The time heist features three teams: Iron Man, Ant-Man, Chris Evans’ Captain America, and Mark Ruffalo’s now hybrid Bruce Banner/Hulk going back to 2012 during the Battle of New York in the first Avengers movie to retrieve the Space, Mind, and Time Stones.  Chris Hemsworth’s now broken and depressed and overweight Thor and Bradley Cooper’s Rocket Raccoon going back to Asgard in 2013 during the events of Thor: The Dark World to retrieve the Reality Stone.  And Don Cheadle’s War Machine, Nebula, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye/Ronin, and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow going back to Morag/Vormir in 2014 during the time of the first Guardians of the Galaxy with War Machine and Nebula tracking down the Power Stone and Hawkeye and Black Widow tracking down the Soul Stone.  Highlights from these ventures include Captain America fighting his 2012 self, Thor interacting with his mother on the day of her death, and Hawkeye and Black Widow’s dramatic fight for who will sacrifice their life so the other can get the Soul Stone.  We also get a bonus time jump back to 1970 with Iron Man and Captain America. (My gosh, so much plot here, and that’s not even all of it. No wonder this thing is three hours long.)

While I won’t dive too deeply on what happens, what this part of the movie effectively does is show just how far back the arc of the original six (Stark, Rogers, Thor, Banner, Barton, and Romanoff) goes and how far they have come.  We also get to see how focused 2014 Thanos was at achieving his Snapture goal even back then.  And it’s a good excuse for Marvel to revisit some of the places they have been, kind of like a Greatest Hits album (although I wouldn’t consider The Dark World one of those hits, I would consider it a flex by Disney/Marvel to make one of their lesser movies that important in the long term story).

And then the last hour of the film is all kinds of crazy action, and the results are satisfying and enjoyable. 2014 Thanos gets onto the Avengers plan and sends 2014 Nebula to replace 2023 Nebula to go back to the future (OH I forgot to mention there were a lot of Back to the Future and other time travel movie jokes). So 2014 Nebula opens up the quantum realm portal to 2014 Thanos. That Thanos takes out the Avengers HQ right after the Hulk snaps his finger with the new Stark-made Infinity Gauntlet. There is then a showdown between Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man against Thanos, after which sets up an epic splash-page like final battle between Thanos’ Chitari army and the recently resurrected rest of the Avengers crew. Highlights in this part include a psyched Thor when Captain America not only lifts up Thor’s hammer Mjolnir but summons it and wields it’s power and a touching brief reunion between Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Iron Man. The battle ends with Tony Stark swiping the Infinity Gauntlet back from Thanos and snapping Thanos and his army out of existence.

This concludes the Tony Stark character arc, for the snap was too much to bare and ultimately kills him. But not before Peter Parker and an Iron-suited Pepper Potts say their goodbyes (Potts with the emotional “now you can rest” line). There is a somber funeral sequence with all the major Marvel characters that are still alive making an appearance, along with a big surprise.

After the funeral, we also see the conclusion of the Steve Rogers story arc. Hulk sends Rogers back in time to return the Infinity Stones back from where they grabbed them. He doesn’t return when Hulk tries to summon him back but Anthony Mackie’s Falcon and Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier notice someone sitting on a bench in the distance. It’s old Steve Rogers, who ended up settling down in the past after returning the stones. He hands off the Captain America shield to Sam.

The movie ends with Steve Rogers sometime in the 1940’s in a new house finally having that dance with Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter.

Rather than a credits scene, the opening of the credits showcases each Marvel hero over the years with the actor who played them and ends the sequence with the original six Avengers with the actors’ signatures displayed on screen. Cool way to salute the actors in some of the major roles over the years.

Other than a couple of time travel issues (time travel is ALWAYS tricky to pull off in movies and television and maybe some other time I’ll go over those), the storyline works very well. I dug the balance it struck between the emotional weight, action, and humor. It was smart to have a lot of small moments early in the film where it focuses the interaction between characters. And it was a lot funnier than I expected it to be. The film as a whole is emotionally gratifying and clearly wraps up this chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But as I said earlier, it is at max effectiveness if you’ve already invested the time in the characters’ previous stories, in particular the original six. If you know the original six’s stories in particular, you will thoroughly enjoy this movie.

I’ll save my ranking the Infinity Saga movies for after Spider-Man: Far From Home (Marvel President Kevin Feige calls the latest Spider-Man the final installment in the Infinity Saga). You can expect that Endgame would rank very highly in my ranking.

The Legacy of the Avengers

What is the biggest impact the Avengers and Marvel’s Infinity Saga have had on pop culture?

It is crazy to think that when Iron Man came out back in May of 2008 when Marvel Studios was using Paramount to distribute, it was considered a risk. Robert Downey Jr had yet to make his comeback complete (Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes a year later marked his return full return to stardom). Iron Man was a few months before The Dark Knight came out and garnered critical acclaim and helped legitimize the comic book-based genre. And the MCU was in its infancy, no one thought it would become the bohemeth it is now.

Marvel Studios, whether intentional or accidental, helped mold and was molded by the changing methods of which people were consuming their visual entertainment. The early 2000’s saw the advent of binge-watching television, where serial series like Alias, 24, and Lost saw people prefer to consume episodes in bulk. Once Netflix got their streaming service going, the idea of binge-watching caught on everywhere. Television ratings waned as people watched things more on their time on devices other than an actual TV. People only tuned in to things when they are originally broadcast if they were billed as an event, like a series finale (or in Game of Thrones’ case a final season) or a live event like the Super Bowl. Similarly, film started becoming more event-based. Blockbusters had to be built up as an event to go to in order for films to be successful, more so now than any other film era. And in making an event out of their films, Marvel serialized their MCU movies like a season of Lost - individual episodes focused on a character or set of characters with the overarching story in the background until culminating in the season finale, or in Marvel’s case an Avengers movie.

So the biggest impact the MCU has had is shaping other movie studios approach to movie releases. After 2012’s The Avengers, many tried the serialized team-up event concept to varying degrees of failure. Universal flopped trying to launch a shared monsters universe with Tom Cruise’s The Mummy reboot in 2017. Warner Brothers has a semi-successful MonsterVerse going with Godzilla and King Kong. We’ll see how that progresses with the new Godzilla movie this summer. Warner Brothers also has the mostly failed DC Extended Universe. Starting strong with 2013’s Man of Steel but limping thereafter with lackluster installments in 2016’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad and 2017’s Justice League, DC/Warner Bros has seen more success with the mostly standalone attempts Wonder Woman in 2017, Aquaman in 2018, and Shazam in 2019. DC’s current strategy is kind of confusing though, with some plans to continue the DCEU, and other plans to do more standalone work.

So the fact that Marvel’s shared universe set of movies has worked and has been the only one to work so successfully is an anamoly and an achievement. Marvel was allowed to build its world over time, a luxury that was afforded to them by Paramount from 2008-2011 and by Disney when they were acquired in 2012. The first two phases of the MCU spanned ten films from 2008-2015, building a foundation for what the franchise is today. That type of patience has not been lended to DC in particular, something that ended up looking and feeling rushed and resulted in a less successful and less satisfying result in the DCEU.

The Marvel approach has changed not just the method of outside studios release strategies but also in releases within their Disney family. For studios to make money on these films, they have to culminate in an event to get people to the theater. Fewer and fewer indie films turn into financial successes, at least at the theater. So event movies galore are on the horizon at Disney. Disney proper has “live-action” remakes of classics animated classics Aladdin and Lion King coming out this summer. Pixar has Toy Story 4 set for a summer release as well, even though the third installment was originally thought to be the conclusion of the story. Lucasfilm has what has been announced to be the finale of the Skywalker saga in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker coming out this winter. Each of those marketed as an event, whether it be a nostalgic event, an unexpected continuation, or a conclusion of a story.

Up Next for the Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

While Marvel Studios has changed the movie industry and pop culture, it is hard to say what the next step for the MCU is. We know of a few things coming though.

With the announcement of Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, coming in November, there were MCU projects also announced to debut on the service. Loki, Falcon/Winter Soldier, and Wanda/Vision will all get series on Disney+. There will also be an interesting What If series where they were explore what if scenarios of some of your favorite Marvel characters.

The MCU’s film future is less set. We know that Spider-Man: Far From Home (co-release with Sony Pictures) comes out in July and is set in the immediate events after Endgame. After that, we know a few projects are in production but no definitive release dates have been set. Projects include a Black Widow flashback, origin stories for The Eternals and Shang-Chi, and sequels for Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther as well as talks of sequels for Ant-Man and Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Thor (although I think the route for the Thor character should be to join the Guardians).

And then there is 21st Century Fox. Disney acquired the entertainment wing of Fox proper earlier this year (I was scared of Apple taking over the world, but Disney is closer to doing so). Fox owned the movie rights to all the Marvel properties included in the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Fox’s run of X-Men movies presumably concludes this summer with Dark Phoenix. Since Marvel Studios now owns the movie rights to what has been traditionally two of the more popular Marvel brands, one would think some sort of reboot and integration into the MCU would be coming in this next chapter.

I’ll end on this. The Avengers Infinity Saga, the Star Wars Skywalker Saga, and Game of Thrones are all pop culture epics that will be ending their current chapters this year. It is hard to imagine the changing entertainment world will ever have subjects as impactful as these given the number of formats available and the vast number of entertainment options now available. Those three epics, especially the oldest being Star Wars, caught pop culture at a time when people would watch and experience the same thing. Soon, the event-centered entertainment world will grow smaller with less people gathering to experience and watch the same thing. Or maybe I’m wrong and every generation finds a way to galvanize to have that shared experience (Gone With The Wind, the original Star Wars, Titanic in the film world all being previous examples). I hope for the latter, but I can’t help but feel that the record-breaking Avengers: Endgame will be one of the last of its kind: an event that everyone wants to share and experience together.

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Inside Marvel Studios: Secrets About 'Black Panther,' 'Thor: Ragnarok' 'Spider-Man' & More!

It's a risk letting anyone see how the superhero sausage is made, but that's exactly what Marvel Studios did when they opened the doors of their offices to a pack of reporters on Monday night for an Open House. The itinerary for the event was shrouded in secrecy--Marvel's usual M.O. when it comes to anything connected to their Cinematic Universe--so each room on the tour contained some new surprise, unfolding like a game of Clue where the players were mostly actors named Chris.

RELATED: Talking 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,' Bad Guys and Baby Groot With Marvel Boss Kevin Feige 

THE LOBBY: "A lot of people get to go into the office lobby, but few people get to come past here," our tour guide, executive producer Jeremy Latcham (The Avengers and Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man: Homecoming), says. The recently renovated offices occupy the entire second floor of their building on the Walt Disney lot in Burbank--a far cry from the offices the studio used to apparently share with a kite factory.

Three iterations of the Iron Man suit loom over the lobby couches, giving the waiting room a Tony Stark's-lab-before-it-was-blown-up-in-a-terrorist-attack vibe, while Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana's costumes "straight from the set" of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 are on display next to the receptionist's desk, with a cheeky sign warning, "Obviously if you touch the costumes or stand on the stage, Baby Groot will push the button!" (The lobby is also the first and last place in Marvel HQ where anyone is allowed to take photos.)

THE DEVELOPMENT LOUNGE: Where the Marvel team develops their film slate and how the cinematic universe is all connected--and if the room is any indication, where they play ping-pong and pin ball. The room showcases a model of the Helicarrier from Avengers and another of Disneyland, walls lined with signed Marvel posters ("Kevin, you rock!" Saldana scrawled on Guardians of the Galaxy), and Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, is propped next to TV.

There's a mural painted on one wall showing Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa staring off at a tree full of panthers and--though Black Panther doesn't finish filming until Wednesday and won't hit theaters until 2018--we assembled around a coffee table topped with an encased Baby Groot to watch three minutes of sizzle reel for the movie.

"This is not a world that we've ever seen--as big as it is, as advanced as it is, and also the respect and the homage paid to its past traditions," Angela Bassett, serving for the gods in regal headdresses and flowing white dreadlocks as T'Challa's mother, Ramonda, teased in the clip. Judging from the concept art and brief glimpses of behind-the-scenes footage, the film will be as lush as it is sci-fi: shots of T'Challa in his upgraded Black Panther suit in the jungle, fighting in a bar and giving a political speech. A mountain glowing with vibranium. At one point, if I'm not mistaken, I saw an armored rhinoceros. (I think I saw an armored rhinoceros. There are probably weaponized rhinos in Black Panther, guys.)

THE LIBRARY: "Obviously, a somewhat condensed comic book library," Latcham disclaims while gesturing to shelves full of comic books that run the length of an entire hallway. "Not quite everything we would want. We want all the comics. At all time." Littered amongst the comic books are various props from various movies: a stunt Eye of Agamotto (the real one is with composer Michael Giacchino), a model of an Orloni, the little alien Star-Lord uses as a microphone in the Guardians of the Galaxy opening credits, one of Captain America's real shields. ("There are a lot of shields that exist.")

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT: Bypassing an innocuous enough cubicle farm, we're led to some of the most privileged offices at Marvel: of the "vis dev" team, headed by Ryan Meinerding, where one can find concept art for movies in all stages of production. Like in Meinerding's own office, where a computer drawing of Thanos, for the upcoming Infinity Wars, is being projected onscreen, showing a smirking Thanos sans his customary armor. "He's awesome. He's powerful. He's got a big glove with some jewels in it," Meinerding plays coy. (Indeed, all the Infinity Stones are present.) What about that tower of deconstructed rubble behind him? "Oh... [Laughs] I can't talk about that one." 

One office over, director Peyton Reed has popped in to work on Ant-Man & The Wasp. The walls are lined with concept art for the movie, including a gag with a bulldog chomping on Luis' shrunken van, a more metallic Hope van Dyne-era Wasp suit and rejiggered suits for Ant-Man and Giant-Man (Paul Rudd at various sizes). But is that Sharon Stone in the Janet van Dyne-era Wasp suit? Reed laughs, "It is not Sharon Stone."

And then there's something new: concept art of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, in a slightly darker and grittier take on her classic comic book suit, complete with the star on her chest and a shorter, blonde haircut. In another shot, she's seen fighting two metal robots with an inferno blazing around her fist. "It's just enough to inspire everyone, to get everyone super psyched," Latchman explains. "So by the time the Captain Marvel movie actually comes out, whether she'll be that exact costume? Who knows." It may change when a director is hired. "Actually, it does have a director. They've just--No?" Reed called from the back of the room. Latcham looked momentarily shocked before both laughed and said it was only a joke. (Or was it? Who knows.)

EDIT BAYS: A dimly lit room with one large screen and plenty of seating around it, where Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is on hand to edit visual effects. For us, though, he's announcing a new character in the film--but it is not a classic Thor character. "He features heavily in the Planet Hulk storyline which we're borrowing from," Waititi says of Korg the Kronan, an 8-foot tall rock creature in, as he puts it, "a 2017 metal bikini." 

"Being made of rocks, we really wanted to get someone like The Rock to play him, but there wasn't enough chicken or salmon in Australia to sustain both him and Chris [Hemsworth]," Waititi explains. "So, the next best thing was a hot--super hot--export from New Zealand. A great character actor named Taika."

Waititi provided a look at Korg in various stages of VFX, from the director donning the mo-cap suit ("The emasculation suit, as Mark Ruffalo likes to call it") to a rough cut of the scene where the lovable brute first meets and befriends Thor. I'll say this much: It's all very funny, closer to the tone of the director's last film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, than The Dark World. Korg also has a silent sidekick, Miek, an insectoid larva-thing operating an exoskeleton with knife hands. Miek is absolutely repulsive and so, so cool.

SCREENING ROOM: An intimate theater in which co-president Louis D'Esposito claims all Marvel films start and end, and where we are being treated to dailies from "Motherland"--the production title of Black Panther. The footage is raw ("Blue screens. Bad sound. You're going to hear cursing. You're going to see a grip's leg in one shot," D'Esposito warns) but it really is quite stunning.

We see bits of two sequences, the first involving King T'challa's correlation at Warrior Falls: his royal bodyguards, the Dora Milaje, rhythmically stomping and chanting aboard a ship. A shirtless Boseman descending a set of stairs into a pool of water and receiving the power of the Black Panther. The footage is beautiful and colorful and musical--unlike anything we've seen in the MCU thus far. The second, potentially more spoiler-y sequence, involves Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis from Age of Ultron, upgraded with some sort of prosthetic arm) meeting Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman from Captain America: Civil War) in a South Korean casino to discuss mixtapes and vibranium.

Following the dailies, D'Esposito cued a string of VFX shots from Spider-Man: Homecoming (or "Summer of George," as it was known). Director Jon Watts was busy scoring the movie with composer Giacchino, but our sampling of the 2,300 effect shots were so brief it's hard to describe exactly what we saw: Peter's pre-Civil War suit is the non-Stark Industries one seen in the trailer. One of the weapons wielded by the villains is a reclaimed and modified Ultron arm. Tom Holland's abs. "His body is real," D'Esposito joked. "We did not touch it."

THE COURTYARD: Our tour ends where it began, at an open-air courtyard in the center of the building where drinks and sushi are being served. "We go away and we have creative retreats together," Latchman adds. "Basically we'll rent a house in Palm Springs and we'll all go out to the desert with a big stack of Post-it notes and plan out the next Phase." What Marvel Phase were they discussing at their last retreat? "If I told you that, you guys would know everything!"

As a goodbye, we're greeted by president Kevin Feige, who oversees the entire operation and knows answers to questions that haven't even been asked yet. All Feige wants to talk about, though, is last weekend's Star Wars Celebration and The Last Jedi trailer. When the topic returns to Marvel's slate and specifics about, say, whether there's a Guardians of the Galaxy Easter egg in the new Thor trailer, he deadpans, "I can neither confirm nor deny." Alas, that answer is hidden somewhere else inside Marvel Studios.