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frozen10fanzine · 11 months ago

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Frozen Through the Years

Yearly Spotlight: 2019

Written by @toriofthetrees

After six long years, 2019 saw the release of the long-anticipated sequel, Frozen II.

The lead-up up to the release was intense to say the least.

The first teaser trailer premiered in February, opening with Elsa on a black-sand beach stripped down to her bare essentials, barefoot, ready to take on a raging sea. She attempted twice to cross the torrential waters before the trailer turned to Anna’s shock of hundreds of diamond-shaped glass covered in strange symbols, taking over Arendelle. Following closely behind were several moments of Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff, and Anna taking on dangerous challenges, and a show of strange, foreign magic. All of this was centered around this new, mysterious setting known only at the time as an autumnal forest.

It gave just enough of a preview to hook millions.

The trailer was viewed and downloaded several million times on Twitter and YouTube within a short amount of time. In the fandom, a storm of news, posts, speculation, and discussions broke out over several platforms, too chaotic to keep track of. The months that followed the teaser were absolutely brimming with excitement! Across cinemas, television, and the internet—both in the US and internationally—came many trailers, sneak peaks, and posters about the upcoming movie. Alongside this came leaks as well, all of it sparking speculation in the fandom over what the plot of the movie could be.

Countless books about Frozen II came onto the market before the film was even released, notably without the end of the film printed within their pages. This lead to fans in many locations to protest the shops selling these books, wanting their money back.

Most of these protests lead to no results.

Success for Disney Studios, specifically. contributed to the exposure for Frozen II. ~In March, Disney invested billions of US dollars in company acquisitions across the film and TV industry, creating the most powerful media company in the world in the USA. ~This was the year of the 6th Disney D23 Expo, the biggest Disney fan event of the year! It was held on August 23–25 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California, showcasing news and pictures around all the new Disney parks, resorts—and movies! Including Frozen II! ~On November 12, 2019, Disney launched its streaming platform Disney+ in several countries ~2019 ultimately proved to be Disney's most successful cinema year to date, regardless of which new film was released!

All of this led up to the release of Frozen II on November 20, 2019 in most countries (unfortunately some countries had to wait until the beginning of January).

This new installment to Elsa and Anna’s story saw the sisters and their found family making a long trek away from Arendelle… in order to save it. Mysterious magics send them up north to the Enchanted Forest, that is covered in an impenetrable mist. Yet, it parts for them. The deeper they go into the forest, the more they discover about themselves, their family, the spirits, Arendelle… so that only one thing can be said for certain: Nothing will ever be the same again.

This film was polarizing.

In the cultural zeitgeist, it was a massive success like its predecessor, exceeding Frozen as the highest grossing animated film of all time. It received mostly positive reviews and it would go on to be nominated for multiple awards, including an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. The Disney merchandising machinery was running at full speed and earned the company many more millions within a short amount of time. The limited edition dolls were sold out on the same day as release! However, it notably did not have the same cultural reach that its predecessor had. “Into the Unknown,” to many, was not comparable to “Let it Go.” And the film was nominated aplenty, but never actually received any awards.

However, it was within the fandom that this polarization was seen the clearest.

Frozen II made good on its promise that nothing would ever be the same for these characters. The sisters, though still as close as ever, no longer lived under the same roof by the end of the film. Elsa abdicated her crown for her duties as the Fifth Spirit and Guardian of the Enchanted Forest, while Anna took over as Queen of Arendelle. This separation, whilst to some was a step-up for the sisters, others saw as a step back. This debate rages in the fandom to this day, and many, many fans on Tumblr, Reddit, and other social media prefer Frozen to its sequel.

The fandom did gain some new content, including the addition of multiple ships. There were two that were rather popular. The first was Agduna (Agnarr/Iduna), which came about because of the major focus Frozen II had on them, the sisters’ parents. The second was Elsamaren (Elsa/Honeymaren), which came about because Honeymaren had a minor, but important interaction with Elsa in the film that sent her on the right path to Ahtohallan.

Just as Frozen II’s main theme—change—impacted the sisters, so to it did the fandom. The polarizing effect of the film lead to quite passionate arguments over its content. However, the fandom did not get any smaller or lose any passion. People continued to create, debate, discuss, and post about Frozen and Frozen II. In interviews, the cast and crew said that Frozen II was made to grow up with the audience who were there when the first film was released in theaters. With that in mind, the fandom no longer looked like it did when Frozen first came out.

Things change.

But we can still all agree on one thing: We love Frozen 💕

Stay Tuned For More

👆🏻 Click above if you want to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Frozen. The due date is April 12, 2024.

We look forward to seeing your memories ❄️

#frozen #frozen10 #frozen 2 #anna #sven #elsa #olaf #olaf's frozen adventure #ofa #water has memory #frozen fever #frozen 10th anniversary #for you #fyp #tumblr fyp #yearly spotlight

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notealotgoingon · 1 year ago

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2023 Bullet Journal Cover & Lists

- movies - books - physical music stickers

(typed list below cut)

Movies

X (2022) ★★★★★ 1/9

Pearl (2022) ★★★★★ 1/10

Jason X (2001) ★★★ 1/17

X (2022) ★★★★★ 1/26

Pearl (2022) ★★★★★ 2/11

Rosemary's Baby (1968) ★★★★★ 2/11

Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special (2023) ★★★★★ 2/12

Skinamarink (2022) ★★★★ 3/8

Re-Animator (1985) ★★★★ 3/12

Ring (1998) ★★★★★ 3/12

Ju-On: The Grudge (2002) ★★★★ 3/12

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) ★★★★ 4/2

Scary Movie (2000) ★★★ 4/3

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) ★★★★★ 4/5

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) ★★★★★ 4/18

Scary Movie 2 (2001) ★★★ 5/3

Scary Movie 3 (2003) ★★ 5/4

The Green Knight (2021) ★★★★★ 5/20

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) ★★★★ 5/21

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) ★★ 6/6

Evil Dead Rise (2023) ★★★★1/2 6/27

Nimona (2023) ★★★★ 7/2

Barbarian (2022) ★★★★ 7/6

Malignant (2021) ★★★★ 7/7

Barbie (2023) ★★★★★ 7/23

Scream VI (2023) ★★★1/2 8/1

Saw (2004) ★★★★ 8/1

Frozen (2010) ★★ 8/2

Resident Evil: Death Island (2023) ★★★★ 8/21

Studio 666 (2022) ★★★★ 9/4

The Exorcist (1973) ★★★★1/2 9/4

Saw II (2005) ★★★★ 9/9

Saw III (2006) ★★★1/2 9/9

Saw IV (2007) ★★★1/2 9/9

Saw V (2008) ★★★ 9/9

Saw VI (2009) ★★★ 9/9

Saw 3D (2010) ★★ 9/9

Jigsaw (2017) ★★★ 9/10

Miss Americana (2020) ★★★★ 9/10

Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) ★★1/2 9/17

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) ★★★★1/2 9/24

Saw (2004) ★★★★1/2 9/25

Saw II (2005) ★★★★1/2 9/26

Dracula (1931) ★★★★ 10/1

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) ★★★1/2 10/1

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) ★★★★ 10/1\

House of 1000 Corpses (2003) ★★★★ 10/8

Friday the 13th (1980) ★★★★1/2 10/13

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023) ★★★★★ 10/19

Saw VI (2009) ★★★1/2 10/28

Saw 3D (2010) ★1/2 10/29

Saw X (2023) ★★★★1/2 11/6

Saw IV (2007) ★★★1/2 11/20

Saw X (2023) ★★★★1/2 11/20

Terrifier (2016) ★★★1/2 12/4

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) ★★ 12/4

Saw V (2008) ★★★1/2 12/4

Terrifier 2 (2022) ★★★1/2 12/11

The Green Knight (2021) ★★★★★ 12/18

Sonic Christmas Blast(1996) ★★1/2 12/22

Black Christmas (1974) ★★★★★ 12/23

Black Christmas (2006) ★★★1/2 12/24

Saltburn (2023) ★★★★ 12/29

Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour (2018) ★★★★★ 12/30

Books

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle 1/2

The Witcher: The Last Wish by Andrzej Sakowski 1/12

We Can Never Leave This Place by Eric Larocca 1/14

Causes and Cures in the Classroom by Margaret Searle 1/29

Vox Machina: Kith & Kin by Marieke Nijkamp 2/1

Black is the Body by Emily Bernard 2/4

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 2/18

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green 2/19

Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth 2/26

The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King 3/7

Ring by Koji Suzuki 4/14

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher 4/14

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez 5/8

Circe by Madeline Miller 5/19

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka 5/30

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 6/1

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker 6/25

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson 6/28

The Lesbian Classics Get Me Off by Chuck Tingle 6/28

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace 7/5

Teacher of the Yearby M.A. Wardell 7/7

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King 7/17

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone 7/31

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle 8/4

The Writing Revolution by Judith C. Hochman & Natalie Wexler 8/10

You Can Go Your Own Way by Eric Smith 8/20

Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson 9/12

Small Spaces by Katherine Arden 9/27

Reforged by Seth Haddon 10/8

Fifty Feet Down by Sophie Tanen 10/23

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty 11/22

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett 12/2

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade 12/7

Wildfire by Hannah Grace 12/5

Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice 12/12

Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica 12/19

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers 12/20

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo 12/28

Stowaway and Silent Song by Vera Valentine 12/29

Physical Music Media:

(this isn't all of the records/CDs I've gotten or listened to this year, but I figured I'd decipher the stickers I put in the book; these are all of the promo stickers on the outside of the plastic wrapping on the releases)

Beat the Champ - the Mountain Goats

Paradise - Lana del Ray

Red (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift

What's it Like? - Sure Sure

Did You Know There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard? - Lana del Ray

Stick Season - Noah Kahan

The Rest - boygenius

Midnights (Late Night Edition) - Taylor Swift

Raving Ghost - Olivia Jean

The Record - boygenius

Speak Now (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift

Dark in Here - the Mountain Goats

Bangerz (10th Anniversary Edition) - Miley Cyrus

God Games - the Kills

1989 (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift

#mine #studyblr #notes #aesthetic #bujo #bullet journal #bujolife #bujo aesthetic #bujoinspo #bujoblr #bujo list #2023 reap #booklr #books #film

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subjectivecuriosities · 7 months ago

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My ★★★★½ review of Ghostbusters (1984): https://boxd.it/6HLVi1

My ★★★★½ review of Ghostbusters II (1989): https://boxd.it/6IvEWb

My ★★★½ review of Ghostbusters (2016): https://boxd.it/6ISbnd

My ★★★½ review of Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021): https://boxd.it/6JjZVX

My ★★★½ review of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) on: https://boxd.it/6JSNQ7

#movie review #film review #letterboxd review #subjective curiosities #first time watch #letterboxd #1980s #trash vhs #Ghostbusters #ghostbusters afterlife #ghostbusters frozen empire #ghostbusters fandom

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 2 months ago

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I already see it, now that MOANA 2 looks to make around $140-150m for the 3-day weekend take, $200m+ for the 5-day, and plenty more worldwide overall... It's kicking some serious ass, for sure, much like how INSIDE OUT 2 did for Pixar earlier this year.

Like I said, I already see it...

That's it, no more original movies ever again! Especially if ELIO flops! They'll just convert more failed Disney+ shows into sequels!

Once again, no panic buttons here. Only "let's assess" buttons, lol.

Yes, it's true that MOANA 2 was an up-conversion from a Disney+ series, and apparently they crunched the living heck out of the animators/crew because that decision to change things happened way too late in the game... And they're being rewarded at the box office for it, though reviews aren't spectacular and an Oscar nom ain't likely. I wouldn't be surprised if that MUFASA thing has more of a shot at this rate than MOANA 2 does, which I don't think it really has to begin with - it did, however, begin life as a movie from the ground up. If Barry Jenkins somehow pulled it off and people like it, who the hell knows lol. I have no interest, myself.

Back on track, I really do think that something went down at WDAS after WISH imploded at the box office, and Disney themselves did a panic button-pressing because heaven forbid they didn't have a new WDAS movie ready for Thanksgiving 2024. Heck, WISH being a centennial celebration might've been a panic button move in its own way. But yeah, the MOANA 2 situation seemed like this to me: Delay an original, take this MOANA Disney+ series that was showing some promise, quickly make that a movie instead of giving the studio a more reasonable spring 2025 release date to work towards, have our first genuine box office hit since FROZEN II- Anyways...

There's only one Disney+ WDAS show left, and that's TIANA, which to my knowledge is to remain a show.

Even though the streaming bubble has burst and such, but yeah, it still looks to be a show and could probably debut any time next year. From what I understand, it's a Burbank-Vancouver production much like MOANA 2 was, and is aiming for a stylized look in its visuals. More SPIDER-VERSE than actual 2D animation, apparently.

Disney announced TIANA, alongside MOANA: THE SERIES, IWAJU, ZOOTOPIA+, and BAYMAX! in December 2020. Back when these companies convinced themselves that these streaming services were the future. But times have changed, and I feel a lot of MOANA 2 becoming a thing had to do with just how damn popular the original 2016 movie is year after year on streaming services. I'm sure they wanted to do a movie sequel for some time, and that desire probably just grew over the years. I don't think THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG sees that kinda traction on streaming, unless I'm mistaken. Tiana and her world have indeed held on well after the 2009 film's so-so performance ($267m against an $105m budget, 2 1/2x, really didn't seem to be to Disney's liking), the film has a theme park attraction now, but I don't know if it's all enough to make Disney switch gears on TIANA. They could, they may not.

And if they did... I can only hope that such a switch doesn't happen months away from release, yet again. That seemed to be a Jennifer Lee (and John Lasseter) specialty, just micromanaging the hell out of these movies during the finalizing process. No more "lock the picture and go", that's been a thing of the faaaaaar past. I wonder if current leader Jared Bush does the same as Lee and Lasseter, or refrains from that and makes production go smoother. Work out perceived problems very early on, not while the movie itself is being animated, lit, finalized, scored even.

I do not know. I think we get a taste of how Bush runs things when that 2026 movie comes out. MOANA 2 really did seem like a real stopgap production, and a very rushed one at that. The original FROZEN was reportedly such a production, too. Apparently WDAS had nothing for 2013 and hastily put ANNA AND THE SNOW QUEEN, a project halted in early 2010, back in the works to make that date. And eventually retitled it to FROZEN. Supposedly it was in a "development" race w/ KING OF THE ELVES to get that fall 2013 slot. Perhaps the best example of a sort-of "stopgap" film in terms of Disney animated films is none other than... DUMBO! Belted out on a relatively shoestring budget by a B-team within two years, at a time when World War II really made a dent in the Disney studio's armor. They needed something economical out while the "A-team" was still hard at work on BAMBI, which wouldn't be released for another year... In addition to all its other delays. You know, BAMBI was originally supposed to be the second-ever Disney animated feature after SNOW WHITE? Work began on it in 1936, one year before SNOW WHITE's world premiere, but due to so many complications, PINOCCHIO and FANTASIA eventually pulled ahead of it and came out first... BAMBI wouldn't be released until 1942, as the studio's fifth all-animated feature, sixth overall if we're counting hybrid THE RELUCTANT DRAGON.

Where was I? Oh yeah, so there are some tweets floating around that are all like "Disney's just gonna movie-ify more D+ shows" and "No more originals".

Again, TIANA's the only WDAS-made Disney+ series left as far as I know. If that even gets turned into a feature.

And... I've said it before. You don't get sequels without originals, and the wells eventually run dry. Even the other big-time animation studios know this...

WDAS has sequelized most of their 2010s output, and likely won't touch the pre-CGI stuff. Disney Pictures instead just remakes those. No animated legacy sequels to the classics. Though could you imagine how much moolah Disney would make if they got a great 2D unit together and made a true LION KING sequel? That would make *serious* bucks... But that would never happen, lol. And would cause headaches amongst some as to what counts and what doesn't, if it were to ignore the Disneytoon sequels and such.

I know some of us get upset when the slate seems rather sequel-heavy, and in the case of both WDAS and Pixar... It kinda does seem that way, not gonna lie.

WDAS has ZOOTOPIA 2 next year, FROZEN III in 2027, and FROZEN IV sometime thereafter. No word on what the 2026 original is, and I'm pretty sure they'll keep an original slotted for 2026. The studio doesn't really do two movies a year like Pixar's been doing, save for 2016 packing both ZOOTOPIA and MOANA, and 2021 - because of COVID - serving up RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON and ENCANTO... If they did that, I think they'd have more originals to balance out sequels. So in a way, I get it. It seems like a looong wait for something original, as the years go by. Well, that's what we have other animation studios for. If Disney's not bringing an original movie in a calendar year from either of their studios, then look to someone else. This year, we did get non-sequel movies like TRANSFORMERS ONE and THE WILD ROBOT, some streaming stuff like ORION AND THE DARK and ULTRAMAN RISING. Most of those maybe based on books or IPs or whatever, but weren't sequels to anything.

As frustrating as that is for Disney fans, it's not like the 1960s and 1970s, where the waits between a new Disney animated feature would be like 3-4 years. And you didn't have the classic ones on any home media formats, unless you somehow had access to film prints of them.

The other thing is, "original movies" this, "original movies" that... When it seems like most of the internet wasn't too fond of... The majority of the original movies both WDAS and Pixar had put out over the past four years. Suppose ZOOTOPIA 2 next year blows all of those movies out of the water and is a bona fide high quality home run... Then I think it will boil down to what I always think it boils down to, when it comes to armchair purveyors of animated family film excellence... It ain't the lack of originals, or the lack of specific devices/tropes these people want in their animated movies...

They just want good storytelling, however they may define that.

Fwiw, I liked a lot of those so-called "mid" originals. Pixar I think let out some entertaining films like ONWARD and LUCA, and I absolutely loved TURNING RED, and ELEMENTAL has some great stuff in it. On the WDAS end, I found RAYA to be a fun film and ENCANTO has moments of greatness, I see a better film trapped under STRANGE WORLD's Koeingsegg pacing and undercooked story. WISH was really the only animated Disney release of the 2020s to really leave me with little, but I didn't straight up dislike it.

That's all a discussion for another day, really. MOANA 2 is said to be an obvious patchy job from said purveyors, but I heard at least two ovations at my cinema job, audiences coming out of it very satisfied, lots of families taking photos with the cardboard lobby displays too. It seems like they really dug it... I won't be surprised if this thing legs it all the way to $500-600m domestically alone, and get the big billion worldwide...

Anyways, I'm waiting patiently for WDAS to announce what the 2026 movie is. That'll be three years since the release of WISH...

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hollywoodevilgossip · 2 months ago

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Moana 2 Box office$109.6 million

As of November 29, 2024, Moana 2 has grossed $85.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $24.1 million in other territories,[citation needed] for a worldwide total of $109.6 million. In the United States and Canada, Moana 2 was originally projected to gross $105–115 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.[54] After making $57.5 million on its first day (including $13.8 million from Tuesday night previews, both the highest-ever for a Walt Disney Animation film and Thanksgiving week release), five-day estimates were raised to $175–200 million.It then made a record $28 million on Thanksgiving, nearly doubling Frozen II's previous high of $14.9 million.

Red One Budget$200–250 million Box office$122.5 million

The film received mixed reviews and has grossed $122 million worldwide on a $200–250 million budget.

#dwayne johnson #hollywood #chris evans shitshow #chris and alba pr #alba baptista shitshow

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frankendykes-monster · 3 months ago

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In the wake of the recent election in America, I’ve been thinking a lot about the politics of nostalgia, the yearning to return to some imagined perfect past, and how that overlaps with the broader culture of nostalgia that defines so much of modern media.

Sure, I’m typing this out having just seen Gladiator II, but I could just as easily have articulated these same thoughts after The Force Awakens, Ready Player One, Justice League, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, The Rise of Skywalker, the third season of Star Trek: Picard, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Alien: Romulus, the Frasier reboot, Deadpool and Wolverine, or so many others. Of course, one doesn’t like to pre-judge movies, but one gets the sense that this might be just as applicable after seeing Fantastic Four or Superman next year. It is not so much any one thing as it is every thing.

This particular thing just happens to be Gladiator II, a sequel to a film that was itself a nostalgic throwback to the swords and sandals epics of yesteryear as the studio system found itself on the cusp of a digital revolution. That was hardly the most original production, but it was at least nominally fresh. Gladiator II is reheated leftovers that were already well-aged. In some ways, it’s not fair to lay this criticism at the feet of Gladiator II. After all, Gladiator II is a better film than many (really most) of those projects I listed. It’s just the project that happened to have the misfortune to cross my path as I was thinking this through, as this thought was pushed to the front of my mind.

There is a tendency to get a little bit defensive about the argument that a given film “speaks to its moment”, particularly when that film is a genre exercise or a nostalgia cash-in. There is a way of thinking about movies that equates timeliness with a hierarchy of importance or quality, and which bristles at the implication that a film like Gladiator II might capture the spirit of the moment despite (and maybe even because) it is not very good. Still, Gladiator II speaks very much to this moment. It feels like a movie in tune with this very strange moment.

Ridley Scott is fascinated by decadence. It’s tempting to tie this grim view of human nature to the tragic passing of his brother Tony, an event from which Ridley - by his own account - never recovered. However, just consider Scott’s first three films: The Duellists, Alien and Blade Runner, all portraits of cultures that seemed stuck in decline. It is a theme that becomes particularly pronounced in his recent work: the decay of powerful families in All the Money in the World and House of Gucci, the deconstruction of the historical fantasy of a time of “honour” in The Last Duel and Napoleon, even the inevitable rot of humanity itself in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

Gladiator II is not about Rome. No historian is needed to acknowledge that. This is a world of homeless encampments, graffiti, newspapers, water coolers, civil protests and blockbuster entertainment about sharks. This is a world where the characters talk about “the Roman Dream”, but nobody ever talks about the backs of the slaves upon which it was built. In short, Gladiator II is about contemporary America. In particular, it is a film about the inevitable moral reckoning that comes for a society that is unable or unwilling to engage with its own past beyond nostalgic spectacle. Empires fall, Emperors too. The fish rots from the head. A house built on a foundation of quicksand will surely sink.

There are some smart touches in Gladiator II. The film opens with an echo of Gladiator, depicting an epic battle against a “barbarian” horde. This time, however, the audience’s sympathies are asked to align with the conquered, not the conquerors. The entire film is built on the foundational assumption that Maximus’ sacrifice at the end of Gladiator meant nothing, that it changed nothing. No hero is coming to save Rome, as Rome is itself rotten. It’s telling that Gladiator II doesn’t really have a character like Maximus, instead splitting the character’s function across multiple characters like Lucius and Marcus. It’s also telling that Gladiator II deconstructs the romance of Marcus Aurelius, revealing that - for all his enlightened ideas - he kept and branded slaves.

Scott is genuinely vicious here. Paul Mescal is a charming young performer, but he is no leading man in the style of Russell Crowe. Instead, Scott gives the movie over to Washington’s charismatic villain, who makes the argument that “Rome must fall.” The audience intuitively understands that they don’t want Rome to fall - such is the logic of these sorts of films - but it’s very telling that Gladiator II never offers a counterpoint to Macrinus. There is nobody as charismatic as Washington, and there is no counter argument to be convincingly offered against his criticisms. Scott has always been cynical, but there is something especially bleak in Gladiator II. This is a movie that finds the time - in its over stuffed climax - to show beloved character actor Derek Jacobi being stabbed and murdered. Poor old Claudius, he wouldn’t last a moment in these vicious times.

There are hints of a reckoning here, but they are constantly undermined by the film’s need to keep reminding the audience of Gladiator, in much the same way that Rome placates its citizens with mock recreations of famous battles, empty echoes of past glories. Lucius might be a “barbarian” from the colonies, but he is also “the Prince of Rome.” He cannot be a victim of Roman imperialism, because he has to be a legacy character. He has to wear Maximus’ armour. He has to inherit Maximus’ mannerisms. He has to hear and read Maximus’ words. He has to have his own catchphrase that mirrors and echoes that of Maximus. Gladiator II is trapped by the same nostalgia that it recognises as an inevitable byproduct of imperial decline.

There is an unresolvable paradox here. Gladiator II is a story about how Marcus Aurelius and Maximus failed to save Rome. As in movies like The Force Awakens or Ghostbusters: Afterlife or shows like the third season of Picard, it comes baked into the premise. Our heroes left unfinished business. Their children might not inherit a house or a good economy, but they will inherit the existential struggles against hostile forces that these heroes failed to properly vanquish. Somehow, fascism returned. It’s no wonder that this is the subtext of so many of these sequels, but it exists in conflict with the inherent romance and nostalgia for these properties. Sure, these are all failed heroes who ultimately left their problems for their children to face in their absence, but they are also fetishisation objects deserving of worship and adulation.

Gladiator II is not the first of these sequels to fail to square this proverbial circle. However, it’s very telling that the resolution of a film built around the failure of the dream of Marcus Aurelius has nothing more to suggest than “… maybe if we dream harder this time?” This is the real trap of these endless nostalgia treadmills, the dreams of a society that has given up on any thought of a better future, and so retreats into an increasing rotten past in the hope that it might at least offer an escape from the present.

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shojo · 1 year ago

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Wish Review/Thoughts/Stuff

Not a formal review, just some bullet points of my thoughts on Disney's Wish. Letsa go.

***SPOILERS BELOW SO, YA KNOW, BEWARE***

So. I liked it. It was sweet, gorgeous to look at, and a simple fairytale. But I think that's the movie's biggest weakness because

There are no consequences. Just like Frozen, Raya, Frozen II, etc. the heroes go on this big quest and the stakes are freaking high like oh shit are they actually gonna go there an- Oh. Wait. Nope. Everything and everyone is fine and there's a happy ending and the movie's order and nothing was lost and will never be lost the end. When Magnifico crushed Asha's mother's wish I thought for a second that he killed her. Straight up. But then no she's just... really sad. And that sucks but she's fine. And those other three citizens are fine. Their dreams are literally crushed but, yeah, they're fine. Simon betrays Asha. He says sorry. They're friends again. They're all fine. Magnifico body slams a 17 year old girl into the stone floor more than once. She's fine. Whatever evil that has taken hold of Magnifico is just.. defeated. That's fine. This is fine. Everything's fine. Which brings me to my next critique that there is

So much set up and little to no pay off. What was the deal with the burned ends of the tapestry? What terrible fate was Magnifico trying to avoid? What's the deal with the evil book? Why did it have it? Does it have something to do with the story in the tapestry? Why did they mention Asha's grandfather's age multiple times (did you know he's turning 100 years old and can still ride a horse and play the guitar) and then do nothing with that information? Were they hinting at grandpa not living to get to see his wish granted? Was Asha trying desperately to get his wish granted because she knew he wouldn't have too much longer to live? What's the typical life span of a citizen of Rosas? Is 100 the new 40? Why was Magnifico so suspicious of granting grandpa's gift of playing music? Does this have to do with the story of the tapestry?? Why does Dahlia have a cane? Is she injured or is it a disability? Why are we trying to represent a person with a disability and then never mentioning it throughout the entire run time of the movie? Does her wish have anything to do with why she has a cane? Does her wish involve making the best damn cookies this kingdom has ever seen because to hell with her disability because she's got kickass friends who love her for her and don't want/need her to change but will the movie ever address this? If Dahlia knows about the inner workings of the castle does she know about the story in the tapestry??? What happened to Asha's dad? Why don't we get to see him, not even in a flashback? Why couldn't he have been the stand-in for Walt himself? Was Asha's dad the one to inspire her to draw and create animation just as Walt inspires us/a new generation of dreamers to this day? (Are we just going to gloss over the fact that Asha created her own snippet of animation? And that she must love to draw because she has so many pictures in her notebook? Can we please have a Disney heroine that loves to not only draw but animate?) And if Asha is about to turn 18 and her grandpa is turning 100, how does that work?! How old is her mother? Did they not have kids until they were in their 40s? Is he Asha's great great grandpa instead? If he's turning 100, should he know more about the city's history? Should he be older than Magnifico? DOES HE KNOW ABOUT THE STORY IN THE TAPESTRY THAT MAGNIFICO IS TRYING SO DESPERATELY TO NOT HAVE HAPPEN TWICE? JENNIFER LEE, I HAVE QUESTIONS AND I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO HAVE, LIKE, FOUR OF THEM ANSWERED PLEASE.

*deep breaths*

Valentino is Olaf without the heart. Let me explain. Olaf is a comic relief sidekick. He's also the reason Elsa and Anna reconnected after years of isolation and is a core memory for the girls. He's their holiday tradition. He's their friend. Elsa made him. Olaf, whether you love him or like him, is an essential part of the story of Frozen. Valentino is a comic relief sidekick. He's Asha's three week old friend/pet/buddy/cute animal. Um. He talks now. He's super cute. Love his outfit. Says some funny lines. Alan Tudyk. .... That's about it.

Chris Pine knocked this out of the damn park. Excellent voice acting on his part, loved his inflections and growls and everything in between. Very nice. Handsome king is handsome. Yes.

Asha and her friends are a better retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs than that live action movie will ever hope to be (if it ever gets finished).

Like I said, I did like this movie. Being the Disney nerd that I am, I was a sucker for all the references to previous Disney films (heck, the freaking opening text got me) and I'm going to go through this movie with a fine tooth comb the second I get my hands on a pause button on Disney+ to find them all. This movie seems to be getting a lot of hate which I don't think is warranted but there's obvious flaws and holes a mile wide in the plot. I'm hovering between a 6 or a 7 out of 10 or a solid B rating at the moment of writing this.

Also Asha is a tour guide and I am a tour guide so we're practically twins.

#wish #disney wish #shojo movie reviews #movie review #wish movie #wish disney #wish spoilers #the joke about point number 8 is that I am a white girl #ha ha i'm hilarious

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in-sufficientdata · 1 year ago

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Marti's Dining Out Guide

The Care and Feeding of Your Server

(American edition)

I. Servers make less than the minimum wage. Minimum wage for servers is typically half the prevailing minimum wage in that area, but in other places it's still frozen at $2.13 an hour, a holdover from the 90s. Servers are supposed to make up the difference via their tips.

This is what the employer typically expects, because the law states that if the server isn't making enough in tips to make the prevailing minimum wage, the employer needs to pay them enough to make up the difference. Therefore, making enough in tips isn't just a matter of making a living wage - it's a matter of keeping their job. If the employer has to repeatedly make up a shortfall in the server's check, this becomes a reason to place their employment under review.

In an at-will state, this typically leads to the server being fired fairly quickly. Therefore, it's important you tip adequately as the customer. The current wisdom says to tip 15%-20%. Many former servers will tip 25% or more just because they know how hard the job is.

II. How hard the job is? Yes. Waiting tables is mentally and physically demanding. Keep in mind that your server may be working a 5-8 hour shift (or longer, in the case of someone working a swing shift) and be granted only a few breaks during that time.

The law grants a 30-minute lunch break to any minor who works 5 hours or more. The law doesn't grant breaks to adults until they have an 8-hour shift, however. The server is typically expected to remain constantly moving when not on break.

Besides the duties the server has in keeping up with the tables in their section, they usually also have a list of sidework that needs to be done. These include jobs that are done daily, such as cleaning the spray heads on the pop machines, and jobs that are done weekly, such as removing all the glass racks and cleaning the tracks. These are all done to keep the restaurant clean and free from pests, so it's important that they be done, but these are additional tasks servers are not tipped for. Besides this, servers are expected to help others.

This is why often when you dine out, someone other than your original server will bring out the food. Any server who happens to be nearby when the cook calls the order as finished is supposed to run the food if they are able. This is to ensure your meal will be fresh as possible.

III. Please be courteous when you dine out. Your server is also a person. They have feelings. They also only have so much time and have to multitask while taking care of you. Ways you can help your server, and therefore make your server have an easier time serving you:

Be prepared when they arrive to give your drink order, and the order for any appetizers you wish to have.

Use the time after they get your drink order to decide what you're going to eat, rather than conversing with your companions. They understand that it can be exciting to dine out with people you haven't seen in a while, but not being ready causes delays and leads to the server having trouble with prioritizing things. Typically, the rotation of the way customers are being seated is planned out to make it easier to stagger things, but not being ready often leads to the server being forced to enter two orders into the computer at once.

Please have dishes that need taken away placed in an easily accessible spot when the server returns, near the edge of the table. Stacking them in a safe way is also helpful.

If you come in with a large party, plan on tipping above and beyond what the restaurant charges for a gratuity. Some people believe the restaurant does this to make it so you don't have to tip at all, but it's actually because far too many people go out with a party don't tip. A large party is harder to serve than a smaller one - there's more to coordinate happening all at once. Drink refills and plated food need to be brought out before they get old, all at once. Also, the server often cannot take other tables while serving your party.

You're filling up their section, and they're too busy trying to coordinate things to fuss with other tables. This means the (typically) 8% the restaurant charges automatically is NOT enough to make up the entire amount that should be tipped on a large bill.

If you're dining alone, you might also consider tipping a bit extra if: a. You have been seated at a table for 4 or more during a busy shift. b. You intend to sit and read or do other activities for an extended period of time. Your server really, truly doesn't care about you being alone, they just want to be sure you sitting there doesn't cost them money. - If you get a mediocre server, please still tip. There are many factors that could interfere with their performance and they need the money.

If you get an especially GOOD server, please consider filling out a comment card with their name on it, or contacting the manager. I have seen servers get raises because of having enough good reports. They could also be promoted to trainer or get other rewards.

I can't emphasize this enough: do not come in at or just before close. Coming in within 30 minutes of close is guaranteed to delay closing procedures and make life harder on everyone working at the restaurant. So, if you find yourself sitting and talking with your party at closing time, make it a point to clear out at that time. You can continue your conversation in the parking lot. If you stick around after close, either because you came in too late. or because you just keep sitting there, your server will end up getting in trouble for not having closing procedures done on time. Don't do it. Don't do it. Just don't.

Don't thank your server repeatedly and then fail to leave a tip. Thanking your server effusively is not a substitute for tipping them. Ever.

Don't leave religious tracts and fail to tip. If you're a Christian, you have to understand this is a terrible witness. Even if you believe your server needs to hear that, your server can't pay rent with their eternal salvation. Usually this just makes your server very angry and blame all Christians for your action. So you know. Don't.

If it's busy and your children have made a mess, don't shrug your shoulders and reason that it's their job to pick it up. Please do what you can to tidy things at least somewhat. The server needs to turn that table over to make another tip.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but feel free to comment with other tips or information for people who might read this. For example, I've never worked at a restaurant where servers have to divide their total tips - I'm sure there are things they'd say that idk.

#mine #tipping #servers #waiting tables #american tipping culture #advice #observations #reposting everything from my twitter feed #i'm about to delete everything so get it while it's hot #tweet: 2018

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allseeinganalyst · 2 years ago

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Frozen II Novels - Review

It's been a while since I reviewed or analyzed anything here. This blog was made for that exact purpose, but I've posted one half-hearted review-ish thing about Mob Psycho and the Nanoha look-back is taking a while.

Part of that is due to being that I find myself in weird mental spaces more often than I'd like. The internet is a hell-hole, but it's also one that's borderline impossible (and certainly very impractical) to actually just sever ties to. I've ditched Twitter and I don't use TikTok (except to look at videos my partner sends me), but I still get, somehow, hit with a lot of LOUD, SHOUTY voices that seem to make it impossible to enjoy anything.

After about three-to-four midlife crises about things (i'm 30 this November), and a chat to my partner, I've managed to get the mental TARDIS that is my mind up and running again, ready to tour the fictional universe and enjoy what is has to offer, getting back into the things I love, without getting bogged down in the screeching of fandoms and social media.

Gods, that was a very long way of trying to say "I read a cool Frozen book."

Frozen 2 - Forest of Shadows and Frozen: Polar Nights - Cast into Darkness are two original novels set in the world of Frozen (Duh.) Forest of Shadows was released in 2019 and I actually read it back then, while Polar Nights was released in 2022, and I picked it up from Target and read it in march of 2023.

To get this out of the way, while it does sometimes throw people off, I am actually a big fan of Frozen. I've loved it since the first movie. It's not my favourite Disney film (that would be Tangled, and whoo-BOY, will we get to Tangled related media at some point on this blog!), it's probably a close second. I love the animation, I love the songs, I love the characters and I love the world. I was even sad when the hype for Frozen died down, and no, I don't think Enchanto is better - That's another LOUD SCREECHY OPINION that I'm not sad to hear less of.

These are obviously not the only Frozen novels out there. I do own "A Frozen Heart", which I've really got to get around to, because apparently it contains some Hans backstory, and Hans is a character I'm really interested in learning more about, and obviously there is a slew of additional Frozen media. Frozen-Mania gripped the world in a chokehold not seen since the god-damn Shrek movies, and it had an effect on our media and culture so great that no doubt, someday there will be an essay on youtube by Super Eyepatch Wolf explaining and analyzing the overwhelming impact of a Disney movie from 2013 and the INSANE fandom that sprung out of it - which I was a part of from very early on, and quite honestly you can use it as a self-contained example of how fandom has changed since then... BUT I'M DIGRESSING.

The point I was trying to make here is that, most of the media released post the original Frozen movie is fairly generic. Baring one or two things, and of course, the animated shorts, a lot of it is standard kids stuff - Storybooks, Quick Reads, Junior novels, picture books, etc. Some of it is really fun, and the art was almost always either a wonderful, bright cartoonish 2D style, or a painterly, soft style that's really pretty to look out - But not a lot of is espeically unique. It's got a "Frozen Flavour" to it, but it's all very standard. If you changed one or two things, you could swap out Elsa and Anna for Rapunzel, or Ariel, or any other number of Disney Princess characters and the stories would be more-or-less the same. Stuff that mum and dad can give to their kids to let them have their Frozen fix without having to endure "Let it Go" one more time. (Side note: If you do happen to be one of those people who're bitching about how over saturated that song is - Fuck you, I'm going to play it again on purpose.)

The point I'm getting around to is that these books, cheep target paperbacks they may be, are not that. There's a distinct world and continuity here, and it's even possible to place a timeline.

These books (I believe there may be a third between them for a reason I'll get too shortly) have recurring characters, direct continuity and callbacks. All of them expand on the world of Frozen, moving away from the generic Disney-Princess storytelling of kingdom mishaps and "oh-no! character X is lost/upset/lost a precious item/wants to do something special/has a special occasion/etc" and into a deliberately constructed world, with a soft but distinct influence from Nordic and Sandenavian folklore.

They are not perfect, but they are worth talking about. Spoilers abound below, for those of you who are interested!

I'm not going to summarize the plots. I want to talk what I find interesting, annoying, curious, fun or frustrating about these books. These reviews are intended as a form of looking after my own mental health anyway. If you're interested, I've given names and pictures of the covers. Go look them up. Or better yet, read the books yourselves and tell me what you think!

The coolest (pun 400% intended) part about these books is they are clearly on a timeline. They're designed to slot very nicely into Frozen canon, and do so very tightly I might add. The timeline that we can establish is:

Frozen > 3 YEARS > Forest of Shadows > Frozen 2 > Polar Nights.

Forest of Shadows leads directly into the events of Frozen 2, even referencing the scene where Elsa wakes up the spirits at the end, while Polar Nights is explicitly stated to be a matter of 2-3 months since Anna took the throne.

During that 3 YEARS period there, you can obviously slot in Frozen Fever, Olaf's christmas special and probably one or two of the storybook stuff released post Frozen. If the (hilarious) "Olaf Reenacts Disney Movies" shorts are in ANY way canon (and... They MIGHT be to some degree, I'll get to this later...) they almost definitely slot in between Frozen 2 and Polar Nights. Again, I'll get to why later.

I believe I am missing a novel or story somewhere that fits into the same timeline as Polar Nights references an event that's a bit too specific to not have been depicted in some form of media, but I can only work with what I find locally. Although I am in no uncertain terms a fan, I only have so many resources and time to put toward things, and Frozen isn't at the top of that list. If a novel appears on a store shelf, I'll buy it. If it doesn't, I go without.

While my thoughts are mostly focused on Polar Nights, because I read Forest of Shadows over 3 years ago. I'm talking about both novels for the most part.

They are decent in size. Small enough for kids to read with no trouble, but more than a short story. Both tell full length, original stories.

These books paint a slightly wider view of Arendelle and it's surroundings than what we see from the movies. Neighboring kingdoms are mentioned by name (including Corona - Rapunzel's kingdom from Tangled. - Again, I'm going to get back to this later), and there are several named, recurring characters like Tuva and Ada, lesbian blacksmith wives (explicitly mentioned as being married) or Sorensson, the Astronomer who lives far outside of Arendelle and is introduced in Forest of Shadows, then plays a small but significant role in Polar Nights. There's recurring references to Aren of Arendelle, the founder of Elsa and Anna's kingdom, and a secret room or passage discovered in one book is referenced and used again in the next. It's really consistent and it makes it feel rewarding to read these novels. I very much doubt that any future Frozen visual media will reference their events, but if the stories themselves can keep a continuity across writers, then that's good enough for me to feel like I'm really in a bona-fide expanded universe.

There's some stuff in these books that I have personally wanted to see since the first movie. Things like finding out how Anna never recovered the original memories the trolls took from her, or finding out what Elsa spends a lot of her time doing in Ahtohallan...

(conjuring ice memories, apparently. Yeah, seems like while she's not going to "drowning depth" again, she is using her magical ice powers to pull up home-movies of her parents... Gotta wonder if she didn't accidentally pull up one of their date nights and then shattered the whole thing into ice shards in a panic once her dad put on the Barry White music.)

The books ALSO give me something that I have held in my head since the very first movie - Anna cracking jokes about her past and her mistakes.

I've always loved the idea that Anna doesn't seem the type to get all "Shell-Shocked PTSD Veteran" over her traumatic memories. That's Elsa's job, so I've always imagined she makes a lot of jokes and lighthearted fun out of it. Like, she seems the type to go: "OH HEY! That's a great statue of me! And I'd know! I've been a statue! Made of ice! Wanna see me do the pose?"

And while we don't get that exactly, we do get her ribbing Elsa about having Marshmallow throw her out of her ice castle, grumbling about how "Hans isn't actually THAT good looking", and generally having a sense of "oh no, I remember what happened LAST TIME..." about her. It's not as explicit as I'd like, but it's there and it helps with that feeling of the world being alive and moving. These characters do remember what happened yesterday. They are actively learning their lessons and trying to avoid the mistakes of their past.

The stories are compelling enough. While not groundbreaking, edge-of-your seat page turners, they both offer an adventure that's very much on brand for Frozen, effectively utilizing the characters and the world. This isn't a story where you could change a few names and slap Aurora or Belle or Ariel in instead. These stories feel tailored to Elsa and Anna. Unfortunately, there's a bit of an issue that I assume arises from being an author hired to write your own original entry into a carefully curated, multi-million dollar franchise, owned by the real world's full on Mega-Corp.

See, while I love the connected, constructed world these novels build around the movies - They do in-fact, happen to be being built around the Frozen media franchise, and Disney have been notoriously strict with this before.

If you were a part of the early Frozen fandom (again, I was), you might remember the sheer excitement around when it was announced that Elsa and Anna, as well as Arendelle and a number of other movie characters would be coming to Once Upon a Time, flinging the universe of Frozen into unexpected live action.

I'm not going to get into my thoughts around OUAT, because... YEAH I'm trying to be focused and that is worth a WHOLE other blog post - which I don't have any REAL desire to write out unless someone BEGGED me to do it, but long story short, given that the show explicitly is alternate continuity for ALL Disney's franchises, it had a lot of leeway in what it could do with it's regular cast... But not the Frozen characters. Although the writers did get to play around creating new backstory and lore, and chopping and changing a bit, there was a strictness to what they could and couldn't do with the characters. They couldn't give Elsa a love interest. They couldn't dramatically change anything from the movie. Characters had firmly fixed personalities that were absolutely not allowed the usual "flex" of OUAT - No extra edginess snuck in, nothing out of character.

(They did have incredible costumes though. Way better than any other live action projects that I've seen).

My point in all of this is, that was explicitly in an alternate universe. OUAT had NEVER had any bearing on any of the franchises it pulled it's roster from, and was marketed to a whole different audience.

These books are NOT. They are marketed toward the same audience as the movies, and are intended to fit alongside it. And it is painfully obvious that Disney holds a tight leash when it comes to ways for writers to interpret their billion-dollar characters. Obviously this is pure speculation, but I would imagine the writers for these novels were given dedicated character bios of characters like Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and not allowed to deviate or even go into much depth beyond what was listed in those bios.

I say this for a couple of reasons - The most notable of which is the dialogue, and to a lesser extent the character actions. Characters have an unfortunate tendency to sprout stiff, unnatural dialogue, based on certain things that were mentioned in the moves.

Nowhere is this more egregious than with Anna and chocolate. The movies mention her having it as her favorite treat, and she has like two memorable moments involving it in the first movie, but the books treat it like it is NEVER off her mind. If the books mention Anna wanting to do ANYTHING, most of the time, it involves chocolate in some way. She brings it with her on expeditions. She can't wait to get back to the castle and eat some. She has a "choco-versary" with Kristoff, the anniversary of the first time they ate chocolate together. It comes off as a weird obsession, instead of the favorite food it was in the movies. Similarly, she's mentioned as having "Sandwiches" as her favorite meal a few times. Not only is this FRUSTRATINGLY non-specific, it also seems PURELY based on her one line in "Love is an Open Door" and it's callback during her conversation with Kristoff in the first movie... Although to be fair, this did also get a call back in Frozen Fever where we see her be enthusiastic about one, so... whatever.

It gets stiff with dialogue between characters too. Almost every conversation with Elsa and Anna seems to drift towards "we were seperated, but now we are together again, and I love you and am so proud of you!". They'll discuss the plot, and they do have some genuinely great moments (like Elsa talking about the trolls and Anna pointing out, somewhat sadly, that "no, sis, I can't remember, they took my memories as a child...") but a lot of it is re-hashing their end-of-movie "sisterly bond" stuff. It's a real shame especially in Polar Nights, because that is set AFTER Frozen 2. We could have had scenes of Anna asking Elsa for help ruling as Queen, or Elsa observing how Anna does things differently from her, but we learn nothing more about how these two interact than what we already knew.

The other problem that I assume crops up from Disney's strict oversight is that it's obvious the writers are not allowed to affect the world too much. They can play with the figures in it, but can't change the landscape dramatically. This is understandable, as it's unlikely the Mega-Mouse wants some kids novel throwing out a detail that might force them to change how they write the next movie. They're not going to kill off Kristoff, or suddenly give us a Hans redemption arc - As interesting as that would be, the writers need the all clear from Disney, and Disney won't want some hired novelist to make a major change to their giant money making machine which is no doubt shaped like Elsa's head.

This means that, although the stakes do feel real for the books themselves, there's a sense that nothing that happens within really affects the world that much. Characters don't learn a vital lesson or change in any significant way, and those that do are new characters, constructed for the book, who can easily be ignored by the wider narrative - Polar Nights has a whole segment with a pair of sisters, obviously designed to parallel Elsa and Anna, who's past and backstory, and the mysteries and mistruths thereof, form more-or-less the basis for the entire plot, but our ACTUAL sisters can't have a chat more complex that "boy I'm glad we're not separated anymore, also we're proud of each other!"

The result is - and this is kind of what I've been driving toward this entire time - these books give me a VERY distinct feeling, and it took me a while to identify what it was. I didn't catch it when I read "Forest of Shadows", but it WAS there, and Polar Nights has it there in full force.

These novels feel like FILLER.

Traditional, ACTUAL, filler.

SIGH - Quick sidetrack.

The term "Filler" is thrown around a lot these days, often by people that I don't think realized the term originally had a more specific meaning - At least from what my experience is.

"Filler" was primarily a term used by the anime community, referring to episodes of a show that were not adapted from the original manga. This practice was done as most anime, especially Shounen anime like those pictured above, ran almost continuously, and when your airing an episode a week which is sometimes able to adapt multiple chapters from the manga, you're going to close the gap pretty quickly.

This meant that things would be done in the episodes to stretch them out. Anything from lengthening fight scenes, to additional dialogue, all the way up to - perhaps most famously - whole new arcs created purely for the anime. These arcs had to tell their own stories that were entertaining, but obviously couldn't massively shake up the status quo, as they had no idea what would be coming next for these characters and this story. They relied on events distanced, often entirely unrelated to the plot at large (in-fact, rather infamously, Bleach once went to a year long filler arc in MID-SWORD-FIGHT BETWEEN CHARACTERS). Often they would invent new characters, new powers, and often draw on events of the past, or spotlight background characters to create an unobtrusive narrative.

These arcs can, and have, been good. There's nothing inherently wrong with filler, but as TV Tropes says: "These arcs can, and have, been good. There's nothing inherently wrong with filler, but as TV Tropes says: "At their most extreme, absolutely nothing that happens in a filler episode will affect things going forward, even if it seems like a character developed or grew in some manner."

Filler's definition has expanded a lot, and was never really as fixed as I tended to take it, though I still see it used incorrectly. If an episode of a show had the characters sitting around talking, with the plot not advancing at all, but we still learn things about the characters that matter, and have an impact or call back later, or their relationships change in SOME way, then it's NOT filler. In the words of my Media Teacher: "Just because it didn't feature a car chase and a shoot out, doesn't mean it doesn't matter." - Filler doesn't matter. Slow paced slice of life episodes can matter a LOT.

As a side note, to this side note, Filler in it's most traditional sense is dying out, and has been largely, though not entirely, gone from anime by the mid 2010's. Anime have switched over to the "cour" style of episode production, with a season consisting of usually around 12-or-24 episodes (a little leeway in either direction is common, like having 26 or 10 episodes), which focus on tightly adapting one arc or novel or portion of the story. They then take a break, and return with the next season whenever, picking up where they left off. This is why you don't really see stuff running for 200+ episodes in a row anymore, and why something like, say, Attack on Titan has five seasons. This has allowed for MUCH reduction of filler, and virtually eliminated the need for the filler arc. They do still pop up, but notice how today's "big shots" like My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer have multiple seasons instead of just running for a billion episodes like shows such as One Piece, or Naruto.

Though speaking of that, apparently some new shows are determined to carry on the traditions laid by their parents... *side-eyes Boruto*

AHEM. I really need to drop this topic and get back on track. QUICK, what's an appropriate Frozen-related GIF to use to move on?

I fuckin' told you I was gonna play it again.

ANYWAY, so my point is that - despite feeling like we've really entered a living, breathing world, with its own history and people, it feels like we're never allowed to see that world DO anything.

This wasn't too bad in Forest of Shadows, because even though it couldn't do anything massive, it could create the illusion of movement, by transitioning characters from their Frozen selves to their Frozen 2 selves, laying down hints of what would be fully realized in that move, but it is REALLY on display in Polar Nights - The set up involves exploring Anna's first major kingdom event as Queen, and yet, we really don't get any meaningful detail about that. We don't get a sense of how it feels for her to suddenly wield all this power and responsibility when, not just a few months ago, she was more or less the spare princess that could spend her days having picnics with snowmen. I mean sure, there's mention that she's nervous, but it really doesn't go into much detail. She's just "Queen Anna", the same way we saw her at the end of Frozen 2.

(Elsa's also still referred to as Queen - sometimes she gets directly called "The Snow Queen" - but this is a detail I like. It's not like the people forgot or disavowed her as their monarch. The two are called "The Queens of Arendelle" at one point. It's an interesting touch.)

The events of Polar Nights involve a lot of things happening (including major characters losing their memories of each other), but it all amounts to a problem that's easily resolved with Sisterly Love, and by the end of the book, everything's normal. I know these books are not going to affect the movies, but one of the cool things, as I mentioned, was that they did have continuity between each other. Sorensson was introduced as a man of science in Forest of Shadows, and then in Polar Nights, Anna and Elsa go to him for help with something they want a scientific explanation for. While some of these characters might pop up again to be mentioned in the next novel, it's hard to believe it'll focus on Anna dealing with the fact that... Say Dragurs are real, and exist out there, and that things like grudges and nasty legends and rumors can bring unwelcome power.

Some of the dialogue and phrasing is just plain awkward too. A lot of the time, when Anna spoke to Kristoff, it felt very bland, and forced-romantic, rather than their natural, more banter and warm interactions in the movies. We don't even get a call-back to "I prefer you in leather ;)" - Although that may have been pushing the biscuit. If they went any further with how Anna feels about that, the LOUD SCREACHERS might lose the ability to pretend she was being 100% wholesome and child-friendly with that line...

There's another line where Elsa's narration indicates she wants Anna and Kristoff to have kids so she can be "the cool aunt, literally" - A line that exists purely for that one lazy joke, since no other mention of them having children exists that I can remember.

(Though I am borderline certain that Frozen 3 will focus on their child, but again, that's getting distracted)

Polar Nights also avoids any direct appearances of Northuldra. No Honeymaron or Rider or anything - The only other significant characters that appear from Frozen 2 are Mattias (who fills a bit of a generic "general/captain of the guard" role, but that's his job so it's fine), as well as Gale and Burnie and the Water Nokk, who do have roles to play, but relatively minor ones. They are mentioned, but even when we see the Enchanted Forest, it's purely featuring the cast from Frozen, plus the wind and the new plush mascot lizard. Again, it's a shame because beyond: "Elsa loves the fact that she is living free" and "Elsa spends time pulling up home movies made of snow", we get nothing about how the former Queen is living as a spirit. Okay, I don't expect the book to explain about how Elsa hates needing to pee in a bush now or something absurd like that, but when you go from living in a castle to living in tents and caves, you've got to feel more than just "free" right? We don't even see how she interacts with the Northuldra. How do these people, who revered the spirits, interact with one who can speak to them in their language? Who can sit and chill out with them? Who can pop round for dinner? We get none of that, and it's sad, because it would have been nice.

Polar Nights features a mystery story between two sisters, one of whom is said to have outright murdered the other, several fights between Elsa and a Nordic zombie wraith that mimics her powers at one point, a Pirate Queen and her fleet sitting menacingly at Arendelle's borders, at one point escalating to firing on royal ships during a massive storm in an eternal night, Anna and Elsa traveling to a whole different neighboring kingdom, and Anna's fiance explicitly losing his memory of her, and anything they ever did together...

... and somehow it comes off as less compelling and impactful than Frozen 2, where - and I don't want to downplay or insult Frozen 2 because I think it's amazing and obviously it's themes run far deeper BUT - the main antagonist force boils down to "Dam that a bastard-man built one time".

(On that, Polar Nights is intent on reminding everyone that King Runeard was a Bad Man™ and every single character essentially goes "BOO! HISS!" whenever his name comes up. And yeah, the dude was an absolute bastard, and he only gets revealed to be worse in Polar Nights but you would think Anna and Elsa would have more complex feelings than "hate that guy" to their granddad who they believed was a bit of a legend up until the events of the second movie. Still, maybe they genuinely don't and at any rate, unpacking those feelings might be a bit more complicated than a novel intended mostly for kids is willing to get into.)

There's more that could be said, but I worry I've been sticking to the negative for too long. Yes, these novels do feel like anime filler. Lots of stuff happens, but it doesn't really impact anyone. There's new characters introduced and side characters discussed and all sorts of things that really don't mean that much to the world in the long run, and no doubt will be forgotten by the time Frozen 3 rolls around BUT...

BUT

The books are an enjoyable read. They let me return to the world of Frozen and explore a bit more of the land these characters live in. Yes, I wish the book featured a conversation between Anna and Elsa that didn't just feature them rehashing what they've learned in the movies, but it is STILL good to see them together again. It's heartwarming to know that Elsa still stays in the castle, that Anna let her keep their parents bedroom, that the people of her former kingdom still call her "Queen".

It's great to see side characters mentioned, and not just appear once. It's great that these books are allowed to look outside of the generic fairy-tale fare and bring up things like Dragurs and Huldrefólk and, while I do think the Sisterly Love being the solution to Polar Night's problem isn't the best ending, it does FIT with the themes for the franchise and it isn't a re-hash of Anna and Elsa, instead holding up a mirror to them and showing them what they could have been had their lives been but a tiny bit different.

They're good books, and I would rate them:

A solid B

Was originally a B-, but upon writing this out, I re-evaluated and I wanted to stress that I actually really do like them, and I hope they make more. I really want Frozen to be that thing that winds up having 20 different novel series, six comic books, two original TV series and a line of successful movies. It'd make me happy.

That is just about all I have to say on this topic except for:

OKAY SO YOU KNOW HOW I HAVE BROUGHT UP TANGLED A COUPLE OF TIMES AND I'VE BEEN SAYING I'LL GET BACK TO HOW I THINK IT INTERACTS:

Well - We all know Frozen featured Rapunzel and Eugene visting Arendelle and, ignoring some of the crazy and common fan theories (they're cousins I swear it still works if you squint), that suggests that there is a shared universe and I believe these books CONFIRM that when taken in conjunction with other evidence...

Consider that, Corona is directly mentioned in Forest of Shadows, and that would seem to confirm it, but I've still seen that, and the Tangled character's cameos waved off as cheeky Easter Eggs, BUT... REMEMBER THOSE FUCKIN' OLAF SHORTS? The ones where he re-enacts disney movies?

YEAH WELL, in the Tangled one, he has a bit of extra dialogue where he goes something like "this one is for one of my favorite people in the world, Rapunzel" or SOMETHING LIKE THAT THAT SUGGESTS HE'S MET RAPUNZEL PERSONALLY, and...

AAAAAND...

Polar Nights reveals that he and the others HAVE stayed in the Enchanted Forrest before, which gives him a timeframe where he could plausibly tell these stories in universe, AND AND AND AAAAANNNNND:

He also has a short where he re-enacts "The Little Mermaid" which IS CHEEKILY IMPLIED TO BE A BOOK THAT ANNA LOVES in Polar Nights, so Olaf has a REASON to know that story, AS A STORY--

AND BASICALLY THIS CONFIRMS THAT FROZEN AND TANGLED ARE SET IN THE SAME UNIVERSE AND THE FRANCHISE IS GOING TO CONCLUDE WITH AN ULTIMATE CROSSOVER THAT puts Avengers to shame and I SWEAR THAT IT'LL BE SO AWESOME AND--

The Analyst has been dragged off into the night by sensible people. Please ignore his ramblings.

#Frozen #Frozen 2 #Frozen Forest of Shadows #Frozen Polar Nights #Frozen Polar Nights Cast into Shadow #Anna #Elsa #Kristoff #Sven #Olaf #Review #Analyst #Ramblings #Tangled #Disney #disney princess

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kevinsreviewcatalogue · 2 years ago

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Review: The Avengers (2012)

The Avengers (2012)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, and a mild drug reference

Score: 5 out of 5

Eleven years and dozens of movies and TV shows later, The Avengers still stands as arguably the greatest achievement of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even more than its best standalone films like Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther, this was the movie that demonstrated what the "idea" of the MCU could produce and accomplish, a shared universe that brought together characters from different popular movies for a big crossover in which they all got a chance to shine as a team. Looking back, the legacy of the MCU on Hollywood as a whole has been mixed, such that it's increasingly come in for backlash in the last few years to the point where hating the series is no longer necessarily a contrarian take, the genuinely divisive reception to recent movies and shows in the franchise not helping its case. (I've been nicer to Marvel's recent output than most, and even I can't help but feel that there's a bit of malaise there.) Which makes it all the more impressive to see that, watching the original Avengers again with a group of kids who were either in diapers or not even born yet when it came out and experienced the series mostly through home video and streaming, it still absolutely holds up, and moreover, it reminded me of what Marvel's strengths were back in its 2010s imperial phase when it was firing on all cylinders. It's got an all-star cast, probably the best direction of Joss Whedon's career, and a use of continuity that enriches the experience for those who've seen the prior films in the franchise but doesn't detract from it if you haven't -- the secret sauce that, if you ask me, allowed the MCU to succeed for so long where other, similar attempts at big, modular franchises failed, and something that it's lost sight of recently. Once we're past the backlash phase and old enough to be nostalgic for the MCU (won't that be something), I think that this movie and "Phase One" more broadly will get its due once again.

The plot feels like it could've been lifted out of any number of Big Event crossovers from the comics. An alien race called the Chitauri, led by the Norse trickster god Loki (the Norse gods in this universe being aliens themselves) with a chip on his shoulder, is planning to invade Earth, and Nick Fury, director of the secret government agency S.H.I.E.L.D., has a plan to stop them: assemble a collection of exceptional individuals with unique skills to lead the fight. They include: Tony Stark, the egotistical billionaire CEO of a weapons manufacturer who built a suit of high-tech "Iron Man" powered armor to fight terrorists; Steve Rogers, the product of an American World War II scientific program to create a superior fighting man who wound up frozen in ice for decades and thawed out in the present day; Bruce Banner, a brilliant physicist who, thanks to an accident during an experiment with gamma radiation, developed a monstrous Jekyll-and-Hyde alter ego called the Hulk that comes out when he's angry or stressed; Thor, the Norse god of thunder seeking to stop his adoptive brother Loki's warpath and return him to Asgard for judgment; and Natasha Romanoff; a deadly spy codenamed "Black Widow" who defected from Russia and is now one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents. Unfortunately, Loki, using his own supernatural gifts, has seduced a number of humans to his own side, most notably Erik Selvig, a physicist who was researching an alien artifact called the Tesseract that Loki needs to open a portal to bring his army to Earth, and Clint Barton, another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent codenamed "Hawkeye" who knows his employer inside and out.

The underlying theme of most of the first two acts of this movie is a reflection of what people in real life, from critics to comic book fans to much of the movie's audience, were thinking in 2012: "can this actually work?" Can you do this kind of superhero team-up in the movies the way they do it in the comics? It's here where you see why Marvel producer Kevin Feige sought out Joss Whedon to write and direct this movie, and not just because he was already a geek media legend by then. Whedon's style has unfortunately been caricatured over the years as revolving around jokey, flippant dialogue, thanks in no small part to the many filmmakers and TV show runners who've tried to imitate it, and the man's own personal controversies in the last several years have made him an easy punching bag. That said, anybody who's watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, or Firefly knows that his real strength as a writer, the thing that separated him from the countless writers making jokey, flippant Shane Black ripoffs back in the '90s, was working with large ensemble casts in which there often wasn't a singular protagonist.

Whedon tackles the question of whether this will work head-on by making the real "arc" of the movie revolve less around stopping Loki than around having Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Incredible Hulk, the four marquee superheroes who each had their origin stories told in prior movies, learn to put aside their differences and work as a team. They each bring their own larger-than-life personalities to the table, and while Tony and Bruce hit it off immediately over their shared love of science, Tony's ego and gung-ho attitude clash with both Steve's Boy Scout values and military code of honor and Thor's own ego as a superbeing of ancient legend, while Bruce's volatile temper and the end result of such threatens to get them all killed if he can't control it. Loki knows all of this, and for much of the film, a good chunk of his plan, as befitting a trickster god, is to play mind games with the heroes and convince them to tear each other apart so that he can move on and conquer Earth in their absence. Black Widow and Hawkeye, the relative newcomers to the MCU (the former had been a supporting character in Iron Man 2 but wouldn't get her own movie for nearly a decade), serve as surrogates for audience members who know what superheroes are but may not have seen every (or even any) prior movie in the series, while Nick Fury, the authority figure looming over them all, is the ringmaster who introduces us to them and brings them all together.

It helps when you've got a bunch of A-list (or soon-to-be-A-list) actors at the top of their game, the kinds of people who feel born to play these sorts of figures. Robert Downey, Jr.'s great gift as Tony Stark was making him just unlikable enough that you want to see him humbled but not so much that you want to see him lose, Chris Evans always knew how to make Steve Rogers feel like a good-hearted average Joe given extraordinary abilities but never forgetting who he used to be, Chris Hemsworth was exactly the kind of chiseled, Ahnold-style hunk you'd need to play the mighty God of Thunder, and Mark Ruffalo, replacing Edward Norton after some complicated backstage politics, brought an almost Jeff Goldblum-style energy to Bruce Banner, a squirrelly nerd who's visibly hiding a shameful secret. Scarlett Johansson, meanwhile, made her scenes in this movie as Natasha a demo reel for her as both an action hero and a femme fatale, while Samuel L. Jackson brought his usual BAMF energy to a PG-13 version of such as Nick Fury, a man who most of us would happily take orders from. Last but not least, Tom Hiddleston as Loki is exactly the kind of classy-yet-subtly-off-putting British theater actor you want playing a hammy, egomaniacal villain straight out of mythology, like a young Alan Rickman, standing as one of the best villains the MCU's ever had to this day and only failing to steal the show out from under everyone else because, again, this is a Joss Whedon ensemble piece where everybody gets a moment in the sun.

(And Hawkeye seems cool, like a really nice guy. Okay, I kid, Jeremy Renner was alright in the part. He was much better in later movies, though. There's a reason why people used to make fun of him so much.)

The quality of Whedon's work here doesn't stop at his writing, either. The MCU has never been known as a visually inventive series, and a lot of people blame Whedon for that, accusing him of bringing a flat visual style straight out of network television to the biggest blockbuster franchise in Hollywood and relying on his writing as his main creative thumbprint. I'm convinced that they got Whedon mixed up with the Russo brothers who handled the later Avengers films, because Whedon actually does a lot that's interesting behind the camera. Noting that scenes in superhero movies look like they were pulled straight out of a comic book is practically a cliché at this point, but in this case, it's a perfect description, as Whedon seemed to understand exactly how to bring a comic book splash panel to life on the big screen. This movie looks and feels epic, with action that's not only well-shot and easy to follow but also downright massive in scope, often having several things going on at once in the bigger sequences like the attack on the helicarrier and the climatic third-act battle in the streets of Manhattan. The effects were top-notch and felt like they had all the love and care in the world put into them, especially in comparison to some of the rush jobs that more recent Marvel movies have been guilty of. This was the kind of movie they make movie theaters for, and even watching it at home, I was consistently enthralled by its action sequences. There's a reason why so many sci-fi blockbuster action movies in the 2010s had their villains shoot big beams of light into the sky as part of their plan, or featured armies of faceless alien monsters for the heroes to fight without feeling guilty about killing people, and that's because this movie did it so amazingly well that everybody else couldn't help but copy its notes.

The Bottom Line

The Avengers is a movie that still holds up even after countless superhero movies, including in its own franchise, that tried to top it. I don't know if I'd call it the best movie in the MCU, but it's certainly the most impactful, the one that everyone's gonna remember above all else (barring maybe Black Panther) years from now as the movie that made the whole enterprise worth it.

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yesterdanereviews · 1 year ago

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Jason X (2001)

Film review #571

Director: Jim Isaac

SYNOPSIS: Serial killer Jason Voorhees is being held in a top secret underground facility. Orders are given to move him out for study, but the facility's director, Rowan, believes he is too dangerous to move. Jason manages to break out anyway, and is only stopped when Rowan traps him in cryogenic storage, and unwittingly, herself too. Rowan awakes in the year 2455 on board a spaceship orbiting the Earth, but the people who brought her to the ship also brought Jason too, and he has thawed and ready to kill...

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Jason X is a 2001 film and the tenth film in the Friday the 13th film franchise. The film opens up showing Jason Voorhees being contained in a secret research facility, as previous attempts to kill him have failed thanks to his ability to regenerate. The director of the facility, Rowan, is given orders to transfer Jason out of the facility for study, but she believes Jason is too dangerous to transfer, and wants to cryogenically freeze him. It doesn't matter anyway, as Jason breaks free of his confines and gets busy cutting through everyone he sees. Rowan manages to lure him into the cryogenic chamber and freeze him, but an accident means she is sealed in and frozen too. Over four hundred years later, Rowan (and Jason) is discovered and brought aboard a spaceship to be revived. Not realising that they have brought aboard a relentless killing machine, Jason picks up where he left off and goes about slaughtering the crew, while the survivors try and work out a way to stop him. The film is about what you'd expect from a slasher film, as Jason mows down people constantly without any rhyme or reason. The sci-fi twist to the typical Friday the 13th film could have two outcomes: it offers a fresh take on the formula, or it can be a travesty of messing with a tried and tested formula that shows a series has run out of ideas. In this case, it is certainly the latter. The sci-fi setting is barely explained: humans have moved to a new planet called Earth II because Earth has become too polluted, but this is mentioned about once. We don't know anything about this future, and what technologies exist, and not knowing what is possible just leaves things very confusing as if the film makes it up as it goes along. It feels like the film just doesn't try to take advantage of it's new setting, and just sticks to filling the film with sex scenes, partial nudity, and slashing without really giving anything new to offer.

I'm not really sure what the film wants to do: it's obviously not meant to be a really gritty horror film, as there's no real suspense, overly visceral gore, or jump scares, and as mentioned, just falls back on randy young people having sex to appeal to it's young adult audience. There's no creativity with the kills (maybe one or two) or anything unique about them that the setting gives them. I feel like it would probably be easier to stop Jason on a spaceship, as there's nowhere to really hide, doors can be secured pretty easily, you could lure him out an airlock and wouldn't have to confront him at all. But I suppose that wouldn't make an interesting film. I'm not even sure the film wants to be taken seriously. It does try to inject some comedy by having the characters say really awkward puns and quips, but they are all just so oddly timed and out of place that it's baffling what you're supposed to take away from the film.

There's quite a large cast of characters, most of whom you'll never get to know because Jason kills them off fairly quickly. You can tell right from the off what cliché character they are meant to be. There's no real development in any of the characters, even the lead, Rowan, just doesn't have any personality, and we have absolutely no idea about who she is and any details about her life. Jason is more or less the same as he has always been, which is good, but the "Cyber Jason" that emerges when Jason's body is repaired by the cyber nanobot...things isn't going to become the new Jason: he just becomes a cyborg which is pretty silly and over-the-top, but again, that might be what the film is going for?

The setting of the spaceship has a fair amount of detail, but the CGI is fairly dire. I don't think it would have been good even in 2001. The whole film just feels like an episode of a TV series, from the sci-fi corridors which could have easily come from an episode of Star Trek, to the threadbare plot that would have fit neatly into a forty minute episode: the film itself barely stretches over the ninety minute mark. Overall, Jason X just seems like a bit of a mess: it doesn't have the suspense, jump scares, or gore to make it a decent horror movie, but it's attempts to be funny and poke fun at the franchise, whether deliberate or not, are never delivered at the right time, and your often left wondering just what the aim and tone of this film is meant to be.

#movie #movie review #jason x #sci-fi #sci-fi horror #jason voorhees #2011 film #film review #film

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frozen10fanzine · 11 months ago

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Frozen Through the Years

Yearly Spotlight: 2017

Written by @secretsofthestorymakers

This year, we saw the addition of a new story to the franchise!

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure was released, a 21-minute short prefacing the premiere of the film, Coco. The short featured an entire unique plot and 6 original songs. It starred the original voice actors from Frozen, but had different directors and songwriters.

While it is commonplace with Disney animated productions to have a short film beforehand, 21 minutes is very long run time for a short film. Many fans of Coco, especially in Mexico, felt that having such a long short film before the movie was an insult, and that it should be removed. Disney relented and told film distributors to stop showing Olaf’s Frozen Adventure before Coco.

Despite this, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure still received reviews from critics. They were rather mixed, and yet, it was nominated for Best Animated Special Production, among other awards.

The other big thing in 2017 was the official announcement from Disney that Frozen II would be released on November 27, 2019; fans were happy and excited to finally have a definitive release date. By 2017, many fans were eager for Frozen II as the future of the franchise. Even if they didn’t have many clues as to what Frozen II would be about, it was clear to fans that it would be huge!

Stay Tuned For More

👆🏻 Click above if you want to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Frozen. The due date is April 12, 2024.

We look forward to seeing your memories ❄️

#frozen10 #frozen #frozen 2 #frozen 10th anniversary #for you #water has memory #anna #elsa #sven #olaf #kristoff #frohana #frozen fever #ofa #olaf's frozen adventure #yearly spotlight

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aevyk-ing · 1 month ago

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2024 review and other stuff

2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

I'll be honest with you... I was expecting more of this year. Like, things weren't that bad until they plummeted around the middle of the summer. And I'm still recovering. Anyway, let's see what I can get with this.

Mental health (not that good, maybe, I guess?)

Okay... I was back into the Deep and didn't even realize it. It's weird how you can spend so much time trying to walk away from it and then you're back to square one... but it's not the square one you remember. I told my parents I'm autistic (my therapist helped) and things haven't changed at all. We still don't talk, they treat me the same. Also, trying to get an official diagnosis is way more difficult than I thought. The first doctor was so rude to me I've been dealing with that for months. I'm trying to be kind to myself, but most of the days I struggle a lot. It's hard to find a reason to keep on living when you feel so alone. Also, they demolished my house this summer and we still don't have the money and... yeah.

2. Writing (wait, could it be great?)

Yeah, I don't get it. But it's like my brain was wired that way. Finally something I can do, I'm good at (I think)... but I can't live just doing that... yet, let's say yet. I've published... 3 books, translated more of them and worked on some many projects. There's a collection of books coming next year (I have to publish the four of them at the same time) and I'm currently working on several stories that have me hooked.

Also, I can't forget my fanfics! I wrote two versions of Wish (1/2), finished publishing Lights and Shadows of Camelot and I'm currently working on Side effects may vary.

3. Art (okay)

I'm still fighting a huge art block. Like, huge. The last one I had that was that big only lasted three months or so... (shivers). At least I'm improving. I have to learn to draw for fun again, and not just for my projects.

4. Cosplay (sigh)

My stuff is still in boxes, I'm working to lose the weight I gained last year and cleaning my skin, so... yeah, it's been really difficult. I managed to do some things, but smallish projects and a couple of photoshoots.

Also, I've discovered I'm allergic to polyester after having a really bad skin rash when I wore my Anna from Frozen II.

Okay, now it's time to talk about what has helped me going through this hell of a year (there, I said it).

Gingaria

Although I've been working on a lot of books, my fantasy ones still keep that special place in my heart. I've been developing more stories, published the fifth (Kneia) and sold quite a lot in several events. I'm also getting closer to creating my own brand and I hope it'll keep on growing next year. Here you have the whole list (in English and Spanish)!:

Historias de Gingaria (10 libros) Versión Kindle

2. Webtoons

I've been reading a lot this year (and not only webtoons), but they're something to look for each week and, boy, do I need that. My favorites this year are: The Blind Prince, Atnomen (the author is on Tumblr!) and Your Smile is a Trap.

3. Escape games

Yeah, I don't get it either. I found out about escape games and, as someone who used to play a lot on the computer when she was a kid, it was like going back to those days. I've played some minigames, but my favorite are the escape games. They make me focus on the now and forget the rest of the world for a while. Surprisingly, my favorite ones where the Forgotten Hill collection.

4. Series and movies

Even though I've watched several movies and series, not many of them have left an impact, but everything counts. I rewatched WandaVision (still love it) and Agatha All Along was great. I watched Warm Bodies for the first time and loved it so much I had to buy the DVD (second hand) and the same goes with Lisa Frankenstein. I guess you can see a pattern there, and that connects with the next point...

5. Monster High

All my dolls have been in boxes for almost three years by now and, after not buying a doll for years, I caved in and got a G3 Frankie. And it spiraled quickly. You see, back then, I didn't care much about the main dolls, but got secondary characters and boys for Ooaks. Last year, I got a Clawd that I was going to use to make Krel Tarron, but decided to keep it as it was. Now, I've gotten some G3 dolls and others are second hand. I made my own Hoodude and I'll try to find more clothes when I'll declutter my old doll collection. I love these ghouls and they've helped me a lot with my mental blocks.

6. You

Yep, you, all those wonderful people on the other side of the screen, reading my posts, liking them and sometimes reblogging them. All of you who have read my fanfics and my books, who have bought my designs in my shops. Thanks for being there, for making me feel less alone. I wish you the best.

Happy New Year!

#me #personal #mental health #happy new year #ramblings #my writing #art #cosplay #monster high #webtoon

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 10 months ago

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So yeah... That totally unnecessary Nelson Peltz proxy fight saga of current-day Disney is finally over.

Thank goodness. Peltz seemed like he was acting on behalf of former Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter, another guy who is bad news bears to say the least. Peltz just looked like another old man who plays to the crowd that loves to call everything "woke". While it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that The Walt Disney Company is having some trouble across various divisions, their solution wasn't even a solution. Nothing remotely near that.

Interestingly, Disney finally released their first *new* theatrical movie this year, a $30m prequel to THE OMEN that got solid reviews but struggled on opening weekend for whatever reason. It's looking to perform more like last year's new EXORCIST movie than 2018 HALLOWEEN (both films directed by David Gordon Green), I guess not all horror legacy sequels (lega-sequels) are destined to make coin. No matter, $30m isn't steep, it should make it back eventually if not in theaters. It's a 20th Century Studios movie, so it's no big deal really.

Weirdly, POOR THINGS is one of their few box office successes released over the past 12 or so months, outside of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 and - by a hair - ELEMENTAL. 20th kinda came to the rescue there, too: A HAUNTING IN VENICE doubled its budget, THE BOOGEYMAN did pretty good.

All I know is, Disney's probably never going to relive 2019 again... And I feel like they keep trying to make that year happen again... But it won't, because that was a case of the planets freakin' aligning...

I extend that to the 2010s in general, honestly, but I'll focus on 2019...

That year saw the billion-dollar releases of - in order: CAPTAIN MARVEL, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, ALADDIN, TOY STORY 4, THE LION KING, FROZEN II, and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER... They got a moderate success out of the MALEFICENT sequel that year, too, while the live-action DUMBO didn't recoup its - ironically - massive budget. (The original 1941 DUMBO was a low-budget picture belted out during the war.) Some 20th titles came out that year, too, most of them not doing great, like the X-Men movie DARK PHOENIX and Blue Sky's penultimate SPIES IN DISGUISE (I call it penultimate because I consider NIMONA a partial Blue Sky movie, their swan song).

Even then, that was a year to die for. But that's the rub... ENDGAME was the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's whole Infinity Saga. 11 years in the making, it's astounding it was able to have juice for that long! Yes, yes, I know, SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME was the *actual* end of Phase 3... That functions more like an epilogue, while ENDGAME was the big finale event everyone waited for... and of course, CAPTAIN MARVEL benefited greatly from being the movie that preceded ENDGAME. By less than two months... TOY STORY 4 was locked to be big, because TOY STORY 3 made a billion nine years earlier. ALADDIN and THE LION KING were remakes of some of Disney's biggest animated movies, and FROZEN II was a sequel to another one of Disney's biggest animated movies. RISE OF SKYWALKER ended the entire Skywalker Saga... And ending the main story of one of the biggest franchises- You get the idea!

Suffice to say, Disney's not going to have that year again. They'd have to acquire like another 2-3 franchises, and release their finales all during the same year in addition to two other favorites. The MCU isn't the must-see event with each and every film anymore post-ENDGAME, Star Wars' future is probably in serialized shows still, the remake well has run dry and all the biggest Disney animated movies were pretty much covered (SNOW WHITE - from the one that started everything - is on its way, but I see that performing more similarly to DUMBO and not LITTLE MERMAID), and... Well, animated movies that aren't sequels are more of a gamble nowadays.

But it seems like in 2025 and 2026, Disney's looking to keep trying this usual platter of movies that would've been a killer line-up in 2017. Not today. That's how I felt about their offering last year, too.

It's a lot of reliance on the brands. New Star Wars sounds like box office gold, right? Well, two new Star Wars movies in 2026 after all those movies Disney did from 2015-2019 in addition to what seems like a ton of Disney+ shows... And Grogu was super-popular back when he first appeared in THE MANDALORIAN back in 2019... Yeah, like, who knows how those will do... In addition to all the Marvel movies planned, not all of them are gonna get everyone packing the auditoriums - as we saw with QUANTUMANIA and THE MARVELS. (And on the Warner Bros./DC end, SHAZAM! 2 and BLUE BEETLE, even AQUAMAN 2 didn't make half of what the first one made, THE FLASH fell sharply after its opening.)

And then you have the animated sequels, which seem like safe bets. Disney only missed with Pixar's LIGHTYEAR, which was a spin-off that went a totally different direction that seemed to have alienated the audiences that made all the TOY STORY movies the big hits that they were. TOY STORY 5 likely does way better than that, but I expect it to be a box office come down from the last two. It would have to have a real banger story, I feel, to get people to keep coming. I think MOANA 2, ZOOTOPIA 2, and FROZEN III - all from Disney Animation - are locked to at least open big. If they're very unsatisfactory movies to the public - like STRANGE WORLD and WISH were, then they have weak legs... And smackdab between this sequel-frenzy is one original Pixar movie: Space adventure ELIO.... Which got delayed, supposedly because it was a big mess and it needed another year and a half to be reconfigured. Not that that really means anything, but it's sure to balloon its probably already-big budget. ELEMENTAL had to climb and climb to somewhat eke out a profit, ELIO might have even more trouble as an original movie. It's also not known what Pixar's other 2026 movie is opposite TOY STORY 5, though I suspect it is another original, which will make it stick out as well. WDAS' original movies seem missing in action at the moment.

20th Century Studios and Searchlight continue to have the interesting stuff, which I think will last longer than more Marvel and Star Wars movies. Both studios really did become a replacement for Disney's former adult movie label Touchstone, didn't they? And they too have their franchise biggies, more for Disney, with the likes of PLANET OF THE APES and ALIEN... Whose new installments come out this year and are sure to do okay. Plus, more AVATAR... And yet those franchise don't feel - to me - as overdone as Star Wars and the MCU. It's been 7 years since the last APES and ALIEN movies, weirdly enough (WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES and ALIEN: COVENANT), and AVATAR took a long break before returning with a cluster sequels all reasonably spaced out from one another. PREDATOR/PREY looks to keep going. I also wonder if future KINGSMAN movies are still in play.

Again, it's the little stuff that matters, because wells always run dry... And I think that's Disney's problem at the moment, ditto them playing things way too safe in other areas... I've said that before, but they - specifically on the "Walt Disney Pictures" end - need to just let loose and let a filmmaker just make something dynamic and cool and new. Something that takes the audience completely by surprise, not just another "Disney movie". Something like PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN or WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. And make more smaller movies, too, and not relegate them to streaming. Little movies like THE PRINCESS DIARIES, HOLES, etc. We're in that scene in RATATOUILLE again where the patrons of Gusteau's ask if there's anything *new* on the menu...

The time is now, Disney. With a new head of your live-action division, let's see what you've got. We're past calendar years locked and loaded with 8 tentpole movies...

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