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stray-tori · 4 years

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TPN S02E09 - Initial Thoughts (anime-only)

[ Reaction video w/ captions/subs ] we collectively have a breakdown about the pen, please enjoy it pff-

... hmmm... yeah I... ain’t feeling it. I think my tpn feelings overall are carrying this more than anything pff. I didn’t hate it, it was just...... mediocre... like if this wasn’t tpn, I probably would have dropped it at this point.

BUT IT IS TPN SO LET’S GIVE SOME THOUGHTS.

. Random thoughts I don’t want to re-arrange

when Emma was like “share your pain with us!!”, I liked how Norman turned to Ray like “Ray. help. tell her I’m right” kind of like Ray did in s1 pfff-

Norman cried the words he didn’t allow himself to say in s1 :( I’M EMOTIONAL. it might not be the icing on the cake execution wise but GOD MY HEART. And knowing he’s going to die to it’s just- (well not if the pen has something to say about it but more about that later)

where- wheres my trio hug :((( RAY HUG THE CHILD NOW

it’s interesting that while Emma got the entire emotional speech spotlight, only Ray got a reaction shot to “I won’t live long”?? equivalent.... exchange...?

I thought Norman had a seizure when he broke down in front of Emma and Ray and I kinda wish he had because while it’s good to have him say it outright (a win for communicationnn), imagine THE ANGST. “I want to live with yo- *coughs up fountains of blood*”.

So. yknow that hideout Cislo or Vincent referenced when talking to Emma and Ray. Yknow where Norman hid the children they stole from farms, making it look like demons did it? ... w-what about them? will we see them? Are they getting left behind? it would have worked for Norman’s plan, since all they had to do was stay put and wait for demons to be yeeted. But now... he’d have to take them all too. But... I doubt we’re gonna introduce a bunch of new designs and characters? Or are we? Who knows. I don’t. I have unreasonably amount of protecc feelings for those children I’ve never even seen haha- WHERE ARE THEY. I mean... the plan rn is to immediately use the gate right? or is the plan to eradicte the GF farm staff and higher ups? I guess if thats the plan it might work. Or I guess the plan is to save Phil for now???

the idea of Sonju just... slicing his arm and throwing it at demons in a loop sounds so funny to me please someone make that.

I liked that Mujika turned to the lambda kids after giving a cup to the demon children but then we didn’t see their reaction or anything and then it cuts to the temple??? that was weird. was there sth missing there? confusion.

I also like Isabella remarking "[a radio] was supposed to be there" regarding the shelter, because it further heavily implies they know of the shelters and just let them be. Which further confirms that they should have just reframed the shelter and had the kids escape from it quickly but oH WELL.

I really liked demon Emma apologizing and Norman's reaction to that. it was a sweet little moment and like, the realization of apologizing for something that she didn't do but is aware of and all that. Cycle of hatred and all that shiz hell ye. Ik the anime won't rly delve into that but I kind of relish in the angst potential of the village - sure it was undone but some were still eaten and died and transforming people back won't bring those back. So, that’s some hella terrifying implications for families; and I'm assuming Norman is aware of those so. guilt time! not that he wasn't aware it was bad but yeah- I teared up at that moment :<<

I feel like this season really does its best when it’s doing the whole two worlds/species angle. Mujika and Sonju, the village, demon and human Emma... all that stuff.

I wish we had gotten more time (god this is really the season’s downfall) thought to see Vylk talk to the GF kids more often. it’s implied he told them not to hang out there before but I would have liked to have him show up a few more times before that but yeah. Runtime very RIP.

I also feel like CW is bending over backwards to put cliffhangers at the end of episodes. that was already a problem in s1 when they had Phil come in when Don and Gilda were in Isabella's room. it was obvious it'd be a copout but they still did it. I'm just wondering why we had to have Vincent disagree with the group to this extend (and if the shock value might play a part in that). we have 2 more episodes, why are they introducing more plot threads? Just streamline it you dofuses. I just don't know what good can come of it unless it's like an ultra big brain move to help them?? (and then we're back with the forcing cliffhangers thing) - if it's actual conflict, this'll just make things more confusing and clustered, and we don't have time for that right now imo. But who knows maybe it plays into something I just don't understand yet and it'll work out somehow

. Animation flow kinda dead.

I felt like this episode was kind of... awkwardly executed whenever something that was a slightly dynamic movement happened?

The whole bit while Emma is walking up to Norman could have been better, but it’s passable, except that a lot is spelled out for us.

But then she takes his hand really weirdly in a far away shot with bad inbetween timing?? what is that haha-

Or him collapsing is cut really weirdly. you barely really see it, you just kinda piece it together from Emma’s reaction and her catching him.

Most facial expressions are good though, which is arguably the more important part in this scene. I feel like a better execution just would have elevated it even more.

The only one I felt was really awkward in its entirety is Barbara’s scene with the children demons. I felt like that was in particular kind of stiff and the cut between the child and her was too sudden and felt jarring. TPN anime doesn’t really do that sort of stuff a lot, so imo it’s kind of “??” when they do it. With Norman it was too, but that at least had a good transition over to it (with bg and fg panning) and nice animation. Barbara’s just kind of switched. Tbh don’t switch it out, and as the child screams, switch over to her facial expression as her own voice fades into the scream? I think that would have done it too and also be low effort.

I think it’s moreso the flow of the shots than the actual shots though? it’s a bit too fast paced and sometimes missing inbetweens (like the wild demon eating sonju’s hand is literally just 2 frames) - it’s very weird. It’s jarring, but I can’t really explain why.

I’m sorry for the staff, I’m sure the production hasn’t been easy. maybe with the bluray release we’ll get some updated animations/inbetweens.

Some appreciation though:

as mentioned, most of the facial expressions, even if the body language was a bit stiff.

the cut from the trio talking to the eye-transition of the demon and the following breath animation looked nice. Also his arm regenerating!

Sonju smirking as he cuts his arm off, what a bastard

they didn’t have to show Vylk’s arm regenerating casually while they’re talking but they did.

. the lambda crew

If only I cared about you guys. Hahhh it’s just... introducing characters so close to the end is just. A mess. A recipe for disaster.

Where has the anime’s “show off the younger kids” angle gone? I thought they were always pretty good at that. but they haven’t really contributed anything since the whole tidbit about the older children always eating less for them. And even then it was just Lani and Thoma.

Potentially, what segments we saw in the shelter will come back for the GF raid thematically but I’m just... EH?

. the cure pen

at this point, just stick a syringe part at the end of the stick and just inject it and it’s gonna solve everything probably.

I just don’t understand why that needed to happen. Assuming they go to the human world, it’d be perfectly acceptable for me for medicine to be so advanced that it’d be able to like, lessen their symptoms and significantly improve their lifespan.

Don’t just... REMOVE their struggles. It’s okay to not be normal and cured. it’s okay for their lives to be impacted by it going forward. In fact, I’d much prefer that.

(added in later) OH wait they literally spell out why the cure being in the pen is meaningful - because it opens up a path where they can live through not having annihilated all the demons - it's essentially the moral "reward" for not killing them. Since they probably wouldn't have gotten it if they did that. I still think it wasn't needed and the blueprint on its own would suffice for another pen-convinience moment but I kind of get what they're going for, I just don't think it's worth it . In their case, going to the human world (while they don't know it) means having more medical expertise at their disposal which they can then use to survive. UNLESS they're actually not welcome over there and have to hide or something, in that case... that might be hard, true. I guess I'll come back to think about this once it's over. For now, it feels kind of unearned and it wouldn’t even have to be this way in my eyes which makes it somewhat worse.

But good, let’s say in-universe you need it NOW, then at least don’t put??? the medicine??? recipe??? INTO the hologram.

What if they just checked the GF blueprint and Norman goes “hey, Vincent... do you think this [database/archive room] could have some data on our experiments?” - Norman said he tried to develop a drug to help them but the supporters who had that data were purged. but... they had Smee to help them too. But SOMEHOW, a dude from 15 years ago just HAS the cure??? (at least let Norman develop it himself and have the data be just THE DATA and not the recipe).

It might still check out somewhat??

15+ years ago, James Ratri was assumingly still the gatekeeper since the switch to Peter seems somewhat recent considering his big "era of James has ended" speech.

I guess the implication is that just like Smee => Krone => Norman, a supporter all that time ago gave random person the pen when they escaped.

When Vylk found him, he also had just the data medium of the pen (not the entire pen), so maybe the farm thought they eliminated it and that’s why they didn’t change their methods to not work with those drugs anymore? It's still a bit curious that their experimentation hasn't changed at all in 15 years but maybe that's because they keep killing the smart people instead of making them scientists to research for them :D

Somewhere since those 15 years, Smee gave Krone the pen (probably a few years before she got to GF?), which means that at that point the gate the keyword "future" sent them to, was still in tact when Smee gave Krone the pen. Maybe WM wasn't discovered yet at that point?

then WM got discovered, James was chased. He made that phonecall update and was probably eventually killed, along with the human location (and likely bunkers since they knew a radio was supposed to be there, begs the question why they didn't remove it) being discovered (the one with the future keyword) and the gate there being destroyed.

The problem is just that it can make sense when you think about it for way too long and assume things in good-faith, but it still feels unearned.

Maybe I would care more or this would feel a little more earned if we knew ANYTHING about that person? They seemed fairly young, so it’s probably not Minerva/James Ratri. The “hope” talk reminded me of the book in the shelter, but I’m not sure if that checks out either? The cookies were rotten but not completely. I know cookies hold out relatively long, but would they rly not be completely rotten after 15 years? I MEAN. Maybe not. Who knows. I tried to google it but didn’t find anything.

But anyway. That tidbit is going into my “shelter kids OC project” I guess.

But even if the worldbuilding makes sense, I think the data set in itself makes little sense?? How did they find that pen part? Did a supporter give it to them? Why do they have the cure? Clearly their group of escapees wasn’t doing too hot (#help) and they seemed relatively young too so they probably couldn’t have worked in the farm.

Were the shelter escapees lambda escapees? but if that was the case, wouldn’t the WM group have secured the cure information more properly than in just one pen (maybe it was and those were just destroyed, to be fair) - it’s just WEIRD to put the cure for Lambda experiments on the same blueprint as the GF layout??? that makes so little sense.

Plus, why would you send them to GF, when it’s so secured and all that, and not just send them to the human support place our GF kids were sent with the “future” keyword, which had a gate. Maybe it didn’t exist 15 years ago (that the humans had control over it, that is), but even then it seems weird to me to imply to send them to GF instead of one of the other gates that existed. I mean. The “future” location’s gate wasn’t destroyed when Krone got the pen right?

I’m guessing maybe it was meant as help for escaping? But then again, why the cure? I guess if they met lambda experiments? I’m just confused.

Also: do we just accept that the layout of GUARDS and SECURITY MEASURES has not changed in 15 years???

*sigh* welp. Still looking forward to seeing some stuff with Isabella hopefully. Time... is not on their side and it shows. Neither run-time wise nor production wise.

#tpn anime #tpn s2 #tpn anime-only #tpn #tori talks #tori has opinions

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lesbianlenas · 4 years

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here are my comprehensive thoughts on bly manor that i have been writing since midway through my watch of the show in case anyone wants 2 hear my thoughts

victoria pedretti’s voice alone makes me want to nut unironically. combo w everything else and she is literally god. knew this from hill house but now she’s blond + playing a lezzie so that amps it all up by 500.

speaking of have so much love in my heart for miss dani clayton. she just wants to help children and is so caring and kind like ok wife? her adorable fake british accent. cannot make tea or coffee. i’m going to call the FUCKING police. determined walk run. tucked in shirt. comp het + internalized homophobia. just so brave and selfless. she has it all. would marry her in half a second.

and the absolute DEDICATION of her stomping on out after flora when viola just almost choked her to death. i’m literally on my knees proposing right now.

flora is so fucking cute absolutely love her would die for her immediately. also sometimes she is creepy and i am very scared of her. duality.

did not enjoy the jump scare w edwin or edward or whatever the fuck mr hetero’s name was i don’t remember. not the car scene like when dani turns around and sees him behind her and then he goes flying back into the mansion. anyway i get he had his heart broken but do not feel good abt how he was basically trying to force dani into marriage by constantly asking her until she said yes. like of course she’s going to eventually give in even if she didn’t want to when he was clearly not going to stop and if she said no instead of pushing it off she would lose basically everyone she considered to be her family. and then when she tells him that she can’t love him romantically he’s like fuck you dani ok homophobe. perhaps i’m glad he got hit by a truck ❤️

immediately noticed smth was up w hannah from the second she wouldn’t eat and i was like oh ok so she’s a ghost. her ep was SO confusing though until the end i was like what the fuck is going on here 😩 anyway hate to be right but. fuck peter quint.

same thing w miles i was like what the FUCK is wrong w this kid and then i was like oh he’s possessed then oh he’s possessed by peter quint in like. ep 2. once again hate to be right. fuck peter quint. also prior to watching the show i rarely saw anything abt miles and i was like why does everyone only talk abt flora? now i get it.

jamie is just so fucking sexy. like the lesbian energy off of her is unreal and smth that you don’t get too often w lesbians on tv. either amelia eve is a dyke or she somehow knows exactly how to emulate them bc truly unreal. only wish is that she didn’t wear makeup but we can’t have it all can we. also cannot stop thinking of her as a mechanic every time she’s wearing that like jump suit and god that would be so fucking sexy i......anyway love her w my whole heart.

speaking of how much i love jamie....the way that she acts all tough and a little cold while she is actually the most empathetic person and somehow knows exactly what to say to anyone when they’re having a rough moment and she won’t sugar coat it either but it’s bc she cares and understands so deeply that it’s ok.....wow. wife?

wish we could’ve gotten to know rebecca more outside of just her relationship w peter. i feel like that did her a major injustice. we practically saw none of her relationship w the kids and it seemed to me like they were trying to imply in the beginning that flora had been very close w rebeccca and i feel like we didn’t see that. felt like rebecca ended up mostly being a prop for peter’s story which was unfortunate considering she was such a great character. and did NOT get why she was so hung up on him either like oh he SEES me after one convo? he was also a dick like immediately after like....once again feels like a disservice that they had her be in love w peter based off of like nothing. like all of a sudden all her ambition is gone and she just wants to b w peter? lol ok.

charlotte cheating on her husband w his brother the absolute mind. fucking hilarious. thought he was jealous at the birth scene or that flora might be his but i was like no no way he probably just has a thing for her. but she is way too attractive for her husband anyway. do not condone cheating but she’s a milf so i let it slide. also flora actually being henry’s hilarious. fucking love this drama. had me rolling. “do you love him?” [silence] LMFAO. and dom’s (got his name!) fucking smack down on henry holy shitttttt will b taking some notes for next time i’d like to turn someone suicidal on fucking god.

i know it was the best vehicle for telling the story but tbh the dream hopping got SO exhausting for me after a while. i just did not enjoy that format. i’m already not one for flashbacks even in this context bc i want to know what’s going to happen next in the main story rather than what happened to get here since i know where it’s going and i just found this to be even more confusing and a little frustrating and incredibly hard to follow. but that’s just my personal taste i wouldn’t objectively say it made the show bad or anything. i think it was also bc all of the twists were unfortunately very obvious so the long drawn out explanations were like. thank u u could’ve said this in five mins instead bc i already knew this. felt like some of the dream scenes were pointless and could’ve been replaced w some better scenes.

flashback ep w viola was ok. kate siegel is so hot obviously but. once again felt extremely extended past the point it had to be. the repition of sleep wake walk was SO annoying like thank u i got it. but i was always a lot more interested in what was happening current day than in the past so once again this was just whatever for me. but good on viola’s hot sister for taking her out have to do what u have to do u know! did enjoy viola killing her back. just thought it was funny.

and how can i even express in words how i felt abt dani and jamie’s relationship? watching the scene where they first kiss literally put me to tears and i just had a real moment w it. and just in general the way that they open up to each other is just so incredible and how jamie makes dani feel so seen that dani literally can’t resist kissing her makes me just. cant put it into words. their relationship really encapsulates what is so beautiful abt lesbianism and that means so much to me truly. will probably make a whole post abt it tomorrow.

ok so in conclusion: i wanted more present day stuff instead of flashbacks. i feel like there was a LOT more creepy shit they could have done in the house and they just. didnt. also wanted to see more of owen in general but also hannah and owen’s relationship and jamie and dani’s relationship. felt like peter and rebecca got practically more screen time than jamie and dani did despite them being the main couple. felt like character & relationships wise there was a lot left unsaid. like yes the plot was finished with a neat bow but i don’t think most of the characters were done justice in the end. and speaking of which i don’t think the sad ending was necessary. do not see a single reason as to why dani needed to die. i feel like they felt it needed a sad ending and that’s why they killed her rather than it actually making sense. like girl get an exorcist. overall the whole thing felt more like an outline for a show that needed to be fleshed out rather than an actual finished show. perhaps could have benefitted from a few more eps maybe. but also. FUCK peter quint.

#michelle speaks #long post //#wouldve done a read more but i’m on mobile so we all have 2 suffer #that’s why i’m posting this at 2am 😌

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non-sequitura · 4 years

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Non-sequitura Disney in-depth analysis (after making a tier list)

Warning: SUPER longform. If you don’t know a movie well, you should skip the summary. I tried to be light on spoilers, but they’re there.

I went chronologically from favorite to least favorite. So S tier is, in order from fave to least fave, The Incredibles, WALL-E, then Zootopia.

S tier (Something I consider high quality AND a movie I greatly enjoy. I would love more Disney movies be like this.)

The Incredibles - one of my favorite movies of all time, possibly THE favorite. Rockin social commentary, epic action scenes, memorable characters, not a minute of screentime wasted, great take on the Fantastic Four, hilarious parts for both adults and children, an interesting villain, etc.

WALL-E - I love how social commentary was done here. Also skies above, what a beautiful love story. Really blazed a trail in non-verbal storytelling (especially given it was an animated kids film!) Robot animations are particularly delightful.

Zootopia - another social message delivered excellently and entertainingly. I love Judy and her persistence, I love the expressiveness of the faces and the epic city setting. I love Judy and Nick's banter. This movie deserves to be remembered longer than it has been so far. Admittedly, not one of my fave villains, which makes it my least favorite of the Ss.

A tier (either super high quality or something I greatly enjoy and deem of at least reasonably good quality)

Mulan - this movie did everything right. Truly feminist protagonist, an icon for strong Asian women, fairly culturally accurate (tho Mushu confuses me), GORGEOUS and iconic music. Lets a relatively natural romance develop. I frickin love the action scenes, I love the emporer. Sadly, this movie just didn't lodge its way in my heart as well as Pixar did. Pixar just has some magic, yo.

Cinderella - my gosh what an underrated protagonist. Her family straight-up abuses her and she never loses sight of her goals for a better life. Iconic visuals helped bring Disney out of bankruptcy. A gorgeous alto singing voice.

Wreck-it Ralph - alright alright ppl don’t crucify me for this. I honestly can’t think of much wrong with this movie. Vanellope and Ralph’s vitriolic best buds relationship is adorable, her forgiveness of him is heartwarming and (relatively) deserved, rockin’ Owl City song, epic visuals that mix together bc of all the different games. ALSO ONE OF THE BEST DISNEY VILLAINS NO CAP. One of the only twist villains I like. And we stan the romantic pairing.

Tangled - I’ve talked about this a lot, but Rapunzel deserved the whole world after what she’s gone through. That being said, Gothel is not some shallow monster she needs to escape from, but an intelligent, well-defined monster with backstory. I could totally see this story happening if the world of Tangled existed. Epic love story, hilarious dialogue. Music is… good but much of it is less memorable to me. Visuals are good but not quite at the level/creativity of many other disney films.

The Lion King - they really put Hamlet in Africa and pulled it off lol. But in all seriousness, no one took the premise of this film seriously at the time and it became sooo iconic. I love Scar and his eventual downfall, I love how Simba grows emotionally, I love the sad moments that don’t overpower the overall feeling of light goofiness. And music so memorable it was one of the first Disney musicals.

Coco - not a super unique story premise. But an incredible culture to explore with such creativity and sensitivity. I love the themes of death not being the worst and music being so central to the story. Twist/twist villain was memorable and not expected. And yeah, it did make me cry, so props there.

Ratatouille - the most recently watched of these films for me. This movie is soooo unique! Back when Pixar was truly super out there with their concepts. Super Parisian visuals and soundtrack. It somehow starts goofy (THE OLD LADY TRIES TO KILL REMY WITH A SHOTGUN WHILE WEARING A GAS MASK) but really drives home the message that you can truly do what you want regardless of who you are. Colette can get it. And the monologue by Ego at the end is one of my favorites in film.

Frozen - Anna is one of my favorite Disney protagonists. She’s so resilient and loyal. Elsa ain’t bad either but she experiences… less character development. The film is a tad too pleased with its own self-awareness for my taste, but there’s no denying how iconic the music and visuals were.

Inside Out - Alright, this movie hits home for me bc I tried to run away after moving. A super thoughtful, heartfelt depiction of (potentially depression? imo) with great moments of humor. Riley’s inner world is so creative and lovely. Also realistic depictions of Minnesota/California culture.

Tarzan - Jane! is! smart! and! adorable! Her scientific curiosity makes her very endearing. it’s so cute to see her and Tarzan learn from each other. Also Tarzan’s “found mother” is epic. Solid score. Solid film all around. To quote Lily Orchard, “This film is what Pocahontas tried to be.”

B tier (one of my favorites but has a few significant flaws that bring it down (or not quite as memorable to me, but consider good quality))

Peter Pan - Haven’t seen it in a hot sec, but I remember being super charmed by this as a kid. Just going out, having incredible adventures, and returning to a warm home at the end of the day. Tinker Bell is hilarious and beautifully drawn. Gets major negative points for the depiction of Native Americans tho.

Big Hero 6 - I was super charmed by the protagonist, his family/friends, and the setting. The plot/villain’s motivations are a bit of a mess, though.

Princess and the Frog - This movie has so much flavor to it! The visuals/music are lovely and unique. Tiana is incredible but it’s kinda annoying how EVERYONE keeps trying to shoehorn her into romance. The thing is, her goals are entirely reasonable. Focus on her restaurant, then look to settle down. But they’re like “nooo you’re ignoring the important things in life” smh. Also, epic villain, woohoo! The movie dragged significantly for me when they were in the bayou. Charlotte is delightful.

Winnie the Pooh - don’t remember it super well, but I think it was charming and occasionally dark, which is an addictive concoction.

The Little Mermaid - MAN ppl roast Ariel way more than she deserves. Visually, it was… fine. idk. This movie is good. I don’t have much else to say about it.

Snow White - the one that started it all. Visually, super impressive. Musically, lovely. I find the romance a bit… off. Well, more than a bit. What is it with Disney and kissing sleeping people?

Alice in Wonderland - a nerdy acid trip. Right up my alley! I also like films where ppl go on incredible adventures and return to the status quo, but THEY changed bc of it. Epic. SUUUUPER creative visual interpretation of Carroll’s book. Brave - gosh I loooove films where a parent and child learn to understand each other. Never got why ppl hated this movie so much. The Scottish flavor is present and fun. Merida made one mistake and made it up. The arrow scene is iconic.

Cars - a fun ride! (hahaha puns.) We love seeing Paul Newman as a car.

B-minus tier? (same as B, but problematic, or weaker story-wise.)

Hunchback - man… settings-wise, this film might be my favorite. I also love Esmeralda and Quasimodo as characters and as a duo (though the sexualized depiction of Romani ppl is not epic.) I also don’t find the discrimination against Esmeralda/Quasimodo jarring bc it matches the time period. Frollo is super interesting as a villain. The gargoyles are… def not necessary. Basically, this film doesn’t know what it’s doing with tone.

Sleeping Beauty - Aurora was my favorite when I was younger because I thought she was the prettiest, and that still defines how i feel about this, basically. Visually lovely - everything is kind of elongated and gothic. Maleficent is spiteful and epic. I have no issue with the fluffier parts of the movie, like the music or the fairies. RIP for lack of consent being a plot point, though.

Hercules - Megara is incredible. one of the only Disney “princesses” who acts like an adult and has cynicism as a major part of her personality. I love her and Herc’s progression where she learns to trust him (yes, he is genuinely that sincere, it’s not a front.) Muses are unique, whoever came up with them was high on something and I’m living for it. I just think the plot itself was somewhat unrealistic/ weirdly-paced. There are some memorable songs, some less-than-memorable songs. Art style is cool but I’m personally not a fan. EXTREMELY inaccurate depictions of the original Greek gods.

C tier (entertaining, but I don't consider it a great movie)

Bolt - I watched this like 11 years ago. It was fun! A cool concept about those put on a pedestal learning their worth even without celebrity boosting them up. Animation was… fine I think. not super memorable to me.

Frozen 2 - They really took any scrap of character development Elsa had in the first movie, threw it in the garbage and set it on fire. Anna deserved so much better. Songs are bombastic and impressive, have the occasional interesting lyric, but are really weirdly placed and none are quite as iconic as the first movie’s (except Aurora, she does great work here. Also the song Anna sings after she thinks Elsa died.)

Not a big fan of the vaguely homeopathic theme. Not a big fan of Olaf’s WEIRD character development. Not a big fan of the suuuuuper awkward dialogue and the animations that imply not only that Kristoff is into his reindeer but that Elsa and Anna are into each other (if you’re questioning if they did that, yes, they did, I can find screenshots of some really weird expressions/moments. THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO PANDER TO YOUR WEIRD FANS, DISNEY.)

The voice actors did great work, the animators did great work (look at the details on their clothes! Look at how Elsa’s posture changes to be more confident! look at how they're animated while they're singing!) Some weird costume/makeup choices that make Elsa look like an aging starlet, but she also has some gorgeous moments so eh. It’s a wash for me.

They really did not know what to do with Kristoff this movie, huh. The only thing that happened to him was singing a cheesy 90s ballad and marrying Anna, both of which were admittedly epic. Also, the trolls got 0 appearances despite being literally psychic. Probably could have helped with a lot. I'm not a huge fan of lore/worldbuilding, and thee was a lot of it here. Overall neutral on it.

Also a big theme in this movie I don’t love - **** TANGIBLE CONSEQUENCES TO OUR ACTIONS!!! The danger is Elsa’s death, the elements, colonialism, and Arendelle literally being destroyed. None of those end up playing out, so I was left at the end going “this film had literally no stakes.”

Monsters U - same as above - entertaining at the time! Not super memorable. The ppl we were supposed to dislike kept switching. Doesn’t really match the canon of Monsters Inc (I thought they were supposed to have known each other since childhood so why did they meet in college?)

Cars 3 - so apparently, everyone HATED this movie! Fun! I never watched Cars 2 (yes watched Cars 1 if you haven’t been paying attention to this list), but I didn’t think this movie was bad at all. Well-acted, some fun chase scenes, the scene where Lightning fails at driving in the simulation is genuinely hilarious, and some interesting perspectives on teachers getting the spotlight for their skills for once.

Incredibles 2 - I liked this film at first, but then it was… just okay in retrospect. I love me some good family dynamics. The plot here makes not a lot of sense. THEY BUILT UP THE UNDERMINER FOR NOTHING AND THEN FORGOT ABOUT HIM. I was surprised by the villain swap, but it happened so last minute I never really understood their motivations even after they explained them. Tried to tackle waaaay too many messages.

D tier (I didn't enjoy these or consider them mediocre)

Finding Dory - Maybe I should have put this higher? Like C tier at least. Ah well. Wasn’t a huge fan of the body/physical comedy (not my thing), but it was entertaining and awww finding family is heartwarming.

Finding Nemo - I remember nothing about this movie.

E tier (this film has significant problems)

Beauty and the Beast - *sigh*… I want to love this movie. The score is gorgeous. Visually, they could have made it more distinctly Rococo-era France but didn’t (why?) The voice actors did good work and I think Paige O’Hara is SUPER underrated here.

The Beast is emotionally manipulative with an awful temper that (for MOST of the movie. He doesn’t change.) That’s the main reason this is in E tier. This movie shaped so many generations of people thinking they can change the behavior of someone who treats them badly through the power of love. But you can’t. She learns to “love” the beast under coercion. It’s not Stockholm syndrome - it’s a trashy romance novel. Big fan of Gaston as a villain. He’s an archetype ppl can recognize and it’s so satisfying to hate him.

F tier (I think this film actively harms the industry and would rather it not have been made. Both the one in E tier could be considered harmful to the industry, but I think they had significant enough artistic accomplishments to scrape above that. I'm also generally a fan of "lack of censorship bc it's better to teach what not to do.")

Pocahontas - this movie took real historical events and romanticized them AND sexualized one of the only Native princesses they’ve had. Boo. Nothing wrong with animation!Pocahontas as a character, it’s just people put her in a story that doesn’t represent history well at all (and these historical events, unlike those in say, 14th-century Germany, had super relevant effects on people alive today.) And they portrayed the Native Americans and colonial settlers as equally in the wrong. (though I like Governor Radcliffe as a potential villain and love the line “see how I glitter.” I can’t NOT laugh when I hear it.) Lovely music, though. Nice animation, but the colors are weirdly… muted?

Bad Garbage (I don't wish this film had never been made, but I wish I never had to see it.)

Planes - this movie was ridiculous. I remember not much about it except that I kinda hated it and that it was super cheesy with tension one could see right through that immediately resolved itself via one twist or another.

Haven’t seen tier: Recess, A Bug’s Life, A Goofy Movie, DuckTakes Movie, Lilo and Stitch, Pinocchio (actually i have seen this but I remember nothing about it), The Nightmare before Christmas, Toy Stories 1, 2, and 3, Up, 101 Dalmatians, The Great Mouse Detective, Cars 2, Moana, The Good Dinosaur, Pete’s Dragon, Fantasia, Peter Pan Return to Neverland, Fantasia 2000, The Black Cauldron (read the book, though!), Bambi (or I did and remember nothing about it), The Rescuersm, The Rescuers Down Under, Planes Fire and Rescue, Bambi 2, The Fox & the Found, Oliver and Company, Atlantis, Treasure Planet (I want to, though), Piglet’s Big Movie, The Jungle Book, the Emporer’s New Groove, The Jungle Book 2, Chicken Little, Brother Bear, The Three Caballeros, Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, Dumbo, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Aladdin (seen parts but never the whole thing), Strange Magic, The Sword in the Stone, James and the Giant Peach, Frankenweenie, Lady and the Tramp, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Doug’s 1st Movie, Monsters Inc. (want to, though), Meet the Robinsons, Dinosaur, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Tigger Movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, that pooh movie at the end without the title on it

-11/21/20

#blog #non-sequitura-blog #11/21/20 #november #2020 #longform #analysis #disney

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tarry-a-lot · 4 years

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Howdy, JCS 2018 live review

Jesus Christ 2018! What a blast this will be probably longer then the other two I wrote out (which I also may have privated because last week my nerves were really bad and I started panicking and overthinking so.. yeah not sure if I’ll repost them, honestly probably won’t)

Note: I have only watched JCS 2000 and 2012 arena and have yet to watch the 70′s movie. I’ve also watched each version with my dad because I’m currently home with my parents and he was the on that got me into JCS (he was only familiar with the 70′s movie before this).

So I have to say right off the bat, why did no one tell me how pretty the stage is? Like damn it’s like an abandoned church being worked on for renovation or something, stage was probably one of my dad and I’s favourite part, I liked 2012 stage a lot but I think 2018 has to be my favourite (not to say the others were worse just personal preference)

I would say my one major complaint I have for this version is direction. Everything else like the choreography and staging was really impressive and well done but I just felt they didn’t give enough focus and development of Jesus and Judas’ relationship. Like blood money felt so sudden despite it being in the same place as any other production. I mean this is not new, I personally find quite a few productions sometimes lose Judas until blood money setting up for the betrayal. Like maybe because of it being a live show they couldn’t fit extra scenes like the 2000 ver. which is completely understandable, so it would have been more up to the actors really bringing it for the scenes they were together, I think Dixon did a wonderful job but I find Legend was a bit lacking (not really a complaint, he’s not an actor so I was pleased with what he did despite it not being his specialty) resulting in me not feeling as sad as I could have been for Judas during his death/damned for all time.

Rather than bullets I’ll split it by character (sorry for the paragraphs I just have a lot of thoughts)

Jesus: Not the best actor but honestly John Legend seems like such a nice man and his face just exudes soft and gentle so he pretty much already has the traits someone would associate with Jesus so no major complaints there. He also is famous so it added to the star factor of Jesus when the crowd is hyped for his appearance, honestly the crowd’s excitement throughout the show was wonderful. His singing style is so pretty and really suits the songs. I do think the belting or lack of belting was definitely a weak point; it seemed like his falsetto notes were a bit off which makes me believe perhaps it wasn’t the best day vocally for him, which sucks but you know that’s natural and it happens. While some notes weren’t the best I was still very impressed how he kept going without any major falters, like gethsemane? he must have known the notes were going to be questionable, for throughout act 1 he was already struggling, but Legend kept going and made, in my opinion, quite smart decisions for how he was going to sing the song. He didn’t do the first signature high note at “why” which may have been disappointing to some but I think if he knew he would struggle with the note that day it would have weakened the impact of the song more if he went for the high note and failed, also other actor’s have also not done that note in the past and still have a wonderful gethsemane (example being Evan Tyrone Martin who did one of my favourite versions of gethsemane). Instead of the high note for “why” Legend saves it for the later part of the song which is more emotional so honestly you could mask a more wispy high notes as emotions rather than lack of ability/an off singing day. Also one final thing, him going down for the last line I also thought was a great choice for him because it’s always best to end strong. One thing about acting, I wish the director told Legend to express more with his hands and body rather than just his shoulders and neck/head. While the high emotion parts weren’t the best acted, I appreciate Legend’s effort and overall thought he was an enjoyable Jesus, he is such a soft Jesus.

Judas: Dixon is so talented what the hell? His heaven on their minds is more subdued then I'm used to it being but it makes sense to his interpretation of Judas who I find more calm but frustrated while others like Minchin and Pradon had more of a panicked and scared side to them, both versions I think work. Dixon’s Judas’ death is one of my favourite versions singing wise, staging was minimal but Dixon’s acting was great so it was actually nice just to focus on him. It’s tv so the death was a bit anticlimactic the falling ladder was meh but again it’s tv not their fault. Wish he had more interaction with Jesus but not Dixon’s fault. Dixon is just so talented and wow, a great Judas.

Mary M.: A SOft, sweet Mary, really suits Legend’s Jesus and I also liked how she was nice to Judas despite him being a bit of a prick to her. I liked her dress and her singing suited the songs really well. Not the most emotional in her singing though she did show emotion in her face, but I'm not that mad I thought overall she was lovely, I would listen more to Bareilles Mary M.

Peter: A soft looking boi, why are so many of the characters soft in this version? He has a lovely voice and sounded nice with Mary on Could we start again. I liked how he really exuded this kind of young excitement and I liked his interactions with the other disciples in the background.

Simon: A soft punk boi? Nothing against the actor, just against the director but the Simon Zealotes song staging was weird, like choreography was fine but it was more like Simon’s concert time rather than Simon trying to start a riot. While that scene wasn't the best executed in my opinion I thought he still was a lovely Simon. I really liked him spray painting Jesus’ name at the start if my memory serves me correctly. Despite his more punk look he still was hugging everyone and seemed so sweet but like also strangely violence loving which I think suits Simon so overall really liked this aggressive but sweet Simon.

Pontius Pilate: Honestly I think my dad and I have just a love for an extra Pontius Pilate, because we really liked the 2000 interpretation but this version was also great. He’s not as good of singer as the 2000 version but his acting was wonderful and such a joy to watch. Also you’d think his costume wouldn’t work because it’s strangely tacky but it looks so good on him for some reason?

Herod: He’s literally Alice Cooper. Could have been a bit flashier but still fun. The acting and singing wasn’t the best version I’ve seen but I think the star power and general vibe of Alice Cooper is kind of enough to carry the scene enough, the crowd’s excitement really helped the scene in my opinion. I really liked Alice Cooper just having fun with the applause at the end.

Caiaphas and Annas: For some reason my dad really loved Annas in this version, like whenever he came on my dad was just super hyped but hey he was a great Annas. Also those costumes!!!??! wow just wow, they look so cool!!!! Not my favourite Caiaphas but I’m a sucker for Norm Lewis so I was just happy to see him. I really liked how in Hosanna Caiaphas is on the same level as Jesus and the disciples and sings directly to them eye to eye, which gave off more the vibe that Caiaphas is not stopping them because he’s some leader looking down at them and trying to crush them but more someone of the same community trying to bring an end to a disturbance that is concerning to him.

Ensemble: All so talented, I only really knew Heath Saunders and Mykal Kilgore but it was fun seeing them in the background. I kept pointing them out whenever they appeared because I was excited. Like I said before I liked how the disciples seemed to get along and hug each other a lot. I also really loved the trio during “Superstar” with the silver dresses, I really liked how they even added silver to their hair, they were lovely and really pretty. Also the musicians coming on the stage and the guitarist on the scaffolding were great!! really added to the show

Overall, I really liked this version, but my favourite part was the set change during the crucifixion. To preface this I have been very fortunate to watch both Hadestown and Phantom of the Opera before, and during Hadestown, while I cried due to plot stuff, one of the reasons I cried was at the end of act 1 there are these swinging lamps and the set grows/parts and I cried because it was so pretty and just wow. During Phantom the only times I cried was the opening overture where the chandelier is revealed and when they descend to the Phantom lair for the first time and the stairs appear and disappear from the wall and the whole boat thing. What I’m trying to say is I love sets moving and beautiful imagery created by sets, I just really like sets okay. So at the end when John Legend is on the cross and it starts to get raised I first thought, are they just going to lift him up and away because uhh... ?? BUT THEN THE F*CKING WALLS SPLIT AND THE GAPS CREATE A CROSS LIKE THE F*CK I CAN’T AHHHHHHHHHHHHH YOU DON’T UNDERTSAND HOW EXCITED I WAS MY MIND WAS BLOWN I LOVED IT SO MUCH!!!!!! (does it really matter that i censored this? not really, just feels weird to just write out f word despite using it a lot)

it really reminded me of Tando Ando’s Church of Light, really exciting stuff

haha that’s all, I really liked this version and just A+ overall

#jcs #jesus christ superstar #jcs 2018 #ramblings

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kurt-nightcrawler · 4 years

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I agree with you that the Wanda vision show is probably gonna mess the whole mutant arc just to make it fit in the mcu But,,, the only reason I'm interested in seeing the show its bc of the rumors of Evan Peters having a rol in it, which one? No idea but damn the curiosity it's killing ME

Personally, I don’t think they’ll bring in mutants through WandaVision, mostly because DisneyMarvel said they wouldn’t be bringing in the idea of mutants for at least a few years, and it’s only been about one or two since the DisneyFox merge.

Along with that, bringing in such an important part of Marvel comics into the MCU through a TV show is just a poor business decision overall— some people will never watch marvel TV shows, whether it be they don’t have the streaming service or they just don’t care to watch one episode a week for an hour versus going to the movies 1-3 times a year to see characters on the big screen— and Marvel HAS said they will continue to make movies (or so they did before COVID) how things will go now, especially with the Black Widow movie release date up in the air, I don’t know. However I do know it would be a big finical risk to bring mutants into the MCU through a TV show.

Honestly bringing mutants into the MCU at all is a big risk. Most people, including myself, probably won’t be too pleased no matter what the MCU does, because the MCU has been going on for so long without mutants, it’s basically a whole different world/story compared to Marvel comics, who have had mutants tied into avenger storylines since they were all made (Rogue was originally part of the Avengers, Beast was an Avenger for awhile, etc.)

Evan Peters was probably intentional for the TV show. I don’t know what his role in the show is, and I’m also curious, so I will be pirating the show (I don’t have Disney+ nor do I want to pay for it). They didn’t show Evan in the trailer, which was smart on Disney— it was to keep people interested in the show. Evan Peter’s Quicksilver was a popular character in the X-Men films, and to announce him in the WandaVision show and not put him in the trailer is a good marketing strategy, I’ll give them that.

But do not forget Evan has done other roles than just Quicksilver. He’s played villains before, so it’s possible he could be the main villain of WandaVision, whatever that means exactly. Or he’s just another character and this is a Chris Evans Human Torch to Captain America kind of thing.

The show as a whole, from what I have seen in the trailer, I think style wise and costuming it looks interesting. It looks different, the plot seems different, so I AM intrigued, however, I don’t want it to be about the MCU Wanda and Vision. Sorry, but they’re bland. They haven’t had much screen time in the MCU and then when they did it was mostly to build up their relationship which felt forced (I know they get together in the comics but in the MCU it feels forced) not to mention the entire change of Wanda’s character.

Also the twins in it, and people saying it’s Billy and Tommy, watch the MCU make it not be them 😂 that’s a joke but honestly who knows for right now.

Also last thing!! I think the name for the show itself is ugly!! WandaVision,,, that’s an AO3 tag,,, but like,,, if it’s supposed to have a sitcom kind of vibe to it then I get why they did it since a lot of sitcoms have cheesy names— Friends, Happy Days, Leave it to Beaver, The Brady Bunch (these are just a few. There’s tons of sitcoms out there)

#ask #anon #wandavision #watch people come for meeeeeee 👀😳🤭#oops

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livehorses · 6 years

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Narnia fandom read-along: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader.

Sorry for the delay, but I’ve been passing through spiritual rough times and I been feeling a little discouraged to do some things...but I don’t want to end the month without sharing my thoughts about this amazing book.

Favorite Quote from this book:

"Courage, dear heart"

My Lord! This quote means everything to me! When your worst nightmares chase you, when it’s dark and you’re afraid, suddenly a light immaculate white bird kindles the path for you, gives you comforting, hope, strenght and courage. And the way Aslan adresses Lucy as “Dear Heart.” shows how much Aslan loved her, even after she dissapointed Him with the magician’s book subject. That adressing melts my heart!

“This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

The quote talks for itself. ;)

Favorite Chapter:

Uhh... do I have to choose? I must say my favorites are the three last chapters which are: “The Beginning Of The End Of The World”. “The Wonders Of The Last Sea.” and “The Very End Of The World.” I got really excited with those narrations since they reach the beguinning of the end of the World. The tranquil, pasive, relaxing envirorment, the flowers floating in the water, the sweet water taste that you can drink without getting tired of it, but wanting more and more the more you drink of it, but that is not unsatisfying or frustrating, but one of the most pleasant experiences; wanting more without being wrong, a good methaphore of how can be thirsy of God’s love, that is more sweet and satisfactory than honey.

Another one would be “Eustace Adventure.” I must say I love Eustace’s character arc (and not character plot twist as I was wrongly saying before) and I loved the time he remained as dragon. Yeah, it was aweful in a way, but I believe Eustace as a dragon was more pityed and it is kinda cute.

Favorite Scene:

Every scene in this book! Mostly the travelings on the sea. As I said before, the scenes when they arrive to the beginning of the end of the World, Eustace as a dragon and I will add the scene when Lucy sees the magician’s book. I’m thankful that in here, Lewis explores Lucy’s “weak” side. She’s a more relatable character because, when you’re not as popular or noticed like some people you know, despiting that you’re loved and have the valious supporting of good people, and you feel like your value is little, you can wrongly relate it with beauty aspects and try to pretend. I feel sorry for Lucy when she’s trying to be another Susan. But the scene is so powerful.

Another scene would be when Esutace is un-dragoned by Aslan. I love the parallels between him giving up their skin scales as we must give up material stuff to be free and ourselves. It’s also the relieving after receiving God’s forgiveness and Grace, and a good example to represent the Bautism.

Favorite Character:

As always my dear Lucy, more because here she’s so more relatable.

Then it would come Edmund, because he shows how much he has grown, how he tries to be a good king and to continue Peter’s work.

Caspian of course, he is now a mature young boy that takes his tasks as king profesionally and responsibly.

Reepicheep will be always one of my favorites (goodbye my little warrior T.T) I love how he always take risks without fear, how is loyal to the royal family and willing to die for them (and in some way he does.)

Eustace, from the beginning I took Caspian’s thought of him: that he was funny. I’m not going to deny I was amused by his whimpy behavior and his tantrums. But most of all I love that in the end, he let Aslan to reach his heart and change him. He becomes so wise at the end, an endearing character decided to change, to help, to learn when at the beginning he wanted to give lessons, and I love his faith.

But if I’m truly honest, my favorite character was Lord Drinian, the Dawn Treader’s captain. He’s such an experienced sea wolf, so loyal and protective with his king, an expert of the sea and all that is related to it. And, a little stubborn too..

Overall Rating:

I must say, of all the Chronicles Of Narnia book series, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader is my favorite. Can I say something more stronger please? I dare to say, my favoritest. It has all elements I love:

To begin it starts with a sea painting, it’s a journey across the sea. It has a story of characterized stars, starry nights, a “noble” dragon, my favorite characters, good christian messages,and has a great ending.

The ending scene has a lot the appearance of my favorite kind of days weather: a freshly breeze blowing into your face, a shiny Sun above, a pure clairly blue sky with no cloud in it, and calmy sea with noble wavings full of mermaids!

I like that there is no real enemy in the story. It’s only the characters traveling among many adventures in search of seven lords. It figures me like those Christmas mexican plays we call the “Pastorelas (Shepperdlies?)” That tells the story of the Bethlehem shepperds’ journey to the Manger. But the devil tries to distract them with his temptations so they could never reach their destiny.

So this book is like. Its characters travel among a sea full of dangers and temptations that can keep them away from the real course. But by Aslan’s Grace (as happens in pastorelas as well) they could make it to the end.

My rating: 11/10. A huge piece of art this book, an aesthetic book.

#narnia fandom read-along #The Voyage of the Dawn Treader #livehorses confessions

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jeanjauthor · 5 years

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Writers? This is the artistic version of a short story.

Artists...?

...WHY??

So...many...questions.

A lot of this breaks what writers call “the willing suspension of disbelief.” It’s where the audience is willing to overlook implausible things in order to keep following the story. At some point their credibility has a limit, a breaking point where their ability to suspend and ignore their disbelief will snap, like hanging a thread from the ceiling, and then putting too much weight on it.

Some of these weighty questions include:

Why is she "standing" like that? She looks like she's sitting on an invisible stool!

Why is her cloak/sheet still bound up like that if she's been fighting long enough to get her sword bloodied?

Why is she so pristine when the wyrm corpse is clearly freshly arterially injured??

Why does she have no shoes and pristine feet when she’s clearly touching a bloody corpse?

Why is the tag end of her cloak/sheet...thing...whipped up under one leg and over the other when she’s been chopping up a monster and now has to fight another one?

Again, why is she so clean??

There are so many WTF questions...

What is she sitting on?

If she’s not sitting on anything, how is she supporting her weight in that position?

She’s not being supported by her feet, that’s for sure--is she seriously en pointe with her left foot (the one on our right, visually)?

And the one on the left (her right foot), if it’s resting at a 45-ish degree angle on a corpse so freshly butchered it’s still spurting, how is it she’s able to keep it in place when it should be slipping out from under her by all the laws of squshy meaty blood-filled things?

Where is the missing V shaped wedge of that tail? Look at the angles on those two cut ends; there is clearly a whole big fat wedge of flesh that is missing! If there wasn’t, that tail would literally have been an L shaped structure with the cut angling on the diagonal down into the corner, and that is just disturbing to contemplate...

...Where are the arm bones in those dragon-wings?? Seriously, that is disturbing, seeing the thin metacarpals and phalanges (the “finger bones” of wings if you look at wings as nothing more than elongated & weirdly angled hands) ...but not the arm bones...so where are they??

...Now this isn’t to say the picture is all bad! The concept is actually a neat idea, looking like a cross of Lord of the Rings meets all those hedonistic Renaissance paintings of the Ancient Greek mythos. And it would be 100% correct to mix mythos like this, as the Renaissance painters were doing that all over the place, mixing Greek mythos symbology into Biblical art, and vice versa (all of which was fan art, btw).

The streaky effect of the Nazgûl is wonderful, though I’d like to see a bit more tattering (along the same diagonal upper left to lower right lines) on that right side of the Ringwraith fellow, there.

The Ringrwraith even seems to be bending the airwaves around and above him, with the effects of the clouds sort of streaking in toward that bright spot in the sky above and behind. It makes it look like the halo is sucking in all the Light before fleeing into the West, or trying to suck the Nazgûl off the face of the planet to hopefully disinterate its evilness out of existence...

The bright part of the sky also kind of looks like dragonbreath fire, even though the Fell Beasts that the Nazgûl rode upon aren’t evern mentioned (as far as I can recall) as being able to breathe fire like dragons. So that’s another point of coolness.

I have no idea what’s going on anatomy-wise of the presumed fallen and chopped up Fell Beast, but at least some effort has been made to provide it with a (weird) internal structure. If it really is a Fell Beast and not meant to be a dragon or a wyrm, then I can accept the odd anatomy and darkness of the...I’m not sure if those are bones, but I’m presuming that it has some bones in its tail, and if it’s a foul abomination style creation, I can accept the creator had no clue.

I do like the crispness of the woman in focus versus the Nazgûl who is equally clearly not in focus.

Certainly the woman definitely looks like a Renaissance painting of a Greek Mythos Action Sequence! She’s in a classic serene, poised action pose that no doubt has some sort of supporting stool & armature behind and under the original model for her to rest her arms upon.

The symbology of Shield Maiden of Rohan certainly gets the first two components of that descriptor down visually: for the first part, she has a shield (lovely round thing, very Classic Greek Hero With Spiffy Expensive Metal Shield), and she definitely is using it to shield herself from something. (Plus the sword.) The other part of the symbology is the “modesty sheet drape” under one thigh (gotta show off them nekkid thighs, Renaissance foiks!!) and up over the other, between the legs, blocking off any view of or access to the mons pubis...aka, shielding her maidenly modesty.

However, there is zero sign she’s from Rohan, because there’s zero symbolism representing Rohirrim culture...and the key element to Renaissance pictures of various cultures’ mythos were that they were rich with symbolism. The Rohirrim, the Riders of Rohan, were emphasized over and over as horse people.

Tolkienn also cribbed the Scandinavian culture for his descriptions of them (I suspect the Golden Hordes of the Russian Steppes, heavily influenced by the Rus folks who were Scandinavians who had moved east and mingled with the Mongolian Empire remnants who a little earlier had moved west. The Greeks knew of the Scandinavian peoples (no, really, they knew of them! Electricity is actually just the Latin word elektron (which comes from a similar-sounding Greek word I’m not going to bother to spell correctly), which meant amber, as in the petrified pine pitch being shipped down through Europe from the Baltic Sea in the far north, which is surrounded by Scandinavian countries.

Yet there’s no signs or symbols of Scandinavia about her, no knotwork animals, no amber, just pale blonde hair (which frankly could be representative of the British Isles or partial albinoism)... So while there’s a lovely Greek Mythos in Renaissance Paintings feel to her...it falls short of being a true copy/homage, which is unfortunate. It could’ve been so easily fixed, too, with a bit of knotwork braiding painted onto the cloak/sheet thing.

I will say that the folds of that sheet are spectacularly well painted, lovely depth and dimensionality to them!

Same goes for the condours of her body, and the tail of the wyrm. I fully believe these are three dimensional objects!

The lighting is beautifully done. Admittedly if the light is coming from that glowy bit of the sky behind the Nazgûl, she should be in shadow...except he’s a Ringwraith, and it’s 100% acceptable for light to go through him, since according to cannon, they’re not fully corporeal. This is a “plot” point where fans who know the lore are more than willing to suspend disbelief.

I’m not a rabid Tolkienn fan by any means, but I do know enough to accept that Ringwraiths are wraiths, and not fully of the physical realm. Plus, Greek Mythos Heroes in Renaissance paintings are supposed to be Bathed In The Light Of Holy Goodness, sort of an inner aura spiritual goodness radiance-effect, I guess...? Either way, it’s symbolism, it indicates visually that the Light (Good) will shine through upon Heroes (& Heroines) when they are being their Most Heroic...and it’s very well done.

(...Another question if that’s her helm on the ground, where is the rest of her armor? Where are her clothes?? Or is this meant to parody the “sword and magic helmet!!” trope and the helmet was providing all her armor and clothes up until the point she removes it to reveal she’s a nekkid Not A Man? And really, are Nazgûl so far removed from their mortal lives that they need nakedness to be able to tell males from females of their own species...?)

If this were a story, it would be a crossover fanfic with awesome potential...but it falls a little short of what’s needed to successfully suspend the reader/viewer’s disbelief.

Why is it important to do a better job next time, to get these details a little more accurate? Because most Tolkienn fans I know are rabid about it, & willing to nitpick any mistakes or inaccuracies. Cast your minds back to the huge raging fandom debates around the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies about whether or not Peter Jackson & co were “butchering the mythos” of Middle Earth.

Also...I’m trying to figure out how the Nazgûl is standing, and on what if he is indeed standing, though perhaps he’s actually astride the fallen Fell Beast, and simply swung himself around while she was chopping off & somehow disintegrating that V-shaped wedge of wrymtail? I can suspend some of my disbelief for that, though it does add to the overall strain of that willing suspension, and obviously there were too many other issues that ended up snapping it.)

As an editor, if this were a story, I’d be telling the artist to fix the wing bones, to give the woman some shining chain armor with a Rohirrim tabard, or boiled leather armor and tabard--at the very least a tabard with the Rohirrim symbols on it!!. I’d also at the very least slap some Scandinavian knotwork on it, if not the actual Horse of Rohan. (I’d also suggest using the accepted colors for the Rohirrim banner, green and gold, though I might keep the majority of the tabard white and just have a gold-and-green knotwork horse centered on the chest, or something.)

I’d also request there be more chunks of hacked-off tail all over. (Bonus points if one of them looks like The Lonely Mountain! lol...)

Plus, I’d give her at least a tiny bit of blood spatters around her boots and on her thighs & a little on the lower tabard, to show she’s been fighting in battle all along. However, I’d actually hesitate to put the spatters any higher than belt-line at most (and definitely do something different than that cloak/sheet thing).

Why would I hesitate to get the chest area bloody? Because of the symbolism.

Renaissance paintings had blood & gore, but only up to a point. She’s the heroic figure who slays the 3rd Biggest Nasty of the entire trilogy (#1: Sauron, #2 Saruman, #3 chief king of the Ringwraiths, the one she stabs in the face-hole), so she needs the symbolism of still being Clean And Pure Of Heart, aka no muss, mud, tatters, or blood in the torso (chest / heart) area.

In fact, if you just replaced the cloak/sheet thingy with just a tabard (a white one with a little knotwork on it, and put Grecian sandals on her feet...that would seriously fix a lot in this image. You’d still get to paint the glorious three dimensional folds arrowing down between her thighs, “shielding her modesty.” and you could put some of the symbols of Rohan on the tabard (horse, knotwork, etc) to make her more clearly the Shield Maiden of Rohan, and not just a shield maiden, while still retaining that Greek Mythos feel.

(Plus, you could have a bit of Side Boob showing on the side closest to the viewer to make it clear She Is No Man, and still avoid the blasted censorship issues rampant in modern society, particularly on this site these days.)

...Definitely fix the dragon wing armbones with a bit of shadowing to remove the fact they look like they’re translucent with nothing along the upper/leading edge... ‘cause once unseen, I cannot un-see-it, and it’s creepy as-is... >.>*

I love the color palette. It’s very dusky, as in nearing-sunset-dusk, with lots of earth tones. It looks a bit dirty in its hues (as tragically poised battlefields should), and yet it has kind of a “Romanticism golden afternoon light” quality to it. These are all colors that I 100% believe Renaissance painters had access to and would’ve used. Excellent choices!

At a quick glance, it’s a good painting. When you look at it a little closer, however... the contrast between all the high quality stuff (lighting, three-dimensionality, focus versus unfocus, at least half the necessary symbolism is there, etc, etc) and the lower quality stuff (oy that lack of proper dragonwing armbones, etc) means it’s really not quite the artist’s best work, and it could be so, so very much better. Why?

Composition is as important as technical performance.

Seriously, the way she’s painted is gloriously done...except for her positioning. The dragon wings (I haven’t even touched on the odd angles of the metacarpal bones on the left-side one, just the right one, which is well done for the “finger bones” but there’s no way it should be pointing up lke that), those wings are too anatomically implausible, though I’ll admit they’re more about visual framing than being actual key features.

And lastly, if you’re going for a glorious Greek Mythos Renaissance Painting look to the art...go the whole hog. Paint it like it’s Second Breakfast, Elevenses, Lunch, Dinner, Tiffin, Tea, Supper & Midnight Snack all rolled into one.

Hell, paint a Loyal Dog (a staple of Renaissance symbolism), put it down at her feet (to represent the hobbit Merry, who was with her on her quests), and give it a little Rohirrim helmet and/or tabard! Go the whole distance with this. I truly believe this artist has that kind of quality in them!

If they did, I do believe all the old Renaissance Masters would totally thumbs-up this painting, if those flaws were fixed and the symbolism ramped up to at least a 9, if not necessarily a 10, rather than just doodling around down near a 5 or 6.

If this were a story and I was the editor for it (and presuming this was done on a tablet / computer, since if it’s an actual painting, that’s harder to fix), I’d definitely strongly suggest the revisions and rewrites listed above. And then I’d pimp the hell outta this painting.

(Oh, and to fix the weird positioning of her body, I’d give her a Radiant Aura Of Goodness with some golden streaks of light or something angling out at all directions, so it looks like she’s kinda floating, rather than wondering if she’s “suspended” by secretly sitting on a stick or a tail spike or something. That would help strengthen my suspension...as in the suspension of my disbelief.)

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ambiidexter · 6 years

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On Peter’s magical abilities

This isn’t really a headcanon, mostly canon facts with a bit of my conclusions, but it’s essential for my portrayal, so I’ll put this one into the headcanon category. Here comes a long-ass essay on Peter Pettigrew’s magical and intellectual abilities, accompanied by every single objection I’ve ever witnessed during the years of being in Harry Potter fandom.

There is a lot of misconceptions about Peter Pettigrew that very few people are willing to dispel, because he’s just such a hated character, right?

The two Big Ones TM are: Peter’s reasons for betrayal (that will be covered in my next “essay”) and Peter’s magical skills. He is widely considered to be one of the weakest wizards in the whole Harry Potter series, if not THE weakest one. I hereby proclaim it bullshit. More under the cut.

1) First thing’s first, Peter was one of the three youngest Animagi ever. At the age of 15 he pulled off a feat that not many adult wizards were able to do. Along with the registered Animagi and Rita Skeeter, there were 11 known Animagi in the 20th century total.

“But he needed help from James and Sirius, and was the last one to become an Animagus.”

McGonagall needed tutoring from Dumbledore to become an Animagus. Not from 15-year-old students, she got help from the most powerful wizard alive. Anyone here has enough balls to call McGonagall a weak witch? Yeah, didn’t think so.

Next, Peter being the last one. Before you embark on a serious enterprise, you study the materials and plan the steps. It was common knowledge that the process of becoming an Animagus was extremely dangerous. It could result in agony, it could result in irreversible mutilation or even death. If there is one thing that everyone remembers about Peter, it’s how easily scared he was. Knowing all this, he ought to have lagged and postponed it as much as possible, until enough peer pressure had built up to finally make him go for it. Furthermore, the standard time for performing the tasks necessary for the first transformation is one month. No matter how talented or skilled you are, it’s one month of carrying a mandrake leaf in your mouth and repeating the incantation at every dawn and dusk. As soon as that term comes to an end, you have to wait for the first electric storm. Electric storms aren’t known for being exactly punctual. They depend on a million things. Taking into account that Peter did all that shit not at the same time with James and Sirius, he could’ve waited for his electric storm for ages, after James and Sirius had already completed the ritual.

“But in the flashback he couldn’t list the traits of a werewolf despite having spent a lot of time next to one, and he tried to crib his friends’ test answers. How talentless does one have to be for that?”

To be quite frank, I really hate when Peter gets compared to Neville, but remember Neville? It was very clear that Neville had anxiety. He’d forget things, lose his rememberall, make a fool of himself in front of the teachers and was overall clumsy. Then, in a critical situation, he showed himself as a talented wizard, and the fandom welcomed that change. Neville overcame his anxiety once he grew up and learned to deal with his inner demons, and voila, turned out he actually had talent in him, it just hadn’t surfaced before! Yes, the reason for Neville’s anxiety gets named and the reason for Peter’s doesn’t (which is food for thought in another headcanon), but does it really matter if they clearly had the same problem, and that’s what serves as the main reason for comparison of these characters? Anxious people tend to do much better once they are out of school, and here we move on to the next topic.

2) Peter was a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

“But the Marauders always had him in tow, so of course they made him join.”

The Order of the Phoenix was a near-military organization, its members fought in a war. It wasn’t a “participation award” kind of club. They couldn’t afford accepting inept wizards to make them feel better. They needed members who knew how to put up a fight, skilled, powerful members. Dumbledore was the head of the organization for fuck’s sake, and he was a better judge of people’s abilities than, say, Sirius.

3) When confronted by Black in the street, Peter neutralized Sirius faster than Sirius could neutralize him, framed Sirius for treason and mass murder, faked his own death and escaped. He came up with all of this in mere seconds, under immense pressure. This plan was so good it had worked for 13 years.

With his wand behind his back, Peter wrecked a square and turned 12 people into mince with a single spell, Confringo. Now, this is a dueling spell, normally used in dueling competitions. Not real life fights where wizards might aim to kill each other. There are several mentions of using Confringo in life-or-death battles, and the most known are: Harry destroying the flying motorcycle's side-car during the Battle of the Seven Potters and Hermione Granger trying to kill Nagini. A side-car is not a big deal, and Nagini lived on to the final chapters of the book. Evidence suggests that Confringo doesn’t normally have effects as devastating as when it was used by Peter. One spell, 12 victims and huge collateral damage.

“But he just said the incantation and pointed a wand, that’s easy.”

If that’s easy, why does most of the plot of Harry Potter books revolve around young wizards sweating away for seven years to learn to control and apply their powers when casting spells? Why aren’t they simply given lists of spells to memorize and graduate in a year? Why do inexperienced wizards end up accidentally killing themselves with the destructive magic they fail to control? See Crabbe burning himself to death with Fiendfyre. Why are other wizards in the story considered to be powerful for just shouting spells and pointing wands?

“But McGonagall said Peter was hopeless at dueling, and wasn’t in the rest of Marauders’ league talent-wise. And Sirius called Peter a talentless pathetic thing.”

First, see (1). Second, a character’s bias does not equal narrative truth. Rowling’s books are essentially detective stories that follow the laws of the genre. McGonagall’s and Rosmerta’s words (that fat little boy who worshipped James and Sirius) were supposed to lead us away from any assumptions about Peter other than him being a harmless, logical victim of Black’s crime. So that in the end we get shocked. The Ministry sent DEMENTORS and Hit Wizard Squads (equivalent of muggle S.W.A.T.) after Sirius. All of this because they thought that Sirius had done what Pettigrew had actually done. We get this picture of Sirius as a terrifying dark wizard, but as soon as the culprit turns out to be Peter, he’s suddenly weak? But the killer seemed so nice and people told stories about him saving puppies! But Peter seemed so weak and people told stories about him being academically unsuccessful!

The Prisoner of Azkaban, chapter 10:

Fudge: “Nobody but trained Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad would have stood a chance against Black once he was cornered. I was Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes at the time, and I was one of the first on the scene after Black murdered all those people. I — I will never forget it. I still dream about it sometimes. A crater in the middle of the street, so deep it had cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere. Muggles screaming.”

Now replace “Black” with “Pettigrew”.

3) Peter is able to cast Avada Kedavra (with a wand that wasn’t his own, which makes it harder to perform magic AND he didn’t even win the wand’s allegiance).

What does it prove, other than Peter being a filthy murderer once again?

The Goblet of Fire , chapter 14:

Crouch Jr as Alastor Moody:“Avada Kedavra’s a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it — you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I’d get so much as a nosebleed.”

Crouch was insane, his words aren’t reliable.

Despite being a crazy Death Eater, Crouch Jr shares the title of the most effective DADA professor in Harry Potter history, along with Remus Lupin. I also doubt his mental issues prevented him from adequately estimating the features of Avada Kedavra.

4) Peter overpowered a Ministry employee Bertha Jorkins, helped Crouch overpower Moody who was known as the greatest auror of his time, and brewed the very first Polyjuice potion for Crouch.

“Voldemort calls Peter stupid and inept all the time and praises Crouch. Crouch must’ve overpowered Moody alone, and Peter was just a bonus.”

Voldemort is notoriously sadistic. He enjoys causing pain in all forms, mental and physical. He relishes people’s pain. He is also one of the best Legilimens users out there. Having such a rich history with Peter, Voldemort knows his every weak spot, every single one. Not only does he use Cruciatus on Peter liberally, he prods the old wounds, namely inferiority complex. And still, even Voldemort can’t refrain from admitting that Peter tends to have “moments of brilliance”. Peter was the one who found Voldemort when everyone else (the allegedly way more powerful and intelligent Death Eaters) had failed. Peter was the one who conjured a rudimentary body for Voldemort, and brought him back fully with the use of ancient magic even Voldemort doubted would work.

“Big deal, throwing a bone, a drop of blood, and a hand into a potion.”

Big deal, being good at potions? Ask the people who had Snape for teacher. Once again, Voldemort himself deemed the task to be complicated. Anyone here wants to question Voldemort’s competence in magic? Magic is about inherent ability first and foremost, not the set of steps to complete. Otherwise there would be no such things as muggles and squibs.

“Peter just followed Voldemort’s instructions for that potion.”

And all wizards in the story followed instructions of their teachers at some point. Are they all weak? Peter (or anybody, really) clearly had no reason to be interested in THAT potion until he found Voldemort in his incorporeal state, so why would he learn how to make it beforehand? Harry had Snape’s textbook to help him excel at potions in his sixth year, but does that nullify his power overall? Also, everyone forgets that Peter DID graduate Hogwarts. That requires passing N.E.W.T. levels.

5) Other things: Peter took part in creating the incredibly intricate Marauder’s map. He can cast non-verbal spells (N.E.W.T.-level advanced Transfiguration spell Incarcerous on Harry, stunning Ron and Crookshanks (with another wizard’s wand), levitation of Harry), which are also considered advanced magic that requires outstanding abilities.

Peter Pettigrew is a lot of things, but a weak wizard he isn’t.

#lots of salt under the cut #&; headcanons #peter pettigrew #&; meta #&; essentials

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davidmann95 · 7 years

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Well, that was unexpected.

I know we’ve all had over a year to get used to this kid’s take on the character, and two to wrap our heads around the concept of Homecoming in the first place, but it really is worth reflecting again for a moment on how this movie is impossible. This movie can not be. Spider-Man’s over there, and the X-Men are over there, and the Avengers are over here, and we all knew from day one of Feige & companies’ grand experiment that never the twain would meet. Hell, it wasn’t even just box office failure or negotiations that led to this, but the franchises’ sheer freak incidental connection to The Interview via Sony and therefore the North Korean hack a few years back, with the humiliating scope of how little Sony knew what they were doing with Spidey spilling out into the public eye and forcing them into a corner where they had to take the only realistic way out that everyone was also now yelling at them to do.

But, well, it happened, and in getting the biggest character they could under their umbrella, Marvel Studios had to take on what must have been an almost unthinkable degree of pressure with this flick. Because with this, they had to:

1. Do a movie with an exponentially more popular character than they’d ever handled before.

2. Do the sixth movie in this characters’ series and make it distinct, without moving him into wildly new narrative territory because they want to bank on the preexisting affection for him.

3. Handle this characters’ second reboot in a decade, when the last one was already getting reboot fatigue complaints.

4. Establish this character not just as a successful new franchise like Doctor Strange or Ant-Man, but as the guy who they’ve all but publicly announced they’ll be positioning as the central figure of their $11 billion and counting cinematic universe once Evans and Downey leave.

5. Do all this knowing that if they fuck it up out of the gate they might not necessarily have a second chance to get it right, Sony might just take their ball and go home.

So...it’s fair that I wasn’t expecting too much here, right? Not that I thought it would be bad by any means, but the trailers weren’t exactly blowing me away, they weren’t going to address Uncle Ben which meant the arguable biggest underlying idea of Spider-Man - his overwhelming guilt - wasn’t going to be in here, they were shortchanged a lot of Spider-Man’s biggest stories between wanting to avoid the previous ones and Sony wanting to play hardball with the villains (whether in the hopes of prodding Marvel to fork over a billion or two to buy Spider-Man back outright, or because they’re genuinely dumb enough to think that after all this they can really make a successful solo Venom/Kraven/Mysterio/Black Cat/Silver Sable movie series), and it had an untested director and like six writers. By all indications, this was going to be a very conservative, standard-issue, focus-tested-to-hell-and-back MCU flick where they’d play it fairly safe while integrating him into the larger universe and giving Tom Holland a chance to charm audiences into accepting him, and hopefully all involved would try something a little ballsier for the sequel. No crime, understandable given the circumstances, but they’d have a lot of work to do later on.

This is the first great Spider-Man movie.

Some obvious caveats there: yes, the first two Raimi films are great superhero movies, but as far as I’m concerned that the dude in there is named Peter Parker and wears Spider-Man’s costume is a complete coincidence. They’re the endpoint of a very particular, masochistic strain of thought on the character as defined by pain and isolation - rather than being a dumb teen who thinks the world is constantly shitting on him, because he’s a dumb teen and of course he thinks that - losing in the process most of his charm and energy in favor of framing him as sainted, suffering martyr to New York’s sins. The Amazing movies on the other hand had a basically perfect Spidey in Andrew Garfield, the embodiment of the frustrated, funny, cocky, eventually decent Parker of the original Lee/Ditko years, but he and Emma Watson’s great Gwen Stacy were embedded in some overall crappy movies, which had the unfortunate side-effect of rendering that interpretation of the character radioactive for the time being.

This, on the other hand?

Not to too dramatically oversell what happened here - this isn’t an all-timer hall of fame entry to stand alongside your Dark Knights or Logans. They didn’t take any bold, outlandish risks with it either; this isn’t any more of a deviation from the tonal norm for these movies than, say, Winter Soldier. It’s got flaws to be sure: a couple characters don’t get the time and development they probably deserve (especially Zendaya’s Michelle, who it feels like the writers wanted to invest with a little more of a sense of character development by the end than she’d been given), the plot definitely isn’t as tight as it could be, and the music’s nowhere near as good as the trailers and early parts of the movie would have you think. But it’s a damn fun and funny movie with a lot of heart and palpable stakes, anchored by a take on its hero that, rather than going for a more generic “goofy savior” cartoon-style version I was expecting, ends up pretty heavily and thankfully indebted to Brian Bendis’ original run on Ultimate Spider-Man. It’s a Spider-Man who really does always want to do the right thing and doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but at the same time he’s shortsighted as hell and driven by a boundless need to prove himself for the sake of both spite and a hope of acceptance, mixed with low-grade resentment of his circumstances that gives him just enough of an edge to feel like an actual teenager. Left without the option of talking about his sense of responsibility in terms of guilt, the filmmakers wisely chose to instead blur the line between where his sense of heroism ends and his self-interest begins and ask how far he’s really willing to go in favor of the former, and what kind of strength there actually is in him when it truly comes down to it after a whole movie’s worth of him essentially treating superheroism as an after-school gig.

Speaking of him as a teenager, boy all the high school stuff was great in this one. Maguire and Garfield both paid lip-service to that material as a necessary component of his youth, but speaking as someone only a few years out of those days, this absolutely felt authentic. The crappy announcements, the deliberately weird kids who clearly think they’re better than everyone else, the assholes, no one really knowing yet how to keep themselves in check emotionally, the low stakes that are still at that point the most important thing in your world - even the physical classrooms felt real (I got some serious nostalgia seeing those stacked chairs in the visibly repurposed music room, or the gigantic hall pass). It’s as petty and small-scale as Peter’s time as Spider-Man largely is, and therefore can integrate into the plot as an important part of what’s going on far more easily than ever before, even aside from being the source of a ton of excellent bit players like the teacher in charge of the debate team. The larger characters by and large do just fine too; Tomei’s warm and funny as May, Harrier does a solid job as Liz Allen (especially considering that while she’s the love interest and ends up pretty important plot-wise, they never cheap out try and position her as some true love figure when she and Peter barely know each other), Batalon is fun as hell as Not Technically Ganke, Zendaya steals her scenes even if I get the impression there might have been some meatier work left on the cutting-room floor, Downey is Downey, Favreau as Happy Hogan does a great job essentially taking Jolly Jonah Jameson’s place as the dickish, unreasonable authority figure in Peter’s life, and Keaton is scary as hell with just enough screwed-over “how dare you take what I’ve earned” resentment in the vein of many of USM’s better villains to make him feel like a real guy. And you saw Civil War, you already know Holland’s basically perfect.

There’s a dozen other bits I’d love to go into - like how much mileage they pull out of him not operating in Manhattan proper, or how well the seemingly out-of-place tech actually ends up working, or any number of great moments - but I’d prefer to keep this largely spoiler-free. Suffice it to say that the trailers, which already indicated a pretty decent time at the theater, were misleading: as much as they showed they really did leave a lot of the best out, and what they kept generally works far better in context. To be sure there’s room for improvement in the next one, but this was a far better reintroduction and recontextualization of the character than anyone had any right to expect, and it absolutely does the heavy legwork of setting him up as an engaging figure for the MCU to believably end up pivoting around in years and movies to come. Upper-tier Marvel to be sure; somehow they did the impossible and managed to actually earn a title that brazenly cheeky as hell. Sony, for once you made the right call with Spider-Man: stop thinking you have good ideas and let the grown-ups handle things from here.

#Spider Man: Homecoming #Spider Man #Peter Parker #MCU #Review #Opinion

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apirateslifetoread · 7 years

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All that She Can See Review

[spoilers ahead]

After reading Carrie’s first book the anticipation to read this book was high. I loved the idea of the main character being a person of color and I loved the overall concept. I was a bit meh because the way the book was marketed seemed like another romance novel and I’m not usually a romance person but On the Other Side was so cute I decided I would give this one a chance. And I very much want to support Carrie and her writing. As said with my other review though, three stars is a bit generous. I am giving it three stars because of the first half of the book was very well done. Her writing skills could be improved a bit more but it was definitely a step up from her previous novel (writing skill wise). The concept was great and it was executed very well. It was actually so well done while reading it I was suggesting it to a lot of people. I loved Cherry, I loved the people in the town, I loved the backstory, it was just very well done. The middle of the book started picking up the pace however, Chase was introduced and he was angsty which was kind of explained but I felt could’ve had a better explanation (he saw good feelings in people and got angry that those who did horrible things still had good emotions such as pride for what they did, etc). The turf war was a bit...eh. I could see the point, it wasn’t my favorite but it still worked for the plot. Too many emotions caused the town to go a bit haywire forcing Cherry and Chase to team up and fix their mistakes. At this point the Guild is introduced which was intriguing. The idea of a group watching over others who could see emotions as well and make sure things stayed leveled so their world didn’t get out. Further, the idea of those who took advantage of it being taken away was very riveting and I thought was very in character. At this point, the relationship between Chase and Cherry started and kind of was a bit rushed and forced. Chase started showing a softer side when Happy (Guild Leader) told Cherry she could no longer help people due to the turf war. Chase and Cherry kissed and suddenly they felt they were meant for each other, specifically because they shared the same gift that most people didn’t understand. It was just a bit off and sudden considering they had just hated each other until now. The concept of them feeling stronger emotions via kissing was an interesting concept. It had great potential and would make sense considering “feelers” could see emotions. It would make sense they felt stronger emotions, especially with each other romantically. But it was just kind of brushed aside and just basically was explained as “they belonged and felt it”. It just wasn’t explained super well. Had it been elaborated more, it would’ve definitely been a great plot point and took a further step in exploring the world of feelers. Things after however stay current to the plot, they must make the town feel normal again, they do it via Chase’s family, the town stands up for each other, very great speech, so on. It’s here though that the book does a complete 180. Chase is taken away by the guild, the guild turns out to be this horrible torture chamber, there's a bunch of violence and test experiments. Suddenly this book is no longer a women’s fiction or romance but a young adult dystopian book which didn’t make any sense. The characters are no longer consistent too. Cherry becomes a badass (which I loved but just didn’t line up with her character). Chase becomes a coward. The emotions they can see are suddenly experimented and come to life as real monsters? The guild wants to take away the world’s emotions instead of just being a monitor for people like them? Chase and Cherry ride on loneliness’s back as he is now this huge black furry monster destroying everything in it’s path? There's a dark basement that has feelers who have become blind and their eyes are gouged out? I literally don’t understand how a book about a small town and baking turns into this in the span of about twenty pages. The only thing that saved it was bringing back Peter and learning about Shuda. That was a cute side plot. But, I was super disappointed in the end. Not per say because the concepts were bad but because they weren’t good together. Had they been two different books I definitely think there could’ve been potential for it being great. If she had finished All That She Can See with Chase and Cherry and ended it at the scene with the town standing up to the sisters that would’ve been great. She could’ve further expanded on the Guild in a spin off with Peter and Shuda, having introduced the Guild in OTOS but not expanded on it. I’m pretty sure what happened is Carrie wanted start going a darker route with her novels but was told not to. In her Books for 2017 | Vlogmas Day Ten video when talking about the book The Regulars by Georgia Clark she had said: “Secondly, there is a book idea I’ve had for a very very long time that I did start working on but then was told by my editor that it was too dark for a follow up to On the Other Side. But the feel that I want and had started to create within that story idea I also got when I read the blurb of this book. So this is kind of like research. I want to read this book to see if anything jumps out and inspires me for when I do come back to finish that book idea.” It’s clear Carrie wants to start writing darker things but was held back. She snuck it into this which is why this book was such a mess. I blame the editors a bit for this because had Carrie just been allowed to opportunity to write what she wanted in the first place, this book probably would’ve turned out much better. I love Carrie very much and I do see so much potential in her writing which is why I am being so hard on her. I do think it's a mix of the publishers and her agents rushing this book to publish early on top of controlling of what she writes. I feel this book only had maybe a draft or two and she likely wrote it chapter by chapter instead of planning it out which is why I feel it wasn’t super consistent either. Regardless, I will still purchase her next book and continue to support her because I know she has greatness in her as a writer.

#all that she can see #carrie hope fletcher #book review #all that she can see review

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heretoomuch · 7 years

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I guess I’ll write a review for Cinderella Phenomenon since I just finished most of it.

Under the cut cause it’s going to be long and spoilers!

Overall: I enjoyed the game as a whole. It’s not too short for any of the character routes. For a free otome game, it’s very rich in story and the art is really nice. The music in the game fits the atmosphere of the scenes.

The prologue is a good introduction to the possible characters and also to introduce the premise of the story. It may be a bit long for some, but I find it a good way to get a glimpse of each character (whether a route character or supporting character) and get a feel for the story.

The construction if the fairy tales being curses was a really interesting idea. The twist to them were mostly unexpected. I’m also a sucker for witches, fairies, magic and the like.

The game mechanics allow you to save during choices, which is helpful if you want to get a good ending. There’s an indicator that appears after you make the right choice, so you’ll know if your going in the right direction. I suggest to save before making a choice if you want a good end because you’re only allowed about two wrong choices (I believe) before you get a bad end.

The MC’s name can be changed if you want or you can stay with the default name.

Main Characters: The main route boys are all very likable. Each one has an interesting curse and twist to the fairy tale. You have to do two of the three open routes before you can get the two locked ones. I did the routes based on the game creators’ advice (Rod, Karma, Rumple, Fritz, Waltz) but you can do whatever order you want. I just prefer to get more story info out of it.

Rod - He’s the MC’s younger (by two years) stepbrother by marriage, who has “The Little Mermaid” curse. Unable to talk, Rod speaks through a little magical plush rabbit named Sebby, who is always on Rod’s shoulder.

I honestly was a little hesitant on this route mainly because I wasn’t all for a stepbrother/stepsister relationship. In the end it wasn’t weird but really sweet. The relationship between Rod and the MC is slow and natural. I didn’t feel like they were forced to like each other. It’s actually cute to see him come to terms with his feelings while the MC is trying to help him.

The good ending left me feeling bittersweet for the two. The bad ending, for me, felt more like a truer ending despite it being sad.

Rod’s route leaves out a lot of other things in the story that you learn from the other routes. It presents everything, plot wise, simple and with little of the information and truth you learn in the other routes.

Karma - Cursed with “The Beauty and the Beast” Karma dresses as a woman. He does this to keep women from falling in love with him because of the curse. Flamboyant and moody at times, he was a pretty interesting character.

I liked that in his route the MC learns a bit of sword fighting in order to defend herself. Karma is a fun character, who can go from one mood to another. Also he has literally sparkles that surround him at times.

For me, unfortunately, I couldn’t stop thinking that he looked a bit like Grell from Black Butler, so it took me some time to get use to him. Even now I would say he’s my least favorite just because of the resemblance physically. I did enjoy the matchmaking bit between the two knights though (OTP).

His bad ending made me want to scream at the MC not to do it because I knew the truth from the good ending. My heart went out to Karma when I read the bad end.

Rumple - His curse causes him to have amnesia and no one remembers his real name. Based off the fairy tale of “Rumplestiltskin” he must recover three memories in his journal to break his curse. He’s the oldest of the possible guys at 24 (MC is 17 turned 18 in game).

When I first saw him I thought he was the typical tsundere character (but that’s Rod kind of), it turns out he’s a giant flirt. I’m not really into those types but I was pleasantly surprised to see that he wasn’t just a flirt.

I like how they didn’t go with the typical jealous woman as she showed she actually cared in the end. At first she comes off as the cliche ex but she turns out alright. Rumple made me laugh at times with his ridiculous flirting and his horrible joke/pun.

I think I laughed more on his route alone just because of his over the top flirtatious lines. I also felt extremely bad for what Rumple has to do in the end of his good ending because it goes against everything he believes. His bad ending was kind of expected when I read the situation. It was still sad but didn’t pull as much of a reaction from me as the others.

Fritz - MC’s loyal personal knight. He’s been around the MC for a while and understands why she acts the way she does. Cursed, though he’s unaware for a duration, with “The Little Red Riding hood” fairy tale, he develops a second persona that’s much darker as it comes from somewhere deep inside him.

During Fritz’s route I kept thinking that the MC needed to stay far away from his father and, to an extent, him. This was mainly due to having done the other three routes and I had pieced together some things on my own. Still Fritz is extremely kind and loyal to the MC. I had the hunch that he had feelings for her from the beginning.

A lot of people seem to like Fritz’s other persona, Varg, a lot despite him being Fritz, just a darker emotion/personality that he doesn’t let out. I guess I can see the appeal for Varg but I do prefer Fritz mainly because he’s loyal and holds a strong moral. Of course his strong moral is also the reason for his curse.

Fritz’s bad end was actually one of the saddest I read. His story is also a lot darker and sheds more light on the MC’s background. All in all Fritz really is like a puppy but an adorable one, who cares for the MC from the beginning despite her initial personality. Just a warning but there’s a lot of character death in this route regardless of the good/bad ending.

Waltz - He’s a witch who is cursed with “Neverland” or “Peter Pan” fairy tale. Waltz looks like a 12 year old boy for a bit of the route, though he does break his curse (thanks to MC) so nothing weird about it (lol). I’ll admit I have not done Waltz’s bad end because I can’t bring myself to doing it after completing his good end. I assume he’s like the “true” route of the game.

His route has the MC actually doing magic and she’s badass. It’s a sweet romance and she learns the truth about herself and her mother rather quickly. Waltz wants to help to MC with her curse as they share a previous history. Throughout his route you can see that he really cares for her even before they get together.

His route is extremely story heavy and it wraps up a lot of the loose ends. You also see a different side of the King, finally, and an explanation for his behavior.

I enjoyed Waltz a lot and the good ending CG was really pretty. Be warned this route also has a lot of character death like Fritz’s route. I have to say that Waltz may be my favorite character out of all the boys (and I refuse to do his bad ending because I just know it’ll hurt. I just want to keep the happiness in my mind right now.)

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So that’s my review on the game and the main guys. I also want to cover the supporting characters of the game, but this review is already long enough. Maybe I will do another review but I’m not sure if I will.

I definitely recommend playing the game if you like visual novels/otome or just like fantasy style stories. It’s free so it doesn’t hurt to try the game out. You can get it on Steam or google the game to download it from their website.

#cinderella phenomenon #CP #mun talks #review #mun thoughts

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niamsuggitt · 7 years

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The Ides Of May 2017

Hi guys! It’s that time of the month again, time for me to write a ‘lil bit about all of the various media I’ve stuffed into my gaping eye and ear-holes over the past 30 days. I would have included mouth-holes there too, but Nintendo deliberately made Switch cartridges taste horrible so unfortunately I haven’t been able to eat one. Oh well.

This month includes the return of some Sitcom favourites, more of me slowly, ever-so-slowly playing Zelda, a Booker Prize winner and a nice heap of Marvel Cinematic Universe fun.

Let’s do it!

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Movies

Once again there’s only 2 movies this month, and whilst they are both very different, both provide quite a bit to think and talk about. Up first is Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson 2015). This may be surprising given the types of films I normally like, but before watching Anomalisa I have to admit to not liking Charlie Kaufman as a writer. I’ve seen Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, and none of them resonated with me like they do for so many others. I just find him a bit… pretentious? Like he tries too hard to do different things and in the end it just obscures what he’s actually trying to say? I dunno. But much to my surprise and pleasure, I really enjoyed Anomalisa, which is different from Kaufman’s other work in that it’s animated. This stop-motion story follows a man (voiced by David Thewlis) who is on a business trip to Cincinnati. This man, Michael, sees everyone else in the world, including his wife, a former girlfriend, as the same person. They have the same face, and the same voice (Tom Noonan). That is until he stumbles across one other person who looks different, Lisa, (Jennifer Jason Leigh). It’s a complicated, dare I say, pretentious set-up, but for me it works. The animation is fantastic, incredibly detailed, and it’s used to go to places other animated films wouldn’t. This is a truly adult film, so if after Team America you wanted to see more puppet nudity and sex… I’ve got you covered. The way the technique of having everyone except Michael and Lisa be the same person works is incredibly effective and disorientating. It took about 10 minutes for me to twig it, the unease sort of snuck up on me. I said earlier that I think Kaufman’s gimmickry gets in the way of what he is actually trying to say, but that is not the case here, I think I pretty much got what the film was saying about solipsism, and how so many other films feature a ‘manic pixie dream girl’ who shakes a depressed male protagonist out of their funk. Anomalisa flips your expectations here. Lisa is not Michael’s soulmate, she’s just a blip in his mental illness. If it even is that, he might just be an asshole. That’s not to say that Lisa isn’t a well-drawn character, because she is, and Leigh’s voice acting makes her come to life. Then again, maybe this isn’t what Kaufman and Johnson are saying at all and I’m an idiot. Either way, Anomalisa is a fascinating film that has been rotating in my head since I watched it. It’s unlike anything else I’ve seen lately, and has me reconsidering my position on Charlie Kaufman. I certainly plan on watching the other film he directed, rather than just wrote, Synecdoche New York, and maybe I’ll go back to those other, older films.

Up next, I took a step away from the esoteric puppet show towards the mainstream blockbuster and into the cinema, as I went to see Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn 2017) which is of course (of course) the third film in the third phase of the monolithic Marvel Cinematic Universe. As is par for the course when writing about these films (and some, most, of the TV projects) I feel like I have to fully lay out a bit of bias. I love these films and just seeing these characters on screen and being done justice like this takes away a lot of my critical faculties. Problems I have with other, similar movies, I can brush aside because, hey, it’s the MCU, I trust these people. But that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Guardians 2, and whilst I don’t think it’s quite as good as the first one, I really appreciate it’s weirdness and how much crazy Marvel Universe lore it puts out there, if only just to hint at. The film of course sees all of our favourites from the first film, Star-Lord, Gamara, Drax, Rocket and Groot return for another adventure, but this time, the stakes are far more personal, as Star-Lord meets his father, Ego, who is brilliantly portrayed by Kurt Russell. Firstly, it was just awesome to be back with these characters again, they are just so much fun. The Guardians are perhaps the MCU versions that are the most different from the originals (of course, the comics have in turn, begun to reflect the movies far more) and as such I have a different emotional attachment to them. I’m not constantly comparing Gamora to the 500 Gamora comics I’ve read in my life, I’m just invested in her relationship with Nebula, and with Star-Lord. As I mentioned, the main plot here is Peter and his father, but the script makes sure that every Guardian (except maybe Baby Groot, but he’s adorable enough that you don’t mind) has their own story. Drax forms a bond with the newcomer Mantis (who is great!), Gamora fights her sister again, but even more personally, and Rocket deals with his anger driving people away. I found myself invested in all of these storylines, and it mean that, whilst the overall plot did sag a bit in the middle of the film, I didn’t mind. I will say that I am a bit sick of people dismissing Star-Lord’s story as ‘just more daddy issues’ or something like that. I think that’s reductive, and to me, the real plotline is how much Peter Quill still cares about his mother. His love for her is what snaps him out of cosmic brainwashing, and let’s not forget that, as awesome as the classic soundtracks are, they do serve an emotional purpose, as they are his only link to Earth, and to his mum. Maybe it’s just because my mother died of cancer as well (although hers wasn’t put there by an evil Celestial, at least I don’t think it was), but if anything, this is far more of a ‘mommy issues’ movie than a daddy issues one. I mentioned the soundtrack earlier, and I will say that this particular ‘awesome mix’ was a bit of step down, with the songs either being too mainstream (Fleetwood Mac, ELO) or way too obscure. Maybe I’m asking too much, but the first movie’s track selection was just perfect, hard for lightning to strike twice I suppose. The other character I want to specially highlight is Michael Rooker as Yondu, who is just amazing here. He has real pathos behind him and makes a character I never really knew into an absolute favourite. His storyline also sees the film do something I really didn’t expect and bring in more of the ‘original’ Guardians, the ones who, in the comics, were in the future. This movie has Sylvester Goddamn Stallone in it as Starhawk and I went in without knowing! I love that Gunn hasn’t forgotten the likes of Charlie-27 and Martinex, and that a major movie can feature characters as weird as them. That’s what sets this film apart from me, it’s not afraid to get a bit odd, and to use weird elements from the source material to their full potential. A few years ago, Ego The Living Planet would be considered way too goofy for a film, but not here, here he’s Kurt Russell! Some of this is pure fan-service, but as mentioned, when it comes to these films, I don’t mind that at all. The Stan Lee cameo was amazing, the teaser in the credits for Adam Warlock blew my mind (it took me an embarrassingly long time to connect Ayesha and her golden skin to that classic cosmic character). This film’s links to the wider universe are like that, more hints. I did expect some big Thanos developments, but ultimately, I don’t mind spending 2 hours just inside these goofball’s messed-up heads. I can’t wait for Vol.3, and I hope that, when the Guardians appear in Avengers: Infinity War, they don’t lose what makes them special. This film was just a blast, it delivers more of what you want, as well as surprising you with where it goes, the best kind of sequel.

Television

There’s one new TV show for me to talk about this time out, in the form of American Gods (Starz), the long-awaited adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel. This is an interesting series for me adaptation-wise because, whilst I have read the book, it was a long time ago and I don’t really remember a lot of what happened. Just the basic gist really. This isn’t like Game Of Thrones or The Expanse where the source material is fresh as a daisy in my mind and I’m constantly comparing the show to what I already know. Here, I’m kind of hazy on the details and it’s a lot of fun being surprised both by what I didn’t know, and what I forgot I knew! The basic plot has barely begun, but basically, Gods are real, they live in America, they are at war, and a man named Shadow Moon (as far as I can call this dumb-ass name does have a good explanation) is drawn into their world after the death of his wife and his release from prison (on the same day). Not only is that, to me, a great intriguing premise, but it’s really elevated by some fantastic performances and amazing visual flair. One of the show’s main producers is Bryan Fuller, from Hannibal, and the opening 2 episodes where directed by David Slade, who directed a fair few episodes of that show too, so you can really tell that there’s a link in how the series looks and feels. The dream sequences and trippier moments are straight out of Hannibal, they are brilliant. There’s a sex montage in Episode 2 with Bilquis that is just insane. The performances so far have been great as well, Ian Fucking McShane is of course stealing the show as Mr Wednesday, but Ricky Whittle is really doing well as Shadow, which must be a hard role to play as he’s kind of intentionally inscrutable and a bit blank. And, if you watch nothing else, watch Orlando Jones’ monologue as Anansi that opens Episode 2. It is one of the best single scene performances I’ve ever seen, it knocked me for a loop. It’s only been 2 episodes, but this is already a fantastic, ambitious series that’s unlike anything else on TV. I can’t wait to see where it goes, and what else I can remember.

This month also saw the return of 2 of my favourite US Comedies. Silicon Valley (HBO) is back for a 4th season of tech-based misadventures. So far this season has managed to somehow feel like more of the same, but also change things up in a lot of interesting ways, as the characters move about into new situations. At the end of Season 3 it felt like we were right back to the beginning, but that wasn’t the case, as we’ve seen multiple characters leave companies, join new ones, sell companies, and all sorts of other manoeuvring. The prospect of Richard actually working with Gavin Belson is very exciting. In amongst all of these shake-ups, the characters have continued to be as funny as ever. I love how Big Head continues to fail upwards, he’s now a Professor at Stanford! And seeing Dinesh get a girlfriend is something we haven’t seen before. I’m also enjoying the increased role for Jian-Yang. Jimmy O. Yang has always been very funny in his brief scenes, but now he’s getting actual stories, which is cool. And man, Zach Woods is still killing it as Jared. He had one moment of madness in Episode 4 that had me wetting itself. At times it does feel like Silicon Valley is in a groove, but it’s such an enjoyable groove!

One series that hasn’t been afraid to get out of it’s groove is Veep (HBO), which is now in Season 6, and is a very different show this season. Of course it changed when Armando Iannucci left, but now that Selina Meyer is out of office, it’s even more different. With the character scattered all over the place, I did feel like the first one or two episodes were a bit lacking, but after that, it’s really found it’s feet and become just as funny and scathing as ever. In the wake of Trump it was going to be difficult for Veep to be the same show as it was before, so wisely it’s pivoted, it still has a lot to say about America and politics, but really, it’s become more about seeing who these characters are in new situations. I’m particularly enjoying Dan working as a TV News Anchor and Jonah as a Congressman has just been brutally brilliant, especially with Mary Holland joining the cast as his new ‘girlfriend’. It’s also interesting that the series has started to delve deeper into Selina as a character, and her backstory. She may be a bit ridiculous, but in the world of the show, she is the first ever female Vice President and the President, she is interesting. So yes, Veep has changed, but it’s still intelligent and funny and well worth watching. When real politics is as scary as it is these days, we need this magnificent bastards to laugh at.

Now for quick hits! We’ll start with comedies. LOL! LOL indeed.

The final episode ever of Girls (HBO) was a bit of an odd one, it jumped ahead to the birth of Hannah’s baby (the horrifically named Grover, and that’s a ‘Niam’ saying that) and only featured Hannah and Marnie from the main cast, out in the middle of nowhere. In a lot of ways, it was a typical Girls way for the series to end, Lena Dunham has never really done the conventional thing. I enjoyed it, particularly Becky Ann Baker’s performance. She’s always been excellent and underrated as Hannah’s mother. I will miss Girls, it was funny, different and always provoked debate, and I can’t wait to see what projects Dunham does next. As infuriating as she can be, she is very talented. How about a Dunham/Max Landis collaboration? That could destroy the internet.

I reached the end of BoJack Horseman (Netflix) Season 3, and holy shit, that was brutal. What happened to Sarah-Lynn just fucked me up. And then it’s followed up by the sublime ridiculousness of Mr. Peanutbutter’s spaghetti strainers actually being useful! That sums up BoJack for me, it can be gloriously silly and funny, but at it’s core it’s a dark series about depression and the sadness at the core of humanity (or animality, whatever). It’s one of my favourite shows ever at this point, and I am very excited for Season 4, and just where BoJack is going to go now. It’ll be bad… but also so, so good.

The Last Man On Earth (FOX) also wrapped up its 3rd season very well. Jasper has been a fun addition to the cast, and the 2-part finale in particular was a great, as the series once again upended it’s cast. Erica gave birth to her baby, but then Nuclear Reactors started going off and they had to flee. This series continues to be brilliant at balancing comedy and real dark drama, as the consequences of a post-apocalyptic world are actually thought out. The very last moment also brought Kristen Wiig in contact with the main cast, and what a way to do it.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) has continued to be very funny and strong, and one episode in particular really surprised me, as ‘Moo Moo’ became a serious examination of racial profiling in the Police Force. It’s rare that Brooklyn Nine-Nine addresses real issues, but it did it very well here, I think it should actually do more, especially in this era where the Police, in America especially, are not so popular. I don’t want it to become propaganda for the cops, but it can certainly shine a light on some real issues. As well as being dumb and funny with great actors of course.

The ‘Dreamland’ arc of Archer (FXX) is still going strong. It’s just a lot of fun to see these characters in this setting, and the storyline by itself has actually been rather arresting, with a lot of fun twists and turns. I’ve particularly liked Eugene Mirman’s performance as Cheryl’s brother. He’s delightfully creepy. Also, is Pam just a man in dreamland? Her character isn’t meant to be a woman in drag, here, she’s just a man? I kind of love that.

Oh, and I watched one more episode of Inside No. 9 (BBC Two), ‘Tom & Gerri’. It was very good, and actually managed to surprised me with the twist at the end. It was fun to see Lord Varys himself, Conleth Hill play an actually nice person, and Gemma Arterton was good too. That’s the strength of an anthology show, they can bring in really big names for just one episode.

Bridging the gap from comedy to drama is Better Call Saul (AMC) which is having an excellent third season, as it gets closer and closer to Breaking Bad territory. Not only has Gus finally appeared (with Giancarlo Esposito just as good as ever) but the whole tone of those scenes is straight out of the parent show. Episode 4, ‘Sabrosito’ barely seemed to feature Odenkirk at all. But that doesn’t mean that the series has just become Breaking Bad-lite, as the following episode ‘Chicanery’ was all courtroom stuff, and really did a fascinating job at delving into the central Jimmy/Chuck relationship. It really needs to be said again, but both Odenkirk and Michael McKean are amazing in this show, tour-de-force performances. This stretch of episodes has been a great microcosm of what makes Better Call Saul so good and basically the perfect prequel. It has plenty of links to what came before, including themes and cameos (Huell!) and camera work, but it’s also very capable of being it’s own, separate thing. So good.

The Season 2 finale of The Expanse (Sy Fy) was another strong episode in an exceptionally strong season. It was an incredibly tense episode that brought a lot of things to a head. The central plot of the Protomolecule monster being on the Rocinante tied everything together and, perhaps most importantly, brought the central crew of characters onto the same page. It’s interesting that the show isn’t precisely following a ‘1 season = 1 book’ model, and I like that, it’s allowing for things to unfold at a different pace.

The Americans (FX) is having an… interesting season. It’s still very good and all of the performances and episodes have been good, but, maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t seem as focused as it used to, which is odd, because the writers know they only have this and next year to wrap things up. Maybe that’s actually the reason, they know they have a guaranteed 26 episodes, so can pace things differently? Either way, there doesn’t seem to be any particular driving plot, missions and side characters come and go, and whilst each individual hour has been strong, it’s not a satisfying whole. Yet. I think maybe something big is going to happen (Pacha’s suicide? Something with Pastor Tim?) that will lead to a major event in the finale. Or at least I hope so. This is a fantastic series so maybe I just have too high expectations.

Now it’s time for everybody’s favourite corner… superhero corner!

So far in iZombie (The CW) Season 3, the biggest pleasure for me has been the classic thing, seeing Rose McIver play Liv on various different types of brain. Hippie Yoga Liv, gossipy bitch Liv, Dominatrix Liv and Hot Mess Liv have all been hilarious. I really think McIver is underrated by how she manages to play so many different shades of the same person. Some of the individual cases of the week have been a bit weak, but her performance, along with the new development of Clive knowing she’s a Zombie have made it work. As for the over-arching plots, I liked the way the show revealed that Blaine had been faking his memory loss, and what that means for Major and Liv going forward. The Fillmore Graves plot has been on the back burner a bit, but you just know it’s going to explode later.

Gotham (FOX) has returned with some really great episodes and has become a show that really embraces it’s ridiculousness, and is all the better for it. Corey Michael Smith in full on Riddler mode, green suit and all, is so much fun, as is Penguin and Poison Ivy gathering an ‘Army Of Freaks’ and a goddamn clone of Bruce Wayne. I’m also really enjoying this take on the Court Of Owls, I’ve said this before, but I get an extra kick out of seeing more recent concepts like this used in other media, and so it’s awesome to see something Scott Snyder invented on TV. Gotham is dumb, but it’s the good dumb.

The Flash (The CW) revealed who Savitar was, and it was… actually satisfying. The fact that Barry (or at least a Time Remnant of him) becomes his own worst enemy is interesting, and it’s a perfect expression of the consequences of too much time-travel meddling. What I found cool was that the show followed this big, tragic reveal with a somewhat broad comedy episode where Barry lost his memories. Not only was this funny, but it showed why the show needs a bit more levity. When Barry gets too Emo, things get bad (as shown by the trip to the future, where Barry literally was Emo). I’m also really enjoying Anne Dudek’s guest role as Tracy Brand. Her chemistry with Tom Cavanaugh is a lot of fun. 2 episodes left, and I hope they continue to get the balance between drama and fun right. The Flash is one of those characters who needs to stay optimistic.

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.LD. (ABC) has continued it’s hot-streak with more really fantastic episodes. This Hydra alternate reality arc really has been excellent. It’s allowed us to learn more about the characters, had a real impact, and also allowed the show to comment somewhat on real world political elements. It was cheap, but referring to Hydra’s ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’ was great. The performances have also gone up a gear, Henry Simmons choosing to stay in the Framework was a great, although I do think that somehow they’ll use that machine to bring his daughter into the ‘real world’. Although they might be saving that for Face Turn Grant Ward. I also want to praise Iain De Caestecker, who has taken Fitz from somewhat of a comic relief character into probably the most complex person on the show. He played the ‘evil’ Fitz so well I almost feared he would still be bad once he was back. Mallory Jansen has also been very good, whether as Aida, Agnes or now Ophelia, she has played the same person in 3 very interesting ways. I can’t wait to see how this finale ends things, and to see what Season 4 brings. It feels weird to say this after the slow start, but Agents Of SHIELD is one of the better adventure shows on the air.

And finally, I finished watching Marvel’s Iron Fist (Netflix), and whilst it does have it’s share of problems and is probably the least of the ‘Defenders’ shows, I still very much enjoyed it and am excited to see more of this version of Danny Rand, particularly alongside Luke Cage. Heroes For Hire! I’m not going to re-tread the race conversation as we discussed that last time, so instead I’ll say that, as is customary, some of the episodes did drag a bit in the middle before an exciting ending, and I do think the show’s budget was a bit too low. I think that really hurt things as we never go to actually see K’un Lun or the Dragon Shou-Lou. I wanted a goddamn dragon getting it’s heart ripped out of it, is that too much to ask? I don’t think so. I also think it took way too long for Danny to realise that Howard Meachum was a bad dude, but that naïveté is intentional, and a great character bit. The performances only improved as it went on. Finn Jones is actually very convincing, and both Jessica Henwick and Tom Pelphrey were brilliant. I actually think Pelphrey’s Ward Meachum might be one of the best performances in the MCU, as he manages to make some pretty dumb plot developments work just through his performance. I did like how, by the end, things had been twisted and it was Ward who was working alongside Danny, and Joy who had become his enemy. That was unexpected and fun. Her working alongside Gao and Davos should be interesting in a second season. I did like Davos’ role later on too, Sacha Dhawan was very good, although why does someone from K’un Lun sound so Mancunian? I admit it, I am an MCU mark, but Iron Fist really isn’t that bad, if you give it a chance, it is well worth it, and can only improve. Look, it took Agents Of SHIELD 3 years to get good, I think sometimes we need to appreciate that.

Music

There’s only one album this time out, but it’s kind of a big deal, as Gorillaz are back with their first album in 7 years, Humanz (Parlophone/Warner Bros. 2017). Now the Gorillaz are pretty significant band for me, their eponymous debut was one of the first CDs I bought from myself and I must have played that and Demon Days hundreds of times. Plastic Beach had less of an impact, and I don’t think I’ve actually listened to The Fall. So I’m kind of a lapsed fan, however this particular hype train, and the idea that this was some kind of politically vital and contemporary record brought me back in, and I bought the album, hell, I got the deluxe edition! After listening to it a few times, it’s pretty good, but a lot of that hype is way over-blown. There’s nothing here that’s particularly timely, it’s just the usual Gorillaz mix of interesting backing beats, fantastic guest contributors and Damon Albarn getting to experiment. That’s not a bad thing, but I think I went into it expecting something truly game-changing. That’s probably more on me than Gorillaz though. As I said, the guest stars on here are fantastic, I particularly like Vince Staples on ‘Ascension’, Grace Jones on ‘Charger’ and Benjamin Clementine on ‘Hallelujah Money’, those are great tracks. It’s also a lot of fun to try and spot Noel Gallagher on ‘We Got The Power’. How crazy is it that Albarn and Gallagher are on the same song? Britpop Hell has frozen over. So yeah, this album is decent, but as is probably par for the course with Gorillaz, the ideas and concepts around it are more interesting. The idea of all of these artists reacting to Trump (or not Trump, an un-specified huge event) is great, but the end result isn’t that amazing. I say par for the course, because what’s always appealed most about Gorillaz isn’t just the music, but the whole package, the artwork from Jamie Hewlett, which is fantastic. I think I like the artwork in the leaflet more than the album! Gorillaz are a unique project, and I’ll always appreciate them, but I think I want more than just cool artwork and weird samples from my music at this stage.

Books

2 books this month. I think my reading pace has slowed down a bit, not sure why. Hmm, anyway, I started the month with the last 100 pages or so of Jonathan Wilson’s Angels With Dirty Faces (2016). The history of Argentinian Football got pretty much up to date, as Wilson gets up to the current era of Messi, Aguero, Tevez, Higuain etc. It was pretty much I thought it would be, as the Argentinian domestic game has been basically ruined by all of the best players moving to Europe. What I didn’t know was the state of hooliganism and fan violence in Argentina, which was surprising, and also the continued political links in the game. The fact that the Argentinian government owns the broadcasting rights to league football and uses it for propaganda purposes is very unique, and I would have liked more exploration of that. Imagine if Theresa May was on Match Of The Day or something, At least we know Corbyn is an Arsenal fan. Overall, the end of the book lived up to the rest of it, this was a very readable, informative history of a fascinating subject and culture. Argentina’s national identity is inextricably linked with it’s football, and now, I feel like i understand that country so much more.

After this, I got my fancy literature on, as I read the winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize, The Sellout (2015) by Paul Beatty. Only this isn’t the kind of novel you’d really expect to win such a lofty, some would say wanky, prize. It’s an incredibly dark satire of American Race relations, and it’s actually very funny. The plot sees an unnamed African-American man (he’s only referred to as ‘Me’, which I think is his surname (So his name is like ‘Dave Me’ or ‘Tom Me’ or something) who somewhat accidentally brings back both segregation and slavery to the LA suburb he lives in. It’s an insane premise, but it works, and Beatty’s witty writing carries it through even the largest logic leaps. Much like with last month and ‘Get Out’, I don’t feel like I can fully parse a lot of the more caustic racial elements, being a white non-American, but it was shocking at times, and certainly made me look at certain things differently. I would be interested in reading some of Beatty’s other books, he has a unique sense of humour. I will say that I didn’t really laugh out loud at reading this, like many of the blurbs did, but then I’m struggling to think of many books that did make me LOL. I just don’t do it, even with comics. I think seeing something written down elicits a different reaction in me. More of a wry smile, or an ‘oh, that’s funny, I get that’ than actually laughing. The Sellout comes close though! Maybe literary prizes aren’t so bad…

Games

As mentioned in the intro, I’m still making my way rather slowly through The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Nintendo Switch 2017). I need to carve more time out to play it, but video games, even ones as good as this, are still bottom of my entertainment list. I only really play it when I have nothing else to watch, read or listen to. As of now, I’ve finally got off the Great Plateau and am in the wider world of Hyrule, and man, it is intimidatingly big. That sense of freedom to do what you want can be both very freeing, but also kind of freezing. I can’t decide where to go, so in the end I don’t really go anywhere. Does that make sense? I’ve just been wandering around and not really advancing the plot. But still, this is an incredibly good game, the look of it is so beautiful, and it’s even more so after the Plateau. I think that is what’s holding me back from playing more, because it looks so good on the big TV, I’m not putting the Switch’s handheld mode to use to play when someone else is using it. The controls are just that level of intuitive that, for me, only Nintendo can reach. The Joycons on the Switch are bit flimsy, but after while, I’m used to it. I’m of two minds on what to do next video-game wise. I really want to pick up Mario Kart 8, especially because my girlfriend wants to do multiplayer, but can I justify it when I’ve barely scratched the surface of Zelda?

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That’s it! Just an addendum for you, after writing that last bit about the Switch and whether I should by Mario Kart… I went and ordered it on Amazon. So expect something about that next week. I also bought La La Land, so you’ll get to read my lukewarm take on that film on or near June 15th. I’ll probably be lame and quite like it, that’s the kind of person I am, I can never bring myself to truly hate things like the rest of the internet. Anyway, I’ll see you then! Hopefully we’ll be living under a Labour Government by then.

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tuess · 5 years

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Infinity War - Story Issues

So I ran across this post on Pinterest the other day claiming the story writing of Infinity War was bad (I couldn’t find the original source on tumblr, so this is a second-order link, but credit for op goes to sneakyfeets). And...

I respectfully would like to disagree.

Infinity War most definitely had issues, both plot, morality, and character-wise. But I don’t think it’s fair to call it structurally bad, and, while most of the concerns raised in the original post are valid, I don’t think all of them are necessarily problems with the story.

Recall first of all that most Marvel movies are somewhere between “loveable hot mess” and “brilliantly chaotic wonder”. Partially that’s probably a genre thing - superhero movies are necessarily based on the comics, and in comics A LOT of weird stuff happens that doesn’t necessarily translate well to film. It is not surprising that most superhero movies are questionable on the details. So Loki walking up to Thanos with one dagger and three sass is idiotic, but not unforgivable in terms of story. Not more so than Steve’s habit of jumping off things without a parachute. Also, it does provide a somewhat reasonable continuation of his character arc, and is important for Thor’s.

What I’m trying to get at is that, while Loki the character may be doing a stupid thing, it makes narrative sense. Characters can do idiotic stuff without undermining the overall story. Quite the opposite, in fact, as for many types of story characters doing stupid things is integral to the plot (I refer here to absolutely every Shakespeare comedy and like half of the tragedies). And I think Infinity War is one of these stories.

First of all, Infinity War is a tragedy, and that in itself is worth talking about. I know that some of the DC movies have experimented with the whole tragedy thing, but I’m not super familiar with that fandom. Also, to my (limited) knowledge they weren’t super successful. Marvel’s first tragedy-like film was Captain America: Civil War, not because it ended badly, but because a significant part of the reason as to why it ended badly was the character’s own flaws. We can have Team Cap/Team Iron Man debates ‘till kingdom come, but both sides were not acting reasonably.

The tragedy aspect is one of the reasons as to why I consider Infinity War quite good, story wise. One of the basic aspects of a (classical Greek) tragedy is that the hero have some sort of fatal flaw that ultimately causes his own downfall. Contrast this with your garden-variety superhero, who can have flaws, but none that can cause his downfall. Especially classical comics, and the early superhero movies, do not allow it [1]. Infinity War plays with the tragic hero element in a way that’s really quite nice.

The original post mentions the actions of Wanda and Peter Q. specifically, but it’s actually a wider theme in the movie that all the heroes do stupid shit because of love. Every time there’s a conflict over an infinity stone, the heroes are forced to choose between their loved ones and doing “what is right/what is sensible”. They always choose love. And, in the movie, it’s what frames them as heroes. Thanos throws away love (literally - I’ll return to this later) for power, while the heroes throw away power for love.

This is different from the usual tragic flaw, where it is some kind of bad quality that makes the heroes lose (Macbeth - the power thing; Creon - not being able to let it go). In Infinity War, it is the heroic qualities of the heroes that cause the heroes to fail. And that is interesting, and fun to watch. I consider it good writing. So seeing our characters do stupid things? Seeing them make the wrong choices for all the wrong reasons? Seeing them lose control and be illogical and selfish? Good stuff.

Having said that,

Yeah. The abuse thing. It’s hugely problematic, and one of the more glaring flaws in Infinity War as a whole. I don’t feel qualified to comment on the details of it, but I recognise that the entire Thanos’ Children and/or Gamora-Nebula plotline is fraught with issues, to say the least, and I do wish that they’d found a better way to deal with it in Infinity War. I think that Thanos is clearly cast as an abuser, and Gamora and Nebula as abuse survivors, but I agree that the framing of Gamora’s death was bad. I have to state here that I went into Infinity War not having seen either GOTG movie, so I wasn’t paying huge amounts of attention to the subplot at first, and I don’t really know how to deal with it in this essay either [2]. I don’t think it’s a narrative issue as much as a discursive issue, in that both Gamora and Thanos’ actions make sense in the story, but the framing of it can be seen to perpetuate an unhealthy discourse about abuse survivors and abusers.

We can only hope that Nebula will get to kick Thanos’ ass in Endgame.

What remains now is the motivation behind Thanos’ actions, and the problems with it. As has been frequently remarked, they do not make sense. This is not a problem. Narrative-wise, Thanos cannot make sense. He is the villain of the movie. If he were to have a perfectly sensible plan [3], that would improve the lives of everyone on in the universe, and have no obvious drawbacks, he could no longer be a villain as the definition classically applies to the comics/action/epics genres. Infinity War would go from an action movie to one on moral philosophy. An excellent example of a movie with no clear villain, only people being assholes to various degree, would be something like Mean Girls. Infinity War, to adhere to its genre conventions and satisfy the expectations of the audience, needed a villain. Thanos is this villain, and his villainous plan needed to affect the entire universe in order for it to be threatening enough to bring three disparate sets of heroes together to fight him. From this point of view, Thanos’ plan and motivations make complete narrative sense, despite not making any actual sense.

Thanos is, I’m pretty sure, modelled after the idea of an enlightened despot gone wrong. The idea of enlightened despotism is basically that you pick one guy to be in charge of a country, but, wait for it, you pick a smart guy who knows how to solve problems. This was popular especially in 18th/19th century Europe [4], when monarchies were falling like mayflies and people started thinking about what to do next. The advantages of an enlightened despot would be that there would be none of this silly democratic arguing and influence of, shudder, the working classes [5]. The disadvantages, I believe, are really fucking obvious, and the reason why nobody installed this as a form of government. Both Robespierre and Napoleon are examples of people who briefly tried, only for everyone to see why this is a really really fucking bad idea. So I can see how casting Thanos as a failed enlightened despot, with a shitty plan and some elements of genocide thrown in for good measure, would sound like a surefire way to make sure your audience really really hates your villain.

I therefore really don’t know what to say about the goddamn neonazis and eugenicists, except good goddamn, please read any actual science ever.

Ok, this essay got away from me. But the main points were that, narrative wise, Infinity War is quite good because it allows its characters to be idiots. The framing is problematic at times, especially in the Gamora-Nebula-Thanos relationship, and this detracts from the movie as a whole. It’s not, however, fair to call the entire story bad. Plenty of movies have framing issues that don’t automatically mean they’re terrible (see: Out of Africa, Pocahontas, etc). Thanos’ villainous motivations are narratively sensible, but perhaps not well-received in the current political climate. I don’t see an intrinsic issue with them, however, as they’re supposed to not make sense - that’s what makes him a villain, and not a hero.

Also, yeah, where did Valkyrie go? That’s just stupid and I can’t talk it away.

[1]: More modern runs do allow heroes do have significant, palpable flaws, (Daredevil, and also Iron Man) but the original medium... not so much.

[2]:... so if I said something hugely harmful or downright stupid without realising it, please please please call me out on it. Also, my first essay on Infinity War, which is linked somewhere in the body, did not at all acknowledge this problematic and actually applauded the scene without looking into some of the issues around it. My apologies.

[3]: Like, for example using the infinity stones to generate resources, as has been pointed out multiple times.

[4]: Arguably also the Roman Emperors. Correct me if any of this is wrong, I’m not actually a historian.

[5]: This is meant ironically.

#reply post #infinty war #narrative #storytelling #marvel #mcu #long reads #long post #spoilers #thanos

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kbrown78 · 6 years

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My Thoughts: Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski

This was another spooky reread, and I have good memories of being scared while reading most of this book. The first two thirds are definitely suspenseful and has you on the edge of your seat. The premise of the story is that 14 years of darkness is quickly approaching the island where these 3 kids live, and they accidentally get left behind. They need to find a way off the island, but also quickly discover that they aren't the only ones on the island. I think it's like a Stephen King novel but for younger readers because there isn't nearly as much violence or sheer terror, but it still plays with some of people's most primal fear. I will say though, because it was a reread, I knew all the twists that were coming so it wasn't as suspenseful, but that's no fault of the books.

Characters: Because the book is so quick and action driven, the characters are more like set pieces than actual characters. All of the characters are young, like 14 years old, and as I said in my The Call review, any time there's a suspenseful plot making the characters young just adds to the fear for them and the overall creepiness of the story. Marin is very curious, she's that kid that's always asking questions and is never satisfied until she gets a solid answer. She doesn't like change and doesn't want to leave the only home she's ever known, which everyone can identify with. She's also a bit proud, which is a serious flaw because it almost leads to the downfall of all 3 of the teens. Kana is Marin's twin brother, and in terms of physical appearance they are exact opposites with her being tan with dark hair and him being pale with white hair and icy blue eyes. Personality wise though, they're pretty similar. He's also quite proud, and when it's light he can't see but he hates having help. This caused him to get seriously injured but also for him to later keep secrets from the group. Line is a big brother and he's always looking out for his younger brother. He has a bit of crush though, and like everyone with their first crush, and acts impulsively and goes and does something stupid that kick starts the entire conflict. So despite the fact that there was little development to the actual characters, they still feel like real kids (that aren't over the top or immature) and there's something identifiable and sympathetic in each of them, while still being flawed (and having those flaws result in serious consequences).

Relationships: Because there was just the minimal in terms of character development, there wasn't much to work with in terms of relationships. There was Marin and Line, how have crushes on each other. Line idolized Marin and Marin liked that Line was good person. Marin later reveals that she kept something from Line, which causes Line to be disillusioned with her. They're able to part on good terms but they know that nothing will ever come of their crushes. That's actually good to see, especially with young characters. That it's okay if things don't work out with the first person you like, though you would hope that this realization wouldn't be brought on by a situation as dire as the one they're in. Moving onto Marin and Kana, the only other big relationship in the book (there's kind of another one but I'll be talking about that one in my Dislike section). It's implied at the beginning that they were once close but no longer are, and you can definitely feel that in their stiff conversations. After they're left behind they have to work together and Marin must rely more on Kana because she can't see in the dark, so they get a better understanding of how they other one felt which drives them closer. Unfortunately weird things start happening to Kana and he keeps it a secret, afraid of what the others will think. When it's finally revealed Line makes it clear he wants Kana gone, but Marin doesn't care what Kana is and wants him to stay. In the end, Kana and Marin are determined to stick together and Marin says that Kana will always be her brother, even though he technically isn't (more on that later).

World Building: This story is set an a creepy island that has 14 years of day followed by 14 years of night. Despite the people being on the island for only 14 years, it feels very old and mysterious. The people on the island are fairly superstitious, and they follow many odd traditions without question, most of them focused on cleaning houses and the concept of life and death (complete with creepy masks). There is another place that these people stay on while it's night, they rely on furriers to transport them, which now that I'm saying that doesn't make any sense, since it would probably be easier for people to build ships for themselves in 14 years then hope the furriers are feeling generous and transport them. The forest itself feelings very wild and is a great place to stay hidden, since the people really only live in one small area of the island. The creatures that inhabit the island are dangerous and have their own hidden world that we learn very little about, and I was fine with that. In fact I didn't even want to know what these creatures looked like because that made them more terrifying. It's a creepy setting, but there isn't much more to it them that.

Writing: This story honestly had be scared. Like when I first read it, in my room at night, I had to put the book down because I was so scared. A lot of this fear was derived from the use of what's arguably the most primal and human fears: the darkness and the unknown. The darkness helps add to the unknown, because it's harder to see, but there's also a lot of mystery surrounding the history of the island. So let me just go into every way this story kept it's fast pace and always had me on edge. For starters, it's clear that everyone is rushing to get off the island because they don't want to get left behind. Mixing this fast pace with Marin's questions that no one is really answering, you definitely start to wonder what's really going on. Then Kana and Marin have to go back because Line went into the woods to get Marin's sunstone that he thought was lost (turns out Marin had it all along she never told him though). That further speeds up the story because the kids have to be quick if they want to leave. When the return, the island is now deserted with personal belongings being thrown everywhere. There's this feeling of hopelessness now, but also a question of why was everyone in such a hurry to leave. Is there more about the island at night that people aren't telling? So now the island is supposed to be abandoned except for the wildlife but something has written a warning, telling the kids to hide. How can the warning be there if the island is deserted, and why is the warning there. Then, in it was is without a doubt the scariest scene in the novel, something tries to attack the kids. They're hiding in the mayor's house and have left the light on in the hopes that someone will come back for them. Instead they hear something climbing up the stairs, trying to break down the door, that they know isn't human and wants to kill them. So there's this unseen thing that is trying to kill the kids which makes their struggle of getting of the island even harder. The set up and the pacing of the story, particularly in the beginning, was great. I think Marin questioning the adults also added to the story because as a child you get the need to ask questions and not always accepting things as they are, but as an adult you get why some things are they way they are and that sometimes it's better to not ask questions because the results won't be good. It's always good to have someone think critically and wonder what the origins of traditions actually because that's what moves a society forward, but again you might not like the answers or the cost of achieving those answers. So on one hand there's Marin's curiosity and naivete and on the other hand there's the adults responsibility and there willful ignorance (although I think some of them knew more than they were letting on and I don't get why they had to hold back that information). There's an interview section in the back of the book that helps highlight why the story is the way it is that I do recommend you read. The story ends with the kids finding a boat and making their way to the sea, which is nice happy ending, because this is a YA book, and I was fine with that. I thought the pacing and story itself was great, and I liked that the characters choices and personality helped create this suspenseful survival narrative.

Dislike: As I mentioned at the beginning, I didn't like the ending, both this time and the first time read this book. I didn't like seeing the creatures of the night because I thought it caused the story to lose it's suspense. I thought Kana being the offspring of one these creatures was really unnecessary and the entire story could have done without it. It was at that point when things became more focused on the creatures of the night and their dramas that the tone of the story shifting from a thrilling survival story to a supernatural family drama, which felt cheap. I think had that part been omitted from the story it would be scary from the beginning to the end. I also didn't feel any emotional pull with it being revealed that Kana's real mother has been watching him this entire time, mostly because she kept talking about how he didn't belong anywhere and her killing him would be doing him a favor. Yep, there's the maternal love this story needed. I don't get it, I didn't like, and I think the story suffered because of it.

Final Thoughts: First time reading I though this was a good book, especially if you want something suspenseful but not over the top. Second reading though, it wasn't as suspenseful though because I knew everything that would happen, but to the stories credit I was fully paying attention to the scene in the mayors house. I still think that the creatures should have remained mysterious because they felt like more of a threat. There is a companion sequel that I probably won't get to because I don't find the premise as compelling as the first book, but maybe if I get the time for it will. It's a good book, for young readers but adults too, but I don't think it's a great book for rereading, unless you've forgotten everything that happened in the book.

Thank You Everyone

Keep Calm and Keep Reading

#my thoughts #book review #nightfall

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