#Todd Kurosawa

[theeio]

au where knives gifts vash a ring as a memento of their brotherhood so they recreate this PoE sequence 100 years later (study of Todd Kurosawa’s storyboards)

[toa-archive]

Okay before anything else happens today and as promised! These are in fact not the only Becoming sequence(s) we have. A version from the TV was posted on Tuesday which can be found here and there in in fact a third one. Another day perhaps.

The following were drawn by Todd Kurosawa, a huge thank you to him for having all of these publicly available. Instagram links are still broken so please forgive my work around of screenshot and linking out.

Gotta save those five minutes Toby!

Huh weird, a pile of rocks.

Now this one IS odd because that is undoubtedly Coach and while there is one piece of early artwork of him wearing a Navy shirt, he never looked like this. Very likely this was a stand in until his design was completed particularly with the film version being trapped in limbo until refitted for tv.

Now we get extra confusing! There is a massive sequence on his website except it is missing the Delancy sequence... Which is on his instagram. So when you get to the detour part pause, go to the instagram link, click through then continue as you were!

Here's the website link. Click the black bar as shown for full view! It's uh a teeny bit different in a few ways...

And here's the rogue part!

[bl-bracket]

Most Unhinged Bracket

Round 1

Vegas (Kinnporsche: The Series) vs Ruan Lan Zhu (The Spirealm)

Ray (Only Friends) vs Fu Yong Jie (HIStory 4: Close to You)

Boston (Only Friends) vs Ichikawa Mitsuo (Double Mints)

Phaya (The Sign) vs Jan (To Sir, With Love)

Mew (Only Friends) vs Ye Zun (Guardian)

Tan (Manner of Death) vs Tin (Triage)

Nawin (Laws of Attraction) vs Ayan (The Eclipse)

Yok (Not Me) vs Tol (Triage)

Nick (Only Friends) vs Noey (I Will Knock You)

Han Ying (Word of Honor) vs Yai (Big Dragon)

Black (Not Me) vs Kim (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Porsche (Kinnporsche: The Series) vs Taohu (The Miracle of Teddy Bear)

Ming (My Stand In) vs Kurosawa (Ossan's Love)

Zhou Zishu (Word of Honor) vs Kijima (The Pornographer Series)

Lhong (Tharntype: The Series) vs Meng Shao Fei (HIStory 3: Trapped)

Jang Jaeyoung (Semantic Error) vs Mo Yi (Stay with Me)

Charn (Laws of Attraction) vs New (Dead Friend Forever)

Xiang Hao Ting (HIStory 3: Make Our Days Count) vs Toh (Secret Crush on You)

Rain (Love in the Air) vs Aoyama (The Shortest Distance is Round: Noir)

Wei Wuxian (The Untamed) vs Nuan (Something in My Room)

Wen Kexing (Word of Honor) vs Way (Pit Babe)

Non (Dark Blue Kiss) vs Chun Sangwon (Love for Love's Sake)

Xue Yang (The Untamed) vs Akk (The Eclipse)

Todd (Not Me) vs Charlie (Pit Babe)

Hira (Utsukushii Kare) vs Prom (Playboyy)

Kiyoi (Utsukushii Kare) vs Nuea (Secret Crush on You)

White (Not Me) vs The Parents (My Eleventh Brother)

Lan Wangji (The Untamed) vs Ritsu (End of the World with You)

Bun (Manner of Death) vs Chalothon (The Sign)

Xie Wang (The Untamed) vs Ai Di (Kiseki: Dear to Me)

Tankhun (Kinnporsche: The Series) vs Prapai (Love in the Air)

Tsuge Masato (Cherry Magic) vs Karan (Cherry Magic TH)

[normasshearer]

top nine first time watches of 2024 tagged by @anthonysperkins thank you michi!!! 💜✨

Rules: post 9 of your favorite films you saw for the first time this year that aren’t new (2023/2024) but are new to you and tag 9 others to do the same.

Safe (1995) dir. Todd Haynes High and Low (1963) dir. Akira Kurosawa Tampopo (1985) dir. Jūzō Itami The Girls (1968) dir. Mai Zetterling 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) dir. David Jones Holiday (1938) dir. George Cukor My Brilliant Career (1979) dir. Gillian Armstrong Mahler (1974) dir. Ken Russell Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959) dir. Bert Stern & Aram Avakian

tagging: @womansfilm @hayaomiyazaki @trainstationgoodbye @genes-tierney @tennesseewillams

@slayerbuffy @charitydingle @davisbette @murderballadeer if you want!

[lxminesce]

CHARLES MELTON | The Criterion Collection: Closet Picks (2024)

Mikey and Nicky (1976) dir. Elaine May After Life (1998) dir. Hirokazu Koreeda Memories of Murder (2003) dir. Bong Joon-Ho EO (2022) dir. Jerzy Skolimowski Eyes Without a Face (1960) dir. Georges Franju Le Samouraï (1967) dir. Jean-Pierre Melville La Piscine (1969) dir. Jacques Deray Cure (2001) dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa Drive My Car (2021) dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi Short Cuts (1993) dir. Robert Altman 3 Women (1977) dir. Robert Altman Safe (1995) dir. Todd Haynes A Special Day (1977) dir. Ettore Scala WALL-E (2008) dir. Andrew Stanton

[toa-archive]

Eli meanwhile ~X-Files theme intensifies~

Boards screenshot from the sequence on Todd Kurosawa's website. There's more bits of it (Including the Delancy sequence) on his instagram.

trollhunters is interesting because it definitely falls under the “teenage superhero” category a la miraculous, danny phantom, spiderman, etc but unlike them there’s no secret identities/alter egos. pretty much no one knows about jim and toby and claire out at night fighting bad guys and protecting the town. pretty much no one knows about any superhuman force protecting the town. they’re superheroes that for all intents and purposes pretty much don’t exist. how many times do you think civilians noticed them running around at night with absolutely no context. one kid’s in full body armor. are they larping. im cry ng

[01sentencereviews]

New To Me - 2023

All About Alice (1972, Ray Harrison)

Bambi (1942, David Hand)

Die, Mommie, Die! (2003, Mark Rucker)

Dreams (1990, Akira Kurosawa)

Elephant (1989, Alan Clarke)

Erin Brockovich (2000, Steven Soderbergh)

Glen or Glenda (1953, Edward D. Wood Jr.)

A Happening in Central Park (1968, Robert Scheerer)

In Vanda’s Room (2000, Pedro Costa)

LA Plays Itself (1972, Fred Halsted)

The Ladies Man (1961, Jerry Lewis)

Morvern Callar (2002, Lynne Ramsay)

News from Home (1976, Chantal Akerman)

A Self-Induced Hallucination (2018, Jane Schoenbrun)

Series 7: The Contenders (2001, Daniel Minahan)

Single White Female (1992, Barbet Schroeder)

Terminal USA (1993, Jon Moritsugu)

What Really Happened to Baby Jane (1963, Ray Harrison)

The Wiz (1978, Sidney Lumet)

Zero Day (2002, Ben Coccio)

+++

2LDK (2003, Yukihiko Tsutsumi)

AM1200 (2008, David Prior)

Another Gay Movie (2006, Todd Stephens)

Black Book (2006, Paul Verhoeven)

Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984, Ray Cameron)

Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (1995, Shinichi Fukazawa)

Caniba (2017, Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel)

Charade (1963, Stanley Donen)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, Steven Spielberg)

The Color Purple (1985, Steven Spielberg)

Crimes of Passion (1984, Ken Russell)

Death to Smoochy (2002, Danny DeVito)

The Faculty (1998, Robert Rodriguez)

Foxfur (2012, Damon Packard)

The Fluffer (2001, Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland)

Freeway (1996, Matthew Bright)

Girls Will Be Girls (2003, Richard Day)

Hotel (2004, Jessica Hausner)

The Idiots (1998, Lars von Trier)

The Inheritance (2020, Ephraim Asili)

Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular (2013, Gregg Gelfand)

Mod Fuck Explosion (1994, Jon Moritsugu)

Ned Rifle (2014, Hal Hartley)

Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special (1988, Paul Reubens & Wayne Orr)

R100 (2013, Hitoshi Matsumoto)

The Salt Mines [1990] & The Transformation [1996] (Susana Aikin & Carlos Aparicio)

Seconds (1966, John Frankenheimer)

Sextool (1975, Fred Halsted)

Sibyl (2019, Justine Triet)

Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki)

Star 80 (1983, Bob Fosse)

Strange Days (1995, Kathryn Bigelow)

Teknolust (2002, Lynn Hershman-Leeson)

Theorem (1968, Pier Paolo Pasolini)

[birindale]

This time: Catra goes fishing, She-Ra has most of Aquaman's powers, and the scripts get even more unbearable to type. We all learn a lesson about capitalism, but perhaps not the one intended.

Transcript/Image ID below the cut

[Image Description: 14 comic pages from the She-Ra mini-comic, “A Fishy Business”.

Cover: Mermista (in her mermaid form) and Starburst She-Ra swim around underwater, smiling at a school of seven bright yellow fish. The Princess of Power logo is up top as always, and at the bottom of the page in blue, outlined in a desaturated red, is the issue title, "A Fishy Business". Below that, the copyright info reads, "Illustrations: (copyright symbol) Mattel, Inc. 1986. Hawthorne, CA 90250 U.S.A. PRINTED IN TAIWAN. All Rights Reserved. (registered trademark symbol) and TM designate U.S. trademarks of Mattel, Inc."

Page 1: A desaturated pink caption box reads, "In the forest near a stream that began at Crystal Falls, Catra was busy making mischief. She stood back to admire her handiwork, a big waterwheel over the stream. Along the wheel were small fishnets, and on the bank was a giant goldfish bowl filled with water." We do in fact see Catra standing before a giant wheel, though it can't really be described as a waterwheel because there's no way for the water to turn it; its only adornments are the 'nets', which look more like baskets but you saw the caption! Who am I to disagree? A slanted, equal-angle channel runs from the wheel closer to the bank, a sort of reverse salmon cannon into the fish bowl. Catra isn't wearing her mask, her clawed gloves are only silver bracers here, and her outfit still strays closer to red than pink. She has a crosscut or rip-cut saw in her right hand (can't say for certain without a closer look at the teeth), and a claw (heh heh) hammer in her left. Her gloves are only silver bracers here, so she doesn't have any claws, and her outfit is straying closer to red than pink. 

A yellow caption box at the foot of the page reads, "PRODUCED EXCLUSIVELY FOR MATTEL BY: PENCILIER—JIM MITCHELL. INKER—TODD KUROSAWA. COLORIST—CHARLES SIMPSON. EDITOR—LEE NORDLING." 

"'There. As long as I don't get wet, this water-stuff is a snap to handle," says Catra, with an evil little grin. 

End Page 1. 

Page 2: ""Now to see if it works." She said. Catra pulled a lever that released the wheel, and the wheel turned in the water. As the wheel went around, the fishnets bought up fish from the stream. The fish were then dumped into a trough that emptied into the goldfish bowl." [sic] on that whole paragraph. It's like they took a concept script for a picture book and just turned it into a comic with absolutely zero editing or forethought. 

Speaking of no forethought, Catra sure has made this contraption within sight of the Crystal Falls, notorious hangout of Mermista and Friends. She's gripping a lever with both hands (now gloved) and looking back over her shoulder instead of facing the wheel directly. Skip Simpson, bless his heart, seems to have colored her skirt black on autopilot despite Todd Kurosawa's careful delineation. In his defense, Skip was colorist for the whole first wave as well, so he's still getting used to Scratchin' Sound Catra's adjusted color palette. Four concerned-looking fish are scooped up and deposited in the goldfish bowl. 

Catra seemingly lies down in the sand to prop her chin dramatically on one hand and smirk at the captive fish. ""You don't know it yet, Fish-face, but you and I are going into business together."" Seriously though, who put all of these quotation marks in the dialogue bubbles? Why didn't Lee Nordling stop them? What kind of editor are you, Lee? Whatever. Three of the fish gape at Catra in shock. 

""I can see it now. I'll open the first marine world in Etheria," says Catra. This seems to be an attempt at genericizing Marine World (now called Six Flags Discovery Kingdom), which at the time of publication (1986) had just moved to Vallejo, California and was moderately big news, featuring such wild headlines 'professional basketball player called in to pull bolt out of dolphin throat', 'tiger bites the shit out of football player at pep rally' before Vallejo moved them over from Redwood City. The year after the move they dropped an orca on William Statner (who was, tragically, completely fine). Basically, I think Catra is envisioning an animal theme park with a heavy aquatic slant, rather than a flooded planet situation. But it's the kind of theme park which puts chimps on motorcycles and an elephant on water skis. So look out. 

End Page 2. 

Page 3: A pink caption box reads, "Catra saw herself as master of the show. The fish would do wonderful stunts! Catra herself would be the star. And how the crowd would cheer! Handsome men—maybe even Bow—would be madly in love with her." Oh so I didn't need to explain Marine World. Okay. Well I'm leaving that in anyway. This one's for you, Norcal.

Catra imagines herself in a series of fanciful situations, whipping the fish into a cheerleader-style pyramid (her gloves are bracers again, but the rest of her costume is Scratchin' Sound Catra-accurate, including ripped silver tights and a silver skirt); staring dreamily at Bow, who's offering her a bottle of milk; and waterskiing behind four moderately sized fish, which feels optimistic even for this fantasy. 

""So do some aerobics while I sew up your little swimsuits," says Catra, actually looking pretty reasonable despite the fish's shock. Can a fish do aerobics? I guess it doesn't specify that you get your oxygen through air instead of water, but I feel like it's implied.

End Page 3. 

Page 4: A pale pink caption box reads, "A few days later, Peekablue was riding in the Sea Harp near the beautiful Crystal Falls while Mermista swam alongside. Adora and Spirit stood on the shore. "Peekablue! Mermista!" Adora called. "Let's pick some berries for lunch." But just then a young seal swam up to Mermista with a message. 

We see the Crystal Falls in the background, and Mermista with her seal friend in the foreground, but the midground is the Sea Harp sitting on dry land next to Adora and Spirit. Is it not a boat…?

""Oh no! He says his friends, the sunfish and the tuna twins, are missing. And no one has seen the bluegills since yesterday,"" says Mermista, translating for a distressed seal with emanata that seem to indicate seal-speech. 

""Hmmmm, this could be trouble. I'll go look for help!" says Adora.

End Page 4.

Page 5: A pink caption box reads, "Hidden in a spot behind some trees, Adora raised high the Sword of Protection and said "For the honor of Grayskull, I am She-Ra!" And in a magical flash, she became the Princess of Power. Then, she changed Spirit into Swift Wind." Because god forbid we draw an action pose, I guess. 

Starburst She-Ra raises both arms to show off her cape, and Crystal Swift Wind raises both wings. They're so sparkly that light refracts all around them, twinkling and vibrant.

End Page 5. 

Page 6: A pink caption box reads, "Peekablue and Mermista were glad She-Ra had come to help. She-Ra suggested they split up. Peekablue said, "I don't want to get my lovely feathers wet, so I'll follow the stream leading into the forest. With my many eyes I'll be able to see any fish who went that way. Then I'll meet you later."" She-Ra stands beside Peekablue in front of the Crystal Falls, and Mermista watches them from the water.

A pink caption box reads, "Then She-Ra and Mermista dove into the Crystal Falls pool." 

She-Ra dives, Mermista just looks like she's floating downwards. It must be hard to slow down enough for a human (super-powered or not) to keep up. 

End Page 6. 

Page 7: A pink caption box reads, "Deep in the blue-green world, the two friends passed great sweeping fronds of sea moss, sparkling stones, many-colored shells, and the broken columns of old ruins. But, oddly enough, no fish. And no one seemed to know where they were!" She-Ra and Mermista swim past a coral reef, some decaying, vaguely Grecian ruins in the background. There's not a fish in sight. 

""Have you seen our friends, the fish?"" She-Ra asks an octopus, who shrugs and says, ""Nope."" Apparently She-Ra can breathe underwater in this one. 

""Fish should stay in one place, like I do," says a bivalve, "Then they wouldn't get lost!"" 

End Page 7. 

Page 8: ""Then I hope Peekablue has already found them,"" says She-Ra, looking concerned. 

A pink caption box reads, "But Peekablue found something else. As she followed the stream through the woods, her eyes searched the water. "I can see all the way to the bottom!" She exclaimed. But then her special eyes noticed something further upstream." Oh shit. Her brand. 

Peekablue is shown wandering alongside the stream, Catra's contraption bleary in the distance.

End Page 8. 

Page 9: ""Why, it's a wheel! I wonder what…?"" says a pink caption box, which was probably supposed to be a thought bubble. 

Another pink caption box reads, "Suddenly Catra rushed out of the forest. "What do you want, Feather-head?" "Catra! What are you doing here?" Peekablue asked. "I was taking a catnap. Now go away!" "Hummph!" Peekablue said as she walked away. But she thought, "I'm going to tell She-Ra about this.""

I really think they're doing this dialogue-within-captions schtick to torture me, specifically. 

Peekablue is shown looking startled, the Crystal Falls once more in the background, as Catra leaps out of the bushes in front of her. 

End Page 9.

Page 10: A pink caption box reads, "A little later the three friends met at Crystal Falls. Peekablue told what she had seen. She-Ra said, "I suspect Catra knows where the fish are. Let's find out." "Wait," Mermista said. "I want to go along." She dove, then flipped out of the water, her silvery tail dancing on its surface for a moment." We see Mermista, surrounded by a few perfect tendrils of water, suspended above the surface as Peekablue and She-Ra watch. 

A pink caption box reads, "Then with a spin she landed delicately on the shore on two legs!" and we see a four-stage, Animorphs-style transition between her two forms. 

""There. I'm ready!"" says Mermista, to a smiling She-Ra. Her hair is a little more purple than usual, but it plays off the yellow in the background well. 

End Page 10. 

Page 11: A pink caption box reads, "The friends soon found Catra's waterwheel and watched as more fish were caught in the nets. She-Ra said, "I thought so!" On the ground nearby were blueprints for Catra's plans, and She-Ra looked them over. "An amusement park! Leave it to Catra!" She-Ra stopped the wheel, but Catra, who heard their voices, came running. "

She-Ra stares at the plans in apparent wonder as Peekablue and Mermista look over her shoulder. Fifteen of the yellow fish are trapped in the fishbowl. Mermista's pants are orange. Peekablue is smiling for some reason. 

""Just what do you think you're doing here?"" asks Catra, who looks mildly affronted with her hands on her hips and a single eyebrow raised. She's missing her gloves again. 

End Page 11.

Page 12: ""Saving my fish friends from your clutches!"" says Mermista, with no expression whatsoever. Her necklace, which is a shell on the toy and a simple pendant in the Filmation show, is a tiny yellow fish. Presumably it spits water the same way. 

""They're mine now, Miss Scaley-tail! Now go away before I…"" says Catra, with a mild frown. 

A pink caption box reads, "But Catra had no chance to finish her threat because Mermista quickly drenched Catra with her water spray. "Yeee-ow!" Catra screeched, as she jumped back. "I think you're the one who should leave, Catra," said She-Ra "while we try to undo your mischief.""

Catra is soaking wet now. Would have been nice to show that action, instead of just telling us about it! Would have been a nice break from shot-reverse-shot close-ups! She-Ra, Mermista, and Peekablue all smile at her. Her gloves are still missing. 

End Page 12. 

Page 13: A pink caption box reads, "As Catra ran off, She-Ra lifted the giant fishbowl overhead and dumped it into the stream. "I think it's time you fellas went back home to Crystal Falls," she said. And the fish were very happy to do so." The illustration shows She-Ra doing that. You know, redundantly. 

""I don't think we should leave this here either, She-Ra. Catra may use it again," says Peekablue, pointing at the wheel contraption. 

""You're right, Peekablue. And I think I have a good idea," says She-Ra. 

End Page 13.

Page 14: A pink caption box reads, "Later, under the water at Crystal Falls, She-Ra and Mermista turned Catra's wheel into a ferris wheel. The nets were replaced by little seats. Their friends rode happily 'round and 'round! Mermista said, "I wish Catra could see her waterwheel now!"" The fish have set up a tiny admissions booth and everything. Various sea creatures gambol about. 

In an oranger-than-usual 'moral' font color, She-Ra says, ""Yes, and I wish Catra would learn that it's not right to use others to get ahead."" Girl, what? You mean the fish? You guys just assaulted her, stole her waterwheel, and undid days of work because she didn't immediately agree to your demands. Now is the time for a moral about how removing species can negatively impact a biome, or against cruelty to animals (not that 1986 was necessarily ready for that). Is this a good time to mention Mattel owned The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for a couple years?

""Now—how about a ride?"" She-Ra suggests to Mermista, beckoning her on. They won't even fit in the tiny little seats. Stop benefiting from using others, She-Ra. It's immoral. 

End Page 14. 

End ID.]

[treethymes]

june 2024 watchlist

*letterboxd rating

challengers (2024, dir. luca guadagnino)***** cure (1997, dir. kiyoshi kurosawa)***** carol (2015, dir. todd haynes)***** crash (1996, dir. david cronenberg)***** oppenheimer (2023, dir. christopher nolan)** pulse (2001, dir. kiyoshi kurosawa)***** evil does not exist (2023, dir. ryusuke hamaguchi)***** black tea (2024, dir. abderrahame sissako)** brief encounter (1945, dir. david lean)***** the night of the hunter (1955, dir. charles laughton)***** yearning (1964, dir. mikio naruse)***** safe (1995, dir. todd haynes)***** the 8-diagram pole fighter (1984, dir. lau kar-leung)**** greater tuna (1984, dir. bruce gowers & tom alderman) from the notebook of... (1972, dir. robert beavers)**** alien (1979, dir. ridley scott)***** the matrix (1999, dir. the wachowskis)**** skinamarink (2022, dir. kyle edward ball)* i saw the tv glow (2024, dir. jane schoenbrun)*** the texas chain saw massacre (1974, dir. tobe hooper)***** ganja and hess (1973, dir. bill gunn)*****

---

im playing pretty fast and loose with the five-star ratings but i guess i'd rather err on the side of enthusiasm.

i know i keep ragging on past lives, but let's just say i really liked brief encounter, carol, yearning... (or even challengers...)

this version of greater tuna is not on letterboxd so im using that as an excuse to not rate it.

[disneybuddy]

Storyboards for Shrek by Todd Kurosawa.

[albiclalepsza]

So I was making a list of who I think should/ would be nominated for the Oscars this year and I put Martin Scorsese, Celine Song, Todd Haynes, Greta Gerwig and Justine Triet as my picks for best director. When my sister saw it she said that they are too many women on the list for it to be realistic. And then that made go down the rabbit hole of checking the list of Academy Awards for best directing because I was curious which year did the first female director win an Oscar.

Woah. 2009? 70 years after the first ceremony? Crazy. So then I decided to check how many women were even nominated.

Seven. Throughout 96 years of its existence the Academy nominated seven women for best directing:

- Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties in 1975

- Jane Campion for The Piano in 1993

- Sofia Coppola for Lost In Translation in 2003

- Kathryn Bigelow who won for The Hurt Locker in 2009

- Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird in 2017

- Emerald Fennel for Promising Young Woman in 2021

- Chloé Zhao who won for Nomadland, also in 2021.

Jane Campion was nominated again for The Power of the Dog in 2022 and won, making her the only double nominee in this group and the third woman to win best director.

I decided to check some other numbers from the list just to illustrate how ridiculous that number is.

Just in the first 10 ceremonies 7 Oscars went to guys named Frank (Frank Borzage, Frank Lloyd and Frank Capra). They were nominated 9 times in that period. Overall they got 12 nominations throughout the Academy's history. Guys named William got 18 Oscar nominations over the years (12 for Wyler alone).

Actually, let's stop there. Here are all the men who got nominated more or as many times as all the women:

- William Wyler (12)

- Martin Scorsese (9)

- Steven Spielberg (9)

- Billy Wilder (8).

And that's not to say that they didn't deserve these nominations of course. But when there are numerous individual men who got nominated more times than the entire other half of the population you can't really blame it on anything else than the Academy's biases and discrimination.

And that discrimination doesn't end with the Academy, of course. Celine Sciamma's phenomenal Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which ranked 30th on Sight and Sound's list of best movies of all time, didn't even get a chance to get nominated, because French Film Institute chose to campaign another adaptation of Les Miserables instead.

The discrimination doesn't end on gender. When it comes to people of color the Academy also isn't particularly generous. No black woman was ever nominated for best director. 6 black men were nominated:

- John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood in 1991

- Lee Daniels for Precious in 2009

- Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave in 2013

- Barry Jenkins for Moonlight in 2016

- Jordan Peele for Get Out in 2017

- Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman in 2018

10 Asians/ Asian Americans were nominated 13 times over the years:

- Hiroshi Teshigahara for Woman in the Dunes in 1965

- Akira Kurosawa for Ran in 1985 (a total travesty that he never won in that category)

- Terrence Malick for The Thin Red Line in 1998 and The Tree Of Life in 2011

- M. Night Shyamalan for The Sixth Sense in 1999

- Ang Lee for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000, Brokeback Mountain in 2005 and Life Of Pi in 2012 (he won for the latter two)

- Bong Joon-Ho for Parasite in 2019

- Lee Isaac Chung for Minari in 2020

- Chloé Zhao for Nomadland in 2020 (the only woman of color who won in the category)

- Ryusuke Hamaguchi for Drive My Car in 2021

- Daniel Kwan for Everything Everywhere All At Once in 2022.

5 Latin Americans were nominated 8 times. It got a bit murky here, since that's not really a racial category. I couldn't find a different list than that anywhere, so I had to play a little elimination game. I wouldn't count Guillermo del Toro. Héctor Babenco is apparently a son of Polish and Ukrainian Jews. And I'm pretty sure Fernando Meirelles wouldn't count either. So that leaves us with:

- Alejandro González Iñárritu for Babel in 2006, Birdman in 2014 and The Revenant in 2015

- maybe Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity in 2013 and Roma in 2018 - won both times (fun fact about Roma, the hype for it was so big in Poland that I always assumed it was a polish movie, until I actually watched it around 2021 when I got more into film). Though his case is where we can fully see how much of a social concept race is, since he simultaneously says that he grew up as a white man and his win for Roma was applauded as a diversity win in the Academy circles.

No Native American was ever nominated for Best Director.

I don't know what the point of this post is. I guess I knew that Oscars were a white sausage fest but I never checked the numbers to see just how much, and Best Director might just be the worst category in that regard.

So if you're placing bets on the Oscars, I guess it'll be safer to just pick 5 random white guys for best director, instead of going by the quality of the movies themselves.

I'd love to see Celine Song win for her beautiful debut, or Greta Gerwig for the biggest movie of 2023 and because she is one of my favorite directors ever, but that may be hard since we had a few years in a row where either women or people of color won in this category, so the old hacks responsible for the choices are probably dying to pick another white guy.

[shiveringsoldier]

My goal for this year was to watch 50 movies that were new to me. I watched 53, many of which were in languages other than English. My favorite first watches:

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer)

Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)

Ikiru (1952, Akira Kurosawa)

Godzilla (1954, Ishirō Honda)

La Pointe-Courte (1955, Agnès Varda)

Black Girl (1966, Ousmane Sembène)

Persona (1966, Ingmar Bergman)

Stop Making Sense (1984, Jonathan Demme)

Come and See (1985, Elem Klimov)

Grave of the Fireflies (1988, Isao Takahata)

La Haine (1995, Matthieu Kassovitz)

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014, Ana Lily Amirpour)

The Handmaiden (2016, Park Chan-wook)

Petite Maman (2021, Céline Sciamma)

TÁR (2022, Todd Field)

A Thousand and One (2023, A.V. Rockwell)

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023, Kelly Fremon Craig)

Asteroid City (2023, Wes Anderson)

Oppenheimer (2023, Christopher Nolan)

Poor Things (2023, Yorgos Lanthimos)

Godzilla Minus One (2023, Takashi Yamazaki)

[diptanshukashyapofficial]

B-3 : Oscars 2023 Predictions - A Film fan's perspective (Part - 1)

The 95th Academy Awards, a.k.a. The Oscars®, will take place on March 13 at 5:30 AM IST. The celebrations of the Oscar season are at their peak. Amid the fun and excitement, here's a look at the movies categories and our predictions of the winners:-

Best Picture

Nominations: 

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

TAR

Top Gun: Maverick

Triangle of Sadness

Women Talking

Prediction: The Fabelmans

The Academy might favor a movie that exhibits the love for cinema through the eyes of one of Hollywood's most-respected directors - Steven Spielberg. Either originally-written movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin can give tough competition.

Best Director

Nominees:

Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Todd Field, TÁR

Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness

Prediction: Steven Spielberg

Spielberg would be the rightful winner for it. If it happens, he would be the third person to win three directing Oscars - after Frank Capra and William Wyler.

Best Original Screenplay

Nominees:

The Banshees of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh

Everything Everywhere All at Once – Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

The Fabelmans – Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner

Tár – Todd Field

Triangle of Sadness – Ruben Östlund

Prediction: The Banshees of Inisherin/Everything Everywhere All At Once

Unlike the first two categories, the Daniels and Martin McDonagh would be fighting for this award. It's the fight between the battle of multiverses & the conflict between two friends.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Nominees:

All Quiet on the Western Front – Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell (based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque)

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Rian Johnson; based on characters created by Johnson and the film Knives Out

Living – Kazuo Ishiguro (based on the original motion picture screenplay Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Hideo Oguni)

Top Gun: Maverick – Screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks; based on the film Top Gun written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr.

Women Talking – Sarah Polley (based on the novel by Miriam Toews)

Prediction: Women Talking

Women Talking would be the ideal winner for the film adaptation of the atrocities by men against women (inspired by the Manitoba Colony, a remote and isolated Mennonite community in Bolivia).

Best Actor

Nominees:

Austin Butler – Elvis as Elvis Presley

Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin as Pádraic Súilleabháin

Brendan Fraser – The Whale as Charlie

Paul Mescal – Aftersun as Calum Paterson

Bill Nighy – Living as Mr. Rodney Williams

Prediction: Austin Butler/Colin Farrell/Brendan Fraser

Fraser's portrayal of an obese, depressed man can bring the Academy in his favor. He would compete with Austin Butler's portrayal of the King of Rock n' Roll & Farrell's character of an Irishman betrayed by his best friend (both actors won this year's Golden Globes).

Best Actress

Nominees:

Cate Blanchett – Tár as Lydia Tár

Ana de Armas – Blonde as Norma Jeane Mortensen / Marilyn Monroe

Andrea Riseborough – To Leslie as Leslie Rowlands

Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans as Mitzi Schildkraut-Fabelman

Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All at Once as Evelyn Quan Wang

Prediction: Cate Blanchett/Michelle Yeoh

It'll be the fight between Blanchett's complex character of an orchestra conductor & Yeoh's role of a superwoman protecting the multiverse from her daughter.

Best Supporting Actor

Nominees:

Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin as Colm Doherty

Brian Tyree Henry – Causeway as James Aucoin

Judd Hirsch – The Fabelmans as Boris Schildkraut

Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin as Dominic Kearney

Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once as Waymond Wang

Prediction: Ke Huy Quan

This one's gonna go to Indiana Jones' sidekick - Short Round, i.e., Quan - for playing a kind and friendly person to his wife in different universes.

Best Supporting Actress

Nominees:

Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as Queen Ramonda

Hong Chau – The Whale as Liz

Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin as Siobhán Súilleabháin

Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once as Deirdre Beaubeirdre

Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All at Once as Joy Wang / Jobu Tupaki

Prediction: Angela Bassett

All hail the Queen Mother!!! Bassett's likely to take the trophy home for portraying the grieving mother of the late Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa.

[harrow-who-ark]

TOP 10 PELÍCULAS DE 2024

Quiero dejar las cosas bien claras antes de empezar. Soy consciente de que faltan muchas películasen este top. Ya sea por falta de tiempo, porque no me han gustado o porque no ha habido forma de verla en España. Creo que si las hubiese visto hubiesen entrado en la lista cosas como: The Brutalist,Flow, Pedro Páramo, I Saw the TV Glow, Nosferatu, Kinds of Kindness, The Wild Robot, Memoir of a Snail o Meanwhile on Earth. Además, me veo con la obligación de recordar que esto es una lista completamente subjetiva. Si no aparece alguna película es o porque no me ha gustado o porque no está entre las 10 primeras. Lo dejo dicho. Y con esto ya puedo ponerme con la lista.

10. Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola): La última locura de Coppola. Una fábula moral, una reflexión sobre la corrupción, el progreso y la creatividad humanas. Un personaje que se llama Platinum Wow, gente hablando en latín y citando a varios filósofos… Es una película fiel a sus ideas que no deja de lanzar descubrimientos impresionantes cada 2 segundos. Le da igual que esos descubrimientos sean malos o buenos. Es una obra del pasado, es una obra del futuro. Es imposible no pensar en ella de vez en cuando.

9.La última noche de Sonia Martínez (César Vallejo, Ángela Gallardo Bernal): Documental que narra con precisión y un montón de testigos el ascenso y la caída de Sonia Martínez, presentadora de programas infantiles que fue muy famosa antes de su descenso a los infiernos. Es muy informativo y está muy bien documentado cosa que se agradece. Permite comprender mejor la tragedia que sufrió Sonia.

8. Joker: Follie a Dèux (Todd Phillips): Hay que tener mucha inquina a alguien para dedicar tu segunda parte de un blockbuster a decirle a los fans que son tontos y que no han entendido nada. Es hostil, no toma concesiones, es imposible agarrarse a algún sitio. Cuando crees que sabes por dónde tira pega un quiebro para dejarte más descolocado. Es fascinante. Me encanta. Es que nos encontramos ante una amalgama de drama carcelario, peli de juicios y musical romántico que va por direcciones inesperadas. Nunca sabes por dónde va a tirar, solo sabes que la gente que encumbró a Joker 1 va a sufrir con cada quiebro. Y claro, te ríes porque que alguien haya tomado semejante decisión y los productores le hayan permitido hacer sin pararle los pies pues da risa. Que queréis que os diga. No es un punk, no es un revolucionario; es una persona que actúa desde el rencor. Hay virtuosismo en su odio. Da igual lo mucho que lo intente, nunca llegaré a su nivel. Juega en otra liga. A veces da con una tecla buena y sorprende. A veces da con la tecla mala y es terrible. Pero es lo de menos. Le da igual. Hay cierto arte en el acto de mostrar semejante cantidad de bilis por minuto. Es digno de halago.

7. Dune; Part Two (Dennis Villeneuve): La primera vez que noto todo el dinero que hay metido en una superproducción de semejante calibre, y lo digo como un halago. Consecuente con todo lo presentado en la primera parte, al tener la parte con más chicha del libro pues se puede permitir brillar más. Técnicamente es alucinante, fotografia, montaje, sonido, banda sonora. Da gusto ver pelis tan bien hechas.

6. Chime (Kiyoshi Kurosawa): Personajes desgraciados, planos fríos, puesta en escena sobria, temas duros de presentar (la soledad, la alienación en el mundo moderno, la pérdida de conexión), propuesta formal contenida y de cadencia lenta, atmosfera plúmbea, indefensión, hostilidad… Kyoshi Kurosawa es el cineasta de la tristeza. Graba incidentes desagradables e incómodos como si fuesen un martes cualquiera. Convierte en cotidiano lo asfixiante y lo agobiante. El cineasta capta como nadie la depresión y el desasosiego existencial inherentes a la contemporaneidad. No hay escapatoria, estamos condenados. Es exasperante. Es terrorífico.

5.Longlegs (Osgood Perkins): Película de detectives que combina el thriller procedimental con el terror más sobrenatural. Usa su forma para expresar y remarcar su contenido, da mal rollo, es interesante de inicio a fin y consigue que el terror se enganche en tu piel. Me ha encantado. Clava todo lo que se propone. "This is a cruel world, especially for the little things."

4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (George Miller): Poema épico de venganza dividido en 5 actos. Todo un viaje que nos muestra como Furiosa va convirtiéndose en el personaje de Fury Road. Miller Lo hace con humanidad y comprensión. Hace las cosas muy, muy bien. Furiosa se convierte en una figura trágica que decide convertirse en un rayo de esperanza y luchar para que el yermo no la convierta en un Dementus más. Prefiere construir en vez de destruir.

3. Drive-Away Dolls (Ethan Cohen, Tricia Cooke, 2024): Peli de serie b de lesbianas haciendo un viaje de carretera y enfrentándose a situaciones absurdas. Una película maja, disfrutona y mamarracha donde todos los implicados (actores, actrices, montador, director y guionistas) se lo han pasado de puta madre. Cumple con su función de entretener y te deja satisfecho. No tengo ninguna queja.

2. Look Back (Kiyotaka Oshiyama): Un coming of age de dos adolescentes muy distintas que unen sus caminos gracias al manga. Una historia de amor magnífica que es capaz de destruirte y de calentarte el pechito. Un relato sobre el proceso creativo y todas las peripecias que hay que hacer para llevarlo a buen puerto.

1. Desert Road (Sharon Triplett): Película de bucles temporales que compensa su corto presupuesto con una inteligencia y una maestría asombrosas. Es un thriller rompecabezas de los que a mi me gustan. Tarda en arrancar, pero luego explota todo de manera muy satisfactoria. Construye su puzzle con calma y parsimonia. No necesita apresurarse. Crea un entramado de normas, mecanismos y tejemanejes que cuando se descubren te vuelan la cabeza. Descubrir el funcionamiento del loop es parte de la experiencia y es una experiencia muy satisfactoria. Además, sabe llegarte a las entrañas, al corazón. Y se agradece. Me gusta que sabe cuando ser cerebral, cuando ser confusa, cuando tratarte como une tonte, cuando dejarte pensar, cuando emocionarte o cuando apelar a las entrañas. Es un viaje precioso. Y una maravilla de obra.

[heeeyooon]

August

Here's some things I enjoyed in August!

Movies:

In the order I saw them, oldest to newest

La Chimera (♥) - Alice Rohrwacher Con Air - Simon West God's Own Country (♥) - Francis Lee Serial Mom (♥) - John Waters Emma. - Autumn de Wilde Bottoms (♥) - Emma Seligman Safe (♥) - Todd Haynes In the Mood for Love (♥) - Wong Kar Wai Gladiator - Ridley Scott Batman Begins - Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight - Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight Rises - Christopher Nolan Blow Out - Brian de Palma The Vanishing (♥) - George Sluizer Bright Future - Kiyoshi Kurosawa There Will Be Blood (♥) - PTA Trap - M. Night Shyamalan The Spirit of the Beehive (♥) - Victor Erice Passion (♥) - Ryusuke Hamaguchi Mad Max: Fury Road (♥) - George Miller Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (♥) - George Miller Sense and Sensibility (♥ x 1,000,000)- Ang Lee Violet and Daisy - Geoffrey Fletcher The Remains of the Day - James Ivory Legend - Ridley Scott Clearly I was in the mood for Josh O'Connor, Batman, Mad Max, Ridley Scott this month...

Knitting:

I'm still working on this one for Buzz, it's taking so long because I haven't had too much time to knit this month. Getting close though. one! more! sleeve!

Gardening:

Buzz and I made a video documenting our garden this summer. We mostly wanted to play around with a new camera Buzz bought, but it turned into a really fun project. I accompanied the video with some harp music I had recorded years ago.

Misc:

This is from our little day trip to NYC at the beginning of August. Can you tell we are sisters? lol

We went on a camping trip this Labor Day with Mike, Meg and Kiva to the Pine Barrens. There's Mike, standing on a cool pine tree on Lake Nummy!

I think that's it for August! <3 Heeyoon

[tenshichan1013]

RTA: “no time like the past” favorite screenshots part I