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orihime-maychan · 5 years ago

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I gave the ATLA live action movie “The Last Airbender” one more shot...

Four hours ago, I happen to catch the Avatar: The Last Airbender live action movie on the telly, and before I cringed out even thinking about it, I said to myself:

“It’s been almost 10 years, what could possibly make me cringe anymore than what it was?”

So... I watched it. I was supposed to go to sleep because I had a bad case of food poisoning (again) but then my tummy got all better so.. Why not. And I was surprised for the next 1 hour 30 minutes.

OK, so to all ATLA-TLOK fans out there, before you bash me into little pieces for even mentioning this live action movie, PLEASE HEAR ME OUT FIRST!

I am not posting this to bash or to rave about anything, I am just posting this to bring out my thoughts on this movie about 10 years after it was made/after I watched it for the first time (under the assumption that my opinions are valid and welcomed in this site).

I wanted to put this “late” review and commentary so I could have a comparison point once the ATLA series goes live in Netflix next year, among other things.

I believe I may have been too attached to the animated series way back then to have made a somewhat partial and unbiased review to put it down completely as trash.

And lastly,

In relation to the previous point, I will take into account a possible viewpoint from non-ATLA fans who just wanted to while away their time by watching a movie which they knew nothing about.

I’m not gonna put any jumps/breaks/keep reading cuts on this post because it doesn’t show up on mobile anyway, and also because some people on desktop are too lazy to click it so.. I’ll just make this a long-ass post and hopefully my PC can survive the long-ass ness x_x So if you started reading this well.. It’s on you. =P

I will be doing the commentaries based on the following:

How the story flow compares to the original ATLA series

Character comparisons between the series (especially KEY characters)

Rendering of the effects

If I was a bystander who watched it for the sake of watching (i.e. if I wasn’t an ATLA fan), how would I feel about it?

If I remember to do so, I’ll probably make an overall comment on the whole thing based on what I said and add some stuff I may have forgotten to add. Also, since the Airbender movie is just for Book 1: Water, well it’s the only thing I’ll comment on. Again, be warned, this will be a long, long, long-ass post.

Live Movie vs Book 1 Series

Well, let’s be honest here, even the Ember Island Players took a very long time to showcase just Book 1 in their own version, so of course Nick and Paramount had to cut everything to fit into 1 1/2 hours of movie time, and that would cut out more exciting and pivotal scenes from even getting shown. I mean, it’s not like they had that much budget to turn the whole thing into something as long as one movie from LOTR or even Hogwarts movies. A lot of the magical bending stuff were sorta uhm.. not there? Also, there were so much leaps and stuff just to visit all of the Air Nomad Temples, that was basically what Aang, Katara and Sokka were doing most of the time, aside from learning how to bend, escaping Zuko and Co., as well as inciting rebellion within the Earth Kingdom under the Fire Nation domain. And also, I felt the whole thing wasn’t even meant to be a big production, unless I just don’t watch enough movies to recognize anybody. Seriously, the only actors I recognized in the live action were Jackson Rathbone and Dev Patel, I honestly don’t know everybody else (sorry Yue, I find you lovely but I don’t know who you are T_T). So... You see where I’m going here?

So... Because of many constraints, the entire Book 1 was reduced into this plot:

Two Southern water tribe siblings found a kid (and a huge fluffy beast) frozen in a ball of ice, which shot out a beam of light after breaking the ice ball. They brought the kid and the beast back home, in which they tried to get to know him better. But a foreign prince from beyond the wild seas took it upon to himself to bring back what he believed to be his target, The Avatar, by storming into the Southern water tribe village and taking the kid from the ice into custody. The two siblings’ grandmother later revealed that based on history and her own knowledge, the kid was the Avatar who was supposed to bring balance into the world, but disappeared in almost a century. So the two kids took it as their responsibility to rescue the ice ball kid under any circumstance, until he could turn the tides from the Fire Nation and bring balance and harmony into the world. Meanwhile, the kid from the ice was tested if he was indeed the Avatar, and unfortunately passed the test, now has an existential crisis and wanted to run away again, which he was able to do so with the help of the water tribe siblings. This leaves the captor, the former Prince of the Fire Nation even more pissed and determined to recapture his place and his position in his own country, as well as his father, the Fire Lord.

After visiting all of the Air Nomad Temples and realizing that he was the last bender of his kind, the Avatar underwent another existential crisis which he was only able to mitigate through meditation and reaching out to the spirit realm. This was further intensified by his need to master all of the remaining elements in order to serve his life purpose better because he ran away even before beginning his trainings, and he just couldn’t make stronger attacks or defenses just by bending air. So along with the two siblings, he traveled to the Northern Water tribes in order to learn water bending from the master. During the course of this travel, he met with the former Fire Prince and fought with him multiple times, he was kidnapped by another Fire Nation official after being lured by an Earth Kingdom citizen (and was actually set free by a ninja who later turned out to be the former Fire Prince), and he kept getting blocks from unlocking his full water bending potential. Only by entering the spirit realm and chatting with a dragon spirit was the Avatar able to keep himself calm despite the stuff happening around him.

After staying at the Northern water tribe’s place and learning water bending for quite sometime, the time for war against the Fire Nation came. However, despite preparations, the water benders were outnumbered and overpowered by the fire benders, which further worsened when one of the moon spirits got killed by the Fire Prince’s rival, thus removing the water bending abilites from those who could. However, ironic as it seems, another Fire nation member knows how to undo the damage that was done, and once the sacrifice was done, the water-benders were back in action. So much so, that even the Avatar was able to chase away the Fire Nation’s armada of ships away. After realizing that he was indeed, needed to restore the imbalance brought upon by his disappearance, the Avatar took his original responsibility to heart by bowing back to all of those who bowed down to him.

That was basically the entire content if focused only on Aang’s development. If you’d ask me, an hour and a half won’t be enough to bring to light all the wonders and charms of the original series, you might need like a three-hour trilogy series just to show each character’s full strengths and weaknesses. So even if a lot of the nice stuff in the series had to be cut out, I’d say that whatever was used in the movie was pretty much enough to show a proper plot to keep track of.

Basically, it all boils down to this:

The production team (or whatever governing body had to make the decisions regarding how the whole thing had to be made) had to take into consideration their target audiences, the production cost, and how long the whole movie must be in order to maximize whatever resources they had. If I was to base my opinion on such things, then I say that the movie’s storyline is overall OK.

Movie vs Series... Characterwise

Well, to make this long-ass commentary a bit shorter, I’ll just make a generalized comparison because for a short movie, there is obviously not enough time to build each character up so it makes for seemingly-flat characters.

First of these is the fact that despite filling in some backstories for most of the characters, their traits seem to feel a bit wanting. Like there’s something missing. If you’d ask me, the thing that’s missing is whether or not they are capable of change. Some characters are like that, you see them move for the first 5-10 minutes and you’ll know whether or not the character has some potential for growth and change, not necessarily for the better but just some overall change from point A to B. We see this in the ATLA series because there is so much time spent on that, and I think that’s what makes everyone in there so endearing. Heck, even Azula has some fans because at least, at some point she had some sort of character change. However, based on my experience, that’s not easily done because in order for a character to enter change, a lot of events, introspections, expressions, and other internal and external influences must push the character to change. To make them strong or weak isn’t the point, but rather to make the character move out of their system and into another. This wasn’t possible in the live action movie because again, time constraints. So whatever they were from the beginning just continued on until the end. NO dead-obvious growth observed, whatsoever. I felt like this was a disservice to ATLA fans because the characters portrayed on the screen were so different from the ones we got used to (hate) and even loved from the series:

Aang got reduced to a very confused and angry boy, who was originally written as a warm, friendly, and happy-go-lucky ball of charm. Also, if they wanted to do justice for however they shaped movie Aang, they should have made a whole lot more internal dialogue about his regrets and stuff, so angsty and angry Aang could have been justified better.

Katara got portrayed as a stiff girl, when in fact she was originally shown as hopeful, inquisitive and even smart, apart from her kindness and her nurturing and fun side. Also, as far as I recall, Katara in the series was already a very competent water bender, so why reduce her to a floppy one in the movie? It would have been better if she just was a wee better than what she was but still wanted to learn from Paku, to show children that there is always room for improvement (because again, this was originally intended for young viewers)

Sokka got reduced to a moody teen (Sorry Jackson), when in fact he was like Ronald Weasley: funny, resourceful, really tactical (friendly reminder that Ron won Wizard’s Chess, just saying) and is actually a comic relief. OK, so maybe there was a teeny, tiny part where Sokka was funny, but like 3% or lower. If you blink, you’ll miss it. I guess the part where he was brotherly to Katara was OK, just to redeem his movie self a bit.

Despite the vibe, movie Zuko wasn’t too angsty for my taste, he was just full of anger and revenge, so I don’t feel like it’s justifiable for him to be like that. Even if he actually got some screentime for some flashback, the character was just too angry and vengeful, not enough teen angst to give it depth. Sorry Dev, you did great but if you had an idea on who Zuko really was, you may probably gave him a better shape. Unless you already know how but just got cut off by the directors or something. I won’t know for sure. Also, we need more scars, like really deep, wrinkly, very horrifyingly discolored scars, not just the mild ones that I had to squint to see, because that’s surely a good source of Angst(c)

Uncle Iroh’s love for self-indulgence and his laid-back style wasn’t completely spot-on, I wanted a really chill yet wise vibe from him, but I guess the lack of dialogues between him and Zuko plus the fact that I only saw him drink tea TWICE, well, that’s just sad. I’m sure Uncle Iroh would’ve wanted more tea and cake times, and more feet-pampering. Plus more father-and-son scenes with Zuko because that’s what will eventually give way for angst and realizations but then again, I may be too opinionated on this one.

Ozai wasn’t as evil and as psychopathic as I expected him to be. He could have been more cruel, more harsh, more brash, more brutal, less passive, and less fluffy. General Zhao had more of that Ozai feel in him, maybe the two should have just exchanged places. Or better yet, it would have been better if they just made Ozai into a narcissistic manipulator, that might have worked. A charismatic manipulator, like Azula.

I think these are the only key characters worth mentioning in the movie since they’re pretty much pivotal in how that story arc moves, whether in the live action movie or in the series.

Movie Bending (Expectations vs Reality)

I had to say, the bending was actually OK, for me at least. The flamey-flamey shots and the water to ice bending were cool, the earth bending could have been better and faster but it’s pretty much decent, and the fact that air bending can be made more visible by putting air particulates like dust and mist around the whirlwinds so that the air movements can be seen is actually laudable. But then again, there wasn’t really that much bending to show since there were equally as much fight scenes as bending. It didn’t do that much justice though, since in the series bending elements were not limited to just fighting. Bending the elements could destroy or build structures, bending can heal or break people, and there is just so much complexity that elemental bending can show fans or non-fans or even beginning fans, which were not shown in the movie because of so many constraints. I’d dare say it was a disservice, but again, given the restrictions, I’d say that the bending shown in the movie was also, overall, given the circumstances, were pretty much OK.

If I wasn’t a Fan... (lol)

Well, if I wasn’t a fan, if I wasn’t aware (or even living) in the ATLA-TLOK universe, I would say that this movie had some entertainment value. Sure, maybe introducing the four nations could have needed some extra sentences at least, like the intro in the series, or maybe like show the map of the entire ATLA-TLOK world, talk about each part briefly, and maybe some bit on explaining what the elemental benders are. So I won’t be surprised at Katara making water balls or Aang making whirlwinds or Zuko kicking some fire out. I’d be confused as heck. Also, I feel that it would be even more amazing if they showed Appa flying a lot, and Aang’s interactions with Appa and Momo, because seriously, that would have at least made some of the kids think on the possibilities of having a flying bison or a flying lemur. Because showing a flying Appa but not seeing how that looks when you’re on the back of one kinda, I dunno, feels less magical. I only saw them fly once and swim once on water but that’s about it. At least show them parking Appa on one of the Air Nomad Temples or something. My point is:

Make the scenes a bit more engaging to the viewers. Strike their imagination or something. OR at the very least, make them awe at the possibilities of bending or whatever.

If the viewers came out of the cinemas feeling like they want a flying bison or they wanna bend fire or rocks or stuff, then at the very least you’ll be able to gauge if they got engaged with your movie or not. I don’t care what age group they would be, heck, I’m in my early 30′s and after more than a decade of being an ATLA fan, I still want my own dragon or flying bison. I won’t even mind if I get a letter from Hogwarts that I’m accepted as a witch, or if a parcel suddenly appears at my doorstep and something magical or mystical was there. Now if that isn’t engagement then I don’t know what is.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get that kind of feels from the movie, it just felt like something that would pass through me and won’t even consider remembering. I mean, the bending was all magical and stuff, but the characters weren’t able to pull me in. I wasn’t able to connect with them as much as I wanted to. They weren’t as much likeable or relatable as much as I expect them to be. They feel like a one-time deal, and I feel bad for them, actually. I mean, if you’re gonna write about a bunch of people, at least make them a bit relatable for the viewers. Give them a bit of depth, so that we won’t take them at face value. I mean, even the most boring person on earth has some depth, so at least, make the characters seem like they could actually feel things, because they aren’t stuck on something like a one-dimensional person. At the very least, make them DECENTLY human.

Overall Comments and some Final Stuff

I’m a bit sleepy but I’ll try to sum it all up and give my conclusions.

The Avatar the Last Airbender movie (seems to have) came short because of too many constraints:

Time constraints

Budget constraints

Character constraints

Creative constraints

However, despite such constraints the plot was actually enough to keep the movie going. There were also sufficient backstories for the main characters to use in order to push through with what they’re supposed to be doing. Sure, Aang only learned how to water bend but I think there was enough elemental bending in the movie to show the different styles of bending so that’s OK, I guess.

Overall, even if it sucked the first time around, after giving this movie another shot I guess it’s pretty much an OK movie to watch, to while away the time. I just hope that the Netflix version can be a WHOLE LOT BETTER at translating the animated series into live action. I know it’s a lot of expectations but at this rate, I could just hold on to properly-written and portrayed characters as well as smooth-flowing storylines, never minding whether or not the places or the bending are properly portrayed.

And with that, this review is done.

Will snooze and let this whole thing roll off my back.

#The Last Airbender #The Last Airbender movie #yeah that live one from 10 years ago #I gave it one more shot #well I was pretty much surprised #either my expectations have lowered now because I actually enjoyed it #or I just made adjustments based on my previous experiences #The Last Airbender movie commentary #I don't care if it's late AF #atla movie #atla movie versus atla animated series

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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The Green Knight Ending Explained

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This article contains The Green Knight spoilers.

A man who would be king lies crouched, cowering on his hands and knees. It is the day he’s feared all year and, seemingly, the hour of his death. And yet, within this moment, after he’s seen his life flash before his eyes, Dev Patel’s Gawain has never appeared taller or more free from the terror of self-doubt. The character is still not technically a knight, but as he throws away a magical green sash and asks his executioner, a Green Knight made of bark and flower, to do his worst, Gawain truly has achieved the greatness he’s striven for in King Arthur’s shadow.

This is why Ralph Ineson’s imposing emerald warrior leans down and whispers like a kindly grandfather his approval. That’ll do, Gawain, that’ll do. “Now little knight,” he adds, “off with your head.”

I’m sure that jarring and abrupt final line has left many an audience shocked and maybe even a bit confused. After all that, did the vision Gawain had of himself assuming Arthur’s throne come to naught? And did the flawed hero we’ve watched for two hours only achieve true chivalric virtue in the same minute as his death, which the Green Knight promises is about to occur off-screen? Also why did any of this happen?

There is much to unpack about David Lowery’s poignant and often surreal interpretation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but there is sound reason for why the absolute happiest ending for poor Gawain is the one that concludes with his swift decapitation.

The Ending of the Original Green Knight Poem

Perhaps the most striking thing about the ending of The Green Knight is how it both complements and changes the resolution of the 14th century epic poem upon which it’s based. Tackling a ballad that profoundly affected him when he first read it as a teenager, and even more so when he chose it to be the template for a film, Lowery is unsurprisingly close to many of the smallest details in the 800-year-old story.

For instance, the first line of dialogue spoken by a character in the film—when Alicia Vikander’s Essel says “Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ was born”—is taken from how the anonymous author describes Gawain’s first thoughts every morning he’s awakened. However, in Lowery’s The Green Knight, that awakening occurs on the actual Christmas morning and the person who speaks the words to Gawain is a prostitute whom he spent Christmas Eve with. It’s hardly an auspicious time to be talking about Christ, but then again, Essel is arguably the most virtuous character in the film due to her guileless practicality.

Such is one example of how the film follows the plot of the poem while adding often challenging context and subtext to its medieval values. Which in the film’s climax comes when we meet Vikander again in the role of a different character: the Lady of a manor married to a jovial Lord played by Joel Edgerton. They live in high Middle Ages luxury with an unexplained older woman who is apparently blind and mute, and they ensnare Gawain into an odd game: Edgerton’s Lord will gift any animal he kills in his hunts during the day, and Gawain will share with his Lord any gift he might receive in the house. When that gift comes in the unexpected form of seduction from the Lord’s wife, Gawain is forced to reluctantly kiss his host on the lips, all while still hiding that he received an allegedly magical green girdle as a present from her.

These events all occur in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, however they occur with a different meaning here. On the page, Gawain is able to resist the Lady’s advances on three separate occasions, as opposed to instantly capitulating on-screen. And while he proudly kisses his Lord on the mouth in the poem, he still hides that the Lady gave him a magical sash which will keep him safe from the Green Knight’s axe. This becomes crucial at the end of the poem since when Gawain encounters the Green Knight again in the Green Chapel, his grassy-hued foe reveals he’s the same Lord of the manor played by Edgerton in The Green Knight!

As it turns out, the Lord was turned by magic into the indestructible Green Knight by Morgan le Fay, King Arthur’s half-sister who also via magic disguised herself as the old blind woman living in that strange manor. Further, this entire charade was never meant for Gawain; it was orchestrated in the hopes of a king’s man beheading the Green Knight, who would then not die. It’d be such a shocking sight, Morgan thought, it would scare Queen Guinevere to death.

In 14th century Arthurian lore, Morgan le Fay was not yet the chief antagonist of the tales, but she was still an ambiguous presence. Gawain’s journey into learning that even for all his virtue he was still fallible since he hid the green sash from the Lord is almost narrative happenstance.

That is how Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ended in the 14th century. But is that actually what’s occurring at the end of the 2021 movie, with the Lord and Lady in league with an unseen Morgan le Fay? Yes… and no.

The Game Being Played By Gawain’s Mother

While the ending of The Green Knight’s source material reveals the titular character is Edgerton’s Lord in disguise, that’s obviously not what Lowery’s film is about. Indeed, we see how the Green Knight is summoned by Gawain’s unnamed mother in the film, risen from the weeds of the earth as if he were the pagan deity we call “the Green Man” made flesh.

There is definitely a pagan witchiness to the woman played by Sarita Choudhury. She openly refuses to go to her kingly brother’s Christmas Day feast and instead uses Wiccan-like magic to summon a champion born from nature. We know she is in league with the Green Knight, but it is not immediately clear to what end. All that’s evident is when she hides beneath a blindfold, she is at the Camelot feast in spirit when the Green Knight intrudes.

In Arthurian lore, Gawain’s mother is named Morgause, and she is one of Arthur’s several estranged half-sisters. In fact, before the sorceress Morgan le Fay was depicted by post-19th century texts as the ultimate villain of Arthurian tales, even birthing Arthur’s would-be usurper Mordred, it was Morgause who gave birth to both Gawain and Mordred in Le Morte d’Arthur, the latter by incest after sleeping with her half-brother Arthur.

When we spoke with writer-director Lowery about The Green Knight, we asked if he intentionally blended the Morgan le Fay of the original Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tale with Gawain’s mother.

Says Lowery, “Very pointedly we did not give any of the characters, other than Gawain, Essel, and Winifred, a name. No one is named. King Arthur is just ‘the King.’ Merlin is just ‘the Wizard.’ So Morgan le Fay in our story is Gawain’s mother. And we wanted to embrace what the original poem did, which was have Morgan le Fay be the character who is behind it all, but I wanted to make her aim, her plot integral to Gawain’s journey.”

He continues, “In the original poem, Gawain sort of just accidentally intercepts this devious plot to scare Guinevere to death, and he gets in the way. But he was not meant to play a role in what Morgan le Fay was conjuring that day, that Christmas morning. So I wanted to honor her role in the story but also make it still revolve around Gawain. And the way I ultimately realized I could do that was to combine the character of Gawain’s mother with Morgan Le Fay and make them one and the same.”

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The alteration also changes why the Green Knight came to Camelot that day, as well as what the green sash really means for Gawain. In the original text, it really did not matter who attempted to behead the Knight in the Yuletide game, but in The Green Knight, Gawain taking the challenge may or may not be the entire crux of his mother’s plan.

While it is open to interpretation, I think the Green Knight was personally intended for Sean Harris’ enfeebled King Arthur, who is the only man at the Round Table eager to meet the challenge. He’d have done it too, if not for the weakness in his hands (also a change from the original story). So there’s a scenario that could’ve occurred where Arthur beheaded the Green Knight and then was doomed to spend a year getting his affairs in order before meeting the foe again next Christmas.

However, there is the other added wrinkle in the movie that the Green Knight gives Gawain an out. He explicitly says that it’s Gawain’s choice to strike him as hard as he wishes or to leave but a scratch. Arthur cautions his nephew to remember “it’s just a game,” and Guinevere is clearly heartbroken when Gawain lops the Green Knight’s head clean off. The royals knew that was the losing strategy.

I would argue, then, that is why Choudhury’s Morgan gives her son his first green sash. She intends for her son to be king, just as how modern interpretations of Morgan le Fay have her angling for Mordred to usurp Arthur. (It should also be noted The Green Knight implies Mordred exists in this film’s universe since Arthur asks Gawain to take an empty chair next to him, intended for another who’s left.)

Who Is Alicia Vikander’s Lady of the Manor?

The green sash is supposed to be Gawain’s salvation, which brings us back to Vikander and Edgerton’s Lord and Lady. By the time that Gawain reaches their home, he has lost the girdle, and much of his integrity, while on the quest. Ergo, the house’s waiting occupants are there to tempt Gawain’s virtue, as opposed to test it.

As Lowery says, Morgan le Fay has much the same function here as she does in the original story, and that includes her being the mastermind disguised as a frail old woman. Consider that the blind woman Gawain always sees in the presence of Vikander’s Lady wears the exact type of blindfold Gawain’s mother wore while summoning the Green Knight. She is there to ensure her son receives a second green girdle that will have magical properties to keep him safe.

Which brings us to the actual seduction. In the text, Vikander’s Lady is there to test Gawain’s virtue. On the screen, she is determined to shatter it, hence the curious dual casting of Vikander as both Essel, the prostitute who Gawain maybe loves, and the courtly Lady who so easily dissuades him of his concerns about coveting another man’s wife.

A surface level reading might be about the limited ability Gawain has to adhere to the Chivalric Code, in which men strive to be noble and all women are reduced to wilting flowers and possessions for their lordly masters. In this sense, all women look somewhat the same to Gawain. Indeed, such assumptions are repeatedly challenged on screen as he’s bested by multiple women, beginning with the pair of thieves who actually capture him and steal his first green sash, and now again by the woman who gives him another sash by appealing to his lustful desires.

But such a reading misses the larger themes at work, as well as the implicit magic at play in Vikander and Edgerton’s home. Their castle is more than just a refuge, and her Lady is more than just a seductress. In the scene where she climbs atop Gawain, she only breaks his (meek) protestations by asking if he believes in witchcraft and magic. Like any good man of the Middle Ages, he says of course.

Only when she mentions magic and offers a green sash like Gawain’s witchy mother did, does Gawain abandon any pretense of virtue, succumbing to the lady’s beauty and her magic. He is surrendering to a fear of death as much as lust, knowing on a primal level if he gives in to her, the magic she promises will save his life from the Green Knight’s blade.

This entire house was designed by his mother and her coven as a trap to seduce and protect Gawain via his foibles. If you pay attention early on in the film, one of the nameless weird “sisters” who help Morgan summon the Green Knight has the same hairstyle Vikander does when Gawain first arrives at that house. As Gawain’s mother has taken on the countenance of an old blind woman, another witch (and possibly Gawain’s actual sister) has taken on the appearance of the woman Gawain loves but is too foolish to wed. He refuses to take Essel as a wife because of her lowly stature, yet allows himself to be beguiled by her face when it belongs to a highborn “Lady,” despite said Lady being another man’s wife.

Gawain’s mother wants her son to have the sash as it will keep him safe, and allow him to return to Camelot as a hero and true heir to Arthur. Which is why Gawain’s final decision is so significant.

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The End of Brave Sir Gawain

All of which brings us back to the Green Chapel and Gawain’s decision to confess he is wearing a magical green girdle—and to then throw it away. Moments before this, Gawain has a vision of what his life would be if he survived the Green Knight’s axe, either by magic or cowardice. He runs away and returns home, claiming to have survived his quest with honor.

In silent montage, we see what kind of honor playing political games and giving into ambition provides him. He becomes king and marries a woman he doesn’t love. Meanwhile, the woman he does love, Essel, is abandoned after Gawain steals their son from her. In the end, he lives a life of feigned honor, hidden behind the false security and protection the green sash gives him. Unlike his uncle, he does not offer Camelot a golden age: There is only death and ignominy from such a cautious self-serving path. And in 20 years’ time or so, he still will lose his head.

All of that flashes before Gawain’s eyes at the moment of his greatest fear: the Green Knight’s axe falling. Up to this point, he’s attempted to look as majestic as a knight (or king), but throughout the film he has failed time and again to be truly virtuous. He was taken by a band of ruffians in the wood where he begged for his life; he first requested payment from the ghost of a murdered girl instead of simply helping her find peace; and then he received the green sash through a moment of monstrous infidelity and carnal surrender.

As Vikander’s Lady says, red is the color of passion, and green the color of passion the morning after. His green sash represents both life and death, bloom and decay, and it’s stained with the literal seed of his sin. To wear it might allow him to cheat death today, but it instills a lifetime of cowardice. A stain on his honor.

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By Rosie Fletcher

Likely his mother suspected second-guessing, which is why she also took the shape of a fox to warn her son that he may face his doom if he meets the Green Knight—we know the fox is really Morgan because in the animal’s final scene it speaks with the voice of Gawain’s mother.

So in the movie’s final moments, Gawain understands all of this, and the ignoble road his nature is leading him on, and he finds the courage his mother feared: He takes off the sash and faces the Green Knight’s axe fair and square.

This is the thematic crux of the original text, too. As Lowery tells us, “He ultimately fails [in the poem], Gawain does not live up to the Chivalric Code to which he’s bound. When he kneels before the knight with the girdle on, he is approaching his state with cowardice in his heart. So I wanted to take that fallibility and present a more binary version of it and have a character who is not yet the knight of legend but who has room to grow into that.”

And yet, Lowery has also changed the meaning of that ending, including Gawain’s fate. In the poem, Gawain does not tell the Green Knight he wears the sash (just as he hid it from the Lord), because he fears death in spite of all his virtue. In the film, Gawain is a man who spends Christmas morning in a brothel and has lived his whole life without real honor. But in the moment where it most counted, he became a true knight by taking the girdle off.

It is a complete reversal of the poem’s ending, turning this into a story about living in peace with yourself, as opposed to an impossible Code thrust on you by society. In many ways, it’s like Vikander’s Lady also saying she changes the stories she reads when she sees room for improvement—although Lowery tells us that line was not intended to be self-referential about how he adapted the poem.

“I knew I would get in trouble for it,” the director laughs. “I don’t know what was going through my head when I wrote that, but Alicia just fell in love with it.” He even almost cut the line in post-production until Vikander convinced him to keep it in.

Intentional or not, the Lady’s admission is what the entire ending of the movie is about. Gawain has found grace and true nobility, improving himself and his story. Unfortunately for Gawain, true chivalric virtue is no shield, and by finding it he’s also found his last act. Thus the Green Knight’s final line. “Now little knight, off with your head.”

If you can live with yourself, you can also die in peace. That’s chivalrous.

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furederiko · 7 years ago

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A bit later than planned, but today's Random-News-Digest is MAINLY (yes, not all) occupied by Disney-related news. Owing that to the Disney D23 Expo 2017 that took place over the weekend, of course. So... as the San Diego Comic-Con International 2017 officially kicks off today (July 20th, PST), let's take a quick detour to see what hit the world by storm last week...

Disney Live Action

During the D23 Expo 2017, Disney announced and confirmed several of its upcoming live action remakes. Niki Caro's "Mulan" has entered production, as well as Tim Burton's "Dumbo". Dwayne Johnson is also set to headline "Jungle Cruise", while "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" has been given an official release date.

Cast for "Dumbo" has been confirmed to consist of Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, as well as Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins. Roshan Seth, DeObia Oparei, Sharon Rooney and Douglas Reith round up the set in supporting roles. Farrell is set to play Holt Farrier, a former circus star who has a rough life following the war, while Parker and Hobbins are set to play his children. DeVito's Max Medici is an owner to a struggling circus, who then hires Farrier to be the caretaker of Dumbo, the elephant with oversized ears. Keaton plays V.A. Vandevere, and Green plays Colette Marchant, both who are interested in turning Dumbo's aerial ability into fame.

A life-size statue of Dumbo was showcased during the panel, though I'm not sure if it's from the movie or just a replica from the 1941 animated movie. Burton is bringing MANY of his previous collaborators on "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" and "Alice in Wonderland" to work on this movie. That alone is enough to give us a sense of 'what to expect' from it. The movie will be filmed entirely in England, and it is set to be released on March 29th, 2019.

"The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" will star Keira Knightley as The Sugar Plum Fairy, Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger, Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer, and ballerina Misty Copeland. As the title suggests, the movie will feature four different realms, and two of them are called the 'Land of the Flowers' and the 'Land of the Snowflakes'. Charles Riley is in charge for CG creation and motion capture, and it will be released on November 2nd, 2018.

Three lead actors for Guy Ritchie's "Aladdin" have been announced. Will Smith has been confirmed to play the iconic Genie. Joining him are Canadian-raised Egyptian actor Mena Massoud... who will obviously playing the titular character, and actress Naomi Scott in the role of Princess Jasmine. While Massoud is poised to be getting a bigger buzz due to his upcoming involvement in John Krasinski's "Jack Ryan" series, Scott is the more well known one for the time being, having had her high-profile big screen debut through Lionsgate's recent "Power Rangers" remake.

Apparently, this casting was harder than it looks. A few days before the announcement (on July 11th), The Hollywood Reporter ran a coverage describing 'the struggle' that the House of Mouse faced in their global search to find the right actors for the characters. Around 2000 actors and actresses from London, Egypt, Abu Dhabi, and India have read for the lead roles, but without any easy result. The process even dragged the project so much, that apparently Ritchie had to go back to the drawing board multiple times. "The test process was a mess", said one agent... whose client obviously didn't go through. The team even consulted with musical veterans Marc Platt and Chris Montan to solve this issue.

Coming from a credible site that rarely made a mistake, this report obviously became a hot topic of debate, putting Disney's supposed-effort into a giant question mark. Because seriously though, was it really THAT hard to find natural brown-skinned Middle Eastern actors who CAN sing and dance? Especially considering Disney ended up casting an Egyptian actor and half-Indian actress for the role instead of going full-on Arabian? I mean, don't these countries have talent shows (like "India's Got Talent") that almost always features young aspiring talents who CAN dance and sing? Not just that, the glaring fact that Bollywood is FAMOUS for its MUSICAL movies had me scratching my head. No offense to Massoud, but we have so many aspiring young South Asian or Middle Eastern actors who ARE popular as both singer and dancer while also looking more appropriate for the part. Just throw in names like Shahid Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Hritik Hroshan (who is yes, prolly too old, but he nails Aladdin's look perfectly), or even Turkish hot-throbs like Emre Kivilcim and Serkan Cayoglu with vast TV experiences. And I'm positive you'll find yourself slapping your own face in confusion for why Disney needed to even... 'struggle' to find one. They can even cast one of those young and undeniably handsome-looking Arabian princes from the royal palace! And I'm NOT kidding.

It's more than clear than Disney, Ritchie, and casting director Randi Hiller (also white) only searched those who have a North American and/or Hollywood presence, because the names being talked about was none other than the likes of Riz Ahmed, Dev Patel (which would've been fantastic), and Tara Sutaria. They've also seemingly focused more on non-natives who grew up in Western countries, like Dutch Achraf Koutet, American George Kosturos, and also Massoud and Scott themselves. This clearly made many questioned... why call it a 'Global Search' then? For the time being, the studio is also in search for a well known name for the antagonistic role of Ja'far. Should we even make a wild guess who they are going to cast? I won't be surprised if Disney returns to Sir Ben Kingsley for the part *sigh*. I mean... who else, right? Aaah... Riz Ahmed!

Anyways, let's just hope this casting is good and that it won't generate negative whitewashing feedback. I've repeatedly said that I do NOT think Smith is a good choice for the Genie, because even an Oscar-calliber like him would have a genuine hard time following the footsteps of the late Robin Williams' iconic performance. However... as much as I dislike that particular decision, I'm willing to let it slide if Massoud and Scott can nail their parts gracefully. According to Massoud, Williams was his inspiration to pursue acting, and I'm pretty sure that will be winning the hearts of "Aladdin" fans. If not one of the reason why Disney turned their heads towards him, of course. LOL. I'm now hoping we'll be seeing a different casting scenario with "Mulan", because I fully expect an ACTUAL global cast for that movie. Come on Hollywood, there ARE gazzilions of Asians around the world who CAN sing and dance! So if you're ever spout nonsense like 'difficult to find' and all, I'll belt out a tune and make a man out of you guys. For real! Crossing my fingers that Caro will get it... 'better' than Ritchie, though I'm not that particularly certain about it. It's a white world after all, right? "Aladdin" is set to begin production in August for a 2018 release. Probably for August 3rd.

Actress Emily Blunt and director Rob Marshall were present to debut the first look for "Mary Poppins Returns". The footage grabbed the crowd's attention, and despite being absent on stage, Lin-Manuel Miranda's performance brought out their wildest cheer. As has been widely reported, this movie serves as a sequel to Julie Andrews' original classic. The movie takes place in a familiar, but different setting: Chery Tree Lane. Ben Wishaw and Emily Mortimer are playing Michael and Jane Banks, the kids from that first movie who have grown up to be adults now. Michael is also a windower with three children. Colin Firth is set to play a heartless bank manager, who brings trouble to the dark and gloomy London, as well as the Banks family. Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter who helps Michael's eldest son Georgie to get his kite. Meryl Streep is playing Mary's eccentric cousin Topsy, the great Angela Lansbury as the Balloon Lady, and Dick Van Dyke returns as the bank Chairman.

According to various report, the footage gave off an 'Old Hollywood' style with high production value, dance sequences, and grand musical numbers. There's also a 2D animation/live-action hybrid scene, sounding very similar to the first movie. Blunt said that she only saw 15 minutes of that movie, so that she can try to deliver her own version of Poppins. "No one is ever going to out-Julie Julie Andrews. She’s just unbelievable. There will never be anyone else like her. So I just had to do my version of her and I think we were very loyal to the books.", she said praising Andrews' performance. Will Andrews be making a special cameo appearance in the movie? This is Disney, so highly likely, but we'll see. "Mary Poppins Returns" will arrive in Christmas 2018.

Vying for attention, was Jon Favreau's "The Lion King". He didn't announce the cast (which I've been waiting for, particularly with that speculation of Hugh Jackman being approached to play the antagonist Scar!!!), but did bring out a footage to please and WOW the audience. Said footage was the exact mirror recreation of the 1994 animated movie's opening scene, where the baboon Rafiki introduced a lion cub Simba to Mufasa's animal kingdom, on top of the Pride Rock. Complete with Elton John's "Circle of Life" playing in the background too! The only difference was that it looked photorealistic, as if it's a scene taken from Favreau's massive-hit Oscar-winning "The Jungle Book" from last year. There were plenty of animals of all kinds depicted in their own nature, but an ultra-adorable baby Simba was undeniably the scene-stealer.

Favreau received similar, if not greater thunderous applause to when he debuted the footage for "The Jungle Book" two years ago. He made the audience went wild this time, eventhough it was Anaheim California, and not the African savannah. "We know how important this is", he said, assuring fans that his team will be delivering the best live action retelling they can muster. I'm a huge fan of "The Jungle Book", so I have huge faith in him. I personally can't wait to see this footage online, but I'm not sure it will be released in the near future. Not to mention, the movie itself is still two years away from release! Ouch!!! I guess we just have to practice patience and... wait. "The Lion King" arrives on July 19th, 2019.

The last but equally attention-grabbing piece of the panel, was Ava DuVernays' "A Wrinkle in Time". Buzz for this project have been really huge and loud even before production began, so expectation have been high. During the panel, DuVernay along with several core cast members delivered the first official teaser trailer while an official poster was released via social media. And it looked... weird but mesmerizing. We saw Storm Reid's Meg Murry, adventuring with brother Deric McCabe's Charles Wallace and classmate Levi Miller's Calvin O'Keefe to find her missing dad. Mr. Murry, played by Chris Pine, was seemingly trapped after discovering a new planet and travelled there using the 'tesseract'. Meg then encountered three Astral Travelers on her journey, Reese Whiterspoon's Mrs. Whatsit, Mindy Kaling's Mrs. Who, and Oprah Winfrey's Mrs. Which, who would somehow guide the trio in their journey. One that's likely involving the many other characters played by Zach Galifianakis, Michael Peña, and more. As well as CG actions with monsters and all... because the trailer suggests that.

Now... not unlike many folks, I'm not familiar with the novel, nor what it's all about. So I can't really describe how I feel about this. Somehow, those three Astral beings reminded me of the fairies on "Sleeping Beauty", if not the three Ghosts of "A Christmas Carol". That is, in both puzzling and creepy ways. The teaser also reminded me of "Doctor Strange" and/or "Legion" which was a good comparison, but at the same time, it also gave off a strange "Tomorrowland" vibe, which was NOT a good comparison. Then again, my mom immediately said "This looks amazing" (paraphrasing from our native language...) after seeing it... and that's totally saying much. As in, I'm definitely checking this one out when it hits theatres! For now, you can check out a few official stills from the movie, debuted by Entertainment Weekly as part of their 'First Look' season. "A Wrinkle in Time" will premiere on March 8th, 2018.

Disney Animation

It's Disney Animation Studios and Disney Pixar time! I somewhat expected Pixar's "Coco" to be getting all the big attention this year, but surprisingly that's not the case. Two other titles stole the attention on this Animation panel instead!

Fans have been asking for sequel to 2004's "The Incredibles" for many years, more than a decade even! Thus when it was finally announced, anticipation for "The Incredibles 2" has been growing like crazy. That must've been the reason why it's one of the two most talked-about title of the panel. Writer/director Brad Bird attended the panel alongside Disney Animation Chief John Lasseter, as they delivered official concept art, first raw footage, and give hints of what we can expect from Pixar's very own Fantastic Four-esque team.

For start, while many fans have been voicing their hopes to see a 10 years passed after the first movie (with all the kids grown up), Lasseter revealed that this sequel will instead works as a direct continuation. "It starts right as the first one finishes, so it just carries on", he said, confirming that only a minute have passed after the arrival of John Ratzenberger's Underminer. Family, is still the major theme of this movie. "One of the unique things about the Incredibles is it’s really a story of a family set in the world of superheroes. This one carries on that theme. It’s awesome, the idea we came up with — simple as that. … We love to really look at our own lives and look at what’s going on, and find themes that we know will resonate with the audience", he stated. Bird also reiterated that "It's fundamentally a story about family".

The main star for this one will also be Holly Hunter's Elastigirl alongside their children Violet and Dashiell (voiced by Sarah Vowell and Huck Milner, taking over from Spencer Fox), as Craig T. Nelson's Mr. Incredible will spend more time taking care of baby Jack Jack who's developing his unique powers. If it wasn't obvious enough from his social media shoutouts, Samuel L. Jackson has been confirmed to reprise his role as Frozone, while Bird himself will reprise his role as the famed superhero costume designer Edna Mode. "The Incredibles 2" opens in less than a year, on June 15th, 2018. Here's hoping Pixar will release a trailer soon! Perhaps on SDCC?

The other title that gained a huge amount of cheers and praise came from Disney Animation Studios, in form of "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2". Similar to how "The Incredibles 2" put more focus on the female lead, it seems this one also shifts the primary attention to Sarah Silverman's Vanellope von Schweets. Namely, due to her being acknowledged as a Disney Princess... alongside, the previous Princesses! Yes, Silverman and directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston presented a clip from the movie, where Vanellope stumbled upon a website called OhMyDisney.com. That's where she runs into all the Disney Princesses, who was having slumber party filled with rapid-fire meta jokes about their histories and tropes.

But that's not even the best thing, because most of the Princesses are voiced by their iconic voice actresses! To prove that, Disney brought out these dream team on stage: Jodi Benson (Ariel of "The Little Mermaid"), Paige O'Hara (Belle of animated "Beauty and the Beast"), Linda Larkin (Jasmine of animated "Aladdin"), Irene Bedard (of "Pocahontas"), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana of "The Princess and the Frog"), Mandy Moore (Rapunzel of "Tangled"), Kelly Macdonald (Merida of "Brave"), Kristen Bell (Anna of "Frozen"), and Auli'i Cravalho (of "Moana"). Creating a historic meeting, that obviously caused a prolonged ovation and wild cheers from audience of around 7000 people. I simply can't imagine how the audience would react, had other confirmed but absent voice actresses like Ming-Na Wen (of "Mulan") and Idina Menzel (Elsa of "Frozen") were able to attend as well! With the first movie focusing on the love of retro-video games that in a way also felt more directed for 'boys', this one is definitely a conscious and brilliant decision to captivate the 'girls' as well!

As for how and why John C. Reilly's Ralph and Vanellope get to meet them? That's because the plot forced them to. How is that possible? Apparently, the Sugar Rush game had an unexpected break down, so both Ralph and Vanellope alongside the other characters have to explore to the world 'wild' web to find replacement parts required to fix and keep it alive. There, they will run into Yesss, a trend-aholic algorithm who is voiced by Taraji P. Henson. Yess is the savvy, smart and sexy owner of a trending site called Buzzaholic (obvious nod/pun to Buzzfeed, eh? *grins*). According to Henson via an external statement, Yesss "knows about everything cool and on trend. And she does spell her name with a triple ‘s'". This is the character who would guide Ralph and Vanellope toward the various sites, including OhMyDisney (that also includes reference to other Disney's properties from Marvel and Lucasfilm). What a really interesting premise! The subtitle might have hinted that the sequel to 2012's favorite is set to break the internet, but to be honest, it already is... LOL. "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2" officially breaks the theatres next year, on November 21st, 2018.

By the way, Bell and co-star Josh Gad refused to let it go, as they brought news for the sequel to everyone's favorite animated movie. The as-of-yet un-subtitled sequel of "Frozen" became the talk of the town, eventhough the duo's intention was totally to promote the upcoming "Olaf’s Frozen Adventure", a holiday-themed short set to debut alongside "Coco". A special clip from this short was screened, and Gad sang one of the four new songs set to debut in it. Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee along with the core cast are all confirmed to return, and "Frozen 2" is set to hit theatres on November 27, 2019.

There were other minor bits from both Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. Dan Scanlon who did "Monsters University", is currently developing a personal project on Pixar based on his own experience of not knowing his father (who passed away when he was just one). This project is currently untitled, and doesn't have a release date for now. Scanlon was inspired to make this, after discovering a recording of his late father. It will be a mix of fantasy and mundance, set in a world where unicorns are said to be a norm of everyday's life. Josh Cooley has been announced as the sole director for "Toy Story 4". He was supposed to co-direct with Lasseter before. Lasseter himself remains as producer for the June 21st, 2019 movie. And Disney Animation Studios is working on a spin-off of "Cars", spotlighting a plane (but NOT part of the "Planes" franchise) that will go all the way into space. This untitled movie will be released on April 12th, 2019.

Last but not least, "Coco" did get the utmost privilege to wrap off the entire presentation via an elaborate musical number. Director Lee Unkrich, producer Darla Anderson, and writer Adrian Molina arrived on stage to preview a new clip from the movie. They revealed that music for this movie will combine the talents of songwriter Germaine Franco, the "Frozen" couple Robert and Kristen-Anderson Lopez, with Michael Giacchino composing the score. Newcomer Anthony Gonzales is playing the lead character Miguel, with Benjamin Bratt, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Edward James Olmos lending their voices to the others. "Coco" is set to arrive in a few months, on November 22nd, 2017!

Star Wars

Lucasfilm didn't deliver a new trailer for Rian Johnson's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" during D23 Expo 2017 as fans expected. But the cast did bring a special behind-the-scenes video that... well, in a way showcased many things as well, and delighted avid "Star Wars" fans nonetheless. You can visit Collider to get screengrab images of this video. Official posters for the movie have also been released via social media. The one featuring late Carrie Fisher's General Leia seemed to breaking many fans heart. Overall though, there's a sense of danger looming through this posters, as everyone is shaded with the color of blood-red. Is it a sign of death? Oh no...! "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" will arrive on December 15th, 2017.

DC Films

Let's have a quick intermezzo from Disney, as we visit the other side of the... fandom. Yes, Warner Bros gets their category here! Though admittedly, I only included them to avoid postponing too much for the next R-N-D. LOL. Anyway, it'll be a quick one.

First, director Jaume Collet-Serra is said to be the frontrunner to helm "Suicide Squad 2". Yes, it's been an unanimous verdict that the first movie was... bad, and I personally don't see any reason for this sequel to exist. But money talks louder, especially to WB, so the studio is making one anyway. Think of it like the "Transformers" franchise. I'm not that familiar with Collet-Serra, and I haven't even seen "The Shallows". But even if I HAVE seen "Non-Stop", I can't really say if this is a right choice or not. Those movies and "Suicide Squad" are completely different in genre. Both Will Smith and Margot Robbie are poised to return though, so there's that.

Matt Reeves has publicly stated that he won't be using Ben Affleck & Geoff Johns' script for the tentatively titled "The Batman"! He said this himself on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast while promoting the critically-acclaimed "War for the Planet of the Apes", practically confirming previous report by Slash Film that many had considered to be false. Perhaps, script issue was the problem that broke down Reeves' negotiation with WB before? With the script being rewritten from scratch, many have wondered what will happen to the news we have heard so far, particularly about the casting of Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke. There's always a possibility that Manganiello will no longer appear in the solo movie, right? I'm sure we'll hear more about this in WB's upcoming panel on SDCC 2017 tomorrow.

One last thing, WB have also somewhat bullishly announced two more release dates for the year 2020. Yes, they are now planning to release FOUR effing movies that year, as if making two bad ones a year wasn't enough. Looks like someone hasn't really learned from their past mistake, huh? I can't really remember the previous two dates (if I'm not mistaken, they were reserved for "Cyborg", and "Green Lantern Corps"), but the new ones are set for February 2nd, 2020 and June 5th, 2020. It is speculated that the June one will be a sequel to this year's "Wonder Woman", due to its achievement of inching closer to become the most successful Summer movie of the year. The February one, might be a bit tricky considering WB has so many DC Films projects on the works, that even I had lost count of it for a long time now. Could it be that "Gotham City Siren", because it's a Valentine's Day release? Or Joss Whedon's "Batgirl". How about "The Flash". Hmmm. Maybe SDCC 2017 will help enlighten us if this bad.... news. Not that I could care any less though...

Marvel Studios

Back to Disney! Let's first talk about the biggest news of them all. Because while items and props from "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Black Panther" were put on display at the Marvel booth, they weren't on par with what transpired on the Live Action Panel.

Yep, Kevin Feige attended the D23 Expo 2017, and as expected he wasn't alone. Nope, far from it, because he brought a HUGE number of guests. In order of appearance; Josh Brolin, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Don Cheadle, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., and co-director Joe Russo; all joined him on stage, because they were celebrating Marvel Studios' 10 Years. With a new Anniversary Logo... and also first teaser for next year's "Avengers: Infinity War" that easily brought the crowd of 7000 people on their feet, driving them wild and overpouring with emotions.

Said footage began with around two minutes of clips from roughly 13 previous movies that have been produced by the studio, before continuing with a completely new scene. It started of with Hemsworth's Thor crashing into the Guardians of the Galaxy's spaceship, followed by a reel of action-packed sequences, and was wrapped with Thanos having a fully assembled Infinity Gauntlet in his hand, about to pummel his enemies using debris in space. Various sites (ComicBook, THR, Daily Super Hero, Collider, Buzzfeed, and many more) have published their rundown of the sequence, revealing plenty of tidbits from the mindblowing Avengers sequel. Each one complemented the rest, by filling up missing details that was missed by one another, so do take your time to visit them and read them on spot. Seriously though, reading them alone has already made me giddy and anxious. So much that I'm actually really glad Marvel Studios hasn't put it up online. Otherwise I'd probably suffered an instant heart attack and died before the movie even arrives.

After the rousing panel presentation, the Marvel booth officially unveiled additional characters for the movie. Joining the huge life-size statue of Brolin's Thanos that has been decorating the hall since day one, were four of his right hands... the Black Order. Brolin himself was on hand for the official unveiling of the team, that will instead be called 'The Children of Thanos' in the movie. Confirming theories gathered by fans after seeing the set pieces in Scotland and Atlanta, this antagonistic team consists of Corvus Glaive, his wife Proxima Midnight, the super intellect with manipulative ability Ebony Maw, and the Hulk-like Cull Obsidian.

Some of the core cast like Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner (who suffered an unfortunate injury on set), Paul Rudd, and many others were notably absent, including co-director Anthony Russo who remained in Atlanta to work on tentatively-titled "Avengers 4". Yes, "Infinity War" had just wrapped on the first day of D23 Expo 2017 (the Russos announced this themselves), but the production team are now moving on with the next giant project! WOW, talk about marvelous dedication to work. But surely, we can expect them to appear this weekend on SDCC, right? "Avengers: Infinity War" opens less than a year from now, on May 4th, 2018.

Presumably because production has only begun for "Ant-Man & the Wasp", none of its cast were present at the D23 Expo. The event officially revealed the first look for Hope van Dyne's the Wasp on one of the hanging-banner though, and actress Evangeline Lilly herself happily shared this news. Also actor Walton Goggins has officially joined the cast. I'm not familiar with this actor, but I've read many folks were excited about him, because apparently he's a terrific actor. His role is currently undisclosed, and speculations are saying that he might be playing the villain of the movie. Clearly he's not playing that character rumored by That Hashtag Show, right?

Which reminds me... that site reported an 'exclusive' saying that the studio is actively looking for an African-American actor between the age of 55 to 65 for a highly intelligent role. Everyone's easy guess is Dr. Bill Foster, a.k.a. Goliath who's in a way connected to Giant Man. Since Rudd's Scott Lang did demonstrate that ability in "Captain America: Civil War", linking it to Foster would be fantastic. Then again, That Hashtag Show isn't particularly a credible source, having falsely reported many stuffs in the past (Shang-Chi? Pffftttt). So I wouldn't really bet on their horses. Anyhoo, here's hoping the cast will stop by on SDCC this weekend, if only to have an actual confirmation or two. "Ant-Man & the Wasp" will arrive on July 6th, 2018.

"Black Panther" didn't have a huge presence (Boseman and director Ryan Coogler had a signing session), but that's because it already made a separate headline earlier that week (on July 11th). By showing up as the cover story of EW! The magazine ran a detailed coverage of the movie, dishing out the many aspects from the many lores of Wakanda, the various characters, and what to expect from the story.

Wakanda produces and is riched with a nearly-mystical metal called Vibranium. The people has mined it, experimented, and used it to develop medicines, technology, and others. Its fields also grows the Heart-Shaped Herb, a plant that grants superhuman strength to its leaders. That's the reason why it has closed itself from the whole world. John Kani's T'Chaka's death in "Civil War" will shake the illusive African-country's ground, as threats coming towards Boseman's T'Challa from inside and outside. The outside refers to Michael B. Jordan's Erik Killmonger, an aspiring prince who is colluding with Andy Serkis' Ulysses Klaue (with a new hand, in form of sonic mining equipment) to bring down T'Challa from his throne. The inside refers to the turmoil that fears T'Challa might be engaging too much with the outside world, just like T'Chaka. This might be where Winston Duke's M'Baku (who will NOT be addressed as Man-Ape) enters the equation. Coogler compared his movie to politics, saying that there's an ambiguity of who's good and bad. "The film very much plays with those concepts, looking at conflicts and different motivations, and who’s with who", he stated.

Producer Nate Moore, likened the movie to a fusion of "The Godfather" and the "James Bond", serving as tribute to both franchises. It's "a big, operatic family drama centered on a world of international espionage. So hopefully we’re getting the best of both worlds", he hoped. Boseman also stressed out, that Wakanda is "a very matriarchal society", hinting that the female characters in this solo movie shouldn't be taken for granted. This refers to Angela Basset's Queen Ramonda, Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia who is an undercover spy with a knack on 'Ring Blades', Letitia Wright's genius and intellectual Shuri, to the Dora Milaje guards like Danai Gurira's Okoye and Florence Kasumba's Ayo. Meanwhile, Forest Whitaker is playing Zuri, a shaman who is also the keeper of the Heart-Shaped herb. His character roots the movie in a unique element of spirituality, the way it's always been depicted in the comics. "Black Panther" will premiere on February 16th, 2018.

Marvel Studios might have left quite a massive impression last week, with "Spider-Man: Homecoming" running in theatres, the EW cover story for "Black Panther", and a D23 Expo presence that many people might still be talking about until now. Not to mention the pairings of characters, on set interactions, talk of future movies, actor's fancasting, etc. But that doesn't mean its hype is ending soon. This Saturday (precisely tomorrow evening, US time), the studio will return to SDCC 2017's Hall H for a special presentation with extended duration. Perhaps, that "Infinity War" footage will be delivered online for every fans to see? Or should we hope for another version, because Rufallo had openly teased something mind-blowing in the event. I'm merely spitballing here, but I'm positive we'll at least be seeing the cast of "Ragnarok", "Black Panther", "Ant-Man & the Wasp", and most definitely "Infinity War" on the panel. All I can say, we need to brace ourselves for another tide (or tsunami) of Marvel Studios news in the next few days. Because whether you like it or not, it's a great time to be a Marvel fan! Excelsior!!!

Marvel TV

It was a bit odd that Marvel's "The Inhumans" wasn't heavily showcased in D23 Expo 2017. I mean, excluding that Lockjaw's goodies available on Marvel booth, or the only three character posters that can be found on their official Twitter account. After all, ABC is still part of Disney, thus it felt odd that it wasn't even getting proper 'spotlight'. Of course, the series will have its own panel at SDCC 2017, so that might be the case. Nevertheless, the cast of the series continued to share details about the mini series outside of the panel.

Eme Ikwuakor confirmed that his character Gorgon as well as Ken Leung's Karnak, will be similar to the comics. "I act 5 times before I start thinking. I think that plays into a lot of the dynamics as well, especially with Karnak who is the exact opposite who think 5 times before he acts" he said. Sonya Balmores likened her Auran's job as the Royal Family's secret service. She works very closely with the King and Queen, and acts as their eyes and ears eventhough she's not related by blood. Serinda Swan praised her character, because "The great thing about Medusa is that she’s taking on two roles, not molded into one. That’s what makes her such an interesting character". She also affirmed that audience can expect to see Medusa's hair-play in amazing action sequence, likely to ease fans' concerns that has been growing rapidly ever since EW debuted her first look. She even added that "You will definitely see her hair have moods. There will be some moody hair because that’s her". Let's just hope that she's not giving us false hope.

Anson Mount revealed that the intricacies of Black Bolt was the reason he was drawn to portray this character. That's why he immediately agreed when Marvel TV Head Jeph Loeb personally offered this role (outside of auditions), and has even dedicated time developing it with sign consultant and all. He stated that the major theme of the movie is about family, namely about his somewhat Shakespearean love-hate relationship with brother Maximus, played by Iwan Rheon. Rheon by the way, is the most famous actor on the show, hence we can expect him to be more than just an antagonist.

Problem is, Mount also talked about why his character and also the entire series needed to be 'grounded', in order for them to be... "more accessible to a viewing audience than a reading audience". This one, is easily the part that rubs me off the wrong way. Grounded this, grounded that? I'll be honest, all these 'grounded talks' is making me feel iffy. Why shy away from going all out bizarre and outlandish? It's okay to do that with the Inhumans on Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." considering they are Earth-bound (then again, even they weren't afraid with the visuals)... but the Royal Family? They should be larger than life! Embrace all the weirdness and fun, not unlike the Guardians of the Galaxy. And don't ever forget! Scott Buck's idea of 'grounded' tends to be... 'different' or a 'bit warped' than what you and I had in mind. It means the mystical dragon Shou Lau is two bulbs of red-light for Marvel's "Iron Fist"! A proof that someone clearly didn't learn from the mistake done to that series.

Isabelle Cornish who plays Crystal, also brought a different but equally interesting notion. She revealed that audience can expect the IMAX 'movie'-size feature to be... "just really introducing us as a family and discovering the characters in the first 2 episodes. Seeing how we all mix together, how we intertwine, the different powers we all have. I mean, its such a large family. We’re essentially cousins. To have cousins that are brothers, its kinda cool and different.". Wait, WHAT? You're kidding, right? WHY would I waste my money on IMAX theatres just to see a prolonged intro? Isn't that like... NOT the point of filming a movie in IMAX format? I'm sure Christopher Nolan and his "Dunkirk", and even the Russo Brothers would be completely angry to hear this kind of treatment.

I've honestly lost all kind of goodwill and faith for this show. You can even say that I've joined a weird group among Marvel fans, essentially becoming a naysayer, because that's more or less accurate. The trailer, and every cast interviews so far, eerily reminded me of the whole "Iron Fist" scenario. Things haven't been looking good on my gut feeling, and I simply refuse to be fooled twice. But of course, my opinion doesn't necessarily apply to every Marvel fans out there. After all, there are those who actually enjoyed "Iron Fist" sooo much more than I did. With that said, perhaps it's indeed a wise decision for me to have such a really low expectation to this show. Who knows? It might flip me upside down and win me over instead...

Netflix

Similar to "Black Panther" that was featured by EW's First Look exclusive, Marvel's "The Defenders" got their share of publicity via a new poster released by the outlet, and also through UK's Empire Magazine. I'm sure we can expect the coverage from these magazines pretty soon. The EW poster, along with an exclusive one designed by Joe Quesada for Jon Bernthal's Marvel's "Punisher", are set to be available at Marvel's booth during SDCC 2017. Don't forget, "The Defenders" is also expected to have a huge presence at the Con, so prepare to hear more details as well as hopefully a new trailer for the mini-series. All 8 episodes of "The Defenders" will arrive on August 18th, 2017.

On a side note, actress Lucy Liu has been confirmed to direct the Season 2 Premiere episode of Marvel's "Luke Cage". Could she have a role in the series too? I certainly hope so. I personally want to see Liu joining a Marvel Studio movies for a significant role. But even if that's not the case, her appearing in one of the Netflix series sounds right too.

"Stranger Things" unveiled a sinister new teaser early last week, with a tagline "1984 only gets stranger". The teaser also confirmed that the 2nd Season will be available on October 27th, 2017. There weren't any details about this new season following that, but we can expect ones in the upcoming SDCC 2017.

Last but not least, I can't believe I missed this last month, but turns out the 3rd Season of "Voltron Legendary Defenders" has had an official release date! Via the trailer that... I oddly couldn't find on Netflix' official Youtube channel, it was revealed that the new season will arrive on August 4th, 2017. That's... really fast! Possibly due to the delay on Season 2 (it was meant to be released last year, but got delayed to January this year), I honestly didn't expect it to arrive so early. But who am I to complain! We need the 3rd season right away, especially after how the 2nd season abruptly ended. LOL. Also... if this teaser is any indication, things aren't looking good for the team. Because while the Paladins can't form Voltron, Emperor Zarkon's son Prince Lotor has taken command of the Galra Empire and starts brewing trouble in the galaxy. Here's hoping we'll get a longer and better trailer when the showrunners and cast members hit their SDCC 2017 panel this weekend!

Disney XD Series

New sneak peak clip for "DuckTales" was released during D23. Taken from the episode entitled "Daytrip of Doom!", the clip showed Huey, Dewey, and Louie having a dart gun fight against a very serious Webby, that caused plenty of... chaos in Scrooge McDuck's Manor. Many fans seemed to be annoyed with how the nephews sound when they saw the First Look before, a sentiment that was very understandable. For me personally, at least their new voices are growing in me, to the point that I no longer feel that much bothered by it. Many seems to have been voicing criticism to the Carl Barks-inspired design too, but I personally never had any issue about it. Most of the comics I've seen was drawn in that style anyway. LOL. "DuckTales" is set to premiere with a one-hour TV movie on August 12th, 2017, before starting its series on September 23rd.

Disney XD also unveiled the first look for "Big Hero 6 the Series". Based on the one and only Oscar-winning superhero movie so far, this much-anticipated series will tell the story of Hiro Hamada along with Baymax and friends, as they become the heroes of San-Fransokyo. Similar to "Tangled the Series", the design might not work with everyone, especially those who were expecting lush CG animation like the movies. The "Big Hero 6" one was very close, and clearly inspired by the actual 2D character designs from the movie's production though. So in a way, it's accurate. You can catch the series Main Title on Youtube!

Kamen Rider

The first official image for the 19th Heisei Rider "Kamen Rider Build" has been revealed! The image clearly showed that Build shared similar dual-colored design of "Kamen Rider W", but one that utilized a combination of technology and biology.

As rumored before, his initial form with the color Blue and Red is a fusion of Tank and Rabbit respectively. These powers will be accessed through the season's collectibles, Full Bottles, as the hero inserts a pair into his Build Driver. His transformation catchphrase for this initial mode will be "Using 2 Bottles, Find the Best Match! Are You Ready?! Moonsault of Steel! Rabbit Tank! Yeah!". Different Full Bottles can then be mixed and matched to produce a variety of forms. The biological side revealed so far includes Rabbit, Gorilla, Hedgehog, and Hawk, while the technological side includes Tank, (Vacuum) Cleaner, and Gattling. It's safe to say we can expect a lot more in the future. The picture also teased the antagonist Knight/Night Rogue, and the second Rider called Kamen Rider Claws/Close.

The story is said to take place in a post-apocalyptic world where souls are bound to bottles. "Second Build" is the cause, as it destroyed the world 10 years before. Kamen Rider Build will then have to deal with evil souls called "Builders" who seek to commit crime. Surprisingly, while it was previously assumed that "Build" will start airing as the "Kamen Rider" franchise changes timeslot in October, it has been revealed to debut much sooner. The currently airing "Kamen Rider Ex-Aid" has been confirmed to end with 44 episodes (with episode 45 serving as a bridge to the next), thus "Build" is set to begin in September. Is it because "Ex-Aid" isn't doing well in the toy department? Hmmm...

If you ask me, the overall concept, design, and story premise of this new series is solid, and they are more than enough to make me want to see it. I was actually sold thanks to the FireHedgehog form! LOL. Of course, execution doesn't always rhyme well with expectation, so it's still unclear if I will end up following to the end or not. Heck, the actor casting might also play as a make-or-break situation for me! So it's definitely not set in stones. But for now, I honestly want to see this show in action.

Square Enix

Since the "Kingdom Hearts" franchise is a mixture of their original characters as well as Disney world, of course Square Enix was present at the D23 Expo 2017. And as promised, the company introduced a new look and trailer for "Kingdom Hearts III". The new trailer particularly unveiled a new "Toy Story" world, while teasing an action adventure in the world of Disney's "Hercules"! Other confirmed new worlds include Disney's "Tangled", "Big Hero 6" and the "Olympus Coliseum" world.

The "Toy Story" part will have Sora, and his travelling companions Donald Duck and Goofy exploring Andy's room alongside Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and the other toy characters. They need to investigate the disappearances of their fellow toys, and also Andy himself. Both director Tetsuya Nomura and Pixar Animation Studios story supervisor Jason Katz have confirmed that it will be a brand new storyline, but is still on par with Pixar's standard of storytelling and animation quality. In terms of timeline, it will take place after the events of the "Toy Story 2" movie. Nomura expressed his excitement for this world, because he had always wanted to include one on "Kingdom Hearts II".

The company also confirmed that the game will be released in 2018, which is probably not a concidence. It will be available for PlayStation 4 and XboxOne, with Nintendo Switch being considered. A second playable character will also be available, but apparently the director thought that's information for another time. LOL.

Pocket Monsters

Niantic is set to hold their first "Pokemon GO" real-world event this very weekend, with the "Pokemon GO Fest Chicago" taking place on July 22nd, 2017. They have posted details surrounding the big event happening on location, revealing that players from all around the world will also be able to 'contribute' during the same timetable. During three Challenge Windows at the event from 11:00AM to 08:00PM Chicago Time, players worldwide will help attendees to unlock rewards, and vice versa. Later, if players at the Chicago event catch enough Pokemon during the Catch Challenge, a special Mystery Challenge will be unlocked for the last hour of the event. If said Challenge is completed, then an 'extra special bonus' will be given for players around the world in form of Global Reward on July 23rd-24th.

This sounds a bit complicated to understand, and the gap between time zones alone is already feeling unfair to some parts of the world who have to stay up during midnight to dawn to participate. Response to this has been mixed as well, due to various reasons. But despite constantly getting server issues over the past week, Niantic is working hard to appeal its players. One of it, is by directly flying high-level Pokemon GO Youtubers from all around the world into Grant Park Chicago to participate in the live event. Many have been speculating that the Global Reward will be the first official reveal of Legendary Pokemon. We'll have to wait and see if that's really the case.

Those in Europe can then participate in a "Pokemon GO Safari Zone" events, in partnership with Unibail-Rodamco shopping centers. Copenhagen and Praque will be holding one on August 5th, Stockholm and Amstelveen on August 12th, and Oberhausen, Paris and Barcelona on September 16th. These events will give European players the opportunity to catch variety of Pokemon, among them are those only available as region-locked like Kangaskhan and Tauros. Unique and powerful Raid Bosses will also be available. For the United Kingdom area, Niantic will be holding a "Big Heritage Festival" event in Chester on July 22nd-23rd. This is a joint collaboration with UK heritage organization, Big Heritage.

Last but not least, Yokohama area is set to have a "Pikachu Outbreak" event on August 9th- 15th. It has been an annual event for The Pokemon Company, but this time, it will also include a Pokemon GO experience.

Tekken

I did NOT see this coming!

Geese Howard, who was recently revived by SNK Corp for "The King of Fighters XIV", has been announced as the new DLC character for "Tekken 7: Fated Retribution"!!! Bandai Namco unveiled this via one thrilling and intense trailer, during the Evolution Championship Series 2017. It just felt... right seeing Geese pummeling the Tekken characters one by one (particularly Heihachi, who is a natural jerk just like him), and sending them to misery. LOL. Geese will be available in Winter 2017, along with his own unique 'Geese Tower' stage.

The company did already state that they will be adding exclusive guest characters from other video game franchise, following the game's release on June 2nd, 2017. But I honestly didn't expect them to actually go with fans' wishes that openly called out Geese with the reasoning that his fighting style and 'badass' mannerism will be a great fit to "Tekken 7" (it's accurate, though). With "Street Fighter" very own Akuma already in the title, "Tekken 7" is growing to be a rendesvouz spot for powerful characters from various franchises. Now... who will the next DLC be for Spring 2018? Someone from "Dead or Alive"? "Mortal Kombat"? "Guilty Gear"? This is exciting...

Street Fighter

The 4th "Street Fighter V" DLC character for Season 2 has been revealed! And continuing the trend since Gouki/Akuma, it's a supposedly-new character that is also NOT really a new one... *sigh*. NEW, because the "Street Fighter" franchise hasn't had them as playable characters until now, but NOT new, because they have already existed as either supporting characters in previous games, or from entirely different game. Proof? No explanation necessary for Akuma, Kolin was Gill's right hand in "Street Fighter III", and Ed showed up in "SFV" various Story Modes since the very beginning. The fourth character joining them, hails from CAPCOM's very own "Final Fight" series. In form of big brute Abigail.

Yoshinori Ono announced Abigail during the Evolution Championship Series 2017, and an official reveal trailer for the character immediately hit the internet. This towering Mad Gear Leader that's even taller and bigger than Hugo albeit with a goofy personality, has attacks based on armors. The face paint is said to be an homage to King Diamond, who is a heavy metal musician. He is set to be released next week on July 25th, 2017, alongside his unique new stage called the 'Metro City Bay Area'. You can visit Gematsu to read a detailed description of this new DLC character.

Intriguingly, this reveal didn't surprise fans, because his name has been repeatedly rumored and reported before. The Event Hubs user who goes by the name of Flowtron has gotten his 'leaks' proven with the reveal of Akuma and Ed, and now his street cred had just gotten much higher with the confirmation of Abigail. Assuming his leak are all true, then the remaining two DLC characters will be Menat and Zeku. Menat is supposed to be that Egyptian-looking 'Fortune Teller' who already and rather pointlessly debuted in Ed's Story Modes. I also had the exact same suspicion, the moment I saw her design on that ending sequence. Not to mention, it fits with CAPCOM's goal to increase diversity in the game (with Rashid's inclusion). Zeku on the other hand, is Guy's teacher. Meaning he's also a "Final Fight" alumn. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a confirmation to his inclusion in Abigail's Story Mode.

Flowtron also stated an insider information regarding the 3rd Season DLC characters. According to him, Sagat and Sakura Kasugano are pretty much confirmed, but they won't play out like their "Street Fighter IV" counterparts. The previously rumored characters like Oro, C. Viper, Q, and Necro aren't accurate. For now, these should be treated as rumor until proven otherwise. But let's just say, I will not be surprised if it turns out to be true.

As for the real deal, CAPCOM will be releasing new special stages and costumes on July 25th as well, as part of the game's 30th Anniversary. This includes: Classic Ryu's "Suzaku Castle" stage from "Street Fighter II", Capcom Pro Tour 2017 Exclusive "Ring of Pride" stage (the Kanzuki Family Stadium), Nostalgic Costumes (for Alex, Ibuki, and Juri), and The Champion's Choice costume designed by CAPCOM Cup 2016 winner Du "Liquid|NuckleDu" Dang (for Ryu, Ken and Guile). Do visit Event Hubs to see their pricings.

Marvel vs Capcom

Meanwhile, "Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite" officially added Jedah from "Darkstalkers" series as playable character. This was revealed during the Evolution Championship Series 2017 tournament. Following this sequel's odd tradition, Jedah debuted during one of the fight and was not officially announced via individual trailers. You can visit Gamespot's Youtube channel to see him in action. "Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite" is set to be released on September 19th.

ARIKA

Many fans have been itching to see characters from "Street Fighter EX" to spring back into action. But considering ARIKA no longer collaborates with CAPCOM, that seems like a wishful thinking. Well, until now.

A new currently untitled 'EX' Fighting Game was showcased during The Evolution Championship Series 2017. The teaser video (provided through ARIKA's official Youtube Channel) showcased favorite 'EX' characters like Kairi, Shirase/Hokuto, Garuda, Skullomania, and Darun Mister. ARIKA officially announced that it will be the newest entry in the 'EX' series.

It was announced that there will be a limited time beta/server test at the end of 2017, and it has been confirmed to be a worldwide PlayStation 4 release for 2018. It is expected to be playable on April Fools, and pre-order has been made available for Japan players. Considering the company DID first tease this several months ago on April Fools 2017, I think we can safely assume that April 1st, 2018 will indeed be the release window for the title. Hopefully we'll hear more about this in the near future...

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rorywritesstuff · 8 years ago

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Thoughts on ‘Lion’

It’s been a while since I wrote at length about a film, but Lion really got me thinking and not many people I know have seen it, so this seems like the best solution. I’ll write for as long as I can without spoiling anything but at some point I’ll have to give away plot details, so I’ll mark that.

I didn’t like this film. I didn’t hate it: it’s not offensive, but it is boring. There’s a lot of skill on display, especially from the actors and the cinematographer but ultimately that can’t counteract the film’s flaws.

My main problem is one of balance and of structure. The film opens with a long section (nearly fifty minutes) of how Saroo, the main character, gets separated from his family in India and eventually gets adopted by a couple in Australia. I missed almost all of the dialogue in this part of the film because it’s spoken in various languages native to India and the version of the film I was watching had only Japanese subtitles. Still, I found it very powerful. This section is the best in the film, telling its story with intense emotionality and absolutely beautiful mise-en-scene. Although I didn’t catch all the specifics of this part of the film, I understood almost everything that was happening. It was some really brilliant film-making.

Then the film switches its focus to adult Saroo and things take a turn for the worse. The director stated he didn’t want to use flashbacks to tell the story, preferring a linear approach. I think this was the wrong decision: we are told that the two Saroos are the same character and while we might understand that intellectually, emotionally the two dots don’t really connect. The character is presented as almost entirely different in appearance, accent and attitude. We are meant to take his Australian identity for granted but it’s never properly established- he is just suddenly okay with his new milieu. Because we spend so long with him in India, it makes it very hard to accept this change.

Since it’s his conflicting identities that provide much of the drama for the film, this makes a lot of the ensuing scenes fall flat. It doesn’t help that the script indulges in a lot of clichés and, worse, feels the need to tell us a lot of what happens instead of showing. When Saroo suddenly becomes once more concerned for his Indian family, after a chance encounter with some native cuisine, he begins to turn his back on everything he has worked to establish in Australia. This would be fine except that it’s never established if Saroo had been repressing memories that have only now resurfaced or if he just spontaneously started caring because of a sweet treat. On top of this, we don’t see much of what Saroo is supposedly losing: for example, we’re told he quits his job but we didn’t know he had a job until then. This moment can’t have impact if it hinges on him losing something we didn’t know he valued.

The timeline and locations also become confusing at this point- he’s shown living in Melbourne in 2012 (AKA the best location and date combination ever) but his parents live in Tasmania. And then suddenly he lives down the street from his parents, to the point where they can come around whenever they feel like. Also, his girlfriend, who’s from America and whom he meets when she’s studying in Melbourne, also suddenly lives on Tasmania but not with him. I accept they might have moved, but they need to actually establish that in the script.

Speaking of his girlfriend, Rooney Mara is criminally wasted. She gets one good line calling Saroo out on his behaviour and is then relegated to the odd supportive comment. Much like her living arrangements (see above), her motivation is all over the place. It felt like she was rather unnecessary to the entire enterprise apart from to participate in some truly bizarre bedroom scenes. Interestingly, these scenes were apparently so integral to this story of lost family and native identity that they take up two thirds of the poster.

I found the dialogue lacking in most of the film- it’s full of clichés like ‘I’m lost’ and ‘I will always love you’ and there’s very little wit or invention. At first, Saroo is established to be a playful joker but after two scenes that’s thrown away and never mentioned again, which is a pity because a few more laughs could have helped with some of the scenes that lagged. I think of Philomena, another film about literally searching for family, which ultimately held together much better because it’s script was genuinely funny.

I feel the screenplay also hews too close to what happened in real life, something I don’t like about films based on true stories. I understand that people want to know what actually happened but real life often doesn’t translate well to screen. There’s a lot of stuff that goes nowhere (the most obvious example being the exploits of Saroo’s adopted brother, Mantosh) and although I’m sure it felt important to the real Saroo (upon whose book this film is based), it isn’t necessary on screen. Life is messy and unfocussed and that doesn’t look good when you’re trying to tell a narrative. Once more, I turn to Philomena, which resurrected a woman who’d been long dead by the time the story takes place so that they could have a wonderfully cathartic scene of forgiveness.

One more minor complaint but the score to the film is one of the most intrusive and basely manipulative I have heard in a long time. It repeats itself a lot and is just obnoxious at certain points. At times, they use music from Bollywood movies and this provides a much more sonorous soundtrack, but those moments are too few and far between.

And now I have to get to the part of the review featuring spoilers; if you haven’t seen the film and don’t want to know what happens, stop reading here.

The film has been pitched as the story of a man who uses Google Earth to find his family. I take issue with that wording. He does, indeed, find his family on Google Earth but not really by ‘using’ it. He does, for a while, try and implement Google Earth in his search but then he gives up on that. Afterwards, he is randomly scrolling on GE and happens to spot something he recognises- a rock formation. How he would have any idea what this rock formation would look from a satellite is anyone’s guess. But the point stands that this is not him ‘using’ Google Earth to find his family. He explicitly gives up. He did not intend, when he started haphazardly scrolling across the vast vistas of India, to come across this location. It just happens. In another screenplay, this would be called lazy, but since it’s a true story, I guess we can let it slide (although, personally, I would then have liked an acknowledgement of the incredible, mind-boggling improbability of this turn of events.)

I was also disappointed with the visuals of the Google sections of the film, as well. I was hoping for something vast and abstract, maybe showing Dev Patel planted within the images he was viewing, trying to match up what he remembered with what he was seeing. I also thought it would also have been nice to see adult Saroo interacting with his memories more, and the ending flirts with this but ultimately decides to stick with an extremely literal presentation of events. While that does have the effect of further grounding the story, it steals away some potentially heart-breaking and beautifully visual reunion scenes. There is one neat visual, of Saroo slowly scrolling out of the map, so that the earth grows smaller and smaller and the neat row of pins he has placed stay the same, until they seem to dwarf the planet, representing the utterly colossal nature of his task. However, this visual comes far too late in the search to really help us lock onto its meaning and also he then almost immediately gets the answer through dumb luck (see above). The screenwriter apparently said he was worried about showing ‘screens on screens’ but thought that they’d found an inherently cinematic way around this. He is wrong. It’s mostly just Dev Patel clicking.

The ‘tell don’t show’ rule is in force in some of the most important scenes in the film: a big deal is made of Saroo not telling his adopted mother about his search for his lost family, it takes up a lot of screen time and dominates a good portion of the film, and then we never see the moment when he actually tells her. We see a scene a few minutes later, but not the reveal itself. The same is true for the ending; the most established relationship in the India portion of the film is between Saroo and his brother, Guddu. When Saroo returns to India, it transpires that his brother is dead, and was in fact killed by a train the night Saroo got separated from his family. The last piece of information is only revealed in the end credits, when I think a scene actually showing what happened would have been a lot more powerful.

Speaking of the ending, I think this is why this film got so much attention. It’s an extremely powerful moment: Saroo returns to his village and finds his mother, who never gave up hope that he would return. However, I think most of the power comes from imagining this scene in real life, which does inspire a feeling of near-elegiac euphoria, but not because of anything the film itself has done. On the other hand, I have to praise Priyanka Bose, the actress who plays Kamla, Saroo’s mother. Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel got Oscar nominations for this film, but I really feel she’s the one who shines at the end, conveying a depth of emotion that radiates off the screen and onto the audience. She is wonderful.

Finally, the title of the film is stupid. It’s explained at the very end but it has nothing to do with anything- they could have stuck with the name of the real Saroo’s memoir (‘A Long Way Home’) and it would have made more sense and been more memorable in regards to the content of the film.

Ultimately, Lion is a story that could have been very, very engaging but its script lets it down. The direction is strong, especially in the early scenes and the actors are good and tell, at least in theory, a story that is strong. I wish that a less faithful-to-life, more streamlined screenplay could have been used and some more arresting visuals were deployed during the Google and memory sequences. As it is, I think the film often falls flat and feels manipulative.

#Lion #Lion movie #lion (2016)#dev patel #rooney mara #nicole kidman #priyanka bose #a long way home #review #film review #film criticism #movie review #Oscars

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emilyontap-blog · 8 years ago

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Emily Picks The Oscars 2017

This time last year I was getting ready to go to the Academy Awards. This year I’m in bed sipping coffee still dreaming of the day I will meet Leo...

If you’re wondering if I will find a way to work Titanic into *every* Oscars blog the answer is YES because DUH and also it’s been 20 years and a more iconic film has yet to be made.

While 2017 still did not give us a more iconic film (though La La Land came VERY close) it was another great, if otherwise depressing, year in the movies. As of this morning, I have seen every film nominated. Yes, even the shorts. YES, even the ANIMATED shorts.

Below are my picks for tonight’s winners, ft. a few upsets for you gamblers plus my unsolicited and entirely unreliable industry commentary.

CHEERS!

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Emily’s Pick: Viola Davis, Fences

Will Win: see above

Upset pick: Do not even dare.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Emily’s Pick: Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water

Will Win: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Unsolicited industry commentary: Moonlight is a very important and relevant movie, and Mahershala Ali’s performance as Juan was lovely. However, for me, his 5 minutes of screen time was not enough to justify all the buzz, and I was left with a feeling of “That’s it?” Meanwhile, Jeff Bridges quietly dominating role in Hell or High Water has been largely overlooked, in a movie that I think will one day be a classic. Feelings aside, I’m not dumb, and anyone can see Mahershala will nab this one. So what I’m saying is ignore me and don’t go picking anyone else on your ballot.

Sidebar: Sunny Pawar should have been nominated for Lion and not Dev Patel.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Emily’s Pick: Emma Stone, La La Land

Could Win: Isabelle Huppert, Elle / Natalie Portman, Jackie

Unsolicited industry commentary: I was very torn about this category, as these three performances were all incredible, but so wide-ranging they are difficult to compare against each other. In the end, I gave the edge to Emma, who gave the performance I believe we’ll all remember in 10, 20, 50 years even though “she can’t sing” “she can’t dance” that’s NOT EVEN THE POINT PEOPLE! DON’T LET THE HATERS FOOL YOU!! NOBODY WILL FORGET LA LA LAND!!! *end rant*

Sidebar: OK rant *not over* Meryl Streep?? Are you f*cking kidding me with Meryl Streep??!?! Sure, we all worship at the altar of Queen Streep, but Florence Foster Jenkins was a terrible film by ALL STANDARDS, much less Meryl Streep standards. And at the expense of performances like Annette Bening in 20th Century Women and Amy Adams in Arrival?!?!?! FOR SHAME.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Emily’s Pick: Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic

Should Win: Denzel Washington, Fences

Probably Will Win*: Casey Affleck, Manchester By The Sea

Unsolicited industry commentary: Captain Fantastic was hands down my favorite movie this year (yes, even more than La La Land) and also one of the best I’ve *ever* seen. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading this and go watch it!!! Viggo Mortensen is extraordinary, and I was so glad to see him earn this nomination. It slightly makes up for the fact that Captain Fantastic didn’t get the Best Picture nomination it deserved. However, even though Viggo gave my *favorite* performance by an actor this year, Denzel gave the performance of a lifetime in Fences and should win this award. Casey Affleck was also phenomenal in Manchester, just not Denzel-level phenomenal. But people out here think Denzel doesn’t deserve it because he already got the Tony for the same role in the play, but also people out here are very upset about Casey’s assault problems* (which doesn’t really make him a better/worse actor but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) and maybe those will cancel each other out and so *throws hands up in air and pencils in Ryan Gosling to win*

DIRECTING

Emily’s Pick: Damien Chazelle, La La Land

Could Win: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Unsolicited industry commentary: I had the pleasure of attending a Q&A with Damien Chazelle, Justin Hurwitz and Ryan Gosling after an early screening of La La Land (brb going to go look at myself in the mirror for several hours and wonder how I became an insufferable Los Angeles cliché...) Hearing them talk about how everything came together in a college dorm, and the years they spent jumping through hoops to actually get it made, and the inspirations and visuals that Damien brought to life so successfully, it’s hard to imagine anyone else deserving this more. Again, Moonlight was groundbreaking in its themes, and a beautiful film, and I’m so glad Barry Jenkins gave us that story. But La La Land is an instant classic, and Damien's ambition will be rewarded.

BEST PICTURE

I mean, have you been paying attention?

Emily’s Pick: La La Land

Could Win: Moonlight

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

Emily’s Pick: Moonlight

Unsolicited industry commentary: This will be a consolation prize for no Best Picture/Best Director. Also, it’s simply beautifully constructed.

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

Emily’s Pick: Manchester by the Sea

Unsolicited industry commentary: While I’d love to see 20th Century Women get at least one award, and while The Lobster truly embodied the term “original” here, Kenneth Lonergan is a masterful storyteller and he’ll get this because he deserves it, but also as a consolation prize for no Best Picture/Best Director.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Emily’s Pick: Zootopia

Could Win: Kubo & The Two Strings (which I actually liked more, but longshot)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Emily’s Pick: The Salesman

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

Emily’s Pick: 13th

Could Win: O.J.: Made in America

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT FORM)

Emily’s Pick: 4.1 Miles

Likely Win: Joe’s Violin

Could Win: The White Helmets

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Emily’s Pick: La La Land, Linus Sandgren

Upset: Y’all La La Land was filmed in Cinemascope technicolor. Don’t be getting any crazy ideas.

COSTUME DESIGN

Emily’s Pick: Jackie

Could Win: La La Land

Cinderella pick: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

Unsolicited industry commentary: The reproduction of Jackie’s iconic wardrobe - particularly the infamous pink Chanel suit - was extraordinary. But the completely original wardrobe choices for La La Land that straddled somehow both modern and classic Hollywood looks is also impressive. Likewise, to create costumes for the 1920s is one thing. But to create 1920s costumes for a fictional, magical world - like those for Fantastic Beasts - has no precedent.

FILM EDITING

Emily’s Pick: Hell or High Water

Will Win: La La Land

Could Win: Arrival

Unsolicited industry commentary: If Hell or High Water is gonna get one award tonight it will probably be for editing. The way the two sides of the story in the movie run parallel and converge at the end was, in my opinion, brilliant. The editing of Arrival was also critical to the unfolding of the film’s narrative. However, La La Land seems to be the frontrunner for...all of the awards. So.

MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Emily’s Pick: Suicide Squad

Probably Will Win: Star Trek Beyond

Unsolicited industry commentary: Seriously, there was no more iconic look in 2016 than Harley Quinn and IMO that deserves an award. But I’m sure it will go to Star Trek because aliens -_-

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Emily’s Pick: La La Land

Upset: Do you have eyes tho?

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

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Emily’s Pick: La La Land

Upset: Do you have ears tho?

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

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Emily’s Pick: “City of Stars” La La Land

Unsolicited industry commentary: As much as I want Lin-Manuel Miranda to get one step closer to that EGOT, and as much as I actually preferred the “Audition” song from La La Land, for logical reasons everyone has latched onto “City of Stars” and tbh I support anything ft. Ryan Gosling being wistful and romantic.

SOUND EDITING & SOUND MIXING

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Emily’s Pick: Hacksaw Ridge

Unsolicited industry commentary: I learned recently what these categories actually mean — and no, just because La La Land is a musical doesn’t mean it will win them. Here is a great explainer in case you’re confused. I selected Hacksaw Ridge because its soundscape of war and battle and trying to be quiet in holes overnight in a trench surrounded by the enemy filled me with a sense of complete and utter nauseating visceral horror and I’m still not okay.

VISUAL EFFECTS

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Emily’s Pick: The Jungle Book

Unsolicited industry commentary: You guys, literally nothing in this movie was real except that kid. NOTHING. I watched this video and I still don’t get how this happened. Unreal.

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

Emily’s Pick: Piper

Could Win: Pearl

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

Emily’s Pick: Silent Nights

Likely Win: Ennemis Intérieurs

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Best of luck everybody!! And ICYMI, Jimmy Kimmel has his work cut out for him tonight because Mulaney and Kroll gave the best opening monologue OF ALL TIME at the Spirit Awards yesterday. Legal Disclaimer: your laughter at this video will awake sleeping roommates and disturb neighbors.

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#oscars #oscars 2017 #la la land #movies #awards #jimmy kimmel #titanic

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thelavirule · 8 years ago

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Hi guys! Sorry it took me a while to upload this chapter I was so busy during the holidays. But anyways Happy New Year everyone and I hope you enjoy this chapter. If I may be so bold as to suggest a song for you to listen while you’re reading this chapter. My recommendation would be Money, Power, Glory-Lana Del Rey for the darker sides and for those looking for a lighter tone, I would suggest Love Never Felt So Good-Michael Jackson. The MJ song would come more in tune towards the end of this chapter but go ahead and listen to anything else you would like to or even make a suggestion to me if you’d like to. I do not own this picture so credits to the owner! Once again happy new year!

Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home

Naya walks to her room very slowly. She had imagined the day would go differently; they would go ordered dinner from the local pizza place they liked and then she would have gone by Magnus place for a bit. Naya would have spent a couple of hours catching up with Magnus and then she’d have gone to hangout with the rest of her siblings early in the morning at Taki’s again.

She sighs because she had been craving the watermelon raspberry smoothie they served at Taki’s. Now it was hardly likely Mum would let them go.

Her room is the exact state she had left in; an utter mess. It was obvious that Izzy had rummaged around for clothes, shoes or makeup but other than that most of her things were where she had left them. On her desk is a vase filled with roses and the whole room reeks of the scent. No doubt Izzy had taken the initiative to put some because she knew Naya loves roses.

And Naya can’t help herself when she leaps on to her bed like a child. Then she reaches under her bed for her special box of things. There was a small section that Naya had built to hide little things of her own from her family. Mainly stuff like her cigarettes, her special Star Wars Zippo lighter that she only took out for special occasions, a dried rose that a drunk girlfriend had given her, a couple of concert wristbands and a small vial of billywig serum Hodge had given her.

It was hard to believe that Hodge, who she’d respected and looked to for guidance while she was a teenager had betrayed her family that way. Maryse had to told her what happened to Hodge but didn’t go much into details. Naya didn’t ask but she knew he was probably in the Silent City. She gets up and from a small cupboard filled to the brim with books, Naya retrives a Star Wars book. It was most important to her as it contained her fathers journals.

Naya opens the book and pulls out the journals. She smells the nice old scent that books typically have and then hugs the journals to her chest and sniffs. She remembered her parents despite losing them at 10. Naya looked more like her father, only the more feminine version but people had often told her she was more like her mother. She had inherited Dev’s physical features but Naya walked and talked Naina Patel. Naya has always been the type of person to question higher authority. While her parents were alive, they questioned the Clave and the politics that surrounded Idris.

They taught their daughter that at every point, that it was always good to question higher authority. She had just turned 10 when news of their death came. Naya had no other living relatives or even Godparents as her parents had run away together and gotten married secretly in Britain.

They were supposedly from one of the more prestigious Shadowhunter families in India but eloped as their parents were against their union. They lived for a bit in Leeds, taken refuge in the London institute when Naya was born and lived there for a couple of years. Naya couldn’t remember much of the members of the London institute and she didn’t visit them either the entire time she was in London either. She had stayed at the mundane college campus and went for classes and pretended to be a mundane overall.

Dev Patel was later offered leadership of the Amsterdam institute so they moved to the Netherlands when Naya was about four or five years old. Naina Patel was later chosen as the local Conclave’s representative and her political career kicked off then. She climbed the ladders quickly, known for her wit, practical arguments and tactical proposals. She was offered a seat in the Council after two years and for a brief time, Naya floated back and forth Alicante and Amsterdam as her father couldn’t leave the Institute.

Then Naya had discovered in the journal that her father had left behind, that Valentine had come looking for her parents. He had wanted Naina Patel to join the Circle, her husband and child were also most welcome to join them. Naya was only a child then.

According to his journal, her mother had wanted to join the Circle. Naina Patel had believed the Clave was truly corrupt as she was a member of the council. The journal her father had left behind was full of entries about the various corruption and crimes going on in the Clave. Stories of murder, corruption, abuse of power among the more prestigious families in Idris, serious offences of the law and sexual favours among ranks. But they were a very practical couple, Naina was the idealist, Dev was the realist and he managed to talk her out of it. They had sent Valentine a letter of their declination and he had sent one back with a faerie ring, asking them to contact him through the ring if they had changed their minds. Naya had the both the letter and the ring that she kept in a jewellery box that was supposedly her mothers.

The jewellery box had both her parents wedding bands, her mother’s engagement ring, an old photo of them at their wedding, a polaroid photo of baby Naya, letters from both her parents and a lock of her Naina’s hair. And right after the Patel’s had declined Valentine, the Circle was ruined and Valentine fleed. But then the Council had discovered Valentine’s interest in Naina Patel for it was rare that Valentine himself asked people to join him. And for him to have targeted Naina Patel made her an instant threat, especially since she was a Council member.

What made matters worse, was that her mother was elected to become the next Inqusitor. Now they couldn’t publicly execute her or demote her, as Naina knew too much and the Clave faced a risk by making it a public affair. Even if they managed to sentence Naina, they risked being questioned by the rest of the public. So they sent Naina and Dev on a mission that was aimed on getting rid of Naina Patel. They didn’t intend for Naya’s father to get killed too but it certainly made things easier. It was no doubt they killed Naina Patel off knowing she was eventually going to expose and rid of a lot of the Clave’s members when she became Inqusitor.

So they sent Dev and Naina on a “mission” to New York which was how they ended up at the New York institute. Naya wasn’t sure what exactly the mission was about but her father had written that they knew they were being set up. The Patel’s had made all sorts of necessary arrangements for their only daughter, thus all the letters, the jewellery box and the journal were hidden away until Naya had found it. The Clave had ransacked through their belongings but her father was a formidable man. He had hid the book inside another book in the Institute’s library. In a book he knew only Naya would want to pick up; Star Wars: From Concept to Screen to Collectible.

The Lightwoods kids never bothered much for mundane movies. The boys and Izzy did watch Star Wars now and then when Naya bugged them but they wouldn’t pick a book up to read about it. But her father must have known that she would. He had been a huge fan of it and made Naya watch every single one of the movies at home on DVD. And like her father had collected vintage Star Wars merch, Naya had Stormtrooper toys, a tie fighter model, a very prized Princess Leia figurine and her very own version of Darth Maul’s darksaber. All of that were left behind at the London Institute. And they never came back to her when her parents died. Infact nothing except for the possesions she had at the New York institute. She had only brought along a stormtrooper plushie with her to New York that she still had, now old and smelly on her dresser.

After her parents death, the Lightwoods took over as her official guardians. Naya had never talked to Robert and Maryse about it but she wondered if they knew what had truly happened to Naina and Dev and if they becoming her legal guardians were no accident. After all they were Circle members and had known Valentine directly. It was all very confusing at first because Maryse was rubbish at explaining her parents death but eventually Naya understood was had happened. She had cried when they died but she hadn’t truly understood the depth and the impact of their deaths on her.

But Naya flourished, loved and cared for by the Lightwoods, like she was their own. She was older than Alex by a year but was thrilled to finally have siblings, Alex and Isabelle. They were all very young and she fit in like a glove. It took a long while to warm up to Alex but Naya loved Izzy instantly. It was funny how Naya thought she would dislike Isabelle but ended up liking her the most. Izzy was nothing but curious when Naya had first arrived at the New York institute. She asked endless questions about Naya and her parents and her culture and what India looked like. And Naya in return asked a great many questions about New York, and America and if she had ever met Mark Hamill.

Naya was in many ways like Isabelle. They shared a great love for clothes, makeup and high heeled shoes, both being tall girls. But while Izzy was more outgoing and cheeky and sexy, Naya was more reserved, skeptical and shy. She came off as snobbish sometimes and intimidating but she didn’t mind. And when Izzy turned 12, they became parabatai. It was so natural and expected of them, that it came off surprise to no one. They were parabatai right before Alex and Jace Wayland.

The arrival of Jace Wayland had made Naya quesy. Initially she didn’t like the blond boy with the fearless blue eyes. But that was more to Naya’s shyness, that eventually lead to an unbreakable bond between the four of them. Naya wonders if she’ll look at Jace differently now that she knows he is Valentine’s son and has a younger sister named Clary. She wonders temporarily what Clary looks like and if she’s like Jace with blonde hair and filled to the brim with arrogance and self-confidence. She shakes her head and goes back to reading her fathers journals. When Naya had just turned sixteen, she had discovered the Star Wars: From Concept to Screen to Collectible in the Institution’s library. It was a large book and had seemed like such a weird and unnatural book to be in the Institution’s library.

A book like that had only one place and that was Naya’s personal book collection in her room,“Naya had thought as she carried the book back. She can still remember the surprise and slight dismay when she had discovered a huge hole in the middle of the book, holding her father’s journals, surprise at the journals and dismay that she wouldn’t be able to read the Star Wars book. She poured through the personal journal and cried and laughed whenever she hit sad or funny parts.

The journals dated back to when her parents had first got married and Naya was grateful that her father had written so much so she could have this piece of them forever. She roared in laughter when she read an apology her father had included for destroying the book. And at the end of the journal, Naya had decided that she wouldn’t tell anyone of what she had discovered that summer afternoon, not even Isabelle who she trusted with her life.

Naya sighs as she puts the journals back into the Star Wars book. Then she puts them back to her book cupboard and then lunges her heavy bag on to her bed. She starts to unpack some of the new clothes the mundane boy had given her but some she leaves in the bag. She’s in the midst of zipping her bag up when a soft knock can be heard from her door. Her mother steps in with another lady trailing behind her.

Naya, there’s someone I’d like you to meet,"Maryse says softly as the lady behind her peaks shyly. Naya plasters a large smile on her face and holds her hand out to shake the strangers hand.

Hello I’m Naya,"Naya says, sounding friendly enough. She shakes the lady hand and makes note of the strong grip the lady has for someone seemingly small.

I am Madeleine Bellefleur,"she says, smiling warmly at Naya. Naya looks at Maryse in confusion and Maryse nods.

She’s my friend from when I was young. I went to school with her and she was a close friend when I was your age, Naya,"Maryse explains. She’ll be coming with us tomorrow to Idris,”

Oh that’s lovely. I assume you will be staying her tonight then?“Naya asks and Madeleine nods.

Yes of course. We’ve some very important business in Alicante, best to spend the night here. Wouldn’t do us any good if I were late when the Portal is opened,"she chuckles and Naya nods. The Maryse frowns at Naya looking at her overflowing bag of clothes.

Naya you can’t be bringing all those clothes to Idris,"Maryse begans. Come on I’ll help you sort some more clothes,”

Mum no I want to bring all this and I’m packing light!“Naya argues and Madeleine chuckles.

I sense a mother/daughter argument from a mile away,"she smiles. I’ll leave you two to packing then,”

She exits the room, closing the door behind her softly and Naya turns her attention back to Maryse.

I just finished packing with Isabelle. She wanted to bring a huge bag too, the both of you are impossible,“Maryse says, her hands on her hips in typical motherly fashion. Come on lets have a look,”

With a groan, Naya holds up whatever she decides she absolutely needs and Maryse decides if she gets to bring it along. Whatever Naya doesn’t get to bring, she chucks back in to her wardrobe and whatever she can bring, Maryse folds neatly into a smaller suitcase.

What’s all these new branded clothes?“Maryse asks, holding up her favourite new and very expensive Balmain leather jacket. And don’t tell me you got these stuff cheap because they’re second hand, they look brand new,"Maryse holds up a small Prada bag.

Oh they’re gifts from this mundane boy,"Naya explains but then Izzy comes barging in to her room.

Nai Mum says we can go out so we’re going to Taki’s for dinner. Are you coming or not?"Izzy demands but then spies the Balmain jacket and pounces on it. You have one of these? They’re like two thousand dollars,”

Naya,“Maryse says, her tone skeptical and demanding an explanation.

I’m not lying Mum,"Naya protests. I met this mundane boy there, he was really loaded and we went out for a bit and he took me shopping once or maybe twice, okay fine three times and told me to knock myself out so I did,”

Yeah mum no harm in that,“Izzy defends me. I heard he was a really shitty guy so its justified,”

Nai you can’t go around making use of men’s emotions like that. What have I told you about playing with boys emotions,“Maryse says with a mischievous smile on her face. Naya squels and hugs Maryse. Then she rummages around her bag till she comes up with a two boxes, one that’s heavily dented and looks like a shoebox and another much smaller box, bearing Bvlgari’s logo on it. She tosses the shoebox at Izzy and then hands the smaller box to Maryse.

I know you fancy their perfumes so I picked one up for you while I was at Harrod’s,"Naya says, beaming at her mum. Maryse smiles and then leans over to kiss Naya’s cheek. Izzy screams in delight when she flips the top of the box and sees the black pair of shoes in it. Naya had managed to snag a pair of the infamous Pensamoi Christian Louboutin heels for Izzy, when she saw it in Harrods, she knew she had to get it for Izzy.

Oh you didn’t,"Izzy squeals excitedly as she tries the shoes on.

Of course I did idiot,"Naya says affectionately. Can I borrow them every once in a while though,”

Uh duh you can but I get to wear them out first,“Izzy says and Naya laughs. Izzy manages to put on the strappy pair of heels and then parades around the room for a bit while Naya and Maryse applaud her. They finish packing and then after waving goodbye to their mother, the make their way downstairs to where the boys were waiting.

That’s all we do nowaday,"Alec grumbles. Wait for you two,”

I just got home today Alec, you’ve got a whole lot of waiting to do,“Naya teases. They make their way out of the Institute and then to Taki’s Diner. Naya eagerly orders chocolate chip pancakes and her favourite smoothie. Then they sit down and talk about the things that had been happening. Naya knew she have gotten a more extensive explanation from them because she knew they would have been more involved than anyone else.

So Valentine’s son eh?"Naya asks, sipping on her smoothies. Jace frowns sheepishly and nods. Naya finds that she doesn’t look at Jace any differently, even with the shocking news but he’s the same old Jace, albeit a little older and less carefree than when she had left for London.

Relax. I’m still your sister and your still my brother,"Naya says with a light tone and Jace chuckles. Now that they’ve addressed the elephant in the room, the four talk excitedly about everything. They hang out at Taki’s till 12 when Alec starts panicking at the time and insists they leave. They catch a cab back to the Institute and go to sleep even later because they stay up and order pizza. Its nearly 3 when Maryse finds them lounging around and shoos them to bed. And that night Izzy and Naya sleep together in Naya’s room. Her bed is more than accommodating to fit the both of them and they figure there’s so much more to talk about but the minute their heads hit their pillows, they’re sound asleep.

Alec comes in a little while later, grumbling about getting nagged by Maryse to sound off at the two but softens and a small smile creeps on to his face at the sight of them sound asleep. He closes the door after him and then creeps back to his room.

#tmi #the mortal instruments #jace wayland #jace herondale #jace.txt #clary fray #clary morgenstern #clary fairchild #alec lightwood #issabelle lightwood #fanfic #fanfiction #mortal intruments fanfiction #tmi fanfiction #tmi fandom #sebastian-morgenstern-imagine #jonathan-morgenstern-imagine #magnus bane

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learnmoviesordeath · 8 years ago

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HSBC Spec Ad and Idea...

Since Oct of last year, I’ve started writing as personal and intimately as I can in my journal, therefore, these blog posts will probably get a little less emotional from now (I’m hoping anyway, so that I don’t gush too much online).

To bring this briefly up to date, I shot another spec Ad in February about a guy who sneezes during a passport photo, and needs a ‘second chance’ from HSBC. It’s quite poorly developed and is entirely off-brand, but its quite cute I suppose.

I’ve recently had an idea for a feature screenplay. My intention is one of self-improvement, to speed myself up and give myself more discipline. I’m also desperate to see if I can write a scene I actually like, something that I’ve failed to achieve so far. My writing often comes off with little confidence and with awkward rhythm. Also, after watching Ed’s Hippopotamus movie, I have given myself a kick up the but - I simply must try and tackle a feature.

And why the hell not? I’m in a position where I have all of the free time in the world after quitting my job and going freelance again.

So that’s the plan.

The idea - 3 friends go on a pre-summer hike on the south coast in search of ‘Durdle Door’, a little known spot on the South-West Coast of England. Their journey is interrupted by the mysterious death of a local man, acting as a catalyst for their own demons and existential wonderings.

Already, it feels a little wanky - there’s the ‘existential wonderings’ part AND it feels cliche for friends to go on a road trip where they ‘learn about themselves’. But I’ve been watching a bit of Rohmer, Linklater, and most recently I’ve read the Bergman auto-biography, ‘The Magic Lantern’; there’s a looseness in these guys that I really admire. They manage to get away with making films that are not necessarily intended as audience pleasers. So that’s the intention, writing a film, within the boundaries of good taste, that pleases me spiritually.

The boundaries of good taste is the hard part.

So far I’ve got these characters called Hannah, Dev and Joshua.

Hannah is (at the moment) the main character - but I intend for the film to be omniscient. I don’t really know who she is yet. I find it easy to write her as quite joyful, but a little indignant - a bit snappy and uptight. I keep thinking of Blake Lively, but she’s a different personality so that’s a bit odd. I don’t know how best to play her to best serve the tone - I really don’t know what tone I’m going for yet either. Hannah’s name isn’t that great, I keep forgetting it and it doesn’t give me the feeling of who she is. Hannah is not very self-aware I think, so she interrupts freely and puts emphasis on her opinions - she can border on being annoying, but she’s too kind at heart for it to turn us off her. Lives in London with Dev.

Dev is a more serious but very sensitive and a little brooding. Based on Dev Patel. I think this is poor casting, as I want Dev to snap, like Christopher Eccleston in Shallow Grave and I’m worried Dev would be falsely represented as the ‘vicious orient’ if I call him Dev. I also don’t want Dev to be primed from the start - ready to break. I want to see it gradually, so it’s more faesible and there’s more of a dynamic arc. I don’t like Dev’s name either - it’s a little too endearing. I prefer Daniel, a little more self-important, but is also a little more upper-middle class. When shorted to ‘Dan’ it becomes a little out-of-date -- I don’t know. One night, a little shaken by the state of the man’s corpse (I’ll come to this), Dev opens up: ‘When I’m with people, I want to be alone and when I’m alone, I want to be with people’. This is probably shaped by his internalised working life in the city.

Dev and Hannah are in a relationship together. Lastly, there’s

Joshua, again, another name I don’t like. I prefer Ollie. Basically, this guy is a bit more exciting and free-spirited than Dev. I think Joshua is a little less-self aware, and this appeals to the less self-aware parts of Hannah. There’s a natural chemistry between the two of them. They had a brief fling in school and have always been good friends, but Joshua stayed behind while Hannah went to uni with Dev (they all went to the same school though originally). I think this is one of the main sources of conflict - a kind of jealousy love-triangle. Dev recognises this clear chemistry and grows jealous. Joshua is romantic about the coastline, coming from the country himself (where Hannah grew up) and keeps quipping 'I don’t know how anyone could live in London’. His character contradiction is that he keeps bringing up old nostalgic events and sounds little lonely. Hannah: ‘So that’s Ellen, George, Dom & Tom, Kirsty Stallidge and Rory all in different places now, that’s like the whole gang’. Joshua (with a little pain): ‘Yep, that was the gang’. Hannah: ‘So you seeing from Charlie from work now is that who you hang out with’. Joshua: ‘Yeah I mean me and Charlie have a quality time, he’s such laugh, we have had some fucking mad weekends going clubbing where the musics like *lifts his hands and makes bass noise with lips*, yeah it’s .. good.’ Momentary pause. ‘Yeah and I still see work-mates on Monday nights for football’. Crucially, is hiding the pain with an over-compensation of personality. He also is seen taking anti-depressants by Hannah. He should be written as one of my friends as I can definitely write that.

So I’ve got these ideas and there’s clearly going to be some scenes there. I kind of want the drama to culminate in a scene where Dev has gone jealousy mad and becomes a little obsessed with how the man died (he thinks it was suicide -----> why Ben? How is this at all motivated?). He has dreams of Joshua and Hannah having sex and in a hot blooded fight, pushes Joshua over the edge of the cliff. Josh falls some 100 metres and smacks against the water. Hannah and Dev can’t believe what’s just happened. After a moment of silence, Joshua surfaces, bleeding a little, miraculously having missed the rocks. I’m not entirely sure what the ending is supposed to say - they look at each other gravely realising that they all have messed up post-millenial lifestyles? Is it a commentary on the over-educated millennials? It’s all a bit bombastic, PLUS 1. Dev’s fever dreams are totally irrational and move us into psycho territory from a fairly realistic grounding. Tonally this ending is perhaps confused. It’s big but it belongs in a gradual psychological thriller. It’s also a bit Miss Marple, maybe.

Also the plot is very thin at the moment. We have a bunch of 20 somethings talking for 90 mins.

We have:

Expo and char set up, destination: Durdle-door (promise of a climax) pgs 1-10

Inciting incident - learning about past Hannah/josh fling. pg 10

We get existential talk for 10 more pages til we get to the dead guy.

Plot point 1 - dead guy. Expo about cause of death. Therefore, re-root to durdle door. (Char’s see body?)

Char’s discuss mysterious death and weird body (Eel’s coming out of mouth and anus - not a joke). Dev’s jealousy and Dev & Josh’s existential crisis developing.

Finally they get back on the coastline homestraight for durdle door. Point of no return as home-straight for durdle door takes them away from civilisation (?)

They arrive. It’s idyllic but Dev’s jealousy is at a peak.

Dev envisages them having sex.

Dev goes after Josh, pushes him over the edge of a cliff.

Josh survives narrowly.

They look at each other, broken and matured.

Obviously ending is weak, how are they matured?

Hannah passive. Conflict is within other char’s, she’s just a lens, a vessle. :/

Hannah can’t see very well, she finds out Dev is going off after Josh and there’s parallel action tension. This is tonally off the charts though, become netflix psycho-horror. Also have to be stronger motivation for Dev to want to harm Josh.

But it’s the whole Hero’s journey, God’s thumb (Holes) Heaven’s Mouth (Y Tu Mama Tambien) thing based on El Dorado I guess.

Ragrdless, it’s very cheap, it’s 3 people in a field with natural lighting (mostly) and beautiful locations.

If it’s cast right and written with sincerity, even with a weaker plot it’s worth a shot!

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lucasflanagan-blog · 8 years ago

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The Best Movies of 2016 According to Me and Only Me

I love movies. I love talking about them, talking shit about them, arguing about them and writing about them. This new blog I'm starting is my attempt to get back to basics with what I like to write about the movies I love and hate and everything else in between the highs and lows. Oscar Sunday is the perfect opportunity to discuss what I loved best about this past year. I saw many movies and still somehow seemed to miss a great deal of what I suspect might be worthwhile movies to check out. This stands as a testament to the strength of this past year -- the strongest in recent memory. But let's cut through the bs and get down to it.

First off, I want to highlight how strong a year this was for the horror genre. Something happened and horror movies -- a whole mess of them -- delivered in a legit way. Cooties was the best horror comedy I've seen since Shaun of the Dead. Rainn Wilson ruled nearly every minute of that movie. Adam Wingard did some interesting things with The Blair Witch and while that movie didn't entirely work, it's still a nice entry on Wingard's resume. The same goes for James Wan with The Conjuring 2. Not perfect but still a solid movie. 10 Cloverfield Lane and Green Room might not exactly be horror movies but they both slipped into the genre rather nicely while never being hampered by traditional genre trappings. The Mind's Eye was an extremely weird and crazy as shit little telekinesis movie. The Witch was a terrific exercise in slow building dread while still hiding so much more underneath the surface. Light's Out and Don't Breathe were, on the surface, more traditional fare but over delivered in every conceivable way. Specifically, Don't Breathe which always zigged when you expected a zag. Lastly, The Autopsy of Jane Doe and I'm not saying anything else about this movie except: SEE THIS MOVIE! There is one more horror movie to talk about but it nearly snuck into my top ten and will thus be discussed in this next section.

Now, getting closer to the main course. In trying to pare down to a top ten, I was shocked at how many movies I was originally considering. This speaks to two things: How many great movies I saw this year and how close some of them were for me. Dr. Strange is definitely the craziest Marvel movie I've seen to date. Lion surprised me with how touched I was by what, on the surface, was a traditional, sappy, awards-bait story. Dev Patel was magnificent in showing the turmoil of going twenty-five years without finding your way home. Hidden Figures was the feel good movie of the year. Fences was crushing and while imperfect in it's pacing and constant tendency toward monologues, which is never great to watch on screen as opposed to seeing it live, the highs were really, REALLY high. Hacksaw Ridge was Mel Gibson's most complete effort as a director since Braveheart and while pretty standard, it was still a handsome production. The Lobster was definitely not for everyone and I'll definitely not be able to recommend it to anyone I know but for me, it totally worked. I found this movie hilarious at times. Is something wrong with me? Don't answer that. Next up is The Wailing, a Korean horror movie about...well, it's a Korean horror movie. It's about the Devil? Maybe? Whatever, the movie was nuts in all the best ways.

This next group of movies is still in the same boat but were either made by some of my favorite directors or based on or part of something else I adore. Nicolas Winding Refn is a polarizing figure. I find the man to be a genius behind the lens and The Neon Demon felt like him summing up his career to this point while still projecting how he feels about the industry in general. Everybody Wants Some was marketed as a spiritual successor to Dazed and Confused and while that's a fairly accurate tag, the movie speaks more to the bonds of friendship and new love. Linklater is as good a filmmaker as there is working today. Everything he does just works for me. I feel like we speak the same film language. The Jungle Book surprised me. Rudyard Kipling is one of my favorite authors but this movie didn't look special to me in any way upon it's release. Word of mouth led me to an eventual viewing and I was stunned. It's one of the most useful applications of CGI I've ever seen in a movie. Nailed it. Oh Rogue One. I really don't know how this didn't make my top ten list. I love Star Wars and this easily ranks as the third best Star Wars movie ever. The best depiction of Darth Vader ever. Holy shit. Midnight Special made me cry. Hard. On an airplane. In front of a lot of strangers. Michael Shannon is in the discussion of greatest actors of his generation and kills it in this movie. Joel Edgerton has quickly become one of my new favorites and Jeff Nichols is the best filmmaker in the business right now. And finally, the final movie to JUUUUUUST miss making the cut. Arrival. Awesome, quiet, meditative movie and when the pieces of it's puzzle finally fall into place, you're left stunned in the best possible way. And next up for Denis? The Blade Runner sequel. Get psyched.

And now for my top ten. (Note: The top three movies were so close and are constantly playing leap frog. As I'm writing this, I still don't know which is going to be number one for me. And yes, I know it's February and nearly March. Don't look here for sense.)

10. THE HANDMAIDEN

Chan-wool Park is a madman. His movies are impeccably designed, ultra violent and perverse as hell. This one was no different. Easily the most gorgeous film of the year and full of twists, innovations, titillation and drama. I respect it more than I love it but I respect the living shit out of this movie.

9. DEADPOOL

Unlike any superhero movie we've yet seen. Violent, sexually deviant, foul-mouthed in the most horrible way but also smart, superbly written, hilarious, violent, sexually deviant and foul-mouthed in the most horrible way. Deal with it prudes.

8. THE INVITATION

Ahhhh The Invitation. The most contested movie of the year in my house. My wife hated it which killed me a bit. It'll undoubtedly be brought up in our divorce proceedings. Karyn Kusama reminded me of Hitchcock in this movie. Actually, the best ode to Hitchcock since the man himself. She is now on my list of directors whom I see no matter what. What's it about? Who cares? Karyn Kusama directed it.

7. THE NICE GUYS

Shane Black is a legend. How did this movie get ignored this awards season? Not even for it's script? Maybe the tightest script of the year. For sure, the best dialogue. Gosling and Crowe should spend the rest of their careers working with each other. Amazing movie.

6. NOCTURNAL ANIMALS

Another on the list of: HOW DID THIS MOVIE GET IGNORED? Tom Ford is carving out a hell of a place for him in Hollywood. A Single Man was amazing and now with Nocturnal Animals, I suspect studios will be hot after Mr. Ford. Also, how can you go wrong with the three best actors working today in the same movie? Shannon, Gylenhall, and Adams all crush here. Such a nasty slice of noir. We haven't seen noir willing to go full noir like this in a long time. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw one willing to be pitch black like Nocturnal Animals. I love when filmmakers don't give a shit about what an audience might think or like and just go out and make a fucking movie.

5. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

This is a tough one. It's also another movie that is hard to recommend because it's so soul crushingly sad. But it's also funny and somehow life affirming. It's a great piece of character writing and solid directing by Kenneth Lonergan. Michelle Williams continues to be excellent while Casey Affleck continues to be the best Affleck. Anyone else wondering what Live By Night would have been with Casey playing the lead?

4. 20TH CENTURY WOMEN

And again another member of the WHERE IS THE LOVE CLUB. Mike Mills wrote the best script of the year. I'm willing to debate but there is really no debate. This was the best written movie of the year. Mills is an amazing talent. And then he went and cast so many people I love. Billy Crudup is great. Greta Gerwig, my wife now understands why I have such a crush on her. She is impossibly cool. Elle Fanning is going to be one of the biggest stars in the world very, VERY soon. Remember that. And finally, Annette Benning has never been better. She was robbed! And this is where things get messy/interesting/crazy/nonsense-y?

3. HELL OR HIGH WATER

Whoah. This movie was number one on my list for a very long time. Ben Foster gave one of my favorite performances of the year. Jeff Bridges was funny and badass at the same time and Chris Pine was incredibly authentic as a man willing to put literally everything on the line for his family. This was noir and a western at the same time and that ain't easy to pull off. Impeccably written and basically told two separate stories about varying degrees of brotherhood at the same time while still having plenty to say about the haves and have-nots. About ownership, not only about tangible things but also about one's life. I have a brother who'd I'd rob banks for and maybe that's why this movie spoke to me so sweetly but I loved it all the same.

2. LA LA LAND

This was the most inspiring movie of the year for me. I loved every second of it and maybe down the road this will be remembered by me as the best. I don't know, I have yet to receive my time machine. Gosling is as charismatic as actors get and ditto for Emma Stone. They're both likable nearly to the point of annoyance. Chazelle is a great writer and even better director. He allows his movies to breathe while still managing to fill them to the brim. It's a high wire act few can pull off.

#1 MOONLIGHT

This one was just different. I've never seen anything quite like Moonlight. It's the movie which stuck with me the longest after seeing it. I saw it over a month ago and not a day goes by without me thinking about it. The story is timeless and new at the same time. The way Barry Jenkins shot this movie feels revolutionary to me. Everything was shot in hyper color and then drab. Things shoot into and out of focus. It's like seeing a movie with all of your senses. Mahershala Ali gave my favorite performance of the entire year. He was nothing short of extraordinary. Everything about this movie was extraordinary. I liked it upon leaving the theater. I liked it more the following day. I loved it a few days later. And where Hell or High Water and La La Land were, in many ways, equally extraordinary, they were maybe just the best versions of their respective genres that we've seen in years. Moonlight defied genre to just be unforgettable.

Enjoy the show everybody.

RIP Bill Paxton.

Love each other.

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