#also like pedro pascal is a grown working man in his 40s (?)

[lesbinewren]

mando stan behavior is so cringeworthy like god forbid we give any credit to mando's stunt doubles or acknowledge their contributions of being on set, especially when stand in actors and stunt doubles are often overlooked. everything has to be about pedro and if the stunt actors happen to acknowledge one another on social media that's perceived as them leaving out pedro or some nonsense. had to block those unhinged posts, these people are too much.

no it’s absolutely ridiculous and especially taking it as a slight against pedro when he himself has credited them for doing a lot of the on-set work! honestly ive really loved how the mando cast/crew acknowledges the body actors and stunt doubles when that is so frequently something productions try to cover up and give all the credit to their big name. to act like people giving them credit without also heaping praise on pedro every time is some kind of slight is crazy to me.

it’s also delusional how much they fight against the idea that pedro hasn’t been on set much, especially in this last season, when everyone affirms thats the case. almost every time katee talks about stuff happening behind the scenes she says brendan, because that’s who she worked with the most! it’s not a conspiracy against pedro (bc why would they do that???) its just a fact that most of the on-set work is no longer done by him- and that’s fine! james earl jones and david prowse did vader that way, and both deserve credit for how his voice and body language came together to create the character. i think we should accept that din djarin has never been a character embodied by one actor in a way a lot of others are, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

[bethagain]

Meta and spoilers for TBoBF S1 E5 ahead.

Been thinking about the level of craft that goes into creating Din Djarin as a character.

Opening scene of TBoBF Ch. 5, my immediate reaction is not “Yikes, very scary man doing deeply violent things for basically no reason.”

It’s, “Oh dear. He really needs a hug.”

What makes that happen?

I’m still figuring out the the inner workings of the writing. More on that later, probably, when I have fully formed thoughts.

Right now, can we talk about how Pedro Pascal does Din's voice?

As a writer, I can hear dialogue in my head and write it down, but I don’t think I could make the sounds come out of my mouth right if you paid me a million dollars to practice. So—what is he doing, exactly, and why does it work so damn well?

How does he manage to make Din sound childlike and like a fully grown adult at the same time? The adult part, I think, is this: He doesn’t rush his speech, no matter the situation Din has gotten himself into. He also doesn’t stumble, and he doesn’t pause to search for words. (Except for the very intentional change-up in that one scene on Morak.) It implies both confidence and competence.

But then, there’s the thing with the thank yous. Quiet and earnest and prompt, like a well behaved child among grown-ups. And the way he tends to pronounce words so carefully, using all the consonants and vowels. As if Din’s not quite comfortable with them yet (even though he’s presumably been speaking Basic for, what, 40-something years).

I think inflection is a key part of what’s happening, too. It’s not that the tone and volume don’t vary, but it’s subtle. Small differences from one word or phrase to the next. On one level that makes Din sound tough—I don’t need to expend energy on you. But there’s something Pedro does with it, that I’m still trying to figure out, that also makes him sound tired. I don’t have any energy left to spend on you.

I don’t know, I don’t usually think this hard about the craft of acting, but I’m really impressed.

If any actors out there have better insight, bring it on. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[watching-movies-alone]

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) - Review & Reactions

🚨🚨SPOILERS!(duh)🚨🚨

Wonder Woman 1984, directed by Patty Jenkins, written by Jenkins along with Geoff Johns, and Dave Callaham, is the sequel-not-sequel to the pretty successful 2017 Wonder Woman (IMDb gave it a 7.4/10). While directed by the same person, this one just didn’t quite hit the mark. 

ONCE AGAIN! Spoilers. 

We open on Themyscira, the land of the Amazons, and the birth place of protagonist Diana. In this, Diana is a child, and competing alongside fully-grown and trained Amazons in an extremely cool obstacle course. 

One of many shots of feet in the movie... was I the only one uncomfortable in these scenes? What is the purpose?

Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybeleen--Maybelline-- fuck it, you know where I’m getting at.

From an intensely riveting opening giving way to an almost cringe-inducing fight scene, I was a bit concerned as to where Wonder Woman 1984 would go. 

We get to see some awesome new characters, with Pedro Pascal taking on the role of Max Lord, and Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva. I’m very pleased to say that all of the actors involved did magnificently, and the costuming and makeup departments were superb. 

A lot of backstory was explained with just a few shots, this one included of Diana Prince visiting Trevor Ranch (love-interest Steve Trevor’s family) some time after the War, his watch in front of it.

For all of it’s missteps, Wonder Woman 1984 is overall a pretty okay movie. However! There are quite a few missteps. 

There are a lot of really beautiful shots, and well-executed scenes. Yet, out of the nearly two and a half hours, I’d say maybe two hours are decent. I have a lot of respect for the commentary the movie makes on women in society, and the prevalence of harassment that extends to the present day, but sometimes, this got preachy. 

(Spoilers, again.)

In the movie, we see Kristen Wiig’s character Barbara go from the socially awkward, yet charming, girl to a badass without independent personality. This in and of itself is quite the fall, and the movie was written for this to happen in the way that it did, so there is no reason to knock Wiig for the excellent job she did at working with the script she was given, even if said script could pass for the writings of a semi-coked-up person getting a bit carried away.

I’d like to point out that the incidents of harassment that both Diana and Barbara face are by no means rarities: I’ve noticed more movies addressing this, even briefly, such as in Birds of Prey (2019). This is a good step going forwards, as Hollywood is no stranger to harassment incidents, and this needs to be remedied.

Now back to the movie: Wiig’s character is harassed while walking alone at night, and Diana comes to the rescue. This is a pivotal point in the film, as it makes Barbara even more awestruck by Diana, and she wishes to be ‘like Diana’ when she holds the Wishing Stone thing. Of course, she had no idea that the Diana Prince she knew was also the Wonder Woman saving civilians in shopping malls. She has her ‘glow up’ -- handled quite well -- incrementally, rather than a Spider-Man-esque “I woke up absolutely shredded” moment. 

A few things I really liked about Barbara’s transformation: it was explained why she didn’t need her glasses anymore (something along the lines of “I’ve been reading so much I’ve fixed my eyesight!”), the sense of style is absolutely killer, and seeing Barbara open up socially was fantastic. 

The stuff that wasn’t too great: her personality went totally into the ground, her morals were lost, and she forgot who she was before, desperately clinging onto her newfound powers and status.

Now let’s talk about Max Lord, the other new character and main(?) antagonist of the film.

First thing’s first: I adore Pedro Pascal. 

Secondly, the character he plays is disgustingly familiar. While staying true to the Comics, he also was heavily influenced by 80s pop culture and figures such as Nicholas Cage, as cited by the cast, as well as having an eerily-Trumpian vibe to him. From the hair to the self-absorbed, one-track minded personality, to the estrangement from morals, it’s pretty fair to draw the comparisons. 

Yet, the main drive for Lord was to set up his son, Alistair, for a good future, not wanting him to think his father was a “loser,” and wanting his son to be proud that he was his son. 

This is refreshing because Lord really, really did care about his son, although he did get lost off of the deep end in trying to make himself ‘Great’ (yikes) Enough to take care of them both.

His ‘redemption’ at the end is nice, but good god that scene was uncomfortable to watch. Not in a ‘this is really upsetting because it’s upsetting material’-type uncomfortable, but in a ‘wow this is preachy and soppy as hell, am I being shown Be A Good Person propaganda?’-type uncomfortable. 

My main issues come from the monologues. Not gonna lie. 

I love a good monologue, they’re pretty hard to write, and harder to bring to life. And while I love Gal Gadot’s voice, I hate the words. Off of the top of my head, I can remember at least three monologues: the opening one, the one she gives as Max Lord is Doing His Thing, and I’m pretty sure there was one as she runs away from her meatsack-possessing dead boyfriend. 

La La Land, anyone?

Also a side note, just because you have a lot of material to use, does not mean that you have to use as much as you can fit in. A lot of scenes could have been cut short, and some shots could have been removed entirely and the movie would have conveyed the same messages with less of a door-to-door religion recruiter vibe. 

It was a fun watch, but I wouldn’t pay ticket prices for it, and I sure as hell wouldn’t go to a theatre in the middle of a pandemic to watch any movie, least of all this one. 

Had this been thirty to forty five minutes shorter, it would’ve gotten a whole letter grade higher. 

Cinematography: 70

Screenplay: 40 (had a few gems)

Delivery: 80

Average: 63.33% D-

IMDb gave it a 5.7/10, Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 62%, and Metacritic gave it an outstanding 59%

Stay safe kiddos.

For those who have experienced sexual assault: you are not alone, the hotline is +1(800)656-4673 

[dr-drckken]

Andrew Lipsky’s Back To School Look: First Day of High School (1997)

1. Oversized Blue Blazer:  Overall, I took a lot of inspo from the 90′s era, obviously. Because he was in high school during the end of the 90′s and the beginning of the 2000′s. BUT he was also 12 years old when he was a freshman. Hence the blazer. I think he would have wanted to appear older than he was in order to fit in among the crowd. Instead of helping him though, the blazer, and over articles of clothing, just made him stand out more lmao. Because he REALLY wanted to look grown up on his first day and his mother didn’t have a lot of money, she had to go find something. It didn’t fit him, but since baggy was in, he thought it would fine!! It was not!! 

2. Baggy Black Jeans:  He wanted some kinda pants that weren’t jeans but, again, no money and they blew it all on the blazer so he went with his nicest pair of jeans. And they were dark, so they fit the aesthetic he was going for, which was: I AM GROWN UP AND NOT 12 HELLO FELLOW TEENS. He thought they were cool, would make him look cool!! They were baggy and didn’t really fit right either which is why he hadn’t worn them a lot, but other than that he thought he was stylin’. 

3. Hair:  I just found this photo of bb Pedro Pascal on the internet and don’t know how old he is in it or what the time era was, but once I saw it I was like, yeah Drew would have looked like that. His mother probably went to town with a comb and water that morning to make it look nice and neat. Which worked against him since, looking back at how bitches wore their hair in the 90′s, they had more of the long hair messy look going on. So his conservative nerdy, swept look made him stick out among the masses. 

4. Oversized White Shirt:  Again, he was a little shrimpy kid trying to look like he was a 30 year old business man. He tucked that bad boy into those black jeans and thought he was on top of the WORLD fashion wise. He pulled out a white shirt from the men’s section and it was TOO big but he wanted it so his mother got it for him because she loved her son and this was clearly important to him. It DID have a stain that he spent a few days beforehand trying to get out, and he did for the most part, there was only a vague outline of it that you could see if you were like LOOKING for it. Of course, the kids he went to school with WERE looking for anything they could to make fun of him for and they clocked it right away. 

5. Black Tie:  Still on his mission to go to school looking his best, he knew he needed a tie. He thought it was THEE accessory that all men needed in order to appear like a grown up. So his mother went around the lil apartment building they had and asked if anyone had one they could spare for the day, and lots of people came forward with some but he didn’t want any of the goofy patterns or bright colors, he wanted to be an aDULT, so when someone finally showed up with a black tie with no weird designs on it, just plain black, he was like SCORE!! 

6. Beat up backpack: This was a hand-me-down he got upon his first-first day of school, back in the elementary days before the teachers caught on to his level of intellect and let him skip grades. It was his best buddie!! He carried with him everywhere, not just to school, but during the summer too because he went to the library to bring back books and stuff. He thought it was great and loved it a lot, up until he walked into school and people made fun of him for having a bag that looked like it was falling apart. 

7. Nike’s:  You guessed it, more hand-me-down’s. He only had one pair of shoes and these were it. They were in the bargain bin and their soles weren’t that worn down so his mother got them for him and he was really into them because Nike was big and everyone was wearing sneakers, and he was really into Back to the Future so he thought he was channeling Marty McFly’s coolness when he wore them. 

8. Prescription Glasses:  What was more marking of a nerd than someone who wore giant glasses that covered like 40% of the real estate on their face? The big wire frames had been the cheapest ones the place offered, so of course that’s what he had gotten. He always knew they were something kids could make fun of him for since it was like the easiest and lowest hanging fruit. They had been broken before but he had fixed them with tape, so they were even MORE noticeably nerd-esk. But he knew it was either wear them or look at splotches all day, and that wouldn’t work when trying to LEARN, so he begrudgingly wore them and it all went down hill from there. 

9. Canvas Belt:  Sticking on brand for wanting to appear older, and because his jeans didn’t fit totally but his mother bought those knowing he WOULD eventually grow into them, so he had to get a belt if he didn’t want to be holding onto his pants for the whole day lmao. But the only belt available to him was this kinda belt. Everything else was too big for his 12 year old waist. No leather, no nice weightyness, just canvas with a buckle. He was disappointed with it, but since his jeans were black too he didn’t think anyone would notice. ... they did. 

10. Pocket Protector:  To add injurt to insult, once he had the white shirt he wanted to have his supplies AT THE READY because he thought high school was going to be his time to SHINE BABY! So he went and got himself a pocket protector because he didn’t want to risk dirtying the white shirt he was so very proud of. It was hidden by the blazer, but when he took that off during class, because welcome to texas where it’s either hot or cold and the beginning of the school year is still warm, everyone saw it and it pretty much cemented his status as the nerdiest kid in the school.