#also she has unique blades in this costume! they are really pretty and detailed with gold!

[dreamyblanket]

My Caramel arrow :] she is well loved ♡

[thearkhound]

Tsubasa Masao on Metal Gear Acid character designs

Source: Postscript of MGA (waybacked)

The following is a translation of five blog posts made by Metal Gear Acid character designer Tsubasa Masao for the now-defunct “Postscript of MGA” blog, where he provides commentary on the designs he provided for the game. Most of the images were thankfully preserved by the waybacked version, except for the ones on the fourth blog post, which were taken from the still active gallery page from the official Metal Gear Acid 2 website. I’ve moved Tsubasa’s commentary of Snake’s main weapon of choice in MGA into the first section regarding for better flow and also added a model sheet of Snake from MGA2′s official gallery, since the sub-section looked odd without any images..

Solid Snake

The first thing we talked about Snake was wanting to change the impression that people had of him up until now, which resulted in the long-haired Snake we see in this game. Thinking about it now, perhaps it was better if we had kept usual hairstyle. As for his costume, we decided at the earliest stage to keep his usual sneaking suit from previous games, so it is what it is.

We had a request from Mr. Shinkawa to make the XM8 into Snake’s main weapon in the game. It’s a gun with quite a unique appearance, as you would know if you had seen the original. On the illustration we added a lot of over-the-top extra parts to the gun, but in retrospect I think it would had been better if we had left it as it is.

Teliko Friedman

Teliko was the first character we designed for Metal Gear Acid. Since even the scenario was still in its tentative stages, I couldn’t quite grasp an image for her yet.

For the face I was told to make her look like a “female Rambo or something like an Uma Thurman type.” I wasn’t too crazy about doing a female Rambo and wondered about what I should do, which is how I ended up with the design we’re seeing here. I was conscious of Uma Thurman’s role in Pulp Fiction at the time. She had a sort-of coquettish feeling, don’t you think?

Since I don’t like loose-fitting military clothing, I decided to make her silhouette tightly around her body. Afterward, I thought about the character’s stance and came up with the sneaking suit style.

A new-type of sneaking suit.

Built-in muscle strengtheners in one part that increases speed and strength.

 A new-type of bullerproof inner wear made by the U.S. Army. Protective clothing consisting of aramid fiber soaked with polyethylene glycol.

And so on.

Model sheets for Teliko Friedman. There are gimmicks not shown in the game such as stun knuckles and muscle strengtheners.

I wanted her gun holster to flutter on her character model’s hip while she moved, but we abandoned that due to the small screen size of the PSP unit.

As for the coloring, since she was being paired with Solid Snake, we decided to dress her in a brighter color to contrast with Snake’s black sneaking suit.

Teliko was designed to be a very typical heroine, so we thought it would be best if she didn’t have too many idiosyncrasies.

What do you think?

Roger McCoy

He’s the character who supports Snake and Telico in this game. We wanted him to have a very different outward appearance from Colonel Campbell.

We experimented with various patterns such as an elderly version of Roger or a black version of Roger, before we settled on the finalized design.

We didn’t have any particular aim with his concept, but we thought it would be better if he was more intense than previous versions of the Colonel character.

Afterward, I wanted his silhouette to have a peculiar characteristic, so I decided to give him a crippled leg and a cane to walk with. (I don’t know if this is reflected in the game though).

Rough sketch for Roger McCoy. Instead of a suit, he originally wore a military uniform.

Alice Hazel

I was ordered to make a pretty girl with ESP abilities. I was told that she has a personality that clashes with Snake’s, so I drew her in a sassy matter, but then I changed her to be more unemotional, or rather coldhearted.

For her attire I thought just having her wear a school uniform would be too plain, so I gave her a bomber jacket atop her blazer, which she received from Roger. The gun she wields on the second half of the story is hidden inside her jacket.

Since the characters in Acid are involved in a story where they’re either, manipulating someone or being manipulated by someone, I have her holding a doll as a hint that’s she pulling the strings from behind. Originally it was going to be a ventriloquist doll, but that would had been too obvious.

Alice’s initial design. “I thought she should be wearing glasses like Tommy February. I liked how it came out, but I had to redo her design after they decided to go into another direction.”

Alice’s finalized design. You can see the direction of the character took a 180 degrees turn. The characteristic doll remained until the end.

Lt. Leone

It was settled that he would be a “retro soldier”, “have the physique of a bear” and “wields an anti-tank rifle.” Based on those ideas, we decided that his gear should be vintage. But was this really the image of an old-fashioned soldier?

After that we wanted to make his silhouette stand out, so we had him wear a cloak on one side. This cloak takes the form of a Ghillie suit so that it could stand out when he moves rapidly during hand-to-hand combat.

His image was set in stone in the very early stages, so there weren’t any particularly big changes made afterward. By the way, in the international versions they added a voice clip of him chanting “pansies! pansies!, which made him stand out even more.

The left image is an early rough sketch. The right image is a proportion specification designed for reference. “In regards to his body shape, I didn’t want him to just be bigger, I wanted him to stand out as a giant even without the contrast.”

Colored model sheet for Leone. His systematic characteristics and clothing are established to the minuet detail.

From Leone’s model sheet. He was drawn with a fighting image and it seems he was initially expected to have close quarter attacks.

From Leon’s model sheet. The initial character image is almost completed at this stage. His kick attack was rejected due to limitations with the character model and such.

Elsie & Frances

Originally they were supposed to be characters who lived in VR space. But when the scenario changed during the middle of development, they were no longer virtual characters, but ventriloquist dummies who exists in the real world. Out of all the characters, I think they’re the ones who had their image changed the most from the early stages.

Their manipulating strings are established to be wires that could be attached to the walls or ceilings (like a spider’s cobweb), so that the dummies could be controlled from a distance.

We wonder if we made their relevance apparent in the miscellaneous cutscenes.

Finalized design for Elsie and Frances. Shown here is Frances, the elder of the two sisters. Elsie, the younger sister, has a cracked face and a speech impediment.

William L. Fleming (aka Gary Murray)

The boss character of this entry. Since he was established to be an excessive neat freak, he wears a fancy brand name suit under his shabby coat. His shoes are also shiny brand names. His coat is tainted with the oil fluids for Metal Gear KODOQUE.

Since it was said that there was going to be a cutscene where he shoots a gun, he was given a belt under his coat, which is equipped with a gun holster during his Fleming persona.

Originally he was established to be a middle aged man, but since he was going to be a boss character, he ended up looking quite younger than he was intended to be. Because of story reasons, he was a difficult character to make him look unique with his clothing, so we were concerned in making him stand out.

In fact, we had the idea of outfitting him with a powered suit similar to the one worn by Solidus and having him directly confront Snake and Teliko. Mr. Shinkawa gave me various ideas, such as “give him a METAL BLADE!” But because complications with the story, those ideas were abandoned.

Model sheet of William L. Flemming. There are detailed notes such as the differences between his true self and his Gary Murray persona. It seems there were plans to have him directly engage Snake and Teliko.

La Clown

La Clown’s backstory is that of an “assassin who specializes in disguises and hypnotism.” Because of this, the character’s design doesn’t differ much from Telico’s. For the illustrations, La Clown’s proportions were changed in subtle ways.

Line art illustration of La Clown

Enemy Soldiers

The jobbers of Metal Gear Acid. The small fry soldiers. This time they wear desert camouflage, giving them a middle eastern atmosphere. Perhaps they have a dusty unfashionable image.

The model sheets of the enemy soldiers. The first sheet is a soldier from Leone’s unit. The second is a member of the Genetics Army. The designs of the enemy soldiers this time are based on MGS2, since it’s set in a similar period.

Model sheet of the Genetics Soldier. “Because it is an equipment for measuring data, there are stuff like experimental cords and labels attached to it.”

Changes in Concepts

Initially the concepts we got from the scenario were horror and suspense. Specifically there would be ghost characters that would appear in key scenes, the boss characters were going to be cyborgs who served Fleming, and so on...

After days and months have passed (or maybe it wasn’t that long), the horror aspect became more downplayed and the scenario was changed to a more suspenseful one in all aspects. The colors red and black are used a lot by many characters in general, but that was actually a remnant from the early stages when the horror aspect was more emphasized.

Although MGS served as the basis, there were many twists and turns in the art designs. Because of the lack of flexibility in the development schedule, I was concerned about keeping the Metal Gear world in place while somehow giving Acid its own color. After all, the world Metal Gear is quite deep.

Model sheet of Minette Donnell. “Because she’s a malicious girl, she wears deep red.”

Rough character designs from the early stages of development. The first character is Dr. Flemming and the second is Senator Viggo. “Originally Viggo Hach was just an old man who suddenly became rich.”

More initial designs. The first is a member of the FPH. The second is the Genetics Soldier Boss. “The Genetics Boss would’ve been an underling of Flemming who would’ve supervised the other Genetics Soldier. He would’ve covered his whole body with armor-like muscle strengtheners.”

More rough designs of boss characters. They too were also underlings of Dr. Flemming. The first design looks like a bee woman with poisonous attacks, while the second looks like a giant man with sludge attacks.

See Also

Metal Gear Acid 1 & 2 Gallery

[toyswithtude]

The new Marvel Legends Magik figure is a Walgreen’s Exclusive. If you’ve followed this blog at all, you’ll know I rarely come across exclusives in stores. However, Magik ended up being an exception.  I went in to see if they had The Thing and walked out with Magik.

As much as I’d like to say “that’s what she said,” no woman has ever said that in regards to me or my genitals.

Also of note, my Figuarts Episode IV Obi-Wan review has been done since July and is just waiting for me to take pictures. So what did I do? I got my photo booth set up and started taking pictures that are not of Obi-Wan. I promise it should arrive just in time for it to not matter anymore.

When I write a review for a figure, I usually know a lot about the character. With Magik, or Illayna Rasputin, I knew the bare minimum. I knew she was Piotr‘s sister. I knew she was a member of the original, Magento led New Mutants (or did she leave before that? I guess that’s one less thing I know). I think she hung out with Warlock at one point.

Annnnnnd that’s it.

So I did some research.

If you’re curious, you can look here. However, if you just want a summation, here is one: Holy convoluted nightmare, Batman. She’s Piotr’s sister. She’s a queen or a witch in Limbo. She has less power when she is not in Limbo. She has a soul sword. She’s dead thanks to the Legacy virus. Whoops, now she’s alive. She has an evil twin that resides in her. But then it isn’t evil. Except it’s evil. I just can’t keep up. This is the kind of stuff that kept me from reading the New Mutants when they first hit racks, and it hasn’t aged well enough to make me want to revisit any of the stories.

Fortunately, I am not reviewing the character, I am reviewing the figure. Let’s get started, Nerd Lords.

What’s in the Marvel Legends Magik Box?

Since the Marvel Legends Magik is a Walgreen’s Exclusive, she has no BAF packed in with her. Don’t weep for her, though. Much like Gwenpool, she has so many accessories that you feel like you’re getting something special for your $22.

You get the figure itself, two swords (I don’t know if they are both different versions of the Soul Blade or two unique swords), and four magic effects. Two of them are repaints from the Toys R’ Us exclusive Scarlett Witch and one of them looks like the lightning effect from the Thor Ragnorak figure. The 4th is attached to one of the swords. It looks like the flame effect packed in with Typhoid Mary from the Monster Venom wave. You also get a red flaming skull (no idea how this is relevant to the character) and a tiny red dragon that appears to be a repaint of Kitty’s Lockheed.

Again, no idea what the relevance is here, but I am also not going to turn down a flaming red skull and baby blood dragon.

I’m about that life.

Finally, you get an alternate “spellcasting” hand when she isn’t holding one of her 97 swords.

This looks pretty stellar.

There is some nice detail on these boots.

Magik butt.

Ala-kazah hands.

She got thigh gap in her thigh gap, tho.

What doesn’t work with the Marvel Legends Magik?

The Marvel Legends Magik is a female character and as such, toy manufacturers still don’t know how to make a female figure with the same articulation as their male counterparts that can stand on its own without balance issues.

The Marvel Legends Magik figure, like her comic counterpart, has a “magic” armor on her left arm (reminds me of Witchblade, but I THINK Illayna was first). The single jointed elbow on the left arm, combined with the bulk of the thicker armored body part, makes for a frustrating posing experience. As does the single jointed knees.

Mine had some really rough paint apps. Especially on the red X on her sleeve.

The paint on that X bums me out.

Since I am not that acquainted with the character, I would have rather had her in her New Mutants uniform, but that is simply because I am familiar with that outfit.

What works with the Marvel Legends Magik?

I mentioned the costume on the Marvel Legends Magik figure, but as little as I know about this dominatrix outfit, I like it. I was also surprised by the range of motion in her right, non-armored elbow.

Her accessories are top notch and I think they did a good job on the face sculpt.

“Hey, big brother.”

“Da, hello, little one.”

Here’s a flaming red skull. Thanks, Hasbro!

This is my dragon. There are many dragons like it, but this is mine.

Should you buy Marvel Legends Magik?

She still has a low aftermarket price and I found her, so obviously she’s out there in mass quantities. Therefore, there are no issues with availability.

If you have Colossus already, it makes sense to pick up his sister. If you have a mutant shelf, of course, you need her. If you have a New Mutant display, you’re probably a serial killer. That aside, you’ll want her for that display.

If none of those things apply to you, and you’ve let your Illayna Rasputin Fan Club membership lapse, this is an easy pass for you.

If you want to pick her up, you can grab her here:

Amazon

eBay

Want more pics? Me too!

If you like to keep it in the family, today we look at Colossus' little sister, Magik. If you like flaming skulls and dragons, I have a figure for you. #marvellegends #magik #xmen The new Marvel Legends Magik figure is a Walgreen's Exclusive. If you've followed this blog at all, you'll know I rarely come across exclusives in stores.

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: The Spice Melange

It’s been a year since Dune was supposed to release and the bug ruined everything. So many flicks have been pushed back or have suffered at the box office because people refuse to do right by each other over actual stupidity. I’ve waited patiently and finally, after what seemed like forever, i get to see this f*cking glory for myself. I’ve heard great things about it, the buzz is substantial, but i also know that Deni Villaneuve is super hard to penetrate for the casual viewer and Frank Herbert writes the densest of sh*t. A lot of critics enjoyed what was presented but i don’t know if a general audience will have the wherewithal to tolerate the run time or content. Either way, i saw it and i got opinions about it so let’s get into that sh*t!

The Outstanding

Immediately you’re hit with the overwhelming beauty of this film. Dune is as gorgeous as Blade Runner 2049 and i say that knowing i hold Deni’s sequel in exceptionally high regard. This f*cking movie is a straight up feat for the eyes and i so rich, it’ll make you fat.

The realization of Herbert’s world is fantastic. It’s been years since I've read the novels but, from what i remember, Deni has done a fantastic job adaptation what was on the page, to the screen. I can’t comment if it translates the book very well but it definitely makes the overwhelming detail of Herbert’s novel, incredibly compelling and easily digestible. That, alone, is a whole ass feat because Doom is not kind to passive readers.

On a similar note, i have to give a very approving nod toward the overall aesthetic of this world. Every faction has a distinct look, a distinct feel, and it’s fantastic to see. From costumes to architecture to tech; All of it has a very unique feel to each of the principal clans. It really reminds me of what Jordokowsky had planned for his Dune. We’ll never get to see that ac id trip caught on film, but Deni has his own vision and it came together swimmingly.

The sound design is exceptional. This sh*t is as important as the overall look. Seriously, take this soundtrack away from this film and it’s so much less. Probably still good but nowhere near as great as it could have been. Honestly, this score is everything. I would unironically listen to it in my car with no hesitation.

Denis Villeneuve really did his thing with this one. You can tell this was a passion project for him because the technical brilliance is outstanding. Deni is fantastic at his craft, dude is master, but he is legitimately in top form with this movie and it’s all the more for it.

The Great

I love the writing in this flick. Frank Hubert’s original novel is a monolith of content. That sh*t is disgustingly dense and super hard for casuals to penetrate. The writing in this film has done a decent job of condensing all of that lore while keeping it pretty exciting. There aren’t many lulls in this script but it’s definitely not all action, all the time.

This cast is fantastic. I was already on board when Villeneuve was announced as director but this cast definitely sealed the deal. Oscar Issac, Dave Batista, Stellan Skarsgard, David Dastmalchian, and Zendaya Coleman all show up in force. No one gives a bad performance at all. Timothee Chalamet is good but a little disappointing in the lead, Paul Atreides. However, this is easily the best performance I've ever seen Jason Mamoa deliver. Dude really delivers as Duncan Idaho. Fantastic casting, all around.

As much praise as i have for the overall cast, it’s Rebecca Ferguson who’s the f*cking MVP. It might be Chalamet’s story but but this is Ferguson’s film, for sure. Ferguson steals every scene she’s in as Paul’s witchy mother, Lady Jessica. There is a sadness to Ferguson’s that belies a heated passion and violence which bubbles just under the surface. I’ve been a fan of hers for years and this performance just validates my adoration because, holy sh*t, she makes this film.

The Good

This thing doesn’t hold your hand at all but distributes Herbert’s rather meticulous narrative in a way that makes it digestible to the common moviegoer. It’s borderline absurd how accessible this film is considering the loftiness of the source material. I know there is a lot missing, adapting a Dune film true to the content would be impossible, but i think Deni did a great job carving the necessary fat.

The pacing is exquisite. This movie is over two hours long but it never feels like it at all. There is a lot of action and very little downtime between scenes. It gets you to where the plot wants you to be, with an extreme efficiency.

The Verdict

Dune is a f*cking masterpiece. It’s the best film I've seen all year, outside of maybe The Green Knight. I can't say it's a great translation of the book so, if you're a fan of Herbert's work, directly, you might be disappointed but, as a cliff notes of that dense ass narrative, this movie nails it. Out side of the adaption stuff, as a movie itself, sh*t is cash, man. Strong ass performances, a real vision for the world, gorgeous costumes, epic set pieces, fantastic writing, brilliant direction; This is a near perfect film. The only thing, i think, holding it back was Timothee Chalamet as Paul, and even that isn’t even a complaint because he’s still decent. I thought he could have been better but dude is still good. I had an amazing time with this movie and it deserves every bit the hype it has.

[trashartandmovies]

Berlinale Film Festival 2021, Industry Event, Day 1

We all knew the 71st Berlinale would be different, but who’d have guessed we’d be given a twofer? At this point, the juries for the Competition, Encounters, Shorts, and Generations sections have all handed out their awards. These juries got to watch the films in their respective categories on the big screen. Meanwhile, the press were given the opportunity to screen these movies at home, as well as the films in the Berlinale Special, Panorama, Forum and Forum Expanded sections, as well as the six films making up the Perspektive Deutsches Kino category and episodes from the six television shows included in Berlinale Series. (The always excellent Retrospective section is only screening during the summer.) Altogether, around 150 at-home screenings were made available to the press. We had five days to watch them. I was able to watch 22 of them. This is Part One.

———

I’m sure everyone covering the festival is hoping that the Summer Special, in mid-June, will go smoothly and we’ll be able to catch at least a fraction of the movies we weren’t able to see. (For geo-blocking streaming reasons, a few films in the lineup weren’t available at all in my geo-region. Including two in the Competition: the FABIAN adaptation and Daniel Daniel Brühl’s directorial debut NEXT DOOR.) Usually, the press is given a week ahead of the festival to check out the Panorama, Forum and Generations titles. One assumes it’s so that audiences may get some recommendations on these lower-profile movies in the inevitable situation when all the high-profile films are sold out. Will this happen in the summer? Unless I missed a press release, the details around the Summer Special are still a bit vague. Rightfully so, since we’re still living in week-by-week uncertainty as far as lockdown measures go.

All we can do now is cross our fingers and hope for a chance to get a look at some of the these titles, because when presented with the challenge of covering a 150-movie lineup over just five days, you have to make some obvious decisions. I suspect many people did what I did — try to watch all the Competition titles and get in a few Encounters, Specials, some shorts and hold out hope for one or two stray Panoramas or Forums. To make matters more heartbreaking, the press screenings went like this: every morning at 7:00 AM, you’d get an impossibly long list of films to watch until 7:00 AM next morning. You’d get a few Competition titles, a few Encounters and Specials, and a deluge of films from the other categories. For many films, all you could do is look at the title, nod, and say to yourself, hopefully we’ll meet again soon, because there’s no way I can fit a sixth movie in today without losing my mind.

(Now there was a wrinkle added to this plan. Over the weekend of March 6 - 7, the press could screen the award winners that got announced on Friday. But it was difficult to try and take this into consideration in any strategic way.)

———

Like most film festivals, Berlinale usually kicks things off with a star-studded opening night movie that’s usually too mainstream for the critics. With no red carpet to be concerned with this year, that wasn’t the case. Instead, on Day One, the closest to a big movie star name was Iain Glen (Game of Thrones). Glen isn’t the lead in Tim Fehlbaum’s TIDES, shown in the Berlinale Special program, but he does play a key role as an astronaut who’s landed back on Earth, generations after human had mostly left the increasingly inhabitable planet. Humans have been living in a space colony called Kepler, but everyone ended up sterile, so missions are being sent back to Earth in the hopes that they can once again live there and get their reproductive groove back.

That’s the underlying story of TIDES, and it’s just one element that will likely feel very familiar to anyone who’s well-versed in post-apocalyptic cinema. The color palette is stark, with muted colors. The landscape is barren, this one with lots of water, rather than the desert locales of Mad Max. In fact, the notorious WATERWORLD came to mind more than once while watching TIDES. There’s even a doll in the film that looks just like Dennis Hopper’s character in that film, eye patch and everything. That little detail may be one of the most interesting things about the film.

The main character of TIDES is another astronaut, played with a committed intensity by Nora Arnezeder. She crash lands on Earth, is held captive by central casting post-apocalyptic scavengers, and eventually tries to track down a McGuffin that will let her contact Kepler and report back that there are people reproducing on Earth. Meanwhile, she also suspects that something might remain of the previous mission that was comprised of her father and Iain Glen.

The main attraction here is Fehlbaum’s use of stunning landscapes and practical locations, like a beached industrial ocean liner that serves as inspiration for one of the primary sets. The art design and costumes are all exceptional, while the acting and photography are all decent enough. But it never does much with the conspiracy it tries to entertain us with. Its attempts at being thrilling look good, but can’t help but feel like pretty standard stuff at this point. It’s worth noting that one of the film’s producers is Roland Emmerich, a man who knows a thing or two about making generic high concept action pictures. Some things, like the art design and the pleasingly diverse and international cast, set TIDES apart. But the story is far less inspired.

Faring better were the Day One Competition titles. I started with MEMORY BOX, a lively picture wherein a daughter gets to better understand her mother when a box of the mom’s old teenage diaries and correspondence ends up on their doorstep. (This mother-daughter connection is essentially the same theme that Céline Sciamma’s PETITE MAMAN covers in a different, more sci-fi, fashion.) As the daughter, living in a nice house in Montreal, digs into her mother’s old journals, scrapbooks and tape recordings, the film travels back to 1980s Beirut through the eyes of her teenage mom. It makes these trips back in time through some pretty cool moments of collage-like animation — putting scrapbook pages into motion and diving into photographs and contact sheets that come alive. Plus, the soundtrack is killer, full of lively 80s post punk like Killing Joke, The Stranglers and Blondie.

There’s romance, the trauma of war, a strong refugee story, and a poignant tale of cross-generational understanding. The kicker is that it’s very autobiographical, with the film mirroring co-director Joana Hadjithomas’s own story of corresponding with her friend in Paris while Beirut was falling down around her. These journals are backed up by old photographs taken in Beirut from the other co-director, Kahil Joreige. Like last year’s fascinating BLOODY NOSE, EMPTY POCKETS, and this year’s A COP MOVIE, Berlinale movies are continuing to find success in blurring the line between documentary and narrative fiction. The movie has a little trouble maintaining momentum all the way through, but I loved the experimentation on display here, and the unique ways it tells its story. It helps that MEMORY BOX really sticks the landing at the end.

Next up was ICH BIN DEIN MENSCH, or I’M YOUR MAN — another film, like many in recent years, interested in the ethics behind artificial intelligence and robots with emotions. Think of it as a romantic comedy version of BLADE RUNNER, or an updated version of the forgotten-by-time Ann Magnuson and John Malkovich vehicle MAKING MR. RIGHT. This one, based on a recent short story by Emma Braslavsky, is directed by Maria Schrader, who recently helmed the popular Netflix series Unorthodox (she’s also a veteran film and TV actress, from Tatort and Deutschland 86 to AIMEE & JAGUAR). Schrader continues to prove that she has a good eye for framing and storytelling. The movie doesn’t always escape the problem that many German movies continue to struggle with, which is that they often feel like a good TV movie rather than a work of cinema, but it manages better than most.

The general idea is that Maren Eggert plays Alma, a researcher who is assigned the task of spending a couple weeks with a new personal companion robot named Tom, played by the dreamy-eyed Dan Stevens. Alma is, of course, a completely rational-minded person who is happy to just get through the two weeks with as little interaction with Tom as possible. In her mind, it’s an impossibility that a piece of technology could fulfill a human being’s needs. Of course, as each day goes by, Tom continues to surprise her and wear down her defenses.

It’s a pretty well-worn story by now. The issues that get raised over the course of the movie are some that Star Trek: The Next Generation was dealing with on a regular basis (Tom is similar to Data, though Stevens doesn’t need any special contact lenses), but there are some interesting wrinkles here. Few movies have looked at this subject from the female perspective. And if there’s one that that this year’s Berlinale truly excelled at, it’s offering a wide variety of movies by female directors and/or with female leads. We’ve covered three movies that fit that criteria already, and many more will come. What’s more, Maren Eggert gives us a character who’s at an age where she’s wrestling with the question of whether or not her child-bearing days are behind her. When’s the last time Hollywood dealt with that subject? So, while Alma starts off as a very emotionally distant, academic type, and the best thing about the movie is uncovering her past and getting to understand why she has put up so many walls. I’m not sure it does much with the subject of AI or robot companions, but it does provide a charming odd-couple story and I don’t have any complaints with Eggert winning the festival’s best actress award.

The nightcap on Day One was INTEURODEOKSYEON, or INTRODUCTION, the newest film by the prolific Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo. At last year’s Berlinale, Sangsoo was also in the Competition with the excellent THE GIRL WHO RAN, and he doesn’t disappoint with INTRODUCTION. Ironically enough, if you’re unfamiliar with Hong Sangsoo and don’t know where to start — understandable given the nearly 30 films he’s directed in the past 25 years — INTRODUCTION ain’t a bad way to start. It’s not his best work, but it’s pretty damn good, and a very accessible entry-point into the man’s style and thematic interests. And it barely cracks the 60-minute mark, so you’re not committing to much.

This one ping-pongs between a young man, Youngho, and a young woman, Juwan, both trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Juwan wants to study fashion in Berlin, Youngho wants to become an actor. Both run into problems with these pursuits — some of which are out of their control. In Youngho’s case, it leads to a hilariously drunken dinner confrontation with Ki Joo-bong, who may or may not be playing a version of himself, since he’s only credited as “Old Actor.” The esteemed Korean actor Joo-bong has appeared in Park Chan-wook films, SAVE THE GREEN PLANET, as well as few of Sangsoo’s other films and some 70 other movies. In INTRODUCTION, his character is revered by every other person he meets. And his advice to Youngho is an eruptive highlight in a movie that’s otherwise pretty subtle.

Subtlety is often Sangsoo’s thing, but the emotions he leaves you with tend to be pretty strong. This is his magic. He writes very realistic, dialog-driven scenes that, on their own, are nuanced and deceptively simple. But these quiet scenes build up to an ending that makes everything come together in a profound way. Even if you’re familiar with Sangsoo’s work, INTRODUCTION may come across as slight, or a minor work in the maestro’s deep catalog, but I found it’s pleasures to be more immediate than usual. To my knowledge, no one is writing screenplays like this. The way he reveals characters, develops them, and draws connections through casual lines of dialog, sometimes nested deep within a conversation, is practically his trademark move, and it’s never not remarkable. It demands your attention and then rewards it at the end. His technique is patient, confident and hugely sophisticated. The only problem I see is that, given his track record of releasing one or two movies a year, his talent is in danger of being taken. Don’t be one of those people.

[mothermaidenclone-blog]

Blade Runner 2049 or Do Androids Dream of Gender Equality?

Just a heads up, this is a long one, turns out I have opinions-a-plenty about this one. Blade Runner 2049 did a slightly better job of representing women than its predecessor, although in the original none of the female characters are human women and the only way that any of them make it out alive is in the arms of Harrison Ford. There are twice as many named female characters in this film as compared to the original, but that’s going by the credits, I’m pretty sure one is only called “Madam” on screen and I don’t know if we ever hear the replicant prostitute’s name aloud. Also, all the women have basically a terrible time, so there’s that.

*Blade Runner 2049 spoilers follow*

Let’s start with the sole female survivor from the first film, Rachel (Sean Young in flashbacks to the original, Loren Peta as a stand in). In her first appearance she is absent from any portrayal of herself as a character - she is an anonymous skeleton, dug up in a box and examined as evidence. Later, she appears as a ghost, another replicant designed to trick Deckard (Harrison Ford) into thinking Rachel has returned. However, the imposter is a pale imitation, easily seen through and she is discarded. Rachel does not inhabit this film, she haunts it, and all of her spectres are filed or thrown away. Perhaps as the sole female replicant to possess reproductive capabilities, she was too powerful to be allowed to live. The whole purpose of having synthetic women as sexual partners is that they are disposable and guilt-free, but the possibility of conception leads to consequences. Furthermore, the ability to create life is a uniquely female power that has been stolen and commercialised by men in this universe. If Rachel can create life herself, she renders her own creator useless. Therefore she must not simply be killed but destroyed, she is erased from this story altogether.

Another woman denied control of her own story is Joi (Ana de Armas). Joi is the holographic girlfriend of K (Ryan Gosling), a replicant. She is an artificial man’s projection of what he imagines a woman to be like, without any kind of tangible body to call her own. The extent to which she even exists as any kind of character is therefore debatable. It would be different if she was an artificial intelligence, a truly sentient and unique personality, however it is strongly suggested that she’s simply a program. Adverts for Joi litter the cityscape, proclaiming that she can be, “whatever you want”. What K seems to want is a 1950s housewife to bring him burgers, as this is how we are introduced to Joi. Every action she takes is to serve K; from insisting  to go on the lam with him even though she could cease to exist, just to the police can’t extract any data from her, to hiring a prostitute to overlay herself onto so that K can pretend to have sex with her. I had so many problems with this. Firstly, this implies that women are so homogenous that you can pick any two and layer them on top of each other, it’ll be fine because apparently they’re all the exact same size and shape. It’s as though there’s just one paper doll template for all women in this world - which as these two have actually been manufactured, there might be, but there’s a huge variation in the physiology of the male replicants that we see. Additionally, Joi dismisses the prostitute, Mariette (Mackenzie Davis), by saying, “I’m done with you”, seemingly trying to emphasise that Joi is using Mariette. A woman taking advantage of a woman isn’t any better than a man doing so - is it possible for women just not to be exploited at all?

In addition to Mariette, whose name I’m not sure we even hear during the film, there are two other named female replicants; Freysa (Hiam Abbass) and Luv (Sylvia Hocks). Luv has vastly more screen time and is portrayed as capable in a variety of ways - she hosts a business meeting, flies an aircraft, pries open enormous metal doors with her bare hands and fights excellently in hand-to-hand combat. However, personality-wise, she is lacking. She seems to act as as proxy to her creator Wallace (Jared Leto). She parrots his beliefs, or one half of them anyway, as Wallace switches regularly between referring to replicants as “slaves” and “angels”, his motivations are hard to follow. She believes in replicant superiority, but other than that, she comes across as a process - a means to an end, action without any personal drive or thought behind it. The canonical excuse that replicants have been programmed to obey, and so she cannot deviate from her course to explore her character, doesn’t hold up, as K is allowed plenty of room to soul search and follow his own agenda. Furthermore, if she is made to blindly follow Wallace, why does she always look so uncomfortable when being scrutinised by him? We see her visibly flinch from his sensor bots. She is allowed only enough independence from her rail-road destiny to remind us that she is a subjugated female.

Freysa is the other prominent replicant female. She is the leader of the replicant resistance, she looks middle-aged, appears to have a spider-web network of connections and agents and therefore presumably plenty of power. Freysa seems amazing, but we see her for all of five minutes so I can’t really make much more of a judgement than that.

One final, unnamed replicant female exists in Blade Runner 2049, and she has possibly the worst deal out of everyone. We witness her birth, a private and vulnerable moment, followed by the rest of her very short life. She is squeezed, undignified and naked, from a plastic packet onto the floor, where she lies shivering and struggling for breath. There she is touched up by Wallace, who proceeds to literally wash his hands of her whilst studying her from every angle using a multitude of drones. Next, he caresses her belly, describing her womb absolutely disgustingly as, “that barren pasture, empty and salted”, before slicing her open and then, like the rotten cherry on the worst cake of all time, kissing her. I think we all get that he built an empire on literally objectifying women and subjecting them to slavery, did we need this violent reminder?

Blade Runner 2049 breaks away from the original by introducing a human woman, Lieutenant Joshi (Robin Wright), however I’m fairly certain that she’s only referred to as “Madam” in the film. Despite being human, she - like K - is robbed of a name for no real reason. She cannot simply exist as a police chief, we have to be constantly reminded, through language, that she’s a woman, despite the visual fact of her being a woman doing a pretty good job of that anyway. Is this in search of a pat on the back for having two middle-aged female characters? Whilst that is a positive, I would also like female characters to have a name and the military rank they have presumably worked hard to earn. On top of this, her death felt completely pointless. “Do what you’ve got to do” have to be the most passive last words ever. Given the little we know about Joshi - that she has a military career and huge power within the police - it makes no sense for her not to put up a fight.

So, we’ve had holograms, replicants and humans, but there is a third category of women in this film. Dr. Ana Stelline (Carla Juri) is the daughter of a replicant mother and human father, so we are unsure of her exact biological make up. What we do know, however, is that she’s basically the replicant messiah, so it’s laudable to see a woman occupy that position. However, you guessed it, everything else in her life is pretty terrible. She has a broken immune system and so lives alone in a sparse, hermetically sealed bubble, where she makes the happy memories for replicants that she never had herself. Carla seems to be a good person - she wants to give replicants a better life, even if only in their minds.

If everyone in Blade Runner 2049 is having an awful time, not just the women, then at least we can say it’s a fairly egalitarian experience. However, K has a good job and his dream girlfriend, yes he loses both of those but Joi and his boss actually die so I think it’s safe to say they have the worse end of that. People have to actually shout abuse at K, which I believe only happens twice, to remind us that he’s a second class citizen, otherwise he seems to be living a fairly normal life. Before we meet Deckard, his ex-colleague Gaff (Edward James Olmos) makes it clear that his main aim in life is to be left alone, which he achieves for most of the film, living seemingly comfortably in an abandoned but nevertheless somewhat luxurious Las Vegas casino. he does endure undeniable physical and emotional hardships after being captured, he’s taunted with the spectre of his dead love and almost drowns, but the film ends with him being reunited with his daughter and the prospect of rebuilding a family.

Overall, Blade Runner 2049 is better than the original as far as the representation of women goes, if only because there are more of them and they don’t all die. However, they are still having pretty much the worst time and are undeniably subject to the whims of men - they are girlfriends, prostitutes, slaves. Those who exist independently from men, such as Joshi, don’t make it out alive. Freysa is the exception to this, but we see so little of her and know hardly anything about her; she possesses power but is not allowed the screen time to display it. Ana is the real tragedy of this film, as she is the embodiment of hope for an emancipating revolution, but is doomed to live the rest of her life trapped and isolated. No woman is allowed to truly be free.

And now for some asides:

Rachel has the most amazing and recognisable silhouette, it’s a brilliant piece of design that I didn’t fully appreciate in the original.

The costume detail was amazing - K had salt lines on his trousers after he came out of the sea. Touches like that are what made this film so gorgeous to look at.

Booze is not for doggos, harrison Ford.                                

[devilishdewitt]

Ladies of Burlesque, December 2019

Anja Pavlova is back to host, perform and celebrate her birthday in the festive edition of the show of her dreams,  Ladies of Burlesque!

Did the show weave a winter spell or left us alone under the mistletoe?

Read on, darling!

Before we dive into the glitter,

Here’s the most important point of everything I do - 

~The Eternal Manifesto~

It is hereby declared that this little nook of the world wide web shall be devoted to the praise & critique of the art of burlesque, specifically in Russia.

Let it also be known that I am first and foremost a benevolent force, and every single criticism is documented solely for the purpose of evolution, growth and inspiration, darling.

Never forget - it is fantastic that the burlesque scene in Russia has grown so much in the last few years. Brava, ladies! As a fact and a statement, it is absolutely fabulous.

However, I volunteer to wear the heavy crown of expertise, having seen many a show in many a place, and having a keen eye for detail and a heart hungry for that wow factor. I always come with an open heart, am quite easily entertained, and know how hard the craft is - I can overlook many a fault when there’s stage presence, charisma and that fire of passion. Oh, and self-irony.

All is sickly without self-irony.

Now, onwards! To fabulousness!

Short summary: I do it because I love you all and want you to excel.

Also, allow me to share a wonderful review by Party Parrot!

 https://lazy-boogie.livejournal.com/3435.html

Thank you ever so for the wink and the nod - what a pleasant surprise! Thrilled that your inspiration lead to write such a brilliant summary of the night. Perhaps my tiny endeavours might create a movement of sharp-eyed, truly grateful audience members! After all, we can’t all be blocked, right? (read on, darling...)

The Venue

The place of action was Cеребряный Век (Silver Age) restaurant, a classic among burlesque events (it even hosted the Moscow Burlesque Festival). It is indeed pure glamour, opulence dripping off every detail! I mean, look at the pool room!

Just look at the pool room!

The second you entered, the atmosphere enveloped you with it’s gilded velvet glory. Of course, there were columns (this is Moscow after all, it’s near impossible to find a venue without columns), but thanks to the high stage and spacious room everyone had a pretty good view. I do wonder if the dressing room was as luxurious as the rest of the place!

If only my accolades extended to the food, but alas! We are spoiled rotten by Michel, and the tiny portions, uninspired recipes and stale presentation were not worthy of the non-negotiable deposit (which was almost as expensive as the tickets!). But we did not come to eat, oh no, darling - we came for a feast, but one for the eyes!

The Performances

Darling, it was a beautiful night. It was a dazzling, glittering, bejewelled, vajazzled (not really) night. My heart melted - and not just because Pavlova was back, but because it was legitimately a beautiful - beautiful show.

The Chorus Line Jazz Dancers were stunning! Their number was so gloriously joyous, for the first time they legitimately looked like they were having fun. Every beat was greeted with a tap, clap or other inspired move, and the joy was infectious! They looked stunning, danced wonderfully well and energised the whole room. 

Marie Weinberg appeared not once, not twice, but four times - and looked stunning every single time. Every single song sounded exactly the same, but that’s her strength - she sounds exactly like a 1930′s record. She is a perfect pin-up model, her photos are always flawless. She does not currently have an arsenal of stage choices (perhaps she doesn’t need it), but she did find her niche and she is gently charming in it. 

We got to see the famous blue showgirl ensemble of Jeva Noir! She presented a classic number - no gimmicks, no emotions, just good ol’ undressing. What strikes me every time I see her is how majestically beautiful she is - she has a unique type of beauty, like an actual Titaness, but doesn’t use it in her acts at all. We are always stunned by her looks, but never by the performance - perhaps because there is no harmony between them. A hawk does not excel when posing as a sparrow.

However, the general public got to see a new side of her talent - Jeva is a marvellous seamstress, and she brought her first collection for everyone to view and purchase! Every single lady left that room with a desire to own the velvety, feathery, dreamy ensembles made by Lady Noir. 

Tamasinushka looked utterly stunning - as usual. And her act was exactly how her acts are every single time - luxuriously languid, entrancingly self-focused, glittering and poised. Was it the most exciting or memorable act of the night? No, but it was gorgeous. When her magic works, she truly does change the flow of time in the room. Quite excited to see her emerge in 2020 with new energy and new renditions of beloved acts. 

Ellisha Fox graced the stage in his blue and white ensemble, and was an absolute treasure. He is an astonishing dancer, his charisma and stage presence are indeed unique. Looking forward to the moment when he finds even more freedom on stage and lets himself dissolve in the moment - it does sometimes feel like he’s participating in a dance competition, focusing hard on the moves and slightly loses the connection with the audience...but being a boylesque performer, all eyes will be on him regardless. I always sing the song of the benefits of self-irony!...But I am nitpicking, darling - because I can see him becoming an international superstar and want him to excel. 

Katerina Sahara brought her Desert Sun and Dragon acts (not quite the most Christmassy/wintery choices, but we didn’t really mind). It is impossible to look away when she’s on stage, but I must say that this particular combination of acts doesn’t really work - they are incredibly similar (if not equal) in tempo and atmosphere, so putting them together within one show doesn’t make either one shine particularly bright. Again, both are flawlessly gorgeous, it’s not a critique on the acts themselves - more on the directorial decisions of the show. Hope she does not overwork her wondrous self, for she seems to have fully joined the ranks of Bezhetskaya’s belles.

Radmila Rocky Zombie - well, it’s been a while since the vivacious mistress of Haunted Cathouse graced the Moscow stage! She brought her Americana fantasy cowgirl ensemble, and it was pure fun - she enjoyed it, the audience enjoyed it, everyone had a good time. Where the act lacked polish, it made up plenty with its ebullient bounciness. 

Sadly, our mullet marvel blocked me on Instagram - understandable, darling! What can be more horrible than constructive criticism and adoration? Quite flattered, never thought my humble self would get this much attention!

Konfetki looked fabulous - especially at the curtain call. Fantastic dress!

Helen! Helen the heavenly stage kitten! I swear to all the Glamour Gods, every single show that lady has a glow-up. Her Burlesque Santa outfit leaves me speechless - me, darling! Speechless! Flawless.

Blanche de Moscou brought her Sweet Kink act to the stage, and it was as beguiling as usual, but that’s not what I want to talk about. There’s a new act. The new act is phenomenal. It’s inspired by an act that her stunning mother directed in the 90′s, and it’s a whole spy-robot-Blade Runner extravaganza! Jaws dropped to the floor the second that luxurious umbrella appeared, and every new costume reveal was even more hypnotising. Her sense of rhythm is impeccable, and the way she marries complete immersion in the atmosphere of the act and her signature humour is spectacular. And the glitter gun! It was not a gun, it was a bazooka!

This was a true showstopper, and really would make more sense at the last act of the show (energetically and logistically - all that glitter!). I think this might be the most impressive act I’ve seen in this country.

Anja Pavlova, the one and only Swan Queen, oh how we’ve missed you. Lady Pavlova brought a myriad of costume changes and two acts, a classic Jazz Age one, and a premiere - Snow Maiden! Her forte truly is her emotional range. When is on that stage, she lives and breathes the music, and takes the audience on the ride with her. The way she catches every bit is ingenius, and she truly floats. Even this old heart had to wipe off a few secret tears...She is a pure delight. And she sang! And she knows exactly where her strength is, so she invited Marie to sing with her and went for acting and engaging with the audience. Her voice can not boast strength, but the sweetness, tenderness and sincerity made it soar.  If I were to make one comment, it would be about the hosting. Each act completely mesmerised and transported us into a magical land of pure glamour...and the hosting was more Earth-bound. Can’t claim that it’s a negative, but when I noticed it, it did create a slight imbalance. 

We want to dive deep into the magic, uninterrupted, darling!

Dearest reader, do yourself a favour and have a look at these superb photos. Dive into the atmosphere, honey! No words of mine will truly convey the joy of the evening.

The Verdict

The show truly was a showcase of ladies - and how different they can be.

 It was utterly delightful and stunningly beautiful.

Ladies of Burlesque remains the most elegant and polished burlesque show in Moscow - at least when Pavlova is around to keep an eye on things.

Bar Burlesque is taking place on January 10th, you can secure your sweet spot here.