#but from what I’ve seen she’s a pretty competent actor

[toomanyopinionss]

I want to talk about

Surviving Summer

(nonspoiler/spoiler)

hey y’all, it’s been a minute since i’ve done one of these. let’s get into it…😏

So i genuinely like this show. Just finished watching the second season, in fact.

I feel like it’s the good amount of cheesy and adorable and mind numbing without being too formulaic and basic like some of these Netflix originals tend to be. Now it can be annoying and cringy sometimes, don’t get me wrong. But it’s got some pretty good actors and actresses with enough heartfelt moments and playful scenes to make one feel content. She’s not a top ten, but she never tries to be, you know??

As for the show itself? Surviving Summer is the perfect name for it, because Summer the character? a HOT mess. I cannot stress this enough, the frontal lobes on that one are not fully formed. It’s especially apparent in season 1. Even so, i love her 🥰. I cant help it ok? She has the confidence that i dreamed of having in high school, and now tbh.

I won’t go to deep into every character, but let me just say this: they will ALL annoy you at some point. It’s so obvious that they’re teenagers, cuz they childish. But they all care about each other most of the time, and surfing. It’s a great summer watch! go for it, don’t be shy

7.5/10. Surface level fun with shenanigans galore and annoying teenagers.

SPOILERS

Y’all the second season was gooood. I liked it better than the first tbh. Summer, like i said before was much more serious and focused, but it didn’t change her personality at all, which i loved.

I liked how they got more into Bodhi’s conflicts with surfing and the racism in the industry on her end. If anything, i wish they had time to do even more with it. Because everything else they did with her character this season was just bleh. A half hearted conflict between poppy blown WAY out of proportion and a half assed queer relationship that was cute but barely touched on because hottake Netflix hates their wlws and their black main characters 🤭(oop who said that)

Poppy and marlon were cuteeeee. sidenote, who else forgot that bodhi and marlon had a thing, cuz i sho did 👀. they have such good chemistry and it just warmed my heart. SPEAKING of good chemistry…

✨“summer have you seen yourself?”

summer and baxter are the only mf choice, im SORRY.

immediately side eyeing anyone who says that summer and ari should be together, because i’m not sure you and i watch the same show. another steaming take, but I never bought into summer and ari. they are too sibling for me. i was taken ABACK when they kissed in season one. I genuinely did not see it coming. they play off each other nicely, but in a romantic way? NOPE, i don’t buy it.

but from the first scene with baxter and summer, i knew. it was intense. the casual touches, the instant bind they formed, the way bax looks at her 🤭…

you cannot compete where you don’t compare, Ari is not the one 🤷🏾‍♀️

anyone else? hmmm…

oh, y’all join me in a big FVCK you to Elo and Wren. they both suck actual ass and i hate them both.

it’s the way that they treat everyone like shit equally. even their own brother? like what the fvck is wrong with them?

like especially wren. being jealous and overly competitive is one thing. but they way she handled the bodhi situation, plus the way she outed her old teammate? literally bordering on racist and homophobic like wtffff. maybe a lil psychotic too, cuz why is she literally a threat to summer’s life? don’t take it out on her cuz your boyfriend is an indecisive disaster. at least they didn’t give wren a redemption, i would have been so pissed off like fvck her.

ok this is getting long. tldr, Season 2 was entertaining and fun. poppy and marlon were cute, summer was awesome, ari does not need a girlfriend, justice for baxter, and wren and elo will not be seeing the pearly gates.

[thenarwhalgal]

Alright so this is possibly the dumbest idea I’ve ever had. But like somehow it holds together almost too well.

Stranger Things crossing over with The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee.

Please let me explain, this is a long one I’m sorry:

If you don’t know, the 25th (what I’m going to call it from now on) is about 5 strange kids from mostly broken families (and Chip) competing to win a spelling bee. It’s a great and really funny musical about trauma and innuendos and just how strange both spelling bees and the kids who compete in them are. Also it has 4 randomly chosen audience members come up to actually participate in the spelling bee itself (pretty cool).

Now here’s why the characters line up almost perfectly. (At least in my understanding of them all, if I’m wrong please argue with me lol I invite it.)

Let’s take the two main leads, Olive Ostrovsky and William Barfée. They line up stupidly well with Nancy and Jonathan. Olive is a pattern seeking brainiac whose only friend is the dictionary with incredibly negligent parents and a very strong desire to escape, which mimics Nancy’s need to hide herself in solving mysteries and finding stories to avoid her own trauma and the complete lack of anybody to ever stick up for her. They both bury themselves in gaining as much knowledge as they can because the worst thing that can happen is to be left with their own thoughts, Olive is also the emotional center of the show. Barfée is a pretty witty and weird kid who pushes everybody else away and holes up into his own little world but also has a heart of gold, mimicking Jonathan’s… well everything.

These two in the 25th end up with a really sweet friendship (and maybe romance?) by the end of the show, both finding understanding in each other for their mutual strangeness. Just like Nancy and Jonathan do. (Barfée is usually double-cast as Leaf’s dad).

Okay but what about the other 4 kids? I’m glad you asked!

Robin makes a wonderful Logainne (Schwartzy) SchwartzandGrubenierre. A very self-loathing loudmouth anxious perfectionist who is a constant disappointment to her parents but has really large dreams. Oh yeah, she also runs the gay-straight alliance at her school. She’s mocked by classmates and at one point during the show goes on a two minute (improvised?) rant about something to do with politics because she finds the bee unfair and wants to run for president one day. And she famously is the one who manages to annoy Panch enough to literally break him. Logainne really just wants happiness for the people around her, despite having a panic attack at the thought of losing she doesn’t want anybody else to lose either. I don’t know if I need to explain why Robin fits here lol but I will if pressed. (Double cast as Leaf’s mom usually.)

Steve! This one is somehow the best fit and I love them both for it. Steve makes a hilariously good Chip Tolentino. Athletic Boy Scout and the reigning champion of the spelling bee. He’s the most outgoing and social and least strange kid in the show but loses in the first act because and I’m not joking, he gets a boner. He sings a whole song about it actually. As he says, life is random and unfair. And he has a strong rivalry with Barfée (Jonathan) to the point they almost fight on stage and in most productions I’ve seen, is weirdly cordial with Leaf Coneybear. Again don’t think I need to explain this one, just change the girl he’s into from Leaf’s sister to Olive (Nancy) and we’re golden. Can’t go unmentioned that Chip’s actor is usually double-cast as Jesus fucking Christ.

Speaking of Leaf Coneybear! Who else but Eddie, like really? Who else but Eddie. Leaf is absolutely the one character confident enough in himself to jump up on a table and make a speech, he’s also totally the type to DM Dungeons and Dragons. Wears a cape he made himself, talks with a sock puppet sometimes, is friendly with everybody but also… is seen as a weird and stupid problem child by both his family and presumably everybody else at the Bee (Which I mean doesn’t fit his uncle but it does fit the town). He doesn’t win his hometown spelling bee and is only there because the two who placed above him had to go to a bat mitzvah. He worries he’s stupid and doesn’t belong there but finds peace in himself by the end. This delightfully mimics Eddie’s coward complex despite the fact he isn’t a coward??? And the fact he almost exists above social rules, uncaring of who anybody else is and usually judging them on character alone. Eddie and Leaf thrive in being strange. Leaf is also the sweetest character in the show you just can’t hate him. (Double cast usually as one of Logainne’s Dads).

This is probably the least good fit unfortunately, anybody who could fit Marcy Park fit in better elsewhere (Robin def would sing ‘I speak 6 languages’ and Nancy is very much the ‘best in everything but broken inside finding happiness in not winning’ girl). But Barb fits fine. She’s got that cold exterior somewhat disappointed in you never really happy with the fact she’s forced to fit in a box but does it anyway vibe. And would definitely purposefully lose and then celebrate like Christmas came early. Like it’s not perfect but it does work if you squint. (You could maybe cast Marcy as Chrissy Cunningham instead? They both do cry in bathrooms and feel trapped in their lives, happier letting go of expectations, Barb is just an easier character to characterize).

Now for the adults!

Best fit is definitely Mitch Mahoney and Jim Hopper. Like come on, this is the one where I was like… oh I’ve got something here. Gruff cop with rough exterior but a heart of gold who finds himself through comforting a lost kid and could easily be seen as a father figure? Please god that lines up so well with the ex-convict knows how rough the world is and wants the kids to know this isn’t that big a deal but finds being a comfort counselor actually fits him very well. Genuinely enjoying making sure these kids are alright and have a juice box. They’re both straight-up good people who just take a little bit longer than most to find their footing. Also Mitch being there for community service would line up with Hopper being there because Joyce dragged him into it. (Usually double cast as both Logainne’s other dad and as Olive’s pretend Dad).

Rona Lisa Perretti is the ‘could be seen as a mother figure’ counterpart to Mitch moderator of the Bee who sees herself in all of the kids and finds true joy in all of it. Joyce Byers might not line up perfectly but it’s such an easy placement okay? Like I mean, you can really tell she loves these kids, bending the rules for them even when she’s not supposed to. Also you cannot convince me Joyce isn’t the type of mom to sign up to run the school spelling bee her son goes to. (Usually double cast as Olive’s pretend Mom)

Vice Principle Douglass Panch is the only one I can’t figure out. It could be Murray, Bob, Clarke, Owens, Yuri, or even Ted (but please god no it’d fit but no) but none fit him well enough to make a call. Infatuated with Rona, had an incident as judge five years ago but claims to be in a better place now (he isn’t). Panch is a really fun character but he’s also the least mentally stable one. If I had to pick I think Murray would fit the established relationships in this crossover the most, and Yuri would fit his character the most. But again, I can’t make a good call on this one.

For the 4 audience members who fill in the ranks? Well, any ‘teen/young adult’ members of the show fit. Billy, Chrissy, Heather, Vickie, Argyle… take your pick.

— Additional stuff:

This could be easily played as a love triangle between Nancy (Olive), Jonathan (Barfée), and Steve (Chip) which works way too well for both sets of characters. It could also be played as Ronance (my personal pick lol) because Olive and Logainne I mean - if you don’t put Olive with Barfée that ship is like, right there. Olive helping Logainne through her panic attack it’s so sweet. And Olive x Her Dictionary hilariously lines up with Nancy x Her guns.

Again Chip and Leaf are weirdly friendly with each other and they’re also funfact the biggest ship on AO3 for this show which again is almost a perfect line up with Steve and Eddie. I have no words it’s just a funny coincidence. The gay ship between the weird stoner kid and the popular jock kid is universal I guess.

In other non-romantic funny coincidences:

Rona Lisa and Mitch Mahoney I’ve found usually play the good adults in the kids lives who step in and sometimes go as far as adopting some of the kids in many fanfics. Which I mean… yeah that sounds like Joyce and Hopper in the fandom as well.

Logainne has a very pronounced lisp and a tendency to overcomplicate which mimics Robins perpetual inability to stop rambling in front of pretty girls and in stressful situations.

Chip ends up forced to run the bake sale and complains about his ruined mojo, which again for some reason Chip and Steve just are perfect fits for no good reason. What a Little League champion.

Leaf and Marcy are the only two characters to lose and end up happy about it (Olive is a weird case), which is funny because Barb and Eddie are the only two characters here who die! Yay! ):

Nancy and Olive are both seen by everybody around them as the ‘sweet and lovely girl’, but are both intensely broken on the inside.

Marcy (Barb) is the character who gets to literally see Jesus, and Jesus is played by Chip (Steve). You could not have a funnier casting.

Like I mentioned above but it really needs to be highlighted, Chip and Barfée literally get as close to straight up fighting as possible. Chip at one point throws a bag of peanut M&Ms at him which if you don’t know, Barfée is allergic to, and Olive is the one who steps in. You couldn’t line it up better between these three.

The only relationship I can see that sadly doesn’t make it in here… is Robin and Steve . Chip and Logainne just don’t really talk much? I thought about shoving Robin in as Leaf for this reason and it’d work? But not nearly as well. I mean but like… this is my crossover damnit and if I want Chip and Logainne to somehow become absolute besties despite being complete opposites then I will make it happen. Chip really needs companionship and Logainne desperately needs at least one person in her life who supports her, and it’d be by far somehow the most perfect but completely alien from the outside friendship in the show. Which parallels Steve and Robin nicely (The added benefit that nobody would believe they weren’t dating if Robin wasn’t out as gay in this continuity).

————

So like, here’s the thing. I have spent way too long thinking about this, and I had to get it out there. Maybe it works as well as I’ve made it out to, maybe it doesn’t. The point is I think it’d be really funny, and as far as I know nobody has even brought it up so far. Which I get! Like I said, this is possibly the dumbest idea I’ve ever had. But it works way better than it should and I had to make other people understand my vision.

So thanks for reading all of this and please if you want to and have made it this far, give me your thoughts.

[estellamiraiauthor]

Some thoughts on the Ken Hill Phantom in Tokyo—both the show itself, since I’d never seen it before (only partial recordings, never even a full video) and this particular production.

Apologies in advance that I do not know the names of much of the cast… only three cast members are named on the website. I guess you had to buy a program to get some credit for the others, which seems a little shitty… they all did a great job and I’d like to be able to give credit where it’s due… if anyone happens to have a full list, let me know and I’ll add that information.

So, overall thoughts… it was a lot funnier and more fourth-wall-breaking than I expected. Not all of the jokes quite landed (either with me or with the audience in general), but it wasn’t because they were especially dated either, which is always nice in an older show. Just some moments that were like “I know I’m supposed to laugh here, but the joke’s just not that good.”

The banter between Richard (the only new manager in this version) and the old manager, and between Richard and Remy (his assistant or manservant, who kind of fills the role that a second manager sometimes does) usually worked, and all three of them were talented actors. Richard is the former manager of a railway company in this version, which he brags about quite a bit, and I think it was an interesting attempt to showcase the difference between a businessman who really doesn’t appreciate or even attempt to understand opera at all, vs. the Phantom, to whom art should be everything… unfortunately I feel like overall, the Phantom’s characterization was a little weak, which really hurt the emotional impact of the second act. More on that later.

Jammes sort of fulfills the ALW-Meg role here, and this was an interesting character for me because she wasn’t really very good of a dancer? What she did, she did competently, but definitely came off as “actress who has taken ballet lessons” rather than professional ballerina. It also didn’t seem to be much of a singing role, so not a case of choosing a singer over a dancer… I suppose she was maybe supposed to be comic relief, but the actress played her pretty straight?

Paul Potts as Faust is one of the three credited actors, alongside the Phantom and Christine. I LOVED him on Britain’s Got Talent, and watched a few videos of more recent performances when I learned he would be in this, but I wouldn’t say I’ve seriously followed his career. I was surprised in general that the role was such a funny one, and that he was extremely funny in it, because the image I had of him was definitely “Super Serious Tenor”. He was extremely enjoyable, both as a singer and as an actor here. For those who are wondering, because I Googled the role and didn’t find much, “Faust” is essentially the “Piangi” character here, except we never learn his actual name (although we do learn Mme. Giry’s!). He actually had a bigger role than I expected based on his first couple of scenes, unlike poor Mephistopheles, who got killed off fairs soon, for the actor to return as the Persian!

The other major character we meet in that first scene is Raoul, who is Richard’s son in this version. The whole “Little Lotte lost her scarf in the sea” backstory never seems to have happened. Christine and Raoul are already in love from the first scene, but we never learn where or when they met. Interestingly, while the whole “Raoul as aristocracy would never be with an opera singer” issue is not addressed here, since he’s not aristocracy, he does bring up how inappropriate it would be for Christine to be alone with a man in her dressing room. (Not that that stops HIM from barging in!) This Raoul was Sweet and noble, and I really wish I knew the actor’s name because he was a beautiful singer as well.

Christine actually didn’t get a chance to sing until fairly late in the show, and I’m pretty sure the first time she really sings is at her father’s grave, not during a performance or rehearsal! Tayla Alexander as Christine was AMAZING. It’s nice in general to see a Christine who actually is an operatic soprano (although I know that’s not really the POINT of a lot of versions, and don’t mind at all when they don’t, it’s refreshing to see a Christine close to the Leroux character?) She was a great actor too, and this is definitely a Christine with agency. I thought it was an interesting choice to have her come straight out and say “I PITY you!” at the end… that IS possibly a bit of “datedness”? Leroux, or at least the translation I have, also says “pity,” but pity isn’t necessarily seen as an emotion people WANT others to feel about them these days… not sure if that’s an evolution of language/evolution of disability culture thing, or just that this Christine is brutally honest?

So I guess this brings me to the Phantom… he also doesn’t show up until almost the end of Act 1, which is a choice I respect… mystery is good for this character! But I also feel like less interaction with Christine ultimately just made him come off as a creepy incel? I have to say, I did not love Ben Forster in the role. I just went and Googled him because other than playing the ALW Phantom, I wasn’t familiar with him at all, and it’s not at all surprising to me that he got his start in JCS and Rocky Horror etc… I’m much more interested in seeing him in those roles, because he has this like… rock-n-roll twang? To his voice that just did not fit a mostly-Leroux-faithful, generally-period-appropriate Phantom. He was overshadowed vocally not only by Potts but by the woefully uncredited Raoul and the Persian, and if the Phantom doesn’t have the most angelic voice on that stage, it just doesn’t work. I’m curious to see him as the ALW Phantom now, because I surprisingly don’t hate SOME more rock-ish voices there (Paul Stanley isn’t my favorite, but he’s far from my least favorite)… Looking those videos up once I get home!

Since I’m going through all the characters, this version actually has Mme Giry AND the Persian, although Mme Giry is in her original role as box manager! Mme Giry was another great actor and singer, she had a few nice funny moments to break up the overall gravitas of the character.

The Persian… well, this gets into the whole weakness of the second act and of the Phantom character in general. The actor who played the Persian (as well as Mephistopheles) was great, and I didn’t really have a problem with HIS character so much as the needlessly convoluted backstory they gave him and the Phantom. Just about the ONLY sympathetic backstory we get from the Phantom comes from the Persian, and he’s actually pretty brunt about it, just outright calling him “disfigured” rather than a monster or a devil’s child or whatever… which yes, is correct, but it just feels like it’s never really communicated to the audience with any degree of emotion how the Phantom (who never gets a name here) has really been robbed by society’s fear of any chance to have a normal life.

Christine doesn’t have that moment where she sees his face and is initially horrified. She doesn’t see his face at all until the end, so never gets to speak sympathetically about him to others. The Phantom never talks about his OWN past. And what we get from the Persian is mostly about how good at torture he is, oh and that he killed their parents. Because the Persian is his brother.

And I just… that feels so unnecessary? And I think, throws something in there that doesn’t need to be, because is this story set in France, written in English, now commenting on the treatment of children with facial differences in Persia? I don’t really think so, I think it was just supposed to be a big reveal, but it really fell flat. And honestly, if the dude’s parents neglected and abused him… we’ve all been following the Gypsy Rose Blanchard thing for long enough to say, maybe not that it’s OKAY to murder an abusive parent, but it’s certainly a lot more sympathetic than the Persian makes it out to be.

So, in the end, the Phantom is trying to force Christine to marry him by… yelling at her and telling her Raoul is dead. There’s no scorpion and the grasshopper, no Raoul held hostage. If she says no, he’s probably going to kill her, but he’s planning to do that anyway, so it’s a little hard to say what either of them hope to get out of the situation.

And in the end I guess he repents and kills himself, and then all of a sudden all of these people who have been physically and psychologically tormented by him gather ‘round to sing about how he won’t die without a friend? And Christine says he was once her angel of music, but because we’ve never really seen them in the same scene before this, it’s hard to really feel anything about that.

The second act just felt like a huge disappointment after the first… and a lot of that just hung on the Phantom, both the way he was written and the way he was played and sung. I’m glad I saw it, and it’s really interesting to see the parallels either way certain scenes that probably inspired ALW. I was particularly glad to be introduced to Tayla Alexander. But I’m also not going to be going back, at least not during this run.

[mysteriawrites]

Hiya! 

I hope I’m not too late! But if I am, then please feel free to ignore this or throw this out the window—your choice!

Anyways, Hello! Please call me Eris [they/her]. I would like to request a romantic matchup for both Oshi No Ko and Genshin Impact!

For some information to make your job easier, I am an ESTP and a Scorpio—also bisexual with a penchant for ladies!

Personality-wise, it's a bit tricky to explain. To new people, I come off as polite but cold. Especially if they are older than me, I mean them no harm, truly!

However, for my friends and loved ones, I do a complete 180! I love to shower them with affection, may it be gifts, words, actions, or anything! (I am also quite playful, chatty, and witty!)

I also love to have light-hearted banter. (Though, I do tend to find sarcasm flying over my head, so... oops?) Helping people is also something I enjoy doing, especially if it is something I am good at. (Which is usually just editing people’s essays or helping them out in English in general.)

As for hobbies, I don’t think I have that many. Reading and writing are my main hobbies. But, at the core of it, I enjoy creating and sharing my stories with people. Thus making me a fan of any medium that can do that, i.e., art, acting, or hell, even clay sculptures!

I don’t want to go too deep, so I’ll keep this as short and sweet as possible. I have trouble with my self-esteem, and how I cope is to internalize it and hide it from others. This causes me to not speak up about my emotions, instead bottling them up. Thus resulting in building a steady amount of resentment until it explodes.

However, my anger is usually quite short and only really lasts for a few hours at worst, so I usually take a day off or two to collect my thoughts. After that, I do go apologize to the persona and try to make up!

Anyways! Moving on~!

Sorry for the long request; this is my second time asking for a match, and I think my first one is being worked on. I don’t know; maybe it was thrown out the window? Anyhow! I hope you enjoy this request, and if you don’t, you know what to do!

Hello Hello thank you for the request. I don't remeber receiving an ask from you, I'd have to double check but I'm pretty sure the tumblr goblins ate it or something. (Also it is preferable for me for people to send me too different asks if they're gonna ask for multiple fandoms because I make mine real long so If you could send a second one for genshin that would be great) Now on to the matchup...DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

ARIMA KANA!!!

(Fair warning I’ve only seen the anime and the anime isn’t finished yet so if i may be writing Kana a bit surface level here i apologize)

You and Kana are that cute rivals to lovers trope. Ever since you were young you two have been competing to reach the top of the industry to share your talent and passions with the world.

You met as two child actors auditioning for the same role when you were 2 or 3 years old. Two up and coming actors going for the same role of course led to some conflict of course.

Kana was confident that she would get the role over you due to being a “child acting prodigy”. You just nodded your head and went along with whatever she was saying (it wasn’t a huge film so there weren’t a lot of other girls auditioning so you two had a lot of time to spend together during the process). Apparently, she didn’t like that you seemed to be ignoring her ravings and deemed it a (one sided) competition between you two to prove a point.

To her dismay however, when it was your turn to audition you caused everyone’s jaws (including her’s) to drop and the directors immediately chose you without a second thought. From that day on a fire was lit with in Kana that one day she would surpass you and now you were rivals. You on the other hand didn’t think your performance was that great and didn’t understand why Kana was so determined to compete with you.

Years passed, you and Kana were moving up from child actors to rising stars. As you and Kana got more roles your self-esteem started to get in the way. You couldn’t help but compare yourself to her and her success. You didn’t understand what she saw in you worthy of deeming you a rival when she was so blindingly brilliant. But instead of making you feel worse about yourself, it made you determined to be better; to be worthy of being her rival.

You two finally met face to face again when you got into Yoto High’s performing arts program, and your rivalry was burning as intensely as ever. You two met up on the roof one day after class to catch up after the last few years. Despite having spent so long apart it wasn’t awkward at all, on the contrary it was full of laughs and fond memories. However, when you two were about to leave you talked about your resolve to not lose to the other (because dramatic).

When it was time for the biggest production of the year you both auditioned for the same part just like all those years ago. However, this time was different, this time she got the lead; and you were her love interest…

Despite the awkwardness you two were determined to stick to your parts. So, you two started to spend more time after school to make your performance as a couple more believable, going on “dates”, holding hands, and flirting. Although as time went on whenever you practiced particular flirtatious lines or holding each other intimately, it started to get hard and harder to tell whether the feelings were real or just acting…

When the night of the play finally arrived, you two performed amazingly. The two were so moved by your (powerful homosexual energy) realistic performance and (sexual tension) moving emotions you brought the audience to tears. And when you reached the kiss scene; you, Kana, and the audience all knew that that kiss was real. You got a standing ovation for your performance.

After the performance you and Kana pronounced your feelings for each other. That you would be each other’s forever rival and no one could ever compare.

You and Kana become such a sweet couple that it rots the teeth. You hold hands, have fancy dinner dates, cuddle in the park, cover each other in kisses, and and have gift giving wars.

When Kana joins the new B Komichi you support her every part of the way and try to help them get new members and advertise. You decided to stay an actress, but you used your connections to help get B Komichi some attention. When Kana was feeling insecure about being the front woman of the group, you reassured her that she was perfect for the role. She does the same for you whenever you’re feeling insecure about getting the lead in a film or show (which has been happening a lot because you’re that good).

Of course the paparazzi eats that up and stalks your relationship like crazy, but because you’re both famous people are a lot more supportive of it (cause the world is fucked up like that).

All and all you guys are cute and perfect for each other. You pick each other up and encourage one another to grow and be better performers and people.

Wow I got really carried away with this one. This ended up being heavily based on Revue Starlight (Maya Tendo x Claudine Saijo in episode 10 specifically good show highly recommend). I hope you like it I had a lot of fun with this one and I'm really proud of it.

Runners Up: no one because I like this pairing it's perfect.

[roosterbox]

A Quiet Place Day One “Review”

Okay, so

Such a good movie! I’m putting the rest of this under a cut, just in case. Spoilers ahead!

The EMOTIONS. Hell, MY EMOTIONS. I fucking cried, man. These characters were incredible. I wish Hospice Nurse guy could have lived, but yeah. I figured he was toast, mainly because I know how these story beats work, but also because the hype was focused on Lupita and Joseph. Which… fucking fair. They were both amazing.

Joseph, baby boy 🥺😭😭

I can’t fault Eric even a little bit; if I was in his shoes, I would have reacted the EXACT same way. World goes crazy? Find the nearest adult and follow them around like a scared puppy. Especially if they’re a cat person. Probably would have asked to hold her hand too, but he was slightly braver than me, lol. I mean, if I’m truly the only competent adult present, I can try my best to pull everything together, but generally? Terrified little bunny, no good in a true crisis.

Also, she gives him her sweater. IT WAS HER DAD’S SWEATER. That’s when the tears started pouring, lol. And ERIC LIVED, holy shit. I won’t lie, I was pretty convinced that he wouldn’t. Just because it’s typically my luck, to have my favorite character die. And I knew going in that he would be my favorite, by virtue of being played by my boi. Also, Joseph is an incredible onscreen crier, damn. Every time he gets emotional, I do too. Please someone protect that sweet boy 🥺😭

Schnitzel is an incredible cat actor - no cat I’ve ever known would have put up with any of this, lmao. I figured he would survive too. Not just because we got that (very spoilery) shot a few days ago of Joseph in the yellow sweater, holding the cat, obviously from the ending (which also spoiled that Eric would probably live too, of course). No, I didn’t think they would kill the cat just on a hunch. Despite the first movie being very famous for killing a child in the opening scene, I knew in my heart that Frodo was safe.

I want to see so much more of these characters, even though Sam was obviously doomed, if not from the creatures than from her illness. But Eric and Frodo though… Part of me says “No! *whacks hand with a ruler* Leave it!” But still… I don’t want to leave them yet.

My only real criticism is that, for a horror movie, I didn’t find it all that scary. Maybe it’s just the premise in general that doesn’t scare me that much. If I eventually watch the other two movies and don’t find them scary either, I’ll know that’s the case. Not a dig against John Krasinski or anyone else who wrote/created it, but it’s hard to truly scare me with horror movies anymore - I’m too much of an old hat at this. Good tension and build up though! That scene with Eric and Frodo in the sort of nest-like area? Damn, son. Good stuff.

Overall, absolutely great film. Lupita and Joseph are amazing, and have superb chemistry, and I hope they do more films together eventually. Schnitzel is a good boy and deserves many, many delicious cat treats. And, thankfully, you don’t need to have seen the other two movies to understand what’s happening. That was a slight concern of mine, lol.

8/10

Recommended!

[jedinightsister]

2 qs :) 1) what’s your favourite slow horses duo/team up? shirley/anyone is always prime entertainment but in the later books lech and louisa have been surprisingly competent together. Also shirley/river/jk coe “huddling” (“it’s not touching its survival!!!”) was hilarious

2) what do you think of the casting for the new characters? Obvs will reserve judgment for when I’ve seen their take on the characters but the actor they chose for whelan for example I think is maybe…. Too conventionally attractive lol. Like I remember him being described as balding. Ofc a good actor can serve us pathetic realness regardless of their looks! I mean we already we have Jack lowden as river

Tysm for the q's anon! My answers under the cut<3

QUESTION 1

That is so hard... I think I love that they always mix it up, so we can see all kinds of dynamics between the characters y'know. Like, they have a go-to pairing (ex. Min and Louisa, Shirley and Marcus), but they also switch things up to bring out a different kind of interaction. Whether it's supportive, deprecating, etc. it's just awesome.

For my personal faves tho, there's a lot and I will name them all from what I can remember.

1. Shirley and Marcus. Even after Marcus is gone, the ripple of this friendship in Shirley's life is just so strong, it is both amusing and heartbreaking. That despite how much antagonistic Shirley is toward him, she grew to genuinely care about him in her own way, to reciprocate how he cared about her. I'm scared af for season 4 because this is coming. Part of me doesn't want them to push through with it, but again, I love the effect of his loss on Shirley, for better or worse.

2. Louisa and Min. Bit of a similar sentiment here. Min's loss really takes its toll on Louisa and how she interacts with everyone else. But when they were still together, I also enjoy how they balance each other out. Min really wears his heart on his sleeve and tries to get Louisa out of her shell. And we see Louisa's struggles with that.

3. Louisa and River. The "competent" ones of Slough House hahaha. A duo I'm glad because we will see more of. I love the parallel of both of them dealing with loss (Min and Sid) and again, being the "competent" ones compared to everyone else. River being his hero complex, loser self, and Louisa not letting him off the hook so easily. Ah, there's the word I'm looking for-- accountable. They hold each other accountable, especially for this next pairing.

4. Shirley and JK. I don't even know what to say for these two 😆😆 They are the outsider crazies, Shirley being the super noisy cuz she high on drugs, and JK being absolutely silent but having the darkest intrusive thoughts. Both however seem to really share this dark, violent streak, and the fact that their team up resolved the conflict in London Rules instead of River and Louisa, it always cracks me up 😆

5. That said, River-JK and Louisa-Shirley team ups also one of my faves. Gotta put them together in one because the dynamic is somewhat similar. River and Louisa trying to "babysit" JK and Shirley while they do the "adult" work of investigating. JK's paint accident and Shirley's stint with a bat...oh dear. 😆

6. Louisa and Emma. I know Emma doesn't technically count as a Slow Horse, but she might as well be in Joe Country. Their friendship was so precious to me and I wish we got more. 🤧

7. Agree with you anon, Shirley/JK/River is also top of my list. The comedic trio we never knew we needed, so of course Mick Herron said " can't let my readers have nice things" and k-worded JK 🥲 his final moments with Shirley are so devastating like... Grrr.

8. Unfortunately I dont remember Louisa and Lech's dynamic specifically, but I am pretty sure I loved it as well??? I know I liked that a bit of an unhinged fella took JK's place a lil bit lol. I just love the more chaotic Slough House is with their different personalities.

QUESTION 2

I quite like the new castings!

Emma Flyte looks great. And her brief interactions with Lamb were already iconic haha.

We haven't seen JK Coe in the trailers or pics yet, but based on the actor himself, I can totally see him pulling off JK's isolative silence and eventual killer instinct madness lol.

I'm not sure how I feel about Frank Harkness. I know the actor from his other roles, but I'd like to see more of how his interactions with River go.

I have to agree that Claude Whelan casting feels off from the surface, but because of having seen him on Blood And Treasure, I actually think he's perfect given Claude's slimy personality haha.

[ianspideythompson]

The Jump to Streaming - Was It Worth It?

I’ve been watching and covering the streaming wars for a few years now, and looking at the current state of it, along with the pandemic and the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike exposing how broken the industry is, it’s left me thinking this: was the jump and transition to streaming worth in the end? Because at this point, it sucks for everyone involved: the studios, the creatives, and the consumers.

Studios who decided to hop in the game and compete with Netflix by creating their own streaming services have found out that streaming isn’t profitable (or at the very least, it’s nowhere near as profitable as the box office, physical media, VOD, and linear TV) because the revenue generated is almost entirely based on subscriptions. Putting out a show or a movie on a streaming service is practically putting it out for free since those individual titles aren’t generating profit as they would on the aforementioned release avenues. Streamers just have to hope that the release of a show or film on their platform drives enough sign-ups to break even and generate profit. And as a result, studios lose millions, if not billions on their services.

The creatives (specifically the writers and actors striking right now) behind shows and movies made for streamers are getting little to no residuals from them. Writer Kyra Jones shared that the first residual check she got from writing on the ABC show Queens was $12,000. The first residual check she got from writing on the Hulu show Woke was $4. Writer Cody Ziglar’s episode of She-Hulk netted him just $396 in residuals, despite the episode (the one where Daredevil returns) being one the most watched episodes of one of the most watched series on Disney+. Kimiko Glenn, who played Soso on Orange Is the New Black, mentioned that many of the actors on the show still worked second jobs because they weren’t being paid enough to sustain themselves. For shows licensed to streamers, it’s essentially the same. Gilmore Girls, which ran on The WB in the 2000s, has been one of the most popular shows on Netflix since they started streaming it. Sean Gunn, who played Kirk Gleason on the show, said in an interview that he’s seen almost no money from licensing fee Netflix pays Warner Bros. to stream the show. 

And for the consumer, the convenience of it has been diluted. In the early days of streaming, it was just Netflix and Hulu, and between the two services, they had pretty much everything you’d need to drop cable. Now there are too many streaming services, and with all the price hikes that occurred in the last few years, just subscribing to a few of the major ones costs the same, if not more, than cable at this point. Not to mention streamers have made it so that we can’t get attached to any original they produce. A streamer puts out a show that’s not an instant hit that you, me, and everyone we know watched, it gets prematurely canceled (Hey remember when Netflix use to save canceled shows? Oh how the tables have turned). And thanks to a certain studio introducing this precedent, prematurely canceled streaming shows now get yanked off the service, written off in taxes, thrown into the abyss, and then banished to the Shadow Realm. And since streaming media rarely get physical releases, they’re to stay in the Shadow Realm, never to be seen again.

As much as it doesn’t feel like it is now, and I think it’s safe to say it’s done more harm than good at this point, streaming is still ultimately the future. There’s no turning back from it unless every service goes under and shuts down. And even if that were to happen, I’m not sure if those who cut the cord are going to want to buy a new one. And as a strong proponent for physical media, nothing would make me happier than to see everyone start buying DVDs and Blu-Rays again and video stores making a comeback - but that’s likely not going to happen either. 

I don’t know what the future holds for streaming. Truth be told, I don’t think it will ever be as profitable as physical media, VOD, or linear TV.  But that isn’t going to stop from studios from trying to make streaming as profitable as the days of physical media, VOD, and linear TV. I won’t pretend to have the answers here, but it ain’t hard to tell that the current streaming model is unsustainable. Trying to cut costs by replacing writers and actors with AI won’t make streaming more profitable. Continuing to prematurely cancel new shows when they’re not instant smash hits and not giving them the chance to find an audience as well as having streaming services full of one-season shows won’t make it more profitable either. 

Streaming may still be the future, but it clearly shouldn’t be relied upon as the primary means of media distribution. Perhaps studios should let films sit on VOD and physical media for longer than they currently do before dropping them on a streaming service. I remember growing up, a new film wouldn’t make it to TV until several months to a year later. And speaking of TV, linear TV may be dying, but it’s a slow death and for the studios who still have broadcast channels, it’s still a way to reach people and get sign-ups. In November of last year, Disney aired the first two episodes of Andor across ABC, FX, and Freeform. Earlier this year, they did this again by airing the pilot episode of The Mandalorian across the networks. And this fall they’re about to do it again with Ms. Marvel (although this is likely more as a result of the fact that they’ll be nothing on TV this fall). 

But do you know what could ultimately help? By paying the actors and writers the residuals they deserve, not automating their jobs away, and giving them opportunities and tools to create more new and exciting films and shows, and in the case of television, not prematurely canceling them when they’re not hits straight off the bat and allow them to find audiences.

What do y’all think? Let me know and keep supporting the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Solidarity forever.

[kuiperblog]

This is not a Mission Impossible 7 review

I just watched Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, and I appreciate the fact that it actually included “Part One” in the title, unlike a certain other movie currently playing in theaters that ends on a cliffhanger. In fact, Mission Impossible 7 actually does a better job of having a “conclusion.”  (The conflict isn’t resolved, but at least it doesn’t end in the middle of a scene!)

As best I can tell, these movies are impossible to spoil for the reason that nobody really knows the plot of the Mission Impossible series, or alternatively, everyone knows the plot of the Mission Impossible series, because they’re all the same. The details don’t really matter; the plot is an excuse for us to globe-trot between different exotic locales that serve as interesting set pieces for cool action scenes. The world is in peril and Ethan Hawk has to retrieve a macguffin to save it.

The movie has some great action sequences. The airport sequence early on in the movie is some of the most fun I’ve had watching an Mission Impossible movie.

The Rome street chase is also fun, and perhaps the most explicitly comedic part of the movie, which thrives on the classic trope of placing highly-competent characters into situations where they can’t fully flex their competence. (It’s amazing what the addition of a set of handcuffs can do to a scene.) The Rome driving sequence is also memorable in no small part because Pom Klementieff gets to do a lot of acting, despite having almost no dialog: she is great at playing the heavy.

This action sequence is a perfect example of what I mean when I talk about “scenes that let actors act using their faces.” It is a great performance (and I look forward to seeing more of her performances in the future now that Guardians of the Galaxy has put her on everyone’s radar).

Also, in addition to being a globe-trotting adventure about jumping from one locale to another, Mission Impossible movies also include costume changes that are just as drastic, and her character benefits tremendously from this:

(Seriously, her character is just so cool.)

While the airport sequence is one of the best sequences I’ve seen in a Mission Impossible movie, the Venice sequence is, well, significantly more fraught.  In fact, I might rank it lower than any other sequence I can remember from a modern Mission Impossible movie (which I’m going to arbitrarily define as Mission Impossible 4 onward, since that’s when the series hit the point where “basically everyone agrees that all of these movies are pretty great.”)

The Venice sequence, at its weakest points, is weirdly bad.  (Which, to be clear, I actually prefer -- things that are weirdly bad will always be preferable to things that are just boringly bad.)  There are lots of action movies with bad action that is just creatively bankrupt.  But the Venice sequence actually has some great ideas, many of which it actually executes competently -- and then there are some places where the execution just falls short.

For one thing, the start of the Venice “arc” that leads into the action, where characters are just talking to each other, gives a terrible sense of space and absolutely refuses to let more than one character occupy the frame at a time, to the point that I actually found myself wondering, “Did they not have all of the actors on set at the same time when shooting this?  Was this entire dialog scene filmed in reshoots?”  (I honestly don’t know!  It kind of felt like that’s what happened, but it’s not as if this was exactly a tortured production.) I spent that entire dialog sequence completely unaware of where the characters were standing in relation to each other, which really robbed the scene of the kind of tension you’d hope for from a scene where I presume the intended vibe is "a fight could break out at any moment.”

On a more positive note: there was a great shot that really reminded me of this classic fight sequence from Kill Bill:

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

I’m inclined to believe that the visual similarity seen in the following Mission Impossible 7 shot isn’t accidental:

This shot (which we were shown in the trailer) is great!  My biggest complaint is that this particular part of the sequence didn’t last very long, and it had way more cuts than it felt like it needed. Like, I did not need to immediately cut from that shot to this angle:

And then immediately to another different angle:

It’s night, and these guys are all wearing suits: not only do all the cuts make it less visually interesting, but it’s hard to keep track of who is where.  When we cut to the shot above, I just have to remember that Tom Cruise is the guy who’s doing the throwing (and not getting thrown) based on the continuity of the previous shot, which would not matter if we had simply stayed on that shot!

Back to positive: a thing I will give the Venice sequence credit for is that it was very committed to the idea that when you go to see a Mission Impossible movie, you want to see the characters running.  It’s kind of the thing that Tom Cruise is known for.

In the Venice sequence, we up the ante by showing other characters running. (You will have to visit the theater to see this, as it’s not shown in the trailer.) And, it feels kind of silly to say it, but I mean this sincerely: when I saw the other characters running, I thought, “Ah, these guys are definitely proper Mission Impossible characters now. I care about them more than I did before this sequence, and I’m definitely going to remember their faces for the rest of the movie.” It works! You can give anyone Main Character Energy by showing them running and putting in the effort to make it look good!

To end with a criticism: by far the most baffling moment of the Venice sequence comes in a fight with two characters on a bridge, which breaks one of the most fundamental principles of film, which is the 180 degree rule.

For those unacquainted with the language of film, the basic idea is that if a shot is framed with Alice on the left side of the frame, and Bob on the right side of the frame, you should preserve that left-right relationship from shot to shot: you shouldn’t then cut to a shot with Bob on the left side of the frame, and Alice on the right.

You can actually maintain this left-right consistency even when doing shot/reverse shot.  For example, take this example from Heat. In this shot, we have Al Pacino on the left of the frame, and Robert De Niro on the right:

Now we cut to the reverse shot. Notice how, even though we’ve “changed sides” to look at the other actor’s face, Al Pacino is still on the left, and Robert De Niro is still on the right:

What’s most baffling to me is the context in which Mission Impossible 7 breaks this rule: it happens when we’re watching a fight on a bridge, shot in profile.  It’s actually a really neat shot. And then, for seemingly no reason, we cut to another profile shot from the other side of the bridge, so that the character who was on the right of the previous shot is now on the left, side of the frame, and character that was on the left is now on the right.  This shot doesn’t seem to show us anything we weren’t seeing before -- we’re still looking at two people in profile as they attempt to stab/punch each other, and there isn’t really anything distinctive in the background, especially since it’s a scene at night. And it flips between these angles multiple times. I was just left wondering, why?

It stuck out like such a sore thumb that I was left wondering if it was in fact some bold artistic choice, and I was wrong for being bothered by it.  Were it in the context of some other movie franchise, I might lean towards a more charitable interpretation, but this is supposed to be a big summer action blockbuster for a broad audience: I wouldn’t expect a break in form just for...well, I’m really not sure.

And interestingly, basically every complaint I have about the film is isolated to sequence in Venice, which sort of makes me wonder if this is just a product of different “slices of the film being handled by different creative teams” (2 hours and 43 minutes is a lot of runtime to fill), and that’s why certain parts of the movie are just so consistently better than others. In fact, I did notice after the fact that many of the crew listed in the films credits are specifically labeled “Italy Unit.” (I presume that the “Italy Unit” also worked on the Rome sequence, which was great, but maybe daytime driving sequences involve a different creative skillset than nighttime hand-to-hand sequences.)

Anyway, despite the various flaws in the Venice sequence, I can forgive it a lot, because at least it was trying to do something interesting. I’d much rather have a film make me say “what the heck?” than just sit back in my seat, bored with what is going on.  It’s got bad moments, but it’s not terrible, and the bad parts exist in relative isolation in a movie filled with lots of good action set pieces.  Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One is like a good 6-part TV miniseries with one weak episode.

I also don’t want to neglect to mention just how funny this movie is. Its humor comes not in the form of wise-cracking dialog like I’d associate with e.g. MCU fare; rather, it does a wonderful job of putting characters into comedic situations. For example, there’s a sequence where two characters attempt to flee while handcuffed to each other, and numerous shenanigans ensue. There were many moments that had me (and the other people in the theater) laughing out loud. While there are many funny moments that I’d love to describe, I wouldn’t want to spoil them. Watch the movie!

And preferably, you should watch it in a theater, as Tom Cruise told us before the start of the film. This “pre-movie out of character aside” has, without irony, become one of my favorite parts of the theater-going experience: I love it when the actors and/or directors come out to tell me something before (or after) the movie. I loved it when Peter Jackson appeared on the screen to explain why he wanted to make a documentary about World War I, I loved it when John Krasinski welcomed me back to the theater to watch Quiet Place Part II as my first postcovid theatergoing experience, and I loved it when Tom Cruise opened Top Gun: Maverick by thanking the cast and crew and audience who made the magic of movies possible.

I’m fully aware that may just be downstream of the fact that Tom Cruise is an absurdly charismatic person who is good at making me feel a certain way when he talks to the camera.  (In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s literally his job description.) But I’m glad that he welcomed me to theater by telling me about how big action movies like Mission Impossible are meant to be seen on the biggest screen possible, surrounded by people who are sharing in the spectacle.

[sparrowsabre7]

Black Adam Review

Much like “Aquaman” before it, “Black Adam” manages to be a thoroughly mediocre movie, elevated by some really nice visuals and solid action sequences. Unfortunately, it suffers from being considerably more derivative than the King of Atlantis’s film, but does boast stronger performances from its cast, with one major exception. 

I’ll start off by saying I have the most cursory knowledge of most of the characters in this film. Besides the fact Black Adam is Bad Shazam (Captain Marvel as was) and what we get in the “Injustice” games, I know next to nothing about him. Nonetheless, he is portrayed with some competence by Dwayne Johnson here, who I think manages to avoid just playing “The Rock”, an unfair criticism levelled at this film by many. Without wishing to over-praise, he does bring a sense of sobriety to the role and while his delivery is deliberately archaic, Johnson manages to make it work without feeling too silly. Sarah Shahi plays Adrianna Tomaz  (who I only realised on reading the cast list was based on “Isis” from the comics, the same source as Zari from “Legends of Tomorrow”) with plenty of pathos as the female lead and makes for a sympathetic but tough character, without devolving into action girl or damsel clichés. 

Aldis Hodge and Pierce Brosnan also bring a great deal of life into their respective characters. Frankly it’s mad that Brosnan has rarely been used in the Obi-Wan mentor role before, he sells it here incredibly well as a time-worn and world-weary Doctor Fate. His suit is also a visual treat, looking deliberately over-CGI’d to evoke an otherworldly quality that makes sense for the character. Hodge similarly manages to make Hawkman’s stick-up-his-ass dogma still feel earnest enough to avoid coming off like a complete dick. They are the glue holding the Justice Society together, which is a good thing because the other two members barely contribute to the plot or action scenes at all. Indeed one of them is a negative influence. 

Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone is a breath of fresh air, and despite very VERY minimal screen time or plot purpose manages to light up the scene whenever she’s on screen. A talented and charismatic actor who deserves more time to shine. On the other, deeply unfunny hand, is Noah Centineo, whose role as Atom Smasher fails to excite any kind of emotion other than irritation. His role is reduced to comic relief and flirting with Cyclone with zero payoff. His super suit also has a Deadpool mask that’s painted blue. I say that without exaggeration, it’s not just similar, it literally has the black diamonds where Deadpool’s eyes go, it’s just all blue. He doesn’t do anything cool action wise and all of his jokes fall flat.

That’s sadly not something reserved for Atom Smasher though. Pretty much every attempt at humour in the film, with maybe one or two exceptions based on Teth-Adam’s flippant attitude towards murder, dies on its arse. It’s common for people to mock “millennial humour” and MCU movies use of it these days, but I can safely say this film is the only one where I’ve seen these stereotypes actually be true. It’s all so awkward or out of place, or just incredibly tired. It’s one of the few things I genuinely disliked about the movie. 

Back to positives, I do enjoy that it manages to gently caress the idea of superheroes being concerned with predominantly white, “first world” problems, as opposed to actually fighting for injustice worldwide. It’s mostly paid lip service without being dug into, but it manages to touch on a subject many other comic book films would be reluctant to. Equally the notion of the citizens being the heroes, not the superpowered beings does work for me here, albeit another overly used trope. Indeed much of this movie is painfully derivative: Doctor Fate fights very similarly to Doctor Strange, Black Adam fights like a Man of Steel Kryptonian, and the big bad is the laziest most generic looking demon I’ve seen in my life. All that aside, the action sequences are still a lot of fun. There’s not been enough lately of heroes just going ham on each other, even in the actual “Man of Steel” so to have so much of the run time taken up with Black Adam pinging about the place zapping and smacking baddies makes for an entertaining romp. It’s also fun to see action sequences set to songs once in a while. I know “Guardians” and more recently the two Taika “Thors” did it too, but there’s something about the way it’s done here that feels so delightfully 00′s that it transported me back to that time when super hero movies were a rarity. Back then a film like this would have blown people’s tits off, as it stands it’s a decent enough Sunday afternoon film. Forgettable but fun.

[local-maenad]

No hate to Xochitl Gomez at all she’s a very good actress and does well as America Chavez but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want

HER to be America.

[bastart13]

I’ve had a lot of fun recently coming with with female mercenary characters for TF2. I really liked where the concept art was going with making them all individual characters rather than simply “if the characters were women”

The design style is fantastic for distinct simplicity so I tried limiting myself to basic colours and shapes to make these

and I’m pretty confident they pass the silhouette test!

Character names/bios under the cut!

Heavy

Name: Marie Jarrett

Age: Mid 30s-40s

Height: 6’5

Nationality: American (Hawai’i)

Bio: Raised in Hawai’i, growing up she developed more and more drastic measures to fend off the tourists swarming her home. Land mines, electric gates, guard dogs, none could stop them for long until she picked up her trusty minigun to send her message. But even still, she hears the click of cameras in the night.

Eventually, she left her home to explore the world. Enthralled with the image of seeing different wonders across different countries, she’s always disappointed. She’s travelled every continent and still finds nothing that lives up to her expectations. No place, no person. She’s outgoing and open to new experiences, only she usually hates them.

Mercenary life is a great opportunity to earn money, see sights, meet new people and kill them after they don’t meet your expectations. She hates New Mexico and takes every opportunity to destroy the buildings and insult her employer’s tastes. She finds some people she tolerates within the mercenaries as she hasn’t yet visited where they live. However much she hides it, she has a deep, instinctual fear of the Engineer.

  Soldier

Name: Linda Smith

Age: Early 40s

Height: 5’10

Nationality: Canadian

Bio: Canada’s perfect woman… or so she claims. The star of war propaganda posters and clearly decided for the role because of her great tactical assets. She’s there to motivate people into the fight. To spread the glory of Canada and inspire her allies. She believes she has higher orders than anyone else she’s working for (ignoring the fact she hasn’t heard from them for a good few years) and is determined to follow them to the letter. She may have lost the letter but she remembers it good enough.

She represents the ideals of Canada: polite, friendly, apologetic, and pacifistic. None of these are contradicted by how she throws around rockets. That’s not what Canada means. She’s superior to everyone around her and graciously educates them on how to improve through example. She loves her French and British allies and will kindly tell the Americans how to be better.

She’s motivating and actually fairly competent, it’s just that competency might be misdirected. She’s damn good at rocket jumping, shooting her shotgun, and supporting her team, it’s just that you really need to get it in her head when she’s meant to be doing it.

Scout

Name: Patricia “Pat” Herald

Age: 50s-60s

Height: 5’4

Nationality: English

Bio: In her years, Patricia has learnt fear… and she’s learnt to laugh in its face. She wakes up at the crack of dawn, ready to leave at the drop of a hat, boots polished and laced the night before. Her years have taught her that with a gun and Jeremy by her side, she can survive!

The postal route of Appleby-in-Westmorland.

She’s been chased by geese, dogs, cows, elderly ladies, and when her postal route had her delivering post during the war, she developed a taste for blood. Nothing will stop her from delivering her post on time. Every day before 6am, every postbox will have their letters and parcels. One chucked across barbed wire, another house jumped over a river, another house miles into the country with dogs on her heels, she WILL get there and she’ll get there FAST.

But after a couple of decades, she needs a change of scenery, and the Gravels wars are just the holiday she’s needed. With her trusty black and white cat by her side (ignoring the yowling and scratches) she reckons it’ll be great time to enjoy herself.

Quotes: “Oh, hello, Human Jeremy.”

“Bloody fucking Ethel! Building her house out in the country… surrounded by bloody hills and rivers!”

Pyro

Name: Nikephoros Papadopoulos

Age: Late 20s

Height: 5’11

Nationality: Greek

Bio: Survival of the fittest. Nature gives and nature taketh away. If you’re not prepared for that, well, Pyro is more than happy to teach you the lesson. They embody the old values of the Greek gods: f*ck or fire. She indulges her every whim and unfortunately for the people around her it often involves arson.

One year for the Olympic games, she was given the noble title of torchbearer. On complete coincidence, the Olympics shifted to primarily water sports. Underwater sprints became the hot new trend!

She’s merry and chatty, never missing the opportunity to talk to other people about herself and her world view. She can’t wait to spread her gospel to help other people improve themselves (though she always gets a laugh out of those who go out screaming in the flames). She can’t help it if she has a sadistic side.

Engineer

Name: Mikawo Kojima

Age: Early 20s

Height: 5’0

Nationality: Japanese

Bio: Japan’s early-rising industrial revolutions in technology are best exemplified in Mikawo, a young upstart determined to rise to the top, learning everything she can and building the best of the best. Unfortunately, she’s never been the most creative but when you happen upon other people’s blueprints and happen to construct them first, what does it matter who came up with the “concept”?

At first, she appears to be every bit the quiet and demure young woman people expect, only when silk hides steel, that steel is a massive automatic sentry gun. She’s motivated by a distinct contempt for the people who get in her way. Especially those who try to be better than her. She enjoys the flexibility of English, especially the cusses, and she has no reservations about swearing up a storm, even if she still refuses to give a straight rejection, preferring instead to give a small “I’ll think about it.”

Quotes: “This GUN is fair use on your head!”

Demo

Name: Qingzhao Zeng

Age: Late 40s

Height: 5’3

Nationality: Chinese

Bio: The Zeng family has a long-standing family trade in demolitions and explosives, traced down the line all the way to the Song dynasty. Luckily, Qingzhao has sisters so, you know, it’s not all that important. She doesn’t even have to stop smoking and drinking. She hasn’t blown herself up (that much) so clearly, it’s working. Precision is for other people to worry about. She’s apathetic to a T, having seen everything. Measurements come from the heart. A pinch of gunpowder there, a splash of paint there.

Her family has a deep-seated rivalry with the DeGroots. Long ago in ancient China, a Zeng matriarch woke up in a cold sweat, a message from the stars to let them know of their Scottish rivals. Due to being a continent away from each other, the families have actually met each other only a handful of times, but the hatred needs to be kept up because, what if?

Turns out, Qingzhao has met Tavish even before finding employment under the Mann brothers. One drunken night, the two of them had a short, whirlwind friendship, sharing secrets and declaring each other to be their best friends. Luckily for them, they both forgot the night, merrily hating each other as tradition dictates. However, headaches and flashes of this terrible night haunt them both. Could they really get over centuries of hate and become friends?

Absolutely not.

Sniper

Name: Ansa Aaltonen

Age: 27

Height: 6’2

Nationality: Finnish

Bio: Snow. Sugar. Cocaine.  Her life is run by many white powders. Ansa is a professional sniper, with a sharp eye and a steady hand… when she isn’t also high as a kite, lost in the snowy wilderness of Finland and screeching to the sky. When you’re up in the dark and cold, you need something to give you a little pep in your step. It just so happens Ansa liked having a bit more pep than most.

She’s there for a THRILL. There’s nothing better to get your heart pumping at 200 beats per second than a good headshot, embracing the chill, and a hit of sugar. She no longer feels the cold or heat or even pain, shrugging it off until she collapses. It just makes her feel alive. She’s efficient, fast, and determined to get her kicks.

She has an unusual taste, living off fermented fish and tree bark. To most people around the Finnish wilderness, she’s nothing more than an urban legend, but she’s very real and she’s looking for some excitement, happily found in employment in the Gravel wars.

Spy

Name: Yvonne Pleshette [Real name N/A]

Age: 30s

Height: 5’8

Nationality: American (California)

Bio: The silver screen calls to his woman and she’s happy to answer. She trains herself to act in every possible role she can, having a wide range of accents, body languages, and backstories. To truly test herself, she gave up her identity long ago. Lately she’s been going by the name “Yvonne.”

The world of Hollywood is cutthroat and full of backstabbers so she learnt to cut throats and stab backs. While some people tell her the terms are metaphorical, nothing else has given her more roles. Living the mercenary life is simply gathering research for her roles (and earning some much-needed money in the process).

She presents herself as a classic film star, despite being a minor name at best, mostly because she’s always changing it. She has high standards but a cheapskate personality. She’s a bit of a bitch, happily criticising others, especially if they’re working with her. What can she say? She’s a diva.

[Slutshames other spy]

Quotes: “Ugh, actors these days, they know nothing about getting into character. They still have names.”

“’AHHHHH—’ Wait, no. Once more from the top. Scream in agony.”

Medic

Name: Susan Monks

Age: 30-40s

Height: 5’7

Nationality: American (New Jersey)

Bio: The American Healthcare system. Is there a more glorious sight? The exploitation of pain. The money. The debt. The fear it strikes into the entire population it’s designed to help. To Susan, there’s nothing better. She squeezes every last drop from the people she helps, working on a purely transactional lifestyle. She’ll never help someone unless she has all of their insurance information and the payment secure in her bank, and god forbid she ever accept help. It’s not like she can afford her own prices.

She’s very self-aware of her own corruption and proud of it, though she refuses to be exploited in the same way, suspicious of anything “free” but also doing her best not to pay for anything.

That said, she doesn’t much care for how good a job she does. In her eyes, asking for surgery is one thing. Asking for successful surgery is another. She has a variety of skills in both cosmetic and military medicine. She just wishes the license board would stop sending her “malpractice” letters. Ugh, stick to your own business. “Disappearing” all their messengers is becoming a pain.

Quotes: “Why get someone else to do something for you when you can scrounge a way to do it yourself?”

[lookstairs]

Barbarian (2022)

—-Spoilers—

This has to be one of the randomest movies I’ve ever seen and it is AMAZING

It starts off like a typical horror movie with the protagonist Tess ending up stuck sharing an airbnb with stranger Keith

Now Keith seems to be doing everything he can to convince Tess (and the audience) that he’s a good guy and that she should just stay for the night

Obviously Tess isn’t very trusting but eventually she gets more comfortable w him and agrees to share the Airbnb

Usually I hate protagonist but Tess’s character was really smart and didn’t just accept a strangers offer to stay the night without taking precautions

Now I assumed when she went to bed shit would get scary but this is where things take a turn

Tess sleeps through the night fine and even makes it to a job interview she had scheduled. Everything’s good

Then she ends up stuck in the basement

Down in the basement she ends up finding a secret passage that leads to a room straight out of nightmares and very understandably freaks the fuck out

Once Keith gets back she (like any sane person) wants to leave and never go back but Keith feels like he needs to investigate

After he doesn’t come back Tess decides to go down after him and finds that the secret passage went farther then she thought

Now this is where shit gets weird

Is Keith a part of this? Was he setting her up? Is he a victim himself?

Then BOOM the scene changes to a man driving along the coast

From here on out the movie turns into a dark comedy

The character of AJ (Alvin from Alvin in the Chipmunks) is some big shit Hollywood actor who’s been accused of sexual assault by a costar

Let me just say nowhere in this movie do they try to sympathize with him. I was worried they would try and show us “his side” and make him out to be a nice guy but nope

He’s an asshole and a coward which we see when he ends up renting the same house Tess was in

Being the washed up greedy ass that he is his reactions to the secret passage and hidden room are completely different from Tess

Whereas Tess was concerned about why the room was there and what was in the darkness AJ didn’t have a care in the world

After running into the nightmare monster Tess met AJ starts running deeper into the passages where he gets trapped with Tess

From her we learn what this thing wants

She isn’t a sadistic monster trying to torture them

She’s actually the result of years of inbreeding by the man who previously owned the house. And she wants Tess and AJ to be her babies

There’s so much left in the movie but honestly I’d never be able to describe it right

It was just hilariously uncomfortable to watch this thing try and mother the piece of shit that is AJ

Honestly all the characters were great. Tess was an amazing protagonist and the most competent character in the whole movie

She had her moments but she was just a caring individual who genuinely wanted to help those around her (even people that don’t deserve it cough cough AJ)

Keith my sweet angel I feel so bad for suspecting him in the beginning but it was pretty smart that they had Pennywise play the normal guy

AJ.It was AMAZING seeing this whiny insufferable cowardly child suffer. His character was the epitome of a self proclaimed “nice guy” who blames the world for any problem he has.

I don’t remember if she’s ever given a name but as terrifying as she is the “monster” of the movie was really just a by product of years of abuse. What she did was terrible but what could you really expect from someone abused and raised in captivity.

The one thing about this movie is that the monster isn’t who you think and the human characters were the real villains

9/10 overall really entertaining and keeps you guessing, but there were some unanswered questions that I would’ve liked to have been addressed

If you’re looking for a dark comedy with some nice horror elements this one would be a fun viewing

[elceetheporcupine]

After finally seeing sing 2 after years of waiting, I’ve got long, spoilery thoughts about it!! Here’s what I managed to gather so far.

MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING BELOW

- All the visuals improved. The textures, the facial expressions, all are amazing. Those shots of realistic foliage are basically Illumination flexing, lmao. Also it was so hard to sit still and pay attention to details because it was so easy to get lost in the music.

- So basically the plot wouldn’t have happened if Buster could take criticism and light praise lol

- No explanation to where Eddie went. I like to think he got an internship abroad to find a purpose in his life. Maybe Nana is portrayed as the new Moon Theater’s patron, if not owner, but it feels like her roles were originally meant for Eddie.

- I will say that the pacing in the first half is a little weird. I feel like there were a few important moments of character development that happened offscreen, especially between the old and new character interactions.

- That said, I loved that first little hint that Porscha isn’t happy with her dad’s treatment when we see a brief crestfallen look when he leaves. Consider how betrayed she must have felt, thinking her father would console her after getting “fired.” Instead he makes it all about him and has these total strangers handle her instead of himself. I can guarantee you that, offscreen, Porscha forgot about getting “fired” and now just cried about how little her Stage Dad cared for her.

- Anyway I love Porscha, even if I didn’t vibe with her at first. She only slips into her mean spoiled princess act when she doesn’t get way, but outside of that, she acts more like Elle Woods mixed with Charlotte from the Princess and The Frog.

- I feel like the upbeat nature of A Sky Full of Stars didn’t really fit the play’s war scene. It should’ve been Imagine Dragons’ Radioactive, especially given that the live version of that song contains a crescendo drum number that the movie incorporated. Although if Johnny needed a fast-paced song to dance to, maybe a hip-hop song would’ve done the job too.

- Ryan seems like a chill guy. Cool tiger. I want him and Johnny to hang out.

- I love Nooshy getting especially exited at the prospect of committing crimes. And the way she initially thought Johnny was asking her out on a date was priceless. Headcanon: lesbian….

- More on Nooshy, she acts a more childish than I originally assumed, so I really don’t know how old she is… I still think she’s in her early 20’s, and just probably acts immature. I want to know her past, especially since it’s obvious she likes to skirt the law…

- My gosh, I love that Gunter is the author of the screenplay, even though Buster had to spend effort helping him form it into a slightly more coherent plot. He’s got a creative mind and I’m proud of him, even if he’s indecisive. (He and my Christine have potential to clash. The silly storyteller vs the “serious” one.)

- I actually kinda dig that the in-universe play for Alice in Wonderland takes place in modern times, with a modern-day Alice in high school going into Wonderland.

- Alfonso must’ve somehow seen Meena before, and practiced that pickup line for her. Smooth.

- I thought Darius was gonna be enough of a jerk to have Alfonso replace him at the last minute, but the yak’s a competent actor and not a terrible person outside of his annoying pride. I have a feeling that might’ve been on the original draft of the script? But Meena imagining her crush on Darius’ place so she would feel comfortable acting romantic with an actor she isn’t into is pretty poignant from an acting perspective.

- Suki was surprisingly good. I didn’t expect her to join the gang.

- The cat though? He’s basically LeFou as a feline, which I’m pretty sure was completely intentional. Definitely a gay simp.

- The kids in my theater CLAPPED and CHEERED when Big Daddy came back. I didn’t know he was popular lol

- I don’t even have to change the script too much to make it fit the Ash Moon AU. Ash acts very close to Buster, beaming at him, and hugging him tightly at the beginning. It’s *adorable*. Imagine Porscha feeling even more inspired to stand up to her dad after seeing what real affection between father and daughter looks like, despite not even being related by blood.

[cybernaght]

The Rebel/叛逆者: A Review of Sorts

After being only semi-invested in the Rebel, I ended up getting so into it in the final weeks of its release, I’ve shelled out on IQIYI premium just to get the final couple of episodes a few days earlier.

That’s right kids, it’s a Review of Sorts. Unfortunately, I could not find a translation of the novella the drama is based on, so will be looking at it as a separate entity. 

Most of this post is spoiler-free, however I have dedicated a few paragraphs at the end of it to discussing the final episode, as there are a few specific things about it I wanted to mention. There is a clear spoiler warning before that part.

If you don’t want to risk it, TL;DR version of this review goes something like this: Rebel is very decent, and positively one of the best things that I have seen to come out of China since I’ve jumped into that particular rabbit hole. It’s pretty well written, it’s very beautifully dressed and shot, and the cast is killing it. I thought it dropped the ball a little in post production, and I did not always love the pacing. Other than that, it’s incredibly decent, and well worth watching, unless communist propaganda really irks you, in which case stay very well away. 

I have been having many conversations with @supernovasimplicity​ all the way through watching this drama, so there are likely to be some thoughts here that are influenced by those. 

The story centers around Lin Nansheng, a struggling servicemen in the Guomingdang party. He has a great analytical mind, and absolutely no emotional capacity for his job. He has trouble handling violence, he is impulsive, he cannot speak to his superiors without bursting into tears, and has nothing even remotely resembling a poker face. And that is what makes this drama as enjoyable as it is. 

I don’t think Lin Nansheng’s journey would have been nearly as exciting had he started it from a place of competence. He botches up everything he touches because his big brain switches off the moment his emotions kick in. And so, when you see him grow in confidence, learn to control himself, learn to fake his smiles and compliments, you can’t help but feel a strange sense of pride. It also makes Lin Nansheng very likeable as a character for reasons other than Zhu Yilong’s ability to look like a bush baby.

It did take me a while to feel fully engaged with his performance - not because there is anything lacking in it, but just because it’s hard to be truly surprised by his choices after the exposure I have given myself to his work. That said, at about a half-way point I got charmed by him anyway, and there were quite a few scenes that were truly mesmerising. There were scenes where he broke out of the familiar mould of big unguarded eyes and fluttering wet eyelashes, and tried something that was not pretty: every time to a great success. I am hoping to see more of that in his future work. 

I really wanted to like the female lead, Zhu Yizhen, but unfortunately both the way she was written and the way she was performed by Tong Yao left me somewhat cold. It did not help of course that the screenplay ended up sidelining her at every turn, leaving her with very little personal agency. She was set up so interestingly, but in the end her sole purpose became being someone for Lin Nansheng to pine over. It is particularly curious from a perspective of meta storytelling: seeing how this is all centered around superiority of communism, which as a whole was, arguably, ahead of its time in the matters of binary gender equality.

The ensemble cast of the drama is stunning. Wang Yang came very close to  stealing the show at several points as Chen Moqun, somehow managing to make his rather unlikeable character interesting. I can say the same thing about Zhu Zhu who absolutely shined as Lin Xinjie, showing an incredible range and imagination in her performance.

The overarching story of the show is engaging, with some incredibly suspenseful elements; every narrative arc including a nice progression through it. As spy thrillers go, it was fairly well plotted. You could if you go looking for a few things that did not pay off in a satisfying way (notably, the Chekhov’s cyanide capsule), but you overall the story really was well told for the most of it. 

I did, however, feel like the pacing started to fall apart in the last quarter of the drama. Last episode in particular really did feel rushed, not just due to its pace, but also in a way it failed to pay off the final mission in any visible way. There will be more on that in the spoiler section of this post.

Important to note that The Rebel is a show made in Communist China in the year 2021. It does not ideologically side-step from the path that was laid out for it by that fact. Which is to say, it is, undeniably, filled with propaganda. Communists are the good guys, and if you think a good guy (or gal) is not a communist, they probably secretly are. With one exception of a friendly character who is not a communist, and whose fate we actually never find out. Curious, that. 

The Rebel is not a kind of a show where censorship-appeasing scenes are shoehorned in. It’s a kind of a show in which the main theme is Sacrifice For the Party.

Aside from the being the moral vector of the show, Mao’s gentle teachings explicitly help get Ling Nansheng out of prolonged depression following his injury, and almost annoyingly, this sat incredibly well with the character, as he was written. Lin Nansheng is conceived as this naive idealist who wants to be on the front line, who needs validation and support of others. His - and I can’t believe I’m saying this - his being disillusioned in his beliefs and choosing to join a party which includes people whom he likes and trusts makes sense. Him finding this one thing that gives him hope and letting it propel him into gaining confidence and competence makes sense. 

In many ways, the Rebel is a story of Lin Nansheng’s failure to become an antagonist within the world of the drama.

I have honestly spent this past couple of weeks pondering whether being well written makes political propaganda better or worse, whether the subtlety of it makes it more or less palatable, whether it’s enough, as a viewer, to be aware of it to shrug it off. Ultimately, this is not something I could or should make moral judgements on, but I do believe that it’s possible to acknowledge the fact that propaganda exists in the drama, and still appreciate it for a good piece of television that it is. 

That said, I am very well aware that me being kind of okay with it stems entirely from my own removal from the culture this is made in, and I am, perhaps, lucky to even have a choice as to whether I want to engage with a product which is, undoubtably, here to dress political ideology in fancy clothes.

I have, on the other hand, also seen many things in Russian media of the “Annexation of Crimea is Good Actually” variety and those make me feel very unwell, so feeling somewhat at ease with blatant political propaganda in Chinese media makes me the biggest hypocrite.

But, I digress.

Before we go into some specific plot-related things, I would like to mention that the Rebel has this weird dichotomy in which the production is sublime, and the post-production… not so much. The show very well shot. Every element of it sits perfectly together, not a single prop out of place, not a single extra underdressed, not a page of script not put to good use. It’s lit to perfection. It’s scored beautifully. So much of this show is just stunning.

And then… there is post-production. 

This is not even about bad CGI (and the CGI is, indeed, bad), it’s just that most of post-production as a whole feels rushed.

Starting with surprisingly imperfect editing, which at times just fails to make the scene flow together. The final line of dialogue would be spoken within a scene, and it would fade to black instantly without a single breath to indicate a full stop. A montage sequence would be created, but every shot within it condensed to a second, making it feel incredibly fast-paced when the effect should be the opposite. There would be a cut away from a speaking character and to the same speaking character from a slightly different angle, making it dynamic without any reason to do so. There are a couple of truly startling jump-cuts.

I did not speed this gif up. This is part of a romantic montage, edited like it’s a goddamn action sequence.

And of course dear old friend slowing down footage shot at 24FPS. Please don’t do this. You think no one notices - but we do.

There are other tell-tale signs of production rushing to the finish line: occasional, but very noticeable ADR glitches, very sloppy job done at sound mixing, which contribute to parts of the show feeling ever so slightly off.

It’s not unforgivable, but it does make me wish the same amount of care and efforts that went into shooting this drama would also go into it after it was all in the can. 

Oh, and just because if you know me you know I have a professional fixation on fights, and I am happy to say most action scenes are toe-curlingly delightful. Hot damn those fights are good. I am absolutely in love with the shot below, for example. Placing an actor behind a piece of set so he can exchange places with the stunt double during a one shot is such an old trick, but the execution, timing and camerawork are just... flawless. This is what perfection looks like.

Now we got all that out of the way...

SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES FINALE BELOW

Here’s the thing. I wanted to love the ending and I found that I could not.

The final mission was presented as important, and honestly the scene in which Zhu Yizhen is sending the vital message out as Lin Nansheng holds his ground in hand to hand fight is incredibly dynamic. Party, this is due to the fight itself being incredibly well choreographed, yes, but it’s also where it sits within the narrative, how high the stakes are for everything surrounding it. 

But then, the tension all but bleeds out. The Important Message is sent, the fight is won, and we are treated to ten minutes of a very slow car chase, problem of which is not even its speed as much as its placing within the story. As in, by this point both of those operatives have lost their cover, and completed their Very Important Mission. It would be very sad if they died, but their survival does not technically contribute to their cause. Moreover, Zhu Yizhen getting mortally injured in order to protect Lin Nansheng as part of her mission read a little empty when the mission is technically over. 

While I personally found Lin Nansheng slow recuperation and his low key ending enjoyable, I think I would have preferred to have seen a more tangible pay-off to all the sacrifices made in the name of “bright communist future”, just a little more justification for every moment of death and despair we witnessed. I would have certainly at the very least preferred to see Wang Shi’an’s death on screen. Considering how many likeable characters martyred themselves on screen, denying us the death of the one antagonist just seemed cruel. 

I really did love the ambiguity of the final few scenes however, if we consider the children choir at the end a fantasy. The idea that Lin Nansheng will live out his life in this hope that Zhu Yizhen is still alive, imagining her just outside of his field of vision, his only joy being in this fantasy of her… now, that is incredibly strong. I equally like the idea of rest being promised to him at the end of his journey, and said rest being painful, and slow and unwelcome.

But it felt like as they chose not to to lean into the “sweet” part of the bitter-sweet tone of the ending and we’re unable not commit to the “bitter” part either, so it lands with a splat which is somewhat lacklustre. 

---

This concludes my thoughts on the Rebel. 

I am more or less out of Zhu Yilong’s filmography to watch, which is probably a good thing at this point. I have just emerged out of several back to back work projects - literally today - and will hopefully once more have time for things I grew to enjoy doing during the lockdown. 

Those things, if you have not guessed, include watching Chinese television and writing things about Chinese television. 

[goldenheartstudios]

Turning Red was fun, I wanna talk about it

  Disclaimer 1: This rant will not be fully positive, and it will especially not be fully negative. I will just talk about what I want to talk about respectfully

  Disclaimer 2: I’m not Chinese, I’m Romanian. So this post will definitely not be about the movie’s culture portrayal, and you have to keep this in mind when I’ll talk in my perspective (I also recommend watching reviews and analyses from people who are related to the movie’s culture if you’re curious, they can be very informative and fun!)

  With that aside, let’s start

  I watched the movie not long after it was released, and I quite enjoyed it! And, after I posted here a very long rant (about an other series, not related with this post) and watched a video about someone analyzing the movie Turning Red, I thought I can take this opportunity and do a shorter rant

  The first thing I want to talk about is the visual. Like, my God, the colors are so pretty and everything looks so soft and lighthearted! The sparkly eyes were definitely something that I really enjoyed, because it made me think of classic cartoons, fitting very well with the vibes the movie wanted to give!

  The characters were also lively and fun. One thing that I especially enjoyed was the bond between them, since it felt true and natural, like how friends are. They help each other, play together and just vibe

  I also like how Mei and her mother have an honest bond of caring, even if they’re not on the same page. I can feel that the creator of the movie wanted to portray a complicated relationship between family and friends, and I can say that this aspect of the film was handled well

  I related to Mei being a very competent child with an overprotective mother. I don’t see this aspect often, so seeing her struggles with getting a new perspective outside of her comfort place and having the choice of accepting the change or staying the same, while being true to herself, was really nice 

  Also, I will not go into the discussion about the portrayal of period, because I was luckily informed about it at an early time when it happened to me, and I’ve never seen it as a big deal (I’m honestly more confused on why others make a big deal about it. Guys, it’s just biology)

  Overall, I enjoyed how colorful, cute, funny and over the top it was, and I’m definitely considering rewatching it in the future! But, no series is perfect, and now I get to talk about the things I was ehh about

  Honestly, the things I will talk about did not affect me that much as ruining my experience of the movie, so kudos for that!

  The first thing I want to mention is Mei’s voice. Don’t get me wrong, the timbre of the voice fits very well! I just noticed the voice was a little monotone with emotion

  It did fit when Mei was acting composed and calm, but most of the movie she’s showing a lot of complicated emotions, and that’s when I noticed a lack of strength in feelings, more notable when she cried or was angry. But I don’t think this means the voice actor was inexperienced honestly, because this can easily be caused by the direction they were given

  Another thing that I want to talk about is the moment of betrayal, aka the moment when Mei went to her mother instead of her friends. This would be the most notable issue for me, because I’m not really a fan of “betraying your friend” trope in general

  My main issue was that they were Mei’s besties, and they were left aside and forgave her very fast after (which depending on how you were at that age, you may find this realistic or unrealistic). This didn’t really go anywhere, and I felt it was put there for the purpose of having a reason for the girls to go to the concert without Mei, and having a dramatic moment in the movie overall

  I would have personally liked if Mei tried to talk to her mother, but she wouldn’t have listened, because it would also make sense considering how she acted at the notebook event. And if when she was taken back, Mei would have told her friends to go to the concert without her for her sake, for the effort they made together, this could have made that her friends did go to the concert, but you would see that they’re bummed out because Mei’s not there

  And about the fact if the bully was too easily forgiven or not, well this is a little complicated. Yes, he did make fun of them many times. Yes, he did act like an asshole many times. But, you have to consider the part when Mei, as a big red panda, jumped on him in the scary/angry phase and actually wounded him. Honestly, I’m surprised he didn’t act scared of them (or of Mei) after that whole event, because it might have been terrifying for a kid to go through that

  Does this excuse his behavior? Nah. But you have to keep in mind that they’re very young, they still don’t know fully about what’s morally right and wrong at that age. Him going to them and saying that he’s sorry for making fun of them would have been enough to be completely honest

  The last thing I want to talk about is the exaggeration of events, which is the thing that I saw many people complain about

  I have to tell you: I think the characters’ actions were pretty realistic. That’s just how kids act, searching for interest, entertainment, fun, and being imprevisible with how they hold grudges. I think the impression that makes these thing exaggerated is the fact that we see things in Mei’s perspective, and as a kid, many things hit or feel bigger than they truly are

  And about her mother being that overprotective, I don’t have a problem with that. I can understand it, especially since I’ve seen people’s opinion that are from that culture

  The only thing that I can talk about tho, is the time her mother entered the school to give her pads, but probably not in the way you think I will

  You see, I do understand her being that stubborn to bring her the pads, especially since periods can be very messy. But what I’m sketchy about is..

  How did she enter the school?

  The guard didn’t look like he knew she was in, and schools usually have guards around the entrance for protection (because the school has a lot of kids after all), so the option is… that she jumped over the fence? That high fence?

  Don’t get me wrong, it’s believable for a child to jump the fence because they will jump over anything if they’re stubborn enough, but I’m unsure about… her jumping over the fence? In that outfit? And looking perfectly fine after?

  You guys saw the fence, right?

  It comes to the point of questioning how practical it is, not how exaggerated it is. And I personally would have seen more believable for her to convince the guard for letting her in, or going pass through him. Honestly, it would have been funny if she was chased around by the guard while calling for Mei, and very believable for Mei to react devastated because of it

  Going back to the exaggeration topic. Even if I don’t mind it, I think it’s fair for other people to do so. If many things are exaggerated constantly, it can be overwhelming or harder to get attached. And that can be a problem when you have to get to the serious part of the story, because it may not hit properly

  Do I think the movie should have done things differently? Not really. Yeah, they could have made the atmosphere less exaggerated, but that’s just how the movie was meant to be. There’s no perfect method of storytelling, that’s why there are that many. This method has its downsides, but it has its benefits as well, and that’s alright

  And it’s alright if there are people who don't like it as well. We’re all different, and we have to be aware when there’s something that’s made for us or not

  So yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk about

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  I wanna pet the red panda-

[evilwickedme]

ok so to sum up my feelings for leverage: redemption, season 1(a): (long post warning, there’s a tl;dr at the end)

I knew that Hardison wouldn’t be in most of the season due to Aldis Hodge being a busy bee nowadays, but I didn’t realize that meant he’d only be around for the first two episodes. He was sorely missed, not only because of my attachment to him, but also because he’s usually the grounding factor in the group dynamic, and his role as info guy and tech guy was split evenly between two characters who had their own issues.

That said, Hardison is absolutely a highlight of the two episodes he’s in. his speech about redemption was everything I could’ve hoped for (plus, more evidence for the Jewish!Hardison pile...). I wish we’d gotten to see more of his dynamic with Breanna because what we saw was funny and sweet and we don’t generally get to see Hardison taking care of somebody who so desperately needs taking care of. I hope that Aldis Hodge is around for more episodes in 1(b), because what we’re left with feels a little hollow.

Sticking to original leverage characters for now, for the most part the leverage crew still felt true to the original series as characters, even if the show itself was a little bit confused at times. The actors understand their characters and embody them so well that I think one could give them the trashiest script ever and they’d still sell it. Sophie is a particular focus in 1(a) because of Nate’s death, and she’s particularly well written as a result.

That said, I’m super bitter that we saw little to no mastermind!Parker. Parker’s character being given the mastermind role was a big deal and it feels like they’re walking it back because they feel uncomfortable with it. It is eventually given an in-text excuse, but literally in the last episode, and it was not a particularly convincing reason, and in fact contradicted moments from previous episodes (Sophie leaving for a client meeting and ignoring Parker in ep3 comes to mind). It’s frustrating, it makes the end of the original leverage feel pointless, and letting Parker make a decision once in a while is not the same thing at all. The original series repeatedly showed us that while everyone in the team had their strengths, Parker works problems and solves them in unique, interesting ways, and other characters’ days in the limelight tended to be comedic or even failures. It’s a broken promise, and a pretty major broken promise at that.

On a more positive note, Parker’s dynamic with literally everyone was fantastic. She’s possibly the best written character this season. They’ve taken the autism out of the subtext and into the text (although obviously still undiagnosed), and given her coping mechanisms that were taken seriously in the text even when they were played for laughs, which I appreciated. Her attempts to mentor Breanna were sweet, her friendship with Sophie was electric and at times (CRIMES) hilarious, and as usual, she has a fantastic dynamic with Eliot that makes my heart burst. If you don’t think they’re romantically involved, at least acknowledge there’s a life partnership here. They’ve spent the last decade together.

(We’ll get to Harry.)

Eliot isn’t given much arc-wise, which is frustrating since he’s my favorite. He’s being presented as the goal at the end of a redemption arc, ie to keep working at it every day until your soul heals or whatever, and it doesn’t reflect the message they’re trying to convey via Hardison’s speech and our two new characters. He’s got his moments, but I think they under utilized his potential.

Breanna!!! Breanna’s my new favorite, except for Eliot. She’s hilarious, she’s insecure, she’s nerdy and excited in a way that’s similar to Hardison but still distinct in its inherent teenage-girl-ness and I LOVE IT. Unlike the previous series, where Hardison’s “age of the geek” was often a joke played on Hardison, we’re at the point where Eliot and Parker are both right there with him, and so they accept and even appreciate Breanna’s nerdiness. Also, canon gay character? In YOUR Leverage? It’s more likely than you think.

(No, I never thought they’d make ot3 canon on screen. I hoped, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.)

I think Breanna’s the character that will be the most interesting to see grow. She’s got a lot of potential and a list of crimes a mile long (or more). I adore her with all my heart. I want to see her tiktok account.

Harry. Oh, Harry.

It took me a while, but I do like Harry. It took a while, because the narrative positioned him at the same level as Nate back in episode 1 of original Leverage. But in episode 1 we didn’t know the other characters. We had Nate as the POV character, and so we cared about him because we were seeing the world through his eyes. (This is TV Studies 101. I know this, because I took TV Studies 101 in 2019.) In Leverage: Redemption, we no longer have a POV character, for several reasons:

Nate, previously the POV character, is dead.

As it is, by mid-season 3 of leverage Nate was no longer a POV character. This is, coincidentally, the point where the leverage writers realized they had four other characters in the main cast they could do something with, and in-universe, Nate accepted that he was a thief, not a special Good Man.

Sophie is sort of a POV character for the first episode of the revival, but only for the first few minutes. Afterwards, the series settles into the groove of seasons 3-5, i.e., the entire crew is our POV. We know our crew, and we love them as is.

Narratively, however, Redemption insists on positing Harry as the POV character, because it is his redemption we are pursuing most vehemently. And I think they really relied on us already knowing the actor - I’ve never seen him in anything before, so to me he was a completely fresh face and they put almost no effort into selling him to me. Beyond being competent and consistently mildly baffled by the antics of the leverage crew, I honestly don’t know who this man is by the end of EIGHT episodes with him. I have a much better handle on Breanna by the end of 1(a), and I can tell you I knew all five of the original leverage crew better by the end of the first episode of the original series than I do Harry. What’s the name of his daughter, John Rogers. Is he still married. How old is the daughter. Why is none of this worth mentioning. Give him a sense of humor that isn’t reacting to other people’s shenanigans. I’m so frustrated. It’s bad writing.

I did manage to grow to like Harry by the end, but I’m pretty sure this is down to Noah Wyle’s charismatic portrayal of an under-developed character, at least partially. And I never stopped being frustrated at not knowing who this man is at all.

The two highlights of the season are undoubtedly episodes five and six. Episode five was the first time I felt like the episode was more than a collection of good moments between the main cast and mediocre moments between the main cast and also the main plot. The issues with pacing and tone that I suffered through for most of the season were mostly non-existent in ep5 and 6, and at least in episode 5 I attribute that to the pared down cast. They had time to focus not only on our actual characters - Sophie, Parker, Breanna - but also on the case. This is the only client from 1(a) I am going to remember next week without googling it first, mark my words.

Episode six worked for the exact opposite reason - it completely disregarded the client and plot and immersed itself in the characters. Breanna gets a moment to shine, but everybody else gets their bits and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the script that was most fun to write. The characters felt natural, real, and captured the found-family dynamic that’s been missing all season for the first time.

While episode 2 is the weakest episode, I don’t actually have much to say about it. I am disappointed in episode 8. For a mid-season finale, I really expected them to do something. Instead, it was an episode about Nate Ford that copped out of being about Nate Ford (both with fake-Nate and with the new version of him being relayed to us). I would have told the writers to give that energy back to episode 1 and write an episode that’s about anybody who isn’t Harry, oh my God. I know I said I grew to like him but so many episodes were about Harry. He’s the newbie! Why didn’t Hardison get an episode that was actually about him, considering he was only around for two episodes? Why does Eliot have to be the butt of the joke when the theme of the series should directly tie back to him in a much more meaningful way? The last episode parodies their own tagline by saying Eliot isn’t just a hitter, but it deftly avoids noticing that they’ve turned him into nothing more than very muscly comic relief, including in that very episode!

Also, I hated the Marshal. Eliot actively looked uncomfortable around her.

tl;dr

The season took a while, that’s definitely true. But it did find its footing eventually, and by the halfway mark of 1(a) it finally felt cohesive again. The characters were played fantastically even when they weren’t well-written, and if nothing else, the humor landed every time. It still has its kinks and problems to work out, but if you look at it as a brand new show rather than a continuation of one that went off the air over eight years ago, it’s actually doing rather well. I’m choosing to judge it in both lights - according to its own standards, it establishes its identity in episode five; according to Leverage standards, it establishes its connection to its roots in episode six. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed 1(a), and continue to have high hopes for 1(b).

fic writing will commence in three, two, one...