#criticism of a movie series

[pinkeoni]

WILL BYERS IN EVERY EPISODE Episode #403: THE MONSTER AND THE SUPERHERO

[anotherlibrocubicularist]

'The pjo movies may be more inaccurate than the show, but they were good movies.'

is a sentiment I've seen a lot in the pjo fandom. Since the movies were my introduction to the pjo!verse, I do have a special place in my heart for them while still acknowledging their differences in regards to the originals source material (aka the books). I was foolish enough to buy the second book before the first one to read how the story continues, but had to quickly realize just how much the movie differed from the books.

And yes, I am also one of the people, who, for the longest time, held the opinion that I put in the title of this post. Which is why, once the show was announced, I had high hopes for that particular live-action remake of one of my most beloved fictional universes. These hopes have yet to be fulfilled, but I remain hesitantly hopeful for the second season.

However, with the many differences from the books that I saw in the first season of the show, I want to point out some things that, in my opinion, were ADAPTED better (as in: more accurately) in the movies.

Percy Jackson (at least in terms of his knowledge of greek mythology or rather, his lack thereof and his physical appearance aside from his age)

Percy's relationship with Grover (in the movies there are several instances where Grover fulfills his role of 'protector' and is genuinely seen as Percy's ride-or-die, much unlike the relationship I saw on the show. This is especially important for the second season where Grover forms an empathy link with his most trusted friend to communicate his whereabouts and the show just doesn't give me the vibe where they're close enough for Grover to risk forming that link.

Sally Jackson (yes, her character is mostly wish-fulfillment for neurodivergent kids who wish for their parents' unconditional love without snapping at them or mishandling parenting situations, but as a formerly neurodivergent child now adult, I loved this character so much and the 'realism' I saw with show!Sally was just dissatisfying)

Gabe Ugliano (movie!Gabe is every bit as awful as he was in the books even to the manhunt he instigated by doing an interview on tv, show!Gabe is honestly a let-down)

Sally and Gabe's relationship (no elaboration needed, I think)

Grover (movie!Grover is more accurate to how satyrs are depicted in mythology, at least when it comes to his horniness. And yes, that's not more accurate to the books but if people can go around and praise show!Hades for being closer to real mythology!Hades then I can do the same with Grover. Also how the movies disguised his hooves with giving him crutches was far superior)

Hades (yes, the movie portrayal was not close to the books, but his angerand frustration was depicted really well; the show has him act way too chill and that just has me worried for continuity's sake)

The lotus casino scene (and basically every moment where they had to figure out the threat before defeating it, also the movie scene was entertaining as hell)

The deadline plotline (them missing it was stupid, nough said)

Poseidon (he and Percy had a difficult relationship at the beginning, book!Poseidon would probably not have bowed to Zeus to protect Percy like he did in the show when he forfeited)

The Gods in the throne room on Olympus (in the final scene of the movies they were all tall and ready for battle, makes sense since they readied themselves for a war that was literally about to start. What did we get in the show? They looked way too casual and ordinary for being about to start a world threatening war.)

Feel free to add when you think I've missed things or comment whatever so long as it's constructive and polite.

[losthopeinloreolympus]

I wanna make two things clear about Apollon for the lo fans who believe everything that happened in lo actually happened in the myths before I go to bed:

1- he did NOT rape Persephone in the myths. Apollon had nothing to do with Persephone other than asking for her hand in marriage and getting rejected.

2- he also didn't try to overthrow Zeus with Hera, Athena, and Poseidon. While it makes sense since he has a few good reasons to try and overthrow Zeus, there's actually little to no reference of Apollon playing any type of role in the rebellion, it's always Hera, Athena, and Poseidon, no Apollon.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

i remember when encanto came out and everyone was complaining about how the abuela was forgiven so quickly. but at the very least she sincerely apologizes to everyone and we see her actually putting in effort to change. not to mention, i saw it less as the family forgiving her and more as them giving her a chance to redeem herself.

i wonder what those people would have thought of spop and catra.

[c-rowlesdraws]

oohhhh, a new recommended 5-hour-long video about how the star wars franchise is overall repetitive and shallow... I too believe this, but, crucially: do I yet care enough about star wars to watch a 5-hour video about a star wars opinion that I already know I agree with going in...

[guardianjameslight]

Oh yeah, nobody likes it, that's why things like Critical Role, X-Men 97, Helluvaverse, Mass Effect, Barbie, The Owl House, Amphibia, The Last of Us, Spider-Verse, Nimona, Umbrella Academy, Good Omens, The Boys, Arcane, Fallout, Baldur's Gate 3 are so popular.

[thefairywithboots]

Sometimes I wonder why it took me so long to get around to watching the Loki series when he’s been my favorite Marvel character since I was like 12, and then I remember the fucking war crime that was Thor: Love and Thunder, and how Marvel made such a badass god/superhero into a joke, and expected us to find his depression after losing literally everything - his father, mother, brother, his entire people - funny. I think I was scared that they were going to do the same thing to Loki’s character, and was actually shocked that they gave him such a satisfying character arc. But G-d, I am never going to get over how fucking atrocious that movie was. I saw it in theaters with my dad and brother in 2022, and I still cannot get over my disappointment. It was what made me stop watching anything new by Marvel for two years, and I didn’t get around to watching Loki until a month ago because I thought they were going to do something similar to his character. I’m glad I was proven wrong but I’m still never going to forgive them for doing that to Thor’s character.

[counting-stars-gayly]

Lord, give me strength. The PJO discourse has begun, and no one starting it has read the books in the last five years.

[star-trek-fandom-confessions]

#1160

I do not understand why The Undiscovered Country gave the Klingons that pepto bismol-ass looking blood, not just the color but the consistency. Like I know they were trying to make it visually distinct from human blood but it looks so silly it almost takes all the seriousness out of the plot.

[motherdanger]

Sawtober 2023 | Day 23: Puppet

Give it up for everyone's favorite theater kid Jigsaw copycat! If you love him, say "ACAB!❤️"

Full prompt list here. 🐝

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

[bonebabbles]

you should play Dredge

Played! I enjoyed it. I only have 7 hours in it, though.

In fact, my personal buddy is suuuuper into Dredge, it's his favorite game. We played it zealously together during a visit, during which I got absolutely mobbed by like every random monster ever at Gale Cliffs. The squid. The ray. The thing that rots your fish. The actual big mama monster who lives in the cliffs.

He remarked he had NEVER seen such bad luck before lmaoooo

Women want me but the fish do not fear me, sadly. The fish and I are engaged in mutually assured destruction.

[lazzarella]

Maybe it's just because I watched so many low (LOW) budget 00s queer movies that I had to scour local video shops for, or maybe it's because I'm still new to BL series and I'm in a honeymoon phase or something, but so many of the series I've seen a lot of people say are trash are fine actually? Some are even quite good??? IDK, I've mostly watched more recent ones, and I'm only about 40 series in, and maybe it's just the people on MDL and Reddit, but some of the criticisms seem overly harsh to me

Or maybe I just have shit taste lmao

Either way, I’m having a great time!

(Also, I guess there’s an element of when you watch a certain thing for a long time you might get sick of the same stuff being repeated but then again, I’ve been watching murder mysteries my whole life and I’d watch basically the same thing over and over with those and be content, so… maybe I just like that I have so many ‘samey’ shows to choose from)

[anotherlibrocubicularist]

Pjo movies: exist

Pjo fans: the movies are shit for inaccuracies like the actors' ages, Percy and Annabeth's romantic chemistry too early on, Annabeth's hair colour and many changes in scenes and plots from the books

Rick Riordan: hates on the movies (despite him never having seen them in the first place) and promises an adaptation more faithful to the original source material

Pjo fans: thrilled

Pjo series: exists

Some pjo fans: the actors look nothing like the characters we grew up with (and with the pace things are going, will be way older than the movie actors should the series continue beyond s2), there are Percabeth romantic scenes added in the first season that weren't there or weren't romantically charged in the books, Annabeth isn't blond (and with the way the fans treated the movie actress I am side-eying that not more people were upset Leah didn't go blonde), and many things were changed from the books

Rick Riordan: I'm the author, these are my decisions, deal with it.

Other pjo fans: the changes are great, just stop watching if you don't like it.

Some pjo fans: stop watching show

Pjo show: ratings go down, won't make it past s3 or 4 (my prediction, but still)

This is a more or less humorous take on what I've witnessed in the pjo fandom when the series ws announced to when it aired. Personally, I think Rick shot himself in the foot when he hated on the movies for not being faithful to his work and got the fans' hopes up for a more book accurate adaptation that he ultimately failed to deliver. He would've probably received less backlash and the fans would've been more open to changes if he hadn't hated on the movies for exactly that, changes to his source material.

[matt0044]

On RWBY, The Amazing Digital Circus and Toxic Indie Fandoms...

Fans of cartoons, animated movies and animation in general have a... bit of a complex. Largely when it come to snubbing a new movie and/or show for not being just like what ever the standard bearer is at the time. A mentality that really hurts critical discussion than help. Like... getting mad at, say, Big City Greens of what Disney pulled with The Owl House is just not cool.

I find it happens a lot with Animation Twitter spaces being all about taking Disney down a peg be it because Spiderverse or Puss In Boots (take your pick at this point). Though in that case, it's a case of one-up-manship getting way too out of hand since there's at least a vocal push back.

With RWBY being pitted against every other indie animation, it's actually not too much of a unique case.

It has been a small scale project getting massive amounts of hype from the pilot (or Trailers as with RWBY's case) only for the show to come out and split its pre-established audience down the middle.

This split starts and widens when it comes to how a character may be initially presented only for more facets to them to be revealed. It should go without saying buuuuuuut the creative team are not mind-readers. Even the most popular of fanworks will inevitably NOT reflect what the show will develop into whether they come close or not.

However, that investment in fanon is liable to clash with what canon goes with. Some fans take it is stride and are willing to hear the showrunners on their direction. Others... take it personally.

Maybe a character that seemed mean but wronged turns out to be a very shitty person.

Maybe a character that seemed shitty has some hidden depths beyond how they initally came across.

Maybe the story is taking a turn that, well, had precedence but feels alienating to those who preferred the previous status quo.

Maybe the pacing feels off with certain reveals that may be a skill issue on the writer's part.

The issues may vary but a lot of this comes from a sort of "bigger they are" type of backlash with a lot of specific expectations formed of the story before there even was one.

Now this might sound like RWBY but... a lot of them were inspired by the polarized comments of Helluva Boss Season 2.

It happening to Vivziepop.

It's happening to RWBY.

And let me tell you, it WILL happen to The Amazing Digital Circus even if it has a limited run planned.

A character will become more than just some fan's blorbo for better or worse and said fans will loose their shit.

A ship will sail however much they wanted sunk.

No matter what, there will always be ONE FAN that will be pissed off.

[1000dactyls]

So I wanna know, you'd true and honest thoughts on THW I think I remember you saying you didn't want to talk about it? I'm so sorry for this ask, but I'm curious because so much of the fandom doesn't like it, and while I agree everyone sees to have different reasons

there is quite a bit i dont like about thw, but the two most primary reasons are a) the artistic direction and b) the narrative's betrayal of the core themes set up by the first movie

a lot has already been said about the artificial smoothness of httyd3's rendering -- the textural smoothness of the dragons and skin, for one -- but it's the botox injection valka and the other ladies seemed to receive that irritates me the most. coming off the heels of two other movies less hesitant to show signs of aging as a natural process, the flattening of their wrinkles and fat feels shallow to me.

IMHO, the unnatural smoothness of movie mimics the hollow feel the third movie's narrative has, lacking the history and depth of the events the characters have lived through and the impact that history has on the characters' physical appearance. the movie instead has a dreamy, hazy quality to it. which would be fine in most movies, but not for a franchise dedicated to the physicality of the characters (which was the whole point of the first movie, that hiccup (and toothless) was visually distinct from the rest of the cast)

so not only is thw ugly to look at compared to the other two movies, it's also a narrative shitshow pitted against the other two movies. like, setting aside the objective masterpiece that the first movie is, how does httyd2 end with "come hell or high water i will always jump after you when you fall" to httyd3's "nah man let's let you go". how did we get here???? by completely assassinating everyone's character

and it's just extremely frustrating because httyd1 was about overcoming differences; that message was the flesh and blood of the series, the franchise's beating heart. httyd1 navigates complicated generational trauma to cease endless bloodshed. httyd3... puts off that conflict into some however many centuries into the future. and then the last 5 minutes of the movie even don't get the departure RIGHT hello???

the only good thing about thw is that john powell got to flex his muscles and compose "once there were dragons" and bring me to tears in 5 minutes and 46 seconds

[maximura]

Fix Off/Fix On