#its too up in its own convoluted ass for the emotional moments to hit personally

[augustameretrix]

ok s1 ended up not following up on that train of thought like. ever. thats fine. i have to commend it for including the scene of justine-the-side-character insisting on remaining on the line listening to the two MCs broodily talk about Important Plot Stuff while taking a hit from a fat blunt

i hope pantheon soon comes up with an antithesis to uploading a whole ass person to the internet thats more compelling that "you cant have sex with them" which is honestly weak and stupid and boring

[demonprosecutie]

I completely forgot that i could do a read more to hide dgs spoilers im far too used to twitter oop

But anyway this is just a rant on Kazuma Asougi’s character and the fandom’s interpretation on him and Ryuu and how it doesn’t sit well with me

I probably won’t argue with people because tbh i just don’t want to

But my hot take is that they’re both good fucking kids. excellent even.

I really dont think Asougi is an evil conniving manipulative person like the fandom has been making him out to be. Yes he MANIPULATES, of course, obviously. but its not with malicious intent. 

If my father was murdered (and if i liked my father but thats my personal bias lmao) and then disguised as a Mass Murderer by a bunch of racists then YEAH I THINK ANY REASONABLE PERSON would be upset about that and try to get to England and see for themselves what the fuck goes on there.

He lied to the Judge to get away with (checks notes) not murdering someone because he’s not evil. I don’t think that behavior needs to be condemned as something dark and bad. Yeah he betrayed the judges trust but the judge wants him to straight up kill a guy!? I’d betray his ass too damn!

And ive seen a lot of people say that he only brings Ryuu along to be his own defense attorney if things go wrong, but he always wanted to bring him along and was even willing to risk his entire trip to help him in 1-1. I really do think that he wanted him there as emotional support. He wasn’t planning on doing evil in england and getting caught for it.

If anything, he would want Ryuu as his opposing lawyer to make sure that the trial went off without lies and deceit - you know, like the way his father was killed. A Phoenix/Edgworth relationship where both sides trust each other and can argue it out. he KNOWS the court is not to be trusted. and if he gets to bring his best friend with him to help him do this, I don’t think thats evil or even bad. 

He also never pushed for Ryuu to learn british law from all the books they have with them on the ship, as he would have if he was trying to get him to be a DA. He literally just has him come with him. nothing more.

And besides we cant forget that he’s been manipulated this whole time too, but Maelstrom, by Herlock, even by his adoptive father.

This is just a boy trying to survive however he can and no he’s not PERFECT and yeah he definitely wanted to kill Gregson for a moment there, but he’s aware of that fault and faces it head on. He DOESNT kill him, but tells Ryuu that he wanted to, and thats wrong and that he needs to do better.

I also think Ryuu and him fighting in court doesn’t necessarily mean they hated each other during that case. They were still seriously arguing a murder charge that hit close to home and had severe consequences for the entire country. I never got the feeling that they hated each other, more like they were both dealing with a convoluted situation - in which, again, Asougi’s family had been labelled as s e r i a l k i l l e r s. 

And while it ends with Asougi being incorrect, he faces that and decides to work on it, WITH the man he’s supposed to hate.

TAKES A DEEP BREATH CAUSE ANYWAY THATS ALL I just keep seeing people talk about how horrible Ryuu and Kazuma are and that really just never hit me as being the case. 

they’re both good kids who are doing their best in a high stakes high emotional situation and again - im not gonna argue with people who disagree cause yall are entitled to yalls opinion

or maybe you guys enjoy the toxic relationship dynamic in media which is cool too what am i a cop?

[rosiep66]

"IRON MAN 2" (2010) Review

”IRON MAN 2” (2010) Review I must say that I am grateful to Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) showrunner Kevin Feige and the filmmakers of ”IRON MAN 2”.  I am grateful that they only waited two years to make this sequel to the 2008 hit film, “IRON MAN”, instead of three years or more. But even if they had made the movie more than two years after the original film, I believe the movie proved to be worth any wait. Some IRON MAN fans and film critics had expressed the opinion that ”IRON MAN 2” was inferior to the original 2008 movie. I certainly feel differently. I believe that this movie was superior to ”IRON MAN”. Mind you, this new film had a few flaws. One, I was baffled by Tony Stark’s reluctance to join S.H.I.E.L.D. I had assumed after the appearance of the organization’s leader, Nick Fury, in the original film’s Easter egg sequence that he was eager to join. Even Tony’s appearance in 2008’s ”THE INCREDIBLE HULK” seemed to hint this. So what happened? Is it possible that screenwriter Justin Theroux failed to see the last ”HULK” film? One would think so.  It took me another year to discover that “THE INCREDIBLE HULK” is supposed to be set a few days or a few weeks after the events of this film.  Only . . . why?  Why did Feige make this convoluted move with the franchise’s timeline?  I found it so confusing.  The movie’s score, like the 2008 film, sucked.  As much as I was impressed by Matthew Libatique’s cinematography, I must admit that I did not find it as impressive as his photography in the 2008 film. But I will discuss this subject in greater detail, later.  Nor was I that impressed by Tony’s initial behavior toward Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow.  I found it slightly sexist and somewhat tacky.  Even Pepper Potts’ snarky response that he would open himself up to a sexual harassment lawsuit could not erase ugly taint that surrounded his comment. ”IRON MAN 2” may not have been perfect; but as I had stated earlier, I believe that it is superior to the first film. Do not get me wrong. I loved ”IRON MAN”. I still do. But in an article I had written about some of the Summer 2008 movies, its plot struck me as simple and a little unoriginal. I cannot say the same about its sequel. Thanks to Theroux and director Jon Farveau, ”IRON MAN 2” focused upon the consequences of Tony Stark becoming and admitting to being Iron Man in the last film. During the six months since the end of the last film, Iron Man’s actions as a superhero has allowed him to maintain world peace. His actions have also attracted the attention of a U.S. Senate committee, led by Senator Stern, who demanded that Tony release the Iron Man technology for military application. Stark refused, claiming his competitors are years away from successfully recreating the technology. But more trouble seemed to plague Tony. The palladium core inside the miniaturized arc reactor that he had created to power his Iron Man armor and prevent the shrapnel from a disastrous Afghanistan trip in the last film from reaching his heart . . . was slowly poisoning his blood system. Foreknowledge of a possible early death led Tony to acts of excessive and dangerous behavior – including re-instituting the Stark Expo first initiated by his father back in the 1970s, appointing his personal assistant Pepper Potts as the new CEO of Stark Industries, in and participating in the Monaco Grand Prix, at the Circuit de Monaco. It is in Monaco where Tony has his first encounter with Ivan Vanko, a Bratva member and Russian physicist who happened to be the son of another physicist and former Stark Industries employee, Anton Vanko, who was fired by Howard Stark and deported back to the Soviet Union. Anton Vanko had also worked on the original plans of the arc reactor with Stark Sr., but the plans remained in the hands of Stark Enterprises. Vanko Sr.’s death at the beginning of the movie sent Ivan into a spiral of grief, leading him to create his own suit containing an arc reactor. Vanko used his new suit to attack Tony at Monaco. The attack attracted the attention of another weapons industrialist named Justin Hammer, an arch-rival of Tony’s. Hammer arranged Vanko’s escape from jail and recruited the Russian physicist to design drones similar to the Iron Man armor for the Stark Expo. Tony also has to deal with the return of S.H.I.E.L.D. in his life. Unbeknownst to him, the organization’s leader, Nick Fury had assigned one of his agents to infiltrate Stark Enterprises to assess Tony as a possible agent. His spy turned out to be Tony and Pepper’s new assistant, Natalie Rushman aka Natasha Romanoff. Although Fury has become reluctant to recruit Tony for membership in S.H.I.E.L.D., he managed to provide vital materials to the industrialist to allow him to develop a safe element for his arc reactor implant that also provides superior power. One would begin to wonder if the screenwriters had dumped one too many plotlines in the movie’s script. Some critics have complained that the movie possessed one too many villains. I would disagree. ”IRON MAN 2” simply had a complex plot that did not – in my opinion – struck me as difficult to follow. In fact, I believe that the plot’s complexity allowed the movie to be superior to the 2008 film. As for the number of villains, there were two – Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer. ”IRON MAN” also had two villains. Robert Downey Jr. reprised his role as Tony Stark aka Iron Man. I am trying to think of something to say about his performance. But what is there to say? He was magnificent as always by skillfully portraying every aspect of Tony’s personality – both the good and the bad. Yes, Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark was a charming, caring, brilliant and strong-willed man. But he was also narcissist, egotistical, and somewhat self-centered. This is a man who used his Iron Man technology to bring about world peace, instead of using it for personal gain and who had enough trust in his personal assistant to name her as the new CEO of his company. Yet, this same man resorted to alcohol to escape from his demons and was thoughtless enough to give his new CEO strawberries as a gift – completely forgetting that she is allergic to the fruit. Downey Jr.’s performance as Stark seemed to be among the best comic book hero portrayals I have ever seen on the silver screen . . . back in 2010. In one of the last scenes in ”IRON MAN”, Tony said the following to his personal assistant, Virginia “Pepper” Potts: ”You know, if I were Iron Man, I'd have this girlfriend who knew my true identity. She'd be a wreck, 'cause she'd always be worrying that I was going to die, yet so proud of the man I'd become. She'd be wildly conflicted, which would only make her more crazy about me.” In ”IRON MAN 2” Pepper certainly discovered how stressful her life could be as the object of affection (or desire) of a celebrated costumed hero. Gwyneth Paltrow returned to the role of Pepper Potts, Tony Stark’s personal assistant-turned-new CEO of Stark Industries. And I have to say that the actress did a skillful job of conveying the stress and anxiety that threatened to overwhelm her character. One of my favorite scenes featured a moment when Pepper’s emotions finally overwhelmed her, as she tendered her resignation in an angry tirade. As everyone knows, Marvel Entertainment had decided to replace Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle for the role of Tony’s best friend, Lieutenant-Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes U.S.A.F. I will not discuss the circumstances that led Cheadle to replace Howard. I will say that Cheadle gave a top notch performance as Rhodey. Do I consider him to be a better choice than Howard? No. I would say that the quality of both actors’ performances struck me as equal. Not that I find that surprising. Both Cheadle and Howard are excellent actors with a strong screen presence. I did notice that Cheadle’s sense of humor never had the opportunity to flourish, until the movie’s final scenes. And his screen chemistry with Downey Jr. did not seem as strong as the Downey Jr./Howard pairing. But he certainly did not disappoint. I must confess that I have only seen Mickey Rourke in three other movies, besides ”IRON MAN 2”. Aside from his award winning performance in ”THE WRESTLER”, I was never that impressed by him. When I had learned that he would be cast as the main villain, Ivan Vanko, I had qualms about Jon Farveau and Marvel’s decision. In the end, I found myself very impressed by his performance. He managed to portray a menacing, yet emotional personality in a suitably low-key manner. However, I could barely understand some of his lines through the thick Russian accent. It is a major pity that Marvel/Disney did not keep him around.  Sam Rockwell was as volatile as Rourke was low key. And surprisingly, his volatile performance perfectly suited his character, Tony Stark’s fellow defense contractor – Justin Hammer. What I especially enjoyed about Rockwell’s performance was his ability to inject a raging inferiority complex underneath the gregarious personality. Scarlett Johanssen had the opportunity to strut her stuff as Natalie Rushman aka Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow, Pepper’s new assistant and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. I must admit there were times I wondered if Johanssen’s character had a personality. It finally dawned on me that she simply possessed a no-nonsense persona that could kick ass. 

Director Jon Farveau returned as Tony’s bodyguard and chauffeur, Happy Hogan. Thankfully, he got to do a lot more in ”IRON MAN 2”, which included coming to Tony’s rescue with the Iron Man suit during Vanko’s attack during the Monaco Grand Prix, and assisting (somewhat) Natasha during the latter’s breach at Hammer Industries. Samuel L. Jackson’s role as head of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, was increased in this second film. And all I can say is . . . thank goodness! I really enjoyed his strong screen presence and lively conversations with Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. I got the feeling that the two actors really enjoyed working with one another (unless I happened to be wrong). Clark Gregg returned in the role of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson. Not only was he his usual quiet and assuming self, but also deliciously snarky. John Sterling of ”MAD MEN” made an appearance as Tony’s father, the late Howard Stark, in old film clips viewed by Tony. Slattery’s Howard Stark struck me as lively and witty as Downey Jr.’s Tony. His performance made it easy for me to see the genesis of Tony’s own personality. And the late Gary Shandling tossed aside his usual comic persona to convincingly portray U.S. Senator Stern, a determined politician who wants the Iron Man armor in government hands. However, he was allowed a rather snarky and very subtle joke in the film's last scene. As I had stated earlier, I was not that impressed by Matthew Libatique’s cinematography in ”IRON MAN 2”. Mind you, I did not find it terrible or a travesty to the art of motion pictures. But I cannot recall viewing any fantastic airborne sequences that were featured in ”IRON MAN”. Aside from Rhodey’s arrival at the Edwards Air Force Base in the War Machine armor, the movie did not feature any daytime aerial scenes, just slightly confusing night time sequences near the beginning and the end of the film. But, as I will point out later, there was one exception. However, I found most of the film’s action sequences very exciting – especially Vanko’s attack upon Tony in Monaco; the birthday brawl between Tony and Rhodey in the Iron Man and War Machine suits; Natasha’s fight against Hammer’s security guards; and the aerial chase sequence over the Stark Expo between Iron Man and the Vanko-controlled War Machine. I must be one of the few who, to this day, still regard “IRON MAN 2″ as better than the original 2008 film.  I also regard it as one of the better films of 2010, despite its few flaws.  It would also proved to be the second to the last time in which I would truly enjoy Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark aka Iron Man.