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ja-khajay · 4 years ago

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2020-2021 Animation Watch(ed)list

I haven’t posted about animation in a while that I remember, and I know a lot of my followers are into it as much as me so I decided to make a list of the animated movies and series I watched on the past year or so, coupled with my short, spoilerless take on them. Enjoy!

Organized by

Things I saw for the first time

Things I rewatched

Under a cut for the sake of your dashboards! PS: I have not added any images yet. If you are interested in knowing more about the visuals of these movies, I might make an old fashion ask-prompted imageset list.

Part One: Things I saw for the first time

The Bear’s Famous Invasion of Sicily

Movie, 2019, Italian/French

9/10, a delightful little movie with amazing visuals. It feels like an animated picture book.

One of those “plot is in the title” media! I had never heard of this before but was heavily recommended it by my family members, who all loved it! It’s a sweet story, nothing groundbreaking but the unique colorful visual style alone makes it worth it.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Movie, 1979, Japanese

10/10. Reminded me of all the books i loved reading as a child

I assume its because it’s so old and the art style and themes are so different that it gets little to no love compared to other Ghibli movies, which is a shame! It’s fun with an endearing cast and as always, great animation and music

Mushishi

Series, 2006, Japanese

10/10 three episodes in I knew it was going to be my favorite series ever

One of the few things I’ve seen I’ll describe as life-changing. It’s absolutely lovely but never toots its own horn about it. Humble, calming, emotional and surprisingly mature. It’s pretty impossible to binge due to how intense the experience is. I just want to walk in the forest now...

FMA: Brotherhood

Series, 2009, Japanese

6/10 Dissapointing adaptation of a classic story

I read the manga for this when I was in middle school and remembered loving it. The animated version does an ok job of presenting the characters and worldbuilding and has some nice action scenes but overall looks really damn cheap and just. Not very good. Seeing I already knew most of the plot I did not have the element of discovery that made me marvel so much reading the original. It’s still a nice series but I really recommend reading it instead.

Code Lyoko (s1+2)

Series, 2003, french

3/10. 1.5 being for the opening song alone

This show sucks ass if I hadn’t been watching this with my bestie I would have dropped it two episodes in. The art style is ugly the stories are always the same and the first season has a (later removed thank fucking god) LITERAL “erase any consequences” button as a plot device in every episode. If you watch it for one thing let it be the nostalgia factor of early 00s Vidya Game Plot

The Legend of Hei

Movie, 2019, Chinese

7/10. Impressive visuals and a poor story

I finally watched this, peer pressured by the load of gifsets on my dashboard! It’s a sweet movie with really impressive animation, sometimes a bit too flashy for my taste (the action sequences go so ham they become not very readable...) but the story was just ok? The setting is barely explained and you are instead bombarded with vague epicspeech about powers and stuff that made me fondly remember Kingdom Hearts lol but that asides it’s a really good time! I need to watch more Chinese movies the few I know are just delightfully off the shits in how they approach action and I love that

Hunter x Hunter

Series, 1999, Japanese

9/10. Superior to the recent one!

I first got introduced to the series via the 2011 one. Comparatively, the 99 series focuses way less on action and way more on the characters, which I love because that fits my personal preferences! Despite mediocre filler episodes and some weird slight pointless plot changes, what it changes from the original manga doesn’t have much of an impact on the characters. The animation quality isn’t always consistent including a huge art style change for an arc (???) but it’s overall pretty nice. The series really shines in the last arc it adapts.

Oban Star-racers

Series, 2006, Japanese/french

9/10 a lovely surprise

This series is completly obscure despite having been created by people famous for their other series (Cowboy Bebop, Code Lyoko that i can name) and it’s a crime! It’s a kids show but without being stupid about it who tells the story of an inter-planetary race. If you liked that one scene in the star wars prequels you know what I mean. It’s got surprisingly nice animation for a TV series, and some truly great character design. The art style is a bit unique in a not for everyone sense, but I didn’t mind it much. It’s also THE most offensively 2000s series i’ve seen in terms of visuals. y2k kids assemble

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Movie, 1963, japanese

8/10. Classic fairytale format with incredible visuals

Watched this for the art style because I know it inspired Samurai Jack, and it delievered! I dont’ have much to say about this one, it’s a very simply film but it’s sweet. For my pirates out there if you want to find it in good quality with english subtitles it’s VERY hard to find. If you just want to see the looks of it, it’s on Youtube with portugese subs.

We now enter the Gobelins Shorts Zone....!

My Friend Who Glows In The Dark

10/10 makes me cry each time

Pure delight...great animation writing everything. A little short about death and friendship but not in the way you imagine!

Colza

9/10

Visual treat...homely and nice :) not far from a 10 but a 9 because nothing about it is that groundbreaking

Sundown

9/10

If you’ve ever been ten minutes from failing a group project because of a single dude you will REALLY enjoy this. Loved the colors and personality

T’as vendu mes rollers?

10/10

It’s SUCH a sweet little short I loved that one so much

Dix-huit kilomètres trois

10/10

Surprisingly well written dialog. Visuals are great but the humanity of the characters carries this to another level

Un diable dans la poche

9/10

Amazing visuals and the most tense/creepy of Gobelin shorts i’ve ever seen. Chilling

La bestia

8/10

I had some issues with the pacing. Interesting story and visuals choices but I was not fond of the art style

Goodbye Robin

5/10

Confusing but predictable. Both at once??? Yes!

Le retour des vagues

6/10

Cool animation stuff but felt pretty pointless

***

Part Two: Things I rewatched

Ruben Brandt: Collector

Movie, 2018, Hungarian

10/10. Underrated as hell

Watched this fully blind for the first time in an animated festival and rewatched it with friends. It’s a crime I never see anyone talking about it given the amount of whining I see about the lack of both adult animation and 2D movies? This film is a unique love letter to art in the form of a weird mix of charming crime story and psychological horror with amazing visuals. I recommend watching it blind and also buying it to show appreciation for how nice it is!!! WATCH THIS MOVIE...

Mononoke

Series, 2007, Japanese

10/10 Visual/storytelling masterpiece in the weird shit departement

If you can stomach intense stuff watch this. The visuals are incredibly unique and beautiful and under the jewel tones and art direction high takes it’s a really cool horror series. My only obstacle to enjoying it the first time I saw it was how dense it is - simply put, it’s so...culturally Japanese it’s not very accessible to me who doesn’t know anything about the culture? Watching it for the second time helped understanding the stories more!

Corto Maltese in Siberia

Movie, 2002, french

9/10 but really close to ten. A great adaptation!

I’m a huge fan of the original comic so I entered this a biiiittttt suspicious it would suck but it was a really pleasant surprise! It has all the wonder and charm of the original and the animation was surprisingly good for the little budget. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s a sort of geopolitical action/adventure movie but with it’s own really poetic vibe to it. It’s almost impossible to find online but happens to be fully on YouTube so go ham I guess?

Redline

Movie, 2009, Japanese

10/10 cinema was invented for this, actually

Every review of this movie i’ve seen gives it five stars and starts by talking about how immensly stupid it is. I’m no different. It’s a masterpiece of escalating energy with the depth of a puddle and it fucking rules. It’s free on YouTube too so there really is no excuse to not watch it. Watched it for the first time on a huge cinema screen and despite this my second rewatch on my small laptop was as/even more enjoyable. If you watch this stoned with friends you might travel to another dimension

Spirited Away

Movie, 2001, Japan

10/10 deserves the love it gets

I watched this a single time as a kid and had little memory of it! I mean it’s Ghibli you know it’s going to be good as hell but this one rly shines in how colorful and detailed it is and in it’s world! It made me remember I had a huge crush on the dragonboy as a kid. I’m gay now

Kung-fu Panda (1&2)

Movie, Usa

10/10. KFP fucking rules

Honestly my favorite franchise of the whole disney/dreamworks/pixar hydra. It’s fun as hell, doesn’t skip a single beat and has amazing animation and character designs. If something is a good time I will not care if it’s deep or not and boy I fucking love these movies

Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas

Movie, 2003, Usa

5/10 Some great some really bad and overall generic

I tend to hate american cinema and this includes that era of animation I have no nostalgia for. Sinbad is in a weird place because I love adventure stories and the visuals of the movie absolutely deliver but it’s very predictable and TANKED by the addition of the female character, pushed in your face as “look we have woman!!!” despite her writing being misogynistic as hell lol. The evil goddess rules tho. This movie would have been a solid 9 if instead of the girl the two dudes had kissed

#j #animation #if you want links to these ill provide but not for the indie ones that arent free #i have no remorse p*rating disney or a movie thats over 50 but if its recent and underrated just legally get it!!!

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bewitching-elizabeth-olsen · 4 years ago

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Press/Gallery/Video: Not Your Mother’s Suburbs

The Marvel Cinematic Universe comes to television with WandaVision the new Disney+ series that places a super-powered Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in the suburbs of classic sitcoms.

https://elizabeth-olsen.com/media/Photoshoot/2020-EmmyMag.mp4

GALLERY LINKS

Studio Photoshoots > 2020 > Session 002

Magazine Scans > 2020 > Emmy Magazine

EMMY – When you wish upon a luxurious star, you just might land at Club 33 in Disneyland.

Tucked away above New Orleans Square and decorated with historic flourishes (the harpsichord at reception belonged to Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian), it’s a pricey, ultra-exclusive club for members and VIPS. On August 25, 2019, Marvel Studios president and chief creative officer Kevin Feige, joined by producer-director Matt Shakman, enjoyed lunch and swapped stories there with Dick Van Dyke and his wife, Arlene.

“It was unbelievable!” Feige recalls. “You sit down and don’t know what to say because you’re so starstruck.” Shakman is more succinct: “It was the best afternoon of my life.”

They weren’t there just to catch up with a 93-year-old legend. They were about to start production on an innovative Disney+ series called WandaVision — which Shakman will only describe as a “love letter to television” — and they wanted to hear about the star’s experiences on his groundbreaking 1960s sitcom, The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Van Dyke waxed about his fellow actor and the show creator, Carl Reiner, who mined real-life anecdotes for the episodes, as well as his own delight at filming in front of live studio audiences.

In turn, Feige talked about the new series he was executive-producing with Shakman, among others. “I tried to explain how there was this robot and a witch and how she had to kill him because Thanos reversed time,” he says with a laugh. “I’m thinking, ‘He doesn’t need to hear this!'”

With the premiere of WandaVision on January 15, it will all click. Set after the events of the 2019 blockbuster Avengers: Endgame, the weekly series — which is patterned on prototypical sitcoms of various eras — explores the adventures of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and her love, an android named Vision (Paul Bettany).

Yes, Vision died when the Mind Stone was ripped from his forehead in the 2018 film Avengers: Infinity War, and he is still dead. But rules can be malleable when one of the two main characters is also known as Scarlet Witch.

“What I love about Wanda in the comic books, and what drew me to her originally,” Olsen says, “is what we get to explore in a beautiful way.” To that end, even a witch couldn’t have manipulated the series’ timing any better.

When Disney+ launched in November 2019, it did so with the promise that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) would soon unveil new series based on some of its lower-profile action heroes. At last, fans of the gazillion-grossing, 23-movie Infinity Saga would enjoy extensive and exclusive insights into the likes of Falcon, the Winter Soldier, Wanda, Vision, Loki and others, all in episodic installments.

But the global pandemic wreaked havoc on production schedules. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — which required a complex, multi-city shoot and was set to lead the charge — got pushed to 2021. That left WandaVision, which aims to change the future of the medium by paying homage to its past.

“The show is complicated,” explains co-executive producer Mary Livanos, “because we’re incorporating the rules of the MCU and narrowing in on suburban family sitcoms — but not all the episodes are structurally similar.

“What’s fun about it is that it leads the audience to ask questions about when this takes place or whether this is a social experiment and if this is an alternative reality and an unraveling of the mystery. We’re excited that the Disney+ platform allows us the creative space to play around.”

Indeed, with revenues from cruises, theme parks and cinema down sharply due to the pandemic, Disney+ emerged as the clear winner in the Disney portfolio, signing more than 73 million global members in just 11 months. (The company had initially set its five-year goal at 60 million to 90 million.)

Meanwhile, the Star Wars series The Mandalorian nabbed an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series — and seven awards in crafts categories — and the MCU has expanded into the freshly minted series She-Hulk, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel.

Those successes led to a major announcement this fall from new chief executive Bob Chapek: Disney would realign its business divisions to focus future creative efforts squarely on Disney+.

Feige admits to growing up with “a near-unhealthy love and obsession” for some of the characters on his favorite shows, like Alice and Little House on the Prairie, and he’s just as committed now to his behemoth production studio.

“Streaming is 100 percent the future and where consumers want to watch things,” he says. “And hopefully they’ll want to watch our longform narrative series. An experience like WandaVision is something you can’t get in a movie. You go to movies for things you can’t get on streaming, and you go to streaming for things you can’t get in a theater. And of course, everything in a theater goes to streaming eventually.”

It was back in the days of yore — ahem, early 2018 — when then–Disney CEO Bob Iger approached Feige about extending the MCU for what would be a new Disney streaming service. At the time, Feige, who started at Marvel Studios as a producer in 2000 and became president of production in 2007, was wrapping up the 10-year-long Infinity Saga storyline.

“My team and I were wondering internally about where to go from here, and what would be the next step that was equally challenging and unexpected,” he relates. The notion of extending the brand to television “was an adrenaline boost.” Looking to showcase MCU characters who hadn’t yet reached their potential in terms of screen time, he zeroed in on Wanda and Vision and their romantic but doomed love story.

“Elizabeth and Paul were these amazing actors — who had done amazing things in four movies — but never had a chance to dominate the narrative because there was so much else going on,” he explains. “It felt fun to finally give them a platform to showcase their astounding talent.”

Bettany, for one, assumed that his run as Vision had ended with his death in Infinity War. “I was called in to see Kevin and [Marvel copresident] Louis D’Esposito and was convinced that they were going to be gentlemen and say, ‘It’s been a great ride; thank you for your work and good luck,'” he recalls. Instead, they pitched him what he describes as an “exciting and bonkers” idea for the character’s return. “Of course, I said I was in.”

During Olsen’s meeting? “Kevin told me he wanted to merge two different comic series as inspiration. He explained the series would show how Wanda is originally from an Eastern European country and grew up on American black-market products like television,” she says, then cuts herself off to avoid revealing spoilers.

At first, she says, “I was a little bit nervous about Marvel doing something on television, because what does that mean and how could it possibly intertwine? But I got so excited when I heard that nugget of the idea.”

That nugget grew into a fleshed-out narrative in early 2019 after Livanos, who is also director of production and development at Marvel Studios, tapped screenwriter Jac Schaeffer (Captain Marvel, Black Widow) as head writer. “We envisioned Wanda and Vision in this sitcom setting but didn’t know what that meant until Jac came on,” Livanos says.

Schaeffer remembers: “I got wind of this percolating crazy notion of this project and told myself that I needed to get in on that!” …

Press/Gallery/Video: Not Your Mother’s Suburbs was originally published on Elizabeth Olsen Source • Your source for everything Elizabeth Olsen

#Elizabeth Olsen #WandaVision #Avengers #Scarlet Witch #Wanda Maximoff #Sorry For Your Loss #Avengers Infinity War #Avengers Age of Ultron #Captain America Civil War #Ingrid Goes West #Godzilla

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filmista · 5 years ago

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À bout de souffle (1960)

“When we talked, I talked about me, you talked about you, when we should have talked about each other.”

It’s sometimes claimed that all film critics are frustrated theorists, who only write about film because they have failed to become successful film makers themselves. Regardless of the truth in this theory, it can’t be said (anymore) about film legend Jean-Luc Godard, who was both an important critic and a hugely influential and groundbreaking film maker.

His first project and immediately his greatest achievement - as it were his Citizen Kane - was À bout de souffle, a film that broke with traditions in the field of editing and camera work and thereby drastically changed the language of film.

Filmmakers around the world were freed by Godard's spontaneous style, which sometimes inspired them directly, for example in the case of Arthur Penn's' Bonnie & Clyde , or encouraged them to develop their own style, such as William Friedkin’s The Exorcist.

À bout de souffle is one of the most iconic exemplary films of the Nouvelle Vague movement and a phenomenon in itself. In addition, it’s a film that even today - with its smooth, loose style and hip atmosphere - is still fresh and intriguing. Jean-Luc Godard, before becoming world-famous as a director with À bout de souffle, was a critic for leading French film magazine “Cahiers du Cinéma", which was founded in 1951.

Together with renowned colleagues such as François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, and Eric Rohmer (later also filmmakers), he fiercely opposed the old-fashioned, traditional French cinema, mockingly called the "cinema de papa". In Godard's feature debut, he gives a nice nod to this fact when protagonist Michel Poiccard is approached on the street by a woman who wants to sell him a copy of "Cahiers du Cinéma". “You probably have nothing against the youth?” The young woman asks as she shows him the magazine. "Yes, I like older people more," Michel replies, walking away. Upon which she looks at him in disbelief.

Michel Poiccard, on the other hand, likes old established American heroes such as Marlon Brando and Humphrey Bogart. From this last actor he has taken the habit of rubbing his thumb over his lips, and in one scene he even looks admiringly at a photo of "Bogey" hanging in a showcase of a cinema. Michel, a debuting Jean-Paul Belmondo, is the personification of "coolness" - and wants to be - with his hat, sunglasses, and constant cigarette in his mouth. His quasi-indifferent attitude towards everything and everyone (except Patricia) and (petty) criminal behaviour also scream "anarchism."

But although at first glance Michel doesn’t seem to be a warm or open person, the film does indeed have a heart and a good dose of charm. This is not least due to his fellow actress , American Jean Seberg, who comes across as very accessible due to her boyish haircut and sometimes playful behaviour. It’s impossible to turn your eyes away from her. Not difficult to see why Michel has a warm place in his heart for her.

At that time, the film must have been outright alienating for the public, which was used to continuity editing, stable camera work and a well-defined, structured script. Godard overthrew all of this with his loose story (based in essence on a news item provided by colleague François Truffaut), often improvised dialogue, references to film (icons) and culture, and the bizarre jump cuts and (mere) handheld camera work.

Yet in its own way it’s an organic whole, a logical symphony of image and sound. It’s a fascinating game between two (almost) lovers, and a fun pastiche of ideas, theories and cultural elements. And loose scenes and moments that don't seem to have much to do with the central story, yet give the film its own identity.

Today we’re to a lot and fast cuts (in video clips and action films) it’s the order of the day, but the film is still surprising and stimulating. Characters that are talking and in the next shot suddenly find themselves somewhere else in relation to each other, or a collision of which you only see the beginning and the result. But one of the strangest cuts is probably the crucial murder scene in which Michel is approached from behind by a motorcycle agent while he is taking something out of the car, and the next moment seems to be just behind the cop and shoots him.

These are fascinating moments that keep the viewers alert and (sometimes) make them guess at the precise circumstances. Interestingly, this "style" was born out of necessity. The film was too long and had to be shortened. But Godard did not want to renounce beloved scenes and story elements and so decided to remove "superfluous" transitions within the scenes, resulting in the fleeting, "jazzy" character of the film.

The hip jazz soundtrack is therefore the only right choice and the perfect musical addition to the images. Despite the quick, sometimes strange cuts, the film hasn’t become abstract or incomprehensible. There is just a straightforward story about two lovers who don't come into real contact and a (small) criminal who has a dream to become happy in Rome.

And although the story is ultimately subordinate to the style and some story elements - sometimes important, such as Patricia's pregnancy or her sudden report by Michel to the police - are worked out unsatisfactorily (or not), the film contains some beautiful scenes with the two main characters in sensitive interaction.

The sequence in Patricia's bedroom in particular has an almost endearing and melancholic atmosphere, where you actually bond with the characters and hope that they will become happy in life. Preferably with each other.

Even though the film could and perhaps should have convinced more in terms of content, À bout de souffle certainly has dramatic value, in addition to its generally accepted value as a modern work of art. There is, in short, no reason to let this film pass you by. À bout de souffle was, and is still a pleasure of cinema.

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buzzdixonwriter · 4 years ago

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Gorgo

I recently rewatched Gorgo, a 1961 US / UK / Irish kaiju co-production, a film I hadn’t seen in several years (at least five, maybe as many as ten).

The last couple of times I watched it I wasn’t paying close attention, just letting it play in the background as I did other stuff.

Now, having actually paid attention to it again, I’m delighted it holds up as well as my memory told me it did.

I first encountered Gorgo in 1961 when my father took my younger brother and I to see it as the Fine Arts Theater in Asheville, NC.

The Fine Arts, one of only two movie theaters in Asheville (there may have been a 3rd that I didn’t know about due to the segregation laws of that era) specialized in more outre’ fare and typically got the monster and horror shows, as well as the Hercules movies and =ahem!= adult dramas.

It was a memorable trip for several reasons, not the least of which being my younger brother freaking out at the climax when he turned to grab Dad’s arm only to find Dad had gone to the rest room.

Not a great movie but certainly a good one, Gorgo in retrospect was somewhat groundbreaking and as such more deserving of attention.

The late film historian Bill Warren and I would often discuss old sci-fi movies. Bill, of course, wrote the seminal reference work on 1950s sci-fi movies, Keep Watching The Skies (highly recommended; go order it right now).

He argued that the fifties sci-fi boom may have started in 1950* but it really ended in 1962 when the last of the films put into production in the 1950s finally came out.

I argued that the line was fuzzier, greyer, with some titles showing a clearly different mindset than others released the same year.

Such is the case with Gorgo.

Basically, 1950s sci-fi is about re-establishing the status quo. Several end quite explicitly stating this (Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers for one) while others allude to the fact that the menace may return…someday.

But their point always was that by the end of the picture things returned to what passed for normal.

Even Forbidden Planet returns to normal by destroying Altair IV and the truly god-like Krell machines found there, thus preventing anyone else from using them.

But 1960s sci-fi had an entirely different flavor, and that flavor was that by the end of the movie things had changed irrevocably and forever.

There was no going back to the way things were, there was only the new normal -- however different and bizarre that normal might be.

Gorgo is a sixties sci-fi film.

Giant monster movies -- what we now refer to as kaiju due to Japan’s dominance of the genre -- started way back in the silent era (like almost everything else in cinema, Georges Melies got there first) with King Kong as the most prominent example before the atom age.

King Kong’s success on TV in the late 40s spurred Warner Bros. to make The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and that in turn spurred Toho to make Gojira (US title: Godzilla, King Of The Monsters) and that inspired a giant monster race on both sides of the Pacific.

England, not wanting to feel left out of the fun, made The Giant Behemoth which is an okay but underwhelming example of the genre, noteworthy only for being stop motion animators Willis O’Brien’s last feature work (he worked on other films after that, but not as an animator).

By the late 1950s Godzilla’s popularity inspired the King brothers (US slot machine distributors) to make their own giant monster movie, and despite their unfamiliarity with the genre they made several smart decisions, the first of which was hiring Eugene Lourie.

Lourie had one of those fabulous “cast your fate to the wind” careers that included working as art director on Jean Renoir films in France.

Like so many others, as the Nazis rose in power, Lourie came to America where he continued doing art direction among other behind the camera film work. His experience with special effects got him a gig direction The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and from there he directed a few TV episodes then The Colossus Of New York (not what we’d call a kaiju film today, but definitely one of the oddest sci-fi movies ever made) and The Giant Behemoth (itself essentially a remake of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms).

When the King brothers approached him to direct Gorgo, he was reluctant, agreeing to make the film only they let him do something no other sci-fi film of the 1950s (or before!) had ever done: Let the monsters win.

While Lourie later complained he felt the film fell short of what he intended, there’s no denying he was swinging for the outfield fence with this one.

The King brothers’ best idea was that they’d start with a 20-ft tall monster getting captured and brought to London, only for the protagonists to belatedly realize they’ve captured a baby and mama is gonna come looking for him.

It ends with Mama defeating everything humanity had to throw at it and returning to the sea with her child, the surviving humans watching them depart and realizing they can no longer consider themselves the absolute masters of all they survey.

That point gets lost in the feel-good moment of mother rescuing child, but it’s there, and it marks Gorgo as one of the first sci-fi films to embrace the concept that change was inevitable and inescapable.

Gorgo is an expertly crafted film, not perfect by a long shot, but satisfying all the way through. Lourie’s talent as an art director contributed mightily to the film’s final dramatic effect, and the scenes of London panicking as Mama Gorgo comes looking for her child has an intensity lacking in most kaiju films.

As Bill Warren observed, there’s not a lot of originality here, but that’s okay because Lourie and the King brothers covered a number of details typically left out of movies like this, namely how the %#$@ are you going to get your kaiju back to civilization?

Sharp eyed observers will notice a lot of stock footage in this movie (with footage of the British and US navies being used interchangeably for the same ships and crews), but Lourie also disguised some of it well.

The cost conscious King brothers filmed a lorry carrying a full size replica of Gorgo (doped up and trussed up with nets) through a deserted Piccadilly Circus by sneaking cameras in and doing a wholly unauthorized shoot early on a Sunday morning (explained away in the film as the police ordering people off the streets to reduce the danger of Gorgo escaping).

In a couple of scenes Lourie superimposes his actors over background plates shot for big budget WWII epics, creating a far larger sense of scale than the movie actually had.

The miniatures and the lighting of same are exceptionally well done and very convincing for the era. Matte work to combine the Gorgos with humans is pretty seamless.

The Gorgo monster suit itself? Ehhh…not quite so well done. Call it adequate, certainly not an embarrassment, but far from the best example of the genre.

The movie certainly ended in a far different place than other kaiju of the era and ended up having a surprisingly long half-life as a comic book spin off by Steve Ditko that followed the adventures of Gorgo and his Mama.

There’s a lot that can be done with this kaiju combination, and it’s a shame that’s going to waste.

If ever there was a movie deserving of an upgraded remake, it’s Gorgo.

* When a particular epoch in pop culture starts / stops is always open to debate. Since Bill wouldn’t consider short films or serials in Keep Watching The Skies he omits several serials released before 1950 that anticipated the sci-fi boom, in particular The Purple Monster Strikes, the first of Republic’s Martian invasion serials as well as the first cinematic sci-fi excursion to include all of the key elements of 1950s American sci-fi: Paranoia, alien invasion, body possession. (For those keeping score at home, the Republic Martian serials are The Purple Monster Strikes, Flying Disc Man From Mars, and Zombies Of The Stratosphere though one can argue King Of The Rocket Men, Retik, The Moon Menace, and Commando Cody, Sky Marshall Of The Universe are crossovers of one kind or another; the first three serials were unintentionally linked when cost conscious Republic decided to recycle costumes and props and rewrote dialog to refer to prior releases in order to cover their budgetary limits.)

#media #science fiction #Gorgo #Eugene Lourie

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bill-the-baker · 5 years ago

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I’ve also decided to finish this decade with something more light-hearted, detailing the many trends that one can associate with the past ten years. I styled this picture in a similar fashion to those gaudy collages you have relating to the 1980s and 1990s, with this mainly being reflected in the style of this picture. The title of the picture holds a very minimalist design, and is shown from inside a phone, whilst the rest of the poster has a dull white background. These main design choices were added to reflect the omnipresence of smartphones in this decade, as well as the general trend of Minimalism, which has been followed by many companies in recent years. The decision to make the background seem plain was not completely because I’m feeling lazy, but because I tried to follow the trend of minimalism, a trend I personally hate because of how boring it is (I probably would have added in a pretty pattern if there was some other major design trend).

Beyond this though, there are a few other things I chose to add in to reflect the 2010s:

-Ragecomics- The basis of most early-2010s memes.

-Skrillex (or rather Dubstep in general)- A key figure in a genre of music that you either loved or hated.

-Obama- A fantastic President who laid the groundwork for change that will hopefully be built upon in the future.

-Hipster culture- Fresh-out-of-college rich kids who made avoiding the mainstream a mainstream trend.

-The Occupy Movement (“We are the 99%” sign)- A promising post-Great Recession movement with disappointing results.

Gay Rights- Gay marriage is now legal in places like the United States, and homosexuality is more accepted the western world, so much so that companies are now no-longer afraid to pander to them whenever June comes around. Still, other parts of the planet have yet to change their outdated ways.

Trans rights- With people like Caitlyn Jenner and Leelah Alcorn, Transgenderism has arrived into the forefront of social issues, though it remains a strongly divisive issue throughout the decade.

Drones- Like helicopters but smaller and cheaper.

Overwatch- An interesting game that offered a unique personality to the shooter genre in a decade oversaturated with annual Call of Duty releases.

Cuphead- A challenging run-and-gun platformer with a Golden-Age animation-style, showcasing what can be made through video games these days.

Minecraft- The game that doesn’t die. It defined the childhoods of many gamers who fondly remember the early-2010s, and has since made a major resurgence in the decade’s end.

Steven Universe- A much-loved show that offered many unique and progressive themes, which I can admire despite my mixed feeling for the show itself.

Gravity Falls- A show aimed at children didn’t have to be this immersive and interesting, but Alex Hirsch and his team did it anyway and offered the world two seasons of hilarious and yet gripping television.

Political correctness/Woke-ness (“That’s Offensive” speech bubble)- Something that has been pushed to death among the political mainstream, but especially by the Left, as people are silenced whilst others demand safe spaces to keep their precious feelings from being hurt. Political correctness is a somewhat-trend that is better off staying in this decade.

Shrek- Whilst the 2010s have been starved of a new Shrek film besides the contested “Shrek Forever After”, the “Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life” greentext story, despite its crude subject matter, has made the brutish but kind ogre a mainstay in meme culture, whilst offering people the opportunity to explore the nuances of the franchise, after growing up with the character.

Pewdiepie- Starting out strong in the decade, making a name for himself as “that funny Swedish guy who screams as scary games”, an incident in February 2017, in which he was called a Nazi by the mainstream media, resulted in him becoming a more independent and politically incorrect figure, before going on to unite the internet in a battle for the most subscribed YouTube channel against a corporation. He lost in the end, but it was fun while it lasted.

Tyler, the Creator- Offering a unique sound among waves of forgettable Pop music, Tyler evolved from an edgy but somewhat humorous rapper, to an interesting and poignant singer in this past decade, achieving near-mainstream success.

Marvel Cinematic Universe (Endgame logo)- Many mainstream cinemagoers are bound to have seen at least one of these groundbreaking movies in cinemas, with their intense action and perfectly balanced humour, all culminating in the outstanding films “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame”.

Death Grips- Unlike anything that has ever been popular among general audiences, the exciting tunes concocted by MC Ride and Zach Hill have remained in the minds of many younger and more alternative individuals.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic- Arguably the most unlikely of fanbases to come around in this decade, this re-imagining of an 80s cartoon series had a style of humour and storytelling that peaked the interests of a group of adult men known as “Bronies”, who’s reasons for being interested were questioned and much of the internet hated them, but they were certainly something to behold throughout these years.

The 2016 Presidential Election (Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump)- A time many can regard as the branching-off point between the first and second halves of the decade, as the extremes of both sides were exposed to the world with astonishing results.

Vine- A social media platform that has since disappeared off the face of the Earth, but brought about many notable celebrities and memes that are often remembered by younger generations.

Vaporwave- Alongside Hipsters, Vaporwave was perhaps one of the few examples of a concrete “counter-culture” movement, offering an anti-Capitalist message within its use of music and iconography from the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, it is best known for offering a warm and interesting “aesthetic”.

Pepe the Frog- A frog best known for saying “Feels Good Man” earlier on, was later used by certain Right-wingers and has since been touted as a symbol of hat. But, with a smug grin like that, it appears that he doesn’t seem to care about what others say.

Social media- It already played a massive role from the mid-2000s-onwards, but now, the scale of social media has grown exponentially, with people moving away from mainstream news and entertainment and instead choosing to get their kicks on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. This focus on gaining the news from social media has held some negative consequences as fake news continues to fool gullible Boomers.

Hyperbeast fashion- In terms of fashion, the Hypebeast is the late-2010s’ version of the Hipster, though unlike Hipsters, who are financially-independent rich kids who make questionable purchasing decisions, Hypebeasts are often preteen/teenagers who suck money out of the credit cards of their rich parents.

Adventure Time- A rather interesting cartoon that started off as a fun show to get high to, but evolved into a gripping epic with an expansive lore and interesting world.

Minions- While they were rather annoying to older viewers following their introduction in the otherwise top-tier film Despicable Me, children and especially 40-something year-old Facebook Mums couldn’t get enough of these wacky tic-tacs.

Brexit- A subject that I, as a Brit, couldn’t seem to get away from in the past few years, as politicians refused to move forward with the people’s decision. But, with the Tory majority in Parliament, as depressing as that sounds, it seems possible that we can finally move on as a country to more important matters.

Vaping (Juul-smoking mouth)- Recovered chain-smokers and rebellious teens have made this trend a popular pastime, though its popularity has waned recently over health concerns.

Doge- Whilst it began as a singular image of a cartoonish-looking Shiba Inu making a weird face, as brightly-coloured Comic Sans surrounds her, this dog has become the subject of many surreal and unique memes, taking on many different forms, solidifying the transformative nature that all memes should strive for.

Hoverboards, Fortnite, Dabbing, and Fidget Spinners (The monstrosity on the bottom-right)- What do a handle-less Segway, a more cartoony (but somewhat better) version of PUBG, a dance based off of post drug-taking sneezes and small bits of metal for Autistic children have in common? They have all ascended to levels of annoying trends that at least some people have had fun with.

Undertale (Sans)- An interesting game that has gained a heavy degree of fame for its interesting themes and interesting characters, some of which have been admired a bit too much by certain teenage girls.

As for my personal experiences of this decade, I can say that, whilst I was born in the early-2000s, I was definitely raised in the 2010s. Much of my memories of the previous decade are rather minimal, and I didn’t follow that many trends considering I only lived on constant repeats of SpongeBob by the start of this decade. Since then, though I have gained many impactful memories from these past few years. Some good, some bad, some great, all of which were a part of growing up. In about two-weeks’ time, I will finally become a legal adult, and shall begin the rest of my life. So, I wish you all well, and hope your Twenties are truly roaring!

#2010s #2010s nostalgia #collage #retrospective

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witchofthemidlands · 5 years ago

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WHY POWER RANGERS 2017 DESERVED A SEQUEL. In This Essay I Will...

A lot of people are gonna disagree with me on this, but in my opinion, Power Rangers 2017 is a goddam masterpiece. It’s probs my second favourite film of all time. It’s beautiful, it’s funny, I felt that soundtrack in my soul and it has an amazing cast. I adore it, alright? Have done since I brought the dvd, because I couldn’t see it in cinemas at the time, because of those stupid ass exams... Anyway, I’m in a shitty headspace, I kinda want to yeet myself out of a window, I’ve had a drink, so, like the piece of actual garage I am, I am going to yeet myself into the trash can of Power Rangers 2017 & explain, why I believe that this film deserved a sequel.

First off THE CHARACTERS. Honestly, one the best things about this entire film is just these five wonderful characters. I could’ve watched these characters do random shit for a whole twenty four hours & not get bored istg, they’re great & they all deserved the world.

Jason Scott: Red Ranger, leader of the squad. Jason is probably my favourite out of the squad if I had to pick one & that’s not just because he’s played by the absolute legend, Dacre Montgomery. Jason won me over from the minute he said ‘tHat’S nOt aN uDDeR dUDe!’ (how tf did the cow get out of the gym to be in the field when Jason’s driving away though) Jason was completely different from everything I was expecting him to be. I thought he was just gonna be another one of those dumbass jock characters, who would slowly start to get on my nerves, but nope. Unlike what I was expecting, this character showed a great range of emotions. He was loyal, brave, hugged his best mate twice and cared so much about his family & friends. I mean the guy went so goddam HARD for Billy Cranston after only knowing him for five minutes. I stan that level of immense friendship.

Kimberly Hart: Pink Ranger. I adored her, honestly, I loved everything about her. She was played by the gorgeous Naomi Scott & was a really interesting character, because she was a character that had done a really shitty thing, but was trying to do better. What I liked about all these characters, was that they were all flawed in some way & were not perfect like all these kinds of films try to portray their characters, which was honestly, why Power Rangers was such a breath of fresh air, because it actually showed decent characters, that were not perfect and were working to try and become the best versions of themselves, but knew that they had a long way to go before they could do that. Kimberly was a part of a cyber bullying incident & it was great to see that they never tried to excuse the shit she did, but got her to accept that she did do it and that she couldn’t change what she did. When I first watched this film, I immediately expected Kim to be a major bitch, but she wasn’t. Seriously, these characters were so well written istg. Also, I know the kiss scene was deleted & I both agree & disagree about them deleting it (I shipped Jason & Kim, guys. Then again, I pretty much shipped them all at random times. Jason & Kim, Jason & Billy, Kim & Trini, all the Rangers in one big beautiful poly relationship etc) Yet, what I did like about it was how forward Kim was, most these teen based films, it’s always the guy who makes the first move, gives the first kiss etc, but ma girl, Kim WENT for it. I mean, she full on went for it & topped Jason. I have never stanned harder. You go, Kim! Again, I adored her. Enough said.

Billy Cranston: Blue Ranger, honestly the purest of them all. I loved this guy from the second he appeared (screw that asshole who broke his pencils in his first scene I’d have done more than just slapped that bitch istg), he cared so much about his mates, he gave everything into becoming a Ranger, like the guy was so pumped about becoming a superhero. Too pure for this world, I swear & was such a cheerful character, I mean, the poor dude literally died & he was still probs the happiest of them all. His friendship with Jason was literally one of the best friendships I’ve seen in a film between two dudes, they loved each other & were pretty much joined at the hip throughout the film, honestly legends. Again, these writers really wrote some bloody good characters, because they wrote Billy to be an autistic character & it’s rare to see representation of autistic characters, especially ones that are main characters, which is another reason why the character of Billy Cranston was greatly appreciated, because they handled it well. I will always love that scene where Billy is trying to explain his autism to Jason & he’s just like ‘you don’t have to explain it to me.’ Because Jason accepted him for who he is right away. This friendship was beautiful & the fact that we were robbed of seeing more of it in a sequel is a crime against nature.

Zack Taylor: Black Ranger, was honestly my dude. This guy was so much fun, but honestly, the stand out thing about his character was how much he loved his mother! I appreciate how realistically written these characters are, I really do. It was great to finally see a teenage character who was shown to be a care provider for a relative. It broke my soul when Zack said that his greatest fear was coming home & finding his mother dead, as someone who helps care for a relative, that is a very real fear & I appreciated how they wrote Zack’s explanation about his mother. Another thing I liked about him, was that even though he was a tease & flirted with Trini throughout most of the film, he totally cooled it down when she admitted that she was questioning her sexuality. Honestly, a character to stan here.

Trini: Yellow Ranger, an absolute mood. Oof, what a character. I honestly didn’t know that Becky G could act, but she honestly blew me away in Power Rangers. Trini was definitely one of the best characters in the film, she came across as tough as nails, but she slowly started to find a family in the Ranger Squad. Her & Kim were awesome (I pretty much ship all these characters in various ships, but I gotta admit, I got some hella gay vibes during that doughnut scene). She evidently had helicopter parents, but got on well with her siblings, even if one did say that he thought the Yellow Ranger was a dude, honestly iconic. There was an interesting part where she was talking questioning her sexuality & her parents want to use labels, again, these writers really gave it their all with these characters, because that is incredibly realistic & I really felt for her.

Seriously, this is an incredibly talented cast (Dacre Montgomery deserves whatever awards they can throw at him for Stranger Things) & is one of the more diverse casts I’ve seen in a film & the fact that they want to reboot it again without this cast is just wrong. Yeah, the story was a bit patchy in places, it wasn’t a groundbreaking film, but to me it was a masterpiece, because it made me feel things, it made me laugh, it gave me something I could escape to when I needed it. It had fantastically written characters that you could actually relate to and it was just a whole lot of fun. There’s so much shite out there these days that gets sequels green lit that isn’t nearly as half as good as Power Rangers 2017 was. They also didn’t give us a complete ending, what with the post credit scene, where it seemed like they were introducing their proposed version of Tommy Oliver. I wanted to see who they’d want as Tommy, how they’d write the character & how they’d change the character. I heard somewhere (don’t quote me on this I saw it on tumblr) that Tommy could’ve been a woman in this version, that would’ve been epic. They had so much potential there & they just gave up & decided to reboot because of what? Was it because the film did that badly, did the cast not want to do a second film? I totally respect them for that if they didn’t, but it totally sucks ass that they’re rebooting it again, because they had the perfect set up there, they had a banging soundtrack, the best cast known to man & god & PLEASE can someone create an actual Alpha Five? I need a motivational robot like that in my life.

Power Rangers 2017 deserved sequels.

However, if it must be rebooted, my fan cast for the reboot would be.

Dacre Montgomery - Jason Scott

Naomi Scott - Kimberly Hart

RJ Cyler - Billy Cranston

Becky G - Trini

Ludi Lin - Zack Taylor

Bill Hader - Alpha Five

Whoever they want for the rest of the cast.

POWER RANGERS 2017 DESERVED BETTER FOLKS.

✌️

#power rangers 2017

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somethingusefulfromflorida · 5 years ago

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Pixar Films

I dislike Disney as an entity; it is an evil corporate conglomerate that makes focus-grouped schlock to appeal to as wide an audience as possible at the detriment of story. That said, Pixar was once the greatest animation studio on the planet.

Keep in mind, these are movies for kids, so anything negative I say will almost certainly be rebutted with “you’re just old and you don’t like Disney because it’s popular and you’re a hipster and you’re not even the target audience anyway so shut up.” I’m just giving my two cents, whatever that’s worth.

I’m not gonna rate them on a number scale, I’ll just tell you how much I would or would not recommend watching them. Some are must-see-cinema, others are bland and skippable affairs that you should not feel obligated to watch just because it has the Pixar brand on it.

Let’s start from the very beginning (a very good place to start)

Toy Story (1995) Groundbreaking, the first feature length 3D animated movie, spectacular cast, great story, though a little wonky by today’s standards both in the visuals (though that’s just a product of the times) and in the characterization (Woody is kinda of a jerk in this one; he was worse during pre-production, so this is the tame version). Pixar started off on the right foot. Would Recommend

A Bug’s Life (1998) This has some flaws, but is still a really fun movie. Not as good as Toy Story, but infinitely better than Dreamworks’ knockoff Antz. Great ensemble, memorable characters and set pieces, really funny. Would Probably Recommend

Toy Story 2 (1999) An excellent sequel, they knocked it out of the park with this one. It’s surprisingly deep, exploring concepts like the inevitability of change; nothing lasts forever, you can’t keep kicking the can down the road forever. The journey is finite, but that doesn’t make it worthless. Would Definitely Recommend.

Monsters, Inc. (2001) To date, their best original movie, maybe even better than Toy Story 2. Everything about it is perfect; John Goodman and Billy Crystal have great chemistry, Steve Buscemi plays the perfect sleaze, Boo is just adorable, it’s an excellent movie. Would Definitely Recommend.

Finding Nemo (2003) This is a beautiful movie; they had to invent new animation techniques to make it look this good, new ways for light to bounce and diffuse through the fishy medium. Amazing story, absolutely heart wrenching at points, hilarious at others, without feeling tonally dissonant. Would Definitely Recommend.

The Incredibles (2004) Another home run, they’re just showing off at this point. This is a much deeper and arguably darker story than any of their previous films. It doesn’t pull any punches and explores adult concepts like mid-life crises, extramarital affairs, death (oh, so much death; red shirt mooks and civilians alike). This may be my favorite (definitely top 3; I’ll expand the list below). Would Definitely Recommend.

Cars (2006) A competent movie, though by Pixar standards it’s not quite up to snuff. Not bad, by any means, but this one is the most blatant cash grab of them all, just a commercial for hot wheels and die-cast toys. I have a soft spot for it because this is the one I’ve seen the most; my mom would turn on this DVD to keep my baby sisters occupied, so it was literally always playing in our house. That said, I’m not nostalgia blind; it has good parts, but it’s not great. Would Probably Not Recommend.

Ratatouille (2007) C’est Magnifique! Patton Oswalt does a fantastic job, I identify with Linguini on a spiritual level, the human characters are all perfectly demented and the rats are equally so. I love this moral; anyone can be successful, it’s about who you are not where you come from. Funny and relatable, an all around feel-good movie. Would Definitely Recommend.

WALL-E (2008) Top 3, hands down, this is a true work of art, a modern masterpiece. A film mostly devoid of dialogue, it expresses so much emotion from how the characters carry themselves and react physically to their surroundings. The body language, the color choices, the camera work (especially in the space dance sequence), just how RAW everything is, how grounded it feels, how fleshed out these little robots are.. I Cannot Recommend This Enough, Watch it Right Now. Now. Why Are You Still Reading This? Now! Go Watch it Then Come Back. Even if You’ve Already Seen it, Go Watch it Again.

Up (2009) Another near perfect installment under Pixar’s belt. They’ve really nailed the art of opening scenes; Carl and Ellie’s love story moves me to tears, it is so beautifully portrayed. Some of the characters can be a tad annoying and overly cutesy to sell merchandise, but the story never suffers from it. The villain actually feels like a threat, there are stakes, and the image of a house sitting by a waterfall and the story connotations thereof are indescribably bittersweet. Would Definitely Recommend

Toy Story 3 (2010) This is is sort of hit or miss. It’s a very well made movie, and an excellent CONCLUSION to the Toy Story franchise (Conclusion: noun, the end or finish of an event or process). I liked it, felt it really wrapped things up in a satisfactory way, but it’s not better than Toy Story 2 in my mind. I feel like this was a turning point for Pixar; after this, they were never quite the same, never really bounced back. May or May Not Recommend, I’m on the Fence

Cars 2 (2011) You don’t give the comedy relief their own movie. That’s storytelling 101; the comic relief bit-character can rarely stand on their own and meaningfully carry a story, though corporations are laughing all the way to the bank as I say this because these types of movies keep making boatloads of money even if they suck. Minions made bookoo bucks, the Pirates of the Caribbean series is still ongoing despite the loss of Bloom and Knightly (and bringing them back for the last one doesn’t really count because Depp is still the main character), Cars 2 is a corporate cash grab, and devoid of artistic merit; this is my first hard no. Would NOT Recommend.

Brave (2012) This is not a Pixar film, it is a Disney film that they decided to make under Pixar’s name instead because they knew Pixar had enough good will and positive connotations to get people into seats regardless of story. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great. That’s the story of modern Disney; not terrible, not great, just okay because that’s all it needs to be. People will watch it no matter what, so they put in the bare minimum amount of effort so nobody can say they suck at making movies again (because for the longest time in the early 2000s, they did suck; Dinosaurs, Home on the Range, Chicken Little). Would Not Recommend.

Monsters University (2013) Why did you do this, Pixar? Why did you take one of your best movies and do this specifically to it? Nobody asked for this, nobody wanted this. I can only applaud them for having integrity enough to NOT give people what they wanted; people wanted a sequel, and that would have bee terrible. You can’t follow up on Monsters, Inc, it had a perfect ending, it was hopeful and heart warming and definitive. A prequel is the only thing they could have made without messing up the ending of the original, so I’ll give them some credit for that. It’s not good. Would Not Recommend.

Inside Out (2015) Their best one since Toy Story 3. Not terrible, I actually liked a lot of things about this one. I like it when Pixar takes on more serious subject matter, and I thought they did a good job exploring how a kid would react to such a drastic lifestyle change. The cast was good, the animation was fun (inside Riley’s head; outside was generic and samey). Not bad Pixar, not bad at all. Would Probably Recommend.

The Good Dinosaur (2015) It doesn’t matter what i think because this movie still made hundreds of millions of dollars. Disney is losing no sleep over this. Would NOT Recommend.

Finding Dory (2016) Again with the continuations! This was better than Monsters University, but the original was still such a hard act to follow. It had potential, and I liked how it respectably handled mental illness in a way that was easy for kids to understand without dumbing it down and underplaying its significance in the lives of those who it effects. I think Marlin kinda regressed, having to relearn what he already learned in the first one. The hardest I laughed was during the climax, the truck chase scene, “It’s a Wonderful World,” just amazing. Would Probably Not Recommend

Cars 3 (2017) I hope Disney was happy with this end product. I hope the producers really enjoyed cashing their toy checks for this one. I thought it was worse than Cars 2, but I can see why some people might like it more. Either way, it’s worse than Cars 1, which wasn’t particularly great anyway. Would NOT Recommend.

Coco (2017) I’m on the fence with this one. It was beautifully made, and the songs made me cry, but it’s hard for me to look at this movie without judging it as a product made by a focus group of mostly white people. By itself it’s a good movie, but when you know how the Disney sausage is made it feels disingenuous and calculated. Might Recommend, But it Had Some Baggage

The Incredibles 2 (2018) I am Boo Boo the Fool, Pixar suckered me and I fell for it. I was legitimately enthusiastic for this one because the original is one of their best, and unlike Monsters, Inc it actually left room for a sequel. It had so much potential, and big shoes to fill, and it did so in the most generic Disney way it could. Like Brave it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. Middle of the road, some things were fun, others made little sense, it was “appealing” in that it literally appealed to as wide an audience as it could without alienating anyone by doing anything particularly risky. I liked Voyd, I liked how Helen became the main character, I liked the villain twist; I did not like how easy it was to make superheroes legal again. It felt like it was tacked on at the end, like he just says “and there we have it, they’re legal again, congratulations,” like he was announcing the winner of the Price is Right. Would Probably Not Recommend

Toy Story 4 (2019) I want to be clear that I made a point not to pay money to see many of the previous films on this list. If I thought they were going to suck, I waited until a friend bought it and saw it with them for free. This one, though, I was forced to pay for because my mom insisted on seeing it in theaters as a family. It wasn’t terrible. Wasn’t great. Wash, rinse, repeat. It was the same villain again; Stinky Pete, Lotso, Gabby-Gabby... I can’t wait for the fifth one where the villain is an old toy who is mad because they weren’t played with. Buzz was made much dumber for this one, and I felt they didn’t do enough with Forky. I was excited to see how they handled the existential aspects of the series; what makes a toy? How are toys sentient? Why are toys sentient? In the first movie Woody implied that there were rules that toys were honor bound to follow, so what is stopping Forky from blowing their cover on accident? None of these questions were answered. I liked Keanu Reeves, I didn’t like Key and Peele. Would Probably Not Recommend.

The mighty have fallen. It’s just sad.

”Onward” looks kinda dumb, like a kiddy version of the flop Will Smith movie “Bright.” I have no faith in this production company anymore, but I’m sure it will make hundreds of millions of dollars; the cast are fan favorites, including Disney’s favorite topical pet celebrities (because let’s be honest, Disney basically owns Tom Holland at this point. Whether they own Spider-Man or not, they own Tom Holland, he is theirs, his soul contractually belongs to them).

Speaking of souls, ”Soul” will probably go over well with critics, though I can’t help but notice that their main character of color is transformed into a non-human for most of the movie. Again. I’m also not a fan of this one-word naming convention Disney has fallen into in the last decade. “Brave” was originally titled “the Bear and the Bow,” but one-word titles seem to test well with kids. Hopefully this will pass, but I’m not holding my breath.

I’m swearing off Disney movies, firsthand. I might catch them second hand, through friends or other means, but I refuse to give this corporate conglomerate one more penny. They basically own Hollywood, so my money will eventually make my way into their pockets, I just want to put as much distance between them and myself as possible. No more Pixar, no more Star Wars, no more Marvel, no more Disney. I am one drop in the bucket, I will not be missed, and they will not be affected in the slightest by my absence, but I need to prove to myself that I have integrity enough not to keep funneling my hard earned cash into a trillion dollar snack company.

Disney movies are snacks, not meals. And I’m going on a diet.

Anyway, here’s my top three:

Monsters, Inc

The Incredibles

WALL-E

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superdorkcat · 5 years ago

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Upcoming Disney+ Originals (TV Shows)

One Day at Disney (December 3, 2019) - The documentary follows employees across the various divisions of the Walt Disney Company, taking a look at a day in the life of their jobs.

Diary of a Female President (2020) - The series is told through the narration of a Cuban-American 12-year-old girl’s diary, as she navigates the ups and downs of middle school and her journey to becoming the future president of the United States.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2020) - Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes deal with the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, in which Wilson was handed the mantle of Captain America.

Monsters at Work (2020) - Six months after the events of Monsters, Inc., the city of Monstropolis is now fueled with the sound of laughter. Tylor Tuskmon, a mechanic on the Facilities Team, dreams of working alongside his idols Mike Wazowski and James P. “Sully” Sullivan.

Earth to Ned (2020) - The comedic half-hour series follows Ned, a blue-skinned alien and his lieutenant Cornelius, who were sent to scout Earth for an eventual invasion - but instead became obsessed with our popular culture. Now, they host a talk show, broadcast from the bridge of their spaceship hidden deep underground, where they interview our most precious commodity, celebrities, to talk about Ned’s current pop culture obsessions. Ned will be bringing real-life celebrity guests to his ship from across the known universe and interviewing them, late night talk show style, in hopes of producing the ultimate talk show - making Ned a celebrity and putting him further off mission. And the more Ned learns about our human culture, the more obsessed he becomes.

Short Circuit (2020) - A program where anyone at the Walt Disney Animation Studios can pitch an idea and potentially be selected to create an original short film with the support of the Studio and their fellow artists.

Muppets Now (2020) - An unscripted series, the premise is unknown. The show will feature celebrity guests.

Be Our Chef (2019-2020) - The series invites families from diverse backgrounds to join a Disney-inspired cooking competition at Walt Disney World that’s positive and playful in tone. In each episode, two families will participate in a themed challenge based on their family traditions and the magic of Disney. The finalists will apply what they’ve learned to create a dish that represents their family through a Disney lens.

Cinema Relics: Iconic Art of the Movies (2019-2020) - An anthology series that takes a unique look at beloved films through the props and costumes that made them unique - from the craftspeople who created them, the actors who interacted with them, and the collectors/archives who own and cherish them

Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 (2019-2020) - As never before in its near-century long history, Walt Disney Animation Studios is opening its doors, allowing cameras to capture in intimate detail how the voice cast, directors, and team of artists come together to create “Frozen 2”. This multi-episode documentary series shows the hard work, imagination, heart, fun, and intensity that go into making one of the most anticipated Disney Animation features of all time.

Magic of the Animal Kingdom (2019-2020) - In the heart of Central Florida, a team of more than 1,000 highly respected animal care experts, veterinarians, and biologists perform groundbreaking work at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park and Epcot’s SeaBase aquarium. Now for the first time, National Geographic will offer viewers an all-access pass into the 24/7 world of the incredible animal caretakers running one of the most advanced veterinary facilities in the world.

Marvel’s 616 (2019-2020) - An anthological documentary series from Marvel New Media in partnership with Supper Club that explores the intersection between Marvel’s rich legacy of stories, characters and creators and the world outside your window. Each documentary will dive into the rich historical, cultural and social context that has become inseparable from stories of the Marvel Universe.

On Pointe (2019-2020) - The series will follow a year in the life of students at the New York City school as they go through rigorous training, auditions and preparations for the New York City Ballet’s annual performances of “The Nutcracker”.

(Re)Connect (2019-2020) - In each episode, a family will disconnect from their busy lives, devices and outside influences in order to address a relatable issue that’s driving a wedge between them. With the help of a specialized expert, each family will go on a unique journey to confront the family’s dilemma head on.

Rogue Trip (2019-2020) - Renowned journalist Bob Woodruff travels the world with his 27-year-old son, Mack, and visits all of the places your average tourist is least likely to venture - the roguish, often misunderstood and frequently overlooked corners of the world whose hidden corners surprise, amaze and inspire.

Shop Class (working title) (2019-2020) - A new competition series featuring teams of inventive students, who are tasked with designing, building, and testing new contraptions. In each episode a panel of experts will rate their work based on engineering, design, and the final test of the build.

Untitled Chip ‘n’ Dale series (2019-2020) - Plot unknown, the series will feature “classic style comedy”.

Loki (2021) - The series will follow the Loki who stole the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame. Additional plot details are unknown, but the series will tie in to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

WandaVision (2021) - The series will be a take on a superhero sitcom. Additional plot details are unknown. Similarly to Loki, the series will tie into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

What If...? (2021) - The series explores what would happen if major moments from the Marvel Cinematic Universe occurred differently.

Hawkeye (2021) - The series will focus on Clint Barton passing the mantle of Hawkeye to Kate Bishop.

Untitled Cassian Andor series (2021) - The series is billed as a rousing spy thriller that will explore tales filled with espionage and daring missions to restore hope to a galaxy in the grip of a ruthless Empire.

Ink & Paint (2020-2021) - The documentary series, based on the book of the same name, tells the story of animation at Disney, and how an unsung workforce of trailblazing women helped create some of the greatest animated films of all time.

Earthkeepers (working title) (2020-2021) - The series is a cinematic documentary series that enters the adventurous lives of the people changing the way we see the animal kingdom. The episodes focus on conservationists and the animals they’ve devoted their careers to studying, diving deep into the personal trials and professional breakthroughs of protecting the planet’s most endangered species.

Big Shots (TBA) - The series follows a temperamental college basketball coach who gets fired from his job and must take a teaching and coaching job at an elite all-girls private high school.

Lizzie McGuire revival (TBA) - An update of the classic Disney Channel series that will follow the title character as a 30-year-old millennial navigating life in New York City.

Love, Simon (TBA) - The series is set in the same world as the 2018 film and focuses on a new student at Creekwood High School, Victor. The series follows his journey of self-discovery: facing challenges at home and struggling with his sexual orientation. He reaches out to Simon when it seems too difficult for him to navigate through high school.

Moon Knight (TBA) - The plot is unknown, but the series will introduce Moon Knight (Marc Spector) into the MCU.

Ms. Marvel (TBA) - The plot is unknown, but the series will introduce Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan).

She-Hulk (TBA) - The plot is unknown, but the series will introduce She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters).

Untitled Obi-Wan Kenobi series (TBA) - The series will take place eight years after the events of Revenge of the Sith. The rest of the plot is unknown.

Becoming (TBA) - Each episode of the documentary-style series, shot in vérité, will visit a celebrity’s hometown, touring important locations that were central to their upbringing. A supporting cast of family members, coaches, teachers, mentors, and friends will also be interviewed, sharing anecdotes and insight into the star’s “becoming” story.

Behind the Attraction (TBA) - The series takes viewers into the history of how popular Disney attractions and destinations came to be, how they have changed over time, and how fans continue to obsess over them. The series will feature interviews with fans as well as Disney Imagineers and other people behind the scenes.

The Big Fib (TBA) - In this game show, two grown-ups claim to be experts on a topic and one of them is lying. It’ll be up to a kid contestant to try and figure out which one is telling “the big fib”.

Marvel’s Storyboards (TBA) - This series will follow Joe Quesada, Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, as he explores the origin stories and creative drives of storytellers of all mediums, backgrounds, and experiences.

People & Places (TBA) - The series will present true stories from all around the glob about real - and extraordinary - people who embody the Disney ethos. A mix of up-and-coming and established filmmakers will be featured.

Explorer Academy (TBA) - The series will be “fact-based fiction”. The plot is unknown.

Life and Deaf (TBA) - The series is a comedy about a kid growing up in the ‘70s with deaf parents - and the mischief that ensues when, as their ears and mouthpiece, he’s given the “keys to the kingdom”.

The Proud Family revival (TBA) - The series will be revived according to the VA of Oscar Proud, Tommy Davidson. What the premise will be is unknown.

Untitled Mighty Ducks series (TBA) - The series focuses on a 13-year-old boy when he gets kicked off the junior division Mighty Ducks team, his mom decides to start their own team, finding players, a coach, and a place to play.

Untitled The Sandlot series (TBA) - Plot unknown, the series will be set in 1984 and focus on the kids of the original.

Untitled True Lies series (TBA) - Plot unknown. Mostly a reboot.

Untitled Willow sequel series (TBA) - Plot unknown.

#disney #disney+

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 6 years ago

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Psycho Analysis: John Doe

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

It’s going to be impossible to dance around the controversy here, so I must say yes, Kevin Spacey is a creep, him giving good performances in movies does not change the fact I think he’s a creepy nutjob who keeps shooting himself in the foot, and any positives I have to say about his performances in analyses of his characters are not condonement of his actions. I just want to make that clear because I also want to say this:

I love when Kevin Spacey plays villains. And do you know why? Because not only is he a real-life villain, he always dies in the end. And Se7en might be one of his most famous examples of that; I don’t think this is his best-ever “villain who dies” role, but it is one of his most memorable, and I think it deserves to be talked about. Plus, any excuse I can get to make fun of Kevin Spacey is a good one.

John Doe is something of a trendsetter; before Saw and its plethora of sequels, there was John Doe dishing out ironic deaths via cruel punishment. Thought he’s not the first, he definitely helped codify how serial killers would generally be portrayed in future films.... for better and for worse.

Actor: Let me be frank (because Spacey isn’t allowed to be Frank anymore): Kevin Spacey does a good job in this role. He makes John Doe a creepy, disturbing, mentally unstable monster… are we sure he was even acting? Of course, him playing Doe does make his condemnation of one of Doe’s victims being a pedophile come off as a bit… unfortunate in hindsight, let’s say.

Motivation/Goals: John Doe has a motivation that would go on tosinspire many imitators over the years in other films, only instead of being smart and matching the atmosphere of the films they were just over-the-top gore schlock. Doe wishes to inflict cruel and elaborate deaths upon people he believes embody one of the Seven Deadly Sins; he believes God Himself set him o this mission to cleanse the world of sinners. His motivation sets him in contrast to Morgan Freeman’s Somerset, who is in agreement about the state of the world and how awful it is, but has a… different approach than our friendly neighborhood serial killer. One that involves not murdering people.

His murders highlight just how utterly insane and hypocritical his plan is. He condemns other people for crimes that are in no way even close to being as bad as what he does, he dabbles in a lot of the sins he throws on others, and in the end by his own logic he deems himself only worthy for Hell. It’s kind of chilling, because this is how an utterly insane and delusional person would behave in real life. In fact, though I hope not many of us have met a serial killer, I’m sure we’ve met people who constantly delude themselves into believing they’re right when they are in fact egregiously wrong. In a way, John Doe is the Huey Emmerich of serial killers.

Personality: Creepy, emotionless, practically inhuman… and I haven’t even gotten to John Doe yet! Joking aside, John Doe seems pretty standard for serial killers these days, with the creepy monotone, the high intelligence, the pronounced insanity, the lack of emotion or sympathetic traits. By today’s standards, John Doe is pretty by-the-books and wouldn’t attract much attention, but for the mid 90s, he was a pretty shocking and groundbreaking villain. You’ve gotta give some props for that, if nothing else.

Final Fate: In one of the cruelest twists in all of cinema, John Doe let’s Brad Pitt’s detective Mills in on “what’s in the box:” his wife’s pretty little head. Despite Somerset’s best attempts to prevent the inevitable, Doe successfully turns himself into Envy by goading Mills into becoming Wrath, and Mills shoots him in the head. Maybe he should have spent less time needling the angry cop and more time letting him know that you were done killing and choosing to live your life as a gay man, eh Doe?

Best Scene: The entire time prior to his death when he goads Mills into killing him is intense as all hell, but there’s also the scene where he turns himself in, which is pictured above in the screenshot. Both scenes really just serve to showcase exactly how effective of a villain he is; if I had to pick one, it’s definitely the former scene, if only because of how iconic and just edge-of-your-seat intense it gets.

Best Quote: When Mills says he killed innocent people, Doe goes off on an epic rant that only furthers to highlight his own hypocrisy:

“Innocent? Is that supposed to be funny? An obese man, a disgusting man who could barely stand up, a man who if you saw him on the street, you'd point him out to your friends so that they could join you in mocking him, a man, who if you saw him while you were eating, you wouldn't be able to finish your meal. After him, I picked the lawyer, and I know you both must have been secretly thanking me for that one. This is a man who dedicated his life to making money by lying with every breath that he could muster to keeping murderers and rapists on the streets!...A woman, so ugly on the inside she couldn't bear to go on living if she couldn't be beautiful on the outside. A drug dealer, a drug-dealing pederast, actually! And let's not forget the disease-spreading whore! Only in a world this shitty could you even try to say these were innocent people and keep a straight face. But that's the point: we see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it's common, it's trivial. We tolerate it morning, noon, and night. Well, not anymore. I'm setting the example. What I've done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed… forever.”

Final Thoughts & Score: John Doe was a shocking product of his time, but ultimately that’s all he is: a product of his time. Nowadays killers like him who followed in his footsteps are a dime a dozen, and some are quite frankly better than Doe, if only for the fact you don’t have to feel skeevy for offering any praise to the actor; Jigsaw of the Saw franchise comes to mind. While certainly a fascinating character, I think he really was better as a template for others to follow, and while the character and the film Se7en in general did inspire some stinkers, I do think Doe does have a place in cinematic history as an important antagonist, even if he is one sullied by his actor’s real life crimes.

I give him a 6/10; obviously I admire the depths they go to showcasing Doe’s wicked hypocrisy, and he pulls off one of the most infamous twist endings in all of cinema, but the stain of Spacey’s own crimes still permeates the film and the performance a bit. In the end, Doe does win after all, though I am at least thankful it isn’t as uncomfortable as The Usual Suspects, and ultimately Somerset does walk away from the bleak tragedy believing the world, while unbelievably crappy, is ultimately worth saving. And I think that is a good message to take away from the film, and from this character; there’s a lot of really awful stuff, but it’s still worth saving the good stuff.

#Psycho Analysis #John Doe #Se7en #Kevin Spacey

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zak-animation · 6 years ago

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Potential Films to Explore

In this post, I’m writing up my initial ideas for the Narrative Research project: exploring three potential films to look at and the subject material they offer before reaching a conclusion.

1. Megamind (2010)

My first candidate is Dreamworks’ Megamind, an American 3D computer-animated film following the story of a super-smart alien super villain, who actually beats the superhero! With complete control over Metro City, Megamind eventually finds out that he has no purpose without his much-loved enemy Metro Man. He constructs a new superhero to serve as an artificial nemesis, but when this plan horribly backfires and results in an all-powerful supervillain instead, Megamind attempts to set things straight and discovers his newfound role as a superhero.

This film gives me the chance to discuss a range of interesting narrative structures, including the Rebirth plot type by Christopher Booker. Whilst I could explore the film in relation to Booker’s plot type, and how the film subverts or follows his described structure - I’m more inspired by the idea of a villain’s journey. Taking an interesting spin on Campbell’s mono myth, Megamind presents a flat-out villain at the beginning of the film who, after learning a few valuable life lessons, becomes a hero. I feel like it would be interesting to analyse how the film’s narrative subverts ideas of the Hero’s Journey and effectively exaggerates and stretches each step: instead of beginning the narrative as an everyday person, they are a morally evil character. Hence, the protagonist needs to undergo more growth and development than your run-of-the-mill Hero’s Journey story.

This is also quite interesting in terms of social change; Megamind follows the life of a super villain - someone who isn’t morally good, noble or righteous. It’s an engaging spin from Dreamworks, and instantly subverts the cliches of regular superhero flicks. The film could also allow me to discuss the third question, looking at the film as an engine for social change and how it presents ambiguous morals. Towards the end of the film, Megamind realises his new-found role as a hero - commuinicating to the audience that they, too, can do the right thing (even if they weren’t that good in the first place).

As a whole, Megamind represents an interesting choice for this project. The brief asks us to analyse the narrative of our film, and I feel like the idea of a villain embarking on his own Hero’s Journey towards redemption is an engaging plot to analyse.

2. Anomalisa (2015)

A film that makes the audience forget they are even watching an animation, Anomalisa is a brilliant and emotional character drama written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. The film explores what it means to be human, in a way that truly understands the complexity of the human experience and personal connections between people and does so expertly through animated puppets. We follow a lonely business man who perceives everyone he meets as identical, and boring. This is, at least, until he meets a unique woman in a Cincinnati hotel.

This film allows me to discuss the fourth question, exploring how the medium of stop motion animation is a core and essential part of the film - and essentially defines the film’s narrative. It’s important that we discuss the film’s approach to animation as well as the plot, so this would be an interesting pick. Not only is this a film that I personally love, there is also plenty of room for meaninglful critical analysis: in comparison to Megamind, Anomalisa deals with much more complex and meaningful ideas and themes such as self-absorption, loneliness and anxiety. Kaufman is able to present an unnerving study of the human experience through stop motion puppets, in which a mental breakdown and flash of anxiety is portrayed by the puppet’s mouthpiece and voice malfunctioning. Anomalisa benefits from eerily creepy imagery that could only be achieved through a masterful and unsettlingly detailed use of stop motion animation. I could explore why this narrative needed to be told through a stop motion lense.

3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

My last film pick for this narrative research essay is the recent Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. A marvel of computer-generated animation, the film follows Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales, as he picks up the mantle of Spider-Man after being bitten by a similar radioactive arachnid that once bit Peter Parker. Soon, Miles realises that he’s not the only Spidey out there, and forms a team to battle the hulking Kingpin, an evil business-turned-mad-man who has the power to open portals to other dimensions in a tragic attempt to bring his loved ones back from the dead.

This, to me, is the most interesting choice. Whilst I’m engaged by the introspection of Anomalisa and the villain-turned-hero aspect of Megamind, it’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse that I keep coming back to. A dazzling, fluid animated feature film with a hand-drawn comic book touch, this pick gives me the opportunity to discuss all of the potential questions. It’s a film that’s able to encapsulate the essence of a comic book to the big screen in a way that no other live-action feature can, with a groundbreaking new visual style that manages to replicate the look and texture of a comic book panel. The animation is fluid, snappy and pops on screen: just as a film featuring Spider-Man should do.

For my response to this project, I plan to focus on a specific question outlined here but also discuss other aspects of the film as a way to construct a well-rounded, considered analysis of the film.

What I’m personally inspired by about Into the Spider-Verse is it’s complete understanding of Spider-Man’s character: the film effectively examines what it means to be hero, and so embodies the ideas of the Hero’s Journey very nicely. I could easily analyse the narrative with close reference to the Hero’s Journey, and even explore the idea of a story’s purpose too.

The film has made a huge cultural impact, and is praised by both critics and fans alike: it’s a successful movie with a powerful message that the film expertly uses to its advantages: ‘anyone can wear the mask’. It’s this new idea of a universality to the Spider-Man character that allows me to discuss the third question with some real weight: how Into the Spider-Verse has used its universe-bending narrative as a vehicle for social change, teaching its all-ages audience that anyone can be Spider-Man, not just Peter Parker. There’s definitely some good analysis material here, and I could easily tie it in with the film’s total understanding of everything the character of Spider-Man represents.

Aside from this, Into the Spider-Verse is praised for it’s groundbreaking new visual style, a love and appreciation for the comic style of old that’s hand-drawn into every frame. And it’s not just how every shot of the film looks and feels like a comic book through hand-rendered graphic pointillism to evoke the poppy art style of classic superhero fare, it’s the film’s snappy approach to computer generated animation that makes the movie shine. There’s nothing that really feels like Into the Spider-Verse, and that’s because the creatives behind the film took over two years to establish the look of the film. They wanted something fresh, new and exciting - and that’s what they got. With a slightly lower frame rate than most other films, Into the Spider-Verse feels like a set of continuous moving panels in a way that bursts with energy and plain…fun. Comic-book onomatopoeia springs up throughout the film, and Mile’s thoughts pop up through narration bubbles and boxes. It’s a film with spectacular visuals that pop off the screen, a mix of graphic tones, vivid colours and snappy animation that makes for a great essay subject choice.

Finally, this film represents the epitome of the super-hero movie in both storytelling, characters and visual style - and this is something that I’ve briefly mentioned already on this blog. I’ve discussed how superhero movies could be argued as the ‘new fairytales of cinema’, and this is a theory that I’m actually really interested by. Into the Spider-Verse not only represents a culturally-relevant candidate, but also an opportunity to explore the idea of a modern fairytale in depth too.

In this post, I’ve written up my initial thoughts on the project - exploring some potential candidates for the Narrative Research essay and settled on a conclusion on my film choice: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. This was something I realised fairly early on in the project, just because of my passion for the film and it’s brilliant approach to animation, but here I wanted to evidence a few ideas and alternative analytical directions before settling onto my chosen animated narrative.

Next week, I will begin collecting research sources for my essay exploring Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (through online videos, books and any other media of discussion) and decide on an essay question. I’ve got a basic idea of the themes and concepts I want to discuss with this essay, but I need to have more of a focus and central question to begin the research process.

#ba1b:narrativetheory

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what2watch2night · 4 years ago

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What To Watch In "2020"... A.k.a Best #100 Movies From"Last Year" & So Much Much More!

This is it Moviepeople, Filmfolks, Movielovers, and everyone else! Today we can FINALLY turn 2020 once and for all (at least “movie speaking”!) So this is your compulsory recap of all that happened at the movies - and mostly at home - since last year...GOOD STUFF ONLY THO ;)

First our little yearly “op-ed” type intro - it’s sort of compulsory, but feel free to disregards and scroll through the good stuff starting with THE “2020” TOP 100 FILMS. (Followed by all the necessary category or component necessary to make a great film and some fun stuff!)

If all goes well we should NOMADLAND rightfully crowned Best Picture Oscar at the 93rd Academy award! Well, we hope and the stars seem perfectly aligned, but again we wouldn’t be mad if MINARI gets it… However, if it’s CHICAGO 7 we might lose that little faith in humanity The Academy that was restored last year thanks to PARASITE!

Sure it is hard to follow last year's historic moment for Cinema and not easy to follow-up ThAt Best Picture winner - aka the best picture ever! It achieved so much and reached almost everyone in a special way while also reaching the status it needed to reach.

This “year”, or however many months moviepeople considered the 2020-to-early-2021 year due to the pandemic, we still had quite a lot of groundbreaking stuff, and one can safely it was a solid year with no major disappointments, so a stream of consistent good projects being rightfully acclaimed. Maybe or maybe not thanks to the pandemic indies were better appreciated or maybe due to the changes happening viewers were less enthused by the usual conventional Hollywood (white men) BS- hence some people arguing about "Oscar so woke and so Sundance", well no complaint here!

Although we won’t get into too much details about the film this “year” and we did not really see major common threads - maybe more clever, quirky, creative, or just different take on UFO and invasions movie by the weird and just creepy! Because we all know that since basically the last Oscars things got INSANE... But also dramatically sad for so many reasons… (and yet people feel *entitled* to live their lives like there is no tomorrow and endangering many in the process! We won’t go there today...cuz what’s the point if this pandemic told us anything is that in the end, people are...people sigh)

Nevertheless, if there was 1 good thing for everyone, particularly Cinephiles, coming from all the changes that COVID19 brough, is that apparently all the world but a tiny VOCAL minority think it is a good thing that people FINALLY didn’t need to go to the movie theater (and sorry movie theater...) or wait FOREVER AND EVER for being able to see almost any movies!

Well, this vocal minority of people are chiefly those with interest and people with no interest but who probably genuinely don’t care if most of us don’t get to see the latest limited release ever... There is also people like us who value the cinematic experience for SOME movie above all else BUT don't mind watching them at home! But it is not really viewers fault; as usual, the culprit is the distribution system - Like every year we have to rant about this one BUT, for a few months, things were AWESOME!!! It was the shiny bright light spots in the sea of dark worries... For a year more people than usual, all over the States (and the world to some degrees) had the same opportunity to watch new releases. All movie were accessible TO ALL at any point in time THAT MEANS EVEN STUFF PLAYING IN THE VERY FEW OPENED THEATERS! (where ideally at risk or unvaccinated folks should wear all the available PPE ever!)

AGAIN some movies MUST be seen in theaters (sure ideally they should all be seen in theater but...time and money and life gets in the way for the 99% of the non-blockbuster stuff!) But let's be real MOST films released in theater are as good at home if you have a decent size screen... Yet again, the joy of "now", which sadly might not last long, is that we did not have to wait forever AND EVER for movies to leave the theaters to enjoy them like everyone else without trying HARD to avoid any kind of spoilers online, in the bus, at work, while waiting in line! Hell in some cases we did not have to wait for “never” for the movie to reach the theater near us...or even better streaming services!

So basically all of our "top 100 of 2020 films " deserved to be seen in cinema, or live at festivals, or with a big crowd (maybe!), but seeing them alone at home did not affect their appreciation at all (In a honesty in a normal year we would still watch more than ⅓ of the best movie of the year at home; so the mode of screening is not factoring in any unbiased rating!) Hence this "brief" period was almost “democratic” even tho sadly, yes, it might mean things are going to be tougher for indies and… Huh... not everyone would want/can spend $30 on a movie all the time at home especially if IT IS A HOUSEHOLD OF 1 PERSON!(Lol lol lol Disney + how about a non-family price please) But to be “fair” any weekend outings at a theater would not be that far from that $ if one includes drink/transport/else! So win-win-win!

Moving on…

Because of this shift and the luxury of WFH or compulsory stay-at-home, meant not wasting precious time in transport or doing stupid s$it! Or simply finding spcap and comfort watching movies… we broke the record and watched around 700+films released in 2020 and a few released in 2021 for 2020. (Yep on top of work, eat, sleep, classes, volunteering, personal projects, reviews, blogs, “virtual social life”, and well life in general… Highly doubt this record will be shattered in a normal time… Unless we get a full-time job ONLY watching movies :) ) Additionally it is say to say roughly 90% of them were movies made pre-pandemic but it also did not and should not change how we view them, but strangely some of those flicks sort of foreshadowed things to come...Guess we are living in one of those “pandemic movies” hopeful it won’t evolve worse than it already did…

So without further ado, here are all the films that should’ve been nominated in various categories, and/or the top 100 of whatever the last year was. To make your life easier when you don’t want to watch the same old things, or you are looking for something recent you might not know about but you don’t wanna doomscroll Netflix?! Then consider the following list your ultimate guide for when you don’t know what to watch tonight, tomorrow, after tomorrow, or any night after that... You can pick anything from this list and you won’t be disappointed! (99% guaranteed ;) ),

BEST FILMS - 2020 TOP 100

*SMALL AXE which belongs to both Film & TV category - and Masterpiece of Humanity category! So guess it’s 105 films to be added to your list as the “miniseries” is made of 5 distinct features

** For the second half of the list, the rank - out of 100- may be, to SOME extent interchangeable - especially since many movies have the same mark out of 10. So if you’ve already watched everything above, pick whichever movie you haven’t from the rest of the list and it should still be a decent/good-to-great viewing :)

BEST ENSEMBLE

MINARI

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI

CUTIES

ANOTHER ROUND

SMALL AXE

JALLIKATTU

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

MOVING ON

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD

ADULT IN THE ROOM

BEST ACTRESSES

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

PIECE OF A WOMAN

SAINT MAUD

GAZA MON AMOUR

CUTIES

A SUN

NOMADLAND

LIFE AHEAD

BILLIE HOLIDAY VS THE UNITED STATES

BEST ACTORS

SMALL AXE

THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN

THE SOUND OF METAL /MOGUL MOWGLI

GAZA MON AMOUR

THE WHITE TIGER

THE FATHER

ANOTHER ROUND

ADU

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESSES

NEWS OF THE WORLD

MINARI

CUTIES

PIECE OF A WOMAN

SMALL AXE

THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG

HILLBILLY ELEGY

TRUE MOTHER

FAREWELL AMOR

BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTORS

MINARI

SOUND OF METAL

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI

ANOTHER ROUND

MOVING ON

MA RAINEY

FALLING

DA 5 BLOODS X2

THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG

BEST VISUAL EXPERIENCE (CINEMATOGRAPHY + VFX + PRODUCTION DESIGN + HMC COMBO)

TENET

JALLIKATTU

BLACK IS KING

EMA

NOMADLAND

UNDERGODS

PINOCCHIO

SMALL AXE

TRAGIC JUNGLE

SAINT MAUD

BEST AUDIO EXPERIENCE (SCORE + SOUND + OST COMBO)

youtube

EMA

youtube

TENET

youtube

JALLIKATTU

SMALL AXE

youtube

SAINT MAUD

youtube

THE DISCIPLE (The movie IS The music, so here's the trailer FYC)

youtube

UNDERGODS (*Trailer illustrates perfect use of score+sound FX!)

youtube

KAJJILLIONAIRE

youtube

GAZA MON AMOUR

youtube

ACUTE MISFORTUNE

Special mention:

BLACK IS KING (we technically head most of it the year before but hey this without the music and The Beyonce will not be what it is no matter how GORGEOUS it looks )

AMERICAN UTOPIA (kinda same reason as above!)

HAMILTON (kinda same reason as above!)

MOGUL MOWGLI / SOUND OF METAL (for obvious reason BUT also to show you how Riz is not just one of the greatest actor of his generation but an equally talented musical artist)

And last but not least

BEST IDEA/STORY (ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED SCRIPT+DIRECTION COMBO)

*Feels redundant or a repeat of the best of but these are the one you should really watch tonight if you don't know WHAT2WATCH2NIGHT and are looking for a story like no other...

TENET

SPECIAL ACTOR

NEW ORDER

WINDOW BOY WOULD ALSO LIKE TO HAVE A SUBMARINE

SMALL AXE

THE WHITE TIGER

JALLIKATTU

THE SOUND OF METAL

THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN

SAINT MAUD

....Just kidding, would be wrong NOT to mention the following or other true MUST-SEE cinematic stories of "2020"...Enjoy!

WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES

UNDERGODS

POISSON SEXE

NOMADLAND

NIGHT OF KINGS

THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE SEVEN SONGS

FIRST COW

MINARI

BAD HAIR

ANOTHER ROUND

ADULT IN THE ROOM

ABOUT ENDLESSNESS

A FEBRE

DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD

MOGUL MOWGLI

LA LLORONA

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

GAZA MON AMOUR

FIRST FAREWELL

0 notes

finewineb · 7 years ago

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THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT: a *super* unoriginal ‘best films of 2017′ list

In life, we’re constantly asked what we learnt from things. It’s one way of measuring a completely immeasurable experience. Most films are built on this- ’character arcs’- how do they change and grow? What do they learn? (That’s not a negative thing, just the mechanics of this stick out when it’s done badly). With that in mind, I asked myself, from everything I watched this year, what did I learn?

THE BEST 12 ‘FILMS’ of 2017:

The first thing I learnt- films and TV series have become indistinguishable. It didn’t happen solely this year, but 2017 is definitely the ‘flag in the road’ point. Films are increasingly designed so they can be watched on a small screen with headphones, and most TV should really be watched on a big screen with proper speakers. And TV is sort of the wrong word. Netflix isn’t TV. I don’t know what it is. Just Long Form Storytelling perhaps? It’s certainly becoming less and less episodic. More and more feel like 10 hour films split into 10 parts so you can digest it better. So, this list is really the best 12 *things* of 2017.

The second thing I learnt- how you watch something is almost as important as what you’re watching. What headspace you were in, what time of day it was, if the room was totally dark, if someone a few rows in front of you was talking through the movie, if you’d seen the previous instalments in the series, hell- even if you’d seen the trailer. It all adds to how you think about the film. So, on the list, I’ve included where I saw it.

12. THE DISASTER ARTIST (directed by James Franco)

True story about the making of Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, the best worst film ever made.

I cried like I haven’t cried in years watching this. I don’t know what it was. Just something about the last act hit me so hard I couldn’t contain myself. And when you’re trying to contain yourself BECAUSE THIS IS NOT A SAD FILM AND YOU SHOULD NOT BE CRYING EVERYONE ELSE AROUND YOU IS LAUGHING PLEASE STOP CRYING it’s really hard to stop. It’s a story of ambition, heart and following your dreams no matter what.

Green screen! Lovely green screeeeen! Purely on an aesthetic level, whenever they’re shooting against that unmistakable, vibrant colour I just loved it.

You know when films do that thing and show pictures of the real people the film’s about before the credits so you can go ‘wow this film’s so accurate and got that detail right’?? This does a version of that, and it’s the only one that’s ever mattered/will ever matter.

The real Tommy Wiseau also has my favourite film related tweet of 2017:

Seen at BFI Southbank.

11. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK SEASON 5 (created by Jenji Kohan)

The lives of the women at Litchfield Penitentiary, a minimum-security prison in upstate New York. (the annimalllsss the animalllls, TRAP TRAP TRAP till the cage is fulllll...)

This show is about everything the opening titles suggest- women, decisions and time. What’s striking about OITNB is the characters never serve the plot. Plot *is* character. It’s there to serve them. It gives us a framework to waste time with these characters, because ‘all they’ve got is time’.

Season 5 is brave in terms of content and form. There are thousands of people more qualified to speak about the content, so I’ll leave it to them. Form wise: Orange is the New Black is Netflix’s most watched show, and probably it’s major tentpole along with Stranger Things. It has a well-oiled structure. Each season takes place over a few weeks, each episode focusses us in on one character, complete with flashbacks that inform us how they ended up in prison. Season 5 tears that to shreds, setting it basically in real time over 3 days. When it works, it *really* works. There’s no looking away. You feel the grind of what they’re going through. It sometimes leaves them too much time to pad out and we get some boring side plots- but on ambition alone I loved it.

It’s the perfect continuation and accumulation of previous seasons in many ways. The characters you know and love are in extraordinary circumstances. It brings out sides to their personalities that you never knew were there, but fit perfectly. Where all the characters are situated within the prison after the inciting incident is the best use of character geography *as* character I’ve ever seen. Tonally the series has gradually been getting nastier and nastier for a while, but there’s a scene towards the end of this season which is so nasty and so long and REFUSES to cut away even though you desperately, desperately want them too. It’s raw. It hurts. It’s a scene the show has always been heading for tonally and building towards dramatically.

Season 5 slots in just under 4 for me in terms of ranking them all- but it’s still damn good. One things for certain, 5 changed everything for OITNB. The game is different.

Oh, and Nicky’s the MVP.

Netflix.

10. BAD GENIUS (directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya)

Thai Heist-Thriller. A genius high school student makes money after developing elaborate methods to help other students cheat.

WHAT A FUCKING RIDE!! The most fun I’ve had in a cinema all year. More stakes in this than most ‘end of the world’ superhero movies. Genuinely unpredictable.

The filmmaking is so good it makes you forget plausibility is sometimes being pushed. Amazing set-pieces. Expertly choreographed. Form and content perfectly married. This is the best way to tell this story, like a Michael Mann thriller, a Steven Soderbergh Oceans-style heist.

Every character is so rich and textured in their own way. So fully realised. You’ve met them all at some point in your life. It’s whimsical, but painful and genuinely emotional when it needs to be. Never pulls it’s punches.

2 years time, there will almost certainly be an American remake… and it’ll suck so hard. It’s rooted in Thailand, the socio-economic situation of people, the time zones, the pressure to succeed, and honestly- just hearing it in Thai.

SEE THIS FILM. SEE THIS FILM. SEE THIS FILM. SEE THIS FILM. If you take anything from reading any of this, SEE THIS FILM.

Seen at Vue Leicester Square.

9. NATHAN FOR YOU: FINDING FRANCES (directed by Nathan Fielder)

The feature-length finale of Nathan For You’s 4th season. It’s a show that’s difficult to describe without saying ‘trust me’.... but honestly, *trust me*. Nathan Fielder graduated from business school with ‘really good grades’. He offers outlandish solutions to solve problems for struggling small businesses. In Finding Frances, Fielder uses all the resources of his successful show to help an old Bill Gates impressionist track down his high school sweetheart. Trust me.

Nathan Fielder has accidentally and totally on purpose made one of the best documentaries of the last 10 years.

It’s funny how we remember things. Reality and fiction are blurred. Truth is irrelevant. What does real mean? Does it even matter if we remember it how we want to?

Laptop.

8. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (directed by Martin McDonagh)

A mother takes desperate steps to pressure local law enforcement to find her daughter’s killer.

Perfectly woven and layered characters. I fucking hate the phrase ‘the character arc’, but if I were teaching a class in it- I’d show this film.

A film about relationships, and every relationship between every character or creature or inanimate object is perfect.

McDonagh loves theatrical sensibilities. Nobody does grand, rich set-pieces quite like him… makes highly stylised situations feel real in the world he sets up.

I could have watched hours more of these characters interacting.

Seen at Embankment Garden Cinema.

7. BLADE RUNNER 2049 (directed by Denis Villeneuve)

Neo-noir, sci-fi sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1981 classic.

I’m not a fan of the original Blade Runner. I appreciate it! It’s beautiful! and groundbreaking! but I just find it so heartless and cold. I just can’t connect to it. The best sci-fis are amazing stories with really fun furniture (the gadgets, tech etc.) The original is too much furniture for me. In other words, I had no reason to like this one IP wise. 2049 takes everything that could have been interesting from the original and expands on that. The furniture is just that- furniture. An amazing setting that enriches and serves the story. Everything is there to tell the story. I left the cinema feeling I’d experienced something the way that everyone talks about experiencing the first one.

The most expensive art film ever made. I literally cannot believe this exists. I cannot believe they gave Villeneuve £185MILLION to make a 3-hour long, philosophical film that has no blockbuster tropes: no loveable rogue hero; no ‘off-beat’ quippy humour to keep you interested; no CGI extravaganza 3rd act; NO.FUCKING.SKYBEAM with floating garbage spinning around it that threatens to destroy the world and the heroes have to stop it before everyone in the world dies; no setting up 5 other already planned sequels in the franchise so nothing important happens in this one. It’s a rare type of blockbuster in 2017- one that trusts it’s audience is intelligent.

Denis Villeneuve really is the most exciting director working today. This is just further proof. Arrival (2016) still my favourite of his, but I’m almost more in awe of him for this. Taking such a well-loved franchise and doing something new with it in a way that still feels respectful of what’s come before. It’s his film.

The only use of Hollywood’s new trend of digitally recreating actors (ala Peter Cushing in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) that will ever matter. THIS is how you do it well.

Gender politics (we’re gunna’ go there, SPOILERS AHEAD and I know my opinion doesn’t really matter or count for anything on this just thought it’d be silly not to bring it up, feel free to disagree, v. interested to hear what everyone thinks about this!!) Lots has been written about the treatment of female characters in 2049. Most apt example I can think of to explain how I feel- Taxi Driver (1976), there’s a cafe scene in which the camera lingers on some black characters for uncomfortably long in a kind of parading manner, a ‘look at how terrible these guys are’ manner... it’s very understandable why one could interpret the film itself as racist. I’d argue the film is completely aware of what it’s doing- it’s putting us in Travis Bickle’s eyes, who is a racist character. I mean, we’re literally in his head the whole thing, hearing what he’s thinking and seeing what he’s seeing... I guess what I’m saying is- ‘it’s a decision.’ It’s not an offhand random shot where the filmmaker’s own gaze comes through, it’s a skilfully planned decision to make us question and think about something, in Taxi Driver’s case- what kind of man Bickle is. The treatment of women in 2049 *IS* a decision. It’s not Villeneuve lazily commodifying women, it’s him saying a world where women are only a commodity is a fucking bleak one. It’s a world where real women have been rendered obsolete because the height of success in our society (the CEO of a large corporation), an egoistical white guy with a god-complex manufactures life so women aren’t necessary for continuing the human race, and creates holographic partners for everyday men so they’re emotionally fulfilled without having to engage with actual women. And it’s so horrible. I mean, is anybody happy in this film? Is the picture of the future this film paints bright? It’s a film about how the arrogance of men will destroy everything. And on a base story level, it’s literally about guy who thinks everything is about him... but it turns out to be about a woman. Perhaps it’s lazy for the film to make the decision ‘it’s a patriarchal world so all the women are prostitutes and are treated badly so we’re just gunna’ do that’, but I dunno’... I think there’s more going on. I think Villeneuve is too good for that. I mean his last film was literally about a genius female linguist being the saviour of the world and how a mother’s love is the most precious thing. Would he really do such a U-turn and make a film where the female characters are just objects to be gazed at? I mean- maybe?? If any other aspect of the film felt like it was the studio meddling with Villenueve’s vision I’d buy that... but it’s just SO his film. And I think he’s clever enough to know who the primary audience of this film is- geeky 20 year-old guys. He draws them in with the surface (and all too familiar) images of the female characters, and then turns all of that on it’s head. Just my opinion. Obviously I can never be completely impartial- very happy to be converted the other way.

Seen at Picturehouse Central.

6. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (directed by Luca Guadagnino)

Somewhere in Northern Italy, Summer 1983, Elio’s life changes.

Sun-drenched Europe, the smell of warmth and twirling cigarette smoke, deep blue sky- pure, breakfast with a glass of apricot juice and an espresso, the sound of bike spokes spinning lazily.

I wish I could live with these people.

‘Later.’

The rawest and best final shot in the last 10 years.

Seen at Odeon Leicester Square.

5. THE BIG SICK (directed by Michael Showalter)

A Pakistani-born standup comedian/Uber driver and a grad student strike up an unlikely relationship.

MAGIC. The perfect retort to use when someone says ‘all rom-coms suck’. A genuine slab of gold that’s as funny as it is heartfelt. And it’s just SO the kind of thing I like.

I’m unbelievably bored of films and just art in general that’s terrified of being sincere in fear of being labelled sappy or over-sentimental. The Big Sick says ‘fuck you’ to that school of thought and goes for it.

Comedy, romance and drama are effortlessly blended- sometimes all in the same scene. And it never feels off-kilter, mainly due to the amazing performances. Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano, Holly Hunter and the rest of the cast always play the truth of the scene- not the humour, the romance or the drama, just the TRUTH of the moment.

The perfect antidote to the year 2017 in general.

Seen at Aldeburgh Cinema.

4. YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE (directed by Lynne Ramsay)

Gulf War veteran Joe rescues children from trafficking rings.

This is a horror. And more terrifying than any jump scare, this whole film is populated by ghosts.

Deeply troubled, deeply disturbed. Beautiful. Precise. Scatter-brained. Focused. A violin strung too tightly, then played by a madman. How can something so stripped down and raw feel so symphonic and wholesome?

There are things in this that will play on loop in my head for the rest of my life. Images and sounds so seared into my brain they find me at the strangest of moments in a day, and I’m always left thinking about them for the rest of that day. It’s clever like that. Joe can never escape what he’s seen.

Francis Ford Coppola famously told press at the 1979 Cannes premiere of Apocalypse Now - ‘My film is not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam.’

You Were Never Really Here is not about PTSD... it is PTSD.

Seen at Odeon Leicester Square.

3. LOGAN (directed by James Mangold)

Wolverine’s last outing.

I’m not a huge fan of superhero films. Most are fun. Most are also lazy. Few will survive the test of time. Those that will use all the tricks in their genre box and do something interesting with them, transcend- Rami’s Spiderman 2 (2004), Bird’s The Incredibles (2004), Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008)... and Mangold’s Logan.

So aged. So weary. Everyone is tired. Tired of running, tired of fighting, tired of living. Like three sharp metal claws jaggedly tearing through flesh, nothing is polished about this. Bloodshot eyes, skin like leather. He feels so much regret. Like most real heroes, he mourns those he couldn’t save rather than celebrates those he did. And it’s eaten him up inside for the hundreds of years he’s lived.

Here I go talking about furniture again... but every piece of furniture (superpowers etc.) is there to serve the story (and here the characters are story). Like so many blockbusters and superhero movies fail to do, this film is about something other than the furniture... e.g. how do you tell a story about dementia that gives someone who hasn’t experienced a family member suffering from it *that* feeling of sadness, loss, embarrassment, empathy and frustration? You give it to Charles Xavier (played by Patrick Stewart), a character you’re use to seeing as the leader, who always has a clever plan up his sleeve and has the ability to control other’s minds. You give it to him, and you force everyone watch the person they respected the most have to be lifted into bed while screaming about fast-food. It’s heartbreaking. Complex. It’s actually about something other than how in superhero world teamwork saves the day. Every ‘plot point’ and moment tells us something about these characters, even to a fault sometimes. SUBTLE: Logan pulling them jammed claws the way an old boy down the pub with arthritis feels his fingers. UNSUBTLE BUT STILL INTERESTING: making Logan fight the only thing he’s truly scared of- literally the version of himself that blindly obeys orders.

Everyone is SO fucking real. Just *watch* the way Daphne Keen eats that bowl of cereal.

Would highly recommend watching the ‘Noir’ Black & White version.

mild spoilers: It also features the best single edit of the year, from Laura stabbing the shit out of some dude to a flurry of scattered drum beats in the score... then that piercing animalistic roar rips through and all is silent... she spins.... from this:

CUT to this:

An empty forest, the roar echoes out... a low bass note tolls like a funeral. Something is coming. Help is on the way, but it’s an untamed, ruthless, violent help. He’s near...

No one single cut has ever given me chills like that before.

Seen at Odeon Leicester Square & Picturehouse Central (Noir version)

2. TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN (directed by David Lynch)

Agent Cooper’s odyssey back to the small town of Twin Peaks. The original series of Twin Peaks that aired in the early 90s is often cited as creating ‘prestige’ television as we know it today- your Game of Thrones’, HBO high-quality, Netflix and so on... 25 years later, David Lynch and Mark Frost have returned to kill it.

Earth-shattering. Groundbreaking. An 18-hour film (split into 16 parts) so layered, so complex i’m not even sure where to begin... and most of what I have to say has probably been written by someone else much more eloquently.

For the first 9 hours, I found The Return mostly frustrating. I love the original series so, so much (and the prequel film Fire Walk With Me is one of my favourite films of all time). When I hit hour 10, it was like all the clouds in my head suddenly cleared. I ‘got’ it. What I thought I wanted was all my favourite characters back again talking about cherry pie and coffee with that soft romantic filter. Lynch and Frost (the creators) knew I wanted that. They also knew I didn’t *really* want that... because, the original series will always exist. They knew nothing would disappoint more than a soft reboot. The Return is it’s own thing- within the universe of Twin Peaks, and... within the actual universe. Seriously, how can you categorise this? It jumps from screwball slapstick comedy to silent black and white existentialist horror to 10 minute live band performances... what is the point of even trying to categorise it?

On some of the individual parts: Part 3 is a low-fi, surrealist, near silent masterpiece. Part 8 is... ‘Pure Heroin Lynch’ and has already changed TV forever. Part 11 is the most satisfying instalment, fulfilling storylines from the original series in a measured and poignant way. Part 17 is the conclusion we wanted, sort of... Part 18 is the start of a new mystery, and one of the most haunting things I’ve ever seen.

Twin Peaks will change you life.

Seen on Laptop.

1. THE FLORIDA PROJECT (directed by Sean Baker)

In the shadow of Disney World, 6 year-old Moonee and her friends spend the summer playing around the Motels they live in, while her mother Halley struggles to find a new job.

Pastel bright colours. Every person has survived a storm. Explore the wasteland of failed corporate America. Become a child again. The endless spinning of helicopter blades, a constant reminder of what they can’t do- escape.

Doesn’t ask you to like the characters. Doesn’t need to. Moonee has seen too much. Halley’s anger at herself and her life bubbles underneath every word and action, but she just doesn’t know how to fix it.

It is *SO* achingly beautiful it hurts. I find it hard to even watch the trailer without crying.

For the problems that face Moonee, honorary queen of The Magic Castle Motel, and the impending darkness that’s sure to come, she has the most powerful gift of all- finding hope where there is none.

‘See, I took you on a safari.’

Seen at Odeon Leicester Square & ICA.

DISCLAIMER- things that are not out yet in the UK/I shamefully haven’t yet seen and would likely be on my list too: Lady Bird (further DISCLAIMER i would actually kill somebody to see this) A Ghost Story Raw Phantom Thread War for the Planet of The Apes Coco American Vandal Mindhunter

BEST SCENES:

The third thing I learnt this year- it’s impossible to talk about a specific scene in a film without spoiling it. So... SPOILERS.

The Stairway Fight - ATOMIC BLONDE (directed by David Leitch)

If someone could tell me what the fuck was going on in Atomic Blonde that’d be great but until then I’ll just marvel at how amazing the fight sequences are. Charlize Theron again puts herself at the centre of the progression of American action cinema following her iconic performance in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). From the first time we see her, lying in an expensive bath healing her wounds and soothing her bruises, we know at some point we’re going to see how she got them. CUE: The 15 minute stairway fight sequence, made to look like a single continuous shot. Leitch and Chad Stahelski (his frequent collaborator and director of the also brilliant John Wick: Chapter 2) are determined to show general audiences what good action scenes look like. This 15-min beauty harkens back to the almost dance like hospital shootout in Hard Boiled (1992), with the rawness and determination of a Children of Men (2006) tracking shot. Charlize Theron (as MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton) fights her way through swarms of henchmen over several floors of an abandoned block of flats, all the while trying to protect Eddie Marsan (who wouldn’t want to protect Eddie Marsan??) Every punch, kick and throw HURTS. By the end, she and the final henchman are so exhausted there’s a sense they might just call the whole thing off- but something pushes them on. Oh, and there’s a 5 minute car chase all part of the same shot to end. Also features the BEST LINE OF 2017. In retort to the final henchman strangling her desperately whispering ‘Take this, bitch!’, she turns the tables, stabs him up hard, then before delivering the final knockdown, pushes her nose to his and asks- ‘Am I your bitch now?’ She doesn’t wait for a reply.

The Eyeless Woman - TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN (directed by David Lynch)

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Lynch’s best nightmare.

Train Hysterics - LAST FLAG FLYING (directed by Richard Linklater)

2003. A Vietnam veteran recruits his two oldest buddies, who he served with, to accompany him on a journey no one should ever have to take.

I liked this movie a lot- just missed out on the top 12 list. The standout scene happens little over half way through, the characters sitting in a storage carriage of a train talking about losing their virginities. It’s the best ‘characters uncontrollably laughing’ scene since The Intouchables (2011).

The Snowball epilogue - STRANGER THINGS 2 (directed by The Duffer Brothers)

Stranger Things season 2 was super mixed for me. I enjoyed it a lot. Kind of.

The first series is a perfect little story, with a perfect beginning, middle and end. I god damn *love* it’s characters so, so much. The plot was simple remixed 80s nostalgia beats, but really just a vehicle for you to get to know Mike and Eleven and Nancy etc. Think about how much each and every scene was practically designed to reveal more about who they were. It was so beautiful. Season 2 however had wayyyyy too much plot which was obsessed with itself and how cool it was and as a result left characters with nothing to do. In other words, in Season 1 all the characters had something to do because the plot came from them, in season 2 characters were given plot roles... like, explain to me what Mike did all season before he saw Eleven again at the v end of episode 8?? What did Jonathan’s storyline tell us about him we didn’t already know? Sure, they don’t have to set up who they are all over again, but the best sequels never take for granted we love the characters- they give us new reasons to love them.

It’s clear to see whose storylines had natural progressions from season 1 and they knew where they were going, and those they had to think of something because Netflix desperately wanted another season quickly. The only original characters season 2 really worked for were Steve and Will. ‘Steve The Babysitter’ was the perfect progression for his character- him voluntarily discarding his Alpha-Jock status, seeing it was all bullshit, now his caring side comes out. Fuck, think how much you disliked Steve all of Season 1 compared to how much you love and deeply want him to be ok at the end of season 2. THAT’s good writing. His storyline was perfect for his character, it kept giving us new reasons to love him. And Will. Holy shit. His descent into Reagan-level possession was the most engaging part of season 2. Basically all of the story came from him. And Noah Schnapp is so damn good. I think simplicity is the key. His story was unpredictable till the last moments, when you realise it was inevitable. It has a clear premise, unlike most of season 2.

In the first, there were very clear overarching premises from the start- Will Byers is missing, Eleven has escaped from the Lab, the Demogorgon is on the loose. Simple premises that allow our characters to manoeuvre around... Season 2 doesn’t really have one other than Will is clearly still connected to the Upside Down... the Mind Flayer doesn’t really start as a concept till the penultimate episode... Hopper and Eleven living together maybbe?? but we’re not really given enough time with them. Everyone else is left with nothing to do, or something that doesn’t really serve their character... UNTIL THE LAST 15 MINUTES.

The Snowball epilogue was like coming to the surface after swimming laps underwater- I sort of enjoyed the laps but I’d rather just be able to breath. All the self-indulgent 80s nostalgia *plot* is done, and all the characters have interesting things to do!! Steve giving Dustin tips dropping him off, and then that longing look he gives towards the hall. Dustin realising ‘I don’t look like Steve Harrington’ after being rejected by every girl at the ball and dejectedly crying... and in comes Nancy to save the day!! Genuinely one of the most beautiful moments in anything all year (notice how we learn more about Nancy’s true nature in this one moment that anything else she really did all season??) Jonathan nearby keeping an eye on Will and being his helpful self taking the Ball pictures. Lucas ignoring what the rest of the group think about Max and asking her to dance. Will actually going to the ball, acting as normal as he can and dancing with someone!! Joyce and Hopper nervously wait outside and reminiscently share a smoke as they did in their highschool days- contemplating on how they probably won’t ever feel like they aren’t worried about their kids... and finally Mike and Eleven just having a bit of happiness for once- actually going to the Snowball together, a beautiful conclusion after speaking about it at the end of Season 1.

As each moment passed in this glorious sequence, I loved the characters more and more. They aren’t doing anything supernatural or life threatening, but the stakes feel SO much higher than they had all season. It’s real. They aren’t shackled with ‘advancing the plot’, they can just be themselves. And I loved it.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Time’s Arrow, Episode 11, BoJack Horseman Season 4 (created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg)

BoJack Horseman has been the most visually beautiful cartoon for a while now, it’s breathtaking season 3 silent underwater adventure Fish out of Water helped to gain it much appreciated wide applause. Time’s Arrow is a different beast. Genuinely horrifying. A mind cracked into a thousand pieces and glued back together into something resembling crazy paving. The animation is disturbing. Really disturbing. The nightmarish images running through the failing mind of an old woman with dementia. Images of her regrets, the neglect and abuse at the hands of her parents. Memories burn and melt away like plastic in a fire. The faceless humans and constant scribble over Henrietta’s face haunts me. Beyond the obvious sinister imagery, it means something. A puzzle with too many missing pieces to really make out what the picture actually is. And we’ll never really know.

It’s not the first thing that pops into mind when you think of ‘cinematography’, but Time’s Arrow is the best visual storytelling since... the previous season of BoJack Horseman.

BEST PERFORMANCES:

Cate Blanchett as various in MANIFESTO (directed by Julian Rosefeldt)

Originally a critically acclaimed multi-screen video installation in which Cate Blanchett plays 13 different characters, ranging from a school teacher to a homeless man, performing artist’s manifestos in 13 different scenarios. Part of the financing deal was Rosefeldt had to cut a 90 minute, linear version of the piece for a cinematic setting.

NO one could have pulled this off like she did. She’s running on adrenaline and pure bravery. She makes interesting choices at every twist and turn. How does looking at her never get tiresome? Every jump from character to character feels genuine. She blew my mind- I knew I was looking at the same person over and over again, but I also *knew* I was looking at 13 different people.

A masterclass.

Kyle MacLachlan as various in TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN (directed by David Lynch)

2017 is the year of staggering ‘multi-character’ performances. Kyle MacLachlan’s involvement in the new season of Twin Peaks was basically the only thing anyone knew about it going in. And he is the heart of this season in so many ways. Returning to a character 25 years later must be a daunting prospect, but MacLachlan shows no fear. Not only does he play the pragmatic, joyful Agent Cooper we all know and love, he plays his steely, pure evil doppelganger Mr C, child-like amnesiac Dougie Jones and in the final episode... someone quite special. And he makes it look so damn easy. He is the fabric that holds together The Return.

THE ‘KIDS’ in EVERYTHING

2017 has been a bad year for Hollywood. Ultimately though, it will be looked back on as the turning point. THINGS CHANGE NOW. The old guard is running from their past scared. And they should be scared. Uma Thurman is coming to murder them all. There is no room left for the Harvey Weinstein’s, the rotting core of top-down abuse has been exposed. Brett Ratner can fuck off with his swaggering playboy image and terrible movies.

What is truly uplifting is who is going to replace them. A new generation of pure, true artists that this year has shone a spotlight on.

The future is Brooklynn Prince and Bria Vinaite, stars of The Florida Project. The future is Timothée Chalamet, whose central performance in Call Me By Your Name is the realist, rawest thing ever. The future is Saoirse Ronan, the next Meryl Streep. The future is Daniel Kaluuya, who has finally gained world-wide recognition for his stunning leading performance in Get Out. The future is Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown and all of the kids from Stranger Things, who masterfully manage the horrific pressures of being thrust into the tabloid spotlight at the same age most of us just want to cry in our rooms. The future is Sophia Lillis and the rest of the Loser’s Club from IT (a film with the most oppressively terrible sound design ever yet they still manage to make it fun and watchable.) The future is Daphne Keen, the best on-screen cereal-eater who almost steals the film from Hugh Jackman in Logan. The future is Lucas Hedges, someone with rare human fingerprint over every word he speaks in Three Billboards and last year in Manchester By The Sea. The future is Donald Glover, the most creative, multi-talented young artist alive. The future is Caleb Landry Jones, who’s had maybe the most impressive year, with standout supporting roles in The Florida Project, Twin Peaks: The Return, Get Out and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The future is Tessa Thompson, the best thing about Thor: Ragnarok. The future is Michael B. Jordan, Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, all the team behind the upcoming Black Panther film, helmed by Ryan Coogler. The future is Barry Jenkins, director of best picture winner Moonlight. The future is Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver and Kelly Marie Tran, the new faces of the most popular franchise ever. The future is Alice Lowe, a force to be reckoned with. Writing, directing and starring in a feature film is difficult enough. She did all of that while heavily pregnant. Oh, and it was her debut feature. It’s called Prevenge and it rocks. The future is Ava Duvernay, a beacon of hope- cannot wait for A Wrinkle in Time, which drops early next year. The future is Sean Baker, the most empathetic filmmaker working today. The future is Patty Jenkins and Gal Godot who have revolutionised the superhero film and inspired a generation of little girls with Wonder Woman. The future is Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan, who I’ll follow in whatever they do after The Big Sick. The Future is Jordan Peele, the most exciting new director. The future is GRETA GERWIG, mumblecore queen turned saviour of cinema.

So, what did I learn this year? Well, Agent Dale Cooper is certainly one of the best characters of all time. But most of all: amongst the darkness of everything that’s happened within the film industry in 2017... there’s hope.

The future is bright.

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