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999-roses · 2 years ago

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here's a... ship? trope? Thing. that I don't 100% get but find fascinating. full respect for folks out ther making art and content, and generally engaging in this... genre. trope.

【和尚的爱情】 [The Romantic Love of Monks]

Monks. The Chinese Buddhism flavor of monks, where they shave off all hair, denounce worldly possessions and family ties, and join a monastery. Specifically, these guys are committed to celibacy. Yeah on a logical level I'm like yeah, ok, this is a particular flavor of star-crossed lovers trope. But, I still, I.. it's too wacky funny to me. I.. I can't with the shiny cue-ball heads, PLEASE.

and there's. so much gorgeous art created. for this. uh genre? (Unfortunately it's typically m monk x f lead, and my limited exposure has yet to bring monk-flavored BL to my attention. I'm 100% certain it exists out there though.)

Anyway here's some popular media renditions of this, er, genre-trope. Please pray for my soul as I descend:

From Journey to the West, Tang Monk/Queen of the Kingdom of Women (西游记 - 唐僧/女儿国国王) (my rating: famous and classic, but there's something off about every rendition I've seen)

the 3rd installment of the HK Monkey King film series basically circles around shipping 唐三藏 with 女儿国国王. The Chinese movie title is 西游记：女儿国. There's some re-imagining/writing revisions from the source material, Journey to the West. The AMVs are spicy and the music is fire, and holy heck does the script/director want them to get together. The movie is corny, 孙悟空 is downright unhinged, the cg parts are too much, the pacing/tone is all over the place... a lot of this movie is weird. It's got mixed reviews but all the youtube comments love it idk.

ok but also... that second poster/playbill 💀🤣 (the text at the top is a pun on 好运来 -> 好孕来) (to explain: the mpreg is canon in the og jttw, if you drink the waters from 母亲河 you get pregnant. That concept gave me nightmares as a child.)

and here's a wonderful cover/mix by JJ Lin. The original song 女儿情 appears in 1986 Journey to the West :

youtube

the song is POV the Queen of the Kingdom of Women in full pining mode for Tang monk. And the mix-insert of 菊花台? Seamless lyric inclusion. chef's kiss. I think someone else singing an arrangement based off of JJ's made it into the 女儿国 movie mentioned earlier.

2. Green Snake/Fahai (青蛇/法海) (my rating: based)

There's the recurring retelling insisting on pairing Green Snake with the Fahai, the Buddhist monk that traps her sister White Snake in the pagoda in the traditional telling of 白蛇传. Here's a fan AMV on youtube & a fan AMV on bilibili. Both take clips are from the 1993 HK movie 青蛇. Honestly? This is the ship I endorse the most and have the least issues with (love 妖x人/妖x仙 dynamics but also in some retellings 法海 is also 妖). Regardless, the 1993 film is a masterpiece, I wholeheartedly recommend a watch (and in Canto if you can find the original audio. I don't like the mandarin dub's audio mixing).

3. Faithful to Buddha, Faithful to You (不负如来不负卿). (my rating: cursed) UMMM this one is wonky with age and time travel making it questionably problematic so uh, you're warned.

This story started off as a webnovel and later got a live action series (afaik live action isn't finished?). For some unknown reason I watched it when the first season was airing... and... Forget that whole "getting together with a sworn-to-celibacy monk" thing being taboo, now we're time traveling and meeting said monk when he's 13 to become his tutor, and a few months later in your time, you time travel again to when he's 26. (FMC doesn't have feelings for him until she meets him when he's an adult but. Girl. This is still too weird okay?)

4. 少林降魔 Vanquishing the Demon (2020) (my rating: spicy [purely based on seeing an AMV])

this movie is solidly xianxia, and it looks pretty enough I'll watch it eventually. But, waow, this AMV clip. I think it made me understand how this genre!trope fits solidly into hopeless romantic/star-crossed lovers territory.

I'm probably missing a bunch of other pieces of media there's a looot of AMVs with clips from either CG donghua or video game cinematics but UM yeah hello. I didn't know this was such a thing. I'm not explicitly out there searching for BL monks okay *old man hacking cough* but I hadn't really found any... yet. The end result of my dive is... I guess I now find monks just a little sexier now, FML

#和尚的爱情 #cmedia #chinese media #this is a no-kinkshaming no-shipshaming no-antis zone thank you #jttw #white snake #monks #cw mpreg #my journey into forbidden monk love hell #im so so sorry. about the monks but also about exposing anyone to mpreg 💀#okay yeah it's insanely star-crossed lovers type tragic 如果来生 like no 唐僧。你成佛，没得来生，你的爱情得全给苍生。你们俩永远不会在一起 #i legit forgot about the mpreg in the 女儿国 chapter of 西游记 💀💀💀#insert jokes about 吃唐僧肉 #re:MK3 ok i would die for morphling-fish gf #青蛇1993 is so pretty tho UGH #also. the next installment of HK 西游记/monkey king movie series is 火焰山 so that's exciting if the-#-writers/directors who are sooo ready to ship jttw characters do the swk-nmw-tsgz polycule 👀 tho im p sure they'd just do love triangle smh #+ my poasts #🇨🇳

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bionicdragonguardian1 · 5 years ago

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Ranma 2/4

Yup... I’m doing it... yes this how I plan, shut up

Part One: Chapters 1-12

Genderfluid Ranma Saotome

Bisexual Akane Tendo

BAMF!Akane if it kills me

More modern America take on LGBTQIA+ themes

Bisexual Ryoga Hibiki

Fuck the Kunos

Full Series AU because I am a fool who doesn’t know restraint

Magic Rules are a thing

I am actually going to keep a consistent timeline if it kills me

I have a PLAN

Very Minor changes to the actual plot cuz economics

Bad Parenting is addressed

Harassment is Addressed

I will make them acknowledge Physics/Medical because I’m an asshole

Pulling from both the Anime and the Manga

Still working through the Manga as I plot

Friendly reminder that Genma is crap

Friendly reminder that Nodoka is crazy

Poor Mousse

Soun Tendo TRIES really hard but grief fucking sucks

Nabiki is morally grey

Toxic Shampoo

Kasumi gets Character Development or so help me

polyship cuz surprises

I promise I do love this anime

I’m just stunned that so many people didn’t get a lot of character development

Actual fucking ENDING

I do actually hate Shampoo tho

I watch dubs

Ranma slowly starts using they/them pronouns vs switching

Ranma wears a bra, fuck you

Yes I’m using 2020 LGBT stuff BUT I will keep the tech as close to the 90s as I can (tho fair warning I was BORN in the 90s)

Toxic Masculinity addressed (yes I mean Ranma’s)

Ranma is awkward as hell

bc that’s what happens when you isolate a child, Genma!

Also, they spent closer to 1-2 months in China bc of how many things happen while they’re there

Homophobic/Transphobic Language

Ranma uses Ranko WAY more often cuz it makes sense

Tatewaki is actually not as stupid as he is in canon, but he’s worse

Kodachi… on the other hand... IS stupid

Canon Heights are used (hence the “actual magic” tag, it’s how Kuno explains it and is still wrong)

Ranma is a shitty liar, and trusts his friends (kinda)

I’ve never like Shampoo, I don't hide that

While reading the manga I’ve realized how often Ranma wears a hat in the early chapters

I love it

Laws Exist

Rule Enforcement

Adults aren’t useless

Demiromantic Ranma

Ace/Demisexual Ranma (I haven’t decided yet)

Demiromantic Akane

Pansexual Ryoga

YES Akane is Bisexual AND Demiromantic. It’s a thing!

Genma is a sonnova bitch and piece o shit

Diasuke x Hiroshi

Sayuri x Yuka

Polyamory discussions

Hiroshi x Yuka

Protective Ranma

Protective Akane

Protective Ryoga

Tendos adopt Ryoga bc they care

Cologne sucks, I didn’t realize that was justified until now

Minor Anime over Manga Arc Choices

People aren’t oblivious those around Ranma a lot pick up on the transformation thing (eventually)

Ryoga’s crush on Akane turns into something normal, I may be ~Aro but even I know that’s bad

The “Akane Can’t Cook” Joke was funny once or twice; NOT the whole series Akane learns to cook

WAY fucking sooner than she did in the Anime

Look, I get the stereotype but it’s NOT funny!

Manga Chapt6Pt3 cover gave me too many ideas for what I want to do to Ryoga & IDK how I feel (Tiny pigtailed girl Ryoga is just too cute that I want to drop him the niángnìquán)

I will use Wiki-Mandarin-Spellings for Jusenkyo Springs cuz I don’t understand a lick of Chinese

Certain Arcs will be skipped entirely because I HATED THEM (any time they showed up)!

YEET Tea Ceremony Arc(s), mainly cuz an outsider I didn’t get it like I’m sure I was supposed to

If I could just kill Happosai I would, but I can’t

Expect him to be VERY dead/gone post-Canon

Fair warning tho cuz I hate him more than I hate Shampoo or Cologne

Shampoo still sucks

I wish the scene w Hiro/Dai was in the Anime cuz it’s hilarious

Ranma’s hat is back! I love it!

Is… is Ranma ADHD or is that me projecting again?

God, these two are hopeless dorks

Was someone going to TELL me that Ranma’s classmates figured out the transformation BEFORE the Romeo thing or was I just supposed to sit there stunned when it happened?!?

Goddammit, I hate Romeo and Julliet

I don’t mean the ep, I mean the play/movie/etc cuz my school years have done it 1.6 million times that I just can’t stand it anymore

Gosunkugi… wtf is wrong with you?

STILL hate this play

I’m American, ok

this has been shoved down my throat since I was 8 so It never occured to me that Ranma not knowing Romeo & Julliet at all wouldn’t be weird

Ranma learns his lines (kinda)

Kuno is 600% the reason they go off script

...And Gosunkugi being creepy af

TBH where they go off script (like Akane’s sleep scene) I’ll probs redo purely cuz I know this play

Still hate this play

Lol, tape ain’t a thing, that’s hilarious

Ranma kissing Kuno, yes

Akane kissing Ranma, NO

It’s called FAKING it

You either get over it or learn to fake it

Is it wrong that it’s tempting to get rid of P-chan in chapt8?

Don’t answer that… I know it is

Akane you need to learn to trust Ranma

Like seriously… that’s the 1 thing that drove me batty

100% going for the Anime version of the Japanese Speong of Drowned Man cuz it’s funnier

(I’m still tempted to change Ryoga)

Since the Cookie thing came before any comment about Akane’s cooking (Anime) I just figured Ranma was like me and can’t eat a ton of processed sugar (yes, make you that sick) so... HEADCANON!!

But Ranma’s still awkward af talking about it

Yup, subbing out Sasuke for Gosunkugi

Ranma not realizing his dad was committing crimes NEEDS to be handled better

I see angst potential

Ukyo is def still cis-fem, that point at least works

Ukyo’s dad is NOT in the clear here

Friendly reminder that Genma TOLD Mr. Kuonji that Ranma had a fiancée

Jealous Ranma’s fun

Ranma… just cuz you’ve 6.5k fiancé doesn’t mean everyone does

I’m just saying, Ryoga only falls for Ranma

Is Ranma wearing a binder while cursed bad? I honestly don’t know…

Poor Ranma, I’d DIE!

Obvs changing the rules of the pill from “first person of the opp sex”

I’m thinking “first person you’d be attracted to” cuz it’s nice and inclusive and won’t make someone fall for someone they wouldn’t normally

I’m just tryin’ to avoid some gayboy from fallin’ for a girl or some straight girl fallin’ for a girl

I mean Ranma’s still gonna Insta Cologne

Rule gets stricter the longer the pill lasts

also incest needs to be excluded

Look, I am NOT condoning Mousse’s obsession

but Shampoo still sucks

Is me making Tsubasa mtf bad?

Someone tell me cuz I’m not sure

I think I accidentally made Ukyo transphobic… oops

Redemption? Hopefully, idk yet

Do you realize how much anti LGBT shit I have to work through?!?

Tsubasa’s issue is 600% that she’s a lesbian so Ranma being a guy (even sometimes) weirds her out which for the record is FINE since they haven’t been dating at all & Ranma didn’t tell her!

The ½ white ½ brown dog IS actually Ryoga’s?!?

I didn’t know I needed this!

Also she’s staying!

Is Sasuke an Anime character?!?! Idk how I feel about this…

Ranma is a little shit & I love it

My idea may’ve been wrong (and Ranma!) but I love the idea had that I’m tempted do it anyway

Alright, Ranma is def going too far… even I can admit that

I’m quite sad this arc wasn’t animated

I don’t know which one I want! Kuno sick vs sneezing cat?

I can’t pick!

They’re both perfect!

Yup, Shampoo is evil

Akane… tone down the weapons kay?

#ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #ranma #ranma ½ #akane tendo #ryoga hibiki #fanfiction writing #fic plots #shampoo #mousse #cologne #can i kill Happosai?!?#PLEASE #kasumi tendo #nabiki tendo #soun tendo #genma saotome #nodoka saotome

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phanique · 4 years ago

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‘Review’ of My Roommate is a Detective 民国奇探

Firstly, not a professional reviewer or even a good critic of anything, this is just more of my thoughts and stuff so yeah.

Do note that I watch the drama with Chinese subtitles, I know iQiyi has 4 episodes on YouTube with English subtitles and 18 with premium subscription but not too sure where you can watch all the episodes with English subtitles.

Next, I did not have much idea of what the drama would be like as I discovered when I was looking for some dramas that Hu Yi Tian had acted in and this was one of the few that I could find. I did see some pages that said that it was based on a BL novel but not much else.

Also, after watching the drama, I did try to find the novel and did read one that seems like the original but I really cannot confirm since it was not BL as I thought it was based on what other pages have said. The novel I read is also in Chinese and I doubt there are translations of it in English as of now.

***After some googling, apparently it’s just bromance so the novel I read should be the original.***

It’s set in the mid 1920s from what I read off from other pages. I myself am not too sure as I’m not familiar with Chinese history at all. From the drama, there are British and opium which I felt would be more of the early 1900s but that is just based on my vague understanding of the opium wars. There is definitely a contrast I would say as there are building that are really old, regular folks who dress ‘traditionally’ like woman in 旗袍 (qipao or cheungsam or long dress) while there are also more modern Western looking architecture with the main characters in suits.

Next, we have the three main people.

Lu Yao or San Tu (portrayed by Hu Yi Tian)

Qiao Chu Sheng or Qiao Si (portrayed by Leon Zhang Yun Long)

Bai You Ning (portrayed by Xiao Yan)

By the way, why Lu Yao is called San Tu is due to the Chinese character 垚 (Yao) is written with three (三 san) mud (土 tu), this is the same with this sister who is 路淼 (Lu Miao) that is three water (水 shui).

Anyway, the drama itself is pretty interesting with how they solve mysteries. I do think it’s logical but there are still certain things that I do not really understand.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FROM HERE

First of all, Lu Yao or Henry which is his Chinese name that I found out after like 20 episodes, speaks perfect English since he studied in Cambridge, and most of the non-Chinese characters speak Chinese too like Salimo and Norman but why the heck does Lu Yao speak in English and Norman speak in Chinese for the same conversation?? Like I really hope that they stick with one for one conversation since this is unusual for a professional situation.

By the way, Hu Yi Tian is definitely dubbed over, but one thing I noticed is that he is not mouthing the English words at all, like the script just decided to let him talk for this duration and they dubbed it over. Hopefully other dramas can take note? At the very least let them mouth the words.

On the other hand, the non-Chinese characters when speaking in English, I would say they actually are speaking in English.

***After some googling since I was interested to know if the non-Chinese actors could actually speak Chinese, and yes, they can. Most of them seem to have established their acting careers in China so I assume they would be able to speak in Chinese to a certain extent.*** Source

Next, I really like the chemistry between the three of them. You really can tell that they are brothers/sisters. HOWEVER, I do not really see myself pairing Lu Yao and You Ning together, like I would really see them more as close friends (not really brother/sister like You Ning and Chu Sheng) so when they kissed in episode 30, I was really really surprised since I did not expect any romance to really come through this drama but since it did, it’s kind of done.

A lot of pages mentioned disliking You Ning and I actually agreed initially but as the drama goes on, I think she toned down much more and definitely became more likeable. Roughly from the time that her teacher in Xin Yue Daily Paper was murdered. I could also understand why she disliked her father so much which is largely due to her mother who, roughly from the drama, was caged up by his father and smoked opium, causing her death. I do think that she did treat her father better as things progressed from episode 30 where the Bai Leader discovered Zhou Ying(?) was caught producing heroine and he really did his best to protect Lu Yao and her.

The ending was a little ambiguous for me and I really thought Lu Yao went back to Shanghai but based on the novel, Lu Yao didn’t and likely decided to really let Chu Sheng do the crime solving for the case. I might interpret it wrongly but that was how I was it.

The part where Lu Yao’s father insisting that he leave Shanghai and then finally decided to let him do what he wanted was also blurry for me. I just took it as Lu Miao was happy enough with what she saw with Lu Yao and persuaded their father to let him go.

There is one thing that became more and more obvious to me as the drama went. That is who the murderer was. It always seemed to be the first person they would interview/see in a sense so as the drama went on, I could predict who the killer was.

There isn’t really much difference between the drama and novel for the cases and such, though the one with the lady killed in the bathtub full of roses is not in the novel if I remember correctly, along with the male teacher shot dead at the piano (it was mentioned that there was a case but it was just handled by the station separately I think).

The translation of the title is a bad one by the way. 民国奇探 is more of Detective of Mysterious Cases in Shanghai kind of title than My Roommate is a Detective which really does not represent this drama well, like yeah You Ning and Lu Yao are roommates and he is a detective but that title makes it hint more of how your roommate behaves given that he work as a detective than you guys solving the crimes ‘together’.

So, would I rec this? Yes, the plot and acting was good for me. Opening song is one that I really like and have been listening on repeat. Should you read the novel after the drama? I would say yeah if you have time, you would notice that some of the lines for the characters have been switched, some cases are not there, and that the drama does stick with the novel consistently which is good.

#my roommate is a detective #hu yitian #leon zhang #zhang yunlong #xiao yan #民国奇探

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ctl-yuejie · 5 years ago

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Short reviews no one asked for 13/? 陈情令 The Untamed

China Tencent 2019

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After a period of violent fights between cultivation sects the world finally finds peace with the death of the feared Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian (Xiao Zhan). 16 years later rumours of his return unsettle the fragile balance once again as mysterious occurrences start to increase. Lan Wangji (Wang Yibo), once a close friend to Wei Wuxian and second young master to a prominent cultivation sect, and the suddenly oddly behaving son of the Mo family, Mo Xuanyu, team up to uncover the truth of past incidents. Based on 魔道祖师 (The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation).

ah...this one turned out to be not so short after all. please excuse the length I had 50 episodes to consider while still feeling emotional about the series

things i wish had been better: while hitting most of my favourite tropes this show sadly also abounds with my pet peeves. the cgi is overall what i expect from the average chinese tv series but they definitely could’ve done better. some of it might have looked better without the bright lightening and glossy filter over the whole series to make it look more gritty and to cover up any shortcomings. some effects were very beautiful but they failed with the most important ones: the dancing goddess, the Xuanwu of Slaughter and the Nightless City. these scenes have to be on point in order not to throw the viewers and keep them emotionally immersed. especially Nightless City was a combination of badly shot fight scenes, cgi and music that didn’t do the scenes importance justice. the wigs are a standard complaint for me in chinese perdiod/wuxia/xianxia drama, especially the side-burns never look right and it bothered me because the overall costumes were great. for a show in which music is so important and instruments can be used as a weapon i was disappointed, but not surprised, by the lack of sync between acted out instrument playing and the music (just get doubles, please!). i also had issues with the sound mixing of the dub and while the overall music was great the orchestral piece for Nightless City didn’t do it for me. this might be caused by my western analysis of music, but it sounded like something akin to russian expressionism and socialist realism (which is so weird I might have to do a proper analysis) which didn’t fit the scene in my opinion. some of the editing and camera choices were questionable, with some shots evoking thoughts of a sit-com while what well choreographed fights there were, suffered from not getting shot properly with no help of the cgi.

things i absolutely adored: everything else!!! I was so afraid of the life action because I adored the novel and not only was I pleasantly surprised, it exceeded my expectations. the casting choices were overall perfect, especially the two main leads are marvelous. the show isn’t an exact adaptation of the novel but all the changes were well thought-out and they managed to keep the original feeling of the novel. they made intelligent cgi choices at times, eg. not showing the paper puppet technique during the yi city arc and instead using cgi that looked both badass and convincing. despite maybe some confusion at the beginning (which is standard for chinese tv series i’ve found) the world-building was great, the landscape shots and some other shots have beautiful cinematography and the pacing was overall really well done. i have to commend the script writing of the show which allows the story to shine to its full potential and had very well written dialogue. each characterization was beautiful and you could feel the amount of work and love that went into it. the voice actors did very well, i fully forgot that it wasn't the actors speaking because they matched so well. the costumes were also a highlight. despite my aforementioned issues, the soundtrack and instrumental bgm is really good with both traditional instruments as well as renditions of themes with classical instruments (some great usage of oboe, cello and bassoon). most importantly: the relationship between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji was so beautiful it hurt and they really toed the line of getting taken down by censorship and staying truthful to the gay romance. i cannot commend the production team enough for this.

Rating: 8.5/10

Recommendation: Watch it! This series finds itself at the perfect cross section of adventure, mystery, comedy, xianxia and romance & the gay love is palpable

find the series with english subtitles on wetv, youtube and viki

i am super tempted to do a review for each episode because i have so many thoughts on this show but that might become annoying word vomit so for now i leave it at this

#ctlyuejie writes #short reviews no one asked for #reviving this tag :"D #the untamed #cql #long post #not so short after all sorry #it is super hard to write a good synopsis for this series....the ones i found online are either spoilery or missing the mark imo

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hello-there · 6 days ago

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Communities are a new way to connect with the people on Tumblr who care about the things you care about! Browse Communities to find the perfect one for your interests or create a new one and invite your friends and mutuals!

#tumblr communities #communities

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peterstanslizzie · 5 years ago

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Re-watching Lizzie Mcguire: Episode 1.12 (Between a Rock and a Bra Place)

The Fan Favorite Episode

- Lizzie and Miranda are lamenting about having to play dodgeball in PE class. They also express their concern about falling behind some of the other girls in their grade because they are now wearing bras unlike them.

- Because of girls like Kate Sanders, they think that wearing a bra will automatically make one popular and empowered in a way. So, they feel like it’s high time they should start shopping for bras.

- Miranda asks Lizzie if her mom, Jo could drive them and drop them off at the mall after school. However, Lizzie thinks that she will want to come along with them. Miranda suggests they should lie to her and tell her they want to shop for school supplies, which should be able to signal to Lizzie’s mom that they are going on a safe and innocent shopping excursion.

“I want a bra!”

They sure do look like they are up to something huh?

- Lizzie and Miranda arrive at Lizzie’s house after school and they prepare themselves to let Jo know that they want a ride to the mall to shop for school supplies. However, there are a couple of cracks in this seemingly full-proof plan; They are not specific enough in mentioning the type of school supplies they want and Jo even called Gordo to come over and join the girls.

- Obviously, Lizzie and Miranda are not keen for Gordo to come along because they are shopping for bras. They then express how Gordo doesn’t need to come along because he’s not in their class where they need those school supplies. But Gordo is in all their classes (except gym); So he doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Looks like they are dropping the ball on this one.

- Jo becomes highly suspicious towards all of this and she questions only Lizzie specifically on what she needs to buy at the mall and Lizzie starts to break down and well, we then get this iconic moment:

Lizzie really wants a bra y’all

- Jo is feeling extremely elated about this revelation from Lizzie and she is delighted to take both Lizzie and Miranda bra shopping. On the other hand, Gordo just feels weird about what just happened and he decided to dis-invite himself from this shopping trip.

Matt: The Martial Artist

My favorite episode of Matt to date

- Matt shows his dad, Sam a page of a magazine showing an advertisement for a ‘Jet Li Sweepstakes’ contest where one lucky person will get the opportunity to appear alongside the Chinese actor and martial artist in his new untitled movie as his new sidekick.

- Sam asks for his wife’s opinion about Matt applying for this contest and she isn’t down for it at first but after Sam tells her that Matt probably isn’t going to win and they will be seen as ‘cool parents’ after this, she then agrees to it.

- Sam wants Matt to go for the conservative essay writing option as their contest submission and as predicted, Matt isn’t too fond of writing one. But because Gordo has decided to stay back to help Matt and Sam with the contest by using his camera to film a short video submission for Matt, Sam has no other choice but to now go for the option of filming and submitting a video.

Lizzie and Miranda Are Grown Young Adults

Miranda is thinking to herself, “How did I get myself into this mess?”

- At the mall, Lizzie and Miranda feel very embarrassed about having Lizzie’s mom to help them shop for bras because Jo is a little too excited about it and teenagers are you know, embarrassed by their parents most of the time.

- They both try to ditch Jo by pretending to be lost but as soon as they scrammed, they bump into their English teacher, Mr. Coppersmith. Okay, who is he and why haven’t I seen or remembered him? I think he is a one-time, one-episode teacher?

- Jo spots them and their teacher and doesn’t seem to pick up on the awkwardness in the room and proceed to hand over a bunch of bras for them to try on, right in front of him.

- Next, we cut to Lizzie and Miranda at the changing room and they are discussing about really telling Jo that they want to shop alone. Jo interrupts their conversation and opens the curtains of the changing stall Lizzie is in. This clearly agitates Lizzie and she kinda snaps at her mom and tells her that they don’t need her help shopping and she needs to leave them alone.

That sudden change of expression done by Hallie was brilliant.

- I feel so bad for Jo; Teenagers can be so insensitive sometimes like me back when I was a teenager. Jo recognizes Lizzie’s frustration and decides to play it cool by not scolding Lizzie and even offers her $40 for them to shop for their bras while she waits for them at the food court.

- Honestly, this is some of the best acting in the show thus far by both Hallie and Hilary.

Gordo: The Director

I think Gordo is a really good male-figure for Matt to look up to, besides his dad.

- Gordo is using this opportunity to put his skills as a director and filmmaker to the test and already, he has planned out the kind of establishing shots he wants to take of Matt. Sam is quite unsure about all of this and he thinks that interviewing Matt and asking him generic questions is good enough for the submission.

- Gordo wants this movie to be big and is confident that this martial arts movie he is about to film is going to set Matt’s entry apart from the others.

One good thing I can say about this is nice try I guess?

- We watch some snippets of the film at first and it doesn’t look too good nor realistic. There was a weird voice-over work done by Gordo, which I guess is the style of dubbed Chinese martial arts films back then and the action scenes were terrible.

- We move over to the scene where Matt tries to take a pebble from his master’s (played by Sam) palm but the scene didn’t go as planned because Sam didn’t stick to the script. He feels that everything Gordo is doing so far is a rip-off of Kung Fu movies out there.

- He then pulls a Jo Mcguire and leaves the kids to do their own thing without him. But what they don’t know is that he has secretly called this guy named ‘David’ for some help. And we all know that this is the late great David Carradine (older brother of Robert Carradine who plays Sam), who starred as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s series, Kung Fu and as Bill in the Kill Bill film franchise.

Kate and Claire Alert

- Lizzie and Miranda are not exactly sure on what they need to look out for when picking out a bra. The are just not familiar with bra sizes. To make matters worse, they bump into Kate Sanders and Claire Miller at the same store.

I think it’s cute that Kate is shopping with Claire and her mom

- We get some bickering at the beginning but things took a turn when they find out that Kate and Claire are both shopping with Claire’s mom. Lizzie and Miranda rub in their faces that they get to shop alone. I think shopping alone as a teen without your parents isn’t what I consider as ‘cool’.

- Anyways, this doesn’t stop Claire from giving them one her shady comebacks before they leave:

Their secret handshake is just a high five and a hair flip lol

Lizzie Needs Her Mom Back

- Lizzie and Miranda continue to be lost when it comes to bra shopping and Lizzie finally recognizes that she needs her mom now more than ever. They find Lizzie’s mom at the food court and try to apologize to her but Jo tells them that she can understand where they’re coming from and admits how embarrassing she can be.

- They admit that although they try to act like adults, they are far from being ready to handle all of this alone. Lizzie also apologizes to her mom for the rude behavior she displayed at the dressing room earlier. She realizes that the adult thing to do is to actually ask her mom for help instead of trying to figure out everything on their own. This is honestly a great lesson to teach to young girls and boys.

Here Comes David

I just get chills from this entrance. David had such amazing presence on screen.

- Matt and Gordo are struggling to film the ‘pebble taking’ scene without Sam and they decide to find him and plead for him to help them. The next thing they know, David pops into the backyard and greatness has basically arrived.

The Carradine Brothers

- Matt demonstrates some of his martial arts ‘skills’ to David and David tells him that he has a lot of work to do. That’s definitely a sure thing.

When the pupil becomes the masters

- We then get a cool montage of Matt’s Kung Fu training and fight scene with David to the legendary song ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ by Carl Douglas. Matt even nails the ‘pebble taking’ scene down. Afterwards, we get a chilling exit from David as he walks back into the house and disappears from a distance.

- Gordo then asks Sam who was that man who all of a sudden came and taught Matt Kung Fu and Sam responds to him and says he has “known him all of his life and is like a brother to him”. Well, that’s because he’s your real life brother lol.

Closing Off

- During Lizzie, Gordo and Miranda’s three way phone conversation, Lizzie remarks how she cannot believe Gordo spent an entire day with her dad and brother but considering the other alternative he had, he was happy with his decision. He just wants Lizzie and Miranda to give him the heads up next time when they shop for bras and other female-gender related items.

What a way to close an episode

- Sam pick up a phone call and on the other end of the line is the person calling from the Jet Li sidekick contest and to his shock and horror, Matt won the contest!

Overall Thoughts

- I can honestly say that this is one of the best episodes of the season so far. Lizzie and Miranda’s bra shopping story-line with Lizzie’s mom was hilarious and cringe-worthy to watch, but in a good way. I’m sure this scene had so many young girls who were able to relate to it.

- The lesson of recognizing and admitting you need help from your parents despite the flawed perception that adults always have to do things solo is very deep and it should be ingrained in every person’s mind.

- And finally, this is the first episode that I actually love Matt and Sam’s story-line. It was super entertaining to watch and although you can say it’s all action and comedy and there’s no lesson to take away from it, everything was executed perfectly. And I appreciate how they were able to get Robert’s brother David to appear in this episode since he was such a icon in the martial arts film and television genre.

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bccity · 5 years ago

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OCTOBER 2019 BC ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULES & REVIEW

Members may earn 3 points each (up to 6 points) for writing, by the end of November 7 KST:

A solo para of 400+ words based on their monthly schedule (does not count toward your monthly limit).

A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) based on the monthly schedule.

Threads and solos do not have to take place directly during an important date listed on the schedule, but must be related to what the muse is mentioned to be doing in the paragraph explaining their schedule/the company’s schedule for the month and/or their thoughts on the mentioned activities or lack thereof.

These schedules may be updated throughout the month if new information needs to be added.

Reminder: September schedule posts are due by the end of October 7 KST.

Overall Company

There’s a lot of gossip behind the scenes at BC headquarters about promotional plans for 2019, ranging from rumors of concept changes, to rumors of new sub-units, to rumors of new promotional opportunities being cooked up in conjunction with Dimensions and Gold Star. It’s not quite clear what’s fact and what’s fiction, but one thing that seems clear is that BC wants 2020 to be the year they reclaim their indisputable crown in the idol industry and no one’s really safe from being pulled into one of their schemes.

Important dates:

N/A

BC Soloist 1

A meeting at the beginning of the month will be held with her management team to discuss their plans for her following her debut era. In general, they’re pleased with the success of her debut. It’s done well digitally for a performance-based soloist debut and, while she doesn’t have the fan base to compete with most of her label mate’s physical sales, it did better than anticipated in that area. She’ll be assured comeback discussions are well underway behind the scenes already and she’ll be brought into them next month. To thank her fans for their support, she’ll be filming a special live video of her b-side “Cosmic Dust” to be posted on her three month debut anniversary. Other than that, she has a fairly relaxed month to recuperate before she starts comeback preparations, only being scheduled for one performance at SBS Super Concert in Incheon and an appearance on Yoo Heeyeol’s Sketchbook where she’ll be interviewed and perform her pre-release single “Week”. The Yoo Heeyeol’s Sketchbook appearance will lead to her trending on Melon following the airing and signal a promising future for public interest in her.

Important dates:

October 2: Meeting with management.

October 3: Yoo Heeyeol’s Sketchbook filming (also appearing: WISH, to be aired: October 11).

October 6: Performance at SBS Super Concert in Incheon at Incheon Asiad Stadium (also performing: WISH).

October 15: “Cosmic Dust” special live video filming (to be released on October 31).

Decipher

Vocal recording for the album will be finished around the end of Decipher V’s promotions, at which point, the group will switch into full gear for comeback preparations. The second half of the month will be spent perfecting the title track choreography in addition to choreography for b-sides “VVITH”. They’ve also been chosen as new brand ambassadors for Nene Chicken with BC’s junior boy group CHARM and will be filming a CF for the winter season alongside the other group.

Important dates:

October 12: Nene Chicken CF filming with CHARM.

↳ Decipher R & V

Music show promotions continue for Decipher V, although additional promotions remain minimal aside from radio appearances thanks to the song being a digital single. The song has been well-received by fans. Though it’s not a hit, that’s not what BC was going for this time around, so it’s been dubbed a satisfactory promotion period. Whether Decipher V will promote again in the future is still unclear to the members, but they’re told not to make any promises of further promotions to fans while not shutting down their hopes either.

Important dates:

October 2: Guesting on KBS Cool FM Kiss The Radio.

October 16: End of music show promotions.

BEE

On October 9, BC will be announcing that BEE will be holding concerts in Seoul and Japan in December and January respectively. The news will come only a week after BEE is told the news themselves on what is considered pretty short notice for a concert. The short notice means going immediately into VCR filming mid-month. The theme for the concert’s VCRs will be elegant and have an understated sexiness and will not feature dialogue so the same VCRs can be used in Korea and Japan without putting budget forth to dub or sub them. They’ll be brought in for concert costume fittings at the end of the month. (VCR style reference: 0:02 - 1:20) (Costume style references: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.)

Important dates:

October 12: Concert VCR filming.

October 26: Costume fittings.

Knight

Their tour schedule this month is less trying than last month’s. They have dates in Hong Kong and Manila two weeks apart, so they hopefully won’t burn themselves out at the beginning of the tour. (Please see August’s schedule for the assigned special stages). As part of their new deal with Skechers, they’ll hold a fan sign mid-month at a mall. BC plans for them to release a Japanese single album to accompany their tour stops in Japan, so the members will be recording Japanese versions of “Now or Never” and “Photograph” this month. Additionally, they’ll be recording a Chinese version of their latest title track. At the end of the month, they’ll film the Japanese MV for “Now or Never”.

Important dates:

October 5: Performance at Sharing Festival at Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea (also performing: Gold Star Soloist 2).

October 11: Skechers fan sign in Songpa, Seoul.

October 12: UNLIMITED tour concert at AsiaWorld-Arena in Hong Kong.

October 13: UNLIMITED tour concert at AsiaWorld-Arena in Hong Kong.

October 25: UNLIMITED tour concert at Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

October 26: UNLIMITED tour concert at Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

October 28: “Now or Never Japanese Ver.” MV filming.

↳ White Knight

No schedules for the month.

Important dates:

N/A

Lipstick

The end of their tour is approaching in a few months and this month they’re performing in Hong Kong and Macau. Shortly after that, their Japanese single album releases and they’ll hold two Japanese “release party” events that are a mix between a showcase and a fanmeeting. They’ll perform their two new Japanese songs, “Heaven” and “Crazy Driver”, but most of the event will consist of behind the scenes VCRs and scripted talk sections. Ahead of their November Korean comeback, the members will also be doing a photo shoot for their individual teasers as well as group concept photos and the single cover.

Important dates:

October 10: “Glue” comeback stage outfit fittings.

October 12: Prima Donna tour concert at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong.

October 13: Prima Donna tour concert at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong.

October 19: Prima Donna tour concert at Cotai Arena in Macau.

October 20: Prima Donna tour concert at Cotai Arena in Macau.

October 23: Release of “Heaven” Japanese single.

October 24: Heaven Release Party at Alta Theater in Tokyo, Japan.

October 25: Heaven Release Party at Alta Theater in Tokyo, Japan.

October 28: “Glue” comeback photo shoot.

↳ Lip Gloss

No schedules for the month.

Important dates:

N/A

CHARM

It’s the normal one month until comeback busy schedule for CHARM this month. Mid-month, they’ll film a CF for a newly-announced brand deal for Nene Chicken alongside their label seniors, Decipher. BC prefers to have CHARM considered Decipher’s successors as opposed to Knight’s, so they’re hoping that by throwing the two groups together on the brand deal, more of Decipher’s fan base might find an interest in CHARM. Beyond that the schedule is fittings, photo shoots, and the MV filming for their November comeback.

Important dates:

October 12: Nene Chicken CF filming with Decipher.

October 13: “Hit” comeback stage outfit fittings.

October 18: “Hit” teasers photo shoot.

October 20: “Hit” MV filming.

WISH

The members get a break off from their tour until the new year now, so their focus is shifting to comeback promotions and end of the year awards. BC ultimately decided to release a physical single for their comeback song, so although it’s unlikely to bring in the profits a true album would have, WISH does have their usual fan sign rush this comeback. On top of music show promotions, they’ll also appear on Yoo Heeyeol’s Sketchbook to perform “Whatta Man”, a move that will be questioned before it even airs due to WISH’s reputation for lipsyncing contrasting with the show’s reputation for live singing. They end the month with a Halloween fan meeting with their fans for their fourth anniversary, for which each member will dress up in a (family friendly) Halloween costume of choice, followed by a short trip back to Japan to finish off their hi-touches. The WISH members are planned to be permitted to begin moving out some time next month, so they’ll be called into a meeting mid-month for reminders on good behavior and that such privileges can be revoked at any time.

Important dates:

October 1: Release of “Whatta Man” digital single, promotions continue until November 1.

October 3: Yoo Heeyeol’s Sketchbook recording (also appearing: BC Soloist 1, to be aired: October 11).

October 4: Fansign in Yeouido, Seoul.

October 6: Performance at SBS Super Concert in Incheon at Incheon Asiad Stadium (also performing: BC Soloist 1).

October 7: Fan sign in Yongsan, Seoul.

October 10: Fan sign in Gangnam, Seoul.

October 17: Fan sign in Mapo, Seoul.

October 18: Fan sign in Gangnam, Seoul.

October 20: WISHing Well Halloween Fanmeeting at Korea University Hwajeong Gymnasium in Seoul.

October 27: Breakthrough Hi-Touch at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

October 29: Breakthrough Hi-Touch at Intex Osaka in Osaka, Japan.

#fmdschedule #queued post

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planetoban · 5 years ago

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Savin’s Answers from Twitter, Part 4!

Still catching up on the backlog; this post covers tweets from May 2018 through October 2018

As always, tweets are in order from most to least recent, and answers are not 100% true/canon since things may change during production of the sequel. Text is unedited save for formatting; in a few places I added [comments] for context.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Also: If you’re going to ask Savin something, please be respectful and appropriate. He’s a person just like you and me.

@jeltezandberg1: I also hope the dutch dub would be re-released on blue ray. Because the dutch DVD version was never fully released ,except for the first volume. The reason for it was because the publisher responsible for the dutch DVD version went bankrupt.

@EiffelSavin: Not cool. We'll see what we can do but unfortunately we don't own the rights to that dub

(x)

@RedVioletPanda: I'm wondering, does Aikka have any other family besides his parents? Also does Spirit have a family or not?‏

@EiffelSavin: If we produce the spinoff you'll have your answer regarding Aikka

(x)

@GaulStg2713: I watched a few episodes back when Oban first aired, and recently I just finished binge-watching the whole thing and now I've learned about this! Awesome! (Is it too much to ask for a heroic Crog guy in this one? I love their design and was sad the only Crog we got were jerks.)‏

@EiffelSavin: I agree with you. If we do produce a sequel your wish may be granted... 😉

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: I’m curious if Maya had not died in a racing crash but had still died due to illness or in a way DW couldn’t blame himself for, would Don Wei still have abandoned Eva and have the same severe reaction to Maya’s death even if it wasn’t in a racing crash, or would DW

‏@ILOVE659709491: have raised Eva & maybe remarry and not have as severe a reaction to Maya’s death but actually move on from it sooner if Maya had not died in a racing crash?

@EiffelSavin: I don't think he would have abandonned Eva if Maya hadn't died a crash. She died while racing for his team. That made him feel directly responsible.

(x)

@Helloworld1012: Sounds interesting. Also, I have to ask regarding OSR 2 has a plotline already been decided?

@EiffelSavin: Yes. We're moving ahead very slowly, but we do have a pretty good idea of where we want to take the new show

(x)

@Dmitry14846442: I wonder if the full version of "Never say Never" exists at all.

@EiffelSavin: Not sure.... ABC family made me listen to it before they chose it but I don't remember how long it was. If it wasn't intended to be released as a single, then there's probably only the short version though.

(x)

@AshBashS_: Ever thought about setting up a type of Kickstarter or patreon? I know those who love the series would like to help out any way they can.

@EiffelSavin: That's certainly an option for a bluray release, a pilot or some early development.

@EpicLoneDreamer: Man... Still hard to understand how geniuses can be broke. The sequel is written already? OMG. What about two queens? 11 years waiting!

[note: AFAIK Savin hasn’t said anything about the sequel’s script being finished]

@EiffelSavin: I must bear the blame for some of it, with zero talent for brown nosing & for choosing projects that stand a little out of the ordinary. Another part can be put on the production system, especially in France, which tends to favor doing the same safe stuff over and over again...

(x)

@penguin_elder: the second question why did jordan easily submit to the idea of becoming avatar,seeing from his actions he wanted to be with molly ithought he would be the first one to disagree on such a big responsibility.keep doing what your doing you're fan from the middleeast

@EiffelSavin: Jordan had sort of a predisposition as he gradually realized Eva didn't have the same feelings for him that he had. Then came a rare chance to save the galaxy, even if it meant losing all he had been. Jordan took it. Cause that's the kind of guy he is & also out of <3 for Eva...

(x)

@Helloworld1012: I’m now super curious, in ep 17 Mrs Stern said something about Eva being capable of stealing from a shop of leaving a hotel room without paying for it. So I’m curious, Is Eva actually capable of stealing or leaving a hotel room without paying for it? I had she

@Helloworld1012: actually done that before? I know Eva’s rebellious, but I can also see she’s a bit of a ”goody-two-shoes.” So I’m curious is Eva actually capable of breaking the law

‏@EiffelSavin: Well, it's the evil headmistress speaking so we can't take her words for granted. But she does hint that during previous attempts to escape from her boarding school Eva may have not always strictly stuck to the law.

(x)

@TengIlar: Hey, guys! There are no announcements, no arts, no teasers, no trailers, no news - nothing at all! Are you still alive? #OSR #OBAN #oban_star_racers

@EiffelSavin: Alive but dealing with a number of different projects, not all related in animation in my case. If you really want to know, I've just spent two weeks leaving in the streets to do research on the lifes of homeless teenagers for one of these projects.

@Helloworld1012: Out of curiosity what project is that?

@EiffelSavin: A project about young punks surviving in the streets with their dogs. But I won't say anymore for the time being. It's very much a work in progress.

(x)

@MassimoJPN: I just got to know about the Blue-Ray project of OSR and I'm incredibly excited now !! Is there any chance that there is gonna be the german voice acting on the discs as well ? I would even get it without, but the old voices are childhood memories ! :)

@EiffelSavin: We should have French, English and Japanese. German is more problematic as we don't own the rights to that version.

(x)

@LiveforOban: I’m curious, do all star race teams managers own their own race team like Don Wei does, or do most star-race managers work for someone else & don’t own their own race team? Also, the show made it clear that when he was Maya’s manager Don Wei worked with only one

@LiveforOban: racer at a time & that his team used only one star-racer at a time, so why is it that in 2082, Wei Race has several star racers?

@EiffelSavin: There are other managers/owners like Don Wei but most teams were not able to survive without the support of a larger parent company. Remaining a relatively small team in terms of funds, Don Wei has usually concentrated all his means & efforts on one top racer: Maya then Rick.

@LiveforOban: So I’m guessing Maya was his first racer.

@EiffelSavin: yes

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: I know Maya was considered to be a beautiful young woman, but I’m curious when he was younger did women consider Don Wei to be a handsome man? In 2082 is Don Wei considered attractive?‏

@EiffelSavin: Don Wei was not bad looking but was no Don Juan either. His charm came from his intelligence and well as from the power of his dream to succeed in the racing business. That's probably what touched handsome Maya.

@ILOVE659709491: What does not bad looking even mean? Does that mean he was fairly attractive? Because I need more clarification on that.‏

@EiffelSavin: I mean not ugly by any means but not someone you'd turn around to look at when his walking down the street - unlike Maya.

(x)

@LiteMorgan: What’s the plan with the theme music? Aware there were a bunch of versions - Japanese, French, Japanese remix for most of EU, and the American version.

@EiffelSavin: We should have the original Yoko Kanno version + the french version as bonus. US version is less probable as we do not own the rights.

(x)

@EiffelSavin: Today I recovered the digital copies of #ObanStarRacers' Japanese master tapes. We'll hopefully add the Japanese language tracks to our planned #bluray release !

@firechikara: Awesome! I hope you'll include the different Opening Theme (apparently from what I've seen, there's a short and long version) as a bonus.

@EiffelSavin: yes!

(x)

@ArkantosRedwolf: Do you have by any chance the Latin American dub? That would be the mother of all nostalgia if you could added to the bluray release.

@EiffelSavin: We'll try but this may be more difficult to obtain. We do not own the latin dub and had no direct part in their recording.

(x)

@Helloworld1012: I’m still really curious, but in ep 18 Maya was wearing a traditional Chinese dress during her date with DW and I’ve noticed her racing uniform resembles a Chinese dress, so is Maya from China or at the very least Chinese?‏

@EiffelSavin: I think I already answered that. Don Wei's origins are only hinted at but for me he's of Chinese origin and Maya isn't. Regarding the dress that was just to please Don. That beeing said anyone is free to interpret the series as he likes and make it his own 😊

(x)

@LiveforOban: Why did Don Wei have such a severe reaction to Maya’s death? No matter how much he loved her & no matter how brutal her death, Don’s reaction was to severe. Considering his personality changed he abandoned his kid & tried to forget his past.

@EiffelSavin: Extreme love can lead to extreme consequences. Romeo killed himself after Juliette killed herself. Don Wei's reaction to Maya's death was a little less radical but the idea is the same. He couldn't bare to leave without her all the more as he felt responsible for her death.

@LiveforOban: Doesn’t that basically mean Don Was obsessed with Maya?

@EiffelSavin: Yes, but in a good way - at least until she died. These two really loved each other and formed a perfect family before drama struck.

(x)

@vaatil: watching Oban with the pals for the first time, we re on episode three and i loVE RICK‏

@EiffelSavin: And rightly so - Rick is the top bad ass dude! 😉

(x)

@Helloworld1012: I'm curious, since their in the concept art but Are Aikka and Eva going to return as major characters in the sequel/spinoff? Also, I'm curious but what will happen to Aikka when he returns to Nourasia? If I'm not mistaken the Crogs are still in control of his planet,

@Helloworld1012: And he's already done several things in the race to risk banishment.‏

@EiffelSavin: Yes, but there's also a new Avatar now, which should change things a bit - or do they? 🙂

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: Did Kanaletto manipulate Eva’s life from the moment she was born? In episode 26 Kanaletto States so himself that for centuries he manipulated time just so he could find Eva & use her.‏

@EiffelSavin: Correct.

(x)

@djinni0024: I know you aren't on Twitter much, but for the sequel, do you guys plan on making it have a darker theme, with more adult tones to it? Most of us (that being your original fan audience) are well in our 20s-30s.

@EiffelSavin: That would be ideal, but it depends on who will finance us

(x)

@NoelCT: Beautiful work, as always. I've been excited to see 2 Queens for years. I'm sorry it's still taking so long to come together, but thankful you haven't given up on it.

@EiffelSavin: Haven't given hope! Actually currently looking for a new character designer to start over on a slightly different direction.

(x)

@KananJarrus: Would be awesome if the #ObanStarRacers Soundtrack got a re-release, for people (like me) who missed out on it years ago. Great, high quality soundtrack @EiffelSavin‏

@EiffelSavin: One of our plans with the Bluray release is to add all existing tracks as a potential bonus (and there's around 85 of them).

(x)

@Helloworld1012: I’m curious since it got to me, that during her time in the boarding school Eva most have done things besides drawing & mechanics to pass the time, but Does Eva like to read? & if so what kind of books did she like to read? Also in ep 18 I noticed Maya wore a chinese dress during her date with Don, is Maya from china or Chinese?

@EiffelSavin: Don Wei's surname implies that he's of Chinese origin, which would make Eva half Chinese. [Implying Maya isn’t Chinese]

@RyanMoate: I can imagine that if Eva read it would be articles about her father's racing career and probably manuals considering she built the rocket seat.‏

@EiffelSavin: Yes, a mechanical geek. Plus she loves hardcore techno - the best way for her to relieve her stress and teenage angst!

(x) (x)

[In response to Catsuka posting the OSR pilot]

@copperfield42: wow, it [Molly Star Racer] looked more silly that the final product...

@EiffelSavin: All the main ideas were in the pilot, but it was a little more comedy oriented and aimed at a slightly younger target audience. As we developed the world and the characters, we fond a new and more fitting equilibrium for the show.

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: I know there are other possibilities for DW's background, but I just want to know, could the theory that Don Wei was born to a high-class family in China, but that DW turned his back on the life he knew when he eloped with Maya also be a possible background for Don?

@EiffelSavin: Choose as you prefer. But bear in mind that you don't need to have been born in the "upper class" to want to behave like someone from the "upper class".

(x)

@Alix_Mei: One question, this series going to be in Netflix?

@EiffelSavin: too soon to say

(x)

@RedVioletPanda: Now that I'm thinking of it, would the Nourasians Knights be similiar to Shaolin practictioners @EiffelSavin ?

@EiffelSavin: Not a bad comparison. They both have strong training, both physical and mental, with the addition of magical training for Nourasian Knights.

(x)

@fictionjustis: Is DW’s grey hair due to stress & grief and has nothing to do with his age? In the flashbacks where Maya is alive DW seems to be in his 20s + DW and Maya seem to be the same age. Maya was only 28 when she died, meaning Eva was born when DW was in his early 20s‏

@EiffelSavin: Don Wei is a little older than Maya and more in his forties at the start the show. But stress may have also played a part

@fictionjustis: I’m curious, a little older is so vague. So does that mean Don Wei is only 2 years older than Maya or that his 5-10 years older than Maya? How many years of an age difference did Don & Maya have?‏

@EiffelSavin: I don't have my old notes with me but it was probably around 10 years older, or something close

@fictionjustis: Really, because they don’t look that far in age.

@EiffelSavin: May have been a little less but in real life it's often hard to tell if someone is 25 or 30. In animation, with stylised designs, it's even harder. The acting and body language play a big part.

(x)

@ILOVE659709491: Maya seems to influence Don Wei the same way Eva influences Aikka. Is it possible that though she didn’t introduce him to racing Maya may have encouraged Don Wei to follow his dreams & be a race manager even though it meant going against his parents wishes & expecta- -tions of him? Also DW has a strong comparison with Aikka is it possible that like Aikka DW came from a high-class family that placed high expectations on him?

@EiffelSavin: The main point these two have in common is that they had feelings for their partner or friend. Regarding Maya, it was more her parents who were against her becoming a racer. Not exactly what any parent would have in mind for their beloved daughter

(x)

#oban star racers #sav the world #Sav! The World #type:staff #type:text

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xseedgames · 7 years ago

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2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza Blog! #1

It’s time for our first 2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza! We’ve got a bunch of these we’ll be posting over the holiday break, so please look forward to them. Now, let’s roll right in!

We have answers from:

Ken Berry, Executive Vice President / Team Leader John Wheeler, Assistant Localization Manager Nick Colucci, Localization Editor Liz Rita, QA Tester Brittany Avery, Localization Producer Thomas Lipschultz, Localization Producer

Question: Has selling your games on PC worked out for you so far? I know supporting the PC platform is a relatively recent choice for XSEED. - @Nate_Nyo

Ken: Being on PC has been great for us as it allows us to reach anyone anywhere in the world regardless of region or console. We were probably one of the earlier adopters in terms of bringing content from Japan to PC as we first published Ys: The Oath in Felghana on Steam almost 6 years ago in early 2012.

Brittany: I love working on PC. The work involved is greater than working on console, but I feel like it's a bigger learning experience, too. For console, the developers normally handle the graphics after we translate them, and they do all the programming and such. For PC, everything falls on us. I wasn't that experienced with Photoshop in the beginning, but I think I've gotten a lot better with it over the years. We can also receive updates instantly, and since I talk with our PC programmer through Skype, it's easier to suss out our exact needs and think of ideas to improve the game or bring it to modern standards.

Question: What non-XSEED games do you praise the localization for? - @KlausRealta

Brittany: Final Fantasy XII. I love everything about Final Fantasy XII's writing. I'm also a big fan of the personality in the Ace Attorney localizations. I'm still playing Yakuza 0, but you can feel the passion of the localization team in the writing. There are some projects where you can tell the editing was phoned in, and then there are games where it's obvious it was a labor of love. All of these games have a color I aspire to.

Tom: Probably going to be a popular answer, and not an especially surprising one, but I've got to give props to Lost Odyssey. It's hard to deny the timeless quality and absolutely masterful English writing that went into basically every line of that game's massive script, with the many short stories being of particular note. That game really does represent an inspirational high bar that I think most everyone else in the industry will forever strive to reach in their own works.

For a more unexpected answer, I've also got to give mad props to Sega for their work on Monster World IV. As a Sega Genesis game released digitally in English for the very first time less than a decade ago, I guess I was kind of expecting a fairly basic "throwaway" translation -- but instead, the game boasts a full-on professional grade localization that's easily up to all modern standards, brimming with charm and personality. It's really nice to see a legitimate retro game being given that kind of care and attention in the modern era, and it makes it very easy for me to recommend (as does the fact that the game is actually quite fun, and is sure to be enjoyed by anyone who's played through all the Shantae titles and really wants to try something else along similar lines).

John: I played Okami on PS3 earlier this year (before the remake was announced), and I was awed by how skillfully the team handled text that is chock full of localization challenges like quirky nicknames, references to Japanese fairy tales, and regional dialects. I was especially amused to see a reference to "kibi dango," the dumplings Momotaro uses to bribe his companions in that famous story. We dealt with the same cultural reference with STORY OF SEASONS: Trio of Towns.

Nick: My go-to response is always Vagrant Story, because it’s the game I credit with getting me really interested in a career in localization. Before that point, I had enjoyed games for their story and characters, but hadn’t realized just how much the specific word choices and tone contributed to a reader’s perception of a story as a whole. The gents behind VS’s localization would go on to be industry luminaries, with Rich Amtower now calling shots in Nintendo’s Treehouse department and Alex Smith being synonymous with the highly regarded prose of Yasumi Matsuno’s games – including the cool and underappreciated Crimson Shroud for 3DS, and Final Fantasy XII, which as anyone who’s played it can tell you is a stellar localization. Having spent a lot of time with FFXII’s ��The Zodiac Age” remaster this year, the care and attention to detail put into the localization still blows me away. The unique speech style of the Bhujerbans (with...Sri Lankan inflections, if memory serves correctly) sticks with me, because I knew that I myself would never have been able to pull off something like that so deftly. I guess you could say Vagrant Story started a lineage of games that’s always given me something to aspire to as an editor.

Final Fantasy XIV, which I’ve been playing this year, also has a very good localization, especially considering the reams of text that go into an MMO of its size and scope. Michael-Christopher Koji Fox and his team have done a bang-up job giving life and personality to the land of Eorzea, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how the localization has changed in subtle ways as time has gone on. The initial “A Realm Reborn” localization sort of cranks the “regional flavor” up to 11 with heavy dialects and vernacular, but in subsequent expansions, they kind of eased up on that and have found a good mix between grounded localization and the kind of flourishes that work well in high-fantasy settings.

And, while I haven’t played it in a number of years, I remember Dragon Quest VIII having a really great localization, too, with ol’ Yangus still living large in my memories. Tales of the Abyss was fantastic as well, and both DQVIII and Abyss delivered some really brilliant dub work that showed me how much richer one could make characterization when the writing and the acting really harmonized. I still consider Tales of the Abyss my general favorite game dub to date. The casting is perfect, with not a bad role among them. I also want to give mad props to Ni no Kuni’s Mr. Drippy, just as a perfect storm of great localization decisions. Tidy, mun!

Question: How hard is it to turn in game signs and words to English for Japanese? Is it as simple as going in and editing text? Or as hard as creating a whole new texture for the model? - @KesanovaSSB4

Tom: We refer to this as "graphic text" -- meaning, literally, text contained within graphic images. How it's handled differs from project to project, but the short answer is, yeah, it involves creating a whole new texture for the model. Sometimes, this is handled by the developer: they'll just send us a list of all the graphic text images that exist in-game and what each image says, we'll send that list back to them with translations, and they'll use those translations to create new graphic images on our behalf. For other games, however (particularly PC titles we're more or less spearheading), we'll have to do the graphic edits ourselves. When the original PSDs or what-not exist for the sign images, this is generally pretty easy -- but as you might expect, those aren't always available to us, meaning we'll sometimes have to go to a bit more trouble to get this done.

John: The best practice is to review graphic text very early in the localization process because it takes effort to fix and can throw a wrench in schedules if issues are discovered too late. On occasion, it is too difficult to change ubiquitous textures, especially those that might also appear in animation. This was the case with "NewTube" in SENRAN KAGURA Peach Beach Splash, which the localization team wanted to change to "NyuuTube" to make the wordplay clearer to series fans.

Question: With the Steam marketplace becoming increasingly saturated and being seen as a greater risk to publish on in recent times, what does XSEED plan on doing in order to remain prominent and relevant in the PC gaming space? - @myumute

Ken: It is indeed getting harder and harder to stand out as hundreds of new titles are releasing on Steam each month. We are working our way towards simultaneous release across all platforms to help leverage some of the coverage from the console version to get more attention to the PC release, so hopefully that's something we can accomplish soon. For PC-exclusive releases it continues to be a challenge, but at least they have a long tail and even if it's not an immediate success at launch we know it can continue to produce sales for years to come.

Question: What was your favorite film that you saw in 2017, and why? - @Crippeh

John: I'm way behind on movies this year (haven't seen Disaster Artist, Phantom Thread, or Get Out, for example), but recently I've enjoyed both Star Wars and Lady Bird. I expect I'll watch my favorite film from 2017 sometime in 2018.

Ken: Wind River. Mainly because of Jeremy Renner's performance and how many quotable lines he had.

Liz: Get Out for horror mindblowing amazingness, Spider-Man Homecoming for genuinely fun comic book movie, and The Shape of Water for Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo del Toro should always be a category.

That’s it! Stay turned for blog #2 later this week. Here’s a preview of the kinds of questions we’ll be answering:

Question: Have you ever considered selling the music CDs for your licenses stateside? - @LimitTimeGamer Question: If possible, would you please consider researching and localizing classic Korean-made PC xRPGs? - @DragEnRegalia Question: Do you have any interest in pursuing the localization of any of the large, beautiful Chinese RPGs that have been hitting Steam? Or are you focused exclusively on Japanese titles? - @TheDanaAddams Question: What inspired you all to do this kind of work in the first place? Also, what’s the story behind the company name XSEED? How did you all come up with it? - @TBlock_02 Question: What was everyone's favorite game(s) to work on this year? - @ArtistofLegacy Question: What's everyone's favorite song from the Falcom games you've released so far? - @Crippeh

#XSEED #Q&A #Localization

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hello-there · 6 days ago

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#tumblr communities #communities

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hong-kong-art-man · 5 years ago

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THE GLORIOUS HISTORY OF VOICE DUBBING IN HONG KONG——BY MASTER TING YU, BORN IN 1934

One of the acclaimed contemporary composers is Arvo Pärt, from Estonia. He delights us with music played by a wide range of instruments. He however said, “The human voice is the most perfect instrument of all.” Words mean more than facial expressions but it takes a human voice to infuse words with greater power. I would like to use this article to make a salute to the most respectable voice dubbing master in Hong Kong Mr. Ting Yu(丁羽) who was born in September 1934 and is still fit and cheerful.

Ting told me, “I was born in Hong Kong and lived on Prince Edward Road. My father used to be a high-level official of the customs department. He quitted government job and set up 4 hotels. His 10 kids fell asleep every night with a full belly and happy heart. Wing Fong(榮芳) Coffee Shop in Kowloon City was close to Prince Edward Road and it was a hang around place of the movie stars. There, I came to know a director Wu Pang(胡鵬) and scriptwriter Wong Fung(王風). At eighteen, I finished my high school and got no job in the backward 1950s of Hong Kong. Wu and Wong offered me the role of a eunuch in a film. As I was considered educated in those days, I worked my way up to become a production assistant and later assistant director apart from acting.”

“In the 60s, I worked in Shaw Brothers Studio and voice dubbing for films was my specialty. I was approached by Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Limited(TVB) around 1967 and they asked me to be their first Dubbing Department manager. A married man wanted stability and such stability could be traded off against my dream to be a film director. As a result, I have been enjoying my dubbing and ‘subbing’ business in a dark room from the 60s until now for over 50 years. I said ‘subbing’ because in a foreign motion picture, the actor did not speak Chinese and so I ‘acted’ for him vocally in the film.”

A successful man always feels changes and turns them as an opportunity. After working in TVB for some years, Ting finally established his own voice dubbing company in 1973 because the 1970s showed signs of upsurge in films locally made. The pleasure of a peak is when Hong Kong produced more than 300 films a year in the 90s.

Ting explained, “There were 3 causes of the economic boom of dubbing business. Chinese films were made either in the national language of Mandarin or local dialect of Cantonese used in Hong Kong. To satisfy the different market needs of the Chinese in Asia, we had to translate and dub films into either language. Also, the live recording equipment and technology of the old days were not good and any ‘Cut’ shouted by the director would stop all and the shot had to be re-done. The ‘smartest’ way was to shoot a film without voice live recording (called MOS, or Omitting Sound Recording) and to dub the film afterwards. Let me give you an example: 2 days of shooting with sound live recording could be reduced to only 6 to 7 hours when they had adopted MOS.”

“Lastly, popularity made some film stars as busy as a bee. They got no time to practise the dialogue well during shooting. They therefore used an artist of similar voice quality to dub for them at the post-production stage of the film. Jackie Chan(成龍) was one of them.”

I was in an inquisitive mood, “Master Ting, what are the different generations of dubbing artists in Hong Kong?” Ting responded, “There are basically 3 generations. In the 50s to 60s, some stars came from the North China and could not speak Cantonese. So, it was devised that another artist would stand by at the shooting location. She read the lines of the film script aloud while the star was acting and ‘lip imitating’ her, so as to satisfy the need for live recording at that time. This is the crudest form of dubbing.”

“In the 70s & 80s, we got only analog editing technology but no digital signals. In order to edit the soundtrack of a motion picture conveniently, every dubbing session was about one minute without any interruption. The dubbing artist had to memorize the lines of a script for that one minute. To make it worse, the artists in the 70s were unable to hear their own recording simultaneously with the dubbing due to technical limitations. The artists could not afford any mistake for the one minute.”

“Now, we live in a digital age. All have become too easy for a dubbing artist. He can stop and dub it again at any second. The remaining challenge is only his voice acting skills. Lack of emotion or style may be a problem for many young dubbing artists.”

I asked Ting for his past 60 years contributions to the dubbing world, what he could remember most. Ting smiled, “In the early years when we dubbed foreign films, like the Japanese ones, there was often no script provided to us. The written instructions given to us were very simple and they just told us what a scene was roughly all about. So, we just improvised the dialogues ourselves. We really had fun since we could be as creative as we wanted to be. However, we got into big trouble when the film was a detective story and every line of conversation might imply a hint solving the criminal case.”

We cannot recognize a dubbing artist’s face. It is only after hearing his or her voice that we realize who they are. Master Ting Yu is one of such unsung heroes. They were the hidden daisies among the roses and the stars which broke at the dawn in the glorious evolutions of Hong Kong Hollywood since 1940s.

#Ting Yu #Arvo Pärt #Wu Pang #Wong Fung #Shaw Brothers Studio #TVB #Wing Fong Coffee Shop #Voice Dubbing in Hong Kong #Analog #Ditigal #Omitting Sound Recording

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years ago

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND September 27, 2019 - ABOMINABLE, FIRST LOVE, JUDY, THE LAUNDROMAT

There’s only one movie in wide release this week, and it’s the second DreamWorks Animation/Universal animated movie of the year, ABOMINABLE, which is also the third animated movie involving some sort of Bigfoot, Sasquatch or Yeti (if you don’t include Monsters Inc. and Monsters University).

I actually really enjoyed this movie quite immensely, even though I’m not sure I’m up for a full review. It features the voice of Chloe Bennet (from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Yi, a young Chinese girl who finds a young Yeti on the roof of her apartment building and goes on a magical adventure to bring the beast (she dubs “Everest”) back to his home (on Mount Everest) along with her two friends, one voiced by Albert Tsai from Fresh Off the Boat. DreamWorks has been somewhat erratic in my book as far as their recent animated films, but Abominable really offered a lot to enjoy, from some of the sillier humor to the magical fantasy elements. There’s also a lot of really touching and even moving moments that really hit me in the feels, partially thanks to the score by Rupert Gregson-Williams. (How this guy has not been nominated for an Oscar is beyond me.) So yeah, this is the third animated movie of the last year involving a Yeti, but I think DreamWorks and director Jill Culton really nailed the storytelling and visuals in a way that was lacking, at least in The Missing Link earlier this year.

You can read my interview with Chloe Bennet over at The Beat later today.

The movie that people should definitely try to find is Takashi Miike’s latest crime thriller, FIRST LOVE (Hatsukoi), released by Well GO USA in New York (at the Angelika) and L.A. (at the Laemmle Nuart) on Friday then expanding on October 2.

Besides returning Miike to his crime roots, being a movie that involves the Yakuza, it also is as much a love story as Ichi the Killer only without all the genre weirdness that made that one (and many of Miike’s other movies) such a hard sell to mainstream audiences. First Love still has a lot of fun and a tiny bit of weirdness, but it’s also something more akin to the work of Tarantino, at least with Kill Bill.

It stars Masataka Kubota as a young boxer named Leo, who learns he has a tumor and little time to live when he encounters a call girl named Yuri who being forced into paying off a debt to the Yakuza (played by Sakurako Konishi). They meet under the strangest circumstances, as the two go on the run, her trying to escape from being used by a rival faction as a scapegoat in a planned drug heist.

Despite the title, this isn’t a romance film although it definitely has romantic elements between the two characters. The film sets up an intricate cast of characters around them with various factions and double-dealings that unfold over the course of the movie. That’s partially what makes True Love such a breakthrough for Miike, who has been doing so much Manga-derived work in recent years. He manages to take the incredible ensemble of actors and give all of them some good screen time as we follow Leo and Yuri trying to evadde those various factions, most of whom want them dead. It culminates in one of the most amazing action-packed last acts that’s up there with anything in 13 Assassins and Blade of the Immortal, two of Miike’s fairly recent Edo-period films.

As someone who has seen a LOT, if not most of Miike’s films over the last 20 years – we’re talking almost fifty films, here – First Love is his best movie since Audition, and having seen that again recently, I think it’s even better than that. It’s just a brilliant action-thriller from the filmmaking vet that I hope people will look for, even if they’re not a fan of Miike’s work before this.

RATING: 8.5/10

The other movie worthy of note is the biopic JUDY (LD Entertainment/Roadside Attractions) starring Renée Zellwegger as Judy Garland, directed by British theater director Rupert Goold (True Story). I have to be honest that I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie, because I was never a really big Judy Garland fan—I’m not even sure I’ve seen many of her movies besides The Wizard of Oz– and I can’t say I’m really a fan of Zellwegger either.

Although Judy has a few traditional biopic elements as it flashes back to Judy’s dealings with Louis B. Mayer (one of the M’s in MGM) lording over Judy as a teenager around the time of “Wizard,” it mostly takes place in the mid-to-late 60s as she’s fighting for custody of her two kids with her ex Sid, falling for a young piano-playing entrepreneur played by Finn Wittrock and trying to maintain a comeback at a London residency that’s plagued by her bouts with drugs and alcohol.

In some ways, the movie reminded me a little of last year’s Stan and Ollie, another great film about screen stars of yesteryear in their later years based around a solid script. In this case, the script is by someone named Tom Edge (The Crown) who clearly did enough research that as you’re watching the movie, you’re likely to wonder “Did that really happen?”

One of those moment is when Judy meets two elderly gay fans and ends up spending the night hanging with them at their home, a moment that will play a pivotal part later. I also liked some of the rest of the cast around her including Jessie Buckley (who was amazing in Wild Rose) and Finn Witrock, as Judy’s closest confidante.

More than anything, it’s about how Zellwegger embodies Judy Garland, and it’s more than just an impression, as she pulls out some amazing emotions as she struggles with life without her kids, but as soon as she steps on stage in front of an audience, she goes through an amazing transformation.

Again, Judy really surprised me in how much I enjoyed it, but I won’t be even remotely surprised if Zellwegger wins her second Oscar

RATING: 8/10

LOCAL FESTIVALS

Before we get to the rest of this week’s limited releases, I need to talk about two great film festivals, one on each coast. Of course, I have to talk about Film at Lincoln Center’s New York Film Festival first, since I’ve been attending it now for almost sixteen years, and it’s another banner year beginning this Friday with the WORLD PREMIERE of Martin Scorsese’s long-anticipated return to crime and reunion with Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel with The Irishman, which also brings Al Pacino into the fold as Jimmy Hoffa. (I’ll be seeing this Friday morning and reviewing for The Beatsometime over the weekend.) The closing night film is Edward Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn, a crime novel that he’s been trying to get made for nearly a decade or more, but this one also has a significantly incredible cast around him, including Alec Baldwin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Willem Dafoe and many more. I’ll also review it for The Beat.

Beyond that, NYFF includes a lot of upcoming releases that I’ve missed by not going to many other festivals this year, including Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story (the Centerpiece) and a bunch of other movies that have played Cannes, TIFF and other festivals. There’s also a few docs in there that I’m looking forward to, including Michael Apted’s 63-Up, the latest in his ongoing series that began way back in the 60s with a television special about a group of schoolkids who the filmmaker followed over the course of their lives, revisiting every seven years without fail. It’s a pretty amazing achievement, and I’m definitely in until the filmmaker decides to stop (or more likely and sadly, dies). I hope to write more about the New York Film Festival both here and over at The Beatover the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

Over in Los Angeles, the 2019 Beyond Fest will be taking over the Hulu Theater at the American Cinemateque’s Egyptian starting Weds. and for the next few weeks, kicking off with the West Coast Premieres of Richard Stanley’s Color Out of Space in a double feature with Daniel isn’t Real, two movies from Elijah Wood’s excellent horror production company SpectreVision. The festival will also screen Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit and Bong Joon-wo’s Parasite, two movies I still haven’t had a chance to see, probably making me the last person on earth to see both of them. (They both open in October, so I expect that to change soon.) Other movies playing Beyond Fest include The Lodge, Little Monsters (which is a lot of fun) and a few repertory screenings that I’ll mention in the appropriate section below.

LIMITED RELEASES

A few weeks back, I was a little remiss by forgetting to include the Bulgarian drama ÁGA (Big World Pictures) in my column when it played at New York’s Film Forum. I want to make up for it this weekend, as it opens at the Laemmle Royal in L.A. Milko Lazarov’s film is set in a yurt in the furthest regions of Siberia, and honestly, I thought I was watching a documentary at first, since it’s filmed in such a cinema verité way where you think you’re watching real people, but nope, it’s a scripted film with local actors. It revolves around a couple, Sedna and Nannok, living in that yurt, whose only connection to the outside world is their son Chena, who tells him that he’s found their daughter Ága after a family argument that made her leave home. I won’t say much more but the way that the story is told and shot really takes advantage of the locale, and I was glad to hear that Bulgaria selected it for the Oscars’ newly-titled “International Film” category.

Another fun movie worth seeking out is Daniel Schneiber’s dark comedy THE DEATH OF DICK LONG (A24), the first solo feature from one half ofSwiss Army Mandirectors, “The Daniels.” Schneiber also plays the title character, essentially a corpse – I’m seeing a trend here –as the film involves two friends who are involved with the accidental death of another man, actually the drummer in their band. We won’t find out for quite some time how “Dick Long” died, and I’m not going to spoil it, because it’s the film’s oddest turn – maybe one where it will lose a few people—but I think it’s another creative film with a great cast, mostly of lesser known actors but ones that really deliver a fun experience. I’m not sure where this is all playing, but I do know that one of the places is the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn on Friday night.

Similarly opening at the Metrograph this weekend for one screening only on Saturday -- but one where star Timothy Blake Nelson will be present for a QnA – is Chris Poché’s The True Don Quixote, which also stars Jacob Batalon from Spider-Man: Far from Home. It’s a new take on Cervantes’ classic tale that shifts it into Louisiana with Nelson’s Danny Kehoe accompanied by Batalon’s Sancho. It’s odd this is coming out the same year as Terry Gilliam’s long-in-development-hell The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, but I’m checking it out on Saturday for sure.

I won’t be seeing Stephen Soderbergh’s THE LAUNDROMAT (Netflix) until after this column posts, but I know a little bit about it. Like I know that it stars Meryl Streep, who plays a widow who is investigating insurance fraud and finding two law partners in Panama City (Antonio Banderas, Gary Oldman) who are exploiting the world’s financial system. Soderbergh’s cast also includes Will Forte, Jeffrey Wright, David Schwimmer and Sharon Stone, and it’s probably his The Big Short. It won’t be on Netflix until October 18, so if you want to see it, you’ll have to find one of the select cities where it’s playing, including New York’s IFC Center where it opens Friday.

Mini-Review: Let’s just get this out of the way, because I wrote the above before actually seeing the movie, but yes, The Laundromat is indeed Soderbergh’s attempt at making a Big Short-like examination of the world of finance and shell corporations and how the rich exploit the poor or “the meek”… and he has a cast full of well-known actors, many in a higher tax bracket, to tell what ends up being something that is probably more apropos for a documentary than an attempted comedy.

There is little question that The Laundromat is intended to be a comedy, beginning with the “wacky accents” sported by Oldman and Banderas as lawyers Jürgen Mosseck and Ramón Fonseca who begin to explain how the world of finance works. Before that, we meet Meryl Streep’s Ellen Martin and her husband Joe (James Cromwell) on a romantic anniversary get-away where their tour boat topsizes, drowning 21 people, including Joe. She then learns that she can’t collect from the boat company’s insurance due to a series of shell companies that she traces back to Mosseck and Fonseca in Panama. Before that, we see Jeffrey Wright appear as someone else involved in a way that is never quite understandable…. And that’s while the entire time, Mosseck and Fonseca break the fourth wall to try to make what’s happening EASIER to understand.

Frequent Soderbergh collaborator Scott Z. Burns is a fantastic writer – his screenplay for The Report, which he also directed, is proof-positive – but something about this one gets lost in translation. There’s clearly a desire to

The oddest decision is to cast two GENUINELY funny actors like Will Forte and Chris Parnell, and literally have them in one scene before killing them off. That’s just one of the many tangents that seem to come from out of nowhere and have very little to do with the overall “story” – and I use that term loosely. If I were watching this on Netflix, the first major tangent into the dalliances of a wealthy African businessman (Nonso Anozie) trying to buy his daughter’s silence about his affair was me sitting on the remote and actually switching to another movie. The second tangent to China – a complete waste of Rosalin Chao -- is even worse.

And yet, that’s still better than all of the shenanigans and silliness we’re forced to watch great actors like Oldman and Banderas (who is AMAZING in Almodovar’s new film Pain and Glory) get up to – it’s actually painful. Most people already know how little I care for Streep but to play what seems like a kindly widow trying to get through her grief only to have that not being entirely the case. (I won’t spoil it, but if you can’t figure out that it’s Streep under the make-up playing ANOTHER character, then you’re probably not going to get the attempted intricacies of the world of finance being explored.)

Despite being only ninety minutes long, this was a chore to sit through, partially due to the confusing tangents, but also due to some of the questionable filmmaking decisions which would seem below a filmmaker of Soderbergh’s caliber.

It feels like everyone involved with Soderbergh’s latest has grown tired of the Oscars on their mantle and decided to make a concentrated effort to go for a few Razzies. They might get their wish.

Rating: 4.5/10

One of the ACTUAL docs I’ve seen this weekend is Bill Haney’s new doc Jim Allison: Breakthrough (DADA Films), which follows the career of Jim Allison, an amazing geneticist who specializes in immunology, making huge breakthroughs into curing cancer by discovering that antibodies have a special nodes that help them fight against illness and disease and how cancer tumors shut them off. Allison won the Nobel Prize in Medicine last December. It’s a fairly brainy and scientific doc that at times seems more like an advertising for the pharmaceutical company who mass-produced the drug that came out of Allison’s research, but there’s a great case study of a woman who is diagnosed with myeloma and given only a few years to live. The doc is opening at a couple theaters in New York, including the Quad Cinema, and a couple in L.A., and then it expands to other cities next Friday. Oh, and it’s narrated by Woody Harrelson!

I’m a little more mixed on the doc Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (Kino Lorber), a combined effort by Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky, which also opens at the IFC Center. I’m not even sure I can properly describe this world-spanning environmental doc… so I won’t try. It’s beautifully shot but not quite so obvious what the filmmakers were going for.

I haven’t had a chance to watch Chris Morris’ The Day Shall Come (IFC Films), which stars Anna Kendrick as an FBI agent who must go to great lengths to catch Moses Al Shabaz (Marchánt Davis), a Miami street preacher who wants to overthrow the US government who gets the backing of a Middle Eastern terrorist organization. And apparently, it’s a comedy? Okay, then.s

The last vestiges of MoviePass is their sole movie production, Bryan A. Miller’s 10 Minutes Gone (Lionsgate), an action-thriller starring Bruce Willis as crime-boss Rex, who hires Michael Chiklis’s Frank to lead a crew on as jewel heist, but when things go wrong and Frank wakes up with no memory of what happened (and no jewels), he must solve that before Rex has him killed. It will open in select cities but probably will be seen by most on Video On Demand.

I was kind of hoping I’d have a chance to see Fatih Akin’s new film The Golden Glove (Strand Releasing) as I’ve been a fan of the filmmaker for some time, but no such luck. This tells the story of notorious German serial killer Fritz Honka who terrorized Hamburg’s red light district – I’ve actually been there!!! – in the ‘70s, frequenting the “Golden Glove” bar and chasing after lonely women… and presumably killing them… cause he’s a serial killer. It’s opening at the IFC Center and presumably somewhere in L.A. as well?

Gilles Lelouch’s French comedy Sink or Swim (Level Film) stars Mathieu Amalric as one of a group of 40-something men who decide to form their pool’s first-ever all-male synchronized swimming team.

Samantha Buck & Marie Schlingmann’s Sister Aimee (1091/Obscured Pictures) stars Anna Margaret Hollyman as the title character, America’s most famous evangelist who is fed up with her success, so she goes on a wild trip to the Mexican border with her lover. It opens in select theaters Friday and will On Demand next Tuesday.

Other films out this week in select cities (and On Demand) include Matthew Currie Ross’ The Curse of Buckout Road (Vertical/TriMuse Entertaiinment), starring Evan Ross, Henry Czerny and more. It takes place on New York State’s “most haunted road.” It should not be confuse with the Venezuelan thriller The Vampire of the Lake (Uncork’d Pictures/Dark Star Pictures), which only opens at L.A.’s Laemmle Glendale on Friday.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

This weekend, the Metrograph will begin screening a restored 35mm print of Alain Corneau’s 1979 film Série Noir, which adapts a Jim Thompson novel for the screen. Welcome To Metrograph: Redux will screen Antonioni’s Le Amiche (1955) a few times over the weekend and Pierre Schoendoerff’s documentary The Anderson Platoon (1967), neither which I’ve seen or know much about. The series will also screen the 1955 film Artists and Models, starring Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, s and Fassbinder’s 1974 film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, two movies which I ALSO have never seen. (I’m more likely to see the former.) Late Nites at Metrograph will show David Lynch’s 2001 film Mulholland Drive, which is actually a rather boring choice for the usually innovative series. (Heck, I can go see that at the New Beverly one the one day they’re not showing Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood if I lived in L.A..) On the other hand, my favorite ongoing Metrograph series Playtime: Family Matinees will screen the 1979 film The Black Stallion this weekend, and that’s another movie I have never seen.

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE BROOKLYN (NYC)

Since I’m sort of back on schedule, although tonight’s “Weird Wednesday” Tank Girlis already sold out. You can still get tickets for the weekend screenings of Joel Schumacher’s 1987 film The Lost Boys on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Claude Chabrol’s The Cérémonie from 1995 will screen on Saturday as part of “Cutting Class: Films Inspired by Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite” – wait, shouldn’t that be the other way around? Oh, I guess maybe the programming was inspired by seeing Parasite, which I haven’t seen yet. Buster Keaton’s 1923 film Our Hospitality will screen on Sunday with “live theater organ accompaniment” – what is this? The Film Forum? Kidding… Monday night screenings include Mark Wahlberg’s 1996 film Fear and (separately Millennium Actress (2002), the latter part of the “Anime-Zing” series. Next week’s “Terror Tuesday” is Tony Scott’s The Hunger from 1983, but earlier is a 4k restoration of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Joseph Losey’s The Servant from 1963 will also play that night, as a movie that inspired Bong Joon-ho vs. the other way around. Next week’s Weird Wednesday is Hulk Hogan’s 1989 movie No Holds Barred, which is not sold out… yet.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Although Robert Altman’s Nashville will end on Thursday, the Film Forum will begin a week-long run of a 4k restoration of Fritz Lang’s Indian epic with the two parts, The Tiger of Eschnapor and The Indian Tomb, both from 1959 shown with separate admission fees rather than as a double feature. (Sad trombone.) The movie was originally shown in the U.S. in an edited (almost cut in half) version, so this is a rare chance to see the full movie on the big screen starting Friday. This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is appropriately Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s beloved 1982 fantasy film The Dark Crystal.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Although the Hulu(ween) Theater is being taken over by Beyond Fest (see above) much of this week and next, there’s a few repertory screenings including a 30th Anniversary screenings of Killer Crocodile and Luigi Cozzi’s 1989 film Paganini Horror on Friday and a 10th anniversary screening of Karyn Kusama’s Jennifer’s Body (with Kusama AND Megan Fox in person!) on Sunday. They’re also showing a screening of Al Adamson’s 1971 film Dracula Vs Frankenstein on Sunday.

AERO (LA):

A bunch of non-rep stuff going on this week but on Saturday, they’ll screen a new 35mm print of Joan Tewkesbury’s 1979 directorial debutOld Boyfriends with Tewkesbury, stars Talia Shire and Keith Carradine in person! Sunday is the monthly “The Style of Sin: Pre-Code Film” series with a Marlene Dietrich double feature of 1930’s Morocco and the 1932 film Shanghai Express, both directed by her frequent collaborator Josef Von Sternberg. On Sunday night is a screening of Easy Rider (1969) in tribute to the late Peter Fonda. On Tuesday is a matinee screening of Fritz Lang’s 1931 film M, starring Peter Lorre, as part of “Tuesdays with Lorre,” free to Cinematheque members.

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

FilmLinc is probably going to be pretty busy this week with the New York Film Festival starting Friday (see above), but it includes a few repertory screenings that I’ll try to mention. This weekend, they’re premiering a new restoration of Luis Buñuel’s 1930 film L’age d’or on Sunday as well as a new restoration of his 1950 film Los Olvidados. Béla Tarr’s 1994 film Sátántángo will also premiere in a new restoration on Sunday. On Tuesday, there’s a new restoration of Valerio Zurlini’s Le Professeur, while on Monday will screen new restorations of Three Short Films by Sergei Parajanov.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Weekend Classics: Staff Picks Summer 2019 is Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book (2006), starring Carice van Houten from Game of Thrones, picked by “Carlos” in a rare 35mm print! Waverly Midnights: Staff Picks Summer 2019 is George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), a great choice by “Tashika.” Late Night Favorites: Summer 2019 ends with something new that hasn’t been shown all summer… the 1986 film Critters, chosen by “Shane”!

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

“See It Big! Ghost Stories” continues this weekend with The Innocents (1961), which inspired Alejandro Amenabar’s 2001 film The Others, and the Japanese thriller Empire of Passion (1978).Also starting Friday is “Five by Forsyth,” as in Bill Forsyth, showing five movies including his 1979 debut That Sinking Feeling, as well as Comfort and Joy (’84), Breaking In (’89), Local Hero(’83) and Housekeeping (’87). On Saturday night, MOMI is also screening William Peter Blatty’s 1980 debut The Ninth Configurationas part of its ongong “Disreputable Cinema” series.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Sadly, “Laws of Desire: The Films of Antonio Banderas” ends on Thursday, but it will end with a screening of Steven Soderbergh’s new movie, The Laundromat as it opens theatrically… at the IFC Center further downtown. (Waugh Waugh….)

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

Friday night’s midnight offering is the ever-popular Anime Vampire Hunter Dfrom 1985.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

On Wednesday night, there’s a special screening of the doc The Blank Generation (1976) about the New York new wave/pun scene with director Amos Poe doing a QnA afterwards. (The movie is also screening on Saturday sans QnA.) On Friday, they’re screening Susan Seidelman’s 1983 punk movie Smithereens. Otherwise, it’s all Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. What the holy fuck?

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Still showing Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood most of the time so still relegated to the bottom of the repertory section ‘cause IT ISN’T REPERTORY! But at least October is looking more promising for the New Bev to get back on track. We’ll see. The New Bev is showing the 1949 Burt Lancast film Criss Crossas a Wednesday matinee and one of my most beloved Disney movies ever That Darn Cat! (1965) over the weekend as its “Kiddee Matinee” but otherwise, it’s all Tarantino all the time. (Kill Bill: Volume 1 is the Saturday midnight offering.)

STREAMING AND CABLE

Pretty excited to hear that Jim Mickle, who directed Stakeland and Cold in July has a new movie on Netflix called IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON – part of Netflix’s “Netflix and Chills” series (har har). This one stars Boyd Holbrook from Logan as Philadelphia police officer Thomas Lockhart, who begins tracking a serial killer who keeps reappearing every nine years, his murders defying any scientific explanation. I haven’t seen it yet, but it also stars Michael C. Hall from Dexter and Cleopatra Coleman.

Apparently, Gwyneth Paltrow is in a new series called The Politician, but I know nothing about it, except that it’s Ryan Murphy’s first series for Netflix. Sorry!

I don’t have Shudder, so I can’t really say much about its programming, although this week, it will debut its new anthology series based on the George Romero anthology movie Creepshow, which might be a reason for me to subscribe. We’ll see.

Next week, it’s Joaquin Phoenix as Joker, a movie I’ve yet to be invited to see, as of this writing. Sad clown face…

#WhatToWatchThisWeekend Movies Reviews Abominable FirstLove Judy repertory streaming

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coin-river-blog · 6 years ago

Link

The new platform, intended to improve financial services related to trade finance, has already successfully put an inter-bank letter of credit on a blockchain.

On December 29 the China Banking Association (CBA) announced the launch of a new blockchain-powered system dubbed "the China Trade Finance Inter-Bank Trading Blockchain Platform."

The new platform is intended to improve activities related to trade finance, keep the Chinese banking industry at the forefront of the developing industry, and control financial risks.

According to the announcement, the new platform is being rolled out for live use after several pilot programs tested whether the new platform can properly function.

To date, at least 10 major Chinese banks – including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, and the China Construction Bank – have signed up to use the new platform and completed the first two network tests. According to the announcement, the platform has been used to complete at least one "inter-bank domestic letter of credit chain" between Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Merchants Bank.

Fang Xiao, vice president and head of industrial and commercial finance at HSBC China was quoted as saying, "The establishment of this inter-bank platform can be described as extraordinary, opening up barriers between different banks and realizing the interflow of information flow."

The Chinese banking sector has been experimenting with blockchain technology for some time now. In March 2017, China's Ganzhou Bank announced the implementation of a blockchain-powered billing platform intended to "increase reliability and speed of transactions for financial services within the country." Additionally, in July 2018, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was seeking a patent for a blockchain-backed system that could be used to improve the process of exchanging financial assets.

Translations by Google.

Nathan Graham is a full-time staff writer for ETHNews. He lives in Sparks, Nevada, with his wife, Beth, and dog, Kyia. Nathan has a passion for new technology, grant writing, and short stories. He spends his time rafting the American River, playing video games, and writing.

ETHNews is committed to its Editorial Policy

Like what you read? Follow us on Twitter @ETHNews_ to receive the latest China Banking Association, China Trade Finance Inter-Bank Trading Blockchain Platform or other Ethereum business and finance news.

China Banking Association

China Trade Finance Inter-Bank Trading Blockchain Platform

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

Agricultural Bank of China

China Construction Bank

HSBC Group

Fang Xiao

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mst3kproject · 8 years ago

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Reptilicus

I defy you to find something in this movie that doesn't qualify it for MST3K. Giant lizardy monster? Check. A musical number that has nothing to do with the plot? We have that. Actors who appear to be dubbed despite also appearing to speak English? The entire cast! Black and white footage tinted blue in an effort to make it look like it belongs in a colour movie? You betcha! Wooden acting? Beakers of kool-aid standing in for SCIENCE? Foreigners pretending to be Americans? Toy boats? Yep, Reptilicus has it all, wrapped up in a bright technicolour package by our old friend, American International Pictures!

It seems tailor-made for the show, and Joel apparently agrees. I wrote most of this review before I found out that Reptilicus was slated to be the Season 11 debut, and now I’m looking forward to seeing how many of my predictions here come true when the episode hits Netflix on Friday.

SPOILERS: none of them! Not a damned one!

Copper miners on the tundra of Lapland discover a piece of a frozen prehistoric monster in the arctic permafrost (never mind that the scene was shot on a nice spring day in the woods somewhere). A guy named Sven is charged with bringing the find back to civilized parts for study. I hope you like Sven, because he's going to keep hanging around for the entire movie, and apparently possesses the same all-purpose security clearance as a Japanese child. He's still in town when the chunk of monster thaws out and begins to regenerate. Ultimately the regrown beast escapes its tank at the Copenhagen Aquarium and goes on a cartoon-people-devouring, scale-model-smashing rampage. Because what else is a prehistoric lizard monster going to do with its spare time?

Yep, that's the quality of effects we're talking about here. I like the windows that appear to be drawn on with crayon.

Being as the movie is set in Denmark, the sign on the building where the monster parts are being kept says AKVARIUM. I don't know why, but my friends and I used to find that outrageously funny. Every time it appeared on screen we would all shout AKVARIUM! in obnoxious faux-German mad scientist voices. Of course, that was years ago. We're now thirty-somethings with mortgages, children, and assorted professional qualifications – but I bet if we all got back together and watched this movie, it would be exactly the same. AKVARIUM!

Had the MST3K of the 90s ever seen fit to tackle Reptilicus, I'm pretty sure they would have made some kind of running joke about the AKVARIUM. I can also imagine them asking Reptilicus if he'd like some coffee with that Danish, the two monsters taking turns on the hexfield to offer competing stories of why Gamera vs Reptilicus fell through, and Dr. Forrester and Frank putting together a 'Visit Beautiful Deep Thirteen' campaign – with or without a lounge act.

It almost feels kind of unfair to attempt any actual analysis of this movie. Analysis is for movies that have higher ambitions, and Reptilicus really does not. If I squinted hard enough I might be able to pull something about scientific over-reach or cooperation between nations out of the mess, but whatever I came up with would be sort of a Last Minute 11th Grade King Lear Essay, made mostly out of coffee and bullshit. All Reptilicus wants is for the audience to have a good time (and maybe to visit Copenhagen), and it does accomplish that even if not quite in the way it wants to.

Rather than talking about what Reptilicus fails at (and believe me, it fails at quite a bit), then, let's talk about how it succeeds. What we really have here is a very fine example of how having something fun to look at can go a long way towards saving a lousy movie.

When you get right down to it, just about everything in Reptilicus is bad. The plot is contrived and full of holes – why do we keep Sven around when by all rights he should be back in the arctic doing his damn job instead of hanging around in Copenhagen? How stupid is just about everybody at the AKVARIUM to let the tail thaw out? Could they really not come up with a better way to suggest drugging the monster than the old trope about 'somebody offhandedly says I wish we could do Thing and somebody else goes why not'? How does General Grayson keep forgetting about the monster's regenerative powers so that he starts shooting at it again?

The acting is terrible. Apparently there's a reason for this – the Danish actors who starred in the production didn't speak any English and had no idea what their lines meant! That's why everything had to be dubbed over later, which means each performance in Reptilicus is a collaboration between two un-talented actors who were truly less than the sum of their parts. Worst of all is Carl Ottosen as General Grayson and the uncredited guy doing his voice. Ottosen almost always looks like he's not entirely sure what he's reacting to, and voiceover guy has only two modes: grouchy grump and solemn declaration. Sometimes he manages to do both at the same time. I hate to say it, but the best actor in the movie is probably Dirch Passer as Petersen the Comic Relief Janitor, who has a passable sense of physical comedy. He almost manages to sell his reactions to things like the electric eel and the microscopic view of his sandwich, even when the jokes themselves aren't particularly funny.

The characters don't have much to them. Sven is a terrible main character, without charisma or recognizable personality or even any motivation. He sticks around for the whole movie and spends most of it just standing there watching other people do stuff. Sometimes he answers phones or acts as a chauffer. He comes across less as the movie’s hero and more as its administrative assistant. Grayson's just there to shout orders and complain, but he's still closer to being a proper protagonist than Sven – maybe this is why they have him narrate a few scenes, in an attempt to correct this bizarre oversight. The professor's two horny daughters never amount to much, and Passer's comedy can't quite save Petersen from being the character everybody most wants to see die (he does not, but at least he's out of the story once the rampage begins). The Scientists are Movie Scientists, too interested in what they might learn to think about things like consequences and personal safety.

The effects are the opposite of convincing, always drawing attention to themselves as effects rather than contributing to the story. I've seen some ridiculous movie monsters, but Reptilicus himself (everybody in the movie refers to the creature as male) is right up there in the top ten. He looks something like a very silly Chinese dragon – a long, skinny, snakelike beast with a forked tongue, a mane of ratty fur down his back, tiny useless legs, and a pair of small wings that are, tragically, never used. Apparently a scene of Reptilicus flying was filmed, but was deemed ‘too unbelievable’ and cut from the film. The monster's acid-spitting consists of squiggles of green goo that resemble radioactive silly string. When he eats a farmer, it is represented by an animated cutout of the man in Reptilicus' mouth.

Okay, so I did just talk about how the movie fails, and I could keep doing so for some time. The comic relief isn't funny. The movie stops for a moment to break into a travel ad. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The point is, Reptilicus objectively sucks and if it were shot like a modern disaster film, all gritty and gray and trying for realism, it would be insufferable. Instead, however, it's cartoony and colourful, and while the effects aren't convincing they're always at least creative. The sets always look like sets, and the models always look like models, but they're elaborate and inspired. Everything sucks, but movie are a visual medium, so if it's fun to watch the viewers will forgive all kinds of sins.

It's also a perfect example of an important bit of bad movie truth: you can't make a bad movie on purpose, not the good kind of bad movie. People can try, but they come up with stuff like The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, which I couldn't even watch all the way through. A truly enjoyable bad movie is one that's trying hard to be a good movie and fails in just the right sort of ways – an intentional bad movie is the equivalent of a belabored explanation of a punch line that wasn’t that funny to begin with. The thing that makes Reptilicus so much fun is the same spark that animates Teenagers from Outer Space, or Starcrash, or even Troll 2 – its sincerity.

Reptilicus is one of the most utterly unapologetic movies I've ever watched. We've all seen movies that seem a bit embarrassed by themselves – remember Being from Another Planet, which wishy-washily tried to be a Serious Movie about Serious People instead of just embracing the fact that it was about a fucking space mummy? Reptilicus is the opposite of that. It's not ashamed of anything, even in the places where by all rights it should be. Its monster is an immobile puppet in a scale model, but the shots linger lovingly on every shoddy detail. Peterson the Comic Relief Janitor ought to be painful, but the script is so earnest that he somehow becomes a meta-joke: the very fact that he's not funny is itself funny. Somebody thought the movie could be used to sell Copenhagen as a tourist destination, so they have the characters tour the city and talk about what a great time they're having. The movie never gives less than its all to anything it puts on the screen.

So yeah, I love Reptilicus. It's never boring and it’s frequently laugh-out-loud funny, and there's nothing in it that's either offensive or scary. There are much worse ways to waste eighty minutes of your life.

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #reptilicus #60s

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hello-there · 6 days ago

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#tumblr communities #communities

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uomo-accattivante · 8 years ago

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Kirk Kerkorian was the man of the hour at the premiere of the “The Promise.”

The late businessman, who died in 2015, invested $100 million to bring the Armenian Genocide epic to the big screen after other productions weren’t able to escape what’s been dubbed the “denialist lobby.”

Director Terry George, who also dealt with the topic of genocide in the Oscar-nominated “Hotel Rwanda,” said the cast and crew were cautious about staying under the radar during filming.

“I knew when it was explained to me who was funding this and what the background was, I knew we were on firm ground with Kirk Kerkorian’s foundation and that this was a serious attempt to tell the story,” he said. “Far from reservations; I was invigorated by that. We had the resources and the drive to do it.”

The premiere, held on Wednesday night at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre, also brought out stars Christian Bale, Charlotte Le Bon, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Angela Sarafyan, James Cromwell, and Marwan Kenzari. Oscar Isaac wasn’t in attendance as he was getting ready to welcome his first child with girlfriend Elvira Lind.

Cromwell said Hollywood has been hesitant to tackle the politically fraught subject for more than 100 years. Turkey continues to deny that 1.5 million Armenians were systematically exterminated in 1915 at the order of the Ottoman empire.

“There was an extraordinary man, Kirk Kerkorian, who knew this industry and who knew that a film about the Armenian Genocide would never be made,” he said. “Finally at the end of his life, he said, ‘I will pony up $100 million, we will make this film.’ And even with Terry as director, $100 million, and a script, they still could not sell this picture to Hollywood. Mike Medavoy stepped up, but for the rest of Hollywood, ‘no,’ because they didn’t want to be associated with something they thought was going to go in the toilet or cause a lot of ire with any other project they had that might go Turkey, might be denied the Turkish market.”

The veteran actor also noted that the United States’ refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide reflects a systematic problem.

“For whatever reason, this community flinched. This country flinches in its responsibility for the devastation of Syria and Yemen and Libya and Iraq and Afghanistan and Somalia and the Sudan and everywhere,” he added. “If we do not acknowledge our responsibility for events like this, our history, then we are doomed to repeat them, which is what we’re doing.”

President Barack Obama reneged on his 2008 campaign pledge that said, “As President, I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, “The Promise’s” executive music consultant, who has long advocated for genocide recognition, said Obama’s broken promise was “extremely disappointing.”

“It was very disappointing that he would cow to political capital like that having to do with Turkey’s pressure being a NATO ally,” he said. “As we can see, [Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan is a madman and Turkey needs the U.S. more than the U.S. needs Turkey.”

Cromwell said there’s a higher chance of recognition under President Donald Trump “because he’s insane.”

“We have elected an insane man as president of the United States and he has appointed people who are, in my mind, spiritually dead to run the country, so now the American people can look at their government and say it does not work,” he said. “We must take it back. It’s called we the people, it’s not called we the 1%. It’s not we industrialists. It’s we the people.”

According to Cromwell, Americans will be moved to take to the streets to demand justice and picket the Turkish embassy until the genocide is recognized and restitutions are paid.

“The Promise” has already been forced to surmount several obstacles. When the film world-premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last September, its IMDb page received a flood of negative ratings.

“When we were at the Toronto International Film Festival at its original premiere, this is the L.A. premiere, but that was the first time it was seen and only a theater full of people saw it,” Tankian said. “We had tens of thousands of 0 votes stemming from Anatolia on IMDb so there was a campaign to try to discredit the film. I thought ‘that’s really ridiculous.’ This is a film — it’s media, it’s cultural. To use it as a political weapon in that sense is unfair. But that’s good, that means the denialists are afraid and we want them to be afraid.”

Eric Esrailian, one of the film’s producers, who set up Survival Pictures with Kerkorian to finance the film, said before the movie’s screening that “storytelling allows us to heal in many ways. After 102 years of denial and lies, the healing begins tonight.”

According to reps, all of the profits from the film will be donated to charity, including George Clooney and John Prendergast’s non-profit The Sentry.

“The Promise” centers on a love triangle between an Armenian medical student (Isaac), a renowned American journalist (Bale), and an Armenian woman (Charlotte Le Bon).

Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, who wrote a song for the film, said being swept away by the drama will help audiences grasp the powerful message.

“I went to school in the U.S. and I wasn’t taught about the Armenian or Greek genocide in history class,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s due in part to the denial of it or what it is. It’s one of those things where it’s a story that needs to be told. And I think it needs to be told and retold. … We need to at some point as human beings preempt this from happening. Genocide is occurring right now on this planet. It’s not something of the past, it’s something unfortunately of now, and unfortunately probably will be of the future.”

Other notable guests included Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Don Cheadle, Kim Kardashian West, Kourtney Kardashian, and Dean Cain, who are part of the #KeepThePromise social impact campaign. Netflix COO Ted Sarandos also attended the event, along with new Paramount Chairman/CEO Jim Gianopulos, who was spotted chatting with Orlando Bloom at the after-party at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Bloom was later joined by Nina Dobrev. Guests dined on fish and chips, avocado toast, chicken sliders, and other hors d’oeuvres at the event.

Open Road’s “The Promise” hits theaters on April 21.

###

Looks like Oscar and Elvira are ready to have that baby. Good luck to them!

#oscar isaac #christian bale #charlotte le bon #the promise #james cromwell #premiere #tcl chinese theatre #kirk kerkorian #terry george #eric esrailian #survival pictures #variety #chris cornell #serj tankian #armenian genocide

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