#predacinemateca

[i-gwarth]

watching iwtv2 and I sure hope there's no overwhelmingly insane Armand reveals forthcoming that I'm in no way prepared for

[i-gwarth]

this this this this

*hitting you with a stick* no benoit blanc movies should not interact. they should not lead up to something. you need to detox from the marvel/sherlock bbc poisoning. they should be completely independent movies (maybe w some cameos/little references for fun) and go on for as long as there are stories rian johnson wants to tell in this universe. i do not want an overarching plot i do not want a team up i dont want a benoit-focused prequel i want some good old fashioned episodic murder mysteries that have nothing to do with each other!!!!!!!!!!! also rian johnson has literally said he's not gonna do a prequel and he wants the movies to all stand on their own

[i-gwarth]

oh this was phenomenal

"The rules are shades of grey when you don't do as you say"

This? THIS, IN WINTER 2023-2024? An animated show cutting right down to the core hypocrisy of liberal institutionalism? Swinging for the throat of a rules-based order?? Now, of all times?

Are you fucking kidding me?? This is so perfect it makes me think it's divinely ordained. They couldn't have hit the target any better in a million years.

Maybe this isn't a surprise to everyone. I joined this bandwagon late in the process. I never followed the show's creator or the development process prior to NDA's shutting down character details or any indicators of where the narrative might go. I didn't know what to expect or what Viviene Medrano thinks about things.

Mainly I saw a very pretty show with a very blatant and unique tension at its core: How can the concept of redemption (or even any definition of sin) exist as a legitimate thing under authority of a Heaven that sanctions regular, coordinated genocide? Who writes these rules, anyway? How aware are they of what's going on? How real are the rules at all?

Turns out Hazbin Hotel chose the most compelling answer it possibly could: the rules are as real as everything else - they're a fake pretend make-believe of accountability and righteousness designed to sanitize realpolitik, prevent the upending of the existing order and keep the people already at the top at the top. You know, just like in real life.

Just like how the global system of international law can condemn one violent genocidal assault from a fascist regime but condone another, even longer-lasting one just a few parallels away.

This thing! It's just like that other thing!!

[i-gwarth]

lmao get enthroned idiot 😭

Well that was a pretty special ending. Throughout his appearances in the comics, Loki has been one of those characters that were obnoxiously brought back to life after being killed, again and again, at neauseam.

What the comics did differently in his case was that they made him aware of it. Of how he caused the death of his own family and his whole world, and how he didn't ultimately amount to much of anything but another megalomaniac. They gave him that perspective on his past.

It's like stepping outside of his own narrative, and starting to notice the little themes and threads tying it all together. Of course he'd be changed by that.

What initially seemed like chaos started looking more like a story.

I love that this series, in its own way, did exactly that. Kinda looking forward to seeing how other MCU writers will either completely ignore or backtrack on this very profound change of character.

[i-gwarth]

X-men 97: Thoughts I had on Episode 5 aka The One Where Everything Goes Wrong

Spoilers beyond.

Am I grasping at straws when I feel a very distinct thematic buildup in this series? It started out almost like the Conclusion of History (appropriate, since it's building from the Actual Conclusion of the old show), and then proceeded to dismantle that notion.

It's taking place in the 90s. You see it in the clothing, the music, the aesthetics, but it's also glimpsed in a geopolitical parallelism. This story takes place inbetween the previous Grand Narrative of the Cold War and any new one that might arise; a Global Intermission, much like how we remember the 90s today (not that this is how they were, but this is how they are remembered. Much like how this show sells itself as "not the old xmen show as it was, but as you recall it").

Mutants and genoism are the topics of the day but they don't seem to be galvanizing world politics in the same sense as the event that broke the IRL intermission (9/11). You see efforts being made to turn genoism into the new global narrative via a rhetoric of "survival of the species" but people don't seem to be buying into it. There is just enough restraint that the intermission holds. Hell, it even looks like the world might avoid another destructive Grand Narrative - UN regulatory bodies are legislating Sentinels out of existence, and those things were originally funded by the US government. There's almost a glimpse of an attainable peace. Dialogue. Integration. The rejection of Magneto's absolutism and the embrace of Xavier's coexistence-and-compromise.

Which makes this episode a straight up 9/11 parallel for its own setting.

[i-gwarth]

This bit was probably my favorite part of Andor. Illustrative of the leftist and antifascist tendency to fragment over ideological differences instead of uniting over common purposes. A stark reminder of how some people sound

What are you?

Part 2

[i-gwarth]

Carnival Row: closing thoughts

Carnival Row is like a pressure point in my heart. Everything about its aesthetics, its world and its characters appeals to me. It feels like it was made specifically and exclusively for me.

And yet I can't say that it's perfect. It frequently frustrates me. It feels like it has a limited vision, a palette of what is possible that is confined by the views of its writers, and more broadly, perhaps the shared trauma of our common history. It can only see things in a certain way.

And to some, that way will be both-sides-y, centrist, insufficiently radical. Offensive, even. It insists on "get along" politics. To some extent I share the frustration. The times we live in call for radical art, for pushing the envelope. A more leftist show would have been closer to perfect for me; one that showed, perhaps, an third path to peace, less apocalyptic than a Stalinist takeover and less agonizingly slow than incremental liberal electoralism.

But... you know... who the fuck has ever made the perfect TV show? Has there ever been a perfect piece of art, or a fully comprehensive political take? If anyone tries to tell you that such a thing exists, they're selling a religion.

And you know what's funny? The show knows that. It's not trying to be a political thesis, or to offer a blueprint for the future. It's a fucking TV show; it's at best trying to ask questions and show why the wrong answers are wrong. An open-ended, "I-guess-we'll-see-what-the-future-holds" type ending is exactly what you do when you know you don't have all the answers.

Ultimately I think the people who made Carnival Row tried their best. Within their limitations, whether they were aware of them or not, they made something genuine. Something earnest. Sometimes, even stupidly earnest. It wasn't the best thing since sliced bread.

But fuck it if it won't stick with me, me specifically, for years. It reached one person. I fucking loved it.

[i-gwarth]

Oh, thank fuck! At least the new season of Loki is phenomenal

[i-gwarth]

So... G.I. Joe, huh?

[i-gwarth]

Watching Star Wars with @undergroundwubwubmaster gave me a very special feeling because she usually doesn't go for the pew pew laser sword space movie.

The Mandalorian was a very *safe* SW show, using all the tried-and-tested tropes of westerns and samurai movies. But it was enjoyable and I especially liked Gina Carano's performance and Kuill. I hope that teaser at the end of Episode 6 means we'll get to see more of Ming Na Wen as well because I love her.

I'm gonna see the Rise of Skywalker on Tuesday and I hear it's a shitshow. Pray for me

Finished watching The Mandalorian with @i-gwarth​ and i may or may not have had a minor meltdown during episode 8. Minor Mandalorian Spoilers - I really don’t like face reveals you guys. Completely personal opinion, but a strong one. I have never liked them. IMO if a character is introduced with the idea of coverage being important to them, it should be kept like that. Or at least revealed via in a way that furthers the plot if you must, not in a cheapo “yes this is solely for the audience” way. Big no.

This is though, afterall, a personal opinion, so i wont go into detail. Ive understood, most viewers enjoyed the series finale and im glad about that. It was enjoyable enough. We will see about the second season.

[i-gwarth]

Just got done watching the 1983 movie Danton and...

You know, I'm all for having a movie poster that matches the atmosphere of the movie. This film struck me as rather grim and cynical. It's about a fairly grim period of history after all. The original poster is over-the-top, presenting a controversial historical figure as something of a saint, complete with a halo

Maybe it's okay to take issue with that, and choose something a bit less idealistic for the Bluray re-release. But...

There is such a thing as overegging your pudding

[i-gwarth]

8 shows to get to know me

Thank you for the tag, @ruiniel!

Code Geass: the only good and therefore the best anime😊I come back to this show every once in a while and it still holds up. It knows exactly what it is (campy melodrama with robots and politics) and it's gracefully ungraceful about it. The confidence with which this show sets fire to itself only to become what it was always meant to be is unparalleled.

The Expanse: found out about this show years before it started airing, from a list of "upcoming space opera shows", because I was desperate to see anything new in that genre. Out of all the shows on that list, it ran the longest. It's a sea-change in how sci-fi tv is made, and its influence will be as persistent and ubiquitous as that of Star Trek. You can already see it in shows that came out after it, like Halo, which mixed a good dollop of Expanse's themes into its boring space gunman setting and emerged much improved for it.

Chris Colorado: the Franco-Canadian dystopian post-apocalyptic sci-fi show that I and only I remember. Not the most coherent plot but a world and characters that blew me away as a kid and a soundtrack that fundamentally changed me as a person. Ars longa, vita brevis!

Fringe: I haven't seen this one in a while but the way it approached the often-trite and overdone mad scientist archetype stuck with me. Fringe has a lot of interesting takes on the role of science in helping the world, and the extent to which there things that would be best left unknown.

Samurai Jack: a colossal triumph of artistry and storytelling.

Carnival Row: this show was scientifically engineered in a lab and laser-targeted specifically for me. It for me. It has everything I love: he devastating collision between the fantastical and the mundane, the fundamental certainty that people are inescapably people, and the wonderful setting which openly and transparently parallels our own world to illustrate how those people are inevitably doomed to fuck up. Unless we get a Dishonored TV show (likes to charge reblogs to cast) this is as close as we're ever likely to get to "Preda: the TV show"

Rings of Power: listen - this is the "get to know me" list, not the "best shows" or the "favorites" list. And fundamental to my opinion of Tolkien's works is the belief that fanfiction is the future of any further adaptations of the legendarium. A remake of the LOTR/Hobbit films would be an inevitable flop, and an adaptation of the Silmarillion itself is unlikely to ever happen. But high-budget fanfiction that tries to stay true to the themes and spirit of the books while also adding on original elements or making minor changes to the setting or events? That's where the future lies. That's what Shadow of Mordor was, and that's also what Rings of Power is. I don't expect everyone to like it, but does happen to appeal to me in more ways than it irritates me.

Lovecraft Country: I read the book, then mere days later I heard it's getting adapted to TV and saw the cast. This show *also* changes a lot of the fundamental aspects of the source material while staying true to the themes and spirit, and I think it's a beautiful thing. The fact that my favorite character, Montrose, was played by the legendary Michael K Williams in one of his last roles before his death is something that makes me very emotional whenever I think about it.

Honorable mentions: The Terror and Chernobyl are sensational shows, Shadow and Bone made me excited to read the books and Foundation is #3 on the list of "very good adaptations that change a lot of details while staying true to the yadda yadda"; note that anything with Jared Harris in it will at least get me to take a look. The man is like a magic ingredient for making good TV.

tagging (only if they want to participate) @wild-hyacinths, @just-another-leaf-in-the-wind, @theotherwesley, @unfriends-forever and @whosamawhatsit

[i-gwarth]

Troll Bridge, based on Terry Pratchett’s story of the same name, is excellent in all of the ways, all at once!

[i-gwarth]

Tonight I saw Space Sweepers with @undergroundwubwubmaster

Good film! Very entertaining and visually fun, and a great homage to the “Space idiots in space” genre pioneered by Cowboy Bebop. I’m a huge fan of space opera and weird sci-fi, and this one especially had a bunch of fun ideas (as well as things to say about oily billionaries setting up space colonies by themselves).

It wasn’t perfect, and it took me a bit to get into the groove of it (so much so that watching the opening again helped a lot) but in total this is an excellently made film, full of charm and especially heart. And that heart is named Bubs. I love Bubs and would do anything for her.

I’m glad that we’re getting to see a bunch of these cool new asian sci-fi films brought to the attention of Western audiences. In 2019 I watched The Wandering Earth and it was a similarly wacky and entertaining space adventure. These are great to see since western sci fi is going to the realisting/grimdark route these days :/ I don’t have anything against James McProtomolecule Holden and his cosmic cold war shenanigans, but sometimes I also want to see a sassy robot harpoon a capitalist spaceship while wearing a pink shirt, u know?

PS: @theotherwesley​ pls help I need your knowledge I need your wisdom

[i-gwarth]

Recently I have managed to enter into an unbreakable mystical contract with @undergroundwubwubmaster to watch together the best anime series ever created, Code Geass

This is going well because this series is famously subtle, well-acted and full of people who act with reason and logic in ways that never have any unintended consequences to the tune of hundreds of casualties. We are both having a very chill time

[i-gwarth]

So uhhh

Basically

How do I say this...

I’m uhhm...

I’m fucking DYING!??!?!

HOLY SHIT I LIVE FOR THIS!???!!!