#ryan murphy still needs to be stopped tho

[tea-with-evan-and-me]

Omg people need to chill the fuck out and stop demanding apologies from Evan as tho he were actually JD, this is ridiculous. All he did was accept a role, he’s not Ryan Murphy or the studios that sought out to make the show. If anyone is going to apologize for traumatizing the families, it really should be Ryan Murphy. He wanted this. He’s not stupid, he knew this could happen. He needs to be the one to release the apology statement. Evan is not the only one to play JD and most likely won’t even be the last.

Yeah, Ryan is definitely the bitch in this instance. He’s had plenty of opportunities to speak up and address the families he claims he tried to contact. The families have gone on Dr. Phil and whatever saying they never heard from anyone on his team. And he should apologize to Evan because now he’s traumatized and when he was trying to be on a ‘I’m trying to do different non-Ryan Murphy related shit’ streak, Ryan just had to call him up and drag him back in to the dark, depressing pits of hell that is Ryan Murphy Productions instead of letting him go to Sicily and be happy filming with Haley on that shitty White Lotus show (I’m sorry, but I don’t like the show or that Ethan character. I feel it’s beneath Evan), but at least Evan would’ve been happy and still cleaning up awards mind you since WL is so popular and now we’ve been robbed of 2 years worth of happy Evan content. You know what, at this point, we’re all owed apologies from Ryan. 😤

you came to the best conclusion at the end; everyone is owed an apology from ryan murphy lmfao

admittedly, i really enjoyed the dahmer series and i don't regret evan taking the role because it has brought him enormous success. but ryan murphy is just a questionable guy, and to be honest who knows if "he" ever reached out to anyone. he's the man in charge, you can't tell me there's nothing he could do to at least appear to try and smooth things over. he just doesn't care because no one is lighting his ass up on social media, just evan. so fuck him.

[wigwurq]

WIG REVIEW: THE PROM

You guys. Remember when just last week week I LOLed at my mom when I told her I had finally watched the lesbian holiday movie (The Happiest Season) and she thought I meant The Prom and I told her (and then you, dear readers!) that it would take me forever to hate watch that. WELL I JUST HATE WATCHED THAT. There is a lot to discuss, you guys. ALSO WIGS.

We begin in “New York City” or the CGI hellscape replication of it. Nothing about this movie is authentic except for maybe NY1′s theater reporter, Frank Dilella at the opening of a fake musical called “Eleanor! The Eleanor Roosevelt Musical!” which is meant to be a hilarious joke (it is not) starring Meryl Streep as Eleanor and James Corden as FDR and JOKE IS ON THEM AND US because why are they in this terrible movie and why the hell am I watching it? Oh right: THE WIGS. YOU GUYS THE WIGS. Meryl, who is truly slumming more in this than any other actor in this garbage also has to endure the very worst wig. SHE DID HAVE AN EVEN WORSE WIG IN MARY POPPINS RETURNS. But here this wig is so very much a bad wig that I struggled for a while wondering if this was going to be a wig within the narrative but no. Sadly, it looks like a castoff from some QVC Liza Minnelli wig collection.

AND EVERYONE LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE DRESSED IN A QVC LIZA MINNELLI NON-HALSTON SEQUIN COLLECTION GHOSTMARE (Liza should probably trademark that tho). I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY SEQUINS OUTSIDE OF DAVID GEST’S GUEST HOUSE. Also, after the fake Eleanor musical opens, Meryl and James retire to “Sardis” or the CGI version of it where they discover that their show got (gasp!) bad reviews. EVERYONE LEAVES IMMEDIATELY except Meryl, James, Andrew Rannells who is another actor/bartender and NICOLE KIDMAN.

SHE IS ALSO WEARING SEQUINS AND HAS A BAD WIG. But we are talking about Nicole Kidman, so the chances of her wearing a bad wig are 110%. I couldn’t honestly tell you what her role is in this other than “another Broadway actress”(?) Her wig is likely the same one that Joanna Lumley wore for 10 seasons as Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous which has in the last decade or so been slowly decaying in a crawlspace somewhere only to reappear on the head of Nicole Kidman in the role of “another Broadway actress” in this movie. Anyway, all these washed up randos decide they need to stop acting and start activist-ing and pin all their hopes on a lesbian in Indiana who wanted to go to the prom and got the whole prom shut down due to smallmindedness. They travel to Indiana in a non-equity Godspell touring bus during which time my husband asked me who designs bus seats and truly: that is a question more profound and interesting than anything you will find in this “film.” But I do have many questions! If these actors have all been on Broadway and Meryl’s character has a few Tonys even, why do they need to bus it to Indiana?!?!

Anyway, over in “Indiana” (all places are actually LA or a set or a CGI hellscape), there is a big community meeting or something which is still all about not having a prom, because the only damn thing that matters in this community is THE PROM. The NYC actors show up and turn the meeting into a musical extravaganza with Meryl and her tragic wig center stage. More questions!! As a theater piece, it would make sense for this whole meeting to suddenly become a musical performance complete with spotlight entrances and sparkle curtains because it is already all fantasy. Ryan Murphy has no interest in creating a more realistic presentation in this new medium and just lets that happen here too? Sure - I guess the actors could have just arrived with all stage cues and crews to make this happen (LOLOL NO THEY COULDN’T) and this is honestly exactly why most stage to screen adaptations rarely work (though to be very fair - I had just about as much interest in seeing this on stage as on TV - negative 1000%). All realism, logic, quality, are not at all what this “movie” is aiming for. JUST SEQUINS! CONSTANT GODDAMNED SEQUINS! 

It should be noted that Kerry Washington plays the conservative PTA mom at the center of canceling prom and bitch got away with the very best wig! Also the big spoiler here is that her daughter is the secret lesbian love of the lesbian she is trying to stop from going to the prom! GASP! Kerry also made really terrible career choices this year between this and Little Fires Everywhere which also involves secret lesbians. 

Also those lesbians have a love song that looks like this - aka that one scene in the loathsome La La Land which was itself completely derivative. There are many (many!) derivative scenes in this movie - a later one on a staircase with Nicole Kidman is a clear nod to that one staircase scene in All That Jazz (RIP ANN REINKING!) This was all done intentionally for us theater nerds but also all the movies it ripped off I also hated so? NO THANK YOU THE PROM. ALSO THE MAIN LESBIAN’S GRANDMOTHER IS PLAYED BY MARY KAY PLACE AND I LOVE MARY KAY PLACE FYI. 

Anyway! The NYC actors start their very ill-advised get-back-the-Prom campaign at......CGI monster truck rally wherein Andrew Rannells wears THIS GODDAMNED COAT. Trying to find any logic or realism in this movie is about as foolhardy as being Andrew Rannells wearing this coat and singing a musical theater song at a CGI monster truck rally in “Indiana.” 

Also! Keegan Michael Key is in this (WHO I LOVE ALWAYS) as the liberal principal who is trying to make prom happen. He also is a HUGE MUSICAL THEATER FAN though that doesn’t actually translate to being gay - it translates to him being obsessed with Meryl Streep who is his favorite stage actress. Sure! It all turns into Keegan Michael Key being a love interest with Meryl Streep which I DID NOT SEE COMING but I would love to watch an actual rom com with the two of them and not whatever this is? THEY HAVE A DATE AT AN APPLEBEES YOU GUYS HOW DID THIS HAPPEN.

At said Applebees (or “Applebees” more accurately because I’ve never seen one that sparkles like this), Keegan has a nice ballad which I couldn’t possibly hum for you now where he sings about the escapism of THEATRE and there is a flashback to him seeing Meryl in a musical called “Swallow the Moon” which is a pretty hilarious title and the whole thing looks exactly like another Liza Minnelli fashion show - this time with maybe a circus theme? At any rate, Meryl’s flashback wig is longer and more of a fashion bob but is still very fretful. 

I would like to take this opportunity to say that although I never saw The Prom musical on Broadway, from the pictures I have seen, Beth Leavel’s wig (in the same role as Meryl) is vastly superior in every way, despite the fact that stage wigs are allowed to be different/inferior as they are viewed from further away and not in bitter bitter closeup. 

Meryl looks great in close-up by the way BUT THAT WIG!!! I couldn’t find a good picture of it, but the hair part (if you can call it that?) is a dangerous ravine of mysteries none of which have anything to do with looking like real hair. MERYL HAS MORE OSCARS THAN ANYONE HOW WAS SHE GIVEN THIS WIG?! HOW!!!!!

Anyway, back to the “plot” of this movie, the PTA somehow agree to having a prom and all the kids go around prom-posaling (which is an awful horrible thing that I’m glad I was never part of) and which truly begs the question: if the kids hadn’t prom-posaled (UGH) to begin with, how did word get out that two lesbians were going and how did this prom get derailed in the first place? WHY AM I ASKING ABOUT PLOT HOLES WHEN THIS ENTIRE THING IS A PLOT HOLE?!?!?! So they have the prom, but it’s all an elaborate and cruel ruse and the real prom is at some hotel and the fake prom only for this one sad lesbian is a really depressing affair in the school gym (THIS PART OF THE MOVIE IS LEGIT HORRIBLE AND SAD). So Nicole Kidman, in the very important role of “another Broadway actress” that definitely needed to exist, decides to tell her to just “razzle dazzle ‘em” (WHICH ABSOLUTELY MEANS NOTHING IN THIS CONTEXT) in a very Fosse inspired (AND INCREDIBLY NIGHTMARE INDUCING) and also very confusing number. Also Andrew Rannells convinces a bunch of teenagers in a mall to like gay people! Mazel!

ALSO TRACEY ULLMAN IS IN THIS MOVIE AND NO ONE TOLD ME AND SHE HAS AN AWFUL WIG! So ok - James Corden, who I normally adore, plays a gay character with an American accent and in conclusion, is very miscast in this role. One of the few things Ryan Murphy has done which I actually liked was the revival of Boys in the Band (the play - I have yet to watch the movie!) And the entire cast was gay men playing gay men. Not sure why he then cast James Corden in this role because it’s not like we’re having a shortage of gay men who can sing? A friend of mine rightly pointed out that this character should have been played by Titus Burgess and VERY YES. Anyway, that’s not what happened and anyway, Tracey Ullman plays his mother who he reconnects with and I’m pretty sure the wig she wears was from her own collection from one of her past sketch shows and though I applaud wig recycling, bitch deserved better.

So yes - all these Broadway actor characters inexplicably are still in Indiana just TRYING TO MAKE THE PROM HAPPEN and Meryl, who somehow has both a celebrity ex husband and a Hamptons house (AGAIN WHY DID SHE TAKE A BUS TO INDIANA) uses both to get the main lesbian a forum on TV but she doesn’t take it and instead makes a singer-songwriter YouTube video which everyone on earth simultaneously watched!!! We are supposed to believe that this random video got 8 million views and she decides to use that leverage to make her own inclusive prom. This is a very lovely idea but again: not based in reality so Keegan is all: girl we need $$ to have a prom and somehow she doesn’t immediately make a go-fund me from all those YouTube views she got and instead all these actors throw down their credit cards to fund The Prom which is really horrifying knowing about real events which will totally make all those actors very unemployed (#2020) and YES I KNOW THIS MOVIE IS THE OPPOSITE OF REALITY BUT STILL.

In the end, ALL OF LIZA MINNELLI’S NON-HALSTON SEQUIN COLLECTION QVC FASHIONS get their own damn prom and even Kerry Washington shows up in the most outrageous sequined number after her daughter finally comes out to her and everyone dances it out and life is reaffirmed and Meryl’s wig IS STILL A PILE OF GARBAGE AS IS THIS MOVIE.

VERDICT: DOESN’T WURQ

[ronan-murphy]

[ & ; * - reece king / homosexual / they/he/him ] isn’t it weird how close { ronan murphy } resembles { reece king }? damn, i heard they are a { twenty-two } year old { undergraduate } and a member of { delta sigma chi } studying { fashion design }. outside of class { ronan } participates in { fashion & theater } and their party anthem is { single ladies } by { beyonce }.

(also that gif is 100000% ronan at graduation walking the stage with high af stiletto heels, tossing glitter and then his Dad just…facepalming.)

but yeah! hey it’s me again, madison ( i play rory the josefine fc) bringing you the actual loml ronan. like this if you’d like to plot and i’ll message you!

So Ronan was born and raised in town. To a cop of a father who fell in love with the mayor’s daughter while she was studying to become a lawyer. His mom’s side of the family is classic rich, snobs, socialite royalty. Grew up as an only child and had two parents who were loving but who were also married to their work as well? Like…his arrival was not planned nor ideal because his Mom was just in her last stage of her law education aka just starting law school. But they made it work and he was also raised by his grandparents who spoiled him freaking ROTTEN.

He’s always craved attention, which makes sense. But yeah, he came into the world a little earlier than everyone anticipated, born two months early as a lil preemie.

Has always been an extra lil ball of energy who just…again…loved to be the center of attention? Would always put on shows and was just…never really a shy kid? Though his grandparents sort of…wanted a break with raising him when they caught him wearing his grandmother’s heels and sporting her expensive Saks 5th avenue make up. And they’re pretty conservative...Basically this caused a riff between his grandparents and mom because they were like… ‘you should punish him so he stops this behavior.’ and instead she was like ‘naw i’m just gonna buy him his own.’ so she took him to buy his very first! item of make up! he chose GLITTER and a bright red lipstick. (tho his mom was like…you’re still too young for lipstick but you can wear it on special occasions)

When he was in elementary school, there was a hot second when ppl considered making fun of him for his fashion choices and the fact that he’d always wear glitter to school. But when Ryan Van Der Wall teased him about his ‘gay boy cooties’ Ronan leaned forward and gave him a big OL smooch and was like, ‘now you got dem gay boy cooties as well!’ so after that everyone left him alone?

Despite being extravagant, little baby Ronan was interested in learning boxing and still does it to this day. He’s real good and could probs go pro if he wanted to.

When he was in fourth grade, his mom died from a horrible drunken car crash and like…his entire world was uprooted. He sort of…shriveled up and closed off into a shell. No longer outgoing and extravagant, instead blended in, tried to lay low and sported hoodies. The blasphemy! Like…he felt like a part of him died with her and he also…for some reason blames himself for this? So it was just him and his Dad…and they were both…two lost boys who couldn’t function without Mom. They didn’t know what to do.

He honestly…stayed like this for all of middle school and was just…severely depressed, anxious and just so freaking lost. There was a point where he was inflicting a lot of self harm upon himself. (Not gonna get into the triggering details because it’s not necessary but it involves his wrists. You…get the idea.)

His Dad never knew how to handle him when he was being…extra and out there? But he definitely didn’t know how to handle him when he was this low and it broke his heart because…this was just…not his son?

In High School he met a new set of friends and one of the girl’s accidentally changed his life in the best possible way when she introduced him to The Rocky Horror Picture Show! Like…he could relate to it so much and like immediately was like…I NEED TO BE FRANK N. FURTER so he slowly found himself again after a few months of these Saturday night performances and with a group of friends who weren’t the rich bitch snobs he was always surrounded by. Ronan really started to blossom and by the second half of Freshman year, he was unintentionally one of the coolest kids at school. Became adopted into the HBIC clique as a freshman, which angered a lot of the guys because he literally hangs with all of the hot girls 24/7 at sleepovers. So he still gets bullied at school but he’s also a boxer so he can handle himself.

So yeah now he’s still doing a lot of reckless shit like losing himself in drugs and alcohol and is just always having a great fucking time. The life of the party who is honestly…almost always the center of attention whether it’s because of his extravagant outfits or just reckless antics….everyone’s always watching him to see what he’ll do next.

He’s also a cam boy/escort which his dad does NOT know about jfc. He works so hard to keep Ronan safe because he’s always drugged up and getting into sketchy situations with guys because he’ll do anything for guys who give him attention and daddy’s who shower him with things.

PLOTS

so like childhood friends that he’s probably a bitch to sometimes, ex boyfriends, hook ups, one night stands, secret relationship, fuck buddies aka fwb, best friends, reckless friends, drug friends, party friends

[broodingsoul]

50 Random Things About So You Think You Can Dance (S14E3)

1.  Why did the New York City auditions get an introduction like it was the season premiere?  I’m assuming because they needed to fill 28 minutes of the episode.

2.  Mary Murphy looks fucking ADORABLE in this school-girl length pleated skirt and deconstructed blazer.  It’s honestly the best she’s ever looked.

3.  And behind her is “triple-threat” “superstar” Vanessa Hudgens, looking like a turd in that shit-brown coat and dark matte lip.

4.  I seriously still don’t understand how Vanessa Hudgens got on the judges panel.  Who on the production team thought, “You know who’s hip and the teens relate to?  That one girl from that Disney movie that was popular 9 years ago.”

5.  Oh ew ew ew, Vanessa Hudgens also has on a weird buttoned straight-lined bodice the same color as the coat.  What is this look?  Who said this look was okay.

6.  “La La Land’s choreographer” LET IT GO.

***

Kaylee “Impavido” Millis

7.  “And what name did your parents give you?” Who gives a shit, Nigel, she wants to be called Impavido.  It costs you zero dollars to call her that.

8.  I’m 100% surprised it took three episodes for us to hear “Issues” by Julia Michaels as a choreographed number.

9.  I like Impavido’s movement.  It’s like if animation and contemporary had a baby.  The choreography itself is really unique and nothing this show has ever really seen before.  Her dancing is almost like if Pixar decided to animate dancing.  I really hope she makes it to the top 20, because I think she’s got the style to nail hip-hop, and I think she’s got the carriage to nail ballroom.  I’d love to see her paired with Jaja.  Incredibly charismatic and just an absolute joy to watch.

10.  Impavido cries when she gets her ticket to the Academy, as she said she would, and then she kisses deuces up to the heavens, so I’d really like to know more of her story.

11.  She and Mark Villaver from the first episode are my two favorites so far. 

***

Ana Sanchez

12.  “I heard about the Hot Tamale Train.  I’m like, I wanna be on that train so bad.”  I don’t have a comment.  Just the quote.

13.  Great lifts and tricks, but there’s something a little juvenile about her energy onstage.  I might be that the choreography in-between just seems like she’s bopping around and not actually dancing?  Plus her mugging is super annoying.  I’m not a fan.

14.  Mary’ll put her on the train, tho.

15.  “I love that way that you’re like “WHOOO!” when you’re dancing!” exclaims Vanessa Hudgens.  The animatronics in her jaw squeak as the wheels that control how wide her eyes open push past their limits.  Her teeth glow impossibly white.  “WE’RE GONNA BOP TO THE TOP�� she screeches.  Mary Murphy’s Hot Tamale Train ceases to exist.  Mary Murphy becomes but a wisp of smoke of a memory.

***

Koine Iwasaki

16.  This has nothing to do with Koine, but I’ma already so fucking done with this “It Ain’t Me” song by Selena Gomez.  SO done with it.

17.  Before Koine even starts dancing, her mother Yuriko and friend Alesha are already crying.  Oh God, my heartstrings.

18.  The most interesting parts of Koine’s audition are when she’s doing the really cool contemporary/crump fusion movements.  It’s really interesting the way Impavido’s animation/contemporary was.  When Koine goes back to straight contemporary, it’s less moving for me, because it’s a little paint-by-numbers, a little too schmaltzy with the music.  Overall, I like her, but I don’t think she deserves a standing ovation from the judges.

19.  “And then when you smiled, I literally said, ‘Aw!’”  I might have to end each recap with a list of the stupidest things Vanessa Hudgens said during the episode.  It’s either that, or I stop recapping her entirely, because godDAMN does she say some stupid shit.

***

20.  Hip-hop montage.

21.  Kyle Bennett Jr. is “an animator-slash-tugger.”  I’m just a tugger, but we’re not supposed to talk about that in public.

22.  OH.  He’s a tutter.  I am definitely not that.

23.  Alex Diaz grabs his crotch a lot and has a beautiful smile.  I’d do him.

Joseph “Klassic” Carella & Huwer “Havoc” Marche Jr.

24.  Cat’s hair is EVERYTHING right now.  Just really relaxed waves, like she’s going to the beach.  In New York.  In February.

25.  I don’t know how to critique their style of dance.  I like their imagination, and I’ve always been a fan where it looks like one dancer controls another.  They do it well.

26.  Nigel and Mary Murphy give them a standing ovation, and it takes Vanessa Hughes about three seconds too long to realize she should probably also stand.

27.  How many uppers do you think Mary takes on any given day?  It can’t all be natural personality.

***

Chaz Wolcott

28.  Is a tap dancer, and I hope he’s good because I love a good tap dancer.

29.  That was the most boring sentence I’ve ever written.  I’m sorry.

30.  Here, I’ll take my shirt off to make up for it.

31.  Holy shit, Chaz Wolcott is 29 years old, but looks all of 20.

32.  Technically he’s very good, but there’s something a little too white bread about him for me.  I think that he’s tapping to an old jazz classic and wearing this weird members-only style jacket.  I want to see him do something fun and fresh and contemporary.  His choreography is great, but I’m just kinda bored.

33.  Vanessa Hudgens seems like she hates Mary Murphy, and it’s the only thing I like about her.

34.  “It’s so fun, just making dreams come true!” Vanessa Hudgens croons.  Her throat undulates, her body ripples.  She phases in and out of time, the blips of her being spelling out Morse Code.  “We’re just getting started,” it spells.

***

Darius “The Bigger Cheese” Reed

35.  Look, I know Darius is doing this as a joke, but I am here for this fabulous display of fearlessness.

36.  “What about ‘The Grand Fromage?’”  I have never loved Cat Deeley more than I do in this moment.

37.  Nigel wasn’t expecting Darius to be a man, which is annoying and homophobic.  You think after 14 seasons I’d be used to that.

38.  For once, Vanessa Hudgens didn’t piss me off.  Nigel and Mary were kinda low-key shady about everything, but VH just told him how fun he was, to keep being himself, and to keep dancing and come back.

39.  Oh, except now that he left, Darius is copping an attitude.  If you’re gonna be The Bigger Cheese, be the Bigger Person.

***

40.  They could have let me see shirtless Logan Hernandez’s entire shirtless routine.  I’ve done enough for this show, it’s time they do for me.

41.  Abby Griffin’s contemporary-pointe routine seemed really boring, so thanks for editing through that.  We’re still not even though.

42.  “I have a lot of technical aspects, but it’s technique in ways you haven’t really seen it yet.”  Christina Moya-Palacios sounds like a real special snowflake, but the snippet of her audition puts the proof in the pudding.

43.  “You dance the way I wish I danced,” Vanessa Hudgens admits wistfully.  Suddenly she grows cold,  Her jaw slacks, her eyes dim, as something else inside her takes control.  “I don’t dance,” the entity growls.  As quick as it comes on, it lets go.

***

Ryan Bailey

44.  “My own dance style is kind of weird.  I do a lot of shaking, almost like seizure things.”  I just—I don’t have the patience, y’all.

45.  Somewhere, Sia’s choreographer is like, “Biiiiiiiiiiiitch.”

46.  This audition is ten seconds in and Nigel is NOT. HAVING. IT.  Dude has technique, though.  It’s frustrating, because I want to see him dance, but his choreography seems like a gimmick.  When he combines his style with actual dancing, like in his jumps and leaps, it’s actually breath-taking.  Everything in between just seems weird for weirdness’s sake.

47.  Nigel’s response surprises me.  “You know why I liked it?  Because I didn’t like it.  I liked that I didn’t like it because it gave me emotions.  It changed my thought about dance.  I hated it, so I liked it.”  Fair, but also I just need to see more elements of dance combined with his style.

48.  “I saw a duck.  There were a lot of duck things happening,” Vanessa giggles.  The giggling grows louder and louder, more desperate, as she tosses back glass after glass of champagne.  “This is a night to remember!” she shrieks.  Her legs shake.  This could be too much.

49.  That was a rather unceremonious end to the episode.  I would’ve put Ryan through to choreography, because I wouldn’t have been able to merit his style just on style alone.

50.  But then, nobody’s paying me for my opinion.  Yet.

[what2watch2night]

Summer Calls For a “Family-friendly” Or “Pleasing To a Larger Demographic” Double-bill: SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING _ IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD

The Fun Hollywood Blockbuster with a Superhero Struggling to Live Like ‘Normal People” and the Important Foreign Masterpiece with “Normal People” Struggling to Live Normally!

Since it is the 6th Spidey entry let’s start with 6 reasons to watch SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING

 1.    First and foremost YES that was just pure fun without bore! It might  actually be one of the most fun/comedy-ish Marvel film along DEADPOOL

 2.    It might also be interestingly the most "realistic" or less “out of this world” comic movie made when nothing is about super-extra-power, but more about above-average skills and crazy technology ( well this teenager can jump quite high and might run a little too fast to some taste…But hey, still nothing like a Captain America or Hulk or even Iron Man or else moment of ‘wtf this move make no sense, how did that happened!’

 3.    In fact this SPIDERMAN entry might feel closer to a Marvel Netflix show with the "helping the everyday folk of New-York and being your local hooded hero" kinda vibe rather than the "Look at me blowing shit up like Superman and fighting for THE WHOLE GALAXIES”!

 4.     The diversity factor in this is admirable so clap clap clap for the casting team with all the "cameo" type of roles from teacher to principal to students, this looks just like …a school in NYC! In fact this helps a lot with the realness of the movie but…. the only problem is that all the main character/have surrounding  Peter Paker are still mainly white and male good or bad from Favreau (working quite well here) Keaton (is good as usual but might be a little bit to gimmicky here for some of us….We need BEETLEJUICE tho) and RDJ (being RDJm being IRON MAN!)

 5.    But one have to admit that one have to stop complaining as this might be the best portrayal of an actual teenage Spiderman on the big screen a) because maybe for once the actor might actually be closer to a teenager ( Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield were way past their teenage years while wearing Spidey costume…Why is it that male in Hollywood tend to play younger easily while women kinda always play way older ;(

Well guess we can thanks people like Ryan Murphy to start to change this dramatically!)

 6.    The pace was very good and the story works in quite a logical flowing way as opposed to what we usually see with other superhero movie ;)

MORAL OF THE STORY: This might actually be the second best superhero movie of the year after LOGAN (sorry WONDER WOMAN you third for now!) and the second best fun movie of the summer behind  BABY DRIVER (yeah this other teenager have to win for now! !)

So, if you want to see some a movie “old-school” just to chill while still have the luxury of seeing a non-garbage summer flick but a well executed fun Marvel flavored story this is it! And bonus points for bringing the nostalgia of around for viewers looking for a little more! 

 IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD is basically a story about the human cost of war without necessarily being a typical war movie.

  The film retrace a few decades of the life of Suzu, a young girl from Hiroshima who married and moved to her in-laws in the nearby city of Kure in the period culminating by the destruction of Hiroshima. From a simple life of pure joy in a rural area to a time of food restriction and air raids, our characters will struggle to find normalcy despite the harshness of reality that is to be a civilian in a war zone - or threatened area – and so, we witness their unfold visually and emotionally.

However delicate and hopeful the movie and its message seem there are few devastatingly forceful and important scenes that not only are about showing the daily life during war time but are deeply about the psyche of the situations. In this tragic time, for a daydreamer like our heroine, who then found magic and beauty in all things, now when danger is everywhere, has to dig deeper to find new perspectives without losing the “magic”. Suzu is not only a small-town innocent daydreamer but is also an artist who is at a time face with unprecedented repression and terrible lost and but to find it in herself to transform the horror of war into surreal yet evocative painting.

Being resilient softly but surely is one of the many theme of this film and this is the kind of approach that probably only this genre could have captured this way.

These types of Japanese anime reflect on a sensibility and innocence that cannot be portrayed in film with such a pure simplicity that; thus might make IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD more “family-friendly” or approachable as a live-action would be. And this movie one of those rare anime that is quite personal yet so universal and moving in their approach that they can appeal to all (unless you are a …!)

Many of the viewers might a also be surprised how ‘unbiased’ this story appears, and although it was set mainly during the Pacific War- sure at some point the "enemies" is clearly mentioned but it is all quite relative considering this movie is one of the war movie not about the war and its “political games” but about the people who JUST want to go on about their lives and their basic human needs while watching their surroundings turned into battlefield or worse...

In addition to trying to be impartial the movie did a great job as being quite historically accurate and the Hiroshima scenes at the end were quite efficient for those who weren’t expected to be confronted with what it "looked like after the atomic bomb was drop"; it really shows just how much research and effort they put into the realism of the depiction.

Of course, YOUR NAME, another anime released last year, also approaches the subject quite powerfully but IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD is definitely more addressing the subject in a more straight-forward manner emotionally and visually. Actually it is not since GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES that we saw something quite moving about the WWII that doesn't involve the Nazi horror... For sure GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES might be more potent in its approach as it tackle the subject in a more serious/mature way but no less magical.  IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD perspective to the narrative in more 'romantic' in nature as it might be a love story in a way; a love story about a couple; about a family coming together and about people and their humanity (LITERAL SPOILER: especially with the last few scenes showing how everyone come as one after the war in peace and even if we cannot replace lost people/things, we can move on by helping each other and creating new "families ". The genuine addition of the orphan to Suzu’s family is a testimony of that and make this ending feels like an a punching move of emotion and whether true story or not we cannot but think that these act of genuine kindness happened

Another noteworthy layer of the film was its studies dealing with grief, lost, depression and PTSD at a time and place where probably such a thing could not be anything  than a “thing” and life goes on ignoring them.

On the other end the beauty of IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD resides in its resilience to seem universally understood despite the viewer background or age, and by using the wonderful surrealism style linked to the genre, it  bring some lightness and hope in the movie.

It might not be a kid movie but it is “family-friendly” and many children would appreciate it, if they are at a certain age or level of “clever” or understanding, NOT TODDLER!! Kids curious enough and maybe mature enough to be able to understand more layered stories than the usual MINIONS movies (nothing wrong with them but one have to admit they might have hidden /adult jokes but they are quite straight to the point for the kids audience), and maybe also aware of what is war rather than a video game... It is a movie for people who understand that war or violence is nothing that should be glorified and civilians/innocents suffering are the worse kind of casualty...

It will make you agree with so many of us that are pro-peace or anti-war to the most (and those who think that people who wants to should do so with other people like willing to fight and settle it like "men" with swords or their bare hands or maybe guns if this is what their want but it should be settled on deserted battlefield without risk for the population and not cowardly by dropping bombs on innocent or terrorizing people in their daily life . In a nutshell make peace not war. 

At the end of the film, many will be certainly moved but yet again it is one of those film that make you wondered in awe about nowadays Japan the will of the people despite real traumatic drama to find hope that we can all live in harmony and that is the MORAL OF THIS STORY: Live your life in peace and to wish for a “forever-ever peace on earth for all” and never stop hoping and dreaming...