#the movie as a whole? it was interesting to have the added dialogue and visually it’s SO striking

[eruptedinlight]

Doug Jones’ Face in Every Role | 9 / ?

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Cesare

[kuroppiii]

hiiii omg i saw ur a film nerd in ur about me post and so am i !! whats ur favourite movie/s :P

hello!!! and yes omg i always LOVE answering this question lmao so first and foremost:

my letterboxd top 4 <3 !

( explanations and honorable mentions under the cut ! )

1. little women (2019)

watched it with three of my best friends when it first was in theaters so that definitely added to the message and experience watching it. i love how greta gerwig directed the sister dynamic. she’s gone on record on interviews and also if you can find the screenplay itself that in the script the actors’ lines were written on top of one another to reflect the spontaneity and chaos of sisterhood and family through the film’s dialogue. so genius?!?! this adaptation just felt so real and genuine and i also see a little of myself in all the sisters 🫶

2. challengers

UGH i did like a whole deep dive here but in short: luca guadagnino you absolute mastermind. i love tennis, i love colorgraded film and photography, i love hot people!!!! story was insane, i quite literally had to sit in my car for like half an hour just processing when i got out the movie house before i felt normal enough to drive home lol.

3. emma (2020)

again i did a thorough tedtalk on this one. but i’m a big jane austen fan!!! and the aesthetics and score on this adaptation were just off the charts and so so lovely. love the regency era and i think they translated it to screen in a very appealing and classic (although maybe not entirely historical but hey it’s art) way. i’ll always come back to it as my comfort movie ngl.

4. call me by your name

amazing story. (not a love story mind you!!!) which is actually why it stuck with me sm bc i went in with my hopeless romantic self just to be fuckin crushed. watched it two summers ago and it took me like weeks to recover, it broke my heart in a way that felt so good. also just a downright beautiful film all around (colorgrade, cinematography, acting, music, everything!!). in guadagnino we trust!!!

honorable mentions:

watching the detectives (!!!)

lucy liu and cillian murphy? ummm FUCK YES? my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE in the romcom genre to date. they just match each other’s freak. and the whole movie is abt being film nerdy and awkward and weird and manic pixie dream girl and like lowk…. so ro-core fr!

shape of water

ok don’t call me a freak, it was pretty interesting— from the aesthetics, to the minimal dialogue, to the overall story. it’s a doozy but imo that shit was art. (or guillermo del toro was the real freak all along)

spirited away

my fav ghibli film bc it’s just so haunting in a way none of the other ghibli films are and i like that. like the way some of those characters were drawn was lowk gross—but i find that kinda gnarly. so over the top fantastical it makes my brain tingle in a certain way.

isle of dogs

my fav wes anderson film in both stop motion or live action (my fav live action of his was the most recent asteroid city tho!). truly art and has such a heartwarming story but at the same time the DRAMA. my lord. crazy how captivating the story was even if half of it was in largely unsubtitled japanese—unique choice but i actually liked what it added to the movie a lot especially considering the movie’s pov from an english-speaking dog. i’m actually a big cat person but i finished that movie so convinced that fuck yeah that dog is man’s bsf right there

the amazing spiderman movies

andrew garfield’s spiderman is my fav <3 but also i love the darker feel to this version of spiderman. maybe it’s bc i’m also a big batman/dc fan (sorry my marvel babes </3) and generally those movies have been handled with a more dark tone. but nonetheless andrew garfield is hot too so that’s a plus!

cruella

i’m lowk a disney hater but this movie was SO. CUNTY. fuck i loved it. the actors were amazing and the visuals and the FASHION were just mwah, especially compared to other disney live action films (😭).

maleficent & maleficent: mistress of evil

AGAIN, SO FUCKING CUNTY even if i’m a reluctant disney enjoyer. i watched the first installment when i was real young but in 3d at the movie house. SO COOL. watched the second one with my mom at home. IMMEDIATELY WATCHED IT AGAIN. angelina jolie is maleficent, n i love how these movies characterize the villain in such a genuinely human way i don’t think anyone could’ve seen coming when these babies first came out.

ok thats it finally 💋

[nothoughtsonlytrance]

Wall-E Trivia: Eve Repair Ward Scene

So I know this isn't Dan and Phil themed lol, but Wall-E is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I thought I'd share some trivia that I thought was really interesting because my ADHD brain said to lol

So, if any of you guys have seen the Pixar movie Wall-E, you may know the rogue robots that basically help Wall-E bring the plant to the Lido Deck so they can bring the Axiom back to Earth. And I heard a lot of people have been wondering why when Eve was brought to the Repair Ward, she was turned off, brought into the Diagnostics Lab, and then turned back on again, like, why wasn’t she kept on the whole time? Why did they turn her off? And I have the answer to that.  (For context, I’m getting this info from the Director's commentary from the DVD.)

So when the crew at Pixar was developing the movie Wall-E, they knew they had to figure out a way to let the audience know that these robots were broken and defective ones. Sort of like the “lovable losers” that band behind Wall-E and help him in his plan. So what they did was they came up with these “red boots'” that the crew would call them, and they would sorta act like a boot that would be put on the tire of your car if you’ve been parked in the wrong zone or something like that. And they would basically help the steward robots (which are like the police robots) identify the robots from one another and say that these robots were ex-cons; they’ve broken out and need to be locked up.  

And not only that, but it also helped show that EVE herself was a fugitive because, again, we don’t have any dialogue or anyone saying, “Oh, no! You’re a rebel, and you broke out! We have to hide you!” Like, everything has to have a visual symbol to remind the audience of how the story is evolving and where it's at with certain characters' situations in the movie. 

And according to Andrew Stanton, the director for Wall-e, it actually ended up working out in the end because in a later scene, she had to be shut down by AUTO and then rebooted in the garbage disposal, and the crew wasn’t sure on how to do that.

And then they saw that there was a bright little yellow button on her boot and thought, “Oh wait, what if you could just press that, and it would turn off like you would with any other machine?” So they went back to the Repair Ward scene and then added those few shots of her being turned off, brought into the Diagnostics Lab, and then turned on again, just to show the audience that that was what that function did so that they could use it later.

Kinda a random trivia, but I thought it was a really interesting statement and just goes to show how creative the team at Pixar is!

[x0401x]

Second batch of asks that I owed replies to.

So episode 12 begins with a parallel to the first scene of the “Hajimari no Issha” movie. Minato is deciding to pursue archery this time, not just shooting the bow. Interesting take on how he got into Kirisaki, although I’d argue that he was pursuing archery from the very beginning in the novel. Very nice to see the scene splitting between him and Shuu, to give at least a tiny glimpse of how much Shuu missed Minato after the accident. The visual parallels are great, of course, as they switch between Shuu shooting an actual target and Minato doing imaginary shooting at a window. They’re both trying to face themselves, and this is the first time that the anime really knows what it’s doing in its portrayal of kyudo. It’s also the first scene where we see Minato actually grieve his mother and the hole that her absence left in his life. And it proves that we really could’ve been getting more of what’s going on inside him rather than hyperfocus on Eisuke and keep having the exact same information drilled into our heads over and over.

Another scene that is really good is the one right before the Kazemai-Kirisaki match. It was nice to see the two teams’ exchanges, which are not exactly canon but match the vibe of their canon interactions. This scene has a counterpart in S1, and the 180-degree flip is incredible. Especially the fact that there’s no longer a villain-like air to Shuu and Minato isn’t acting like he’s wary of him. You can really feel their sibling apprentice dynamic here. Took long enough. Other than that, I just love that the anime made clear Ryouhei’s sister was watching from home. It was a nice touch.

This is what drives the core of the story. I feel obligated to say it again: there was a serious lack of interest from the studio’s to give us a story—they’re just too focused on characters and teams. It’s like they don’t trust that the plot will keep the viewers engaged, so they invest on making individual characters attractive instead. That wat, the viewers will get attached to said characters and keep watching so that they can see their biases onscreen. Ironically, this had the opposite effect.

Back to the positive points, though, it was a pleasant surprise seeing Shuu’s father so soon, with actual lines and interacting with Shuu, although I must say that he looks… way older than he should be? Or is he just supposed to be hella old for some reason? This is the same thing that happened to Gilbert Bougainvillea in Violet Evergarden, where the animators simply forgot to make a different character design for him in the flashbacks, so he just looks middle-aged at 25 and then doesn’t age a single day for 8 years.

But anyways, Shuu. We’re at last being blessed with his backstory. And during a sequence that feels magnificent in its presentation because, and I can’t emphasize this enough, no soundtrack when the boys are shooting. We only get background music in the flashbacks, and it halts whenever the timeline switches back to the present.

Amazing, show-stopping, spectacular.

Even more spectacular with the monologues, where for some reason there’s yet another 180-degree flip and Seiya is finally depicted as doing archery for himself. This completely contradicts the previous episode, so I have no idea what went through the heads of the people behind such a decision, but fuck it, I’m on board. I’m also on board with the added scene of Minato’s dad watching from home and remembering Minato doing image training inside the house. The monologues and dialogues from secondary characters are a bit too expository here, as they have been the whole season, but it’s nothing much. Unfortunately, it’s impossible not to notice a drop in animation quality here, but it’s easy to tell that the animation team did a lot of damage control to it. The drop only becomes apparent during the moments where Tomio hands out arrows to the boys. This was a conscious and well-planned effort, and it’s definitely not a product of tight schedule or lack of attention to detail. KyoAni is visibly still suffering from the huge financial damage caused by the arson attack and from having to hire new staff much too fast.

We have better stuff to pay attention to here. This episode keeps delivering. We’re finally being given the timelapse that volume 1 suggests during the last tournament. Volume 2’s tournament felt darker (in a solemn, Buddhist way) and more introspective than that, but asking for a faithful depiction of it would be too much. We needed to see this first. It’s still a bit underwhelming in comparison to canon, which went way deeper into all of the characters, especially Masaki’s influence on Minato (something that the anime still vehemently denies to show, even at this pivotal moment), but at the very least, it works.

You know what else works? The cuts of past Minato connecting with present Minato. I recall commenting back in 2019 that I wanted to see something exactly like that—this is the impression that reading about the last tournament in volume 1 had left in me, even if there was no such sequence written on it. And I’ll be damned. Here it is. I feel vindicated in weird ways by this season, how it did disappoint me in general but still gave me so much of what I had wanted to see in S1.

Kazemai’s loss and their reaction to it is… surprisingly lackluster. Just like Tsujimine’s. It comes all of a sudden and then poof. No biggie. Then again, these boys never did look that motivated or eager about the tournament. This anime has a big problem with allowing characters to show vibrant emotions for whatever reason. When Kaito gets close to showing anything more intense than teary eyes, the immediate response is to cover his face with a towel. This series is lowkey allergic to feelings, lmfao.

Kirisaki’s win is also exactly as in the novel, except no reporters asking the boys for interviews and no post-competition bonding moment between them and Kazemai. A waste, but I can overlook it. KyoAni wants a bonding moment between Tsujimine and Kazemai instead. Of course it does.

Speaking of bonding, Shuu’s bonding moment with his family, as expected from how little we get of them (especially his mother and their complicated relationship), is pretty meh. Feels a lot less emotional than in the novel, in particular because it showed Shuu’s reaction to his father’s words, which I’m pretty sure isn’t the reaction that the author was going for.

But then, the last scene. Pretty neat. The concept of “do” being evoked again by the never-ending road, where it splits in two ways, representing Kirisaki and Tsujimine, and Minato going on the opposite direction, representing Kazemai. The lack of soundtrack at the last cut. The episode title at the end. Just really nice overall.

And now, a combo review of the last episode. Which is almost entirely anime-original content. And also kind of a PR service for Nagano, to be very honest. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it turns out that this was commissioned or something.

This episode aired exactly on the day I moved from Osaka to Tokyo, by the way. The very day that life took a completely different turn for me and it took me a whole year to get it back to its normal rhythm. Now that I’ve attained most of the required credits at grad school, all I gotta do is write my thesis, which is why I finally have a tiny little window to be writing this. Literally just in time for Tsurune to be pulled out of Netflix. Life works in mysterious ways.

On to the episode.

It’s really nice to see how the preparations for the festival went in the anime, since we only got a brief description of it in the novel. It’s also nice to see their personalities showing when they’re talking about summer homework. Kaito and Seiya obviously did theirs first-thing, Nanao is stalling a little, Ryouhei is stalling a lot and Minato completely fucking forgot. Another thing that’s STELLAR in this episode is how it explores the premises of Yata Shrine, including the pond of the infamous one-eyed fish. It almost makes up for the training camp team moments that we’ve been deprived of in S1.

Kirisaki coming over in yukatas is a much-appreciated addition. Daigo and Hiroki talking about their plans after graduation… just. Chef’s kiss. Seiya and Shuu letting go of their prejudices against each other would be just as swell if only their mutual animosity weren’t unnecessarily quadrupled in the anime. Those bitches get along well enough that Shuu has literally napped on Seiya’s shoulder, yet the true wholesomeness of this relationship is unfortunately lost to us in animation. But there’s other wholesomeness we get from this one, such as Ryouhei’s sister passing her test and the beautiful smiling picture as a bonus. Still, though… even during a time like this, KyoAni really doesn’t miss a chance to have someone talk about how Tsujimine will definitely get to the top again because they’re being coached by Eisuke. My God, let it go.

Not to make a dig on the screenplay or anything, but it kind of amazes me how there seems to be a total lack of trust that the audience will be able to retain what they watched in the previous episodes. The line repetition is a joke at this point. Not just this but during the tournament and when characters talk about each other, it’s often mentioned that someone is “aspiring to shoot more like themselves” or “aiming for a shot that they won’t regret”. The broken record is too real.

The episode is meant to end with the ceremony, which means we get to see the boys enjoying the festival before that, and not after. We never got a proper depiction of Seiya and Kaito’s relationship at any point in this whole anime series, so it’s too much to ask for their canon interactions to be exactly how they went in the novel, even though they were gold in this one. The toning-down is particularly blatant when the line “Actually, I’ll stick by your side tonight” is completely taken out of the dialogue. Can’t get more obvious than that. But we do get a non-canon moment with Minato and Seiya to not make up for it. And we also get only Nanao’s side of the balloon scooping scene, except pretty different from canon as well. Because fuck you.

Next is Sae being cute as ever. Also a nice addition but, wait… I hope I’m overthinking, but this episode came out after the Sushi Roll scandal. Is that toy supposed to be…? No. No way. That’s… not impossible but it’d be too fucking much. Too in-your-face. Even more than the Coca-Cola propaganda. My brain is shutting down. What is this. What the actual fu

It’s incredibly nice to see yet another nod to the novel when Shuu talks about Meigen no Gi. It’s not really canon that it was held when he was born, but that was a smart move and thoughtful way to include things introduced volume 3. And that was fucking Akihiro right there. Double Easter Egg.

I gotta admit that I love the implication that Shigeru reconsidered and decided to become Tsujimine’s coach. Not just because that fits just right, but also because it’s a blissfully oblivious contradiction to all the fanboying over Eisuke that the anime had been flaunting at every opportunity. That’s the level of narratological unawareness I live for.

The quality of the animation gets virtually better as the time for the ceremony approaches. Much like in S1, the second-to-last scene is taking place at night in Yata Shrine. It’s kinda genius to make the summer homework be a report on Heian-related traditions and have Minato write about the ceremony. Him taking pictures of everyone while they’re completely unprepared is just too cute and too in-character. No, we don’t get to see Minato talking to Masaki about the old customs and all that like we did in the novel. KyoAni is truly committing to their goal of keeping them as far apart as possible, even in the very last episode. So far, their number of interactions alone together still amounts to just three scenes. Again, can’t get more obvious than that.

The scenery is gorgeous here. The atmosphere is godly, no pun intended. The offerings representing each archer is also adorable as hell. The fruits represent Ryouhei, the fish represents Kaito, the rice cakes represent Nanao, the rice wine represents Seiya, the vegetables represent Minato and the salt represents Masaki.

AsaShin really did his best for reciting the prayers. But I don’t know how to feel about it, though. It was kinda embarrassing. The soundtrack didn’t match the moment and kinda ruined the mood. The girls’ narration was also sort of a bummer. It’s realistic that they’d be doing it, but it could’ve faded in the background shortly after starting.

It’s sweet that Kaito and Nanao’s sisters are there. Fair enough considering that they didn’t watch the tournament. Speaking of which, the throwbacks to the tournament monologues are unnecessary, but the scene that followed with Minato’s mom was worth it. And his dad taking pictures with an old-ass camera right beside Ryouhei’s sister was the cherry on top. Overall, the ceremony was glorious. Much better than I expected it to be.

There’s a total of… one minute of interaction between Masaki and Minato in this episode and it’s clearly only there to check the box, in which Minato uncharacteristically reverts to speaking in a formal way to Masaki. Absolutely no depth to it. The art quality here is even better than the other scenes, but man, this was soulless as fuck. Not just because of how fast and predictable it was, but also because Minato’s shooting and his whole journey with archery has been portrayed as unrelated to Masaki most of the time in both seasons, and this scene reflects that perfectly. The heart-to-heart at the kyudojo and the ruffling of Minato’s hair are things that are very characteristic to this relationship, yet it feels like anything but them. Yamamura won’t be caught dead portraying them right.

The episode ends with a surprise, though: a promise for more. The only reason why I’d be hyped for that would be to get more of the novels. Tsurune is still doing collabs and it’ll probably never fall out of favor due to the whole tragedy that the title has been unfortunately attached to. I have hopes for a fourth volume, even if we end up not getting an anime continuation. I mean, I’ve seen opinions of Japanese novel readers about volume 3 being “adapted” to anime and they were not… supportive of it, to say the least. Those who read the book will know why.

This season hasn’t been horrible, I’ll let myself bask in that. There are some genuinely good intentions to it, although it criminally underestimated and even disrespectes the original work and everything it represents, but I prefer to believe that’s not the intention. However, in the end, I still feel the same way as when I finished watching Violet Evergarden—like this whole thing was a bad trip, but at the same time, as if the trip had never even started. It’s a strange feeling. As if it didn’t matter, even though the series means a lot to me. Like it had no impact, even though the novel has had me in a chokehold for nearly six years now. When I look at the animated versions of these characters, I have no idea who they are. Even though the voice acting matches them so perfectly, these are not the boys I know. I often forget what their anime character designs even look like, ‘cause when I think of Tsurune, my brain reverts to Morimoto Chinatsu’s art automatically.

I have a long-term craving for the KyoAni I used to know. For a day when watching their shows won’t make me feel like this. Thankfully, this day seems to be not so far ahead, since the next season of Hibike! Euphonium is right around the corner.

Well, this is it. I’m glad to be finally able to reply to these asks. It’s never taken me so long and again, I’m deeply sorry. It’s honestly a relief to finally get all of this off my chest. Much has happened since I received these asks—that son of a bitch finally being sentenced was one of them—, so I kind of feel like a whole cycle has at last been properly closed. Here’s to hoping for an even brighter future for KyoAni from now on, and that KA Esuma Bunko will greenlight a fourth volume.

[hummingbirdsaltimolockia]

another breeze by review of 2023 in books/movies/tv and one play

Books:

the beatryce prophecy - 3/5 v beautiful read. kate dicamillo has my heart

the summer of the swans - 3/5 really liked the dialogue in this, and I like the idea of like. a book in real time

ender’s game - 4/5 a very chewy read. more unsettling than I anticipated

the seven dials mystery - 3/5 a little disappointing in the climax

frankenstein - 5/5 so much better and so different from what I'd been led to believe by popular media. I'm a frankenstein snob now

the phantom of the opera - 5/5 also very different from popular understanding, and much more interesting. I'd really love there to be a faithful mini series adaption

the turn of the screw - 2/5 v longwinded and wordy, and a bit of a let down in the fright department

maus - 5/5 harrowing

lang fairy books (green, grey, crimson) - 3/5 enjoyable but got a bit repetitive after a while. I listened to these from many different readers, so that added to the experience

marlene - 4/5 really liked how frank she was, not only with herself but others too

a dark night’s work - 2/5 too much description, not enough dialogue, and took too long to get to the Event. kinda a drag tbh

the flying girl - 5/5 completely loved this. worth it just for chapter nine

the cruel painter - 3/5 unsettling and unintentionally hilarious

the water dancer - 4/5 beautifully written and v interesting story but kind of odd pacing

the thief - 4/5 already did a whole liveblog on this series so yeah. really enjoyed the myth story telling in this

the queen of attolia - 5/5 wild from start to finish. gen is insane. "I can steal the magus" gen that's just kidnapping sit down

the king of attolia - 5/5 probably my favorite of the series. really liked seeing an outside perspective to the consequences of qoa

tea with the black dragon - 2/5 v disappointing. the guy didn't even turn into a dragon at the end

the fall of the house of usher - 3/5 v atmospheric and unsettling

the sittin’ up - 3/5 lots of fun characters

a conspiracy of kings - 4/5 the pov changes was a interesting choice

true grit - 5/5 v engaging read even though I knew the story already

thick as thieves - 4/5 a little slow, and I would've been angrier longer at the end if I were costis

the house on mango street - 5/5 unexpected gut punch

return of the thief - 5/5 such a satisfying ending,

my sister lives on the mantelpiece - 4/5 borrowed from libby on a whim, and it turned out to be incredibly sad, and I did tear up at least four times

the thanksgiving play - 3/5 only listened to the audio adaption so it wasn't the true experience but. wild

old souls - 3/5 really went to a different place than I was expected. liked the art style but kinda a chewy read too

Film/tv

the last of us (s1) - 5/5 went into this knowing almost nothing about it and really enjoyed experiencing it

the mandalorian (s3) - 3/5 been so long since I watched it I kinda don't remember what happened but at least they got mandalore back. yay

mad max fury road - 5/5 knew it was good, didn't know it was gonna be that good. easily one of my top movies now

shrek 2, 3, and 4 - 4/5 overall, the all made me laugh

kung fu panda 3 - 5/5 the most beautiful one I think?

the sixth sense - 5/5 knew the twist going in but still incredibly well made movie

the others - 4/5 really enjoyed the double twist. gave me chills

the phantom of the opera - 3/5 really weird editing

black adam - 3/5 had a very different vibe from other superhero movies

instant family - 3/5

oh my ghost - 3/5 the only time I've cared about characters having sex

exclusive fairy tale - 3/5 could've used a murder ngl

gifted - 4/5 much deeper than I expected

the quiet girl - 4/5 really got to me in the last ten seconds

high seas (s1-3) - 3/5 liked the sister relationship, esp in s1, but s2 was too dramatic, and s3 was completely unnecessary

shutter island - 3/5 also knew the twist going in but it got worse. v interesting visuals and atmosphere

tom jones - 3/5 I would've made tom wait a year

mission impossible: rouge nation - 3/5 kind of a slow burner ending

mission impossible: fallout - 3/5 they were a little Too smart in this, but really enjoyed the final act

mission impossible: dead reckoning part i - 5/5 actually really enjoyed all of it

beef - 3/5 absolutely wild show. really well acted tho

the bourne legacy - 2/5 unnecessary and kinda weird

jason bourne - 2/5 jason bourne should not be using an smartphone. also had to step away after they ****** *****

man on fire - 3/5

only murders in the building (s3) - 4/5 really enjoyed everyone in this season

once upon a time (s3-s5ish) - 3/5 everyone is so Dramatic and Serious about everything but it's actually very silly

titanic - 5/5 actually a really good movie?? who knew

fair play - 2/5 watched this to see something bad happen and you know what. it did

practical magic - 3/5 darker than I expected. gave me tonal whiplash

one royal holiday - 2/5 enjoyed watching aaron tveit doing an ?? accent

sweeny todd - 3/5 helena bonham carter. carried this tbh. also they didn't have to do johanna like that

the christmas bow - 4/5 genuinely enjoyed this?? would actually watch again

home alone - 3/5 wild.

my happy marriage - 4/5 surprisingly really enjoyed this. I liked how understated the romance was

last holiday - 3/5 a really sweet movie actually

it’s time for him to come home for christmas - 3/5 actually really sad in some parts. and there was actually chemistry between the leads so it bearable to watch

the boy and the heron - 4/5 really bizarre but in cool fantastically way that I could really get into. somehow more beautiful than other ghibli movies. will need to watch again

the little mermaid (2023) - 4/5 liked this more than I thought I would. but disney really thought that we (me) wouldn't notice that they used two different horses interchangeably in the same scene??

polite society - 4/5 amazing leading lady. super enjoyable watch, no notes

attack on titan finale - 3/5 thank GOD this is finally over. zeke's death was really unsatisfying to me tbh but at least he died. and I wish armin had gone harder on eren on his bullshit bc good lord was he stupid. it sucks that the end is the weakest part of the story but at least it's over and levi was there. amazing animation tho

across the spiderverse - 5/5 actually amazing?? does anyone know this??

[project1939]

Day 68- Film: The Thief 

Release date: October 15th, 1952. 

Studio: United Artists 

Genre: Noir 

Director: Russell Rouse 

Producer: Clarence Greene 

Actors: Ray Milland 

Plot Summary: Allan Fields, a highly regarded nuclear physicist working for the US Atomic Energy Commission, has been providing a foreign power top secret information about nuclear bombs. When a messenger agent is hit by a car and killed, the authorities find microfilm in his hand and work backwards to find the spy. Fields needs help fleeing before it’s too late. 

My Rating (out of five stars): ***1/2

The Good: 

The sheer audacity of the filmmakers to try this. Making a dialogue free 85-minute film in Hollywood with an Oscar winning star takes a lot of courage. Even today this would be tremendously risky. 

The result of that audacity. This is a fascinating film, even though it is not perfect. It’s like watching an experiment play out right in front of you. Some things work, some things don’t, some things work in ways you don’t expect, etc. 

The score. Without any spoken words, we were most dependent on the faces of the actors and the score to orient and direct us. Occasionally the score got too melodramatic for me, but most of the time it was very effective. It especially helped us understand whatever emotion Milland was feeling. 

The editing. There's a scene in the office of a colleague of Milland’s that especially comes to mind. He is taking pictures of secret documents when he realizes his colleague is heading toward the office. Milland crouches behind a chair, realizing he left his mini-camera on the desk. The entire scene was Hitchcockian, but the editing in particular was near perfection.  

Ray Milland. Even though he had no dialogue to memorize, he had a lot of work to do in this film. He had to do most of the heavy-lifting when it came to the storytelling. He’s got a great sympathetic Everyman quality to his face. Even here, while playing a bad guy, you always felt at least a little sympathy for him. The way he communicated anxiety and mental torture was especially moving. 

The casting. Everyone in this looked like normal people you would pass by on the street and not think about. 

All the location shooting. There was extensive location shooting in New York city, and it looked fabulous. Even the shots from the observation deck on the Empire State Building were real. There’s that old cliché about a location being a character itself in a film or novel- well this was one of the most beautiful and interesting characters in the movie. 

The circular library that was a meeting point between Milland and a co-conspirator. The building was extremely visually interesting itself, but the filmmakers were masters at exploiting it for tension and drama. 

Not knowing the whole thing was totally without dialogue before I watched it. I hadn’t looked closely at the poster or the description of the film, so I had no idea. At about 10 minutes, I started writing in my notes that there was no spoken dialogue. The film nerd in me was thrilled, but I kept waiting for the moment when the first line would be spoken. My notes were filled with things like “25 minutes, still no dialogue!” “45 minutes in, STILL none! Half of the movie!” By the time it got about ¾ through, I started wondering if it would be totally silent, or there might be some kind of kicker at the end. That alone added to the suspense. 

The Bad: 

Lack of character development. With only visuals we lack a lot of information about the protagonist. We know he’s a nuclear physicist and a baddie, but little else. We don’t know why he started spying, what his political ideaology was, what motivated him. We don’t get any flashbacks or background information on him. It would have been easier to care about him if we had any of that information. Without it, I cared mostly from an experimental standpoint and because I like Milland as an actor. 

Lack of details about the country/people he is spying for. Not only do we lack information about Milland’s character, we don’t even know who he is spying for. It's some kind of Soviet contact, but we know virtually nothing in that regard. It wasn’t essential that we know it, (in The Atomic City, I don’t think we knew the specific country, either) but it would have been nice to have at least a little more information.

[dmss-blog-salian]

Blog Post - 10

Silent Movie - Is Silent Movie The Purest Form Of Art?

Richard Wagner presented the first full and complete performance of his 4-part operatic masterpiece ‘Ring Des Nibelungewn’ in 1876 at the Bayreuth Music Festival. It was an immediate critical success and at the time, believed to be a significant breakthrough in the world of modern opera.

Wagner, since the 1840s, was, I could say, obsessed with the idea of developing a new concept that would masterfully blend drama and music. His goal seemed to have been to create an experience that would bring together all of the traditional arts while simultaneously establishing a fine balance between poetry and music.

In other words, this was his ideal of Gesamtkuntswerk – A Total Work of Art.

According to Firedrich A. Kittler, renowned media scholar, Wagner’s work served as a prototype for the PA system. Kittler’s notion was that the hidden orchestra in Wagner’s operas functioned as amplifiers, creating an immersive experience for the audience through the sheer power of sound. He further argued that Wagner’s approach could very well have set the stage for what we now simply refer to as “Cinema”.

Silent Film as Gesamtkuntswerk

Before I go further, let me first define what a silent film is. Contrary to the name, silent films were never actually silent. They were almost always accompanied by live sounds. The misnomer stemmed from the inability to synchronize recorded sound (what we would now commonly refer to as audible dialogue) with film.

Silent films have been experiencing a resurgence these days with regard to popularity. This is primarily attributed to the advancements in restoration/preservation technology. Like many other forms of art, silent films were interpreted through narrative, visual cues and symbolism. This could consist of something as simple as an object within a frame or specific details that the director wanted the audience to pay attention to. Now, music was also an element that was often used by directors to aid interpretation.

As implied earlier, in the very early part of the silent film era, music or sound was “added” to these films by having an actual musician, such as a violinist or pianist, or an orchestra play in the theatre. This was known as photoplay music.

Photoplay music consisted of original scores, repertory music, popular and classical compositions etc. The selected music would typically match the overall tone of the film. However, what was interesting was the fact that not all screenings of a film would have the same musician or orchestras playing. It wasn’t uncommon for audiences to experience variations in the music due to the fact that the scores would change depending on the theatre or the availability of the orchestra/musician. So, no two screenings of a film were consistent, which resulted in a unique experience. Visually, the audience might have seen the same images, but what they heard would be quite different each time.

Music played a central role in silent films. I would even argue that it was the single most important element in establishing context. An ominous score could signal suspense or impending doom while a whimsical score would accompany a humorous scene.

At this point, it becomes clear to me that, much like Wagner’s operas, silent cinema heavily relied on sound or music to deliver an immersive experience and to set context. In fact, at the time, it was almost unanimously accepted that the viewing experience would be incomplete without sound and music.

In short, silent films were a coalescence of various art forms. Images, text, illustrations and sound came together to form a whole – a total work of art.

But What About Purity?

Now, when coming to the question of whether silent films could be considered as pure art, I think the road begins to diverge in many directions. If I were to stick with the traditional definition, which is that only expression and aesthetic matter, one could argue that silent films are a pure form of art. However, that would be naive.

Visual imagery and sound have always had a much deeper impact on the human psyche than just pleasure or entertainment. It didn’t take much long for film to pivot from being a form of good old artistic expression to a tool of propaganda and social engineering.

In 1916, Britain produced and released ‘The Battle of the Somme’, a feature-length documentary-style silent film that provided viewers a fairly detailed picture of what war looked like. The very next year, Germany caught up with the trend. A letter addressed to the Ministry of War had this to say - “...the war has demonstrated the supremacy of picture and film as instruments of education and influence.” Soon after, the Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft or UFA came into existence. The rest, as they say, is history.

The silent film had now shed its purity and taken on a functional purpose.

Sources:

The Art Story. (2020). Gesamtkunstwerk - Modern Art Terms and Concepts. [online] Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/definition/gesamtkunstwerk/.

Wikipedia. (2022). Gesamtkunstwerk. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesamtkunstwerk#In_opera [Accessed 6 Jan. 2023].

Interlude. (2013). Richard Wagner’s Concept of the ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’. [online] Available at: https://interlude.hk/richard-wagners-concept-of-the-gesamtkunstwerk/.

Birdsall, C. (2012). Cinema as a Gesamtkunstwerk? [online] JSTOR. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46mv5n.9?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents [Accessed 6 Jan. 2023].

americanart.si.edu. (n.d.). Silent Film With an Emphasis on Sound | Smithsonian American Art Museum. [online] Available at: https://americanart.si.edu/blog/eye-level/2013/29/588/silent-film-emphasis-sound.

‌Raza, S.A. (2021). A Total Work of Art: On Leos Carax’s Annette (2021). [online] 3 Quarks Daily. Available at: https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2021/07/a-total-work-of-art-on-leos-caraxs-annette-2021.html.

articles.abilogic.com. (n.d.). Understanding of Pure Fine Arts and Complete Examples. [online] Available at: https://articles.abilogic.com/419852/understanding-pure-fine-arts-complete.html.

silentfilm.org. (n.d.). 1917: The Year That Changed the Movies. [online] Available at: https://silentfilm.org/1917-the-year-that-changed-the-movies/.

Wikipedia. (2022). The Battle of the Somme (film). [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Somme_(film).

Examples of Pure Art | Hedi Sasrawan. (2012). Examples of Pure Art | Hedi Sasrawan. [online] Available at: http://hdsinenglish.blogspot.com/2012/12/examples-of-pure-art.html.

[maiathebee]

Lots of the same complaints about Persuasion keep popping up (modern language, girl boss-ification) but it’s so much more than that so here are all my thoughts on the worst bits (I know all complaining does is generate buzz but what else am I gonna do with my Sunday night??):

Out of jealousy in the first like 2 minutes in Wentworth’s presence, Anne brings up (in front the musgroves and crofts and wentworth) that Charles wanted to marry her first.  This basically establishes her as just as self-centered and narcissistic as her sisters?? Making things worse for literally everyone?? By acting like a teenager?  Insane and embarrassing for the characters and hurtful to anyone who likes Anne Elliot.

Absolutely horrendous editing. In one scene she complains about something Wentworth said the night before, but he didn’t say it on film so it’s confusing as to if she’s misremembering?? In multiple scenes they’ve added dialogue over scenes where you can literally see their lips NOT moving, but they have spoken lines? (for instance, 35:49). It feels like a Hallmark film. Embarassing for the filmmakers.  I hate the idiotic conversation in which Anne is surprised to find Louisa thinks she’s not interested in Wentworth (despite constantly avoiding him), and then Louisa saying “you barely look at him” when they’ve been in the same place one time??? and Anne looked at him the WHOLE time??? Like did ANY single person check this film for continuity?? When Mary makes Anne leave Lyme so that Anne can care for the children? But then Anne doesn’t go in the house and she says she has to go to Bath? ??? What?

This film offers literally no breathing space at all.  There is no contemplation, tension, or think time. Conversations threat together at a breakneck pace.  They cut bits of the text that are funny and interesting and added totally weird and unnecessary scenes. I have to listen to Anne turn to the camera like a Love Island confessional? (Pro Tip: if your lead’s accent is passable at best, maybe don’t give them extended solo monologues throughout the film). Also, all the added Mary Being Annoying scenes? also that scene at the beach?? who wrote that??? a computer in the 90s?? A piece of barely sentient cardboard??

Louisa and Anne’s VERY weird relationship. They’ve turned Louisa into this weird antagonistic love rival? I hate it here. 

They constantly refer to the fact that Wentworth is without title or riches, but NEVER talk about how Lady Russell didn’t want Anne to marry a dude whose job could quickly widow her?? I get that they don’t want to go into the class dynamics of the baronetcy etc, but being a sailor = easy death shouldn’t be too intellectually complex?

The film has borrowed SO much visually from 2008 version.  So many scenes are framed almost exactly the same way.  This is not the beautiful big sweeping cinematic portrayal of this film I wanted. It’s just a made-for-tv movie :(

WHY would you make a British period drama and have everyone call each other by their first names?? NEVER bow in greeting??? Have Anne have hair that isn’t even MODERN but actually dated to about 2008?? Anne swimming alone at the beach? Men and women just alone in private all the time?

Dakota Johnson wearing thick ass mascara, glittery eye shadow and a beret.

The constant one-on-one conversations between Anne and Wentworth...... In the book when they’re in Bath and they finally have (somewhat) private conversations it’s like a WHOLE THING. Instead here they’ve just written expository fanfiction? Again, the scene at the beach honestly SO bad. “I didn’t know when I’d ever see you again, or if you’d know how much I cared.” “I think I always knew.  There’s no one quite like you.” That isn’t a conversation.  It also doesn’t follow any of the vibe we’ve had to that point.  Wentworth is already 100% down for Anne again? I’m sorry?  The people who wrote this movie missed the memo that the book is literally about struggling with the idea you don’t know what’s going on in another person’s mind.  It’s about tension. It’s about figuring out where people are coming from through their actions. It’s about REacquainting yourself with a person. Not just constantly word vomiting every single thought you have at every moment. “I genuinely hope you find love.” KILL ME “You want to know a secret?” “Always” I love this mature love story about two 90s grade schoolers.  The scene in the carriage where Wentworth goes on about him knowing Louisa was infatuated... I’m sorry but for a man who so readily and openly reflects on his wrongdoing and pride WHY did it take him 8 years to see Anne??? Make it make sense. “One can only imagine what our lives might have been” it’s like exposition that is incorrectly expositing... How does her getting injured get him out of their relationship>>>>????? this is a MAIN plot point of the story!!

Making Anne and him have conversations about his job and how she wants him to pursue a promotion. Imperialism :( Capitalism :( Girlboss :( “What would Anne do here?” “There I go, trying to protect you again” ............................................uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh

“You’re always best in an emergency” I love when movies tell me things instead of showing me things, thanks!

Anne constantly rejoicing in schadenfreude... weird! gross! There’s a lot of great schadenfreude in the text, but it’s not played out in the form of Anne like... rejoicing in her own family being embarrassed

The constant comedy piano in the background like a Hallmark film

The way this film spent almost nothing on set design, filming as much as possible outdoors.  Their house in Bath is in the crescent?? And they haven’ t even fancied it up, it looks straight up like a street in Bath in the 2020s. They don’t even properly film her going through the door! SIGH!

I knew they wouldn’t keep in Ms. Smith but I do maintain it’s not a Persuasion adaptation without her... like the way her character is ESSENTIAL to the class commentary/whole point of novel...

Imagine being literally unable to write an interesting yet smart woman. Our female character wants to insert an irreverent icebreaker?  How about her awkward octopus dream? And then we’ll make it into a sexual innuendo!! That way the teens will like our film probably

The scene with her breaking down in the bathtub is like a glimpse into the movie they thought they were making? “Anne Elliot who suffered cosmic loss but really held it together,” a film about someone who thinks they’re graceful and dignified but is actually a pathetic mess.  It’s such a filmy person interpretation. Like a movie person who read persuasion and was like... someone who dealt with grief by going inward? hmmm sounds like a drama queen lying to themselves!!!

Anne babbling “He’s quite charming” “He makes me laugh” with literally no prompting as if she’s the FL in a self-insert fanfic. Mr. Elliot flirting with Anne in front of Wentworth like the second lead of a self-insert fanfic. “I do hope you’ll be able to make it to the wedding” like a disney villain (I’m sorry but this film literally has never heard the word subtle, let alone ache pine yearn)(there is NO push, no pull, no moment where they HALF hope, no moment where they are half in agony)

Mr. Eliot inviting Wentworth to the concert and not Anne

Anne awkwardly waving to Wentworth in period gloves at the concert because no one bows in this movie (I’m sorry but like..................... this is so dumb)

Anne crying during the opera scene as if there was any fucking gravitas or pathos available from this film for me to care.  I have NEVER watched a Persuasion remake where this scene did not KILL me.  (A few minutes, though as few as possible, were inevitably consumed; and when her own mistress again, when able to turn and look as she had done before, she found herself accosted by Captain Wentworth, in a reserved yet hurried sort of farewell. "He must wish her good night; he was going; he should get home as fast as he could.""Is not this song worth staying for?" said Anne, suddenly struck by an idea which made her yet more anxious to be encouraging."No!" he replied impressively, "there is nothing worth my staying for;" and he was gone directly.Jealousy of Mr Elliot! It was the only intelligible motive. Captain Wentworth jealous of her affection! Could she have believed it a week ago; three hours ago! For a moment the gratification was exquisite. But, alas! there were very different thoughts to succeed. How was such jealousy to be quieted? How was the truth to reach him? How, in all the peculiar disadvantages of their respective situations, would he ever learn of her real sentiments? It was misery to think of Mr Elliot's attentions. Their evil was incalculable.) The way this movie has zoomed past all these emotions or stalled before reaching them at every turn. This scene is seriously just a copy of the 2008 version but it’s bad! No “There is nothing worth my staying for”

exchanging “when all hope is lost” for “when hope is gone” -- a truly minor yet truly offensive change. “Your love has not lasted as long as mine” “and I don’t think I ever will” ................. me reading the modern english translation of shakespeare in high school

Anne seeing Wentworth’s letter all the way across the room with her spidery senses

The theatre monologue recitation of the letter

The way the letter scene/running through Bath thing is almost exactly like the 2008 movie except I don’t care.... Anne could be hit by a carriage and I would barely notice a change of pace

Honestly we can just show the Mrs. Clay Mr. Elliot make out scene and be done with it and know this film is a farce. (I ran out of the inn searching for Mr. Wentworth when!!! I saw MR. ELLIOT locking TONGUES with the slut MrS. CLaY! In broad daylight in public on the street in the town where I also am!!! “Anne!” he yelped in surprise.  I could tell he was so sad I found him out!  :( He does love me. But what he doesn’t know is that I love Mr. Wentworth even more!) “I wish you both every happiness” *shrug* Me: SIGH

The way they built up to this climax with her running to him and then it was just ...long awkward pause before kiss... I don’t think most of the problems in this film are Dakota Johnson’s fault but she is not great at creating onscreen chemistry and I don’t understand why she is continually cast as romantic leads

This weird “some love is reeeeeeeally weird” voiceover over a marriage between Henry Golding’s character and the only fat person ever on screen in this film

Why does she wink at the end of the film? 

Things I liked:

Mary calling herself an Empath

When Louisa fell it felt so hard I literally gasped

Lady Russell actually being fun and likeable

Anne’s hat at the pastry shop in bath (all her other clothes are boring or suck)(it still looked dumb with her emo girl bangs and eyeliner)

[bex-la-get]

Hello, hello! This week, we are going on a little:

Home Tour!

Notes: Answer the following with pictures (dialogue from your characters is optional!). Collages are highly encouraged if you want to answer a question with multiple pictures because tumblr mobile only allows 10 total pics. Otherwise, tumblr on a desktop lets you add multiple pictures (non-beta)!

For both:

What does the outside of the home look like? (Front/back yard, garden, pool, etc)

Living room and home office (if any)?

Kitchen and dining room?

Bedrooms? (Master, guest, others)

Other rooms?

Do you own your dream home? If not, what does that dream home look like?

What is your favorite room to spend time in with each other?

Hi babe! Thanks for the fun questions! Hope you like them!

So, little bit of context: Nat and Ethan recently bought this house after finding out that Nat was pregnant with their third child [Lydia]. So, I imagine them doing this tour shortly after Lydia’s born and they’ve settled into the house. Enjoy!

(Also, please imagine Nat doing with this with a baby strapped to her in one of those wrap things ‘cause that is the cutest damn visual and I need it to be seen).

Previous Questions

For both: What does the outside of the home look like? (Front/back yard, garden, pool, etc).

Nat: Ethan likes a much more modern look when it comes to houses while I prefer more traditional so we tried to find something that matched both. Instead, we ended up finding this beautiful Victorian and we both fell madly in love with the place!

Ethan: I have to admit, it surprised me how much I love this place. But I can’t imagine us living anywhere else now.

Nat: You can’t see it in the picture but the front yard is completely gated which is a huge weight off my mind. With two kids under the age of six and a newborn, the last thing I want to worry about is my kids getting out of the front yard. The gate has a special lock on it too so only people with the code can get in or out. It gives us so much peace of mind.

Nat: We really wanted the backyard to feel like an extension of the house so we decorated it as such. It’s great in the summer time when we can have friends over and have a big cookout. 

Nat: Ethan installed the hammock for me shortly after we moved in. I had always wanted one as a kid and now we get to curl up there in the evenings whenever we want. Plus, the kids love it. 

Ethan: *smiles* Next on the list is to set up a vegetable garden. I would have done it sooner but with Nat so close to giving birth when we moved in, I decided it was worth the wait. But by next spring, I’m hoping to have it set up and ready to go.

Living room and home office (if any)?

Ethan: Technically, we have two living rooms. The first one is more of a formal living room where you can sit and talk with guests, if you want. It’s not pictured but there’s a large fireplace with some bookshelves around the room. We treat it kind of like a study. It’s also where we plan on putting the Christmas tree come the holidays.

Ethan: The second is our “informal” living room-- or “den” as Nat calls it. This is where the television and game consoles are. This room probably gets the most use out of the house since this is where we have movie nights and just spend most of our time when we’re home.

Nat: Don’t forget the office, babe.

Ethan: Oh, right! We try not to bring our work home with us but with both of us working on books right now, we figured it was important to have a good work space away from the rest of the house.

Nat: I admit, I was worried about the black interior when we first saw it, but I’m kind of in love with it now.

Ethan: *smirks* I knew you would.

Nat: *rolls her eyes* Hush, you.

Kitchen and dining room?

Nat: Ah, Ethan’s favorite place in the house!

Ethan: One of my favorites, at least.

Nat: You know, before moving I never understood the hype for all-white kitchens. But I get it now! Look at this place, it’s so bright and open! And remarkably easy to clean.

Ethan: I could’ve told you that a long time ago, my love.

Nat: Yes, but I probably wouldn’t have believed you. *Ethan laughs*

Nat: You know that chandelier is original to the house? This whole room is, actually. It was basically untouched during the renovations. They just upgraded the windows and re-stained the flooring. The rest of the room is virtually untouched, which I absolutely love.

Bedrooms? (Master, guest, others)

Nat: Our room isn’t too fancy. Ethan likes it clean and simple and I like a lot of pillows. I think we managed that alright.

Ethan: We’re trying to keep the kids rooms as neutral as possible right now. Their interests are changing so fast that we don’t want to have to keep redecorating every time they change their mind. We’ll probably do more detailed decorating as they get older.

Other rooms?

Nat: We do technically have a guest room but it’s not considered a “bedroom” since it doesn’t have a closet.

Ethan: It’s a room in our basement that acts as a guest room. The rest of the basement we’re treating like a kids playroom and home gym.

Nat: It’s also where my mom has been staying for the last few weeks. She came up to help us settle in with baby Lydia. She’s been a godsend. *Ethan nods in agreement*

Do you own your dream home? If not, what does that dream home look like?

Nat: Absolutely we own our dream home. This place is amazing and everything I ever wanted in a family home.

Ethan: I never pictured myself with a big house or living in the suburbs, but here, surrounded by my family... it’s beyond my wildest dreams. This is better than a dream home; this is heaven. *Nat smiles and kisses his cheek softly.*

What is your favorite room to spend time in with each other?

Nat: Oooh, that’s a tough one. I love all of the rooms. But I think I’m gonna have to say the den and the backyard.

Ethan: Agreed. Any space where I can spend time with family is my favorite place to be.

Tag list below the cut:

Tag List (let me know if you want to be added/removed):  @genevievemd @jamespotterthefirst @paulfwesley @ethansdique @openheartfanfics @perriewinklenerdie @little-flowers-on-heaven @stateofgracious @coffeeheartaddict @liaromancewriter @potionsprefect @mm2305 @gryffindordaughterofathena @actuallybored @writer-ish @queencarb @takeharryandgo @lsvdw-blog @itsjustwinter​ @imaneditorthankyouverymuch-deac @chaoticchopshopheart​ @ohchoices​ @maurine07​ @oldminniemcg​ @parisa-kh​ @shanzay44​ @uberamsey @izzyourresidentlawyer​ @adiehardfan​ @custaroonie​ @mia143​ @a-crepusculo​ @takemyopenheart​ @toadfrog26​ @quixoticdreamer16​ @barbean​ @headoverheelsforramsey​ @natureblooms24 @jerzwriter

[hakasims]

Shitty Luca Movie Recap, Episode 4

Can’t Watch Nina, Even For Luca?

Don’t Worry, Me Neither. Goodbye.

.

..

...

Ok, fine, I’ll talk about the damn thing.

So it’s a warm September night, and I’m in the mood for a Luca Marinelli feature. In my infinite wisdom I choose Nina. “It’s directed by a woman,” I reason, “and women know what’s up.” ‘What’s up’ in this particular case is code for ‘how to frame beautiful men for the female gaze’. Because women can be auteurs, too, and being an auteur means making movies about your own personal wank material.

Turns out, sometimes a woman’s wank material consists less of a gorgeous male form and more of fascist architecture. We’ll discuss the former in due time, but for now, what’s Nina even about? Well, at its core it’s a simple story about a young woman who doesn’t know what she wants, set against the backdrop of the Rome that is almost entirely empty due to most people leaving for the summer. This could have been a fairly straightforward coming-of-age film, but Nina is too indie and up its own ass for that. Literally nothing of note happens in this movie, and it’s all long static wide shots of empty streets, endless stairs, and domineering largeness of Rome’s most famous fascist buildings such as the Palace of Italian Civilization, the Sapienza University of Rome, Palazzo dei Congressi, and, most prominently, the Fountains Hall. (Google what they look like if you don’t know.) Now, I’m guessing those locations weren’t chosen by accident. They could have easily added to the creepiness of the movie — and I’m assuming creepiness was intended; otherwise how do you explain these hoverboarding nuns?

Anyway, the employment of the locations could have been atmospheric and thematic had the shots not been so bland. But they are. Bland, flat, and always looking the same no matter what is happening in the scene. Usually audiences are willing to sit through slow uneventful movies because of interesting visuals or characters worthy of attention, but Nina has neither. The titular character herself is tedious. Even her bad fashion sense is bad in a boring way that doesn’t tell you anything about her. Is she stuck in perpetual adolescence? Is she searching to get in touch with her sensuality? Who knows. The only thing I’m certain of is that she needs to learn to tuck her tops into her bottoms.

Nina spends her days giving singing lessons, going to Chinese calligraphy classes, eating cake, exercising and taking midnight walks in the empty city. She wants to go to China in September — it’s the closest thing to a goal she has — yet she’s done no preparations, and instead of learning Mandarin she’s studying calligraphy. And she’s real bad at it, too.

There are reoccurring visual elements in the movie besides the vast emptiness: stairs, white columns, a jogger, a red dress, animals… You’d think those were very straightforward symbols, but they’re used too sporadically and inconsistently to hold any meaning. For example, animals. Nina is tasked with both helping out in a pet store and house-sitting an apartment with a German shepherd (a good boy named Homer), a guinea pig and a tank full of fish. The instructions she’s given are absurd, like feeding the dog sleeping pills and putting the guinea pig on a diet. And then there’s a supposedly American TV show always playing in and out of diegesis about dogs living in cages and swimming happily in pools, and it looks and sounds like a video off the political section on the dog version of YouTube. It contains timeless classics like “You are a dog born in the age of consumerism” and “Depression is an evil illness now spreading amongst dogs of every breed, dogs belonging to every social class.” The butter commercial from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend could never. And I wish the whole movie was as surreal as this TV program but unfortunately it’s as bland and directionless as Nina herself.

And boy is it directionless. There aren’t any subplots in the movie, no cause and effect, no acts, no structure, no flow; only scenes that happen, and I can’t even find any reasons for the order in which they happen. The scenes also don’t start or end; they just interrupt each other, not leaving any emotional impact. For example, there’s a scene where Nina sees her future self. She’s on one of those midnight walks with the good boy Homer when she sees a couple being romantic. The woman is wearing a long red dress, and the man is in all black. The shot is wide, so it’s impossible to see their faces, but the woman is obviously Nina:

And the man is definitely Luca. I recognized his ass. I’m not joking, guys. It’s his ass:

Also I was later directed to the website of the photographer who took the set photos, and yes, it’s Nina and Luca.

I never forget an ass.

Anyway, Nina, who at this point hasn’t properly met Luca’s character, Fabrizio, sees herself from the future acting romantic with him, and doesn’t react. We don’t even know if she recognizes herself or him or whether it’s even a real scene or a dream. How are we supposed to empathize with a heroine who isn’t allowed to react to her environment?

Whatever, it’s time to talk about Fabrizio. He plays the cello and he’s obnoxious. That’s it. He first appears as a patron of Caffé Palombini, the real-world café Nina frequents (and buys her cakes at). She’s drinking her usual milk shake and reading. At some point, their eyes meet, but neither says anything, and then Nina gets up and runs after the good boy Homer who decided to take a little stroll by himself. She leaves all her things behind: her milk shake, her handbag, at least three books, a whole stack of paper for calligraphy, and her diary. It’s obvious she’s going to come back as soon as she gets the dog. And yet before her feet are even out of frame, Fabrizio gets up, goes to her table and fucking steals her diary!

His next several appearances are random and sporadic, and it looks like he’s stalking Nina, but by the time of his first actual scene she is following him for some reason. Obviously, he can’t let a woman outcreep him, so he ambushes her:

He tells her blankly, “You’re following me,” but I think this scene deserves better dialogue. Thankfully, we have a whole well of predator/maiden media to pull from.

Though I personally believe this is the most appropriate line:

Fabrizio lets Nina know he has her diary in the dickiest way possible: he quotes from it to let her know that he’s read it. He then informs her that he’ll only give it back to her if she continues following him. And it’s not blackmail; “it’s an agreement.” What an asshole! I’m weeping for the dignified cuckoldry of Joseph.

And what was the purpose of that “agreement” plot point if the next time they meet is by chance? Quirky love interest writing, duh. So quirky that the accidental meeting happens when Nina is walking past a phone booth where Fabrizio is… doing a phone prank? I don’t know, I got nothing. Anyway, he’s annoyed their meeting is unintentional on Nina’s part, but he returns her diary, and I guess they start dating? He watches her sing once with what could only be described as a complete absence of emotions:

In the next scene she watches him play the cello after which they go on a date. Nina is wearing the red dress from the vision, but Fabrizio’s shirt is different. I fucking give up.

Their next (second?) date is a romantic dinner on Nina’s roof, and they’re dancing for entirely too long. She then tells him she’s scared of how much she’s enjoying his company, gives him a ridiculously chaste kiss goodnight and… completely ghosts him afterwards. And if you didn’t dislike Fabrizio before, you will now as he starts calling Nina at ungodly hours (including 5:30 am) and leaving her very whiny and increasingly more passive-aggressive, entitled, and accusatory voicemails. At some point he even leaves a voicemail for the fucking dog! He’s like, “Homer, I’m worried, meet me at the café.” Again, quirky love interest writing: extortion, phone pranks and a voicemail for a dog.

Fabrizio then lets Nina know he’ll be leaving town in three days in case she’d like to see him one last time or whatever. And she never fucking does! In any other movie she’d be chasing through the airport, but here she just drops him like he’s a well-tucked shirt! She tells the kid she’s befriended (she hangs out with an eleven-year-old boy the whole movie, don’t worry about it) that she’s afraid to be “like everyone else”, with a job and a boyfriend, so she doesn’t even say goodbye to Fabrizio. At some point she goes for a walk with the good boy Homer, and Fabrizio is also there, and they just miss each other. Even fate isn’t interested in that romance.

And then all the fascist buildings get covered in gigantic paper figurines, and the red-dressed Nina runs into Fabrizio’s arms. Because of course.

Nina is one of those movies where the main theme — a struggle to grow up — is obvious, but the rest of the elements are a mess only the writer-director could decipher. And I don’t really care. Again, I had to read Japanese postmodernists at university. What I do care about is the male form I mentioned at the start. I know I have no one but myself to blame for my expectations of how the director should have framed Luca’s body or face, but it’s one thing to frame him blandly and a completely different thing to isolate him as the only character (or actor) she’s deeply uninterested in filming competently. Everyone else in the movie gets their fair share of close-ups and decent lighting whilst Luca — whose name is literally second in the credits — gets, um, neglected.

This is his introduction:

These are literally all his close-ups:

Should I even count this last one? What’s with the lighting? Like, this is as well-lit as his face gets:

Oh, the shot is too wide and you can’t see his face properly? Well, tough poop:

Are you kidding me with this shit?

Nina may not be objectively the most terrible of the movies Luca’s been in: I’d argue both Mary of Nazareth and L’ultimo terrestre are worse, as is Slam, whose time’s a-coming. Nor is it the movie where Luca appears the least (The Great Beauty’s literal one minute of screen time is saying hi). But it’s the only movie I have no reasons to watch: it’s blandly shot, poorly structured, badly themed — and it’s actively obstructing Luca’s beauty and charisma. So no matter which film you’ll ask me to do next, at least in terms of the visual component of my posts, we have nowhere to go but up.

[villa-kulla]

Fic Writer Review

Tagged by @fontainebleau22, thanks for the tag, sorry for the delay!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

26 at the moment.

2. What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

722 309. I’d have thought it would be more considering how long some of mine seem to get, although looking at other people’s answers to this meme, I guess 26 isn’t really a huge number!

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

My first fic ever was a little Lord of the Rings experiment for an exchange thing. But my first proper dip into writing for a fandom would have been Breaking Bad, where I wrote for a couple of years before it felt like my ideas had run their course. Then there was a Kingsman fic, and then Mag7 where - similarly to BrBa - wrote feverishly for a couple years until it felt like the well had been plumbed. Oh yeah and then jumped into the Marvel fandom to drop one Marvel fic before immediately jumping back out lol.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

So the Marvel fic has officially just become my most kudoed fic, which is kind of hilarious considering it was a SUEZ! CANAL! FIC! But in my opinion, a good one lol. So yeah, it would be 1. The SamBucky Suez Canal fic, 2. The Kingsman soccer AU, 3. Desert Sand, 4. Chisolm’s 7, and 5. Blue Devils. That last one surprises me, but I guess it was an early one for the fandom, so I think it became an automatic read.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not

I do! It’s possible I’ve missed some here and there, but generally I try to get them all.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t think any of them! While my fics definitely include angst, ideally it’s still in a fun way, or at minimum, bittersweet? I don’t generally want the last taste in a reader’s mouth to be angst. ALTHOUGH. I really really wanted to include an epilogue to the selkie fic that’s kind of angsty. Basically the story would end, but then many years later we’d see an old man get off a bus on the coastal road, carrying a suitcase. He’d be wearing a suit, clearly back from many years travelling. He’d walk to the coast, back over a hill where there’d once been a little fishing cottage, long since torn down. He’d walk down to the beach and into a little cove where he’d kneel by the water he knew better than anyone. Opening the suitcase he’d take out a box which he’d then empty into the ocean, ashes spreading across the water. He’d take out a folded bundle of cloth and wrap it around his shoulders. Then he’d dive into the water, disappearing into the waves, leaving nothing but an empty suitcase behind him, and a folded pile of clothes.

I loved that ending but I’m still not 100% sure if it was keeping in tone with the actual ending, so I left it out. Maybe one day I’ll go and add it as en extra chapter snippet.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I don’t know if I’d call them ‘crossovers’ exactly, although I did stick Goody and Billy into a Some Like it Hot ‘jazz band on a train’ situation, and I also did a Breaking Bad one that used some elements of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Those feel more like ‘AUs’ though. I like situational crossovers, but I’ve never been super into fics where characters from different fandoms actually interact.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Thankfully not. The most off-putting comment I’ve gotten was someone who - despite being very complimentary - decided to make a full-on laundry list all the anachronisms in a chapter lmao, like what. Stuff like "interesting that this character used this expression when XYZ would only been invented 10 years later!” etc. I’m positive they didn’t realize how it came off, but still, that was kind of hilarious in its.....obliviousness lol. It was special.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do. And I guess I’ve done the full spectrum of ‘fade to black’ to ‘describe every bead of sweat in pearlescent detail’. It really depends on what the fic calls for! I’ve done some I’m quite proud of tbh, but there are others I’d like to go back and have another stab at, just because they felt kinda cookie-cutter.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

There’ve been a couple! I can’t remember which ones specially, but I had some people asking to translate some Breaking Bad ones, and I think a Mag7 one too. I remember someone messaging to ask permission like “We love your fics in Russia!” and that was a very sweet and wild thing to hear.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, I wrote one with @yoporkchopsandwiches! Our Victorian opium dens Breaking Bad AU lol. I was just thinking of that recently actually and remembering how fun it was to read what the other wrote! We plotted out most of it together, and then took turns writing chapters or scenes. But of course while writing you come up with other details or ideas, so we’d then present the new chapter to the other with all the new bits added. And it was so fun to read what the other came up with like ‘omg no way didn’t see that coming/good idea!’ and then picking up their idea from there. In that sense it was almost like improv but for writers.

13. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

That I’ve written? I think I’ve had the most fun with Goodnight/Billy, partly for the time period, partly for the dynamic, but mostly for the plausibility. While I really enjoyed writing BrBa, it felt more like it came from enthusiasm for the show, not the central ship lol. Don’t get me wrong, the chemistry and its potential was extremely fun to write in a fic setting, but I don’t find I actually shipped it while watching the show itself. Whereas it’s been nice with Mag7 to write for a ship that’s actually....more believable lol. 

14. What’s a wip that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Ugh I can’t beLIEVE I have an unfinished fic up on ao3 lol it haunts me. I was sure I was done with Goodnight/Billy, and then early quarantine last year I had a train robbers AU idea, so I posted a couple chapters. But I don’t think my heart was super in it, I was more just messing around with the idea. I don’t want to delete it, but I’m also not super motivated to finish it haha, but we’ll see what happens. But tbh I like the poem summary better than the fic itself:P

15. What are your writing strengths?

Plotting, keeping things moving, and making stories feel visual maybe? They’re almost all movies in my head anyways, so I think I have good instincts for ‘cinematic moments’.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I think I’m a little lazy, and also ‘end-product oriented’. In some ways it’s helpful to picture the whole fic before you write it, but sometimes it results in some scenes feeling slightly slapdash because I’m just trying to get them out to move onto the next. Like ‘everyone did everything I wanted to in this scene? Great, next.’ I could stand to ‘stop and smell the roses’ more while I write, and actually see what else I can do to improve a scene.

(also if I use a word once it sticks in my head I end up using it like 5 other times in a scene and don’t notice lol, I need to stop that)

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

All for it! Depends how it’s done though. I personally find long scenes of dialogue where you have to constantly jump down to the author’s notes for the translations to be distracting. I like when it’s integrated more naturally where actual translations aren’t super important. Like in River Grit, Billy overhears this little exchange between Goodnight and his childhood nanny:

“Ah c’est vrai, mon petit Bonsoir! J’en peux pas le croire!” she cried out and laughed as she embraced Goody. Billy realized with a start that he actually recognized one of the words: ‘Bonsoir’. Goodnight. (insert brief flashback of Goody teaching him the nickname) / “Ma Serafine,” Goodnight said with a laugh. “C’est vrai que tu ne vieillis pas. Tu vas me rendre jaloux, heh?” / Billy had no idea what Goodnight was saying, but he sure as hell recognized Goodnight’s tone for flattery, and it was confirmed when the old woman laughed and smacked his arm.

What they’re actually saying is: “Oh it’s true, my little Goodnight! I can’t believe it!” / “My Serafine, it’s true you never age. You’re going to make me jealous”. But it doesn’t matter because this fic is from Billy’s POV so it’s about how he experiences the language around him, which is why I wouldn’t have included a translation for the reader. If you understand it then it’s a bonus, but the words themselves aren’t really the point! 

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

That lil Lord of the Rings fic.

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Hmm for Mag7 I’ve always liked River Grit and love how it turned out. I also think Ashes feels very complete as a fic and I liked the flashback format. And while it’s not my favourite fic, in hindsight I’m impressed with the Kingsman football fic and how I had to write about 5 different soccer games and make them all feel different and exciting, and not just some variation of ‘He kicked the ball!’ I’m really pleased with how those sequences all turned out.

La fin! Not tagging anyone this time, but please feel free to do this if you see it! I love when people just take initiative to do these things without waiting for a tag (also please tag me in it if you do, ‘cause I love reading these things lol)

[meetmeatthecoda]

I absolutely ♥️ADORE♥️ Scripted and would love to read your director’s commentary for it!

Oh, anon!! 😍 I'm SO THRILLED that you loved Scripted so much, that makes me so happy!! 🥰 Especially that you loved it enough to want to read my "director's commentary" (that phrase makes me laugh, you'd think I created a feature length film all by myself 🤣), so I think I'll skim through the fic - it's been a while since I re-read it - & make a bullet-point list of any special BTS info I can think of 😊 Anddd I'll also put it under a read more cause you know me, I never use one word when one hundred will do 😂

So, the fic itself was inspired by the ending of 5.08 where Liz wakes from her coma to Red reading to her in an armchair as he had been for the past 10 months, it's fine, I'm fine but she still has a ventilator in so she can't talk & instead has to write "how long?" on a piece of paper & her handwriting is super shake-y bc her muscles are so weak (I think Red even helps her hold the pen? It's clearly been a while since I re-watched the ep whoops but ugh, be still my heart.) For some reason, I just latched onto the idea of a mute Liz, really suffering with the implications of everything she went through (since her recovery was so glossed over in the show boo) & Red 1000% being there for her. Mostly, I just wanted to dive into the dynamic of Liz letting Red care for her the way he's always wanted to (without Tom & Agnes btw) to the point where their relationship is unhealthy in its reliance, but neither can see it bc Liz is blocking things out (& unknowingly falling in love with him) & Red is just so thrilled to be able to love & care for her (while already deeply in love with her obvi). So yeah, that was the kind of dynamic & closeness I wanted to explore between them & it was... really fun 😊

The idea of the coma providing the perspective Liz needed to see that Red has always had her best interests at heart & clearly loves her (in addition to the fact that he never left her side or gave up during those 10 months lol peak romance tbh) seemed very organic & logical to me.

I liked the idea of Red & Liz playing board games as a way to pass the time & get to know each other better. It's the kind of casual interaction we were never gifted with in the show & I think they're both competitive in the right circumstances, even if its playfully so.

I liked the idea of Liz being urged to learn ASL, as I'm deaf in one ear & would dearly love to learn it at some point.

The detail of Red sleeping on a cot close enough to Liz's hospital bed that they can hold hands in their sleep was a total guilty pleasure addition & I'm not sorry.

I loved the scene in the beginning where Red is talking to Dembe on the phone in the hallway & Liz is practicing her letters. She's purely doing it so Red doesn't worry & I loved the idea of her being apathetic to everything except Red's concerns, plus I added in the parenthetical of (Red sometimes squints at her k's.) bc I thought it represented that well, but also bc it was just cute af. I also added the little detail of him waving at her through the window at the last minute bc I thought the scene needed something else & once I pictured that, it was too adorable to leave out.

Red handling all the details of Liz's care & transportation without asking (bc he instinctively knew that's what Liz wanted) only to turn around & panic about excluding her seemed like a very RED thing to do & I like how it emphasizes his well-meaning intentions, respect for her preferences, & desire to see her happy, even if she did actually want to leave him lol as if.

I liked the visual of Liz stumbling into Red's arms as she stands from her hospital bed to leave with him (sets a precedent for later) & I also loved the visual of a pen in her ponytail & of course Red using it to flirt a little bc come on.

I remember struggling to write the car ride transition to the lake house. I usually get ideas & visions for specific scenes, moments, or bits of dialogue, so those kind of transition moments are hard for me sometimes. But I liked that I settled on Red helping to ground Liz through touch (again, sets a precedent for later).

Red & Liz playing hangman in the car with Red using the word "fedora" & drawing a suited hangman made me giggle.

I can see the lake house very clearly in my mind, complete with the willow tree, bench, & tiny house (included bc I desperately want a tiny house in real life) & I really enjoyed describing the interior & imagining the joy Red would get out of decorating it with Liz in mind.

Their first night in the house where Liz has her nightmare & Red comforts her - that was a scene I had in mind very early on & I love how it turned out, especially with Liz mouthing "stay with me" into Red's neck, that part gave me All The Feels™.

The "morning after" scene where Liz realizes on some level that she's too dependent on Red is an important moment in the fic & the off-hand detail that at least "she's not going around murdering people & calling it therapy" was a bit of shade to Ruin (which I don't think I ever saw bc I was kind of appalled with the idea lol) I think I posted Scripted after Ruin aired... if not, I guess I'm psychic?? LOL

The breakfast scene - & the fact that Red is preparing every breakfast food known to man bc he's nervous too - is near & dear to my heart. I think that's a pretty pivotal scene since they kind of reach an unspoken agreement & peace &... "things settle after that first breakfast."

I liked the teeny little parenthetical section that comes next as well, which acts as a sort of middle point for the fic.

The next large chunk of the fic was pure indulgence for me. I LOVED writing about all the different things they would do together when it was just the two of them, it was basically a collection of Lizzington headcanons & that's how I sketched them out LOL Here's some notes on them:

I came up with the jigsaw puzzle headcanon (that Liz is bored by them bc they're easy for her bc she's a trained psychologist & easily sees patterns in things) late in the editing process but loved it so much that I included it.

Liz's sandwich preference is actually mine LOL

The Monopoly banter was fun af to write bc I love that game.

The love notes Liz leaves around the house for Red is still an all-time favorite headcanon of mine.

I loved the idea of Red reading to Liz in a foreign language, holding the book only for looks, but not actually reading from it at all & instead professing his love for her. I think I've even used that headcanon in another fic LOL

Their movie nights were also something I was dying to include, especially since they include snacks & cuddles.

Their co-sleeping habits were also something I wanted to include & Liz's newly tactile nature is both a symptom of her dependence on Red & also a guilty pleasure thing for me bc we all wanted more of Red & Liz touching on screen, plus I felt obligated to explain through Red that it wasn't sexual in nature (though if I ever get around to writing part 2, that will change 😉)

Dembe being the one to observe & interfere in their situation was an early scene I imagined as well, that was always going to be the climax of the fic (or at least part 1). I so enjoyed writing about Red & Liz's relationship through his eyes bc he just loves them both & only wants to help them.

Another pivotal scene I imagined early on was Liz having a panic attack with Dembe when she discovers Red has left & that was super engaging to write, as well as the reunion between them which... I pretty much wrote the whole fic with the goal of getting to that lovely angst LOL

Red's resolve to finally urge Liz to speak was heart-breaking to write (so naturally I loved it lol what's wrong with me) & in particular the detail of them eating fruit for lunch before he broaches the topic with her & the parenthetical about it being "a sign from the cosmos that they are meant to be together just because they don't eat each other's favorite fruit" made my heart happy even tho it's stupid LOL & when Red asks her if she would ever try to speak again & she responds with a simple written "Why?" that was a huge moment that I loved the angst of, of course. As well as the absolutely gutting: "Lizzie, I miss your voice."

I liked that Liz needs some time to think & accept everything Red forces her to realize at the end, that was super important to me in the resolution of the fic/part 1 & I tried really hard to include both their mentalities there at the end.

The fact that Red hasn't had a drink since he started caring for Liz also made my shipping heart happy.

And - lastly - the fact that the only thing Liz actually says in the whole fic is Red's name? Yeah 🥲🥲🥲

Welp, there you go, anon, I'm not sure if that was interesting to you at all, but I certainly hope so!! I know that was a lot but... it's a long fic, my longest ever, so I figure it's warranted, right?? 😂 Anyway, thank you so much, both for the compliment of loving Scripted AND for wanting to read more about it, anon, you are so sweet!! 🥰 I hope you enjoyed this & much, much love to you, my friend!! ❤️

Fanfic Writers: Director's Cut

[reyloandotherfandoms]

When I first saw that Chris Terrio had given an interview “explaining” TROS, I wasn’t going to read it.

But then, I thought, hey! Let’s see what the corporate spin is on this disaster!

1.  “...it’s about taking the ideas that came from ‘VIII’ and trying to complicate them and develop them and to have some new surprises.”

Umm...the ideas from VIII were plenty complex. They didn’t need to be “complicated”, they needed to be explored. And if you were trying for new surprises, you failed utterly. Everything about this movie was completely predictable to anyone who’d seen the other eight movies. Okay, moving on.

2.  re: Rey Palpatine. Terrio argues that this reveal is in dialogue with “The Last Jedi” rather than just a ret-con of it.  What dialogue? The idea that the Force isn’t tied to bloodlines, that people can be strong no matter their ancestry, was a major theme of TLJ, and it was echoed even at the end, with Broom Boy. Saying that Rey actually did get her powers from her genetic heritage is directly opposed to that theme, not in dialogue with it. Unless, of course, that dialogue is nothing more than a taunt of “In your face, Johnson!” So that statement is some bullcrap. Next one.

3.  Terrio added that anyone who thinks he and Abrams ignored the direction of “The Last Jedi” or countered it rather than developed and deepened it...are “not understanding how writers think.” That’s an interesting statement, since what I’ve seen from this fandom is an enormous amount of creativity and intelligence, including fanfiction that is far superior to many works of published fiction. There are also innumerable meta that explore the story structure of the ST and of the three-trilogy body of work as a whole, written by people who know what they’re talking about. I agree that somebody doesn’t understand how writers think, but I don’t think it’s the fans.

4.  “We wanted to show all the characters growing in some way.“ One of my biggest problems with this movie was the static nature of the characters. They had basically no arcs whatsoever, except for Ben, whose arc has been building from Episode VII and who regresses immensely before making the final push to become Ben Solo again. So you failed at that, dude. Big time.

5.  “ Luke stopping Rey from tossing a saber away....That moment for us was about Luke having learned something and ... he will not let Rey make the same mistake that he did.” Unpopular opinion incoming -- I actually agree with this statement. That’s how I read the whole Luke interaction when I saw TROS. In TLJ, he was still too into his own head, still a bit of the whiny farm boy from Episodes IV and V; here, he actually seems to finally be wise. My issue with this particular Luke segment is simply that it was rushed too quickly (which was no different than the rest of the movie).

6.   “ As J.J. said, that it would almost be weird for Palpatine not to be in some way in this movie.” No, it wouldn’t, because he was canonically dead.Threats to peace can come from anywhere, and there were any number of big bads in the EU that could have been used here, if you didn’t want to go with an original character.

7.  “We probably could have written a whole movie that was just a lead up to Kylo Ren going to get the wayfinders...Where he now is the king, and he had to sort of earn the throne. And now, how will he perform as Supreme Leader?” Innumerable amounts of people would have paid such good money, multiple times, to watch that story, if it were done well (and probably if it were done in a mediocre way, to tell the truth). You left something really interesting in the Idea Trash Can.

8.  “I think Rey has to keep asking herself who she is and keep declaring who she is in the course of this movie, and that changes. At the beginning of the movie, Rey is a different person than she is at the end,” Actually, she’s not (see point #4 above). You may have intended for her to wrestle with her Palpatinian heritage, but then you never gave her time to do so (never even wrote it into the script, apparently). She struck me as frustratingly indifferent about it, to be honest. So, that’s another big fail for you.

9.  “I don’t think we think of it as she’s going to live there,” Terrio said. “We thought of it as just paying her respects and sort of undoing the original sin at the end of the third movie, which is the separation of the twins.“ Then that’s another big fail, because everyone I’ve talked to about that ending believes she is going back to live there. That was the message we got from the way it was written, shot, and edited. It says the exact opposite of what you’re claiming it says. So either a) you’re spouting bullcrap because you realize it was a horrible ending; or b) J.J. Abrams is an utterly incompetent filmmaker.

10. re: Rey Skywalker  “In the end, we thought that the final victory of the Light and the final act of self-affirmation for Rey was to declare that despite her blood she is a Skywalker. At that moment, the Skywalkers truly win the family saga.” Um, you people had a whole-ass actual Skywalker with a complex backstory and a tremendous fan following -- remember him? Yeah, the guy who sacrificed his life to save the woman he loved, the woman who was essentially his parents’ “replacement child” for him. He died and then was never mentioned again, and there is no indication that even his soulmate ever mourned his passing. That is not a win for the Skywalker family, not by any stretch of the imagination.

11. re: the Force Ghosts at the end.  “Spiritually, it’s not a crazy idea that all the Jedi would be standing with them, but it might’ve been a bit of a visual shock to see all these new characters on Tatooine who weren’t part of the story of Leia, Luke and Rey.” The Ben Solo erasure is breathtakingly astounding. I just can’t even with this. AN ENTIRE MAJOR CHARACTER FROM THE FRANCHISE’S MAJOR FAMILY DIES AND IS COMPLETELY IGNORED. It is absolutely shitty storytelling. But then again, I’m probably way off base here, since I “don’t understand how writers think.”

12. re: the specific Force Ghosts they chose.  “But, the twins never got to Tatooine together. So, the idea of seeing the twins together after the sabers are laid to rest felt like it was something that was very moving to me and J.J.” First of all, the twins were on Tatooine together in Episode VI, so jot that down. (Seriously, did these people even watch any of the other movies? Sure doesn’t seem like it, from the amount of canon that got exploded or ignored.) Second, I’m glad it was a moving idea for you and J.J.; how nice that you were able to share those feelings with each other. However, this movie isn’t about you. It’s about the story. And within the context of the story, it made no sense for Rey to go bury the sabers on Tatooine in the first place, no matter how great you all thought that Force Ghost thing felt. That, in short, is what was wrong with the entire movie -- it wasn’t about the actual story, at all. It was about making pretty set pieces and cool-looking battles. It was a shallow veneer that hid a hollow core.

Ugh. Enough. Had to have my say but am going to go write some more positive fanfiction now. Because what we need in the world is hope, not melancholy, and we sure didn’t get it from TROS.

[deadwalkerpedia]

The Walking Dead, “Days Gone Bye” | Analysis

The final season of The Walking Dead comes in August, so I decided to rewatch the show from the beginning as the end is nigh. TWD has been a part of me since I started to watch TV series, and I’ve watched Days Gone Bye more than seven times, so this is certainly one of the pieces of audiovisual media that I’ve consumed the most. To add a new interesting layer in my rewatches, I’ve decided to see the episodes with a critical and analytical lens, seeing it more than just as a pastime, and write my thoughts here. This will be a great ride for me, and I can’t wait to see again some iconic moments from TWD throughout the seasons and write about them.

Part 1: The World Before

Before getting into the first act of the episode, let me talk about the teaser – the first five minutes of the episode – quickly. As this is our introduction to the world of TWD, Days Gone Bye couldn’t simply start with Rick and Shane having a chat. So it was necessary that the teaser served as a way to establish both the tone and setting of this story, and it certainly does. The teaser tells us that what we are watching is a gritty survival horror story that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, and the teaser establishes this perfectly without no more than two lines of dialogue. It is established visually: Rick stops his car on a deserted road with no traces of civilization anywhere, then goes to an abandoned gas station where other cars are  – and those cars have dead bodies inside. From there, we know right from the start that this isn’t the world we live in. When Rick sees the young girl that is in fact a walker, it is established that this is a world where the main threat are zombies. At least for some part, as in future episodes the series will show us something far more scarier than walking cannibal dead bodies is the real danger. 

Now storytelling-wise, TWD already proved its value in the first five minutes. Frank Darabont directed the episode and wrote the script, and his work in the episode both as director and writter is fantastic and set the bar high if the series wanted to have a consistency of greatness in its episodes. After the perfect five minutes purely composed of visual storytelling, the first scene of the first act is dialogue-heavy and character-driven. One would think that it is to establish to us that Rick and Shane are friends, that Rick has a wife and son and that they are cop buddies, and one would be right, but it is also more than simply introduction and exposition, and that’s the beauty of the audiovisual medium as a whole.

Reading books about screenplay writing, I’ve come to know more about subtext and its applications in both movies and series. Despite this first scene doing great work in introducing us to the two main characters of the season – their mindset, persona and some backstory – it also adds so much worldbuilding-wise. Shane goes on his rant about women not switching off the lights in a house before leaving it, and Rick talks about a discussion he and Lori had earlier. See, the teaser showed us a decaying world with walking bodies. Now, the first minutes of act one show us a world where people worry about such trivialities: switching off the lights. In the tagline for the first volume of the comic book, it reads “The world we knew is gone. The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility“. The scene I mentioned is basically the live-action adaptation of it. We see the world of commerce and frivolous necessity in this introduction so we can understand better and fear the world of survival and responsibility that will come later in the episode. TWD started geniously: it went from visually-driven to dialogue-driven, and after that to visually-driven storytelling, all without losing its verisimilitude and charm.

Now, something about the visuals I loved: the grainy aspect. Because this episode was shot on film – in fact, up until season ten all episodes were shot on film – the film grain is obviously visible. But instead of being just an aesthetic choice – shooting in film or digital – I think it’s also meant to have implications tone-wise. The comic books this series adapt is in black-and-white (something unusual in American comics), but it’s because the writer Robert Kirkman wanted the comic to feel like a classic George Romero zombie flick, and it worked completely. Commercially, a black-and-white TV series wouldn’t be much embraced by a large and mainstream public, but I think that Darabont solved that problem and succeeded in maintaining an aesthetic similar to the feel the comic book wanted to transmit. The excessive film grain – something that made me feel like watching a Panos Cosmatos’ movie but without the acid trips – works because it resembles the Romero zombie flicks in color, like Dawn of the Dead. It is a classical and archetypal zombie story – even if it subverts some conventions various times throughout the series – and the visuals tell us that.

Not only that, but the episode has many moments that resembled The Mist in some ways: the camera being close to its characters to make the story feel grounded and experienced by real people, the back shots to make the audience feel like they are following the characters in their journeys, the handhold camera moments that gives a documentary feel, adding a realistic perspective. All that grants a grounded vibe to the episode, which works because this is a story about how people react and live in a lawless world which can kill them at any possible moment without any warnings. It’s where chaos and anarchy reigns and where death always lurks. A story like that works better when it’s experienced through the eyes of the characters. It’s also best represented in the moment where Rick leaves the hospital and sees the sun for the first time. In the shot, the Sun is blinding us with its shining light, but then there’s a cut, and in the next shot we see only Rick covering his eyes while the blinding sun rays don’t make it to the camera. It’s the switch of subjective to objective perspective, as in the first we see the world with Rick eyes – it’s a man getting out of the dark for the first time in months – and in the second we see the same moment but from outside lens, and it showed us that this a day like any other where the sun doesn’t blind you. Besides, this episode has a low budget sensitivity – not meaning that the quality is subpar, but that it has an authenticity that is extremely convincing. It is that low budget quality that makes the story feel real in a certain way. That is, of course, until the tank in the middle of a city is shown, but even with the realism, it is still tangible, and the story continues to feel realistic in its depiction of a zombie apocalypse in the “real world”.

Not only that, but the episode has many moments that resembled The Mist in some ways: the camera being close to its characters to make the story feel grounded and experienced by real people, the back shots to make the audience feel like they are following the characters in their journeys, the handhold camera moments that gives a documentary feel, adding a realistic perspective. All that grants a grounded vibe to the episode, which works because this is a story about how people react and live in a lawless world which can kill them at any possible moment without any warnings. It’s where chaos and anarchy reigns and where death always lurks. A story like that works better when it’s experienced through the eyes of the characters. It’s also best represented in the moment where Rick leaves the hospital and sees the sun for the first time. In the shot, the Sun is blinding us with its shining light, but then there’s a cut, and in the next shot we see only Rick covering his eyes while the blinding sun rays don’t make it to the camera. It’s the switch of subjective to objective perspective, as in the first we see the world with Rick eyes – it’s a man getting out of the dark for the first time in months – and in the second we see the same moment but from outside lens, and it showed us that this a day like any other where the sun doesn’t blind you. Besides, this episode has a low budget sensitivity – not meaning that the quality is subpar, but that it has an authenticity that is extremely convincing. It is that low budget quality that makes the story feel real in a certain way. That is, of course, until the tank in the middle of a city is shown, but even with the realism, it is still tangible, and the story continues to feel realistic in its depiction of a zombie apocalypse in the “real world”.

The whole sequence of the car chase and the shooting between the cops and the criminals is beautifully conducted by Darabont, who knows his craft remarkably and executes it in a manner like no one else does. The memorable shots, shot by Darabont, immortalize the whole sequence and reach its climax – the gunshot Rick suffers – perfectly in a crescendo that works better here than in the comics, this being an easy task, but still, Darabont managed to do it in an impressive way, totally deserving a bravado status.

Also, something that I also appreciated, and I think it’s overlooked: when the police cruiser where Rick and Shane are passes through a road, we see a single crow eating a roadkill. What do this mean exactly? Animals can’t turn to zombies so one might think this is only a moment with no meaning behind it. But now I interprete it as a symbol. It is meant to represent that society has be decaying long before the dead came to eat the living. It remembers me the first Mad Max, where the world is not in the same level as it appears in Mad Max 2: Road Warrior – a full-on post-apocalyptic society – but it is in its final stages, leaning to barbarism and uncontrollable chaos. The producers of TWD announced an anthology spin-off series named Tales of the Walking Dead, and it certainly would be interesting to see more of the transition between our world and the post-apocalyptic zombie-ridden world, showing the process in-between of transformation and decay.

Part 2: Brave New World

The second act starts as Rick steps out of the hospital and faces the current reality of his world, and it’s an ugly one. Rick sees dead bodies everywhere and discarded military gear. Something dreadful happened when he was in a coma. The world undergone a change so great in his sleep that it’s impressive that Rick didn’t drown in total madness when he first saw what’s left of society. Most of act two is about Rick having to come to terms with his new life: one entirely ruled by survival. Now, another interesting element that is also a symbol in my interpretation: the bicycle girl. The bicycle girl (which is the zombie without its lower body) is the first walker Rick encounters. He is scared by her and runs away from her with the bicycle that was there next to him. The bicycle girl is nothing more than the remains of the past life of Rick and the world before. It is dead and alive at the same time – like the walkers – but in a pitiful state. It can’t be on its feet and is always trying to grasp and touch Rick, but, ultimately, it can’t. Rick fears it, and because of that he runs.

Most of the second act is focused on the interactions of Rick and Morgan Jones. Morgan, after encountering Rick and saving him from a nearby walker, takes him inside his house, but fearing that the gunshot wound was in fact a walker bite, Morgan rightly tied Rick to a bed and waited for him to wake up to ask some questions. Now, it’s incredible how this episode never misses a beat and is not made of only three truly great scenes, but all of the scenes are great. The whole dinamic of Morgan explaining to Rick what happened and what it takes to live in this new world felt so natural that no critic could say it was bad exposition. It was exposition done right, revealing more about Morgan’s character, showing him as a good man and a father to his son Duane. It’s easy to understand why Rick and Morgan liked each other one day after meeting for the first time. The chemistry is real, and it’s unbelievable how seasons later, when they see each other again, the chemistry is still there. 

Andrew Lincoln and Lennie James are spectacular actors. Their acting in this episode is astonishingly extraordinary. I’m pissed that they didn’t won any awards for it, they certainly deserve it. Andrew’s acting was great all way through, but when he first arrives at his house and cries for Lori and Carl you could feel the man’s pain and suffering. One moment that is perfect and maybe one of the bests of all TV history is when Rick is having an existential crisis. “Is this real? Am I here?”, asks Rick while facing the ground. It’s such a powerful reaction to the absurdity he is experiencing and it feels so damn real because Andrew Lincoln can cry like a pro and give the gaze of a man that is lost. Rick is lost. And this scene can provide such a powerful punch to the audience that you can’t help but be already invested in Rick’s journey. He just wants his family, so he can put some sense in a mad world. Without them, Rick is lost.

The second act makes us empathize more with Rick and Morgan. They both have admirable goals. They just want to live and provide for their family. Their bond is developed exceptionally in their final moments together – before Rick travels to Atlanta – that you are left caring for them and wanting a reunion. The final scenes of act two were made to make you feel emotional without doubt, and I’m sure that it worked on some people and made them fall in love with the series instantly. It’s when Rick kills bicycle girl and Morgan fails to kill his dead wife, now a walker. The soundtrack by Bear McCreary is phenomenal and adds so much dramatic and emotional weight to the scenes, and it fits perfectly with the tone of pretty much the core of the series. It’s a haunting song, a sorrowful one full of melancholy, but it also has a spark of hope in it. It makes a statement: everything is sadly collapsing around us, but there’s still hope of rebuilding. The Mercy of the Living is TWD summarized in an orchestral piece, and I feel like crying every time I listen to it, just like the piece Alive Inside of Telltale’s game, that also does a masterful job in creating a sad but hopeful atmosphere in its melody. The bicycle girl – which is the past Rick and the world before – must be killed by Rick if he wants to continue his voyage, to which destination is his family. Rick is teary and heartbroken in killing bicycle girl because now he has to fully embrace a life ruled by survival. “I’m sorry this happened to you.” is Rick final message and requiem to the world and consequently to his past self – a quiet Rick that didn’t want to discuss with Lori in front of Carl –, both who had problems that they couldn’t resolve before the tragedy that hit them.

Part 3: The Beginning

The third and last act are in fact the beginning. We saw a peak of a world before the zombie apocalypse and Rick waking up in this desolated society in the first two acts, but the third one is to introduce and set up what the series is about and what will do to its end: show the characters in a battle for survival, and ultimately in a quest for the return of humanity and civilization. Both are depicted in the scenes where Rick is trying to save himself from a horde of walkers that attack him and his horse, and the other with Shane’s group listening and trying to talk in the radio with a mysterious survivor (Rick himself) who warns about his coming into the city, showing their efforts to help fellow survivors who might enter Atlanta without knowing its dangers, thus demonstrating that they are still human after all.

The episode show us a little about the relationship of Shane and Lori, as well as a glimpse to their group. It wasn’t exactly necessary, but it doesn’t hurt in any way the season’s progress and development. The third act is best represented by Rick entering Atlanta and having to escape a humongous horde of walkers. Rick manages to survive by hiding in the tank that was parked in a street. The scene also show us that zombies had some intelligence  – they crawl and try to open things – and some of them look cartoonishly green or grey, instead of the realistic putrid rotting flesh look the marvelous make-up by Greg Nicotero can provide. And both of these things are common to the iconography Romero made for the zombies. It’s very clear that Darabont takes inspirations from his movies and respect their legacy by expanding it to a new range of people and an audience that is maybe not that familiar with Romero – I wasn’t when I first watched TWD and when I saw Romero’s movies I was impressed by how it influenced the series. 

Days Gone Bye is a masterclass of how a pilot should be made. This quintessential pilot introduces a storyline that will be finished within the episode. while also setting up what’s coming next in the season, laying ground for all the future episodes in the best way possible. It introduces a protagonist that proves that he can sustain a show on his own – he is a caring father, loving husband, a good man and a kind of Western hero, we see him riding in his horse towards the imminent danger full of guns and determination searching only for his family. The Walking Dead may not be recognized as a TV series that revolutionized the medium, but it revolutionized its genre, and overall it is a great series that deserves recognition, and so does Days Gone Bye. It is simply the perfect pilot.

[ambresong]

“This is a thriller“

For today’s post, I am going to tell you about The King of pop and one of his famous song : “Thriller“ and well were are in October so I thought it was a great song for the Halloween month. He was and still is a legendary artist who broke records, overcame racial boundaries and revolutionized music industry. His creativity changed patterns of traditional songs productions and promotion. And when he died in 2009, the world was choked and there was a global mourning of fans. Micheal Jackson is internationally popular for his dance moves and among them, the famous “Moonwalk“ which first appeared in his video of “Billie jean“, the anti-gravity lean, the crotch grab and the spin . His dances moves became iconic and he performed them in numerous of his video clips. I believe he revolutionized the music industry become before him, they didn’t allowed nor assigned such large budgets on singles and it is thanks to the one given to his clips by production companies that he could make 10min long clips rather than 3min short videos.

I think you all know “Thriller“ which is actually part the best selling eponymous album of all time. It is composed of his three most famous song: “Billie Jean“, “Beat it“ and “Thriller“. The song itself has a clip video of 13min long which is considered quite rare for the time when you know the budget music producers granted their singers. “Thriller“ music video is presented as the first mini-movie clip video. The sung lyrics are accompanied by a storyline and dialogue. However, Micheal Jackson didn’t wrote the lyrics but Rod Temperton, the songwriter decided the song would have more success if sang by someone famous with a mysterious and powerful aura like Micheal Jackson. It is the perfect example to illustrate mediation in the music industry. It was produced in 1983 by Quincy Jones. The song itself (the lyrics) doesn’t last 13min, but Micheal Jackson added a scenario to it like a short story. By making the clip for “Thriller“ , Micheal Jackson established a music videos as a form of art.What I find really interesting is that when the song came out, he did an interview where he said and I quote: “I wanted Something that would glue to the set n something you’d want to watch over and over. I wanted to be pioneer in this relatively new medium and make the best short music movies we could make“.

What the single is about?

The scenario is like a horror movie. The whole song deals with a young girl who dates a simple young boy who turns out to be a werewolf who wants to attack her.

“Night creatures call

And the dead start to walk in their masquerade

There’s no escaping the jaws of the alien this time

They’s open wide

This is the end of your life, ooh“

The introduction is performed by Vincent Price, the best know American horror actor of the 20th century, which again give much credit to the video and by helped promote the song and the clip afterwards. The dances moves featured the video and are performed by professional dancers who embody zombies which gives a professional dimension to it.

The video turned out to be the best selling videotape of all time. Of “Thriller“ have been inspired many trends which gave this type of video clip (short movies) the status of mainstream media. In fact, Micheal Jackson stated that it was the power of “visual“ which will sale and make him famous.

A part of the songs’s appeals was the cinematic aspect of the music video which he got the idea of watching “An American Werewolf in London“ and “Night of the Living Dead“. The costume designer made the zombies’s costume is the same who designed Micheal Jackson’s famous red leather jacket . “Thriller“ is considered a masterpiece of the popular music because Micheal Jackson’s was not only a great singer but a dancer. His fashion style and talent created a persona beyond anyone’s reach. To conclude this album had all the conditions reunited to become an international success.“Billie Jean“ made Micheal Jackson famous but “Thriller“ made him “ The King of Pop“.

[darkpoisonouslove]

Scooby-Doo & Zombie Island Review

This refers to both movies dealing with the zombie island. Lemme recap my experience with the first one because I don’t really have all that much to say about it and then we can move on to the MVP. Some mild and not so mild spoilers ahead so be warned. Also, as you’ll be able to tell from the review, I was still watching when I started writing it and my opinions at the beginning and at the end of it are differing.

I watched Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island when I was little and it scared the living hell out of me. Not because of the zombies. Who even cares about zombies anymore? But those cat creatures? Damn, that was the actual worst. And that assessment... still holds up... to an extent. The werecats are still terrifying, still the scariest part of the movie but was I as freaked out as the first time? Definitely not. Tbh there were pretty cool visuals but other than that the movie felt like it dragged a lot. There wasn’t that much of a mystery built through so many clues. It felt like they were just throwing in bits of info to piece together later so that they can tell their story but the actual case that they were supposed to solve? Felt pretty weak. And I have to say that that seems understandable. It is the first Scooby-Doo movie which means the first time they had to build a longer mystery and the first time we had real villains. It’s only natural that there will be a process of trial and error. Overall, it doesn’t really feel like mystery solving is really the focus of the movie. It feels a little scattered and like it doesn’t know exactly how to fill their runtime.

Now to move on to Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island. The beginning is a little weird and what is up with Fred selling the Mystery Machine (at least we get an emotional arc from Fred about it)? Not to mention that the dialogue is a little stilted at some points and there are some delivery and script choices that don’t land well but there is a lot of brilliant in it! I love the iterations of the characters here! The mystery is built so well through the little clues (just as it should be). And the comedy is really good. I laughed out loud so many times!

Shaggy and Scooby are what they always are but with an added twist I will talk about a little later on because we need the set-up first. I know that Fred, Daphne and Velma have promised a break from mysteries before but this is the one time that they are really sticking to that promise. They are going to great lengths to keep their promise to their friends and I love the dedication. They are ignoring their own instincts and urges to solve mysteries and even deliberately explaining the obviously clue-shaped stuff away in order to be good friends and it is heartwarming! I am so sold on this friendship, I can’t even tell you. Not to mention that there is the added bonus of them being left with empty lives when you take away the mysteries and being unable to small talk to each other but they still know each other pretty well. Velma understanding Scooby and Shaggy’s panicked babbling and that group hug when Scoob and Shag finally lifted the no mysteries clause were absolutely adorable moments of genuine friendship!

And that brings me back to Shaggy and Scooby who are here put in the place of the ones having to incite the mystery solving process while the others are explaining away the obviously suspicious activity around them. That was an interesting take on the characters that I don’t think I’ve seen in other Scooby-Doo pieces and was handled really well in a way that makes sense.

The other great thing about this movie is the detail work. The mystery is clearly set up with a bonus thrown in the way. You get a smaller fake mystery in the way that is pretty obvious but also hiding the grand picture. There are several clues left unexplained after the fake mystery is moved out of the way and those are the scariest ones such as the creature Scooby saw and the tires being slashed. Also, the fact that the people with familiar sounding names turned out to be actors is now lulling them in a false sense of security that contrasts with the real danger still lurking to bring out the horror that awaits them. And of course, there is the cat alter that clearly wasn’t part of the movie settings, the cold and therefore dead and real zombies Shaggy and Scooby saw (further thrown off by the fact that there were supposed to be fake zombies there but they ended up being real) and the cat pendant that the movie director is wearing which is straight out of the first movie. An intriguing way to set up a sequel. So they should have saved the personnel quitting for when the werecats showed up as opposed to the actual cats, plus, the whole deal with abandoning the mystery is messing with the tension but... why did they have to get cartoony all of a sudden? I know it’s Scooby Doo but they were handling everything seriously and successfully so far. It was a little bit of a letdown.

There are issues with the pacing throughout the climax of the story which is about the last place you want to have issues with your pacing and I feel like cutting the chase sequence would have served the movie so much better. I know it is a Scooby Doo staple but it is causing some of those issues I mentioned and they would have benefited from placing it before that while they were being chased by the actors so that they could maintain the sense of tension and danger during the parts with actual monsters. The resolution was lackluster at best, confusing at worst. They mention a forth cat and then there isn’t one. The big mystery isn’t connected to the fake mystery and is barely connected to the original mystery either (the pendant was just a coincidence which was about the most frustrating thing of all). And the emotional storyline fell through the cracks as well. It was clear that they were going to come back to solving mysteries but the movie set up a message about them learning who they are outside of that as well and then it went nowhere. They could have tried getting to learn more about themselves and each other while still keeping up with the mysteries and maybe even figuring out that they have a path in acting which could segue into the sheriff offering them to sign up and complete a training program for becoming undercover detectives and work officially for the police after they graduate from that. It would have tied all of the movie segments together much better.

I was so hyped at the beginning of this movie because it was going so well. It had the heart and the brains and then the third act took all of that and launched it into the sun. This is how the potential for a spectacular movie dies and leaves you with a hot mess on your hands instead. I really wanted to talk about this movie because I though that it would be really good and I was super excited about what it was accomplishing in the first part but they couldn’t find it in themselves to carry that momentum all the way to the finish line which is disappointing and sad. I really wish I could have been more positive about this because I really wanted to and I was hoping it would get where it was going but alas... Not the best Scooby Doo movie even though it had headed there at the speed of light at first.