#they said its bc they might not get the cgi done in time

[s0fter-sin]

the witcher producers are considering releasing s3 in two parts?? the sheer arrogance of this is insane

[scoups4lyfe]

Ahaha 😂 Im glad this liveblog only take you 16 hours lol. Also cant wait to see the last part of the hiromi trilogy, kinda excited to see it actually. Wanna see the full on angst lmao.

Also, technically Im someone that didn't care much about Hiromi as character but it really will be a shame if he just stop being Kamen Rider. Hope he can make a comeback or something.

On the other noteeee, Im guessing the Kagerou/Daiji second part gonna come soon (i hope? The actor did say we gonna see Kagerou more). My early guess is that Kagerou gonna join the siblings to fight Olteca (most likely).

Well anyway, I love your live blogs like always and my fav scene ever is definitely the 'mid-winter showcase' bc it all look cool af. Fun fact, (which I got from twitter) apparently that scene was planned last minute including all the cgi. Bc the director want to showcase all Revice form and its amazing that they could make it work in such a short time.

Ah sorry for taking too long. Have a nice day and thank you for your hard work ✨✨ (oh and also thank you for taking the suggestion about tagging the liveblog 💖💖💖)

haha you're cute <33.

Yeah I agree, I love me some good angst. Right now tho Daiji keeps being such a sus ass mfer that I can barely focus on anything else LOL!

For me ;;;; Hiromi was fun cause I'm mean and I liked to laugh at him getting dunked on (ohhh how the turN TABLES) . I Do think it would be a shame tho for Hiromi to not ever appear again,,, like damn yo. Just send him off to the countryside man. Give this dude a break.

(Of course;; that won't be as emotionally impactful to the MCs; so I guess we'll have to wait and see with what the writers decide to do, OOP)

YESSSS THE KAGER/DAIJI 2ND PART!!

Bro. I am SO fking ready. He has been SO suspicious,, I literally can't handle this. I just want to see him tip his lid. That teapot's been left on boil for FAR too long, yo.

Now for wHAT Kagerou decides to do??? I could not tell you, man. I really don't know, cause it could go either way. As of right now I feel like he'd still want to sabotage the family (well,,, mostly just Ikki tbh). So...? Idk though. Like as I said,,,,could go literally any way

Bet the writers are gonna go with the most fked up way tho

(those terrible people <333)

HAHAHA YES THE MID-WINTER SHOWCASE WAS FANTASTIC!!! Bro that BLEW my MIND!!! AND

YO, WHAT?!?!

That was planned LAST MINUTE????

These fking writers/producers YO.

And awhhh <333

Never worry about taking up too much of my time <33. You could write me 4,000 words and I'd still read all of them lovingly. Might even take a picture and hang it on my wall LOL!

And woah

KAREN-ANON???? IS THAT YOU??? !!!!

AIAIAIAIAIA!!! Haha <33. The individual ep tags were something that was a long time coming. Sorting through my own nonsense is just THEE worst lol; so if you hadn't suggested it I'd have gotten fed up with having to search for specific posts and would've done it eventually LOL

For the past liveblog episodes. I WILL, tag those. I'll make that my friday goal (because that's like,,, a whole-ass day kind-of endeavor :'DD)

I'll tell you guys when I've tagged them all.

[avatar-aaang]

so I saw Cruella...

Here are my complaints about it, in no particular order:

CGI was awful. Like most of the time any dog was on screen, it was cgi. Like why, just get real dogs wtf

Kinda fat shamey a few times, felt gross.

Estella/Cruella name thing was dumb, why couldn't she just have changed it once "Estella" was murdered instead of it being a weird... uhh idk. It seemed to be like a separate personality thing at first and then later it seemed to be more like "I was already told to be like this, but I actually want to be like this and that's what I'm gonna be" idk would have made more sense for her to choose it for herself instead of her mom coining it when she was young.

Listen okay when someone wants revenge and thinks about killing whoever wronged them, i think they should just kill them idk watch the count of monte Christo or the princess bride to see good revenge arcs done right lmao

What i liked about it:

Fashion was so fucking good I was losing my mind

Music slapped

Story was pretty solid. Listen I know people joke about the dogs pushing her mom off a cliff and how she came to find out and all, but she didn't just see her use the whistle and go "yes she killed me mom" there were other steps to it, she didn't figure it out right immediately or jump to conclusions crazier than what happened. Still a funny way to set up the story tho.

There was actually a queer character. Never explicitly stated but how could you not fuckin tell. Artie was probably my fav tbh

The hair styles oh my god

Heists??? We love heists, the heists weren't a huge focus but it was fun

The fashion again bc oh my god it was so good

The scene with the banana slice

The parachute skirt was so cool, I've thought about that kinda thing before tho I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have had time to deploy it

Final thoughts:

I think what happened was this: someone had an idea for a crazy fashion designer and a fun backstory. Story got pitched and the execs or whoever said yes BUT why don't we tie it to an already existing property and change some key details and boom thats why its Cruella. Anyway thats how we ended up girlbossifying her i guess even tho in the future she wants to skin puppies.....

I think it was a lot of fun, tbh im kinda salty I liked it as much as I did. Might try to make some of her dresses or whatever bc hot damn they looked so good.

[upslapmeal]

The Tsuranga Conundrum

It’s funny how I saw everyone raving about the first two eps this series while I thought they did their job well enough without Grabbing me, and then when I finish an episode and go into the tag expecting to see people agreeing that it was solid and the series has hit its stride I............don’t see that.

I can’t believe we’re actually halfway through s11

@BBC pls fund the show enough to get all thirteen eps at this rate in a few years we’ll be getting miniseries that are six eps long

at least Chibbs’ speciality is character but we’re still missing out on spending time with them and getting to expand on them

glad to see the tardis in its natural habitat: and junkyard planet

ah yes the thing you do when you see a bomb is......not move.....

there are two Docs on board

geddit

bc Doc Brown

I think this is the first time I’ve seen him do acting rather than standup/panel shows but imdb tells me he’s done a fair bit

‘I'd say it was more of a volume than a chapter’ that line just felt so Doctor™

always the show off

but I do wonder what was in that volume

I saw someone talk about how the people on the ship’s reaction to the Doctor suggested that it was not all good but there was enough to know that they can let her take charge

I like that we got to see the Doctor have a moment of just....kinda blind selfishness

I’m just waiting to get a moment where the companions are scared of her, when they realise some of the stuff she’s done and what she’s capable of

I’ve said it in p much every review so far but I’m can’t wait for the Doctor to be furious

the jettisoned escape pod felt very 42

except Martha came out of that a fair bit better than Astos

man there was a moment there when I thought the sonic might be a goner

but then I remembered about merchandising

‘oh yeah sync the old ocular recorders it's obvious’

lots of good quality Thirteen Hand On Hips Leaning this ep

Yaz basically gently police interrogating Ryan about his life lol

Ryan :((

poor guy saw both his mum and his nan die

I made a note at this point in the ep that I was genuinely curious about how they were going to solve the p’ting issue

OH YEAH THE P’TING

I saw a review say it was too cute to be a serious threat but I thought it was just right

and man....the cgi was top notch

and the post-explosion p’ting was a level of happiness I aspire to tbh

its little fACE

though could they not have just ejected it when it was stunned? I guess it would have come back

but yeah I thought the p’ting problem gave a very engaging narrative framework for the ep 

like there was lots of good character stuff but the plot that linked it all was solid too

'bit Poirot’

while I love Thirteen primarily being a Doctor of hope I do hope it’s kinda....something she’s telling or reminding herself to keep herself on track

and that we get to see that slip a bit later on

‘yeah we're blokes aren't we’

the scenes with Yoss and Ryan and Graham were so good

Ryan encouraging him was <3

'while you've been mucking around on youtube I've been learning useful life skills’ Graham really makes me laugh

and him always looking away at the squeamish bits is #relatable

(why is this the second ep of tv this week I’ve watched that has involved operating to get a baby out....though at least this one showed nothing)

I can’t believe I’ve not seen a gifset yet comparing Thirteen’s antimatter speech to One’s speech about the birth of stars

that’s the second time Thirteen has mentioned siblings (though not directly about herself this time) and it does make me wonder........

HAMILTON

‘I'll be so embarrassed’ ‘and dead’

again nice seeing that glimpse of the Doctor a little too focussed on their brilliance (in the context of helping people)

ok listen I honestly do not think I have ever laughed at this show as much as I did about baby Avocado

idk if it was actually that funny or just the way they played it but genuinely I think I had to pause the ep for a sec I was laughing so much

truly a Classic Earth Ballad moment

the ending of the ep was beautiful

as a whole it was a properly solid ep I really enjoyed

a good take on base-under-siege and worked in the trademarked Chibnall character work

and the more I see people complain about the ep the more I’ll defend this

Really excited to properly see Yaz take the spotlight next week and I have a slight feeling we’ll be getting to see some anger from Thriteen or at least some more hints of the less-than-perfect Doctor that lies beneath...but that feeling is based on nothing so we’ll just have to wait and see

[superbatson]

frozen denver: a reaction post

yeah, i decided to watch the frozen boot in its entirety on a snow day. it seemed appropriate enough. 😜

act one

i really dig this narrator/troll guy. he’s kinda hot (but that’s probably bc he’s shirtless constantly with tattoos/body paint and biceps & abs for days... mm, yes)

i like the diversity aspect of having elsa & anna’s dad be black. only, for the show to be realistic, elsa & anna shouldn’t be so light-skinned. while it is possible to have mixed parents and come out as white-passing, it’s more likely/common for the kids’ skins to be at least somewhat dark/medium. both girls don’t look mixed at all.

ooh, the “monster” melody appears in the beginning? i love it! (with bonus foreshadowing, yes please!)

patti is a really good anna. she’s quite adorable, and her voice is a really good fit for the character.

these ice projects are fantastic, i especially love the ones on the objects elsa’s holding when she first appears

bringing the remaining cast of characters in for “first time in forever” is a very smart move. it really makes it feel like this song is more the opening number, despite what we’ve already seen/heard so far. now the real story can begin.

hans is reeeeeally awkward in the beginning, wow. he wasn’t like this in the original film. a little awkward/clumsy, yeah, but not any more than anna. he’s like ten times more awkward than anna now, but john as a cute smile, so i’ll give him that.

weaselton’s tango is kind of unnecessary, but still a fun little transition between scenes. kinda makes the show feel more like a movie, since that’s more something that you’d find in a movie than a broadway show.

even if i was never a huge fan of the original movie, “love is an open door” has definitely been my favorite song from this franchise ever since i saw it, and john & patti sound even better singing this song than kristen & santino. i love this performance.

i’ll admit, i watched this performance before when i initially downloaded the boot and gosh, the slightly adult-ish humor is great. anna’s hand sliding down han’s chest, hilarious! these lil dorks really don’t know how to flirt.

i love the dance break!!!! it’s so cute and fun! and very in-character.

best part of that number has to be how quickly-yet-gradually john’s curls begin to fall loose. they’re just everywhere by the end, and i love it!

oh god now they’re making out as they transition scenes... this is a family show!

i just noticed that when anna comes back out to officially meet/team up with kristoff, the strip of white in her hair has gotten bigger... i’m guessing the whiteness will continue to grow as the show goes on?

oh no i really like jelani’s voice too. what the heck, this cast is so talented?!?!

i love the production design for this show. it really makes you feel like you’re in a cold, snowy, frozen place. (but the same can be said for ghd, because that also did a really good job of setting the mood in terms of the weather of the show.)

this is now the second time anna’s been lifted up in the air (or, i guess, swept off her feet... *ba dum tss*) by a male character in the show... is there supposed to be a height joke there?

they really could have done a better job with how they incorporate olaf into the show, at least from a design standpoint. everything so far makes the show seem realistic, like it could be set in the real world - or, say, like a live-action movie. but olaf looking exactly like the animated movie? terrible. i get that he has a particular look to him, but disney, please change it going into broadway, thanks.

(i don’t even care if they give him black, button eyes that could make him look creepier. it’ll be realistic, and we all learned to love the hyper-realistic cgi characters of 2017′s beauty and the beast, right?)

greg is... alright as olaf. a little too much like a gad copycat to me. and while i understand how much the kids like “in summer” and it shows how adorable dumb olaf is as a character, is it really necessary in the broadway show? it’s just too much of a break from the main plot of the show.

oh, look, they fixed john’s hair, ha, that’s great. there’s just like a single curl falling on his forehead now.

ohh, yes, give me this assertive leader hans. i love this character growth. (bc i’m the weirdo who’s always loved hans, even when he ends up being evil. sue me.)

“let it go” is such an overrated song, but damn, does it make a good act one closer! (and that ice dress is gorgeous, ugh, best costume of the show so far.)

act two

oh no they kept the trading post guy. why

wait, he’s just talking to the audience. i guess this is a filler-type thing to give people some extra time in the bathroom or getting snacks/merch? eh, alright. glad more shows are doing that now, though i’ll always make sure i’m right back in my seat the second the curtain lifts again for act two.

he has a song too. yeah, this is all filler. let’s see if this song is better than “poor pirates”. (it probably won’t be, but who knows?)

answer: it’s not. it’s very lame and kind of annoying, really.

aw, i kind of liked anna in the practical winter gear. but i guess this second dress is even more notable (for her) from the movie, so it was kind of inevitable that they’d incorporate it, right?

kristoff getting excited over the castle made entirely of ice. i like this little addition to the script.

i’ve forgotten how good elsa’s part in this “first time in forever” reprise is. can i get a studio recording of that as a solo?

it makes sense that they’d do away with the snow monster thing that sends anna, kristoff, and olaf out, but i’m confused as to what actually did send them out. more snow? a big gust of wind? elsa separating herself with more ice walls? what???

another olaf song? really? is that necessary?

they kept the “i don’t have a skull, or bones” line. that’s, like, the only olaf line i like, so, good.

ohhh, yeah, the trolls are still there and they’re still kristoff’s parents. i’m suddenly remembering the line in the opening about the trolls raising some human kids...

“fixer upper” also feels like a very unnecessary song??? i dunno, maybe i’m just sick of it from the movie. (or i just never liked it anyway)

the troll leader guy’s name is pabbie. just listing that here, for, uh, safe keeping...

watching the original movie again recently, i came to the realization that kristoff’s a very one-dimensional character with not a lot of growth or depth or anything like that. i’m still not completely sold on him as a character here, but i’ll admit, he has a lot more personality now. and this lullaby further helps to show that. good for you, frozen on broadway. you fixed something from the original film.

i just noticed that the troll guy’s - pabbie! - tail moves. not just with the motion of him walking, but it swings back and forth, more than i think it naturally would from the motion of walking. such a cool little detail!

it might be because i’ve listened to it several times before, but “monster” is definitely my favorite new song written for this show on broadway. it shows more of elsa’s fear about not controlling her powers and fear that others will fear her. it’s also just really catchy. kind of goes with “hope” in terms of super powerful and darn good broadway songs.

“if i die, would they be free?” yup, this song definitely goes hand-in-hand with “hope”. (though it’s a bit dark for a disney song...)

“she’s scared, so back off” SEE I TOLD YOU HANS IS A GOOD GUY #justiceforhans2k18

“why do you protect her?” “......for anna.” me:

.

(the only ships i care about for frozen are hans/anna and hans/elsa, sorry)

ohhh, john’s delivery of the “if only there was someone out there who loved you” line is good. i love how he smiles and laughs before saying it.

(i especially love how it’s really the same smile we saw before, that looked all cute, sweet, and innocent, but now it has a dark, evilness to it. eee, it’s great!)

(i’m a sucker for good villains, if you couldn’t already tell)

a third, sinister version of “hans of the southern isles”? yes please!

my prediction from earlier was right: patti’s wig is whiter now, to go with how more and more frozen anna’s becoming

HIS LIL EVIL LAUGH AHH YES

okay, two little flaws with the scene i’m watching (i had no comments on the “true love” song or anna’s conversastion with olaf) - hans should be  more sad/solemn when he says that anna’s dead, not just yelling it? i mean, he can be loud, but at least show some emotion. and isn’t elsa there to hear that anna’s supposedly dead? she should be there to hear the news so that she’s defeated enough that hans has the opportunity to kill her...

oh, these ensemble members in all white are supposed to represent the storm... that’s cool!

now, elsa’s finding out that anna’s “dead”... nevermind about my previous criticism, then

“may i kiss you?” “yes, you may!” oh, that’s cute

so hans gets punched and then just stumbles offstage - will we get any more closure with him in the next five minutes, or no?

ohh, i like this “love is an open door”/”true love” mashup

overall thoughts

i honestly can’t wait to download this album/stream it on spotify. it’s really good. as i have said and will continue to say, i didn’t like the original film, but dammit, this show has officially sold me on the franchise. i kind of love it.

i don’t know who i want to win now at the tony’s. i mean, frozen has freakin’ oscars, so if it loses, i’ll be fine, and if it wins, i won’t be surprised, but the actors? between this cast and spongebob, i just don’t know. one of the ladies here, more likely cassie, should definitely win for best actress. as for the men, well, obviously my preferences like with ethan for lead and gavin for supporting, but john and jelani are really good too. and it’s really a tie for song & lyrics, both shows are so good. even the frozen costumes are great, though spongebob’s are just a little more creative when it comes to the ensemble...

going back to the music, i also hope they keep some of the score pieces for the soundtrack. the score’s really good.

i also think everyone’s well-cast in each of their respective roles. no one seems out of place here. the show can only get better when it transitions to broadway.

[dawnofspeed]

so i went and saw ‘justice league’ with my li’l bro and bestie tonight.

spoilers ahead.

i want to preface my entire thing with saying that lately i’ve felt conflicted about joss wheedon’s work (and even unrelated with the deadpool 2 movie) because of joss’ whole ‘i’m a feminist but the reason i’ve been horrible to women is the patriarchy’ (and with deadpool 2 the whole... forcing a stunt person to do a stunt they weren’t ready for and got them killed).  But also as a filmmaker i know that there are tons of people who work on these films that have nothing to do with those things, so i’ve decided to keep them at the back of my mind and just focus on these slightly problematic films on their own merit. (no i won’t talk about dp2 in this. it’s just been on my mind bc i saw the new trailer and spoke to my bestie, another film graduate, about the issues with stuff tonight and yeah. soz.) ALSO PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOWING ARE OPINIONS. if you like something i don’t, that’s great. all the power to you. i am literally just writing thoughts and opinions and i only just finished a film degree so... y’know. not an expert.

moving on.

i loved a lot of this movie. as a whole it was a great ensemble piece. the cast was solid, the acting was solid, the script was solid. the plot worked well. i think it accomplished setting up the justice league, introducing us to characters and their backstories while driving the story forward. i also liked that it really seemed to know its source material and kept to the actual point- superhero movies shouldn’t be completely dark. they can be fun, they can be funny, they can be hopeful. whatever problems i have with joss wheedon as a person and the things he’s said and done, i think he can write and direct well. and he knows what he’s doing. the few women in the film he also balanced well. i didn’t feel like he was ‘buffy’ing any of them (something he sorta did with kitty pryde in his astonishing x-men, as much as i loved it. although that could also be because buffy was sorta based off kitty, joss’ fave x-men character). 

i enjoyed all most of the characters. the whole justice league was great (alfred included, c’mon, he’s totally a team member at this point). i do think that diana was different in this film than her wonder woman one, there was just a different tone but you can also kinda just explain that away as this is post-steve trevor, it’s been a while since the events of ww, and that’s just what it is now. towards the end of the movie it felt more tonally in sync with her in ww, so that may be it. also bats pushing diana to lead the team? i loved that.  i’ve never known much about victor but i found his story intriguing in this, he was fun, and my reservations about him being in the flash film are totally squashed now. i maintain that batfleck is my favourite of all batmen. this movie sealed it for me and i definitely enjoy his performance more than any that came before him. i mean. i enjoyed michael keaton but he was just never totally batman for me. clark was SO much better in this movie. he was light, and funny, and 100% the superman i actually love. i didn’t want him brought back to life and then afterwards?? i was like?? nah, you’re right, clark IS a good guy. how have i never seen this before? i just hated dceu superman before this film. arthur curry is cool. i have never been a massive aquaman fan. i didn’t hate atlantis. but i just... didn’t really care? then. they made him cool, and fun, and so much potential. i’m intrigued about his backstory. i wanna know more. i wanna unpack his personality. just. wow.  but the standout? barry all the way. i was a bit anxious about how they were going to do it. i love ezra, but we’ve seen so many iterations of barry at this point that i was just really worried about what aspects they’d keep and how they’d navigate his background and his powers. but they did an amazing job. they kept his sense of humour while also maintaining his kindness, his intelligence, his zest for life and i love how even when he’s terrified he goes out of his way to do the right thing. added to his ‘i assume he’s an attractive jewish guy’ when he’s talking about his security footage. i just. love him. i do think some of his qualities are wally west?? like??? but my brother kept insisting that in the early comics barry was very playful and jokey, not just puns and dad jokes, so i’m inclined to believe him.  also alfred was a+++ i love him. alfred forever. so that clears up most of the mains. plot? well i’m gonna be honest. i know... very little about darkseid and any of that stuff in the comics. i did think it was a great way to bring in both atlantians and amazons. and that cheeky green lantern reference at the beginning. and my brother swears he saw hercules but i only know marvel’s hercules so?? i??? dunno???? i also think it had high stakes, a ticking time frame, gave them the ability to bring superman back AND create a justice league. all while never trying to cram more than one actual plotline into a film. (like. a LOT of other dc movies.) i was happy with it. i never felt like it ran too long or i got bored or any of that so i’m. yeah. great.  also loved that no one was forced into a freakin’ love interest or hampered from saving the world or anything by romance. did think that clark waited way too long to meet up with them for the end battle. like. did he spend all that time making a new goddamn suit? what? got a hair cut? like. why did it take you so long? you’re SUPERMAN. lois told you ages ago to get moving and help out. did you spend all that time like chatting with your mum? also, sidenote: thank you trailers for not spoiling this film. i didn’t expect the superman rebirth. i went in just knowing the jl was gonna kick butt somewhere and we were gonna get introduced to them all. the marketing on this film was spot on, and i loved that surprise and being pulled through the whole movie trying to guess what the hell was gonna happen. double thumbs up. ok. i will go over the things i didn’t like. which were very few. but first i kinda wanna talk about a few other cast/character things. i’m gonna be honest. not a massive fan of amy adams as lois lane. besides the fact that to me she doesn’t look like lois lane, and doesn’t embody (TO ME) anything that lois does... she also (TO ME) doesn’t have any chemistry with henry cavill. i don’t feel a thing. sometimes i might be like awwwww, cute. but that’s more of the situation rather than any emotions i get off of them. but that’s kinda nitpicky here as she was already cast as that character and no one was going to change that for the justice league. i will admit i felt more for her in this film than any of the others, and i enjoyed her more than in the others. but she was still... not lois.  now... amber heard as mera. i will admit that amber looks like mera. and i enjoyed her limited performance and i’m sure she’ll do a great job in the aquaman film and i hold nothing against her. but. if arthur curry doesn’t need to look like comic arthur curry than. why does mera? we only had three women in the whole movie, really. two had limited parts. mera could have been a woc. she could have been not supermodel gorgeous as amber is. (i love amber i do but... who looks that goddamn gorgeous?) already the entire film felt like impossible standards of women. the amazons are varied in body shapes yes, but those costumes. then mera is AMBER. and gal is. gal. i just. there are so many races on earth. asian and hispanic women (and people) exist. not that the movie... shows that... at all.  in fact, between the dceu and the mcu there’s one hispanic character on the movie screen. and he isn’t even a superhero (yeah, the friend of antman’s. and no i’m not counting netflix. that’s not a movie screen. yes rosario dawson is awesome.) heck the cw only added a hispanic woman in the last year. before that cisco was pretty much on his lonesome. wait. that might not be right. i’m sure arrow had a guest star that moved to lot... meh. i don’t keep up anymore.  all i’m saying is... if mera had been cast woc then that would have continued right on through to aquaman too.  but i have nothing against both amber and amy. they’re doing their jobs and i wish them all the best and i will try and enjoy it as much as possible.  my few criticisms:

- ... not a big fan of the costume design. i was so confused about wonder woman’s until i remembered it was probably the one from bvs which i hated. i have no idea what was happening with superman’s. batman’s was fine. flash was fine. cyborg’s was fine. loved aquaman’s (and mera’s). the amazonians? what? why???? you could tell it was a male designer. every vital organ was pretty much on show and it was all sexy, just like how wonder woman’s skirt was shortened and the front was like almost a loincloth. just. no. 

- production design was ok? like there were very few standouts to me. batcave was pretty good, the flash cave, and anything with aquaman’s fishing village. pretty sure that was filmed in new zealand tho and those guys are on point with their pd. studying their stuff over there, man. pd orgasm tbh. ever since lord of the rings those guys are just amazing.

- camera work was great at times and then just weird in others. i think that had a lot to do with cgi demands, which i’ll get to in a minute. 

- the lighting? i mean yes, each scene requires different lighting depending on the place, time of day, people and props... but. there’s this one scene in the field with clark and lois and i was like. confused because it felt like they got first year film students to light it. it was off. and if they were trying to reproduce a field at sunset in a studio with green screen that might make sense but to me it didn’t feel like a gs scene. 

- which brings me to my next point. cgi and green screen. there felt like a lot of it in the movie. pretty sure the fight after clark is revived is green screen. the entire last battle has so much cgi that i felt like it was avengers on steroids. also kinda felt like i was watching a video game with like real people pasted in. and while i get WHY it was like that i also felt like. there could have been ways to do it differently. when i watch stranger things i know there’s cgi. but i never get that feeling, that i’m watching a video game. which is important. because i want to stay sunk into the film. not be thrown out and feel like a different medium has taken over. my challenge for jl2? keep me in the film. find a way to make the sfx stay real. possibly a nitpick but like i said, this is my opinion. so that’s it. that’s my long ass dissection and feels and thoughts. i am so looking forward to every solo movie and also being introduced to iris west and atlantis more. im me or d/cord if you wanna chat about anything or if we’re not pals you can send me a q via askbox.

[buckyswagbarnes]

Ok so I just came home from seeing Justice League annnnnddddddddd....

Well to put it lightly it was a hot ass mess.

This will probably get long bc I have A LOT of feelings about this movie - so I will just bullet point the good and bad points:

Spoilers below:

THE BAD: (Oh, and there was plenty of bad)

Just right off the bat the CGI on Superman’s FUCKING MOUTH - like omg, the shit they did to cover the fact that he had a mustache. Like, christ on a cracker these people had shit tons of money to expel and that’s the BEST they could do???

The CGI in general. Now I know going into a movie like this there will be a lot of it and not all of it will be good but like...if you have a shot on one character and it looks solid but then pan to another character in the same fucking room and it looked CGI as FUCK is just plain embarrassing.

Weak dialogue. Sounded like quips from video game characters sometimes - super generic.

HOW THEY TREATED WONDER WOMAN??? I could go on about this for fucking houurrrrrrrssss:

She was SO fucking sexualised. Fucking gross. I shit you not there were like 10 blatant shots of her ass for no apparent reason.

Also, every single civilian shirt she wore - suuuppperr low cut.

BARRY LANDS ON HER FUCKING BOOBS. Fucking aggressive flashbacks to Age of Ultron (looking at you Whedon).

They played up the Steve Trevor thing a bit hard.

She waaaayyyy under-powered her. Like she is a literal GOD and has defeated GODS before and like any parademon off the street is kinda whooping her ass like why ??

Barry was kind of a shining light in the movie but they didn’t seem like they knew what to do with his character. Like they didn’t know whether to make him a genius or an idiot.

Generic villain.

Aquaman was also really downplayed. Like he’s supposed to be on par with Superman and shit but they did not translate that at all. He seemed to be there just for shits and gigs and to make the character of Aquaman seem more like a badass. (He had some really cool scenes though).

When they revive Superman and for some reason everything BUT his pants were charred off. Like I don’t EVER mind seeing Henry Cavill shirtless but like....it just didn’t make sense that his pants didn’t get charred off too.

Superman probably could have done with some more screen time, honestly, his character felt kind of like a cardboard cutout.

Superman was WAYYYYY too over powered.

“You smell really good.” - Lois. WTF HE WAS JUST DEAD. SUPERMAN WAS A LEGIT CORPSE LIKE 5 HOURS AGO AND YOU JUST SAID HE SMELLS GOOD I DON’T ????? ??? 

THE AMAZONIAN ARMOR. That was disgrace. They were basically wearing fucking underwear. Super impractical - did not make ANY goddamn sense. I’m still enraged.

There were a lot of recurring shots about a small family in the middle of the danger zone. I guess they tried to humanize the disaster but honestly it felt really disjointed from the rest of the movie and didn’t make sense overall.

Tbh the Justice League, based on how they were treated in this movie, apparently can’t do fucking much of anything without Superman so like why do they exist?

Alfred making jokes about Bruce liking Diana’s “assets” like fuck you, you’re better than this Alfred.

They cut out what I feel like was necessary back story for the new characters. We barely knew anything about Barry and even less about Cyborg before they were integrated and I feel like the movie lacked because of it.

The final battle was SUPER anticlimactic. 

Lois Lane was just kind of there like...she only had one pivotal scene, otherwise, she might as well have not even been there.

I HAD TO SEE FUCKING CHEESE BALL ASS LEX LUTHOR AGAIN. THEY MADE ME SIT THERE AND WATCH HIM WITH MY OWN TWO EYES AFTER THE FUCKING TRAINWRECK OF BVS. HOW DARE THEY.

THE GOOD:

Wonder Woman’s bank scene. Great, loved that part. Really showcased her.

CYBORG. He is everything, there is nothing wrong with him ever.

Barry was great, honestly. Did a fantastic job. Had maybe one too many funny quips but it never felt forced.

Fucking Arthur walking out of the bar with a whole damn thing of whisky with Icky Thump playing in the background - fucking slay me.

Diana and Victor’s friendship. I thought that really showcased a unique bond.

MERA. She was only in it for like 2 min but she was gold and I am fucking amped to see more of her at some point. 

I thoroughly enjoyed when the league had to fight Superman when he was revived. I get a kick out of evil Superman.

Fucking Barry trying to sneak up on Superman and Superman just fucking turns his head and LOOKS at him while he’s running warp speed and Barry’s FUCKING FACE - so good, so good.

The shots in the opening credits were really well done, very Snyder-y. Gave me a lot of Watchmen vibes.

“Do you bleed?” - some people may have found this cheesy but even though I hated BvS, I quite enjoyed the delivery and the little throwback.

The League standing together with the orange sky in the background.

A lot more bad than good and I am still wondering if DC will ever get its shit together.

[eyedelater]

well i have my physics final tomorrow so naturally i’m consuming anime and manga out of stress instead of studying

so here’s a post about the first five episodes of ajin

i read a good amount of the manga a good while ago but i stopped paying attention to it for a while. like, a long while. but let’s do some catching up

first impressions: the soundtrack is quite good, and the OP is also quite good. the 3dness of the animation, or rather, the CGIness? is somewhat strange but well done and i do like cel shading

i don't remember much about the manga except that protagonist finds out he's an ajin in a society with a fear-based bias against ajin, the protag is kind of an unlikeable asshole, the mad scientist guy is way too into torture and generally a fucked up person, the guy who wears the newsboy cap and always squints is also a very fucked up person and likes video games, and i think the mad scientist's lady assistant may have been the one sympathetic character in the whole thing but i'm not entirely sure.

professor exposition here made the ultimate teacher mistake of saying "this won't be on the exam" BEFORE the lecture. you gotta do your lectures and then at the end of the last lecture before an exam, you give them a list of things that will be on the exam and they know not to study the things that aren't on the list, while still having been unable to ignore those non-exam topics the first time around

"the first ajin was discovered in africa" shows a map of the entire continent of africa. so they don't even know the country? it had to be somewhere there was a war going on with U.S. involvement at that time, right? can't narrow it down further than a continent?

i remember that nagai was a dick to kai, who was trying to be a good friend

this sound of ajin healing up, it sounds like if you play a dripping dribbling sound backward and maybe corrupt it

so nagai uses boku pronouns. being such an asshole, he struck me as an ore in retrospect

right, see?? kai is worried about kei right away! but if i remember correctly, kei is gonna snub the fuck out of him before long. though he has been snubbing him lightly for a while now

a) dumbass cop saying "ajin secured" when he has certainly not secured the ajin b) kai's flying dropkick to a police officer holy shit

RIGHT i knew there was some distinguishing feature about the head area, but not exactly the face, on the mad scientist guy, and it's HIS GLASSES with a silly bend in them. i had glasses with a bend in them when i was like 10

the soundtrack again strikes me as quite good, although this ED is a little too uhh... well i kinda love the animations of the ED actually, but the song is sappy and ballady and i'm very much not into that, why do 90% of anime EDs have to be a sappy ballad? like OPM, the ending was such a laughingstock of an inappropriately sappy ballad, what’s with that

that was all for episode 1.

now for episode 2.

in the flashback, they flash back to the teacher saying "they're deceased humans." did he say that the first time? i thought he said like "of course they're not humans." maybe i wasn't listening closely enough the first time

we saw the police earlier. i forgot this is a story with police characters, thereby increasing its similarity to both death note and tokyo ghoul. ajin is like tokyo ghoul, and tokyo ghoul is like parasyte, but ajin isn't like parasyte.

tosaki says "tosaki" exactly like "tozaki" even though i think i remember this is a running joke. why is it a running joke? perhaps there’s a pun i should investigate

ah, i get it now, i was just thinking "it's so silly that a tranquilizer can stop an ajin, because that means the only reason anyone would have to fear an ajin is if they were using regular old weapons, it's such an obviously exploitable weakness" but then i realized that that's where the black ghost comes in, for catching tranquilizer shots out of the air, right? i think i remember that happening at some point. maybe?

hmm this cgi aesthetic they've created isn't bad, honestly... i keep thinking about how it must have saved them lots of money in their budget compared to hand-drawn animation, you know? though obviously there are limitations in flexibility as a result, but it's not like this is an anime where anyone makes really cartoonish faces or anything, probably

this fits perfectly in the "there's some humanoid creature that everyone hates and i, the protagonist, grew up human but now partly or fully belong to that other group" genre, along with snk, tokyo ghoul, and parasyte, among many others i’m sure

shimomura izumi, that's her name. right.

can these guys in the van see the black ghost or not? it absolutely looks like they can see the black ghost. that guy cowered away from it. and i forgot, the ghost thing is like... like a stand...? like a really dumb stand that does things silently instead of with yelling fervor, and you have to train it like a dog, but like a really dumb deadly dog, and they come hang out with you and make you an ajin if you're like "sure would be nice to not die, ever."

episode 3 now

so tanaka-kun is the one who was being tortured in that ajin experiment video

has someone already done a joke about how the curly spring form of the ghost is similar to the arms in the new nintendo game Arms

tosaki calls hat guy "man with a hat"?? wait i call him that too but he does have a name, what is it

why is kai the best friend ever

bike guy's knife looks like a vegetable peeler

with kei's hard reset, kei grasps the brutal logicality of being an ajin and kai grasps the brutal logicality of kei being an ajin

right, hat man is satou. that's confusing because there's a satou in heroaca as well and he's not evil or immortal or hat-wearing

2396 people got lost in the mountains LAST YEAR??? 294 people died of being lost in the mountains LAST YEAR???????????? how does this compare to real world statistics? he's not talking about worldwide, right? even worldwide, that number is way too high, isn't it? and how specific a statistic is that, for mountains in general, worldwide???

well, i say "why is kai the best friend ever," but tbh it seems pretty clear he loves kei, unless he busts out some shocking ulterior motive later on

when eriko says it's disgusting that kei is an ajin, i'd say that's because she wasn't especially fond of her brother in the first place. (probably bc he wasn't very good to her, but still). and i do remember enough to know that shimomura is an ajin, so she kept an exceptionally straight face while eriko's words cut right through her

kuroi yuurei, huh. i was wondering what the exact words were for the black ghost, and it's just literally "black ghost." might be a tiny bit disappointing

i definitely forgot shimomura dies so early on. whose ghost is the one with three claws like that? they do have some distinguishing features once in a while, right, these ghosts?

time for episode 4.

ajins would sure have an easier time posing as a human if they could stop their body from spitting out obviously lethal quantities of blood every time they bleed to death

right, that’s a distinguishing feature, shimomura’s ghost has a blade for a head or some shit

kuro-chan...

nakamura shinya. thanatosis? not thanatopsis. anyway humans don’t have a playing-dead reflex like that. opossums do, though.

i love how eriko doesn't give a shit about kei unless kai is involved

eriko calls kei "kuzui." strikes me as meaning, like, "scum." i'll have to double check that

i forgot about kai's smiley face earring(s). i feel like they were very much focused on in the manga, but in the anime, they don’t really stand out

tosaki sure answers his phone a lot

episode 5

if only kei could control his ghost enough to just, like, bat away any researchers who try to plunge a knife into him, but NOT KILL THEM. that tanaka apparition made it seem like killing them is the only option, but clearly the black ghost can interact with things in a non-killing way, so just whack em

doesn't it seem like it would be a pain to clean blood off of those soundproof walls in the room where they're doing things that cause blood to spatter?

oh, right, it's ogura. all i remember is that he smokes a cigarette and acted like a cool guy even tho he's old.

"nagai" means "long" (probably/definitely with different kanji than his name), but i'm prety well able to ignore that and not think of him as being Long or anything. however. "tosaki" sounds too similar to "tosaka," which refers to a rooster's crest. so i keep associating tosaki with a rooster. yeah

so killing oneself resets the sedatives' effects? i want to say "i don't think that's how it works" but regenerating limbs and such from thin air isn't how it works either...

i’ll watch some more some other time

[lilietsblog]

Strike Witches episode 1: first impression

so im gonna try strike witches: the unknown anime i chose to not familiarize myself with the premise beyond 'something like fighter pilots i think?' that i picked up by osmosis

oh hey look a discarded doll. def war is hell vibes here

cant say im a fan of the visuals from the first several seconds, the color scheme and everything seems kinda bland? the only reason im making this observation is bc i had to pause to let it load tho

oh look Very Noticable CGI

(i have a headache and am vaguely nauseous and basically am Very Cranky as a result)

man, there aren't even characters yet. it's been almost two minuets and there still aren't people for me to relate too that's a crime by which i dont mean that literally but just 'this might not be the thing i want to watch right now'

oh hey monsters okay this is better than just straight up war is hell between humans omfg in 1939 subtle 'we wanna play with ww2 era toys but without bringing up the fact japan was on the side of nazi germany' i assume sure im onboard if thats the premise

magitech??? magitech!!!

that's. their legs. in those things. are they evoking Baba Yaga and her travels in a stupa bc thats okay panty shots i think imma quit at the end of this episode

oh i. just realized this is the movie that actually makes it a bit better and gives me more hope lets try the actual first episode first

ok the first shot is of the sky and not a discarded doll that's already better

holy shit whatever this video player is it allows to load external captions from pc or url. technology progresses at an incredible pace

i love that the fighter planes are clearly shown attacking the vortex first 9u9

opening has so many girls wearing shoes but no pants. im just. this entire device's entire point is clearly to fanservice that does not mean this is bad character-wise yet ofc. i watched and liked fucking rosario+vampire. this show has a chance yet. lets see what its got

the op song is nice its also very straightforward about aesthetic of this show being 'girls without pants in absolutely non-sexual situaitons' and i can respect that

and oh look it actually does start with characters interacting right after exposition that's what im talking about

okay so now might be a good time to mention that the first context i heard of strike witches was uh. misogynist porn. like the kind that doesnt go for 'look at these relatable characters being kinky' but for 'consider: what if powerful girls got hurt instead'. so thats the context in my brain and i want to fucking overwrite it

military uniforms+panties are definitely an aesthetic and im incredibly amused by it okay every single girl here doesnt wear pants sure that actually looks like a swimsuit rather than panties and thats nice

also they are characterizing the protagonist! like i know thats not much to ask for but im going into this straight off blogging about madoka and this is just such a relief! she is kind and brave and plucky and talks gently to a scared kitten and I love her also she Does Not Think Things Through shes like the typical shonen protagonist but a girl. im in

Yoshika her name is Yoshika

and her motivation is her dad but eh sure whatever I kind of like the touch of 'it was classified military information' not sure why

theres nothing about Yoshika that qualifies her other than her personality and magic powers huh

yep thats a swimsuit aww shes a healer!

I love that the military observers rush to help as soon as they see something is off theres work and then theres helping emergencies

oh!!!! her mom and grandma are around!!! and teaching her!!! im happy!!!

Yoshika why is all that a 'but' to 'you should learn to control your power' i dont think there was any subtext of 'you shouldnt even try' there? or was it? maybe i should just trust her for now

awww Yoshika actually doesn't want to go to war <3 but this woman thinks she will because she wants to help people and she'll help people the most there I I like this ;~; I'm so happy I like this I love Yoshika's 'fuck war' instinct I love her drive to help everyone and in fact the trope of magical healer almost killing themselves to help a patient (despite it being professionally inadvisable) is actually the thing i made my very first rp character sooo :> you know. stuff something is fishy about that letter. its no coincidence it was sent just now... I love Sakamoto and her A+ social skills HA HA HA HA HA also huh... she's not in on whatever's up with that letter

Yoshika so uh alright she'll take her without enlisting her huh interesting but uh what about school I guess military and witches can override all that and it kind of makes sense to me thematically

'Britannia' gee how familiar that name sounds and i dont mean geographically

so hm could Yoshika be a military doctor without actually enlisting? how do the formalities work there i like that Sakamoto doesnt question her dislike of all things military like its unexpected but mostly bc Sakamoto's got a one track mind that has a hard time expecting anything other than what she wants to happen and beyond that its like 'sure ok a conscientous objector got it' even though its weird how there would be conscientous objectors to fighting MONSTERS its not like theres an alternative to not fight I mean also clearly Yoshika is a kid and theres room left for that in other characters' treatment of her opinions and I love that they dont get Offended that she doesn't understand and Have Proper Respect well Sakamoto doesn't at least not sure about how other people will react

man that raccoon on the road sure was convenient though. like i first thought it was Sakamoto's deliberate tactic to gauge Yoshiko's powers. she was opening her eye to i guess do just that visually and then the raccoon appeared and it just felt very natural that one follows from the other? is this foreshadowing or are the writers of this anime just unfamiliar with the concept of 'subtle' i dont mind if its the latter tbh

(im writing a ton of reflection bc the episode broke after i tried to rewind a little and i decided to download it after all, and its doing that)

so far, this show seeems nicely straightforward and fast paced. like, really straightforward. yoshiko's introduction? saving a kitten. making a ww2 era anime without difficult shit? monsters attacked in 1939. motivations and revelations are handled with all the subtlety of a hammer to the face, from the raccoon to the letter. even fanservice has the same charming quality that makes me actually be okay with the entire point of their outfits being gratuitous panty shots. making sense and having pretense is for the weak. this anime knows what it wants to be and is going straight for that. i respect that approach

also its p clear that what it wants is to be character driven and its been Delivering on that since its only half episode one and i already Love two characters personally and also some supporting cast (Yoshiko's entire family)

and like you know that in some other show GASP MIGHT MY DAD BE STILL ALIVE would be a reveal saved for like. the halfway point. but here its literally the starting point spurring everything into action bc all other motivation was just too slow to get the character where she was supposed to go. good job yo

there's this trope where the main character doesn't want to go into the main conflict (Refusal of the Call)... and very often it's handled by either 1) letting them wallow until everything goes to shit showing how wrong they were or 2) immediately conveniently wrecking everything so they have no choice now I uh. am really glad this show went a different way if just joining the conflict isnt a good enough motivation GET A BETTER ONE and IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE ANGST (and it doesn't have to be romance, either!!! why are those two the only things writers seem to be able to think of jfc)

...okay I was more like two thirds through the episode rather than half but my points stand

okay so I think what just happened was Yoshiko realized the parallel between herself and her dad leaving and got scared and her response was to comfort other people and I love that <3

I love that Sakamoto doesn't have a doubt in her mind that Yoshiko isn't going to be useless and will definitely help and also comes to her to discuss this explicitly <3

man I love Sakamoto and her absolute lack of social graces and sense of when enough is enough

and the fact that Yoshiko is working chores now and seems to enjoy it too <3

and it's when it's established that she's part of the team that Sakamoto starts showing off <3 she clearly has a dedicated well thought out campaign of convincing Yoshiko going on and its borne out not of manipulation but of clear conviction that she is right and she just has to show the girl what she doesnt know yet <3

ahaha of course showing off worked <3

so I paused and imma make a bet with myself on whether Sakamoto is going to tell her 'if you liked that you can join' right now or leave that unsaid subtly my bet is that she is, bc subtlety is an entirely foreign concept to this wonderful human being, and if i lose im going to make my bed right now not even waiting for the end of the episode let's see

oh she starts with education huh, this is not widely known? i had no idea anyway lets see if she says the thing

I love that it's her dad and it's this kind thing of 'this is what he said he was going to do, and he did' <3

huh so that was slightly more subtlety than I expected, she offered her to try them rather than trying to recruit her directly so I lost the bet gotta go make the bed now

BAM DONE YAY GOOD SELF CARE

hey more main characters!!!! I love all of you already!!! you have personality and discuss things that make sense!!! including their outfits!!! I love them!!!! the parasol girl is my favorite but also the tiny girl and the red-haired girl they are all my favorites!!!

omfg a month of travel and half a day early Yoshiko gets impatient I love her

YOU ARE A NONCOMBATANT she said with the steely confidence of a commanding officer <3

I love so much that Sakamoto respects Yoshiko's boundaries re: fighting???

OMG THE ENDING SONG I LOVE IT

I love the upbeat and airy tone this show manages to have despite the premise??? like I had trepidations at the start bc I dislike doom&gloom-heaviness of 'war is hell' narratives and I'm not a WW2 affictionado. but instead of shiny boom boom toys and angst it's all character adorableness and so much sky??? even the lack of pants ends up feeling like freedom this is the anime we all deserve