#vs. the like. ~weird~ political state of the prequels

[bittershins]

andor is the root for my star wars interest since like. February. But also fault cannot be denied re: mark Hamill gender envy

[sleepymarmot]

The Phantom Menace rewatch (liveblog + notes)

Unlike the OT, I’m rewatching the prequel trilogy fully and in order. Let’s see if I regret my decision...

Liveblog:

Wow, this opening crawl is extremely hard to read.

Bear with me as I try to understand the plot in real time. Alright, so Palpatine 1) Orchestrates the blockade as Sidious 2) Sends the Jedi to break the blockade as the Chancellor 3) Pretends he didn’t expect the Jedi, and orders to escalate and invade Naboo, and kill the Jedi Or is the chancellor they’re referring to someone else? Is this a ploy to assassinate these two Jedi specifically for some reason?

Do they have super-speed for this scene only?

The designs are also ugly but in a different way from the OT

“The negotiations were short” lmao

Oh alright, Palpatine is a Senator, and the Chancellor is a different guy. But which one is higher?

I appreciate that the politics are actually confusing, instead of just one bad faction vs one good faction

WHY ARE QUI-GON AND JAR JAR HAVING A SEXY MEET CUTE And Jar Jar immediately says “I love you”. What is happening

Alright by WHY does he speak like this. Is this a dialect of the common language? Is everyone else using a translator machine while Jar Jar actually learned the language so he makes mistakes?

I am so grateful for the subtitles lmao

R2-D2 looks kind of weird. Different sort of plastic? CGI?

Why did the decoy queen send the real queen to clean a droid?

I wonder if the guard captain (? or whatever his job is, the cute black guy) knows which one the queen is.

God she’s SO tiny. Who the hell elected this child?! A child on the throne of a hereditary monarchy makes sense, a child princess too; but a democratically elected head of the state?!

Oh Ani that’s a terrible line lmao This has the energy of baby clothes that say “ladies’ man” etc

Anakin is such a friendly, outgoing child 😭

“Your son was kind enough to offer us shelter :)” flash forward for how the Jedi order and the universe in general repays him...

The C-3P0/R2-D2 meet cute is much better than the anidala one!

“I had a dream I was a Jedi. I came back here and freed all the slaves.” 😭😭😭

“Mom, you say the biggest problem in this universe is nobody helps each other.” 😭

“He was meant to help you.” What the hell is that supposed to mean?

They’re really staking the entire mission on a 9 year old winning a deadly race huh

Omg I’ve forgotten about the immaculate conception lmao. How did the EU explain that one?

“I wanna be the first one to see ‘em all.” Well, that is his name...

Wait is that Warwick Davis in the background

Well that race got mildly interesting only about halfway through.

“Why do I sense we’ve picked up another pathetic life-form?” I think it’s pretty interesting how the two Jedi have a mutual, usually unspoken understanding that they’re above everyone and everything else.

I’m crying again looking at Shmi’s face. She knows they’re leaving her behind because she’s not valuable to anyone but herself and her son. In slavery, alone, with nobody to live for or to help her now. (And what she doesn’t know, but Qui-Gon does, is that he angered her slaveowner before leaving. I bet he’s going to take it out on her.)

“Will I ever see you again?” 😭😭😭

Lmao was this scene meant to mirror ANH? Leia’s planet has been destroyed, and she’s giving Luke a blanket; Padme’s planet is being decimated, and she’s giving Anakin a blanket. Sexism is like poetry, it rhymes...

“Many things will change when we reach the capital, Ani, but my caring for you will remain” What’s that supposed to mean? (This is an endearing scene of friendship and solidarity between two kids used as pawns by the cynical adults... Until the weird romance angle comes in again. The boy is nine, George!!!)

I like the parallel scenes of the two ineffective bureaucracies.

Yoda looks much better than in the OT. Is it CGI? Or a very good puppet with CGI enhancements? There’s so much detail in his eyes and ears, I don’t believe it’s a puppet only!

Did they really greenscreen and CGI the green hills?

Finally a proper fucking sword fight! Which is also accompanied by a rare memorable music theme. Maul’s martial arts style is noticeably different from the others, which is neat. He jumps and twirls like a dancer.

This part of the plot is very immersive because I, like Anakin, have no idea what the point of the space battle is. I’m sure it was explained before but I missed it. Oh so he could disable the autopilot at any time? He just went along with it to see what’s the destination? lmao “Qui-Gon told me to stay in this cockpit, so that's what I’m gonna do.” Well that's a very creative interpretation of his instructions lol Did Ani accidentally infiltrate the enemy base? Good for him! The station falling apart is one of the few good special effects in this movie.

“...grave danger I fear in his training.” *the Imperial march plays*

---

Notes after watching:

Well. 60% the worst movie you’ve ever seen, 20% okay, 10% interesting ideas some of which may or may not upset a fan of the OT, 10% crying your face off because of the dramatic irony.

The most interesting part with perhaps the most far-reaching consequences is the ideology of the film, which is very different from what the viewer could expect after the OT. The film draws a clear parallel between the ongoing fall of the Republic and the impending fall of the Jedi order, brought about by their own internal problems. The Jedi are shown as ineffective at best and actively heartless at worst. Two extremely disadvantaged people help Qui-Gon out of the goodness of their hearts, and in return he exploits them with the pragmatism worthy of a Sith Lord. But the structure of the film still positions the Jedi as “good guys”, giving no meaningful alternative for them. So it’s natural the audience would react like “But the Jedi are heroes! They’re noble and spiritual! What is this bureaucratic nonsense?!” and some of them would proceed to think “Well, the story says they’re heroes, so they’re actually justified in everything. All of these flaws are excusable.” And it’s very unclear what the intended takeaway from all of this was. Was the viewer supposed to leave the theater thinking “Damn, it’s a shame the Jedi are so fucked up. The only one who sees this kid as a person is another child trapped in the adults’ political schemes. So that’s what puts him on the path from being an idealistic, compassionate child to Darth Vader”? Or were the kids still supposed to want to be a Jedi, like they presumably did after the OT? You know what, this actually makes me appreciate the anti-TLJ crowd. They openly say: “I think the way Luke was written in this film was stupid and OOC. It offends me as a fan. This is not my Luke. I refuse to consider this film a part of my personal canon.” Straightforward and honest. So why can’t the (admittedly overlapping faction of) Jedi apologists just say that they don’t like the prequels? That trilogy is widely hated. If you say “I think the prequels were badly written, so I prefer to ignore their existence altogether”, I’m sure many would sympathize. So why not just say that, instead of defending the ways in which the Jedi order and its members were obviously in the wrong?

Both the cinematography and the image quality are strangely worse than the original trilogy. I was watching a 1080p BluRay rip, so the fault wasn’t there. Out of the environments, Coruscant was my favorite. The interiors look very plastic, which makes the scenes filmed on location in some normal palace look out of place.

Jar Jar’s people are a “primitive tribe” caricature, and their speech is nigh incomprehensible. Ani’s slaveowner seems to be an antisemitic caricature. Naboo is a planet of mostly white people and Mediterranean architecture... and fashion borrowing from Asia, mostly Japan; it’s like the costume designed visited a museum recently. (Apparently the Trade Federation guys are a racist stereotype too but I’m not familiar that one.)

Putting the spotlight on the most experienced actor was a good move, at least. In the end, it seems like Qui-Gon is the protagonist of this movie, not anyone who is in other installments.

Jake Lloyd’s acting didn’t bother me at all. Even looking at the documentary — alright, so another kid at the audition (5:32 in the documentary) had a stronger reading of a line that was unsalvageably awful anyway. So what? He seems older, maybe that’s why he’s better; it would be simply a slightly different dynamic if Anakin were not tiny enough to stumble over words. Besides, Natalie Portman was an established teenage actress, and her performance was also flat as hell. Meanwhile, the adults Neeson and McGregor were doing just fine. I think it’s clear where the blame lies here...

I still don’t understand what Palpatine’s scheme was. To get elected chancellor, he needed the queen’s instigation, so was letting her escape the plan from the beginning?

Who is the target audience for this movie? The OT was clearly for children. In this one, the kids would be bored by the politics, and the adults by the juvenile humor.

Ironically, I came out of this thinking the Jedi Council was right. If being a nine year old who misses his mother disqualifies one from their militant religious order, then maybe it would be best for everyone if he could keep living his life without their bullshit.

Anyway the most fun part of this experience was listening to the corresponding episode of A More Civilized Age, which was really healing after some of the bizarre takes on the Jedi I’ve seen on here.

I’m also grateful to them for pointing me towards the making-of documentary. A few short notes about it: watching McGregor’s nice hair being cut into that horrible style was almost physically painful; watching the actors rehearse the lightsaber fights was magical; the footage of the premiere left me with mixed feelings because of the secondhand embarrassment and dread of an impending trainwreck on one side, and the nostalgia of attending fandom film premieres myself in the past.

[jeanvaljean24601]

How to Watch Mad Men and More Great Shows for Free Right Now

Another day, another brand new streaming platform out there begging you to subscribe to its service so you can ignore your family members and binge-watch a bunch of TV shows and movies in the name of entertainment. This time, it's NBCUniversal's Peacock, which offers a free tier as well as  two premium options (one with ads and one without). The service  features a number of programs for free, including Friday Night Lights and even Parks and Recreation, but Peacock isn't the only place you can stream great shows without breaking the bank.

Below, we've gathered up a number of shows that don't require you to shell out money for Netflix,  Hulu,  Amazon Prime,  Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Peacock, and/or  whatever other streaming service subscriptions are out there. Sometimes you just need a simple freebie. And you know what? You deserve it. So check out the list below and take comfort in knowing it won't cost you a thing.

Watch it on: IMDb TV

Until recently you had to have a Netflix subscription to watch Mad Men, AMC's Emmy-award winning period drama from Matthew Weiner that was dedicated as much to style as it was to substance. The 1960s-set series, which traced the rise and fall of flawed Madison Avenue advertising executive Don Draper (Jon Hamm) through his own complicated relationship with identity, was a pointed commentary on the toxic masculinity, sexism, and racism of the era. It also changed the way we watch and talk about TV. If you haven't seen it yet, now's the perfect time to do so.

The Dick Van Dyke Show

Watch it on: Tubi (complete series), Pluto TV (complete series)

Realizing  The Dick Van Dyke Show is streaming for free feels a bit like winning a secret lottery or viewing an exceptional piece of art without paying the museum admission fee. The popular comedy, which ran for five seasons, was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke as the head writer of a TV show, while  Mary Tyler Moore portrayed his wife. It's a timeless classic — one that took home 15 Emmys during its run, and if you've yet to experience it, you literally have no excuse at this point.

The Dick Van Dyke Show Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Felicity is best known as the show in which Keri Russell cut her hair (not to be confused with the show in which Keri Russell wore a lot of great wigs, aka The Americans). Depicting Felicity Porter's (Russell) college years and the struggles that accompany trying to figure out who you're supposed to be, the show is also famous for Scott Speedman's whisper-talking and the ongoing battle of Ben (Speedman) vs. Noel (Scott Foley). Although the WB series was previously streaming on Hulu, you can now watch it for free on the ABC app.

A reimagining of the kitschy original series, Syfy's Battlestar Galacticastarred Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Tricia Helfer, Michael Hogan, James Callis, and Jamie Bamber and explored the aftermath of a nuclear attack by the Cylons, cybernetic creatures invented by man who evolved and rebelled against their creators. The show was critically acclaimed for the way it tackled the subjects of science, religion, and politics, and for the way it explored the deeply complicated notion of what makes us human. Everything from the miniseries to the two BSG films (Razor and The Plan) is currently available to stream for free on Syfy's website, so there's no better time to watch it. So say we all!

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series), Tubi (complete series), Pluto TV (first 13 seasons), YouTube (first 13 seasons)

For many millennials, the fourth series in the Degrassi franchise, Degrassi: The Next Generation, is the defining iteration of the long-running Canadian series. The drama series, which was sometimes so overly dramatic it was actually funny, tackled everything from date rape and suicide to sexual orientation and teen pregnancy. The series, which launched the careers of Drake (then known as Aubrey Graham) and Nina Dobrev, is streaming on multiple free platforms.

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Eli Stone really had it all, which is to say it had Victor Garber singing George Michael songs, Loretta Devine singing George Michael songs, and George Michael singing George Michael songs. What else is there? ABC's offbeat two-season comedy-drama starred a pre-Elementary Jonny Lee Miller as Eli Stone, a high-powered San Francisco lawyer whose brain aneurysm gave him prophetic visions — which usually involved his friends, family, and colleagues breaking into song. Aside from a couple of ill-advised plotlines (the pilot, which suggests vaccines cause autism, is best forgotten), the show was a blast: a weird but memorable cocktail that should have stuck around for more seasons because, as I mentioned, Victor Garber sang George Michael songs. Also, Sigourney Weaver played God?! -Kelly Connolly

Watch it on: YouTube (nearly every episode)

A true Canadian treasure,  The Red Green Show was a long-running comedy starring Steve Smith as Red Green, a handyman who constantly tried to cut corners using duct tape and who had his own cable TV show. It was a parody of home improvement shows and outdoor programs and featured segments like Handyman Corner, Adventures with Bill, and The Possum Lodge Word Game. The show ran for 15 seasons, airing on PBS in the States. 

TV Premiere Date Calendar: Find Out When Your Favorite Shows Are Back

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series), ABC app (complete series)

Critically beloved but struck down before its time,  My So-Called Life has been praised for its realistic and honest portrayal of teenage life, not just via Angela Chase (Claire Danes), but through the show's young supporting cast as well. Now considered to be one of the best shows of all time, it tackled topics like homophobia, homelessness, drug use, and more without ever feeling preachy or like an after-school special. Also, Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto) could lean.

Watch it on: CW Seed (first five seasons), IMDb TV (first five seasons)

If you don't have Netflix but still want to watch  Schitt's Creek, you'll be happy to know you can watch the first five seasons of the heartwarming, Emmy-nominated comedy series, about a wealthy family who loses everything they own except the town of the show's title, for free on CW Seed and IMDb TV.

Dan Levy and Catherine O'Hara, Schitt's Creek Photo: Pop TV

Watch it on: Peacock (complete series); IMDb TV (complete series)

You may never know what it feels like to have Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) be proud of you, but you can pretend by watching all five seasons of  Friday Night Lights, a series that was as much about a Texas community as it was about the sport that united it. By the end of the show, you'll be asking yourself "What Would Riggins Do?" and tattooing "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose" on your body, all while chanting "Texas forever!" Trust me, it happens to everybody.

Watch it on: CW Seed (complete series)

It is relatively easy to forget that The CW series The Carrie Diaries was a prequel to  Sex and the City, because the charming show, which lasted just two seasons, was able to stand on its own. The coming-of-age series that followed a teenaged Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb) was relatively innocent compared to the original series. The show's 1980s setting made it easier for the writers to focus on more harmless family storylines and teenage heartbreaks, but the show never shied away from the heartstring-tugging drama of young adulthood either. It's a shame the show never got the kind of ratings it deserved and wasn't able to exist beyond Carrie's high school years, but the Season 2 finale works well as a series finale, so viewers won't feel as if the story was left incomplete. android tv box

Watch it on: CW Seed (complete series)

It's a shame Bryan Fuller's saturated dramedy  Pushing Daisies, about a pie-maker (Lee Pace) with the ability to bring the dead back to life, couldn't bring itself back to life after becoming a casualty of the 2007-08 writers' strike. A whimsical delight, the show featured the pie-maker teaming up with a local private eye (Chi McBride) to solve murders by reviving the victims for a brief time. Known for its quirky characters, eccentric visual style, and Jim Dale's pitch-perfect narration, it remains must-see TV.

Watch it on: IMDb TV (first seven seasons); Peacock

Columbo kicked off nearly every episode by revealing the crime and its perpetrator to the audience, which means unlike most crime dramas, the show was less about whodunnit and more about Peter Falk's iconic raincoat-wearing homicide detective catching them and getting them to confess. Oh, and just one more thing: it's great.

Watch it on: CW Seed (complete series)

The charming and playful Forever, which starred Ioan Gruffudd as an immortal medical examiner, was the one show that could have saved ABC's Tuesday at 10 p.m. death slot. But the network still canceled the series anyway, enraging the show's fans, who have never let the sting of its death go. Luckily, it now lives on, ahem, forever (aka until the content license expires) on CW Seed.

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series)

It sounds odd to say The Middle, which ran for nine seasons on ABC, was unfairly overlooked, but it always felt like the series, which followed the middle class Midwestern Heck family, was a bit of a hidden gem. It wasn't as popular with Emmy voters as, say, Modern Family, and critics also failed to give it its due, but it was a real, heartfelt, reliable family comedy with mass appeal, and you can stream it on IMDb TV for free. h96 tv box

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Trophy Wife's short life — it was canceled after just one season — can probably be chalked up to its unfortunate title, which was meant to be ironic but ultimately kept viewers from tuning in and experiencing the warmth of the show and the relationships at its center. Malin Akerman starred as the young wife of  Bradley Whitford's middle-aged lawyer, and the comedy explored the dynamics between the two, his children, and his two ex-wives, who were played by  Marcia Gay Harden and  Michaela Watkins. h96 max x3

Watch it on: NBC app (complete series)

Loosely based on the Biblical story of King David, Kings was a compelling drama before its time. Rudely cut down after just one season by NBC, the show starred Ian McShane as the king of the fictional kingdom of Gilboa, while  Christopher Egan portrayed an idealistic young soldier whose counterpart is David. The show also starred Sebastian Stan, which is reason enough to want to check it out.

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Ray Wise portrays Satan in Reaper, a supernatural dramedy about a slacker (Bret Harrison) who reluctantly becomes a reaper tasked with capturing escaped souls from hell after it's revealed his parents made a deal with the devil many, many years before. The fact the show only lasted two seasons is a crime against humanity. Luckily, you can watch it in its entirety for free on the ABC app. h96 max x3

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series)

A team of experts led by a kooky old scientist (John Noble), his son (Joshua Jackson), and an FBI agent (Anna Torv) investigate strange occurrences around the country, X-Files style, in the J.J. Abrams-produced Fringe. The series is one of the best broadcast science-fiction shows of all time, particularly in its first three seasons, and perfected the art of the serialized procedural by weaving the show's deep mythology and excellent character work into weekly standalone stories, making it easy to binge or watch in spurts. And by the time the end of Season 1 starts, you'll have a hard time stopping. -Tim Surette

Watch it on: Tubi (complete series), Vudu (complete series)

Although American TV producers would eventually adapt  Being Human, the original British version, which followed three supernatural beings trying to live amongst humans, is far superior. The show, which ran for five seasons, starred Aidan Turner, Russell Tovey, and  Lenora Crichlow as a vampire, werewolf, and ghost, respectively. So skip the U.S. version entirely and watch the U.K. series for free.

Watch it on: Pluto TV (complete series),  Vudu (complete series), Tubi (complete series)

The Australian young adult-oriented series Dance Academy is not exactly what you'd call "great television," but it is great fun. Brimming with teen angst and melodrama, the series, which ran for three seasons and even had a follow-up movie, followed a handful of dancers at Sydney's National Academy of Dance as they trained in the sport they loved while also falling in and out of love with each other. The acting was sometimes questionable, but the series itself was addictive, not to mention one of the easiest binges you'll ever encounter. h96 max tv box

3rd Rock From the Sun

Watch it on: Tubi (complete series), Pluto TV (complete series), Crackle (all six seasons),  Vudu (all six seasons)

You might think a show about a group of socially awkward, 1,000-year-old aliens in human skin suits who are trying (badly) to pose as a human family and blend into an ordinary Midwest town might sound ridiculous, and, well, that's fair. But  3rd Rock From the Sun was still charming in even its most bizarre moments and gave its cast a lot of room to play up their roles and create an ensemble of weirdos that, at some point or another, start to tap into their newfound humanity and relish their new home here on Earth. -Amanda Bell.

[twh-news]

10 things we learned on the set on Kong Skull Island | Nerdist

Even in a world of Avengers, the Justice League, and the unending Star Wars saga, there’s something undeniably epic about King Kong. America’s most enduring oversized movie monster has survived over 80 years of cultural, political, and technological change, all the while providing a steady understated commentary on the primal power of myth and nature. I was lucky enough to get a firsthand look at Legendary’s reboot of the Kong mythos when I trekked through a muddy jungle along the coast of Oahu to chat with Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and his stars, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, and Tom Hiddleston. In the wake of 2014’s Godzilla, and with Godzilla Vs. Kong waiting in the wings, one might be tempted to consider the latest Kong film a mere stepping stone on the path of the studio’s shared “Monsterverse.” But the vision behind Skull Island is as enormous as the land on which it was lensed…

Kong’s a Lonely God

In previous versions of the King Kong story, like the original 1933 film, the 1970s Jessica Lange starrer, or Peter Jackson’s CG-laden remake, Kong’s affection for a human woman has often been his defining characteristic. But Skull Island takes an even broader, more universal approach to the character, keying in on the loneliness that informs him, even as his size dwarfs that of previous Kongs…

“What I love about this version of Kong is [there’s] a loneliness to him,” says director Jordan Vogt-Roberts. “An emotion to him that he’s the last of these things. Even in the way he walks and the way that he strides. In Peter’s movie they do a great job telling the beauty and the beast story and it very much is about emoting in a very human way. We want our Kong to feel very human in ways but also very godlike in ways. You know, where you stare at this thing and it towers over you. That actually ties into a lot of the human reactions in our film, where we want people to be able to look at this thing, stare up at it, and see this sort of godlike figure in front of them—this old lonely god, something from prehistory—and seeing how it affects and changes our characters on their journey. If we were standing right here and a giant hundred-foot tall ape happened, what would go through your brains? How does that change you, How does it affect you?”

Kong’s Home Is Better Defined Than Ever Before

Prior King Kong movies were set on an island of pure fantasy, shrouded in mystery. But Skull Island, for which locations in Australia and Vietnam were used, as well as Hawaii, takes pains to explore the history of the life forms that inhabit it.

“With Kong, because he’s bigger than previous Kongs, we’re getting a little bit more into the sort of backstory of where he came from to some degree, and what this island is and what the ecosystem is on this island, and treating the island itself like a character,” Vogt-Roberts says. “We truly want Skull Island to feel like a tangible, tactile place and that’s why we’re shooting so much of this practically as we go from Hawaii, to Australia, to Vietnam, is to really feel these guys within that space. So it’s a huge help for the actors just to be in real jungles and real settings and things like that. That just adds to that reality when you’re staring up at this completely fictional fake thing.”

Miyazaki Was an Influence on the Film’s Creatures

Anime legend Hayao Miyazaki is known for employing Japanese folklore and legend in his fantasy tales, focusing on the spirit of all living creatures. It’s a philosophy that Vogt-Roberts embraced in populating his jungle kingdom, even as he avoided such staples critters as dinosaurs.

“If Kong is the god of this island, we wanted each of the creatures to feel like individual gods of their own domain,” Vogt-Roberts says. “Miyazaki[‘s] Princess Mononoke was actually a big reference in the way that the spirit creatures sort of have their own domains and fit within that. So a big thing [was] trying to design creatures that felt realistic and could exist in an ecosystem that feels sort of wild and out there, and then also design things that simultaneously felt beautiful and horrifying at the same time. Where if you look at this giant spider or this water buffalo, you stare at it and part of you says, ‘That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!’ and [another part says], ’Oh my God that’s gonna kill me right now and I need to run for my life!’”

He continues, “It’s trying to find that weird balance and really just trying to think outside the box a little bit. Because we want to show audiences new things, and so not have the creatures feel derivative of Jurassic World, or of what they do in the Star Trek movies. They’re too Alien-like, or too H.P. Lovecraft… My biggest qualm with a lot of movies that I watch is I feel like I’ve seen it before. So we just really wanted to go out of our way to, especially with the other creatures, design things that felt sort of unique to our movie and can exist on the island.”

It’s Not an Origin Story

Despite what fans may have heard, director Vogt-Roberts is quick to point out that Skull Island won’t reveal everything about cinema’s most famous monkey.

“When you watch Predator 2 and you see that Xenomorph skull on the spaceship you’re like, ‘Oh my God!'” he says. “Your brain just goes crazy with all these possibilities. And my favorite thing as a kid watching movies [was] just having all these little things in the background that you pick up on and your brain just goes wild with. So we’re trying to tiptoe a line. There’s a lot of stuff out there that our movie is sort of his origin story, and that’s not really what it is. There’s a lot of background mythology peppered into it as we create our own new mythology… There are not that many good prequels. As soon as you try to over-explain something it tends to lose its magic. We still want to have a wonderful sense of mystery and use it in a way to make our island, and our creature, and Kong’s character feel bigger because you understand some of it, but we’re not trying to pull back the curtain on everything.”

There’s a Good Reason It’s Set in the ‘70s

Wondering why King Kong is heading back to the era of mood rings, moon landings, and Watergate, beyond the obvious appeal of a giant ape swatting away at machine-gun-equipped helicopters?

“What got me really interested in it was thinking about taking characters and the time period in which the world was kind of in chaos, [when] we were sort of one foot in the old guard and one foot in the new guard and people were trying to find their place in the world,” Vogt-Roberts says. “The world was spiraling, right? We were losing wars for the first time, we were in sexual revolutions and racial riots and political scandals. Things were crumbling. Then presenting people with an island that’s untouched by man, something pure in a very impure time, being able to give them a sense of catharsis with this island. And then realizing that we should have never come here.”

He continues, “Magic is one of the most important things in our lives, and the unknown is one of the most important things in our lives, and that wonder that stems from it. Now because everything’s completely accessible to us some of that wonder and some of that magic has vanished. The ’70s was a time that was right at the start of that rift. One of the big sort of conceits with our movie is in the early ’70s we launched a satellite into space for the first time, which was a Landsat satellite, which is a joint venture between NASA and the US Geological Survey. We were legitimately looking down at the Earth for the first time and we were finding places that we had never seen before. So it really sort of stemmed from what we can do with the characters in that time period and showing us something new.”

Samuel L. Jackson Plays Captain Ahab to Kong’s Moby Dick

A world-weary veteran of the Vietnam War returning home after a long tour of duty, Sam Jackson’s U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard has little patience or tolerance for the creatures he encounters when he tasked with escorting a team of explorers across Skull Island.

“My character is that standard for people seeing something that they don’t understand and identifying it as the enemy and not realizing their part in antagonizing that particular thing, and that you’re responsible for making that thing do what it does,” Jackson says. “The thing was doing nothing until you got here, and here you are, and now the thing’s doing something, so what do you think you did to annoy it? Other than show up in its house and decide to disturb everything.”

On his character’s relationship with the Eighth Wonder of the World, Jackson says, “It’s very akin to Ahab and the Whale. At a certain point you got to stand up to this thing that has done so much destruction to you and your people, and he has this idea that this thing is not what’s going to save humanity cause that’s what everybody else’s idea is. This is the thing that’s standing between us and these other things that are a threat to humanity… If us in our infinite, advanced technology, and mental state can’t stop a mindless gigantic ape then our evolution has been for naught. And he does have to exact some measure of revenge for the people he’s lost. That’s just the nature of how we operate—eye for an eye!”

Brie Larson’s Character Is the First to Connect with Kong

Oscar winner Brie Larson portrays photojournalist Mason Weaver, whose recording of the atrocities committed during the Vietnam War is by no means welcomed by Samuel L. Jackson’s army colonel. Fortunately, she has an ally in the great ape.

“I end up with this cast of characters and I have my own sort of motive as to why I’m here,” Larson says. “That’s the interesting thing about this movie. It’s a group of misfits that are all coming from different angles looking at the same thing. You get to see how many different views in regards to nature and how we should handle it are dealt with from many different perspectives. I come in as kind of a background person, one who’s just here to take photos, and as it progresses I have to get a little bit more hands on. Although she’s a war photographer, she’s not really gung-ho about the war, and so she has a point of view that’s different from a lot of the people that she’s surrounded by, and goes into it assuming she could be the only one that has that perspective.”

She continues, “There is so much myth in this, and part of myth is masculine and feminine, anima and animus. So because of her feminine energy I feel like she is a little further ahead in having an interest and respect for nature, and immediately clocks that this is not about man overcoming this creature but working with it and really begins to appreciate it. Through that she has a closer, more loving, and intimate relationship with Kong than with those that are just kind of bulldozing into it.”

Tom Hiddleston Plays a Different Kind of Action Hero

A Vietnam War vet turned tracker for hire, Tom Hiddleston’s James Conrad signs on for the mission to Skull Island with a perspective as unique as his skill set. One more akin to Last of the Mohicans’ Hawkeye than most contemporary action heroes…

“I loved the idea that there’s basically a man who has no political allegiance in the conflict, but he understands conflict,” Hiddleston says. “He’s a former soldier who has been formed by an understanding of war, but his specific skill set is something that’s attached to the power of nature; and I think that’s something people haven’t seen in a long time… [Jordan and I] talked about Conrad having this extraordinary understanding of the natural world, talking about the food chain, the cycle of life, the basic and essential necessity of predators. We started talking about David Attenborough and Planet Earth and suddenly there was this character forming who was very hard, someone who is isolated and mysterious. Isolated by his former experience and deeply charismatic, but when you put him face to face with the fantastical world of King Kong suddenly you have an amazing outline for a hero. It’s the combination of the two, it’s the fact that he has this unique skill set within the group as someone who is indispensable in terms of their survival within the jungle; [and] distinct from the group because he’s British, and therefore he doesn’t have the same spiritual shadow of the Vietnam conflict. And also someone’s whose awe and wonder will be awakened by everything he sees.”

It Brings Kong Back to His Roots

While King Kong may be the cinema’s greatest original myth outside of Star Wars, the roots of Skull Island tap into the same primal elements that informed the original 1933 Kong. Which firmly places it within Tom Hiddleston’s wheelhouse…

“The spine of the film, as many of these huge films are, is really about myth and the power of myth,” Hiddleston says. “That’s what the Jurassic films are about. Whether it’s going back to The Odyssey or The Life of Pi, where basically human beings need to be reminded of how small they are. In the face and scale of the world and the universe. King Kong is one of the biggest movie stars of a hundred years of cinema and he’s always served to remind people in the story and audiences that there are things about our world that are bigger than us that we don’t understand. Conrad comes to embody that humility. Which really appealed to me.”

He continues, “I’ve always been drawn to myth. It’s funny, I don’t mean to make it sound like its more intellectual than it is, but I read classics in university, and the reason I did that was because I found the scale of those Greek and Roman gods and monsters appealing. They appealed to my imagination. Some people prefer stories about human beings in a very human space. I’ve always been very moved and inspired by myth. I love The Odyssey, and I think that’s why I was drawn to play Loki for the first time. It’s about very human feelings on a massive scale. The Thor film is about the breakdown of a household in a city where the gods live. It’s about the size of these stories, and so I’ve never shied away from that in a way. "

Film Audiences Could One Day Return to Skull Island

Even though 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong is set decades after Kong: Skull Island, and is not expected to take place in the same locale, producer Alex Garcia (who also produced 2014’s Godzilla) tells us that this film isn’t necessarily the final chapter in the remote island’s history…

“It could be, sure!” he says of the possibility of revisiting Kong’s home. “If we pull off this island feeling like a really distinct and unique place, absolutely, it could be revisited later in the timeline for sure.”

[recentanimenews]

VIZ Licensing News; Ghost in the Shell Reviews

During its Friday afternoon panel at Anime Boston, VIZ media announced a new slate of titles for fall 2017, from Astra: Lost in Space, a sci-fi adventure written by Kenta Shinohara (Sket Dance), to SP x Baby, a josei title penned by Maki Enjoji (Happy Marriage?!). And while both are buzzworthy, I’m even more excited by two other manga joining the VIZ line-up: Junji Ito: Nine Stories, a selection of shorts hand-picked by Ito himself, and Children of the Whales, a shojo fantasy created by Abi Umeda. VIZ also unveiled a handful of digital-first and digital-only offerings that includes The Emperor and I, eIDLIVE, The Promised Neverland, and Tokyo Ghoul [Jack], a full-color prequel to Sui Ishida’s best-selling series.

Of course, Anime Boston wasn’t the only big event this weekend; the live-action Ghost in the Shell movie opened to mediocre reviews, with some critics praising its visuals and action sequences, and others panning the performances and script. The Atlantic‘s David Sims pronounced the movie a “copy of a copy,” arguing that it never captures what was memorable about Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 version. Sims also took issue with the casting:

As a remake of a Japanese film that retains its futuristic setting and most of its characters’ names (but features white actors in the four leading roles), Ghost in the Shell ostensibly had the chance to delve into the tricky politics of identity and how it might evolve in the future. But a third-act twist attempts to confront Johansson’s casting in a way that ends up feeling awkward, misguided, and vaguely insulting to Oshii’s film, summoning the specter of its original protagonist in an effort to explain why the Major’s “shell” might look like the American actress.

In her review for New York Magazine, Emily Yoshida argued that the film’s biggest flaw is that it retains the surface trappings of the original but not its soul. The filmmakers, she observes, are “obsessed with idea that Major ‘Mira’ (Scarlett Johansson) must unlock her true individuality to defeat the system, an extraordinarily American narrative shoddily grafted onto the original story.” She continues:

If Paramount just wanted to do a female-led cyberpunk Bourne Identity, probably nobody would have minded. But to associate a straightforward “Who am I?” action film with a franchise as philosophically noodly as Ghost in the Shell is disingenuous and pointless — you deny existing fans the actual post-self substance of the thing they like, and you alienate newcomers with a weird title and the obligatory skeleton of an existing franchise, which, when it’s not being explored, comes off as needlessly complicated.

One of the most incisive reviews came from Valery Complex at Nerds of Color. As she explains, the film actually whitewashes its heroine in a particularly egregious origin story:

So, not only has the role been whitewashed but they start with a Japanese woman and put her brain in a white body. So what does this say? It says that an Asian actress was an afterthought and that Asian visibility wasn’t valuable enough to carry this through to the end. This is made worse by Daisuke Aramaki (Takeshi Kitano) continuing to speak Japanese to her character at the beginning. Wait, what? I understand many non-Japanese folks can speak Japanese, but since her brain is that of a Japanese woman, she still retains her mother tongue. It’s just on the outside she looks white and is named Mira.

Not everyone panned the film; writing for the Los Angeles Times, for example, Justin Chang acknowledged the “irksome” racial politics while praising the film’s “ravishing” visuals, sentiments echoed by Michael Phillips at the Chicago Tribune. The most glowing appraisal came from Variety‘s Guy Lodge, who bucked the tide of critical approbation to praise Johansson’s performance and argue that the live-action film surpassed the previous anime adaptations. I give the last word to anime scholar Brian Ruh, who states that “the film handles its source material relatively competently, but it really is a victory of visuals over vision,” marred by “monotone” and “wooden” performances.

In other news…

An all-star team of writers and actors tackle the thorny issue of whitewashing Asian characters in Doctor Strange, Ghost in the Shell, and Iron Fist, offering a thoughtful — and powerful — rebuke to Hollywood’s most common justifications for the practice. [Nerds of Color]

The folks at io9 also discuss how Ghost in the Shell “fumbles race and identity.” [io9]

Brace yourself: the next five years brings a tsunami of big-budget, big-screen adaptations of popular manga, from Alita: Battle Angel to Naruto, AKIRA, and (potentially) Attack on Titan. [Los Angeles Times]

Brace yourself again: Netflix just unveiled the first Death Note trailer and it looks… bad. [Variety]

Manga editor Urian Brown takes an in-depth look at Tegami Bachi. [VIZ]

Tokyopop and Disney are producing a manga adaptation of Beauty and the Beast with a novel twist: volume one tells the story from Belle’s perspective, while volume two offers us the Beast’s POV. [Entertainment Weekly]

If you’ve never read From Eroica With Love, Vrai Kaiser’s enthusiastic appreciation of this queer, globe-trotting adventure may inspire you to search eBay for copies. [Anime Feminist]

In her latest doujinshi roundup, Jocelyn Wagner sings the praises of est em’s Love That Does Not Begin, a love story about a merman and a centaur. [Brain vs. Book]

Isabella Stanger profiles Naohiro Kimura, editor-in-chief of the recently launched Hikokimori News, a publication aimed at a generation of young, isolated Japanese adults. [Quartz]

The latest Chatty AF podcast focuses on Japanese adaptations of Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell manga. [Anime Feminist]

As part of its “Pioneers of Moving Comics” exhibition, the Kyoto Manga Museum will screen Japan’s first surviving animated film, Hanawa Hekonai Meitō no Maki (“Story of the Famous Sword of Hekonai Hanawa”). The short, which clocks in at four minutes, debuted in 1917. [Anime News Network]

By: Katherine Dacey