#and between him directing and danny elfman doing the music it did feel like the spider-man movies at times so that was fun

[godzillareturn2014]

Zack Snyder’s Justice League Review

So I finally saw Justice League the Snyder cut version on HBO Max and it’s fantastic. I actually did my review on the Justice League movie back in 2017 on YouTube and gave it a 4 out of 5 nuclear bombs. However, while I still find the 2017 Justice League entertaining, it wasn’t really that memorable and I do learn the sad truth the film been having troubled production due to Zack Snyder have lost one of his daughters died from suicide which caused Joss Whedon to take over and the film ended up being a critical and box office disappointment. Anyway, the story of this film took place after the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. After Superman had sacrificed himself to save the world from Doomsday, Batman and Wonder Woman decided save the world on their own as well as setting out to find other superheroes so that way they can set up a team. The superheroes that Batman and Wonder Woman are searching for are The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. So when an evil threat named Steppenwolf who serves Darkseid has come to take over the world along with his demon armies, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg must team up together to fight Steppenwolf and save the world once and for all. I find the story of this film to be sorta similar but much different and better. Although there are a few parts in this film that did dragged on. Unlike the 2017 version, this one much darker and more violence. Plus they do say a lot of bad words this version. The special effects in this film are much better than the 2017 version. The good news is that there is no CGI mouth on Superman’s face in this film. I can obviously tell that Cyborg, Steppenwolf, Steppenwolf’s armies, and Darkseid are all in motion capture. The designs of Steppenwolf in this film is better looking than the 2017 version. I actually do enjoy the designs of the cities, the batmobile, the bat airship, the weapons and costume designs of Batman’s suit, Wonder Woman’s suit, Flash’s suit, Aquaman’s suit, and Superman’s suit. The action scenes are definitely the best part of the film. I had a blast seeing Flash running very fast with lightning, Wonder Woman fighting and stopping those British criminals from robbing a bank, the amazon warriors fighting Steppenwolf, the battle between the Justice League against Steppenwolf and his demon armies, and in this version had lots of blood and killing. Ben Affleck as always did a splendid job playing Batman. Batman of course is a dark superhero of Gotham City and in this film is the lead member and founders of the Justice League that lead his team to do what they have to do. I really like the part where he used his weapons and gadgets to fight his enemies. Gal Gadot still did a magnificent job playing Wonder Woman who is an immortal princess Amazonian warrior that is the co-founder and a member of the Justice League. Like in her own film, she has the ability to fight her enemies with her sword, shield, whip, and fist. Then there are other members of the Justice League like the Flash played by Ezra Miller, Aquaman played by Jason Momoa, and Cyborg played by Ray Fisher all did an awesome job. The Flash who is a superhero that can move at superhuman speeds due to his ability to tap into Speed Force and plus I also think he’s funny. Aquaman I think definitely steals the show in this film who a superhero that lives in Atlantis and is good at swimming, breathe underwater, communicate with the underwater animals, and fight someone with his trident. Cyborg is half man half robot who used to be a college athlete student that got into a car accident which turns him into a human robot hero that has the ability to fly, turn his arms into cannons, and manipulate technology. Plus we get to see more of his backstory in this film. Returning from Man of Steel and Batman v Superman is Lois Lane played by Amy Adams, Martha Kent played by Diane Lane, and Alfred played by Jeremy Irons. Lois Lane the girlfriend of Superman is now an undaunted and compassionate award winning journalist in the Daily Planet in this film. Martha Kent the adopted mother of Superman didn’t really do a lot in this film. Alfred the butler of Batman who is now one of the Justice League’s close allies that always wanted to help out. Superman played by Henry Cavill is still awesome and in this film he wears a black suit. Wonder Woman’s mother Queen Hippolyta played by Connie Nielson have some of the more screen time in this film than the 2017 version. Also appearing in this film is Mera played by Amber Heard, Silas Stone played by Joe Morton, Commissioner Gordon played by J. K. Simmons and Vulko played by Willem Dafoe are also allies with the Justice League as well. Now for the villains Steppenwolf played by Ciaran Hinds and Darkseid played by Ray Porter. Steppenwolf in this film is much better than Steppenwolf in the 2017 version who of course is the evil villain who only wanted power and take over the world and in this version serves Darkseid. Darkseid is one of Superman’s enemies that is a tyrannical New God from Apokolips and Steppenwolf’s nephew and master. By the way there is another superhero in this film which I will not tell you who it is. Zack Snyder I think did a great job directing this movie especially he made it more graphic and intense. He actually did a better job than Joss Whedon. I mean Joss Whedon did a wonderful job directing the first two Avengers movie, not so much for Justice League. The music composed by Junkie XL sounds very exciting, hardcore, and it feels like a superhero movie. It is way better than Danny Elfman version. All the music from the 2017 Justice League movie are not played in this version but I’m fine with that. So overall, this is an excellent DC superhero movie. I do agree with a lot of people that this is cannon to the DC Extended Universe. This is the version that we should have had in the first place. I love this DC movie more than the 2017 Justice League movie, Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, and Birds of Prey and in my opinion is one of the best DC movie in this Extended Universe along with Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam. I am hoping that the DC Extended Universe can still get better. I also hope that we can get a Green Lantern reboot. If you’re a fan of DC, this is a must see. So I give this movie 4.5 out of 5 nuclear bombs.

#justice league #the snyder cut

[tentpoletrauma]

Transcript of our Wolfman 2010 Podcast

Unknown Speaker  0:12   Welcome to Tentpole Trauma, the podcast where we look at movies that came with hype and high hopes, but left with crushing disappoint either critically at the box office are both. Free from the weight of expectations, we seek to examine these underperformers under a new light parsing through the good, the bad and everything in between the hopes of gaining a better understanding as to why they failed to find their audience.

Unknown Speaker  0:43   Warning, there will be spoilers. So if you haven't seen the movie that we're discussing today, I suggest you stop the podcast and go watch it. Then when you come back and listen, you'll get more out of the discussion. This episode we examine the 2010 remake of The Wolf Man.

Unknown Speaker  1:23   I've been a universal horror fan for as long as I can remember. So I was pretty excited back in 2010 when the Wolf Man remake got rooms I've been following the production I knew Benicio del Toro was playing the Wolf Man, which I thought was great. I knew the original director left and was replaced with Joe Johnston, who I liked but didn't think was that inspired of a choice. But still, I was really excited to see it even after numerous delays. The first signs of real trouble were the extremely tepid reviews and tepid is a kind descriptor, but I maintained my enthusiasm and on opening weekend dragged my pointedly disinterested girlfriend to see it. The movie started promisingly enough with a pretty cool werewolf attack. But as the stilted drama set in, I could feel the audience snickering and turning against the movie. And more importantly, I could feel my girlfriend turning against me for dragging her to see this thing. We didn't last much longer. Still, over the years, I've maintained a certain affection for the film, even buying it on blu ray to have it as a, as I call put on in the background kind of movie, something that's visually pleasing that you can just look at not really pay attention to it. Over the years, I've even tried to get friends and family to watch it with me and perhaps reevaluate the film. But usually I'm just met with a healthy serving of side eye and skepticism. So am I insane for liking this maligned movie? I guess that's a question we'll have to address today as we deep dive into the 2010 remake of the wolf, man.

Unknown Speaker  3:19   All right, this is Sebastian, and I'm here today with Jennifer Hello, and Chris.

Unknown Speaker  3:25   Hey, how's it going?

Unknown Speaker  3:26   And we're gonna be talking about the Wolf Man remake from 2010. Directed by Joe Johnston, who did Captain America The Winter Soldier, and he did the Rocketeer and Jurassic Park three, and written by Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote seven and some other stuff. So you know, there's kind of a pedigree there. I already in my intro talked about my experience with this film. Jennifer, do you have any previous experience with this film?

Unknown Speaker  3:57   Yes, I do. My first exposure to this film was through you insisting that I watched this film, I think it was probably around 2012 or 2013. Does that sound right?

Unknown Speaker  4:10   It sounds right.

Unknown Speaker  4:10   Yeah. And I remember just not really, not really getting that into it. I was just kind of I wasn't, I didn't hate it by any means. But I just was kind of like, okay, that's, it's that was fine. But then watching it for the podcast. I had a different experience this time, which we'll go into also watching, both theatrical and the unrated version made a big difference. So But yeah, I did not see it in the theater. I it's not really I'm a horror person but, and I like universal monsters. The creatures more my guy, but I'm not you know, not super

Unknown Speaker  4:58   Wolfie Okay, Chris.

Unknown Speaker  5:01   Um, yeah, so my experience with Wolf Man was, I saw Dracula in high school loved it thought it was great. I thought it was like a great goth movie that everybody seemed to be into. And goth was a big thing. And then Frankenstein came out, which was, I guess, and unofficial sequel to that it still had the same vibe had a good director and a bunch of golf production design. And that was not

Unknown Speaker  5:32   just to be clear, we're talking about the Coppola Dracula and the Kenneth brown a Frankenstein.

Unknown Speaker  5:37   Exactly. And so I was kind of following that thread. Because I love Dracula, even though I it's flawed. And then Frankenstein came out, which I didn't love as much, but it was still a good time. And then Wolf Man came out. And I believe it was touted as like the third of a trilogy of, you know, the same type of pedigree we're gonna make, we're gonna give this treatment to these three monsters. And I believe, I don't know why I didn't see it at the time that it came out. Maybe because the reviews were bad or I was busy or something like that. But it took until now that Sebastian was doing this podcast that I was like, Oh, I guess it's time to watch it. And, and I've seen it for the first time.

Unknown Speaker  6:22   All right. Well, before we get into your feelings on the movie, let's just kind of dig in. This movie had a troubled production. It was originally going to be directed by Mark Romanek, who's a pretty cool director. Yeah, one one hour photo. Mm hmm. And

Unknown Speaker  6:38   lots of great music videos, too.

Unknown Speaker  6:41   That's right. And I was working at cinephile at the time and Benny not to name drop but Benicio del Toro would come in. And he was a huge Wolf Man fan. And he was really excited that he was going to get to play the Wolf Man. And I'm a huge Wolf Man fan. I love the 1940s original, so I was excited for him to play it. But it took a long time for the movie to come out. Because there were just you know, Mark Romanek, ended up leaving at the last minute, and there were like delays, Joe Johnson took over and had to just work with whatever they had. And you know, then it ended up with the release ended up being delayed, for whatever reason, so it ended up like taking two years for you to come out. But that's a little background on the movie. So let's just get into it. It starts with the universal logo. So this is definitely they're setting it up that this is a universal monster movie. In the the theatrical version. Yeah, it's cool. And the theatrical version. It's pretty easy. It's just black and white, but in the unrated version, you get a sort of more old school like 1940s universal logo.

Unknown Speaker  7:51   Yeah, I love that. It's really up. It's updated, but feels old school and it's like, it's really the right way to go iPod.

Unknown Speaker  7:58   Yeah, it sets the tone. I don't know if they intended this to be the first of the quote unquote, dark universe that they were trying to do. A few years back, they would keep saying, you know, they, they I think they set it with this movie. Then they set it with Dracula Untold. Then they set it with the Tom Cruise mummy. They were really hoping to do a marvel universe of universal monsters, which I would have been game for. But they

Unknown Speaker  8:23   shouldn't that should have been the tagline.

Unknown Speaker  8:27   But they couldn't seem to get that going. Anyway. So this isn't really the beginning of the dark universe because there is no dark universe. It starts off with some Danny Elfman music, which reminded me a lot of the 1979 Dracula that came out in the disco era with Franklin gela Mm hmm. It really borrows some themes. for that.

Unknown Speaker  8:48   To me the score just sound doesn't sound like Danny Elfman at all it very it to me, it just sounds like they're ripping off the score of the Coppola Dracula, you know, with that sort of luxurious string arrangements. And it's a strange like, I remember thinking like didn't then I think he is he a Czech composer for the Coppola Dracula, and he had died. So I was like, who composes because it sounds exactly like him. So and I was shocked to see that it was Danny Elfman because it doesn't sound like his trademark, you know, score at all.

Unknown Speaker  9:22   It doesn't sound like a kooky circus.

Unknown Speaker  9:26   Not at all.

Unknown Speaker  9:27   No, I think he was intentionally trying to evoke that apparently, he was originally hired to do the score. And then they tried to go with another score, I think and then they went back to his score. Anyway, it just sort of typical of the sort of troubled production of this, this movie. And anyway, moving on, it opens with the quote from the original the, you know, man becomes a wolf when the wolf Bane bloons that's straight from the original and it's pretty stylish in a sort of computer generated way. Yeah which is a which is a thing I think this movie it can either be a plus or a minus to you like it's very you know they're going for that really God thing but it's pretty computer CG golf.

Unknown Speaker  10:14   Yeah, agreed 100% I think

Unknown Speaker  10:17   that's the problem. That's what that's something that makes the Bram Stoker Dracula standout is that they went with a lot of old school visual effects and just you know, the feel of the whole thing was purposely sort of antique whereas this the production design works but the filmmaking techniques are very modern and in their hidden Miss You know, sometimes they work and then sometimes you see Oh, that's just a Morph cut that just, they just put in there because they could.

Unknown Speaker  10:46   Okay, so we get the opening attack, which is, you know, we later find out is Larry Talbots. I'm gonna call him Larry just because I think that's funny. Larry Talbots brother getting attacked on the Moore's there's sort of a voiceover from Emily Blunt, which didn't feel added anything to it really. And you know, we get this whole attack, which is pretty cool, but I feel like it It feels very rushed.

Unknown Speaker  11:13   The whole beginning feels rushed. Like, well, the voiceover from Emily Blunt in the theatrical version is she's writing a letter to Larry. Right. Yeah. So she's and you know, we're getting this this backstory. And that was, like the beginning. I just felt like, Is it me? I don't know what, what just happened? What is going on here? Like is it just it felt it feels like we just, it zooms by and not in a good way. Just wait way too much too fast. And it just feels like it's just kind of thrown together. And that Yeah, I was completely just baffled at that some of the things that were going on,

Unknown Speaker  11:56   well, in the unrated cut, you get a little more of the attack, and we get this whole scene of Larry acting. He's supposedly on stage in London, he's performing Hamlet or something. And Gwen does not write a letter to him in this version, she actually comes to the theater and he's backstage and he sort of got a cool bathrobe on he sort of rock starring out and she floors him to come check because I think his brother is missing at that point. But he sort of puts her off but she kind of gives him a guilt trip. I felt like compared to the theatrical version, where all you get is this voiceover from Emily Blunt. And you're suddenly right at the right at Blackmore Manor, I felt like the unrated version was an improvement.

Unknown Speaker  12:49   Yeah, I see, having watched both of them, I definitely can see how the pendulum swung hard both ways. You know, like, the Extended Cut is way too long. There's way too much intro, you know, it'll take like half an hour before like that Gypsy attack happens. So I understand why they cut a lot of that stuff, because it's just needless exposition. But now hearing Jen's reaction to it, I think, you know, they obviously cut maybe too much, because they're, they're really just, you know, trying to keep it tight and compress everything so that it gets going. But I will say having watched the Extended Cut that man, it's kind of a slog and a drag to, to get to where the movies going,

Unknown Speaker  13:30   you're sort of coming at it from the opposite end of Gen where you felt like the extended was taking too long.

Unknown Speaker  13:35   Definitely. And in you saying that it's a troubled production and that the you know, the director got swapped out at the last minute totally makes sense, because this feels very, you know, made by committee where nobody had a strong vision. And they were like, Okay, well, it's too long. Well, now let's make it too short or whatever. And, you know, no one actually said I understand the story. We're gonna make this happen. This is you know exactly what it's gonna be like, it definitely feels that way where there's not a strong vision hand at the helm.

Unknown Speaker  14:06   I wouldn't want more. This was like, in this case, it just for me, I was like, I felt so much more like, Oh, this is what they're doing. Because I remember even being like, is Larry an actor? like is that what he was doing? Because it's like literally like just like a quick flash of him on the stage or something. And I'm like, wait, and setting up also with Emily Blunt. Like, because throughout the film, I was like, Okay, I know she's supposed to be you know, it's complicated, but she's, you know, supposed to be kind of a love interest. And I just wasn't really feeling it. But then with this at the beginning with her coming there, there was this more to their relationship, and I actually was more invested, so to speak, but yeah, so anyway, the the unrated worked worked for me, especially in the beginning.

Unknown Speaker  14:51   I wouldn't say that in any version, their relationship is is a strong point of the movie, but in the theatrical cut, you get nothing zero, you're like, I don't care at all, at least in the unrated cut you you have some reason to care. They've had some scenes that are meaningful. Yeah, in the in the theatrical, there's nothing.

Unknown Speaker  15:15   Um, well, this is just kind of a general note on just about the action and how the wolf, you know, plays out in his attacks. Like, it's something, there's movies like Jurassic Park, or, you know, other werewolf movies, which gives you that sense of, you know, a wild animal attack. And, you know, if you've ever been around, like, you know, an angry dog or anything like that, you get that sense, where it's like, oh, my God, like anything can happen. But when he attacks it, it feels more like a bus hit. And then an animal attack, you know, because he just comes in out of nowhere and just slams. It's like, half jumpscare, half bus hit. And it just, I don't know, I just feel like it doesn't, it doesn't work. It's not a unique way of, you know, having him attack and it just doesn't feel scary to me.

Unknown Speaker  16:02   It feels more like a superhero thing. Yeah. And I feel and I think that a lot of this movie has that kind of feel where it's almost more of a superhero movie, even though the superheroes, you know, killing people. It just has a more modern superhero vibe to it in a weird way. If that makes any sense.

Unknown Speaker  16:21   Absolutely. This is relates to a point that I have with just the story in general that I feel like they set up a lot of things that never pay off. Like, why haven't be an actor, why, you know, have the meet backstage at the beginning. It's just, there's, there's so many weird threads in this story that just don't seem to pay off. And, and I feel like I feel the story being stretched. And like we were saying, the right amount of information is somewhere in the middle between the theatrical and Extended Cut. But there's just so many ideas in this story that never pay off that they were trying to, like, give love to some and then not enough for the others. It's just kind of a mess. I think

Unknown Speaker  17:07   with the him being an actor, I totally know. There's definitely things I agree with you Chris that never come to fruition, but I feel like part of the him being an actor is like they're trying to paint this picture also, which I think again, is more represented in the unrated version, is that he is such an outsider to the town, as at this point, like he's totally like a fish out of water. Like, you know, and I think like even at one point Anthony Hopkins is this you know, kind of says something along the lines of like, oh, coming back to the you know, small town or something along the lines of that, you know, so I think they're trying to make him like just as uncomfortable they're like not wanted there you know, even without even before all the other stuff happens that that's I mean, but yes, there's so many things that are set up the door really pay off but that's that's all I could gather from from going into his acting career.

Unknown Speaker  18:02   Maybe it's also to say that his Mid Atlantic accent is because he's an actor and has been away for so long. That's right. Oh, he's in New York. That's where he picked up this weird accent. Like, I also

Unknown Speaker  18:12   think that's what it how it was in the original, which didn't really play into anything in the original film either. But I think they just that's why because that's the character gotcha as as known from the 1940s film, you know, in the unrated cut, we get a scene on a train with the great Max von seido like why do you cut Max von side obviously, Larry is looking at a picture of his mom and then Max von seido sitting across from him and Max von seido. Has this silver wolf cane, which to your point Chris doesn't end up paying out in any real way in the movie. And it's only in there and I think this might be the the overall answers your question as to why things don't pay out and why they're in there is because in the 1940s movie, he's the Wolf Man is killed by his father with a wolf head cane just like that. Okay, so it's

Unknown Speaker  19:13   a setup without payoff as like a twist to the old be the people who knew Okay,

Unknown Speaker  19:20   yeah, the cane is not the strongest point of this movie. Okay, so we get to Blackmore Manor, which is the Talbot estate, we find out at that point that his brother's dead. You know, I think the production value whatever you feel about this movie, I think the production value is pretty great. All the locations are really cool. I love the look of the manor. It looks like a you know, kind of like a rundown Downton Abbey. Yes. With lots of leaves in the interior and my squeaking, lots of squeaking. We get Anthony Hopkins and he's you know he's doing you're pretty much like standard late period Anthony Hopkins performance. But it's one of those cases where he's Anthony Hopkins and he, he's totally watchable. It's you know, it's he's not doing anything. He seems kind of half asleep in a way. And he's not doing anything spectacular, but he's just great because he's Anthony Hopkins.

Unknown Speaker  20:16   totally true. Totally agree. Yes. I just Yeah, he's just kind of being creepy and just yeah, doing doing his thing. And it's a great I think opening scene to having him come in there looked up. Definitely rundown Downton Abbey. Lots of spider webs just kind of in disarray. But yeah, it's that I was happy, happy just to spend some time with with Anthony.

Unknown Speaker  20:42   You know, Anthony Hopkins at 50% is still better than most people's on 100% Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker  20:48   Yes. Yeah, the productions that design is definitely stellar. I mean, it's got that golf feel and it's definitely the I think the best thing about it, you know, I mean, the cinematography as well with the high contrast lighting and the smoke everywhere, everything looks right. You know, they they definitely spent the right amount of money and, and have the right fuel going. It's the other stuff. It's the story and the acting that to me don't work. And Anthony Hopkins can do no wrong. Of course, he's definitely phoning it in and like you said it, his phoning it in is already better than most people's full throttle. But can we talk about Benicio for a second? Like I feel like he is not giving me much of anything. And I'm also trying to think of what other lead roles he's had where he's knocked it out of the park. Like he's always great as the crazy sidekick. And I think maybe he's not capable of pulling off the lead in a movie like this where there's not a lot to Larry. I mean, he's just this mopey guy. He's supposed to be an actor, but like, I feel like I get nothing from his character.

Unknown Speaker  21:53   He's definitely trying to, I believe, especially with his haircut and everything, which is not terribly flattering on him. He's got a sort of like almost bowl cut,

Unknown Speaker  22:04   like a Caesar cut. Yeah, that was was that the style at the time? Was that cool?

Unknown Speaker  22:08   Or it was? I don't think so. He looks a little puffy. And he's kind of looks a little overweight. So I think he was trying to actually invoke Alon Chani Jr, who played the Wolf Man in the original. I mean, he was a huge, huge fan of that movie. But I also think he might be a little checked out because I think he was very supportive of Mark Romanek. And when I think he was a little upset that, you know, they switched out directors, and, you know, he may have been sort of checked out. We need

Unknown Speaker  22:45   to have a term for that, like, you know, like Marlon Brando with Island of Dr. Moreau when an actor gets ditched by the director, and then just phones in the movie, like, Can we call that something? Well, but I don't know.

Unknown Speaker  22:56   I don't I wouldn't compare those two because Brando and Island of Dr. Moreau is crazy. Right? Right. Like, does whatever

Unknown Speaker  23:04   you want. Well, he Benicio should have done that, you know, that would have been more interesting.

Unknown Speaker  23:08   Yeah. I think he's got his moments. I think we know when he's getting ready to change and stuff. I think he does good. But I agree, when we're doing the sort of straightforward stuff and he's just trying to be sort of, you know, mysterious romantic lead. It doesn't really work. And I don't think that that's his, his wheelhouse. No,

Unknown Speaker  23:28   I was fine with it. I just I think but also, I'm just like, such a fan of his I really like him a lot. So I'm, I'm just giving him a pass. Like, I don't know, I was fine with it. I wasn't looking at him and his performance that critically, especially once I got to see the unrated version and got to spend some more time with Larry lots and lots of more time with Larry so I knew what was uh, what was really going on with Larry. But yeah, I thought I thought his performance was was fine for for what it is.

Unknown Speaker  24:01   Okay, so moving on, he goes to the village to see his brother's body which is being kept in a slaughterhouse. I don't know if that was common for the time or if they just thought it would be a kind of a cool touch. But we get sort of a you know, quick shot of the body and I feel like the gore effects are good. Overall, in this movie, they make a real attempt to lean into the our rating, which I appreciate a lot of the times it's sort of CGI gore and violence, but you know, they don't hold back which I like about the movie.

Unknown Speaker  24:36   I thought that scene was gross like I in my notes I wrote yuck because it was just that's how I felt because I mean, it's our I yeah, I had the same question. I was like as this is how it was done. I was like are they just really hate Ben and they hate the tall but family and they just throw them in here and that the slaughterhouse because this is this is gross. I mean, and they're like you really feel it because it's like, Benicio is like just covering His face and I'm like buying it I'm like, this place stinks. This is this is nasty. And I thought also when they pull it back it was it was good good like it may be the first time it made me kind of jumps is like oh, like it wasn't ready for for that like, though there was some serious wolf chowing down on Ben.

Unknown Speaker  25:19   Well, and I think you might have a point about the town's folk, because in the next scene, we go to the pub, and the town's folk are sort of talking about the brother's death. And you know, Larry's there at the, in the corner at a table and he's, you know, hearing them talk. He looks a medallion that he found on his brother, which isn't very well explained. The townspeople are blaming the Gypsy, and we you know, we get a werewolf story. You know, a lot of this reminded me of the pub scene and American Werewolf in London. Absolutely. Now in the unrated version, one of the guy starts talking smack about the family, you know, talk smack about his mom going crazy. And Larry, the scene ends with Larry throwing a drink on the guy, which, again, I felt this made the scene better in the theatrical cut. It's just the scene. He doesn't interact with him at all. He's just sort of sitting there. So I felt like the unrated cut at least shows you Oh, he doesn't get it. He doesn't like the villagers. They don't like his family. This is probably why he left and puts a nice button on that point.

Unknown Speaker  26:26   Yes, I agree. Because Yeah, and the theatrical he's just sitting over there kind of just sulking and listening. And the townspeople are also alluding to the fact that it might you know, it might not have been a beast it could it like they're kind of talking about seems like they were I think they're talking kind of about like jack the Ripper or something like that. I do remember they're kind of talking about that there's there's a mentally unstable, you know, man that could have done this or something.

Unknown Speaker  26:52   Right. And wasn't a Hugo Weaving, like was his last case was the Ripper. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  26:57   yeah, he was. Yeah, he was on the Ripper case, which Yeah, Larry kind of needles him with because obviously, they never caught jack the Ripper. So

Unknown Speaker  27:06   and I think like they were also kind of alluding to Larry's mental state, which we learn more about later.

Unknown Speaker  27:13   So this this whole pub talk, and you reminding us that you know, this happened in American Werewolf in London. And how it's, it's pretty much the same scene, same beats, you know, beware don't go out and blah, blah, blah. And it's like, trying to be spooky warning. But I feel like it there's no twist on it. You know, in Frankenstein, and in Dracula, the mo was, let's go back to the book. Let's go back to the source. Let's let's do it really was in the book that in because it's never been done. beholden to the book, The way we're gonna do it. And that was what they were thinking. Whereas with Wolf, man, what was the mo here, you know, to be beholden to the old movie, because they're just retreading all these cliches without adding anything new to them. I feel like they're, they're just, you know, are here's the tip here, we're gonna do the Wolf Man story, the way it would be as if it were a cliche. And you're like, well, so why All right, I guess we get some better special effects. Get some good actors get some good lighting and production design, but there's no imagination, there's no umph to it to me.

Unknown Speaker  28:21   Well, they're I think they're just trying to update the whole thing for a modern audience who don't want to go back to the 1941 and watch it. But to your point, they're kind of taking from just werewolf movie history and kind of throwing it all throwing it all in there because they don't have a book source. They do. You know, there is no novel of the Wolf Man. The 1940s movie was the original version of it. So you know, I kind of see what they're doing. I feel like they're just trying to sort of update Yeah, Gothic werewolf movie as an abstract, not as a specific thing. Got it. Now in the unrated cut, we get a dinner scene with dad, Gwen, Larry and the Kim fail sheet See, doesn't get introduced at all, or he gets really barely introduced at all in the theatrical version. He's just sort of standing in the background. And they dine on baked eel, which is just about the grossest thing I can imagine. I can't think of anything that I'd like to eat less baked eel. And they talk about the superstitious villagers. And we get a real sense that there's tension between dad and Larry here, which I like and it gets really uncomfortable for Gwen and she leaves. I appreciated the scene because it set up more of the dynamics dramatically.

Unknown Speaker  29:46   Yes, I appreciated this as well. Also with his, I believe he called him his manservant, the Kim Valle. Seek. I that was another thing we're like in the future. conversion. I was like, when did we meet this guy like it happened so fast with him and that the electrical version I was like, Wait, what? What's going on here? And you

Unknown Speaker  30:09   want to know who he is yours that guy?

Unknown Speaker  30:11   Yeah, no, you definitely want to know who he is. So yeah, I appreciated more of him. The seek is another thread that just never pays off.

Unknown Speaker  30:20   Did you see in the unrated cut when he picks up the guitar and starts ripping on some Soundgarden,

Unknown Speaker  30:26   I would have loved to have seen that.

Unknown Speaker  30:28   Now, in the theatrical version, they cut right to the manor. And, you know, there's this sort of awkward scene where Larry goes to Gwen's door and he's like, Hey, I'm here. And I know, when you've seen the unrated, you can see that this is a scene they threw together to sort of set it up that they've met. Yeah, at this point, because, you know, she's in the theatrical she's only written him a letter. But there is this weird thing where the letter she wrote, keeps coming up, again, in the unrated version, which didn't happen in the unrated version. So when a mess, yeah, like as an editor, I think it's interesting to have you on this conversation specifically, Chris, because you are an editor. And you've probably been involved in some projects where they've had to sort of cobble things together from different versions definitely

Unknown Speaker  31:21   obviously just left in and they're like Foghat who cares. And you know, I'm sure it made sense in like, probably like, the first, you know, maybe two and a half hour cut of it, and then they just kept chopping away. And then who knows who they brought in to do a hack job, but I'm sure a lot of those threads were left in and they just, instead of, you know, in that in specifically in that scene, if you look where he meets, I think it's the theatrical cut where he meets her for the first time in the hallway. A lot of his dialogue is on her. So it's just ADR him saying, like, I got your letter, very nice to meet you. And you can totally tell that they just ADR, those lines into shoo in that he is meeting here for the first time there. So yeah, this, it's definitely a mess. And there's a lot of those things that I think people just wouldn't notice on our first viewing. But now we're analyzing it. Yeah, you're like, Oh,

Unknown Speaker  32:16   no, I wouldn't if I only watched the unrated cut, I probably wouldn't have noticed it. It's just because I'm familiar with both versions. What what I find kind of weird about it is that you would assume the unrated cut was closer to say the assembly directors of the assembly cut and then they whittled it down. But she talks about the letter in the later scenes in the unrated cut so it's almost as if they made the decision to cut it down while they were still filming

Unknown Speaker  32:47   it. Maybe it was like a bigger even bigger thing where she wrote him a letter then went to visit him then you know, like so it's probably a thing on the thing on the thing. And then they were just like, let's all just cut it out. And

Unknown Speaker  32:58   I think that would have made sense since actually Chris because it would have like that she could have written him first and then he didn't respond and then she went in person, because you know, he wasn't responding. The other thing that I wanted to point out about when she does when he goes to her door, is that her maid or lady and waiting or whatever you want to call her is Yara Greyjoy Did you notice that? No way from Game of Thrones? Yeah, I was like, Oh my God, that's the Greyjoy sister tiara,

Unknown Speaker  33:28   which was like can you miss her? She disappears I think

Unknown Speaker  33:31   you might get her on one more scene like but very very brief.

Unknown Speaker  33:34   That's like the only reason for me to go back and watch

Unknown Speaker  33:38   Yeah, we're giving away your hand Chris

Unknown Speaker  33:42   and just to touch upon Emily Blunt now you know i think you know she's well cast in this movie. I guess she does a really good job considering what she's been given which I think is a pretty thankless role. There's not a lot to it but I mean, she gets some moments to cry and stuff and I you know, I think she delivers I think a case could be made for the her being the best for sure in the movie. I agreed.

Unknown Speaker  34:08   Let me bring up one more point about just the brothers story in general like why I don't maybe this is originally in you know, in the original Wolf Man, but it just makes no sense to have this brother standing in the way of a the love story, all of it just like why doesn't Why don't they just give the story to Benicio and have him be in love with her. And it's like this trifecta between him and Anthony Hopkins. It just seems to be a step too far.

Unknown Speaker  34:34   The brother is just a plot device to get him

Unknown Speaker  34:37   but he's so important because it's like oh, that's Emily Blunt's you know, fiance and all this stuff where it just seems like they could have figured out a different way of doing it. You know, it seems like

Unknown Speaker  34:47   a gothic romance kind of thing. You told Oh, the dead brother, you know, okay. It adds a layer of you know, sadness to it.

Unknown Speaker  34:58   They just need to do it. It was I agree they just needed to get him as far as like the why why that's important is just like because it comes to you know, to light later about you know how much she hates his father and how much he hates this town and like wouldn't come back so it's like and and again if we you know if we do believe that there was a letter and then there was her going there and you know, I mean there could have always been some sort of kind of thing between them because yeah, it's the whole Gothic like, you know, longing and all that stuff. Yeah, but yeah, it's just I think it's totally just to get him back home and to just make it the most dysfunctional family ever. We pretty much and worst dad award of all time. Yeah, we'll come to find out later.

Unknown Speaker  35:47   And I will say this. I don't think that Benicio del Toro and Emily blonde have sizzling on screen chemistry. On speaking of worst dad award, we get another scene with Talbot and his dad and Anthony Hopkins looking out the telescope to the moon. Again, the telescope is a reference to the original film. His dad in the original film, who was played by Claude Rains is fascinated with his telescope, but the telescope never comes into play later. So it's yet another sort of reference that doesn't have a real point in the story.

Unknown Speaker  36:25   That scene I do love that Anthony Hopkins takes the time to blow out almost every single candle that he has in the room which I'm like you know what fucking a that's realistic you know like with the production design like this year like how many freakin candles does this guy have and they show him like you know what, it's time to go to bed this was a ritual we used to have I would you'd have to sit here open up this thing blow inside put it out and it's actually a fun callback when you see him in his sorry spoiler when if we just jump ahead to his little man cave or wolf cave thing? There's like 8 million candles there and I just kept thinking like how long is it gonna take him to blow these in his gave man it will take a long time.

Unknown Speaker  37:06   It was the family crypt I believe

Unknown Speaker  37:08   Okay, I'm surprised he didn't make his poor Kim fail manservant Yeah, blow out all these candles. But I thought also Chris I noticed the candles as well. And I was also really impressed with like, some of the cool like lantern type devices they have like candles as well like kind of these like kind of mini torch type things. I don't know what you would call it but I was like I thought that was really again with the production design. The attention to detail was was really cool.

Unknown Speaker  37:37   You know that blowing out all the candles thing was was all Hopkins I was like, I need to blow out all these.

Unknown Speaker  37:45   Okay, Anthony, go ahead.

Unknown Speaker  37:48   All right now in the unrated cut, we get Larry going to Gwen's room. But it's a different scene than in the theatrical and he apologizes for making her uncomfortable into over dinner and gives her items of her brothers. It's you know, it's not like a great scene or anything, but it definitely helps sort of, you know, you feel that her character is more endeared to him by it, as opposed to in the theatrical where you don't really understand why she would be endeared to him at all, because they don't even really have any real scene. So again, I feel like it's a better scene. Then we get to one of few sequences in the film where Larry is having a flashback. It plays like a dream sequence but he's not sleeping he's awake. And he's just sort of having these traumatic flashes of

Unknown Speaker  38:42   maybe he took the spice

Unknown Speaker  38:46   and he's playing with his brother and the mother's watching you know they wake up at night and something sinister is going on in the house like in the hallway This is

Unknown Speaker  38:54   where we see the blood come out of the sidewalk I remember that being a very cool image

Unknown Speaker  38:58   Yes, yes, I believe that's where we see that it's all done in this very stylish Gothic kind of look, but it feels a little like they're trying hard to be trippy and spooky and I don't know if it's they kind of go like a little too far I think with some of the techniques, but he goes out into the garden we get a cool topiary had some cool topiary hedges a gorilla which I appreciated the topiary a gorilla, for sure you know in the movie looks expensive. They didn't spare any expense, which is why it's appropriate to do for Tentpole Trauma because they spent a lot of money on this movie and it bombed so I feel that it's appropriate for this podcast no

Unknown Speaker  39:42   doubt and I will say that the night scenes all look like they're shot at night, you know, and the lighting is great. And you know, there's no Day for Night here at all. And kudos to those cinematography for making it look appropriately scary.

Unknown Speaker  39:56   Yeah, I mean, I think the cinematography is is impeccable. I forget who the cinematographer was. I feel that it fits in with the Coppola Dracula and the Kenneth brana. Frankenstein, at least in that regard where you know, you know, it's high high production value update.

Unknown Speaker  40:15   Interesting. The cinematographer is Shelley Johnson. And he was also the cinematographer for Captain America The First Avenger. Okay,

Unknown Speaker  40:25   yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Because that same director, right

Unknown Speaker  40:28   buddies with Joe, but also what to Chris's point about, you know, bringing up a new agreed with that as well bringing up the superhero feel to some of the film anyway.

Unknown Speaker  40:38   Yeah. And Joe Johnson also did the rocket tear, which was also sort of a throwback, superhero 1940s type of things. So it's kind of his wheelhouse. I can see why he was hired for this when Mark Romanek left the production.

Unknown Speaker  40:51   He was also a special effects guy, right? Did he work on Star Wars? Yeah, stuff. So

Unknown Speaker  40:57   yeah, he was like a Spielberg protege, a guy who came up through Spielberg. Yeah, we get to see a quick shot of a D aged Hopkins with a goatee and the dead mother and it's sort of framed to look like a suicide. She's got a straight razor in her hand, you know, but I think at this point, nobody's really thinking that that is a suicide. The mother having, you know, spoiler the fact that the mother was killed by Hopkins, is really not a surprise at all. You know, even on first viewing, you're like, she didn't kill herself. It's kind of one of those performances by Hopkins where, you know, immediately he's a bad guy, you know, sort of like the sort of like the jack nicholson shining, where you're like, yeah, of course, he's gonna go crazy. He's clearly crazy.

Unknown Speaker  41:49   Yeah, even if you don't know exactly what his deal is, you know, he killed her, like you don't even if you don't know how it went down, you know what I mean? Like, there's more more to be revealed, but you immediately know that he's, he's the villain.

Unknown Speaker  42:03   And in that scene, Benicio, I feel like gives nothing right after you see his mother dead. Like, that was one of my notes. When you see that happen? You think, you know, I'm, I'm reliving this childhood trauma, and it cuts to him. And he's just like, Oh, yeah, I remember that. And I'm like, Whoa, what's going on here? Why didn't anybody direct this guide? Or? I don't know. That's an example of my of a moment where he he failed to deliver for me,

Unknown Speaker  42:29   I feel like it's a little unfair to judge his performance. Totally. Because the the editing is so suspected it but I feel like a lot of the especially the scenes where he's having these flashbacks, they could have been, like, put together from something else. Like I would have to have read the script to know if this was all intended to be in there. From the beginning.

Unknown Speaker  42:50   Maybe I'm reading too much into Larry. And maybe I'm just too much of a Binney SEO defender. But I also think that, you know, as we find out more, you know, sorry, spoiler alert, that Larry spent some time in asylum. Yeah. And they did a lot of bad things to Larry, I don't know if he is even able to have the proper emotional responses at this point. Because I mean, you see what goes on in the asylum. It's bad news. So maybe Larry's just tapped out like this is, you know, like, this is all the reaction that he can muster. Or maybe he just saves it all for the stage.

Unknown Speaker  43:31   Alright, so then moving on, we go to the brother's funeral. There's, you know, more Gothic imagery, then Larry and Gwen haven't have a moment by the waterfall. He talks about his father's cruelty. And then that's, as you were mentioning, Jen, where we get our first mention that he was put in an asylum, and then after that sent to America, this sort of waterfall setting will also come back into play at the very end.

Unknown Speaker  43:58   Yeah, that's where he says, Gwen says, Ben said that you guys played here as children. And Larry says it was our refuge. So we

Unknown Speaker  44:05   find out that Glen is leaving. You know, whatever. This is all happening super fast. It just feels like the scenes are really cut to the quick here. Then we get Lawrence goes off to find the gypsies because he's learned that his brother was involved with them or something like that. And you know, I like the Gypsy camp. It's pretty cool. It's you know, it's about what you would expect from a big budget movie Gypsy camp. Geraldine Chaplin, the daughter of Charlie Chaplin, is the gypsy woman

Unknown Speaker  44:36   I know she's also I know her from Do you guys know the movie with Holly Hunter home for the holidays? Do you remember that at all with like, Claire, I've heard of her name. Well, I highly recommend it. It's really good Robert Downey Jr. and Holly Hunter. And anyway, it's a fun holiday film, but that's where that's where I reckon

Unknown Speaker  44:52   Downey Jr. was in Chaplin.

Unknown Speaker  44:55   Oh, interesting. Yeah, good connection.

Unknown Speaker  44:57   Also on this scene, we get a quick Rick Baker cameo Rick Baker's the famous makeup artist who did design the way he designed American Werewolf in London and lots of Famous Monsters he designed just did he work on this? He did. He designed the werewolf. We get a quick cameo of him here. He's the guy that's just kind of on lookout and he's watching and then he gets slammed by the werewolf really quickly.

Unknown Speaker  45:24   I also wanted to bring up that before we get Larry going to the Gypsy camp, which by the way, we all know is not a good word, but that's just how they use it. And the film. Yes, just disclaimer. I was it's a little puzzling that Larry's Dad, I made a note of this because he's like telling him me like, you know, yeah, you should stay inside because it's going to be a full moon. I don't want to lose you too. And then he says all of that and then it's like cut too. We see Larry riding off to the Gypsy camp like you know, whatever, dad, because he of course he's not going to listen to him. So I guess as I'm talking it through now I'm thinking like, maybe it was some sort of reverse psychology to like to get

Unknown Speaker  46:04   him to go out. It is weird though. The way it cuts right from him saying Don't go Don't go out and I don't

Unknown Speaker  46:11   want to lose you too. And then yeah, he's there he is galloping away another great cut.

Unknown Speaker  46:17   We get the prerequisite in a universal monster movie. We get villagers with torches they show up for the bear because they're they blame the gypsies bear for the attack on Larry's brother. The bear is very clearly not a real bear. It's a CG bear. But you know, we don't want them torturing. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  46:36   well, did you hear what he said? He says to somebody says like he doesn't all he does is dance. And I was like, Oh, that's sad to like dancing berry circuses.

Unknown Speaker  46:48   Yeah, but that's like

Unknown Speaker  46:49   somebody said that he's supposed to be an old like bear that's like about to be put out to pasture. Right? Like, I think the pub people are like, there's no way that bear could have done this. He's so old. And yeah, you feel a lot of sympathy for that bear even though he's CG.

Unknown Speaker  47:02   At least they don't have the bear fight the werewolf and get torn apart. Well, that would be more so I

Unknown Speaker  47:07   will say the claws through the policeman's mouth is pretty cool. That was one of the cool dads. I love that shot

Unknown Speaker  47:13   high. high praise for that, Chris. Yes, that that. I love that. I love that kill.

Unknown Speaker  47:19   Yeah, that's, you know, that's what happens the way the werewolf attacks that camp. And you know, we get that shot and a bunch of other pretty fun gore moments. This is when the movie really comes alive. For me these scenes. There's a lot of fair criticism to be had of the film when it's trying to be dramatic, but I feel like when we get to werewolf faction, it's pretty good werewolves. Action. I mean, yes, yes. Guilty of maybe being a little too CG at times. But you know, I don't know. I'm just happy to see a wolf man werewolf running around killing people. You know, I like the way the werewolves run on all fours. At some points. It's a little goofy, but I just like it.

Unknown Speaker  48:02   That's great. It's almost like, you know, in Transformers when they transform to the different mode to go faster. You know, it's like, yes, it's almost like a cheer moment. Like, you know, if the movie were better, you would definitely be cheering at that part. Because you're like, I need to go fast. I don't do this boop, boop. And then it's just great.

Unknown Speaker  48:19   I love it too. It's It's It's total chaos when when wolf wolf thing happens, but it's like chaos in the best way. It's like it's exactly it's like for all the the slow burning that's going along. It's like you really get a payoff. And I love this scene in particular, because you have people screaming, it's the devil. Yeah, the devil. And then yeah, it's just total chaos. And then like he, there's like the little boy or the little girl that like loses or mom or dad or the mom's looking for them and like the kid wanders off or there's just like, it's Yeah, just so much so much happening. And like it's really intense. And like, you're Yeah, you're just kind of on the edge of your seat, literally. Sure.

Unknown Speaker  48:57   But in the in the Extended Cut, it takes like, what 4050 minutes to get to this point. Is it Yes, definite reason why they cut it.

Unknown Speaker  49:06   At this point. You know, we get to sort of see that Larry has a hero in him. He grabs a gun and sort of goes to help people being attacked. There's this one kid who runs off he goes to help him the kid runs off into this like Stonehenge. Yes. Like I don't think it's literally supposed to be Stonehenge in

Unknown Speaker  49:27   England or there's just mini stone hedges like all around the corner in the countryside. I have the same

Unknown Speaker  49:32   exact same thought I was I just was like, is there just one that we know of here in the states are there there are many, many of these.

Unknown Speaker  49:40   Makes me want to live in England even more. I'm a druid No, you can just have a mini Stonehenge in your neighborhood. How cool would that be?

Unknown Speaker  49:49   You know the neighborhood stonehedge you know,

Unknown Speaker  49:51   and it's super foggy and gothy which I love. I'm a sucker for that kind of imagery. I don't care if a computer is doing it. I love it. That's the point where we get that Lawrence's attacked by the werewolf and bitten really savagely on the neck. So we know he's now bearing the mark of the wolf. And the villagers show up and drive the wolf away with their guns. And they bring Larry to the gypsy woman. And you know, everybody's basically telling her to kill him, but she won't do it. She tells them, he can only be released by someone who loves him. And we're all wondering who's

Unknown Speaker  50:33   this his dad doesn't love him let

Unknown Speaker  50:36   him fail. But stitching up of the wound was pretty gross in a good way. That was great. Like what she's stitching it up that was

Unknown Speaker  50:42   with one of those long curved needles.

Unknown Speaker  50:45   fishing hook. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  50:46   that was that was cringy. And a good way

Unknown Speaker  50:49   not to bring it back to Bram Stoker's Dracula again, but there's I feel like with Dracula, you almost get more bang for your buck. Because Dracula can be Dracula. He can be a bat and he also becomes a wolf. And the wolf in that is almost more interesting, because he can do way more things. Even as sex. Yeah. Which is more than you can say for this, you know, but I mean, I guess this is again, doing the classic wolf thing, but I would have liked a little bit even more craziness with with the wolf here, where, what else could he do? You know, but I know they're trying to keep it classic.

Unknown Speaker  51:24   Yeah, but then you'd be dealing with angry werewolf, right? Tell you what you can and can't do with a werewolf. And if you don't think that they'll do that, think again. Because horror fans can be really pedantic about what their movie monsters are allowed to do. If you ever want to find out go wander into a zombie conversation because there's a lot of strong feeling and a question

Unknown Speaker  51:47   Where did the term like isn't lichen, right, that lycanthrope? Like and throw? When did that become coming to use? Because I know what it was that underworld? Is that? Is that where they use it the most? But, you know, was it always around? Well, they call them lichens. Okay. Right.

Unknown Speaker  52:04   I think it's been around since the 1800s. I didn't research it. I don't know. But it's it's a term that's been around a while it's been around before,

Unknown Speaker  52:12   because it's in one of the books where she's researching. And I was like, oh, there's that word again. But like, when did pop culture? When did the movie start using it? Because I don't remember it from the 80s. It definitely

Unknown Speaker  52:22   no, it was definitely being used in the 80s. It was, it

Unknown Speaker  52:26   was it seems like instead, like you know how they go the Batman instead of Batman. They're like, let's say let's call them this. And so we don't have to call them werewolves now. And it just seems like like let's latch on to a new term.

Unknown Speaker  52:38   Yeah, it's a kind of it sounds sort of scientific. So it Yeah, sound smart. Right. When you say it?

Unknown Speaker  52:44   Well, it was first, the first mention of the word according to Wikipedia, was in 60. Ad.

Unknown Speaker  52:51   Whoa, wow.

Unknown Speaker  52:52   Yeah. Okay. So it's a it's a it's a Greek word, apparently. And it's translation. It's leukosis, which is Wolf and anthropos, which is man says Luke can throw pa or throw PA. That's where it comes from. The definition of it is that it's a form of madness involving the delusion of being an animal usually a wolf with corresponding altered behavior. But yeah, so it's been around for a long time. I don't know when it was, like, like subset I don't know when it was first mentioned in films, but it's it's a term that's been around a long, long time. It's used in movies and stuff earlier than you think. I wouldn't be surprised if it's used in the original Wolf Man or werewolf of London, which was the first official will universal were watching not American. Were right London, werewolf and of London. But um, yeah, good research. Interesting fact. So Lauren, Larry is brought back to the manor. When comes back, and like Glenn keeps coming and going. In the movie. It's like, just stay put, when

Unknown Speaker  54:02   the funeral is over. What is she doing? Like leaves?

Unknown Speaker  54:05   And then she comes, you know, it's just like, Why are Why are they moving her around so much in the story, just have her stay there. Who cares? It's a weird, baffling you know, sort of plot thing that keeps happening. You know, Larry's his head is swimming from I don't know, you know, being infected with lycanthropy. And we're getting these sort of dreamy, you know, heroine visions. You know, we get the sort of Gollum looking wolf boy,

Unknown Speaker  54:35   so Gollum. Yes. I wrote down the same thing.

Unknown Speaker  54:39   It looks like they just took the like, they took the Gollum model. Just through some, just, He really looks like Gollum. And you know, we'll later learn what that will boy is and it all it's, it's all fine, but it just seems kind of, you know, thrown together to add some scares or whatever.

Unknown Speaker  55:00   And then this is an again this is this is when Kim sale seek showed up and in the theatrical version, I was like wait, who is this guy again? It was just so like in the unrated. We get so much more of him. Anyway, so he shows up he comes in with a tray. And then you know Larry's like oh take when I thought you were leaving and Gwen's like this place is it's possible to escape. And this is, you know, this is Besides, this is the least I can do. Yeah. And then we see Larry, starting to heal.

Unknown Speaker  55:30   Then we pass over the spot where Anthony Hopkins and Emily blonde pass each other on the stairs. And he just I was just about to bring that up. I love I mean, talk about classic, awesome Anthony Hopkins where he's just eating the apple and just gives her the creepiest stare in the world. I love it.

Unknown Speaker  55:47   Well, that's only in the unrated cut. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  55:50   How could they cut that? But I mean, come on, like,

Unknown Speaker  55:53   yeah, I mean, in in the unrated cut. This whole section is much better because it's really montage in the theatrical and the unrated. They kind of let it breathe a little like, you know, we get that scene, like you said, where they pass each other on the stairs. And you can tell while he's eating the apple that he really doesn't want her there.

Unknown Speaker  56:11   Now, does that make sense with I'm sorry to skip to the end again. But he said, is he supposed to be in love with Emily Blunt? Okay, because there's a certain point where he's like, your brother was gonna take her away from me and blah, blah, blah, and I can't deal with her being away. I was like, wait a minute, what was was he into her the whole time? And I was totally confused.

Unknown Speaker  56:30   No, Chris, I felt the same way. But I think and maybe I'm wrong, but I think it was just because she kind of reminds him of Gen Y.

Unknown Speaker  56:40   Right? Because then the statue of his dead wife looks exactly like Emily Blunt too. Right. So yeah, okay. All right. I guess that makes but

Unknown Speaker  56:48   I had the I had the I had the same thing though, too. But then again, I was like, Okay, this is Gothic, like anything go right. Like the dad could be in love with her too as Emily Blunt. You know, it was like, damaged, you know, like that movie damaged.

Unknown Speaker  57:00   Yeah, you know, now that you're bringing it up, I think maybe you might have a point. And I've seen this movie more times than you guys. And I never that never really sunk in to me because it's so sort of thrown in there. But yeah, I think you know, he does have sort of some weird thing for her because she reminds him of his his dead wife.

Unknown Speaker  57:20   Maybe Anthony Hopkins was like remember legends of the fall? That's the only type of movie I'm going to do where everyone falls in love with the girl all three brothers.

Unknown Speaker  57:27   Well, yeah, it's a real crime against cinema that that Apple moment was cut out of the theatrical a great people needed to see that on the big screen. So Lawrence is better sort of miniseries just kind of seems like he's been on a like five day bender.

Unknown Speaker  57:45   Got a stiff neck right, that scene?

Unknown Speaker  57:47   Yeah, the doctor comes and checks him out. And you know he's healing miraculously which the doctor is clearly unnerved by Hopkins. Dad is kind of being nice to Gwen but it feels sort of threatening now that I'm thinking about it. Maybe he's attracted to her as you pointed out, just a basic like Okay, it looks like he's on the mend kind of part of the story. But we know better. He you know, he's looking at his wounds and he's seeing how how much healing he's gone through. And then Kim fail when they get the real scene with Kim fail seek. And Larry where he's the Sikh is in the dining room or something and he's like loading up

Unknown Speaker  58:33   cleaning the he's cleaning the gun or

Unknown Speaker  58:36   elephant gun or whatever it is.

Unknown Speaker  58:38   Yeah, he was cleaning guns

Unknown Speaker  58:40   and you'll we learn that he's been there. The Sikh has been there since Larry was a kid. His name is Singh. Yes. You know, he shows. Larry is the silver bullet that he's made. Well, he

Unknown Speaker  58:53   says, and then Larry says to sing now that you thank you for remembering his name. He says, Are you preparing for a war? And then sing says Do you believe in curses? Mm hmm.

Unknown Speaker  59:05   Yes. And that's it. This is when we really it's really driven home that sing is the man servant. And everybody needs a man servant. I think

Unknown Speaker  59:14   I need man's servant.

Unknown Speaker  59:16   Now incomes one of my favorite character actors, especially when he's playing a villain Hugo Weaving. He shows up as the inspector not really a villain in this case, but he is an antagonist. Weaving is just basically doing Agent Smith from the matrix here but he's doing like Agent Smith of Scotland Yard basically, it's pretty much the same performance. He goes to the manor to question Lawrence about the going the wolfy goings on. You know, Hopkins is sort of like gatekeeping but Larry's like no, go ahead, let them in. I'll talk to them. So they have the sort of scene in a in the park. Where we even starts off by saying, you know, I've been following your acting career, Mr. Anderson, and you know, starts off sort of ingratiating himself, and then the questioning becomes more pointed. You know, he's bringing up Larry's time in the asylum, and then he brings up how, oh, he's an actor, so maybe he's playing another role, you know, or, you know, this implication that, uh, you know, an actor would be more, you know, likely to be a murderer. And, you know, I think that's when Larry sort of needles him about not catching jack the Ripper.

Unknown Speaker  1:00:38   Yeah, but he's no, he's no Van Helsing from when actually when Anthony Hopkins played Van Helsing, he did bring a little bit more craziness to the role where it's like, everyone's kind of stuffy in this movie, and I feel like this would have been the opportunity for him to bump it up a notch and be like, a little bit different than this like stuffy straightlaced Scotland Yard guy, you know, in Anthony Hopkins, Van Helsing literally humps, Billy Campbell in Dracula, you know, and it's like, Yeah, he plays him totally crazy. And I feel like this movie could have used a little bit more like passionate melodrama over the top, you know, acting just to just to make it more a little bit entertaining. Yeah. Jen, like you're saying like, Alright, so if Benicio is, is a mopey guy who's like, all inward and whatever, you need something to balance that out. Like there needs to be a little bit of Yeah, agree. You know that other flavor?

Unknown Speaker  1:01:29   Yeah. And there's definitely no performance in this that goes, it's sort of in the crazy direction of, of Anthony Hopkins, and Dracula, or of Gary Oldman, and Dracula. Yeah, nobody's nobody's boring it on to that level. The movie could have benefited from a little more. Hey, agreed. Then now then there's some more hallucinations outside. There's another scene with Glenn, where he teaches her how to skip stones. Were you guys swept into the romance of this?

Unknown Speaker  1:01:59   Honestly, that's the one moment that they actually have that I feel like feels human. And I was like, I guess that's it. They're in love. That's it. That's all we get.

Unknown Speaker  1:02:07   That's all it takes Chris. That's all it takes.

Unknown Speaker  1:02:11   Stones a love that will stand the test of time, right?

Unknown Speaker  1:02:15   Oh, I think I might be skipping ahead. But there's that other moment where he she says something to him and then there's a big close up of her lips and he's just like losing control because she's so sexy and alluring and yeah, I feel like that's the one deep moment of sexuality in the movie that I feel like could have been threaded throughout the entire thing. Everybody is just driven crazy because of because they're Woolfson you know, tie it to sexuality and then this whole thing that peeked out for a moment there maybe that was from Roman x you know idea but like they didn't really go go there with it. It's just like this odd one moment where it's like oh, I got to get away from you Emily because you know you're driving me crazy.

Unknown Speaker  1:02:56   He sends her away again Yeah, right that point

Unknown Speaker  1:03:00   go skip some rocks.

Unknown Speaker  1:03:03   But no, he has like yeah, I think that is in the moment, Chris because it's like we're getting his Wolfie hearing and then I think he's like Wolfie horniness

Unknown Speaker  1:03:12   with it's, it's it's very, it's just a few See, it's like a another scene. Okay, it's right. It's right around that area. It's a different scene, but

Unknown Speaker  1:03:20   it's close by where he's like, yes, zooming in on her like her pouty lips and like, kind of, I think maybe even like her chest area or something like her neck

Unknown Speaker  1:03:28   or something. He's like, like the nape of her neck. And he's like, looking at her pulse.

Unknown Speaker  1:03:32   Yes. That's the point of the movie, as Anthony Hopkins will later say is like, it's so good to be the wolf. Let the wolf free. Like, you know, that should have been been nice to struggle the entire time has been like, well, like, it feels good to be the wolf. But no, I can't I know, I can't but where's that touched on in a second? But, you know, I feel like if that's your thesis of the movie, that's the reason why the main bad guy loves being the wolf. And I feel like that's an interesting concept, you know, and they touched on that in what Emily's Hulk. He knows like, the craziest things I like when I Hulk out and yeah, so I feel like that could have been explored and brought to, you know, a satisfying the Matic point.

Unknown Speaker  1:04:13   I think he's got a complicated relationship with his wolf Enos because he's like, I think, you know, he would maybe if he didn't have such the past that he did and the family issues that he did, he might be able to lean into it more, but I think it's because of all this family stuff that's happened and like all this, like, you know, all the stuff that happened to him or whatever, he doesn't really get to enjoy being a wolf. Like we just get, because usually I feel like with the wolf, man, there's usually some enjoyment and then there's remorse. Afterwards, you know, like when they come back down or whatever, it's like going on a bedroom, you know? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:04:50   But it's definitely while it's on and it's always been a sort of metaphor used in at least in movies. It's often been a metaphor for alcoholism. Yeah. You know drug addiction beat yeah yeah right and I think to Chris's point like a probably would have been strengthened better if we got some sense of being you know for for beneath CEOs care we get it from Hopkins but oh yeah like from beneath to his character that this is can be fun and exciting and exhilarating and you know you get a rush out of becoming this monster and killing

Unknown Speaker  1:05:26   I don't think he allows himself to have that

Unknown Speaker  1:05:29   so you know the villagers are sort of you know gathering up in there you know they've they they think they know what's going on here and they want to take Larry in they have this really creepy priest with them. They show up at the the manor we see them sort of in montage making silver bullets and stuff. We see that the full moon is coming so we know that you know, Larry is gonna wolf out soon. We get a quick sort of scene with Hugo Weaving at the time. Totally not buying into this werewolf shit. He keeps asking for a pint of bitter please.

Unknown Speaker  1:06:03   Right? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:06:05   And the lady in the pub is not having it because her husband was killed by the wolf. So she's like, you should be out there looking for this killer. And he says all he wants is his beer. Yeah. And yeah. And she's, she's like, so bent out of shape. He was like I you know, there, there are rules. I can't just hang around here, you know, rules that will keep us from a doggy dog world. And then he's just like, you know, where's my pint of better? I skipped today, the scene where the they show up at the manor with a priest. And Hopkins comes and fires at them with his his gun. And he's like, oh, sorry, I meant to hit you.

Unknown Speaker  1:06:41   He apologizes for missing. Right. It's pretty great. And it's sort of you know, you're it's a weird kind of moment, because he you know, you haven't really seen him sort of stick up for Larry. Yeah, but now he's like, he's sticking up for him. And you know, he's like, my men servant is hiding in the on the roof. And he's a crack shot. Yes. But he's not really there. Seek is not on the roof. It's a bluff. Right.

Unknown Speaker  1:07:03   And that's when he says to Larry, he's like, that's what he says. He goes, you're not the only actor in the family.

Unknown Speaker  1:07:09   Yeah. So it does pay off. It does pay off. So

Unknown Speaker  1:07:13   yeah, basically, we're all just heading towards Larry turning into the Wolf Man, which is what we sort of been waiting for. Basically, dad knows it's coming and he lures Larry out to the family mausoleum. He's got it all set up with candles and everything. And you know, the mom's sarcophagus is there, which is a pretty sweet sarcophagus. Later in a hallucination, we see it sort of, you know, it's this carved marble thing and we see it move and say something to me. It's

Unknown Speaker  1:07:42   technically a wife Kane, isn't it? Kind of Yeah, keep

Unknown Speaker  1:07:46   that's where he keeps his wife. Every good wife deserves a mausoleum. That's right. Anyway, so you know, they go down into the crypt, and we find out that and this is a little confusing, because he like closes a cage door. And you think that he's the dad is going to lock him in? Mm hmm. But I think it's just to separate them like he doesn't we don't see Larry breaking out of anything, so he's not locked in there.

Unknown Speaker  1:08:14   Oh, it's because he's gonna turn into a werewolf too. Yeah, right. That's where that's where he goes all the time to keep everyone safe, right?

Unknown Speaker  1:08:22   Yes, right. Yes. But usually thing has to come in a lot. I think he gets he has to lock it from the outside.

Unknown Speaker  1:08:28   Yes. That's you know, that's what he says is saying locks me he says that later. He says Singh locks me in every time I change. But you know, I don't want to be locked in anymore. The wolf must must outright and so it's just a little the way it's sort of blocked is a kind of confused, confusing to me, because we see him close a cage kind of door between them. But neither of them is actually trapped in there. Because then Larry starts to change. We get the first real werewolf transformation that we see. It's good. It's see again, it's very CG. You know, and I know I from what I know about the movie about the production. Originally they wanted to do practical transformations and Rick Baker was really excited to do that. But because Roman EC left under such short notice, Joe Johnston didn't feel he had the time and you know, I remember people who were fans of Wolf Man having a lot of problem with that at the time. Let's do CG needs to be needs to be practical and I mean, I agree it would have been better if it had been practical but

Unknown Speaker  1:09:43   absolutely i mean that's that's your money shot right there. That's why people come to see the movie is to see you know, the transformation and if then to that if you're going to make the Wolf Man update you got to do I'm not saying it shouldn't have been maybe it should have been a mix of CG and yeah and practical, but they should have, you know, it's like, oh, I don't have time to do that. Well then don't do the movie. Yeah. Like, I feel like that's, that's an important section of the movies is the transformation. Right? And if you can't be, you know, American Werewolf in London, right, then why bother

Unknown Speaker  1:10:14   here? Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get why it happened. It is a disappointment. And if they had pulled off something really spectacular, it would have been a selling point for the move. Yeah, yes. But, you know, and, and this is, you know, key. This is pertinent to the point of this podcast, I think, you know, the transformation was shown a lot in the trailers. And I think, you know, it was very clear from the trailers that it was CG, and I think that that turned a lot of people off. Yeah, they saw that and they were like, yeah, just looks like a CG mess.

Unknown Speaker  1:10:47   I'll give you the moaning sounds so painful, like waves like,

Unknown Speaker  1:10:52   just like, God Damn, that sounds painful, man. Like,

Unknown Speaker  1:10:56   he's bringing it there, Chris. He's bringing it. He's coming alive.

Unknown Speaker  1:11:01   And I and I like the things that they focus on in the transformation. I like they show his hand getting all gnarly. Yeah, they show his like, leg getting bent back like a wolf. scenary. Yeah. So it's like, I feel like they knew what to focus on.

Unknown Speaker  1:11:18   They just write the concepts there. Yeah, the

Unknown Speaker  1:11:20   concept was there. They just you didn't have the time to execute it in the way that would have been the most effective.

Unknown Speaker  1:11:27   And along with what Chris said, with the moaning I think the sound was really good for the transformation, too. There's a lot of the like the crack, you know, here the bone. Yeah, it's gross. And then yeah, like, I always love like, when the feet come out, like the shoes and stuff to like, just everything just busting out and just like, yeah, does gnarled and knuckled and, yeah, it's just a it would have been It's a shame. I agree with what you're both saying, if it could have been a mix of CG and practical, I think that would have really been been something that could have been a standout for the film, but, but I think also, yes, that's something that our fans want. But our fans also have, you know, set the bar high with like you're saying with like, American Werewolf in London, or the howling? Like you have, like, you know, these transformations. Can we talk about the way he looks though? Because, yeah, I think I think he looks great. And I know you love him to Sebastian because he looks like

Unknown Speaker  1:12:23   Hold on, though. When we first were watching it together. You said you didn't think that the the wolf man looked very good.

Unknown Speaker  1:12:31   I came around to it though. I came around to it. Well, because of

Unknown Speaker  1:12:35   why did you

Unknown Speaker  1:12:35   because because I think as we talked earlier about the effects, like there's certain times where it looks better than others. Like there's certain lighting, there's certain things like it just there's times where he looks better. there's times where he truly looks like our action figure, which is what I want him to look like, we have a wolf man action figure. And he looks I mean, I think he's identical to that. But then there was like, the first maybe it was the first shot of him. When we watched the theatrical version. I was just kind of like, I don't know. And it could also be just because like it was more of the the maybe the movement of him as well like being more like, like we said, like more superhero esque or something. I don't know, but later, I don't know. I grew to be like, Alright, no, I'm into this. Like, I like the way he looks now. But yes, you're right. In the beginning, I was like,

Unknown Speaker  1:13:26   Well, I mean, I brought it up. The reason why I brought it up and wanted you to restate your feelings on that is because you're not alone. There's a lot of people who don't like the look of it. I have friends in the horror community who weren't into the design, and I like the design the reason why I like the design is because it evokes the original Wolf Man. It's an update of the original Wolf Man. And it's also a sort of take on the Oliver read werewolf from

Unknown Speaker  1:13:57   Curse of the werewolf,

Unknown Speaker  1:13:58   right Curse of the werewolf the hammer werewolf movie it's sort of a combination of those two more the Oliver read werewolf and in his clothing,

Unknown Speaker  1:14:07   I love the clothing and for me that that kind of makes it I mean, I don't I'm not aware of you know, the various looks as you guys are but to me it feels like the correct way to update the classic werewolf you know, and when he's got bad vest and shirt on and just the the shape of his head and the way everything looks. Yes, it's, you're like, that's, that's perfect. You know that that? That's him?

Unknown Speaker  1:14:31   Yeah, I love that too. And it's that that sort of vest look is sort of similar to what Oliver Reed is wearing in the curse of the werewolf. Yeah, I love the costuming of it. I really like the look of it. I understand like at first glance it seems maybe a little awkward. But it works for me his he doesn't really have an extended snout like a lot of modern werewolves do it's sort of you know, more compact like the original Wolf Man.

Unknown Speaker  1:15:00   I think it's what I like about it.

Unknown Speaker  1:15:01   I like that too.

Unknown Speaker  1:15:02   Well, to me, there's a difference between just a werewolf and the wolf. Ah,

Unknown Speaker  1:15:06   wow. Okay,

Unknown Speaker  1:15:08   the Wolf Man looks more like a man. Yeah, he's a specific type of werewolf. He's

Unknown Speaker  1:15:14   right, man. You know, recently recently, I discovered I think I watched like on YouTube or something about special makeup effects for thriller, and they were mentioning how that is actually aware cat, right? Oh, because he's, you know, they got the long whiskers and it's a flat face as well. And I'm like, Oh, that's why that that stands out to me as well. Is that that? That look is very cool, too. And yeah, and I think I'm on your wavelength Sebastian, where I think it's cool. The design is always cooler when it's more man than wolf.

Unknown Speaker  1:15:46   Yeah. This is when we get the first Howl, which I think sounds pretty great. You know, who was involved in making the howl?

Unknown Speaker  1:15:54   I do. But I'll let you deliver x interior. No.

Unknown Speaker  1:15:58   You did the stuff for Dracula?

Unknown Speaker  1:16:00   No, it was David Lee Roth and Gene Simmons. The clap

Unknown Speaker  1:16:04   the two classiest people in the world. Yeah. I

Unknown Speaker  1:16:07   don't know. And you know, it's fitting that we're discussing this now because Eddie Van Halen just passed away the day before yesterday and was sad, really sad. super sad piece Eddie. So yeah, I mean, I don't know how much of David Lee Roth and Gene Simmons there is actually in the howl but they were apparently brought in to record some howling for the howl. So the villagers try to trap the Wolf Man with this like deer and that sort of dugout trap. But you know, it doesn't go well for them. One of the guys gets pulled into the trap and the Wolf Man messes him up pretty bad. There's some good slashing and gore

Unknown Speaker  1:16:49   we haven't talked about because I think this might notice is I don't know if this is the first one this might be the second one because there's there's definitely a couple throughout the film, the wonderful decapitations this film deliver? Yeah. And yeah, it definitely happens. I think it might happen also at the first Gypsy wolf out but it definitely happens during this time with the little pit or whatever. You totally the decapitation.

Unknown Speaker  1:17:13   No, it happens. One of the guys who is one of the river Yeah, no, he goes into like quicksand or something. Yes. Um, he's one of the guys. He's the guy in the Extended Cut that he throws the drink at

Unknown Speaker  1:17:25   that he has probably his beef with. Yes, yes. Yes. That's why I was talking about was so satisfactory because of now knowing what goes down in the pub. I'm like, Oh, that. That's why Paul had some meaning behind it.

Unknown Speaker  1:17:37   Yeah, that that guy runs into what looks like quicksand. And he gets stuck there and the Wolf Man, Wade's out to where he is and swipes off his head with a claw and it goes flying. And it's extremely satisfying. Yes, I really like this whole sequence. It's action packed and gory and fun. And this is basically why you come to a wolf man movie, in my opinion.

Unknown Speaker  1:18:02   Yeah. I mean, I always could use even more blood. Like when, you know, granted, there's a lot of killing and maiming. But like there's not a lot of splashing of blood like that's to nitpick. You know, I just would like a little bit more splashes

Unknown Speaker  1:18:17   more blood.

Unknown Speaker  1:18:18   Okay, so then we get the scene, but that's in every werewolf movie where the werewolf wakes up and the next day and he's all covered in blood and rags. He's a human again. I've all been there. Yeah, we've all been there. You know, he's sort of near the manor. I don't know. He's like out in the backyard. I don't know where he is. But he's

Unknown Speaker  1:18:36   inside a tree tree. He's He's in a tree like the trees like hollowed out and he's like, curled up in there.

Unknown Speaker  1:18:42   Yeah. And dad is there basically like laughing at him like, Oh, you did some terrible things.

Unknown Speaker  1:18:50   Yeah. reminded me of your two terrible Mariel

Unknown Speaker  1:18:57   these clearly delighting in the fact that like he's been on that Lawrence has been on a murder rampage.

Unknown Speaker  1:19:03   This movie had been more successful that you've done terrible things could have been like a classic line. Yeah, you know, if everybody knew this movie, people would be quoting that left and right, you know, after that, nyan that bachelor party you've done.

Unknown Speaker  1:19:17   But yeah, he basically dad basically gives him up to the villagers who knocks him out, then, you know, they they haul him to London to back to the old asylum. And you know, they've got the total cliche German doctor, clearly based on Freud. They put him in this chair, which is pretty amazing. I have no idea if this is based on anything real but they dunk him in a big pool of ice. And like what looks like an electric chair, but it's just an ice dunking chairs a

Unknown Speaker  1:19:47   great image though. Yeah, and like whoever Who cares if it works, it looks like straight up torture, but it looks so cool. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  1:19:54   we go back into sort of montage mode here which I'm not crazy about. It's you know, he's He's getting tortured. Like at one point he's got like a bit nice teeth and he's like, jabbering, like, I also think that we're supposed to pick up on the fact that time is passing here. Yeah. Which, Jen, I know you had a problem with it because you're like, there's this place is just got nothing but full moons.

Unknown Speaker  1:20:20   I said the same thing like they never show a not full moon. Like, here

Unknown Speaker  1:20:25   it is. I think the montage is are supposed to serve as a feeling of passing of time without like, you know, doing the cliche thing of showing like a calendar whipping by really sad. You know, I mean, it's

Unknown Speaker  1:20:38   a month goes by because he's got a turn at some point. And I believe that they're trying to set up the fact that they all do think that he's really legit crazy. Yes, because he's acting crazy. And so that you know, the payoff later will be everyone thinks he's crazy. And then he's not aware. Well, yes,

Unknown Speaker  1:20:53   Hopkins shows up to hang around his cell as Lawrence is sort of straitjacketed. And then we get the story of, you know, how dad became a werewolf, which was he was, you know, out in the Himalayas or something. And he went to a cave, and the Gollum werewolf boy was in the cave. And that werewolf boy bit him and that's, you know, how he became a werewolf. If you're wondering why that's the story. It is similar to the setup of the story in werewolf of London. The original werewolf movie from that was actually before the Wolf Man

Unknown Speaker  1:21:35   sounds vaguely racist.

Unknown Speaker  1:21:36   Yeah, probably.

Unknown Speaker  1:21:38   There's some feral Asian kid man. Goddamnit.

Unknown Speaker  1:21:42   Yeah, it was racist. We'll just assume it's racist if it's old. And this is when we get confirmation in a flashback that dad killed mom as a werewolf. which is surprising to no one. And, you know, we get to look at the Anthony Hopkins werewolf and the Anthony Hopkins Wolf, man, it's it's pretty good. It looks more like it's CG than makeup to me. I you know, it's just for a flash. So who knows? My guess is probably Anthony Hopkins was not keen to put on tons of makeup. So he's probably you know, they probably had to do it like that, because he wouldn't go for it.

Unknown Speaker  1:22:24   Well, it's also where we learn that this is when Larry says to dad, like you should just kill yourself. And he's like, I consider that but life is too good.

Unknown Speaker  1:22:34   Yeah. I like I like Wilson is awesome. Yeah, yeah. But he but he gives Larry a straight razor and it's like, yeah, kill yourself. And then, you know, so yeah, he gives Larry the razor and then he we see Hopkins leaving this the Siloam. And he's he's jamming down on the harmonica as he walks out.

Unknown Speaker  1:22:56   Yeah, I said to even said to you, I was like, Who is playing the harmonica in this asylum? And you're like, that's Hopkins like he's just like do to do on the little mouth harp going down the

Unknown Speaker  1:23:08   hallway. A little john popper?

Unknown Speaker  1:23:13   Yeah, the character is musical. He's always playing the piano. And I know that Anthony Hopkins always plays the piano and like, anytime he can put it in it, put it into a movie, you know, he even writes the the pieces and then so he'll play some noodle on the piano and there'll be like, leave it in. What is that? He's like, I wrote that. And then so though, he does that a lot, because he's pretty accomplished pianist. Oh,

Unknown Speaker  1:23:37   cool. So that's totally cool. Okay, yeah. Nice. All right, cool. Well, that's good to know. Then we go on to what may be the best scene in the movie, which is the very ill advised nighttime asylum lecture. I mean, at first I'm like, why are they doing it this this at night, but then the doctor says like, I'm doing this to show you He won't turn into a werewolf. Yeah. Oh, good. But yeah, so they're in like a you know, theater, operating theater or whatever. And they will and Bernice CEO, and he's in you know, like, it's strapped down chair. It definitely at this point, we're veering into sort of dark comedy, because the the doctor is, you know, lecturing with his back turn to Benicio about how he's not going to turn into a werewolf and how he's just crazy. And Benicio is like, you need to go get out of here. I'll kill all of you. And and nobody's listening. And then so the doctor is lecturing, and he starts to change behind him. And the guys in the theater are like pointing like like, Look, look behind you. And he just keeps talking. Oh, good. It's pretty funny.

Unknown Speaker  1:24:51   Best don't The only thing that bothers me is that he doesn't kill everyone. I want everybody in that room that it should have been a pile of bodies, man, like That was the only minor quibble with that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. All those fuck all those guys.

Unknown Speaker  1:25:06   Yeah, I mean yeah, they did promise everyone would die and not everyone died

Unknown Speaker  1:25:10   and the transformation they do like show his like jaw like snapping and like eath rolling into weird place. Yeah, that was cool it like oh we'll save some weird transformation stuff for this time so that you know you see different anatomy changing

Unknown Speaker  1:25:26   yeah and the first transformation is done in that crypt and it's sort of dark and there's candlelight so you know yeah this is like bright You know, this is a brightly lit Yeah, nothing operating theater and he's, you know, they're really showing you the change.

Unknown Speaker  1:25:40   I think that change looks really good here. Actually, I was I was really like, I was super super into this and just really ready for Larry to fuck everybody up. And it just it looked so much the change. I just I liked it so much better in this in this scene. And I don't know if it was pot, you know, partially because it was leading up to something it was going to be very satisfying. You knew it was going to be

Unknown Speaker  1:26:02   just the sweetest plum. It's all about the scene and wanting to see him go apeshit on all these doctors it's it's a lot of fun. There's a funny moment where one of the one of the doctors is trying to get out and the guy's at the door and another guy's in the door and not letting him out. And meanwhile, Larry's carving through people left and right.

Unknown Speaker  1:26:25   The guy at the door is like like mopping the floors. Yes. Like I think it's locked. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:26:33   The most it's not my job.

Unknown Speaker  1:26:35   There's some like slightly poor wirework here where you can tell like when he actually throws the the main doctor out the window. Yeah. And it's just like there's no way to him at all. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  1:26:47   the gravity

Unknown Speaker  1:26:48   so it's out the window instead of actually being thrown. But you know, it's nitpicky, you know,

Unknown Speaker  1:26:54   it's this. It's the satisfying though. It's still all satisfying.

Unknown Speaker  1:26:57   Yes. Yeah. Oh, and I just love that one part where he I think he's got a big chunk of a guy in his mouth. Yeah. And he just he looks at it. That's when he spots the actual doctor. And then the piece of meat just drops and he's like raw.

Unknown Speaker  1:27:11   It looks like a liver.

Unknown Speaker  1:27:12   Yeah. Is that is a great shot, like that is so good.

Unknown Speaker  1:27:16   And they throws the doctor out the window and he lands on the Oh, yeah, that spiked fence, you know, which is always good.

Unknown Speaker  1:27:23   skewered.

Unknown Speaker  1:27:24   Yeah, somebody skewered on a spiked iron rod fence is always a winning proposition. So Larry escapes from the asylum, he basically goes on sort of a rooftop chase scene. They have the seat, they have, you know, the sort of prerequisite scene where he like, gets on a gargoyle and howls at the moon. You know, it's an easy lay moment. But I'm an easy lay for gargoyle perches, pretty much like that. whenever it's in a movie, we get Hugo Weaving has clued in to this and he's sort of chasing him on ground while the Wolf Man is running across the rooftop, we get a really, you know, this sequence really sort of highlights this running thing where he's running, you know, along the roofs, and then he drops into the onto all fours and starts around all fours. Again, this moment feels to me kind of like a superhero movie moment, you know, because he's going from rooftop to rooftop, you know, and I can see why maybe some people you know, who are expecting a more sort of straightforward, grounded horror movie might not like this stuff, but I like big budget spectacle. And this is where the movie is sort of delivering on that

Unknown Speaker  1:28:45   for sure. Why Why would you have an issue with this just because it's too CG and too fantastical. It's just

Unknown Speaker  1:28:50   not a horror movie thing. It's you know, it's it's like a like I said, it's like a big budget, it's more of a sci fi or superhero thing

Unknown Speaker  1:28:59   because to him like jumping off of rooftops, or just to be like a big sort of animal loose because me isn't that what American Werewolf in London ends like that. So,

Unknown Speaker  1:29:09   right, but not done with $100 million in computer. Right, right. Right facts. Okay, I didn't

Unknown Speaker  1:29:15   have a problem with it. I was enjoying it. And I just was like,

Unknown Speaker  1:29:19   you're kind of you know, you're more of a horror fan than a sci fi or superhero movie fan. So like, I

Unknown Speaker  1:29:25   was okay with that. Okay, no, didn't bother me at all. No, I was just like, like, it's been like, it's, it builds up so much to this moment, where I kind of feel like, you know, I know we talked about earlier that, you know, Larry doesn't get to fully enjoy his wolfing. But I feel like for a minute here when he's like going all around London and do I mean, I think he might might be enjoying this rooftops for a minute, you know, like being able to, like okay, maybe this isn't all bad. You know, like there's, you know, the superhuman strength that he has. But yeah, I just, I mean, it's such a such a climax that it comes to With everything that happens at the asylum, and then he's just like, you know, he's just he's just going balls out. So I think they deliver. They

Unknown Speaker  1:30:09   there's a fun sort of little bookend to the scene where he sort of jumps down and he's in, you know, I don't know, Piccadilly Circus or something like that. A train, there's a train car that gets derailed, and it like runs over a dude while it's getting derailed. And you see the guy like, pretty great and falls over on its side, and it's full of people. And the Wolf Man like jumps on top of it. And he looks in through one side window, and there's a really cool shot of him, like looking in through the glass, and then breaks through the glass and like falls into the train car and then start slashing away at people really messing them up. I think the action is pretty well done. Could it be a little better, maybe. But I think for the most part, and this might actually be one area where Joe Johnston was a pretty good choice to come in. Because I don't imagine Mark Romanek would have really cared very much about these action sequences, Drew and Johnston does. I mean, he's not like known for being a great action director, but he's solid, you know, he did Jurassic Park three, which has some fun sequences. So you know, he comes from the Spielberg camp, so he knows what he's doing with action.

Unknown Speaker  1:31:19   And the action is not the sticking point here for sure.

Unknown Speaker  1:31:23   Lawrence goes on his werewolf bender. And he ends up under a bridge as we all have been after a bender by London Bridge, in fact, and he drinks some wakes up in the morning and he's back in his tattered bloody clothes. And he like drinks some really gross water from a puddle. And then we learned that Gwen apparently owns an antique shop or something in London, which is not set up at all. No, but she's she's going to her open up her store for the day. And Larry has I guess, figured out I mean, it says her name on the if you look at the signage on her store,

Unknown Speaker  1:32:06   wait, wait, is this where we learned that? That Mary Poppins and Wolf men are in the same universe?

Unknown Speaker  1:32:10   God? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:32:13   Yeah, so she goes into her antique store that hasn't been set up. And he's like sleeping under something in their table or some table. And then, you know, they have a scene, he tells her that he knows his father was the original werewolf and she wants to help him. We get more sort of romance moments here, which don't necessarily

Unknown Speaker  1:32:36   that's in quotes, romance, right? No, but

Unknown Speaker  1:32:39   we get it, we get a kiss here.

Unknown Speaker  1:32:41   All right. It was so hot, I forgot.

Unknown Speaker  1:32:45   Anyway, Hugo Weaving shows up and, you know, he shows her the newspaper drawings of the wolf carnage. And, you know, he basically detains her, you know, they figure out that Larry's been in there and they they think he's hiding behind a mirror. And he like shoots the mirror and, but behind the mirrors like this pan's statue, like a statue of the god Pan. I'm a pan fan. Not a Peter Pan fan

Unknown Speaker  1:33:13   and pan Greek god Pan, one half goat the other half man.

Unknown Speaker  1:33:19   Yeah, so yeah, the mirror gag is cool. In the and now in the unrated cut. That's where we get the scene of Larry walking around London. And there's a paper boy selling papers like Wolf Man kills everyone. And Larry buys all the papers from him sort of weird comedic moment that doesn't really fit but you know, and we get this montage as both of them make their way back to the Blackmore mansion, cheese on a train and a horse and stuff. But poor Larry's, he's just hoofing it the whole way. That's right. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:33:55   I'm in through the Moore's looking very for Lorne.

Unknown Speaker  1:33:58   Yeah. And there's, there's like a solid five to 10 shots of him, depending on which version you watch it like just walking. If they didn't do that, everybody like would it just work? could look. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  1:34:12   yeah. You can't when Gwen is trying to find Geraldine Chaplin's gypsy woman. So she does eventually meet her in a barn. And you know, there's this whole sort of scene where she's talking about how much you know, she wants to save him. And it's kind of like uncomfortably anti feminist sort of moment. You know, where it's like I can change him that kind of thing. Like I can change the abusive boyfriend, right oh man, which was a little uncomfortable there.

Unknown Speaker  1:34:46   Also at this time, though, there's there's a total souped up scene going on with Hugo Weaving. Yes, it right in the carriage and loading up a silver bullets. Yeah, he's a believer now.

Unknown Speaker  1:34:57   Yes, he's turned turned a corner on This Wolf Man, this werewolf business and he's ready to like lay down some silver bullets.

Unknown Speaker  1:35:04   Wouldn't all of London have turned believers after a giant Wolf Man just came marauding like in Piccadilly square. I mean come on what's going on fake

Unknown Speaker  1:35:14   fake news Chris fake news.

Unknown Speaker  1:35:18   There were crazy urban myths going around London in that period there is a famous sort of monster called Spring Heeled jack that would like supposedly come jumping down from roofs and like attack people and then jump away into another roof doing impossible things so that kind of stuff actually happened in London and there was never any explanation for it. I'm sure I'm in all parts of the world but they're famous stories from London of crazy crazy stuff like that so so Larry makes it back to the manor just in time for the full moon but poor Kim fail seek manservant is dead. He's a corpse sort of hanging on the wall. So I guess we're to assume that a pop killed him didn't have any more use for me. Yeah, that was

Unknown Speaker  1:36:08   why I wanted to see what happened to him I mean what

Unknown Speaker  1:36:11   well they sort of set him up as a badass so

Unknown Speaker  1:36:14   yeah, he's a great shot and then like way he's just dead

Unknown Speaker  1:36:18   it is off screen and we don't get I mean we can only assume that it you know it was dad we'll find out when he did it you know Yeah, but it's Yeah, he deserved he deserved it on string screen kill if he was going to

Unknown Speaker  1:36:32   die He Larry gets the key off of the dead seek that unlocks his case full of his trunk full of silver bullets. The dog who we haven't mentioned I forget his name but he gets a nice sort of a big dog he gets a nice jumpscare here and one thing I appreciated there's a shit is about to go down in the manner but Larry lets the dog out Yeah, he lets him go

Unknown Speaker  1:36:57   this the wolf and also let the deer go at 1.2 and chase a man instead of a deer yeah

Unknown Speaker  1:37:02   the deer with when they first try to trap him with the deer he doesn't kill the dog

Unknown Speaker  1:37:06   is Samson By the way, Sam Samson Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:37:09   Nice. Larry. Here's dad in the parlor playing the piano laying it with bloody fingers. Yes. Little shot. Very Yes. It's the Sikhs blood on his fingers. I don't know. Somebody's blood.

Unknown Speaker  1:37:20   Well, there's a there's a dead guy on like the chair.

Unknown Speaker  1:37:23   All right. It's the it's like the inspectors pal.

Unknown Speaker  1:37:26   You go weavings right hand guy. Yeah, man. We get sort of Hopkins doing the supervillain speech. It's pretty great Hopkins ham. So yeah, they they kind of have their big confrontation moment. Hopkin hits him with the cane that point it's a little bit repetitive just because I feel like we already kind of got the supervillain speech from dad at the asylum and we're just kind of getting more of that Hopkins starts throwing shit around and this is I love

Unknown Speaker  1:37:54   when he throws that chair it's so badass

Unknown Speaker  1:37:57   but but it's totally what you were saying where the wire work is kind of like suspect like it just kind of flying off

Unknown Speaker  1:38:04   but Hopkins man just like the look on his face and the way he's so nonchalantly does it it's ridiculous but awesome at the same time

Unknown Speaker  1:38:11   I didn't I didn't have an issue with any like I just like buy in that these like wolf dudes have all the strings in the world so like anything is gonna be like just like nothing you know? It's like no, I like it in concept it's

Unknown Speaker  1:38:23   just like technically if you're if you're really paying attention to it yes, it looks a little like somebody yanking a wire and pulling a yeah pulling a piece of furniture off exactly right. So they both wolf out and they do the thing where they like charge at each other and like smash chests to definitely a host matrix C type of werewolf wire fight for for a minute, and it ends with Larry. decapitating dad just great good decapitation, it's you know kind of CG looking but it's it's a pretty good death. And doesn't he doesn't his head like fly into the fireplace?

Unknown Speaker  1:39:05   I know he kicks

Unknown Speaker  1:39:06   him into the fireplace okay yeah, he

Unknown Speaker  1:39:08   kicks him to the fireplace right but

Unknown Speaker  1:39:10   the head actually we see the head kind of de wolf Yeah, it starts like going back to dad but another thing about dad wolfing out and then having the big fight which I appreciated because I was able to differentiate as to who was who was the dad shirtless?

Unknown Speaker  1:39:26   Thankfully only as a werewolf Yeah, that's shirtless. So gwenan Hugo show up and yeah, the Wolf Man bites Hugo which is a setup for a sequel that'll never happen. I think they're you know, the sequel was gonna maybe be Hugo Weaving as inspector werewolf or whatever.

Unknown Speaker  1:39:46   I would have watched that.

Unknown Speaker  1:39:47   Yeah, me too. I totally would have watched that. We do get Hugo Weaving in Joe Johnston's next movie, Captain America because he plays the Red Skull. So I guess maybe they liked working together. Who knows. And you know, the manner burns down because that's what manners always have to do in our movies. The Wolf Man chases going out into the woods with the torch wielding villagers following after them because you got to have that universal monster movie. You know, the woods look cool. She's sort of hiding behind some trees and there's lots of fog. And he sort of, you know, chasing, chasing, you see him in the background. He chases or to the waterfall where they had that moment, but not the place where they skipped stones, the waterfall,

Unknown Speaker  1:40:31   where the where the brothers had there was a refuge

Unknown Speaker  1:40:33   refuge.

Unknown Speaker  1:40:35   Yes. He's sort of like, tackles or pushes her down to the ground. But she's like, No, me, you know, me good acting here from I mean, she's good. The whole movie. Oh, yeah. She's great, really good moment here, where she's sort of trying to convince him to kind of recognize who she is, even though he's in wearable form.

Unknown Speaker  1:40:55   I liked that. You could see her in his pupils, by the way that I thought it was. I mean, I know it's kind of hokey or whatever. But I appreciated that.

Unknown Speaker  1:41:02   Yeah, I mean, the whole thing is kind of hokey. But yeah, it's the scene you need to have, yes, the werewolf movie. villagers are coming, basically, you know, he's gonna kill her. But then he, she gets through to him, and then he, you know, he stops, then they hear the villagers coming. And then she shoots him because she's got a gun with her with silver bullets, presumably in it a little. I mean, I would have preferred the cane. But, I mean, why didn't she have the cane? And then, you know, pulled out the knife and stabbed him in the heart or something. And then he, you know, transforms back into Larry and dies in their arms. And they have this sort of, you know, sad, doomed love moment, which, you know, honestly, no one cares about.

Unknown Speaker  1:41:49   I cared. You care? Yeah, I did. Actually, I did. I did actually. Well, that that moment was like, I mean, it was because he, he like kind of he starts to after she shoots him, and then he kind of like turns over to a side. And then he kind of I think he grabs her arm, like a little, a little bit of a jumpscare. But then you can see he's coming back to being Larry. And then he says, that's when he was like, thank you. And he was like, it had to be this way. You know, it's like he was this, you know, now he's tortured guy and I don't know, I I actually didn't care.

Unknown Speaker  1:42:22   I cared. He dies, and Hugo shows up and we see that he's got the cane and you know, again, they're sort of I think it's sort of, you're supposed to sort of think, Oh, this this is he's going to be in the sequel. And then you know, they show the moon and there's more of Emily's voiceover and then we're out. And you know, we've got sort of horror movie style Wolf Man and credits, which are pretty cool. They're, you know, they're stylish and cool.

Unknown Speaker  1:42:50   I can't help but think of, you know, Dracula, where Amina chops Dracula's head off. And, you know, they're this sort of lovers souls that are always meant to be so that makes sense to me that, you know, she should be the one to kill them. But I just feel like they're trying to shoehorn that same story into this by by the Gypsy saying, it has to be someone who loved him. I'm like, Well, does she even say like, oh, for his soul to be fine, or I mean, like, what's the point of that? Like, would he have lived if anybody else shot him with silver bullets? Like, why does it have to be someone who loves him? It just it seems like they're just really forcing a story at this point.

Unknown Speaker  1:43:26   I think. I think they are sort of going to that. Well, they're, you know, I think there's figuring Hey, it worked for Dracula, you know, right. It'll work for the wolf. Man. I definitely think this movie is is trying to capture the magic of in some ways of that Coppola Dracula, that's definitely what it's aiming for. Right. I mean, some people hate the Cobo Dracula, so right. No, it's not like that movies universally loved either. Sure, sure. It's more people like it now than they used to. But I remember back in the day, nobody was hankering for more of that. Well, there's a lot of problems. You know, everybody was just like, Look, you know, sucked, you know, and like, actually, it's, it's not like it was that beloved at the time.

Unknown Speaker  1:44:08   It made money though. That's why they made so

Unknown Speaker  1:44:11   and this movie didn't. So on that note, you know, my sort of feelings about why this movie tanked. Like I said, I think that trailers unfortunately, by showing the CG transformation, I think turn some people off. I think that Benicio del Toro is not the kind of actor or leading man that brings in money, you know, like he's just not. If this had been Brad Pitt or somebody I think it would have probably stood a better chance even though like Benicio, and I know he was really passionate about doing this. I think that probably didn't help. And I think that, you know, when it came out, the reviews were pretty abysmal. And I think that is largely due to the sort of editing, I think that the editing is bad. And I think that sort of hurt the movie critically, I don't know if if they had released, the longer version in the theaters, if that would have been received any better probably wouldn't have been. Because I think like Chris fairly pointed out that I think a lot of the problems are in the script, unfortunately. Yeah. So you know, I don't think it was going to do that well with critics, either way, but if it had been more embraced by fans, then maybe there would have been some word of mouth and it wouldn't have tanked nearly as badly, but even a bigger sort of issue. And I think that we're seeing this with all of these universal these attempts at these universal monsters is that, I don't know if people care about them. You know, like, they've tried now with Wolf Man, they've tried with, you know, a new Dracula. They've tried with the mummy with Tom Cruise. And it's like, there, none of them are hitting it. It's too bad. Because obviously, I'm a fan. I love the universal monsters, but I just don't think that they're big money movies. Now, you know, the recent Invisible Man that just came out, did it smart, because it's a low budget movie. It's contemporary. It's not hinting on your love of the Invisible Man. To sell it. It's, it's just giving you a movie with an invisible man and calling it the Invisible Man. And it's like a, you know, whatever, a $5 million movie as opposed to 100 million dollar movie. So it's, you know, 150,

Unknown Speaker  1:46:32   right?

Unknown Speaker  1:46:34   Yeah, or whatever, if you bring the budgets of these things way down and do these sort of scaled back attempts at rebooting these series and do them, you know, in a modern setting, which isn't to my preference, because I like the cool Gothic setting, but you know, you could probably do Gothic for cheaper than 100 and 50 million How

Unknown Speaker  1:46:56   do you know how much it costs to make shape of water? Because that's, I mean, that's clearly got some creature going on.

Unknown Speaker  1:47:02   Yeah, I mean, but it was probably, you know, 50 million or something, but the shape of water wallet had a lot of design and really rich design and everything. It didn't have a lot of action. The action is what costs a lot of money. Yeah, for a lot of these things, you can have something look great and have it be period and stuff but as long as you're not throwing in like massive action sequences, you know, you're not going to reach that hundred million dollar mark or whatever.

Unknown Speaker  1:47:31   But also how much did Anthony Hopkins get walk away with here? I feel like he you know, he was commanding some money

Unknown Speaker  1:47:39   the costs were high you know, and I think something like shape of water, though it's not like cheap it's not you know, Michael Shannon isn't gonna demand $50 billion

Unknown Speaker  1:47:51   right felt like they weren't holding back on the budget on anything here. I feel like they were just like open the floodgates and just make the best movie we can and

Unknown Speaker  1:48:02   there's a lot of good things here though. I like it you know there was the It looks good like I mean it's just it's it's kind of it's it's a bummer and I you know I would love to see the the universal monsters live on I haven't seen an attempted a creature film and that's why I was thinking of shaper water but now I don't know it's it's it's it's weird because like I said, in the beginning my first watch I was kind of ambivalent about the whole thing and then watching closely, the theatrical and the unrated version. I just came to like to film a lot more

Unknown Speaker  1:48:39   Yeah, I think if you were to see this bar if you were to see this movie, you know at a bar with the sound off you'd probably be like this movie looks incredible. Oh my god the Wolf Man Anthony Hopkins is in this Emily Blunt you think this is the greatest movie and then you'd go home rented watch it with the sound and go wait this movie sucks like what what happened? You know because the production design the cinematography all there so so many of the elements are right but then the crucial elements like the story the editing and the direction fail and that's it's kind of like right down the middle where you got half good half bad and then it just doesn't come together and knowing that you know every everybody it went forward with last minute director change will pull the rug out from any production I think so. Just look at solo or and you know, like I mean, like they brought it into port it's not a terrible movie. I you know, it was watchable.

Unknown Speaker  1:49:39   You mean the Wolf Man or

Unknown Speaker  1:49:40   the wolf? No, the wolf sorry the Wolf Man was watchable and is a fine enough movie but especially with the watching the Extended Cut was a bit of a drag.

Unknown Speaker  1:49:50   So you prefer the you prefer I prefer

Unknown Speaker  1:49:52   the theatrical cut because it just gets to the point, you know, gets to the gore and gets to the but I understand why you would watch the Extended Cut, if you were just you want to luxuriate in the feel of the movie because the feel of the movie is, is good, you know, they got the gothic horror thing, you know, we've gone over it and yeah, I just I think that it's just too boring. And they needed to add some more interesting twists and add a little bit more, you know, modern lies juice to it, yeah, in order to in order to make it stand out.

Unknown Speaker  1:50:23   And then also, to piggyback on that Chris was, you know, I feel like, because, and you brought this up to Sebastian, it's like, Who is it really for? Because, like you said, it's not, like, there's elements of it that aren't something that a horror fan is going to really be into, you know, because of more of the action type. Like, the sequences and it's just, I don't know, I didn't I don't know if it was really defined for a person, so or it could have become like, I had a cult following. He other than, you know, having like, the basis of being the Wolf Man, but the actual film didn't have like that thing that it's like, oh, you know, this is what horror fans like, loves. I mean, you kind of have that because you love the way he looks. But like, if if, you know, if, like we said earlier, if like the transformation could have been kick ass, then like, that would have been something that people were talking about, you know, if it would have been at the transformation, or, like, if there would have been some real hamming it up, like, we would have got like full Hopkins, like, you know, being really Machiavellian, like over the top or something like that. there needed to be something that had people talking.

Unknown Speaker  1:51:40   Well, I think your point of, you know, who is this for? It's not quite, you know, hitting the target for horror fans. It's not quite hitting the target, because there's too much sort of slow drama scenes. Exactly. Or for fans of big spectacle action movies, or sci fi or whatever stuff with big money and big production designs not really hitting that target. And it's not really hitting, it's definitely not hitting the target for people who are into period dramas. If that's what you're going for, so ivory,

Unknown Speaker  1:52:17   it is not

Unknown Speaker  1:52:18   I think, you know, it's, you know, yes. They didn't know who they were making this for, which I think is going to be a theme that we find a lot in this podcast.

Unknown Speaker  1:52:29   They made their made it for podcasters in 2020

Unknown Speaker  1:52:33   to dissect

Unknown Speaker  1:52:35   this will be great for them.

Unknown Speaker  1:52:37   That's who this is made for. All right, well, um, that wraps up our discussion of the 2010. Wolf Man, thank you for joining me. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  1:52:47   yeah, thank you.

Unknown Speaker  1:53:01   That about does it today for Tentpole Trauma. If you like what you heard, check out our social media presence on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Just look for Tentpole Trauma. That was easy, wasn't it? If you like us, hit subscribe, and leave us a sterling review on iTunes. If you dare. If you really like us, head over to patreon.com and get involved in one of our fabulous tiers. You'll be glad you did. Want to communicate with Tentpole Trauma, send an email to Tentpole [email protected] we'd love to hear from you. And who knows, one day you may even get your email read on one of our shows. Well, thanks for listening, and we'll see you real soon.

#movie #unrated version #anthony hopkins #theatrical version #wolf #dracula #wolfman #emily blunt #benecio del toro #frankenstein #universal monsters

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Though I know I should be wary

Still I venture someplace scary

Ghostly haunting I turn loose.

Betelgeuse.

BETELGEUSE.

Psycho Analysis: Betelgeuse

“It’s showtime.”

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Here he is, the ghost with the most, the bio-exorcist extraordinaire, the spook who has lived through the Black Plague (and had a pretty good time during it) and who has seen The Exorcist about a hundred and sixty-seven times (and it keeps getting funnier every time he sees it)! From the Tim Burton movie of almost the same name – his name is actually spelled like the star in the constellation of Orion, not like what the movie and the cartoon’s title says it is – Betelgeuse is one hell of a guy, an undead menace like no other. Between the performance from none other than Michael Keaton (which is not surprising since the guy was more of a comedic actor prior to Batman, which this film came out before) and the direction and style granted to him by Tim Burton in his prime, Betelgeuse has cemented himself as one of the most delightfully enjoyable jackasses in fiction.

Actor: I want to believe this is what convinced Tim Burton to cast Michael Keaton as Batman. In fact, I like to imagine this movie is why anyone casts Michael Keaton in anything, ever. Birdman? Spider-Man: Homecoming? Minions? All because of his performance here. He’s clearly having a blast, and he fills Betelgeuse with the sort of insane, depraved manic energy a sleazy undead conman should have. Keaton has apparently said this is his favorite role and he’s down to do the sequel if it ever gets out of development hell, and if he can still provide the same wacky performance as he did back in ‘88 I think we have nothing to fear. He is the glue that holds this film together along with Danny Elfman’s score. Case in point: most of Keaton’s lines were ad libbed. Think of all the hilarious deliveries, dialogue, and jokes that BJ spits out, and think if there had been someone else playng him. I don’t know if anyone else could have come up with anything funnier.

Motivation/Goals: Betelgeuse really seems like an agent of chaos, just doing what he does because it seems fun to him. He is just so gleeful about the prospects of killing people on the job, and he gleefully torments the Maitlands even while they ask for his help, sexually harassing Barbara at every turn and just being a real creep. Later in the film, he implies he really wants to get out of being undead, and so tries to coerce Lydia into releasing him, even forcing her to marry him in return for help freeing the Maitlands from accidentally being exorcised. 

Really, the guy just likes to cause a ruckus. It’s not really expanded upon in the movie, and he’s just played up as a hilariously creepy jerkwad, but apparently the musical adaptation expands on why he does what he does. As far as the movie goes, though... yeah. He’s just a jerk. A really, really funny jerk.

Personality: Betelgeuse is like a sleazy used car salesman cranked up to eleven. He’s motormouthed, he’s unpleasant, he’s sleazy, he’s perverted, and he’s an incredible jerkass… and yet, you just can’t help but love the guy, because Keaton’s energy just shines through and makes him a jerkass in a lovable sort of way. It’s sort of the same principle as Gaston; he’s just so cartoonishly, hilariously over-the-top in how much of a pig he is that you can’t help but enjoy him, especially since he does get his just desserts in the end.

Final Fate: Betelgeuse tries to force Lydia into marriage, and poofs away the Maitlands to make sure they don’t say his name. But this backfires spectacularly: shrinking Adam allows him to drive a toy car into Betelgeuse’s foot, casuing him to drop the ring before he can seal the deal with Lydia, and poofing Barabara out onto the surface of Venus only serves to allow her to wrangle the Sand worm and have it crash through the roof and eat him alive. And then when Betelgeuse gets stuck in the waiting room, he ends up between the man with a shrunken head and the witch doctor who did it to him, and after stealing the witch doctor’s number, Betelgeuse finally is able to get a little head… just probably not in the sense he’d have liked it.

Best Scene: Once he says “It’s showtime,” all bets are off, and he really delivers on his promises to help the Maitlands. It’s actually kind of shocking that he holds up his ends of the bargains he makes; maybe people wouldn’t try and screw him out of his end of the deal if he wasn’t such a raging perverted jackass.

Best Quote: The guy is just a fountain of quality quotes, particularly when he rattles off his qualifications. But I really have to give it to one line, a line that absolutely baffles me as to how it made it into a PG rated film, which Betelgeuse says after kicking over a tree in the town model:

“NICE FUCKING MODEL!”  This is then followed by him grabbing his crotch with cartoonish honking noises. It’s incredible.

Final Thoughts & Score: It’s really hard for me to not call this the definitive Michael Keaton performance, as far as comedies go anyway. He is just really throwing himself into to the role and having an absolute blast with it; there’s not a single moment with him that feels forced or tired, he’s just constantly putting all his effort into making this ghastly slimeball a likable antagonist, and boy does it pay off. To this day, Betelgeuse is a beloved and iconic character in Tim Burton’s filmography, to the point where the guy got his own cartoon show which is in and of itself considered a beloved cult classic. And as if that wasn’t enough, he got his own musical! It takes a special kind of villain to score a big musical gig; just ask a certain green witch.

The thing is, there isn’t much to analyze in the way of character here; he’s really just the way it is because it’s funny. The movie is a dark comedy, after all (though not the darkest comedy starring Winona Ryder that came out in ‘88). Hell, I think the most interesting thing to glean from him is how his most popular outfit, the one he wears all the time in the cartoon and is on everything from the posters to DVD cover, is actually only worn by him for about five minutes of screentime, with the rest of his appearances featuring him in what appears to be ratty, nasty old pajamas. I think part of why the stripey outfit became his signature style is because not only does it look cool, but he wears it for his big moment when he frees the Maitlands and really lets loose.

The other interesting thing to glean from Betelgeuse is how despite being a nasty, horrible person, you just can’t help but love the guy. He’s just so darn funny! Like I mentioned before, I think it is because in a lot of ways, he is like Gaston, who is the poster child for toxic masculinity. Betelgeuse is a slimy sexual harasser, he has no sense of personal space, and he tries to force a young woman to marry him; in real life, this guy would be a vomit-inducing psychopath who people would rightfully want hung out to dry, but here, in this film, he’s hilarious. I think that, much like Gaston, it’s the energy and fun pf the performance, and at least here with Betelgeuse it has to do with how utterly cartoonish he is and how everyone around him has the intended reactions. And, of course, he never really wins, even if he does cause a lot of mischief along the way.

I think Betelgeuse is the sort of magical jackass more fantasy films should aspire to have; there really aren’t many characters worth mentioning who are in the same vein as good ol’ BJ. With that in mind, I think he deserves a 10/10. I think he’s one of Tim Burton’s finest creations, the most lovable of rogues, a truly impressive phantom menace, and he really holds the film together. I long for the day when Michael Keaton’s dream comes true, and they finally make Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian or whatever other absurd concept they would do for a sequel if they decide not to got with Tim’s joke script.

All I can say for sure is: boy am I glad Burton and Keaton changed this from a straightforward horror film into a dark comedy, because I’m not sure I’d like to live in the universe where Betelgeuse was legitimately evil and tried to rape Lydia. Yes, this was really what the film’s original script was like. It just goes to show that sometimes it’s better to be funny than it is to be scary.

#Psycho Analysis #Betelgeuse #Beetlejuce #Beetle Juice #Michael Keaton #Tim Burton

[sonicrainicorn]

Made of Love, Chapter 19

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Table of Contents

Ship(s): Logicality, (platonic) Prinxiety

All Characters: Thomas, Virgil, Roman, Logan, Patton, Dr. Picani, Joan, Talyn, and Deceit

Synopsis: Humans Roman and Virgil get wrapped up in some serious magic business without meaning to. Their other companions aren’t exactly as they seem, either. Together they all must defeat a great threat for the safety of humanity.

Chapter Desc.: Logan realizes that it's a lot harder to be strong when you're faced with your worst nightmare.

TW: Cursing, implied past abuse, violence, choking/suffocating, vague mentions of self-harm

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Okay. So maybe things got a little out of control. And maybe that was Virgil’s fault, but… yeah, he didn’t have much of a defense for that. He took it upon himself to help everyone out and considered himself responsible for them. He was the only one unaffected by Anxiety -- he needed to be the voice of reason. Sure, under normal circumstances he wouldn’t be, but who else would do it?

Tensions got a little high over the last few days. Patton and Logan argued a lot more than usual. Sometimes over things that didn’t quite need an argument. Roman tended to avoid the room when that happened. Thomas would sit in silence until it passed. Which left Virgil floundering between wanting to act and wanting to wait it out. He didn’t want them to argue so much. Especially since they were arguments that didn’t mean anything. He didn’t want them to say anything they might regret over something dumb.

He knew first hand how damaging that could be.

Nevertheless, this all led up to a rather big deal one day. It was one Virgil hoped wouldn’t ever come, but knew would happen eventually. Like all issues, if no one intervened then it would continue to fester. It was just a matter of time before the pot boiled over. And, in this scenario, Virgil was the idiot chef who let the pot get there in the first place.

Roman, Virgil, and Thomas sat in the living room while Patton and Logan argued in the kitchen. Virgil fidgeted on the couch, Thomas spared anxious glances at them from his armchair, and Roman did his best to ignore it all. But in truth, none of them could ignore it. Their voices steadily grew louder and louder until the TV became background noise. They never argued like this before.

"Just listen to me, for once!" Then a loud crash. Something shattered.

The three snapped their heads to the kitchen. They saw Patton slowly raise his hands to his mouth in shock. Logan stared at him, eyes wide and terrified. Terrified. As if Patton was capable of hurting him. He hurried out of the room. Patton didn't stop him.

Thomas unfurled himself from the armchair to make his way over to Patton. But no sooner did he open his mouth did Patton speak to him.

"Go check on Logan." His hands had yet to move from his mouth.

"Why can't you do it?" His voice was small. A genuine question rather than a complaint.

"I can't.” He closed his eyes. “He won't want to see me. Just go check on him. Please. He needs someone."

Thomas hesitated, visibly torn between two options, before doing as Patton asked.

Roman and Virgil shared a confused glance. Roman shrugged, an answer to an unspoken question between them. So Virgil stood up. The closer he got to Patton, the more his chest crushed with guilt. The more the world pushed down on his shoulders. He managed to sit down at the breakfast bar despite the weight hanging off of him.

“Should I even ask what happened?” Virgil asked in a soft voice. He didn’t think he could manage to raise it any higher.

Patton opened his eyes and dropped his hands. “I messed up. I should’ve stayed calm, but I, I couldn’t. I let my anger get the best of me. I’ve never -- I don’t know why.” He leaned over the breakfast bar.

Virgil tried to blink away the tears filling his eyes faster than he thought they could.

“I don’t get angry like that. I don’t know why I couldn’t control it.”

“I think we’ve all been feeling a little punchy since the… incident. It’s not your fault.” He wiped his eyes. “We just need to step back and take a breather.”

Patton looked at the floor. “I should clean this up.” Pieces of a broken plate were scattered along the tile.

“Did you break it?” Roman’s voice whispered from beside Virgil.

“Yes. I-I don’t know why. It was just on the counter and I was frustrated and I --” he buried his face in his hands, which pushed up his glasses. “Did you see how he looked at me? I scared him. I could feel it -- he was afraid of me. I made him afraid of me.”

Tears fell down Virgil’s cheeks in a steady stream. He hadn’t cried this hard before or felt such sorrow in his chest. It hurt. It hurt so much and the pain wasn’t even his.

“You’ve never… hit him before. Have you?” Despite the tears, Roman managed to look concerned. Maybe even a little scared himself.

“No!” Patton dropped his hands, glasses falling in place, and looked at them with wide eyes. His cheeks glistened with tears. “No, I would never.” He frowned back down at the broken plate. “But I guess it doesn’t really seem that way, does it? I promise I never have. This is the first time I’ve ever done something like this.”

“It just kinda seemed like…”

“Like he expected me to hit him?” Patton spared a glance up at them. Somehow, the weight on Virgil’s shoulders became heavier. “Maybe he did. I don’t think I stirred up any pleasant memories.”

Roman stiffened.

Virgil took note of it but decided it wouldn’t be the best time to bring it up. “I’ll help you clean up, Pat.” He didn’t leave any room for arguments.

After that, Virgil didn’t see Logan. Not until much later.

Virgil had managed to fall asleep at a reasonable time for once. He spent a good portion of the day engulfed in guilt and tears trying to calm Patton down. The crying stopped eventually but the guilt didn't go away. It was so heavy for a feeling that wasn't even his. It weighed down his chest and clung to him like an annoying bug that wouldn't go away. So yeah he was kind of exhausted.

He woke up because he needed water. Which is always the worst way to wake up. Before rolling out of bed to quench the dry desert that was his mouth, he checked the time on his phone. Two in the morning. Wonderful.

That wasn't annoying at all.

He shuffled out the door and was confused to see light. His first thought was Thomas, but even if it was him, it would be brighter. This seemed like it was coming from the TV alone. Who else would it be? Roman didn't ever leave his room at night, and Patton and Logan could barely stay up past midnight. It still had to be one of them. Unless someone broke in to watch TV for the night.

Deciding that was a slim but possible scenario to Virgil's sleepy brain, he tip-toed down the hall. It became clear soon enough that there wasn't anything to worry about. At least not in an intruder sense. Logan sat with his legs pulled onto the sofa, his glasses perched on his nose and his head resting on his knees.

"Are you watching Beetlejuice?" Virgil whispered. He didn't know why that was the one detail his brain latched on to. It was two AM and he woke up a minute ago. Don't judge him.

Logan lifted his head to look in Virgil's direction. "It happened to be on," he whispered right back. "What are you doing up?"

"I came to get water," he shuffled into the kitchen, "but now I think I might stay for Beetlejuice." He poured himself a glass of water before making his way to the armchair. He didn't miss much. Barbara and Adam just discovered The Handbook for the Recently Deceased. "I didn't think this would be the kind of movie you were into."

"I find it charming." Logan put his head back down. "The character designs are interesting and the story is unique."

Yeah, it was pretty great. Plus the music was by Danny Elfman. That always made movies twenty times better. "I used to watch this all the time when I was a kid." He stared down into the glass, swirling the water a bit. "That, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. I think I had both of them memorized at one point."

"What about Edward Scissorhands?"

Virgil almost choked on his water in an attempt to respond fast enough. "That one actually scared me -- and it was sad. So I never wanted to watch it. I've only seen it a handful of times."

Logan hummed. "It's certainly not the most pleasant story."

It wasn't the happiest, no. Rather depressing and bittersweet. Virgil set down his glass on the coffee table. "So do you often watch Tim Burton movies in the middle of the night or is this a new tradition I'm unaware of?"

"I just couldn't sleep." His eyes stayed trained on the TV. "I figured a distraction would help. Or at least force me to stay awake until I can't keep my eyes open anymore."

Ah, yes, Virgil was familiar with those tactics. "Would you rather do that alone?"

Logan somehow appeared smaller than he did before. "Not really."

Oof. That didn’t feel nice in the chest area. “Bet you five bucks I can still recite the movie.”

Logan’s eyes flicked over to him and a small smirk spread across his face. “Bet you five bucks I could actually do it.”

“Alright. You’re on, old man.”

Turned out, they could both do it. But that made things more fun. They ended up assigning themselves lines for the main characters and went back and forth on lines for the minor characters. Virgil had Lydia (obviously), Barbara, and Charles. Which left Logan with Beetlejuice, Adam, and Delia. They couldn’t get through the scene where Beetlejuice tried to marry Lydia, however. By that point, they started laughing and it was downhill from there.

They each tried to stifle their laughter, which of course, made them laugh more. Virgil had to admit that Logan’s laughter was contagious. It was light and airy and made him smile. Not that he’d admit that. He’d also never admit to being happy for getting Logan to laugh in the first place. That was no one else’s business but his own.

“Okay, that was fun, but I think I’m gonna go back to bed now,” Virgil said as the credits started to roll. He stood up and stretched.

“I think I will, too.” Logan began to search around for wherever he left the remote.

Great. “Sounds like a plan. Night, L.”

Logan froze. “What was that?”

Virgil stopped and looked back. “Uh, ‘night, L’?” He furrowed his brows. “Do you not want me to call you that?” He was too tired to decipher the weirdness going on.

Logan stared at him before seeming to remember that words needed to be spoken. “No, I-I don’t… It’s just that someone else used to call me that. A long time ago.” He shook his head. “Never mind. Feel free to call me that if you wish. Goodnight, Virgil.”

The next time Virgil woke up it was because he heard “Helena” by My Chemical Romance playing in the kitchen. Of fucking course he had to fling himself out of bed to see who was listening. He stumbled onto Patton quietly singing along while he made breakfast. Well, that was a bit unexpected.

“You listen to My Chemical Romance?” Virgil was sure he stood far enough away.

Patton stopped singing and fumbled with the fork in his hand. “No,” he rushed out. He paused the music before turning to Virgil. “How do you always manage to sneak up on me?”

Virgil shrugged. He decided to enter the kitchen since the risk of injury had passed. “Does Picani listen to My Chemical Romance, then?”

“Picani listens to everything.” Patton unlocked the phone before tossing it to Virgil. “When you live a long time it’s kind of difficult to stick to just one genre of music. There’s more of it every decade.” He turned back to mixing pancake batter.

To say that Picani’s playlists were impressive was a bit of an understatement. Each decade had its own playlist. There was such a diverse array of music that Virgil was kind of jealous that he didn’t know half as many songs. Though he noticed an odd skip in years. There were a few from the 40s but then it went straight to the 70s. No 50s or 60s music at all. “Not a fan of early rock?” If Virgil remembered correctly, some of Thomas’s favorite music was from that time period. It didn’t make sense for Picani not to have it.

“What?” Patton almost dropped the bowl this time.

“You’re missing two decades.” Virgil shook the phone for emphasis. “No Elvis? The Beatles? Johnny Cash?”

“Oh, uh,” Patton focused on the bowl, “we don’t really like listening to that music anymore. It reminds us a little too much of someone.” He paused and frowned at the bowl for a moment before smiling up at Virgil. “But we’re working on it.”

Virgil had a bit of a feeling he knew who he was referring to. To be fair, if Virgil lost his best friend, he didn’t think he’d be able to listen to their favorite kind of music either. “Well, there’s a lot of other songs here. Let’s see how many genres we can flip through.”

And if Logan walked in on them performing “This Is Gospel”, well, he was going to keep that to himself.

When everyone came in for breakfast, Virgil wished he could have said that it was all back normal. To anyone else, it would have seemed normal. But there were little things that were off -- things only the group members would be able to tell. The biggest one being that Logan and Patton weren’t sitting next to each other. It was kind of jarring. It didn’t seem as if they should be separated, yet it was a conscious decision. Logan chose to sit next to Thomas instead.

Clearly, it was something that bothered Patton because he fidgeted with everything more than usual. On the bright side, none of his own feelings spread out to anyone else. Virgil didn’t know how much more tears or guilt he could handle before going crazy.

Regardless; Thomas, Roman, and Virgil tried to carry on conversations. Neither Patton nor Logan said a word the whole time. By the time breakfast was over, they continued to not talk to each other. Or anyone. Which, of course, the other three couldn’t stand for. It was awkward and weird and somehow way too quiet.

But before anyone could do anything about it, Thomas’s phone rang. Because of course it did. It played generic default music that came with the phone.

Thomas gave it a weird look before answering. "You know texting is a thing, right?" He sighed and rolled his eyes so hard Virgil was sure he’d be able to see the inside of his skull. "Hello, Joan, how are you? It's a lovely day, thank you for calling me. It's always great to hear your voice." He shook his head with an amused smile. “What’s up?”

Everyone gathered their plates to put in the sink while Joan responded on the other end.

“Okay, uh, hang on a second.” Thomas took the phone away from his ear and put it on speaker. “So what’s going on?”

“I realize this might not be the best time, but I have a bit of a side quest for you guys. If you’re up for it.”

“I don’t appreciate the wording, but continue,” Logan responded.

“Always great to hear your positivity, Logan. Anyway, Talyn and I heard a report of someone with a magical object downtown. We don’t know who or what, but we know they’re hiding in the apartment complex off of Cyprus.”

That’s the same one where Roman lived.

"Is this a time sensitive case?" Patton asked.

"You don't have to do it right at this minute, but -- y'know -- do it. They don't seem like they're going anywhere."

"Is that really all you have?" Thomas sighed -- something closer to a whine, however.

"It was just a tip. People don't like to be descriptive when they're selling someone out."

"Fair enough."

"Good luck, guys. And don't die 'cause that would really be a bummer."

"Wow, thanks." Thomas rolled his eyes again. "Bye Joan." He hung up and turned to the others with a smile. "So we're doing a side quest?"

"I suppose so," Logan answered.

Patton hesitated. "Are you sure you should go? It could be dangerous and you don't have --"

"I can handle myself," Logan snapped, then immediately recoiled. Roman and Thomas shared an uneasy glance. He continued in a calmer voice, "I mean, I will be fine. You don't have to worry about me."

"But --"

"I think he's got it handled," Roman interjected. "And we'll all be there, won't we?"

"Yeah, everything will be fine," Thomas added.

Virgil gazed at them in confusion. It sort of seemed like they were trying to cover up something.

Patton gave them a nervous smile. "Oh, um, okay."

This was nonsense. "Alright before we get to any of that, you two have to talk to each other.” Virgil nudged Patton toward Logan. “Figure things out. If you keep acting this way something is going to go wrong. It hasn’t even been that long and I’m already exhausted by you two." He wasn’t going to stand for it. He may not have been able to prevent it, but he sure as hell was going to do damage control.

After seeing that he was serious (and that Roman and Thomas agreed) Patton decided to give in. He fidgeted with his hands like a little boy trying to approach his crush. “Uh, wanna take a walk?”

Logan studied him up and down. “Sure.”

That was the best thing to happen these last few days.

Roman, Virgil, and Thomas waited for them in the living room. In order to avoid the overwhelming anxiety crushing them, they decided to play some card games. They didn’t know what to expect. Patton reminding Logan about an awful time in his life by imitating the actions he had grown to fear wasn’t something that could be brushed off. It was serious. And as much as they loved each other, forgiveness wasn’t easy.

But it wasn’t something that Roman, Virgil, or Thomas could have an opinion on. It was between Patton and Logan. They needed to decide for themselves what to do.

After three rounds of Speed, two rounds of Bullshit, a round of Go Fish, and far too many rounds of Slapjack; Patton and Logan came back in. Thomas and Roman were a bit too busy agonizing over their loss to notice. Virgil was also a bit busy with their reactions to process their return. It wasn’t until Patton spoke up that they paid attention.

“You boys having fun?” He leaned over the back of the sofa with a soft smile. Logan stayed at his side.

“Apparently Virgil has a hidden talent he didn’t tell us about,” Roman grumbled as he collected all the cards.

“I have no idea what you mean.” Virgil handed him the box.

“He won almost every single round of Slapjack,” Thomas continued with a huff. He placed his head in his hand. “What about you guys? You doing okay?”

“We’re getting there.” He sent a small smile to Logan. There wasn’t any reason to doubt that.

~~~

They all sat in the car staring up at the apartment complex. They didn’t know for sure if there were any Figments still hanging around, so they couldn’t quite waltz in there. There was also the issue of where this person was exactly. They were somewhere inside. And that was all the information that existed.

“Anyone who works with Altair is going to know our faces.” Thomas shifted in the middle seat. “Even if there aren’t any Figments, there could still be someone else.” He frowned out the window. “How are we supposed to get inside without raising any suspicions?”

“We use someone else,” Patton answered as if it was obvious.

“What are you --?” The three in the backseat cried out in alarm upon seeing Joan in the driver’s seat. Logan didn’t appear phased at all.

Virgil put his hands on his chest. “Jesus Christ. Give us a warning before you turn into someone else.”

He smiled sheepishly. The action was so very Patton it was almost unsettling to see it on Joan’s face. “Sorry,” he responded in a perfect imitation of their voice.

“How are you able to do that?” Roman asked. As the shock passed he seemed more fascinated than anything.

“Mimicry. Well -- illusion specifically.”

Thomas leaned forward. “I thought you hated using illusion magic.”

“Oh, I do. But someone has to get inside.” He gazed out the window.

“You didn’t change your eyes.”

Patton returned his gaze back to them. It was true. They were the wrong shade of brown. “I can’t. It’s really hard to do, and I never bothered learning it. Illusion was always my brother’s thing, anyway.”

“He doesn’t have to be a perfect copy,” Logan said, voice more level than normal. “He just has to not be one of us.”

“Exactly.” Patton grinned.

Boy, magic was weird. Virgil didn’t think he’d ever understand it. “Okay, so what’re you gonna do when you get inside?”

“I’m gonna see if there’s anyone we have to worry about, and hopefully find the apartment our mystery person is in. If it’s safe I’ll come get you guys.”

“And if it’s not?” Thomas frowned.

“We’ll figure that out if we get to it.” He left the car without any further remarks.

The group waited for his return. They couldn’t do much of anything else. Thomas and Virgil started a game of Chopsticks which soon became a game of “who-could-lose-less” between Roman and Virgil. Thomas had an absurd amount of tricks for winning. Roman ended up figuring some of them out, leaving Virgil as the Ultimate Loser. Oh, how cruel fate could be.

Logan watched them with the same amusement a father would his children. It could also be that he thought they were idiots, but it was a lot cuter to think about it the other way.

When Patton returned, he slid into the driver’s seat with a sigh. His disguise melted away. “They weren’t there.”

“What?” Thomas asked. “Like they were never there? Or like they just stepped out for a minute?”

“I don’t know. The apartment was completely empty, but the landlord swears up and down that someone was living in it.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “It felt bad in there.”

“What do you mean?” Roman's brows knitted together in confusion.

“I don’t know how to explain it. It just felt… awful. Like misery. Like someone who causes misery.” He frowned. “But I swear I’ve felt that somewhere else before. I just can’t seem to remember where.” His eyes flicked over to Logan, studying him as if that would help him remember.

“If you felt something, that means they were there at some point, right?” Virgil asked. “Is there a way to know if they were there recently?”

“I guess it depends on how strong the emotion is.” He thought about it. “I think we just missed them.”

Thomas let out a puff of air. “Now what do we do?”

“Can you follow them? The emotion, I mean,” Roman inquired. “I feel like that’s a pretty specific one to latch on to.”

“It doesn’t really work like that. It’s not a trail I can follow, it’s more like --” he tried to use his hands to explain -- “like a, a thing. An aura I guess would be the right word for it. Something I can feel around people or where they have a strong attachment. I won’t be able to know where they are unless we were right there with them.”

“So what? We walk around until you can feel them?” Virgil asked somewhat sarcastically.

Patton and Logan shared a glance. Oh no.

That’s what they ended up doing. They parked the car and started their search. Without much to go off of, they sort of picked a random direction and walked. At least it was a nice day out, though not many people were around. A few people wandered by every once in a while, but not a whole lot. The farther they got from the apartment, the fewer people they saw.

They were heading down a street that wasn’t ever all that busy -- even on the best days. The little stores themselves seemed to be empty. This was more barren than normal. It was kind of off-putting. Virgil wanted to mention it, but he noticed the trio in front of him come to a halt.

Patton winced at the same time Logan and Thomas hissed in pain.

“You guys okay?” Virgil stopped in his tracks.

“Fine,” Logan muttered as he rubbed the center of his chest.

“What was that? Why did it feel -- can something feel evil? Is that a thing that can happen? That seems really cliche, I can’t believe that’s a real thing I just felt.” Thomas’s expression turned sour. He smacked his lips together. “My mouth tastes bitter.”

“That was magic.” Patton exchanged a troubled look with Logan. “Someone wants us to find them.”

“Uh, do people normally walk into foreclosed buildings like that?” Roman pointed across the street as someone slipped through the door of an abandoned store. “If not I think we might have found our person.”

Virgil sighed in defeat. “Of course it’s another abandoned place.”

Patton and Logan led the group across the street. The store, thank God, didn’t seem as old or musty as the previous places. In fact, it seemed recently abandoned. The foreclosed signs were still stuck to the windows as well as the posters for the “everything must go” sale. It must have been a clothing place before. Inside there were still racks and display shelves -- even a mannequin or two.

And, making their way around without a care, was the person they were looking for. They walked like they didn’t have anywhere better to be. Their steps were slow and random, walking about the store with the purpose of waiting for someone to come in. Heels clicked against the hard floor.

Logan pulled out his sword, making Virgil hyper-aware of the pens still resting in his pockets. “I think it might be best if you hand over what you’re hiding.”

The person stopped in their tracks and sighed. “Always straight to business,” they turned around, “aren’t you, Logan?”

Logan’s sword clattered to the floor. He took several steps back, his wide eyes never leaving the woman before them. “That… that’s not possible. You shouldn’t be here.”

From the sunlight that came in through the windows, they could make out her features clear as day. She appeared to be in her early twenties -- but that wasn't a trustworthy indication. She had straight black hair chopped off in a bob. Lips spread out into a sly smile. For such a petite woman, everything about her was sharp edges. A threatening mantle on an otherwise harmless figure. Her long gray coat did nothing to soften her up. Even her eyes seemed hard.

“Why?” Thomas glanced between Logan and the woman. “What’s wrong?”

Logan didn’t respond. He just stared.

Thomas turned to Patton. “Who is she?”

“She…” Patton visibly struggled for words. He stared at her with almost as much shock as Logan.

“Oh -- what?” The woman's expression evolved into a smirk. “You haven’t told him about little ol’ me? I figured I deserved at least that. After Picani tried to kill me.”

“W-what?” Thomas stared at her in disbelief.

“He wasn’t very good at it, obviously.” She stepped closer. “You decided to just leave me for Altair instead. But you know what? Instead of killing me he offered me something I couldn’t refuse.” Her smirk widened. “A chance to get back at the two of you.”

That caused Patton to snap out of his surprise. “Don’t act like a victim. You know what you did.”

Virgil pulled Thomas behind him. He had a bad feeling that something was about to start up.

The woman let out a gentle gasp and placed a hand on her chest. “But did that elicit such a harsh punishment? Tied up and left for a horrendous death?”

Patton continued to glare at her.

She dropped her offended act. “Fine. I’m not here for you, anyway.” Her gaze turned over to Logan, who still stared at her with wide eyes. “Somehow, everything always comes back to you, doesn’t it? Guess you’re just that irresistible.” She held out her hand toward him. “Do I have your permission?” A sly grin spread across her face with a sick amusement for something that only she seemed to get a kick out of.

Logan didn’t say anything.

“No, you don’t,” Patton snapped. He stood in front of Logan protectively. “You’re not getting anywhere near him.”

The woman pouted. “You gave him up so easily last time. Why is this so different?”

“I learned not to trust you.”

She tsked. “Shame. I thought we could do this the easy way. Ah, well, a job is a job.” She lifted her hand and a ghostly echo of an arm stretched out from under her feet. At the end was a hand with long slender fingers -- a claw more like. With every movement her hand made, the claw followed. It pushed Patton to the side and grabbed Logan, dragging him toward her.

Patton growled, almost animalistic in nature, and a thick column of weeds broke through the concrete floor. It severed the arm in half which caused it to fade out of existence.

Once Logan was free, he sprinted back toward the group. Patton tried to meet him halfway. But two claws halted their progress. One stopped Patton from getting any further while the other pulled Logan back until he stumbled to the woman’s side.

“Can’t have you two getting together.” She wagged her finger. “I remember what happened last time.”

The group felt a flare of anger. “Arlene, I swear --”

“Swear to what? Last time I checked, you didn’t believe in much of anything anymore.” She stared him down, challenging him to start something. “So if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to complete.” She seized Logan’s arm.

And Logan sort of locked up. He didn’t make any attempt to free himself. An automatic panic response to something he probably never wanted to happen again.

A few of the weeds broke loose of the column and shot out toward Arlene. They tore her away from Logan, keeping her pinned down as far away as possible. Logan remained frozen.

“Logan.” Patton ran over to him. “C’mon, we gotta go.” He didn't get to do anything before a claw swatted him back.

Virgil grabbed Roman and Thomas’s wrists and pulled them behind a display shelf. Patton and Arlene were going to play keep-away with Logan at the center. “We have to get Logan out of here,” Virgil said in a low voice. “Those two are going to tear each other apart before they let the other get him.”

“Then what?” Roman wasn’t as crouched down as Thomas and Virgil were. Enough to be hidden, but not totally on the floor.

So having to look up at his worried face was more than Virgil could handle. “Then we run like hell.”

Roman let out a steady stream of air through his mouth. Thomas didn’t say much of anything, but Virgil had a feeling he wouldn’t oppose. They didn't have a lot of options. This was a new kind of threat.

“Oh, there you are.”

The three yelped. They turned to see Arlene edging around the shelves with a wide grin.

“I was wondering where you boys ran off to. It was looking pretty empty.” She lifted her hand, a menacing claw rose with it. Before she could strike, Roman shot up, swinging his katana straight through the claw. They stared at each other in bewilderment. As if neither side could believe that Roman did, in fact, do what he did. Hell, even Virgil was shocked. Impressed, but shocked.

Which meant Thomas had enough time to squeeze by Arlene. He grabbed Logan’s hand and sprinted away.

Arlene scowled. She turned to go after them but Roman stuck his katana in front of her. Virgil stood up, slipping his pens out of his pockets. Arlene scowled further.

Thomas ran to the back section of the store. He pulled Logan out of sight. They stood in a little hallway connecting the two back sections, which couldn’t be seen from the front. That would give them a little time. He hoped. They just needed to figure out an escape route. As far as he could see, there weren’t any other doors than the main entrance. But first thing’s first.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m, I’m fine.” Logan held onto his arms with his fingers digging into his sleeves. “I’m fine.”

That wasn’t very believable. He didn’t look fine at all. It looked like he was ready to break apart at any second. “I have to get you out of here.”

“B-but Patton.”

“Patton will be fine.” He winced when he heard a loud crash from the other room. “Roman and Virgil are with him. We can’t let Arlene get you.”

“I… I don’t want her to.” Logan tightened his grip. “I can’t be with her again.”

Thomas paused, mind processing the absolute fear in Logan’s words, before settling into a resolved composure. “Then let’s get out of here.”

Virgil was going to lose it. He didn’t know if it was Patton’s anger or his own, but he was starting to get really pissed off with this Arlene lady. She wouldn't let up! She had magic that Virgil had yet to see before. It was different. A horrible different. An annoying different.

He and Roman were trapped underneath bent wood. When they broke the shelves, Arlene moved them to make a cage. She separated them from each other, as well. So they couldn’t do much to help the other break out. They were small, cramped spaces. And Virgil wasn't going to stay in there any longer than he had to.

“Why are you doing this now?” Patton shook out his hands. Arlene pulled weeds out of them, creating the equivalent to rope burns. “If all you wanted was ‘revenge’ then why wait?”

“Sometimes you just have to wait for the right moment.” The weeds shriveled up and died in her hand. “Wouldn’t you say that now would be the right moment?” They crumbled into ash, falling to the floor when she opened her palm. She stalked toward Patton. “Picani is gone. Logan is defenseless. And you can’t do anything about it. Without Picani… you’re useless. Aren’t you?”

Patton scowled at her. The air became tense -- almost suffocating. Pure hatred. Unabashed loathing filled the room. A feeling so genuine it wouldn’t be possible to understand unless someone felt it them-self. Then, in a seamless flow of anger, Patton swung at her. No magic this time.

Arlene had no choice but to stumble back. She almost looked surprised. Maybe a bit impressed. But that quickly changed to hatred. Annoyance. Like trying to kill a bug that won’t stay still. She responded to Patton’s actions aptly. Though with every move it became clear that she was nowhere near Patton’s skill set. She wasn’t even near Logan’s.

She didn’t create her own actions. She copied. She didn’t move unless Patton moved first. Unsure. Messy. The type of movements found in people who are out of their comfort zone. And this seemed far, far away from her comfort zone. Virgil could see her start to panic. She needed to do something else. Bring this fight back to where she could win.

“Cesso drahen,” Arlene hissed, venom in every syllable.

Patton stopped. His hands made their way to his chest and throat as he choked. He gasped, eyes going wide as the realization kicked in. He couldn’t breathe. He fell to his knees and heaved -- struggling to get any kind of air.

“Well, that takes care of that, doesn’t it?” Arlene adjusted her coat. “Should’ve done that ninety years ago.”

She turned around and Virgil swung at her as Right had instructed. He managed to slice a small portion of her cheek. As she stepped back, she stared at him in offense more than anything. But instead of blood, as was to be expected, black liquid creeped out. Then the skin around the cut transformed into smoky clouds. It covered the injured area before fading back into her skin. The cut was gone. What the hell…?

Then it clicked.

Virgil took a sharp intake, eyes widening. “You’re a --”

Arlene spat out, “Intercludo ritan,” and Virgil couldn’t move. His whole body became frozen. She put a finger up to her smirking lips. “Let’s keep that between us, shall we?”

Oh, fuck no. She wasn’t real! He had to tell the others. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t do anything. He was stuck in this position. It was like every muscle in his body tensed up and he didn’t have the ability to relax them.

“I think I see why they’d want to keep you around.” Arlene gazed at him with mild interest. “You’re a lot like her. You have that same light in your eyes -- the same kind of determination. You’re one and the same.”

“Virgil!” Roman sprinted over. He hovered between Virgil and Arlene as if he didn't know which he wanted to go after more.

“Oh, they have the other one, too.” Arlene glanced between them with a knowing smirk. “The complete set. I guess that means soulmates are real.”

Roman gave her a weird look. “What are you --?” He stopped abruptly when she put a finger to his lips.

She repeated the same words she used on Virgil. She dropped her hand. “Don’t worry, it’ll wear off in a couple hours.” She spared a glance around the room before backing away from them. “You boys stay right where you are. I have a kid to get rid of and a boyfriend to steal.”

No one could stop her from leaving.

Thomas’s head peeked out from behind one of the shelves. He was always told that spoken spells were the strongest magic. He just never realized how accurate it was. He had never felt magic like that before. In fact, he was never able to feel magic at all. Unless it was your own, it was almost undetectable. But this was… ugly.

He felt a pull in him to help them. What could he do? He didn’t have magic and neither did Logan. The one person that did was suffocating in the middle of the floor. There had to be something he could do. He turned to Logan and found him staring hard at the wall with his fingernails digging into his palm. It didn’t seem as if he was completely in the moment. He needed to get out of here.

Thomas grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the exit. There was only so much time before Arlene came back out to look for them. They needed to be gone before then. They crept along as silently as they could, careful to hide behind anything useful.

Then Thomas felt Logan's hand ripped from his own. An icy feeling spread throughout his chest. He spun around to see Arlene there. Logan had his back pressed against the wall from the floor with a claw keeping him in place. They shared a horrified glance.

"Where are you going, sweetie?" She took a step toward Thomas, making him scramble to stand up. "Don't you know it's rude to sneak away like that?" She continued walking toward him.

Thomas took a step back for every step she took forward. He didn't know what to do. She wasn't going to go easy on him. He stepped on debris that caused his foot to roll forward and the rest of him to fall to the ground. He continued to clamber back until he hit something solid.

Arlene stood over him. Like a cat who finally caught the mouse.

"Thomas!" Logan tried to wriggle out from the claw but to no avail.

"Oh, you're Thomas. I've heard so much about you." Arlene smirked down at him and tapped his nose. "You're the runt of the litter, aren't you?"

Thomas kicked her square in the chest. She stumbled back enough for him to get away. He dove straight for Logan's sword still discarded on the floor.

When he held it up, Arlene laughed. "Be careful, little boy. You might hurt yourself with that." Her full attention was on him now, but she still held out her arm to keep Logan in place. "Do you even know how to use it?"

Thomas's hands were trembling. He couldn't hold it steady. He had seen people hold and fight with swords before. He saw Roman practice. He used to watch his father do the same. He saw Logan more times than anyone else. But he himself had never even held one before. No one considered he would need to.

"Why don't we give you some practice?" She lifted her other hand and a claw showed up, ready to strike. "If you can survive this then I'm sure you'll be able to get to me."

Thomas held his breath.

"Wait!" Logan shouted before Arlene could move. "Leave him alone. You just want me, don't you? Isn't that all you're here for?"

Arlene continued to keep the claw raised. "Of course."

"So just take me. Make your job easier and leave with me right now."

Thomas's heart dropped. "Logan --"

"Shh. The adults are talking." Arlene held a finger up. The claw did the same.

Logan didn't look anywhere but at Arlene. "Leave them alone and you can have me. I won't fight you on it. I'm sure Altair would be glad to have this over and done with. The sooner he has elemental magic, the better, right?"

Arlene didn't say anything for a moment. Her eyes had yet to leave Thomas. Then, the claw that had been all too eager to strike, disappeared. Faded out of existence. She snapped and Thomas could practically feel the evil magic disappear from the room. Patton swallowed gulps of air he was now allowed to have. Roman and Virgil fell to the floor at the sudden ability to use their legs again.

"You drive such easy bargains, Logan." Arlene turned and walked back to him. "You're always so willing to throw yourself away if it means saving someone else. If I knew you hadn't changed, this would have made things much easier."

Roman and Virgil struggled to rise to their feet, the magic made their limbs jelly. Patton could barely breathe enough to do anything. Not that it stopped him.

“Logan,” he wheezed out. “Don’t --”

Thomas tightened his grip on the sword.

“I’m afraid it’s too late for that, Pattycake.” The claw around Logan faded. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. “He’s already made up his mind. And he chose me again. Isn’t that --?” She choked on her next words. It might have been a bit hard to continue with a sword in her back. “The little runt has some guts, doesn’t he?” Then she erupted into smoke like every other Figment they had ever seen before. Thomas was able to see Logan stare at him in disbelief.

“She wasn’t real,” Logan whispered.

Thomas didn’t respond. He didn’t know how. He lowered the sword and took a step back for Patton to stumble through. He hesitated before deciding to go check on the two on the floor.

He helped them both up, though they still seemed unsteady.

"Nice save," Roman commented.

Thomas twisted the pommel. He never knew there was a bit of a kick to it as the sword retracted.

"You okay?" Virgil must have seen the look on his face. He was always so concerned about him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He stared down at the pommel. Logan had been using it for years. It was his first and only sword. Thomas didn't think he'd ever seen anyone else use it before.

"Are you, really?"

"I mean," he looked up. They both stared at him in concern, "I -- I've never had to do that before. I didn’t really want to." He averted his eyes. “I was… I was just scared and mad and -- I don’t know.” He added, almost as an afterthought under his breath, “I didn’t wanna lose anyone else.”

“Thomas,” Virgil put a hand on his shoulder, “she wasn’t real. I know that probably doesn’t make this any easier, but you didn’t kill her. She was already dead. Acting in the heat of the moment doesn’t make you bad. No one’s upset with you here.”

“And think about it,” Roman continued. “Would Arlene really stop any other way? She was pretty willing to take all of us out. I don’t think talking would have gotten us anywhere. You weren’t left with much of a choice.”

Thomas didn’t know what to think. “I guess.”

“Hey,” Virgil squeezed his shoulder, “he’s right. Sure, it’s a bit extreme, but nothing else worked. Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t easy.”

“But how do I know if it was the right thing?”

“We’re all here. We’re all alive.” Roman gave him a gentle smile. “I’d count that as the right thing.”

Thomas couldn’t help but smile back.

Their moment was cut short when they heard the commotion going on with Patton and Logan. Logan was holding onto his arms like a life-line and overall seemed quite frantic. Patton appeared to be trying to calm him down with little success. The three gave each other a look before deciding to approach.

“She’s gone now,” Patton said. “She won’t hurt us again -- she won’t hurt you again.”

“That’s not the point,” Logan exploded. Everyone stared at him in shock. “She acted real. She had all her memories. All of her magic. Altair was able to make an exact replica of her.” He dug his fingers into his arms. “What if he does it again? How can we trust anyone that we meet?”

The other members were stunned into silence.

“I -- I can’t --” Logan’s breathing became erratic. “Patton.” He fell against Patton’s chest.

Patton wrapped his arms around him. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.” He shut his eyes tight.

A warm, soft feeling covered the area like a blanket. And much like a blanket, it was comforting. It was safe. There wasn’t anything to be afraid of as long as it was there. Well… as long as Patton was there. It was fake. Underneath every blanket is a person. And underneath the security was fear. There was panic and uncertainty. If they prodded enough, they’d be able to find it. But no one wanted to. They curled further in the blanket because it was better than being exposed to the cold.

(Next)

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #thomas sanders #logicality #platonic prinxiety #coinverse #abuse tw #violence tw #suffocating tw #self-harm mention

[recentanimenews]

INTERVIEW: Hiroyuki Sawano on Creating the Epic Music Behind Promare, Gundam Unicorn and More

  For anyone who has listened to any motivational or epic anime music in the last few years has likely listened to a Hiroyuki Sawano track. The Tokyo composer has provided the bombastic soundtracks to many anime hits throughout the last decade including Attack on Titan, Kill La Kill, Blue Exorcist, Promare, and many more. And starting February 12, Sawano's soundtracks will be available digitally across a variety of platforms including Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, Amazon Music, and others! 

  To celebrate the wide release of his music, Crunchyroll had a chance to speak with Sawano about how he got started writing music for anime series, the shows and movie soundtracks that inspired him growing up, all about the infamous "Sawano Drop," and much more! 

  Many people likely know your anime soundtracks, but may not know your full musical background. Can you talk about how you first got into the music industry?


  When I was a child, I was impressed by the music of Chage and Aska and started to aspire to be a musician. Later, I was attracted by Tetsuya Komuro as an artist, producer, and video musician, and started to aspire to be a composer. When I was in high school, I became more interested in the world of visual music through the music of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Joe Hisaishi, and I began to focus on instrumental music production.

Did you watch any anime growing up? If so, are there any particular anime themes or songs that you enjoyed when you were younger?


  Of course, I loved anime as a child, and even in high school, I used to watch a lot of late-night anime. In high school, I used to watch Princess Mononoke, Metropolis and listened to the music from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

For the anime you work on, is it more common that you write the music before any production materials or animation is available or after? What do you prefer as a composer?


  Most of the time, I start my music production before the video material is ready, and it is easier for me, personally, to produce music that way.

  When I look up your music, western fans associate it with terms like “epic” and “motivational.” Are these the moods and themes that you want listeners to hear when listening to your music? 


  I am influenced by the emotionally moving music of Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman, so I am glad to hear that you feel that way. I also feel that the power of visual art has a great impact on emotional stimulation.

I’ve used the phrase “The Sawano Drop” with friends who know your music because one aspect associated with it is a crescendo followed by a peak level, usually with a chorus in the background that follows. Is there something in particular that you really like about that sort of composition? When did you realize it was something you enjoyed doing with your music? This sort of music “drop” is also commonly found in Dubstep and EDM. Do you listen to that sort of music yourself?


  I don't really have a "Sawano Drop" in mind (laughs), but I use choruses and breaks to expand the sound when I feel the song lacks excitement in the production stage. I feel that the use of chorus in orchestral music emphasizes emotion and bravery, so I often use it to make the music more grandiose. Of course, I also like to listen to EDM and other genres of music.

  A lot of your songs that have the aforementioned “drop” also work well with big moments because they are edited in so well. Do you think about this as you are writing your music or is it a joint effort between you and the editors on how your music fits into certain scenes?


  Again, I don't really have a "Sawano Drop" in mind (laughs), but I use choruses and breaks to expand the sound when I feel the song lacks excitement in the production stage.

  I first experienced your music with Gundam Unicorn, which is a series I associate closely with its soundtrack (particularly the main “Unicorn” theme). Was there anything, in particular, you kept in mind when writing music for such a notable franchise like Gundam?


  I wanted to be involved in Gundam works, and once I was involved, I wanted to make sure that I had a decent amount of time to create the music. I think I was trying to maximize my approach with melody, grandeur, and sound variation.

You’ve also worked closely with Aimer, who’s also quite known in the anime song space. Both of you have very specific styles, so what was it like trying to blend your styles together for songs like “RE:I AM” and “StarRingChild”?


  Basically, when I make a vocal song, I don't have a specific vocalist in mind. I focus on the melody and sound, so I don't pay that much attention to the vocals. At the recording session, I ask them to approach the vocals in a way that I can feel the inflection and story of the song more, and then I ask them to brush up the sound of the vocals and the orchestra when it’s mixed.

  Trigger is one of my favorite anime studios, and you’ve provided the soundtracks for their works like Kill La Kill and Promare. Both of those Nakashima and Imaishi works are known for their bombast and high energy, so is there anything you did to match their energy when writing the music?


  Director Imaishi's works are energetic in terms of world view, direction, and characters, so I felt that the music should be just as passionate. In the orchestral music, I pursued a sound that emphasized rhythm, and I also incorporated vocal music to accentuate the drama.

Promare was also lucky enough to have the “Live Inferno,” an event where there was a live performance of the music during the movie. Is this something that you would like to see more movies and features do in the future? How do you think audiences react differently to a movie when the music is performed live?


  Performing the music live during the event allowed the audience to listen to the music again, so I think that would be very rewarding to do again in the future. I think that the reaction of the audience was different from watching the main story.

  Image via HBOMax

A lot of your songs also include English lyrics. Do you write these lyrics yourself in English or do you do some sort of translation? What is most appealing for you about writing the lyrics in English?


  Personally, when I'm working on a song, I almost always have English lyrics in mind, and since I believe that groove and resonance are important in the sound of a song, I feel that English lyrics emphasize these aspects the most.

Now that a lot of your music collection will be available digitally, what takeaways do you hope fans or people who want to listen to your music will have?


  There are many different soundtracks of mine being released this year, so if there is a film or show you haven't seen yet, I would be happy for fans to use the music as a starting point to get interested in the film or show. I'm sure many people will be listening to the music while remembering the films and shows, but I'd be even happier if you could listen to the music with a free imagination beforehand.

      Kyle Cardine is an Editor for Crunchyroll. You can find his Twitter here.

By: Kyle Cardine

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

[aion-rsa]

Aliens, Clowns & Geeks Review: Sci-Fi Comedy Aims Low And Scores High

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

No one sets out to make a cult movie. Most filmmakers aspire to commercial heights even if they only have the budgets for a B-movie. They see films like Blair Witch realign box office accounting and apply all kinds of quantum physics to mimic the exponential multiplication. Very few achieve it, and the ones which do usually do it by accident, and certainly not with serious intent. Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is not afraid to be ridiculous. It joins the ranks as such brave films as Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, and Frankenhooker.

It is also so much more than these films, dripping with artistry, and yet considerably less, with masturbating aliens, pussy ping pong, and sphincter-pinching obelisks. Richard Elfman’s sci-fi comedy has an abundance of experimental fun and a happily reckless disregard for taste. It owes as much to Frank Zappa as it does to Frank Capra, and can in some ways be seen as a screwball comedy take on the 1955 film noir classic Kiss Me Deadly. For a silly film, Aliens, Clowns & Geeks summons serious plot twists. It captures the casual surrealism of the Marx Brothers in hyper-speed.

Though it’s not on the level as Forbidden Zone, how could it be? Elfman’s 1980 cult classic ranks way past closing time on the clock of midnight movies. Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is still completely original. Unlike other films where low budget hobbles creativity, this uses a lack of funds to its advantage. In some ways this is like Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!, except done on one-thousandth of the budget and with 1/100th of the stars. Aliens, Clowns & Geeks marks the final feature film role for the late Verne Troyer (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Goldmember, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). His Clown Emperor Beezel-Chugg is a memorable turn. Narcissistic, lethal, and commanding, he is the Emperor of the Nine Planet Federation, and still gets hauled in for Illegal dwarf tossing.

The little clown who gets tossed around is played by Nic Novicki, but don’t feel too bad for him, he takes dirty pictures of nuns in porta-potties in his spare time. George Wendt plays a priest who condemns him to eternal damnation for it. French Stewart (Stargate, 3rd Rock from the Sun) gets the Fickle Finger of Fate Award for being able to maintain an Arte Johnson impression throughout a whole film as the German scientist Professor von Scheisenberg.

Mimicry is only one extra talent the actors bring into their roles. Rebecca Forsythe contorts her voice and face excruciatingly and exquisitely as Swedish lab assistant Helga. She’s studied quantum, subquantum and super-quantum dynamics, and delivers one of the greatest pickup lines in cinema history: “you would be surprised at how incorrect the calculations of many rocket scientists can be.” Her body proves to be equally supple whether during head-banging sex or in one-on-one martial arts combat.

No one quite makes the faces or shrieks the screams quite like Bodhi Elfman, who plays the lead, a jaded actor named Eddy Pine. Bohdi, the actor playing the actor, is a cartoon character masquerading as a person. His cynical Steve Buscemi-esque delivery grounds him even as the only missed opportunity in the film is a Looney Tunes sight gag where hens lay so many eggs they rise to the roof of Porky Pig’s barn. 

Happily, the camera turns away when the obelisk is introduced to the film. Whether it is just a worthless novelty or the key to the universe, Eddy’s anus is “the chosen portal.” The Chinese military wants the obelisk, there’s an intergalactic battle between alien clowns and green Martians over it, and Dr. von Scheisenberg wants to melt it down for clean energy. About a foot long, and looking like the Washington Monument with squiggly sub-particle lettering, it is also known as the jamtoid key, and is worth more than a three-picture deal, but “money won’t mean nothing if the world explodes.”

Elfman, who also directed Shrunken Heads, and Modern Vampires, has a background in theater, and uses troupe mentality by casting actors in multiple roles. Anastasia Elfman brings the fire of a true believer to five characters. Helga’s sister Inga is played by Angeline-Rose Troy, who also plays Eddy’s junkie-whore mother. The noises she makes in one particular chase scene is so alien and unexpected, it brings the whole movie to another level. Steve Agee plays Eddy’s recently transitioned Burlesque dancer and bar-owning sister Jumbo, as well as the chicken-suit wearing Eddy Pine. Richard Elfman plays the clown Da-Beep. Martin Klebba is an angry clown captain.

The final character is the original soundtrack, which upstages the action in the best of ways. Aliens, Clowns & Geeks could be called a musical, but not in the same way The Rocky Horror Picture Show is, even if there is gender fluidity flowing through it. For the film, Elfman reunited with the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, who starred in Forbidden Zone. The score was written by Danny Elfman and Ego Plum. Danny Elfman wrote the theme song to The Simpsons, the music to Nightmare Before Christmas, and did the singing voice of Jack Skellington. Plum is best known for the noises he made for SpongeBob SquarePants and The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, but also plays in the band Mambo Demonico. Consisting of 75 minutes in a ninety-minute movie, the music makes the film unique. The diverse mix of genres makes the movie feel like live performance.

Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is laid out in the three-act story structure of classic comedies. It is zany, evoking the feel that logic has been usurped by the most unreasonable intrusions. The film opens on the road. The first victim is a large biker clown who is mind controlled to be some kind of monosyllabic Terminator-style obelisk retrieval machine. Eddy is taking his sorrows for a swim in the deep end of a dive bar. His network series, “Cry Me Dry,” was cancelled a day before it was set to air. Their first encounter is inadvertently suspenseful, as the clueless Eddie chalks up a seemingly random request to another day in Hollywood. 

The movie then takes on a science fiction turn while keeping to an LA Noir sensibility, albeit with frenetic sexcapades (“May you procreate and spread your clown seed wide”), campy caricatures, vampy vehicular battles, and trampy throughlines. Masturbating aliens remotely manipulate blond femme fatales with X-box controllers, making the conquest of earth look like a video game. This highlights the depersonalization of battle, intergalactic or terrestrial. This very human alienation is further accentuated every time the green aliens have to get approval from corporate. There are impossibly surreal scenarios, like a ménage à trois scene where Eddy’s on the bottom and the POV shows the two girls on top. The scene ends in a nuclear explosion, topping the fireworks display of the first climax of Deep Throat. There is a head exploding scene which is more over-the-top than Scanners.

As comedy, each of the set ups have great payoffs, and the running gags never trip up, even if Eddy slips into Shakespearean soliloquies before exiting, stage left. Elfman mocks Hollywood itself, pointing out that the Beverly Hills Police Department only takes calls from celebrities while actors kiss ass on Hollywood Boulevard all day. The film even throws in visual sight gags, like a bucket of brains which is kept in a joint compound container labeled “head stuff.” One character is reading a book called “The Strawberry Fields of Heaven by Blossom Elfman.”

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Aliens, Clowns & Geeks makes no apologies. You just have to go with it. Groucho Marx once advised if nothing else is getting a laugh, “drop your pants.” This turns out to be the greatest weapon of the movie. It saves the day as much as it lowers the bar. It is worshipfully irreverent, and politically incorrect. There is no shame nor the slightest consideration given to cancel culture. “Life is complicated, take if from the guy with a dick in a dress,” we are advised in the film. Even insane biker clowns may not be what they seem. Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is silly, goofy, stupidly intelligent, and absolutely what a mad scientist would order.

Aliens, Clowns & Geeks will be opening in a drive-in run, double billed with Forbidden Zone: Director’s Cut. Details will be announced. 

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[isagrimorie]

[initial reactions] Justice League

TLDR version: I liked it. I liked it a lot. It had its problems-- pointed look at the camera-- but considering all it had to contend with? I really liked the finished product.

I can actually see myself watching a three hour director's cut of this.

Going through point by point of the movie, Good points and some nitpicks and some ugly, but bringing it all together with the Happy.

This is going to be a surprise but for the few people who know me, I actually wasn't impressed with Avengers. I thought the visuals were so-so, and it brought home what I thought when I first watched Serenity. Joss Whedon is not a good movie director. He can do a passable job on TV but he is no Jonathan Nolan nor is he a JJ Abrams. He doesn't have the visual eye for it, and he tends to go back to his old stand-bys.

(I mentioned it in my initial reactions of Thor: Ragnarok, Joss Whedon wishes he was Taika Waititi but he's not even close.)

Zach Snyder on the other hand? Despite my issues with his other movies, no one can deny that Snyder paints a fantastic visual picture. It is his strongest suit. In this movie he delivered in spades.

This is a really, really great getting the band together movie and the thing that made this work a lot: the characters. They sparked off each other, and you can tell they were having a lot of fun making this movie.

We got to see the Amazons be awesome!

We got to see a lot more of Hippolyta doing action stuff and it was awesome and wonderful! For anyone who wished they saw Queen Hippolyta fight more, we see that! A lot and it's so awesome!

And then she sends out a flare and it was such a heartwarming moment because she knows only one person in the outside world will understand and her whispering as in prayer: 'Hear me, Diana.'

It broke my heart a little because Diana hasn't seen her mother and amazons in a while and then she had to hear from Steppenwolf that a lot of Amazons died. Also, this gives credence to my theory that in BvS, when she decided to help, she was actually on her way to find a way back to Themyscira.

Okay, so the elephant in the room is the treatment of Diana, Amazons, and Lois Lane terrible. Wellllll.... it's not as bad as reported but after watching Wonder Woman, I cringed in a lot of scenes.

The controversial new revealing costumes where there. I don't know why they needed to, and when I saw them standing next to Amazons who are in regular armor costumes, they stand out.

Then the unnecessary camera angles, especially when Diana is standing in front of the camera. It's like a study of male gaze directing vs someone who consciously works against it. I cringed everytime there was butt shot and an upskirt shot. It wasn't a lot but there were enough that coming from watching Wonder Woman, it was bad.

I didn't really need to see that gag about Barry falling on top of Diana and accidentally grabbing her boobs. I did not need to see that. It had Whedon's fingerprints all over it and just NO. NO NO NO NO.

Then there's Arthur Curry loudly telling Diana she was beautiful etc., and then revealing he's actually sitting on the Lasso. They didn't need that and the only important thing we got there that once upon a time the Amazons and Atlanteans were at war. You can practically see Whedon's work there.

Going back to the happy: Danny Elfman to score the movie was the best move ever, and that's one positive cookie points for Whedon. Because the iconic Batman score is there and strains of the iconic Superman march too! Honestly, there is a reason why those were iconic. Star Wars kept to its musical score with other composers just expanded on John Williams work.

Although, I wish there was a Justice League score too. I was waiting for it, actually.

WB really should've let Snyder direct a solo Batman movie because I can practically feel how much he loves Batman everytime he was on screen. This is not a knock by the way, because I would like to watch Snyder's translating Batman graphic novel on the big screen like he did with Watchmen.

I love Diana's relationship with Victor and I love that she keeps wanting to reach and support him. I love how she was mentoring him.

I love how this is about Victor accepting his gifts (as Diana called it) and being the right person to stop the Mother Boxes. He upgraded machinery when needed and found information they needed in time. I still wish for a Cyborg movie, though.

Arthur Curry was advertised but I don't have a lot to say yet I feel that Aquaman will answer a lot of questions but Mera was awesome and he was able to hold off Steppenwolf which is a feat in itself.

Barry Allen was funny and so very young with his own issues, he was like a kid in a candy store when he arrived in the bat cave and his crush on Diana was cute and I don't begrudge him that (the moment with Arthur though, that I wanted to cut out).

Bruce is working over time to get a team started out, and clearly doing this to work off his guilt, Diana calls him on it. And dammit, I'm weak but I ship Bruce and Diana. I can't help it! It's Justice League and JL animated has primed me for shipping Diana and Bruce together, okay?

They never got together in animated but I love that they're playing this as a frisson of tension between them, and that it's mostly Bruce who is kind of pining/crushing over her, in his Bruce way.

But I am also not about Bruce being an asshole to Diana, throwing Steve to her face to 'push her' or whatever. I'm glad that Barry was all: if she murders you, we'll hide the body for her.

I did love the conversation between Bruce and Diana after, and it cleared up the century of not doing anything thing BvS tacked on. I love that Diana revealed that she might not have been visible but she's been fighting for all that time just not leading. 'Because leaders get people killed.'

There's a story there which I hope we can get in her next solo movie, also: Diana casually strolling into Bruce's heavily secured building and in BvS one-upping him in a Spy vs Spy game--- Agent Diana Prince in her next movie Y/Y??????

The CGI. I really try very hard not to notice the CGI but I can't help notice the CGI. All Sci-fi/Superhero movies have this problem, particularly when it comes to the CGI villain. I see no reason why they couldn't used make-up and light CGI, because even the actor had a hard time bringing his villain to life. There's a reason why I liked Hela as a villain, because that was Cate Blanchett acting and not a CGI version of Hela. Even Zod and the other Kryptonians with him were easier because they were not CGI villain.

Someone should put a moratorium on CGI villains.

Unfortunately, there's even a more egregious use of CGI and that's the mustache gate. I do not get why they didn't go with bearded Clark instead of.. waves hand that.

I like Clark in this! I've always thought that Man of Steel 2 should've gone first than BvS, watching BvS then this just kind of solidified it. There were moments in MoS that I loved and thought would continue but Snyder just doubled down on the other part I disliked with BvS but JL felt like it was continuing on with the the tone of the parts I loved in MoS.

I was honestly surprised how they went about the resurrection. There's no fortress of solitude so there was no regeneration matrix but there is the Kryptonian ship and the Mother Box.

Clark's resurrection seem to give a second wind and a happiness that was missing in BvS but had more in common with in the final moments of MoS. I wish though, that Lois had more to do.

And how is it Lois and Diana have never shared a scene together??? This is the second time she mentioned her devotion to the truth, I mean, Diana is all about the truth. Truth is her province. It's where she lives! LOIS AND DIANA NEEDS TO BE FRIENDS DAMMIT.

I liked that Diana was the voice of reason, and even Arthur came around to her way of thinking, in a way that feels like he has experience about people coming back wrong.

Full disclosure: I was afraid they were going to make Diana that wet blanket friend who breaks every body's fun but she had a point which Arthur came around to. They've seen their fair share of things like these going pear shaped.

Fortunately, after the mandatory fighting against the newly awakened Clark things turned out for the better.

Seriously though, Diana taking Clark's headbutt and giving one of her own. AMAZING. He only won that round because he had the advantage of getting more force behind his headbutt via flying. Headbutts are an Amazonian Hello.

Not a fan of Diana being Worf'd just to show how super extra powerful he is, I'm just consoling myself that she either has most of her powers locked away (like in the comic, removing the vambraces would unlock her full potential as a demigod).

I do like that even though Clark had the brute strength, Diana had experience on her side, she fought Steppenwolf like a warrior. Seasoned and skillful.

Also: 'On my lead.' Diana led the team on the ground! I AM HAPPY ABOUT THAT.

I love the final fight there were so many iconic moments and its stitched together really well, one of the biggest issues I had with BvS was how Snyder painted a beautiful picture but it's a moment divorced from the flow of the story. Here it came together pretty well. The iconic moments were iconic without taking away from the story.

I like that they took note of what people had issues with and worked with that feedback, bringing in more color and lightness to the movie while still maintaining the gravity of the situation.

Do you know what else I love? That the final blow was Diana's with an assist from Clark. Because she lives up to her name -- Godkiller.

other moments I liked:

The Superman and Flash race, I love it. It is universal law, a Super and a Flash must always race.

Diana lasso-ing the bank robbers and then greeting a crowd of little girls.

Diana handling the artefact with revenance.

Victor openly working with his dad in the Star Labs

Barry pushing the sword to Diana.

Diana with the red robe over her armor. I love it.

Speaking off, Hippolyta's Helmet!

Luthor finally acting like Luthor and not like an evil Mark Zuckerberg. Also, he freaked out about Clark, what about Diana, who is an actual demigod?

Speaking of demigods, the guy throwing lighting bolts young Zeus or Ares? And when is Diana going to handle lightning? She's the last survivor of the Pantheon, she must inherit it too, right?

WAS THAT ATHENA OR ARTEMIS??? IN ANY CASE I AM HAPPY TO SEE A GODDESS.

#initial reactions #film: justice league #justice league spoilers

[bigyack-com]

After Birds of Prey, a definitive ranking of the DC Extended Universe films - hollywood

It is unclear what is more dramatic: the tragic derailment of the DCEU, or the manner in which Warner Bros has attempted to bring the superhero franchise back on track. What began as a hungry move to replicate the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has turned into a textbook example of crisis resolution in the film industry. No other film franchise in this current era - not even Universal’s laughably bad Dark Universe - has been scrutinised with such passion, and passionate hate. It is almost as if a certain section of fandom - and not necessarily Marvel fandom; there are detractors even in the DC camp - is willing the DCEU to crash and burn. A couple of years ago, Warner Bros made the excuse that while the DC films had received a critical drubbing, the studio gauged success on the basis of how the audience received the movies - and the solid box office performance of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad was proof that critics were out of touch with the general public. The release of Wonder Woman seemed to reassert this notion. The film became the first in the series to receive a ‘fresh’ rating on the review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes, and for a brief moment in time, everything was OK in the DC universe. But around the same time as Wonder Woman was having a game changing theatrical run, news about a massively troubled Justice League began brewing. Justice League went into production a few weeks after BvS’ release - far too late in the day for any sort of major change to be made in the same dour tone that director Zack Snyder had set for his answer to Marvel’s Avengers. When Snyder turned in an assembly cut - not a director’s cut, but merely an ‘assembly’ of usable footage - it was the final straw. Warner Bros set up a committee to oversee the film, and to provide feedback. One of the members of this committee was Joss Whedon, director of Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, who’d had his own, very public falling out with Marvel Studios. In May 2017, Snyder stepped down from the film - the reason given at the time was personal, but it has since been rumoured that he was made to leave - and Whedon was hired to finish work on the movie. Justice League is essentially a film that was shot twice, inflating its budget like venom inflates Bane’s muscles. The final result was a hodgepodge of conflicting ideas and tones, a feeble attempt at putting together a team movie, lacking any sort of personality. Say what you will about BvS, at least it looked and felt like a Zack Snyder movie. All this context was crucial to the story of Aquaman - the most successful DC film, and perhaps one of the last to retain the core stars, who were all cast by the long-gone Snyder. Aquaman can serve as a bridge between the DCEU’s misguided past, and its refreshing future. This march continued with Shazam!, which is perhaps as far removed from the dour Snyder movies as can be possible. Suddenly, the DCEU finds itself on a winning streak, a streak that it will want to continue with this week’s Birds of Prey, the first R-rated film of the franchise. Here’s a ranking of the films, from worst to best. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Batman v Superman is not so much a superhero movie as it is a story about two mamma’s boys measuring the length of their capes, finding that they disagree, and proceeding to poke each other with threats of ‘you wanna go first?’ for a solid two-and-a-half hours. This obsession with moms is a running theme in the DCEU, and forms the emotional core of Aquaman and Shazam!. BvS was clearly a compromised vision - the ‘ultimate edition’ that was released a few months later is an infinitely better film, and were it to be ranked on this list instead, it would find itself at a much higher position. Justice League

Justice League is the sort of movie that can be excruciatingly dumb at any given moment; with forced jokes that have the hit rate of a drunk stormtrooper, jaw-droppingly inane plotting that often pales in comparison to the original DC animated series, but it can also make a houseful crowd of excited fans positively palpitate with pure joy. It continued the DC Extended Universe’s bizarre trend of producing films that are direct reactions to their immediate predecessors. And for all its faults – an ugly third-act show down that looks like a mid-2000s PlayStation 2 video game, Danny Elfman’s instantly forgettable (and shamelessly rehashed) musical score, one of the most unimaginative (and cheap-looking) main villains in recent memory – Justice League wasn’t as terrible as it could so easily have been. Suicide Squad

All it took was one scene. One scene transformed Suicide Squad. It wasn’t necessarily the best scene – in fact, in any other movie, it would barely merit a second glance. But for Suicide Squad it was a godsend. It came nestled in the heart of the film - following an hour or so of jarring, time-hopping, clumsy storytelling – and preceding another hour of more of the same. Not only was it the first time our characters resembled real, relatable human beings, it also proved, however briefly and despite what we’d seen so far, that Suicide Squad has a heart. It sent our characters, all dressed in their ridiculous costumes, drenched in water and blood, to a bar. No explosions, no fistfights, no Joker - just the quietest member of the Squad, El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), telling a story. It’s the scene that cemented the gruffly sentimental relationship between these characters and saved the film. Aquaman

James Wan’s Aquaman actively distanced itself from the heavy metal take on the character that Snyder had originally envisioned. And with more time on his hands, Jason Momoa took Arthur Curry in surprising new directions. It was quite a wonderful big screen experience - Atlantis looked stunning, as did the creatures and Wan’s affectionate world-building - but it was the earnestness with which the film treated its characters that is its most endearing quality. Man of Steel

Without any doubt, my favourite single moment of any DCEU movie comes in Man of Steel. Snyder is clearly someone who understands the iconography of superheroes better than anyone else - that teaser trailer alone was a work of art; the one in which a child put his hands on his hips and the whole world suddenly realised what they were watching. But for a brief second in Man of Steel, Snyder accomplished - in my opinion - what he was going for all this while, a deconstruction of myths, a grounding of gods. Alone and misunderstood, Clark Kent goes from town to town, taking up odd jobs, convinced that his father - Pa Kent - was right; to reveal his powers to this cruel world would only bring trouble. And so he drifts, between dive bars and oil rigs, unsure of himself. We see him walk on a highway, his back to us, the evening sky slowly welcoming darkness. Clark turns around, sees an incoming truck, and sticks out his thumb, hoping for a stranger to show kindness. The truck doesn’t stop. And Clark keeps walking to wherever the road will take him. I think about this moment very often. This is Superman. So vulnerable, so alone. No one to help him. And yet, he dedicates his life to helping others. This one moment perfectly captures the flawed brilliance of Snyder’s DCEU. Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey is essentially the story of Harley Quinn emerging from under the Joker’s shadow, and the DCEU distancing itself from its past. It has virtually no bearing on the larger series, but as a standalone adventure, it’s a terrific showcase for Robbie’s talents as an actor. It’s interesting to note how, in the span of just over a decade, the pendulum has swung from Joel Schumacher’s lurid Batman films to the gritty realism of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and back again. Shazam!

Shazam! was an altogether different experience - both in tone and in scope - from previous DCEU entries, and this includes the largely beloved Wonder Woman and the box office smash Aquaman. It was, at the risk of invoking the wrath of fans on both sides, to the DCEU what Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming were to the Marvel Cinematic Universe - lighter, less angry, and positively delightful. Under the unlikely direction of Swedish filmmaker David F Sandberg, Shazam! was as magical as its title suggested; heartfelt, humorous and burdened by none of the hubris of Batman v Superman and Man of Steel. Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is the sort of movie that makes you forgive things it got wrong solely on the strength of everything it got right. And it got a lot of things right. It was the first film in the DC Extended Universe that was worthy of its iconic character, and it did what both Batman and Superman couldn’t do: It gave us hope for what’s to come. It was still crippled by the influence of Zack Snyder in its CGI slugfest of a final act - an annoying trend that for some reason James Wan chose to honour in Aquaman - but it was so much more than just a great film. Wonder Woman was perhaps the defining superhero movie of a post-Trump era - what Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy was to a post-9/11 world. It’s an earnest film, which often feels too pure for this horrid world. And that no man’s land sequence is right up there with The Master’s ‘don’t blink’ scene as one of the greatest of the decade. Follow @htshowbiz for more The author tweets @RohanNaahar Read the full article

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[spaceorphan18]

Chris’s Tour - Naperville, IL 7-18-17

(Otherwise known as my birthday present :)) 

I see @wowbright - is posting her photos today (yay)! I didn’t have photos, sorry guys.  But hopefully I’ll have a decent account.  

So @multsicorn came to visit me for a few days, which was absolutely delightful.  We had a nice drive to Chicago listening to Glee music, because of course.  (We also had a splendid chat on the way home).  We met up with the lovely @notthatbea (at a Barnes and Noble where my old store manager works now apparently - small world).  And delivered in a lovely box was one of @snarkyhag‘s many gifts - a bingo card for the tour.  It’s funny - except for a few spaces - there were all pretty much filled during the event. 

So - we went out to this lunch where we had bison burgers and they gave us these pickled cucumbers -- they were too vinegar-y to be cucumbers but not pickled enough to be pickles.  It was interesting.  And then we went to an icecream place that sold raw cookie dough and it was amazing.  Afterwards we met up with @leydhawk and @wowbright, who are both amazing and kind, and we had a nice chat while we stood in line for two hours. 

The event - Chris came out, all relaxed and happy (and looking good - he looks better every year I see him - and Snarky untucked I mean c’mon).  His opening speech was a little more scripted than it was the previous year (or practiced as I’m sure he says the same lines at ever event) but he was still funny and charming, and of course it’s all new to the majority of the audience.  He then read a part of his book - and was more animated, getting into the voices more, than when he read last year.  He was have a great time acting out all the parts of his story.  

Oh also! He takes a selfie as he always did.  But first, he took a photo of the crowd.  He held his camera up - and bam - Notthatbea and I are probably, like, upfront and close in that photo.  Cause we were sitting four rows back, but he held it up a little (so not to get the first row in the shot) and we’re pretty sure our faces are front and center.  Also - in Alla’s shot of the crowd, you can totally make out the five of us who were there! 

I believe the trivia stuff was next.   The one thing about this that I remember is that there’s a portion where the kids could try to stump Chris.  There was one little boy who pointed out a continuity error (The Pied Piper is named one thing in book 2 (?) and something else in book 6 - and the kid asked why that was.)  Chris just stood there hilariously dumbfounded and speechless (in a good way), and claimed that he needed to reread his books more.  It was a fun little moment. Also - as notthatbea reported - during this section we learned that the original title for book 6 was Happily Forever After.  

The costume contest was next.  A sweet girl in a Cinderella costume won.  There was also an amazing Cyborg Queen costume (that came in second imo) and Morina - who’s horns kept falling off (poor girl - she had a great costume though. Chris, as usual, delighted at everyone, as I’m sure this is one of his favorite portions.  We had two rows of kids go up there - and most of them were really awesome costumes.  

Now - okay - there was one really awkward moment, though, during this.  The people from the news site that shall not be named were there and in the front row (I know it was them because they took video over everything, claimed it was their own stuff, and posted it on their site - even though Chris’s people explicitly told us not to take video).  Two of the posse got up for the costume contest.  One of them was wearing a ‘likes boys’ tshirt, and was obviously supposed to be Kurt.  The other one was dressed as kind of a hipster - I have no idea what they were going for - I don’t think it was anyone in TLoS.   Anyway - omg - second hand embarrassment.  Chris - amazing that he is - ignored them completely.  (This is also why he pretty much ignored the entire front row the entire night despite them throwing comments out to him throughout the night.)  I don’t know what they were trying to do pulling that - but c’mon.  But what can I expect from people deliberately ignoring his wishes. 

Anyway -- then we got the Q and A session, which was much, much longer than last year - it was nearly twenty minutes long.  And, cause my memory is perfect,  here’s what came up: 

A girl asked that if he wasn’t doing a movie, would he consider doing a musical.  He deadpanned a no, but then said it would have been a possibility.  He also mentioned that he was ‘in talks about something but then they stopped talking’.  I don’t know if this was TLoS related or not though.  

He was asked if he would appear in the movies (like Stan Lee!) and he said maybe as a troll or something, but he doesn’t want to play a major role. 

Someone asked how many publisher rejections he got for Wishing Spell.  (And his face was like, dayum, okay...) But he mentioned that being on TV helped with that, so he got zero.  But he did have to convince the publisher that he could write. 

His movie is going to be live action with real people (though he joked that ‘real people’ is a matter of opinion as well)

The acting v writing question again - and he said his standard I love them both answer, though he did remark that people keep wanting him to choose one but he really can’t. 

A 12yo girl asked what his favorite Glee performance was.  This time he answered Lucky Star cause he got to fly around.  Also - he and June Squibb are still besties. :) 

A unique question - someone asked if he knew anything about the TLoS characters that weren’t in the book.  It stumped him for a little bit, then said he had ideas for a prequel series, so he didn’t want to give much away.  But apparently there was a lot of drama with the fairy council.  Also - Mother Goose’s magic is not what it seems - and he hopes he lives long enough to eventually tell that story, lol. 

Someone asked about casting - and Chris said they haven’t found anyone yet - but then he goes on to say that it’s strange when his job is looking at pictures of 10yos all day.  (Out of context, the way he said it sounded really creepy, and made me laugh)

A little 9yo asked what inspired him to start writing TLoS - and mostly the standard answer about his mom reading fairy tales to him, and her getting fed up with all the questions so she told him to write them himself - but he directed the answer right to her, and spoke in a way relating to her, so it was sweet.  

A girl asked about when he wrote while on Glee - and he gave his usual story about being on tour and writing a page and then running up to sing - though he made the story a little longer this time, and mentioned DSB, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, and then Single Ladies.  (Usually he just mentions Single Ladies).  (as an aside - he mentions that everyone else was just kind of going out and doing things as he stayed in and wrote - so huh) 

Will there be multiple movies - he hopes so, but they’re going to focus on one at a time. He joked with the little girl asking, though, that it was her responsibility now to make sure the first movie does well so she needs to go out and spread the word - and if it fails, totally her fault, lol 

Which book was his favorite to write - Stranger Than Fanfiction has been his absolute favorite (this surprised me), but then book 5 was his favorite in TLoS series because he got to use his own original stories he made up as a kid.  The next question was kind of a follow up - where he was asked, which of those was his favorite.  And he can’t really choose (3 way tie between the three he made up as a kid).  Galaxy Queen is the one he created recently for book 5, but the rest were stories he made up when he was a kid. 

How’d he get the names Alex and Conner - same kind of answer as usual, Alex was originally Amy after a cousin, but then there was a new cousin named Alex.  Conner was from a character he played in community theater. 

Will he write more books like Starbordia? - Maybe? It’s a possible spin off idea.  (Side note - he didn’t sound that interested in the idea though) 

Favorite books growing up - Harry Potter, of course, but Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan - and he mentions Eva Ibbotson, who I’m not familiar with - but who is a British author who writes a lot of young, young children books (I’d say stuff for 6-9yos) 

Conner and Alex are both him, and the arguments they have are like arguments he has in his head. 

Someone asked him to sing - of course he said no, and that if he did it for one, he’d have to do it for all of them, and that’s just too much pressure.  Then, the front row yelled that he had a voice like an angel - to which he replied that his dog and cat don’t feel the same way cause they run out of the room when he starts singing.  He did say, to the original person asking, and the audience in general, that he was happy that people enjoyed his voice.  

Alright - so then this delightful 13yo girl, who was a bit Red-like, came up and basically pitched herself as an actress who’d be happy to be in his movie.  It was hilarious.  He asked if she’d be happy being a tree - and she said yes, and that her people will contact him.  Her question, though, was about how Glee impacted his writing.  And he joked that Glee made him so famous, that he couldn’t leave his house, so he had nothing better to do than write.  But more so, he talked about how acting helped him hear the voices of his characters better.  But also that writing helped with acting, so you can create backstory for your characters. 

What is he most excited to do, regarding the movies? He’s super excited about walking out on sets and seeing these places he only imagined become real. 

What songs does he listen to while writing? Film scores!! Including Danny Elfman and, my personal favorite which I totally listen to all the time to write, y’all know this, Hans Zimmer.  

So yeah - that’s the Q and A.  He was very sweet and engaged during the entire thing, which was awesome to see. 

He wrapped up by doing another reading, this time from the Mother Goose diaries.  The thing that stuck out to me about this was that he was reading an entry about Amelia Earheart - where she said she faked her own death and went away to an island because fame got too much for her, and she wanted to live peacefully away from everything for the rest of her days.  (hmm - Chris....) 

So that’s the event! It’s always a delight to see him - and I know he loves these events more than the signings - he’s just so thrilled to be there, and there’s a ton of excitement over the film.  

After that, we all headed back home.  Was a great time, and a great birthday. :) 

#chris colfer #do I have a tag for the signings? I'll have to check that out

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #127 - Chicago

Spoilers below.

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: Blu-ray

1) This film holds a lot of personal significance to me. I first saw it when I was 13 in one of the hardest months of my life. I was sick with pneumonia (diagnosed that day) and my great grandmother had just died, so the whole family was over because the funeral was that week. It was late and someone wanted to put in a movie so my dad pulls out Chicago. My mother was a little bit strangely strict about what PG-13 movies I could and could not see, usually forbidding more sexual stuff than anything else. So this was the most sexual film I had seen at the time and I had felt because of that, and the fact I was watching it with all the adults of my family, that I had been promoted to the adult table in some senses. I was really captivated by the music, the story, the moral ambiguity, it was just so different from anything else I’ve seen. I would not be Just Another Cinemaniac without Chicago. In some ways its as important to my film fan identity as Back to the Future.

2) The film opens with an extreme close up on Roxie’s (Renée Zellweger’s) eye, giving us our first inkling on how this is a musical in Roxie’s mind. But more on that later.

3) Note that we never see Velma Kelly’s (Catherine Zeta Jones’) face until she’s on stage giving a performance. This creates the feeling that Velma is ALWAYS putting on a performance.

4) Catherine Zeta Jones as Velma Kelly.

This film is pretty much perfectly cast, I think. 4 of its actors were nominated for Oscars, with another being nominated for a Golden Globe. Zeta Jones actually won her first (and to date only) Oscar for her role in this film, and for good reason to. She IS Velma Kelly. Zeta Jones is totally lost in the role, being able present all of Velma’s different qualities. Her showmanship, her rare vulnerability, her killer instinct, and it all just WORKS. You never EVER feel like you’re watching an actress. Zeta Jones IS Velma Kelly and as the first character we get a nice long look at, it is a great performance to start the film off with.

5) Hey, it’s Dominic West!

6) Renée Zellweger as Roxie Hart.

Roxie is really the lead of this film, the character who we follow along and see the world through. The writing is really interesting. It would have been easy to start Roxie off as some innocent girl who made a mistake and goes on this big journey, but Roxie - despite whatever facade she puts up - is hardly some innocent girl. She readily and passionately has an affair even though her husband is a pretty nice guy (and not a “nice guy” where the guy acts nice but is really a jerk, but is actually pretty kind), murderers her lover just for being a jerk (there are better reasons to murderer someone), all while putting up this act like she did nothing wrong and is the victim. And I honestly think she believes it.

Renée Zellweger captures all these conflicting parts of Roxie’s character with true mastery. She also is able to handle Roxie’s transformation into a more cutthroat and determined creature with the same expertise. Like with Zeta Jones, you never feel like you’re watching Zellweger just giving a performance. She is - for all intents and purposes - Roxie. Originally Charlize Theron was cast in the part but after a change in directors there was a change in casting, and Zellweger had to learn signing and dancing for the film. It paid off wonderfully, as she was nominated for an Oscar for what is possibly her best role ever.

7) John C. Reilly as Amos.

John C. Reilly was also nominated for an Oscar for his performance in this film, and it is clear why. Amos is the only honestly good character in the film, and even then he is not without his flaws. He is not above losing his temper or being able to say when enough is enough when it comes to Roxie (you know, the woman who cheats on him, tries to have him take the fall for murder, and manipulates him in court just to get off). But - because this is Chicago - he’s the only main(ish) character to come out the other side being totally and utterly screwed over. There are some nice layers to Amos (mainly the loss of temper as mentioned above) and Reilly is just totally sincere in the part. It’s no wonder he was nominated for an Oscar.

8) This film sets itself apart from other movie musicals through the idea that the musical is all in Roxie’s head.

This creates a plausible explanation for why character’s burst into song and dance, allows the film to utilize some unique editing and art direction, and finally gives us a nice peek into Roxie’s head. This element allows us to see just how passionate Roxie is not only for the desire to perform but also the desire for fame. It also lets us know how she sees OTHER characters in the film (namely Billy Flynn, but more on that later). I think it is this key element that set the film up for such critical and artistic success, leading to its best picture win at the Oscars.

9) Danny Elfman provides a few nice instrumental pieces of score for the film which feel totally period Chicago. When you are adapting a popular musical such as Chicago adding extra music could be a challenge, but Elfman’s occasional score blends perfectly with the rest of the film.

10) Queen Latifah as Mama.

Latifah rounds out the quartet of Academy Award nominated performances with her portrayal as Matron Mama Morton. I think it’s Latifah’s best performance. She is able to portray Mama as cooperative and a bit soft spoken, but still someone who deals with no bullshit from her inmates. She is as manipulative as any other character in this film, if not as in big a way. You often hear her tell Roxie and Velma EXACTLY what they want to hear knowing that it will lead to a big pay day for her. It is a crafty role which Latifah plays well, and her introductory song “When You’re Good to Mama” shows off not only this characterization but Roxie’s perception of her quite well. It also allows for Latifah to show off her impressive singing chops.

11) The Cell Block Tango.

Where do I even begin with this number? It is by far the most iconic and best part of the entire film. The filmmakers are able to use the idea of “the musical in Roxie’s mind” to create a visually unique and compelling number which is edited together seamlessly with the “real world” of the Cook County jail Roxie finds herself in. Each of the “murderess mistresses” is given enough time to create a unique character and create a sense of the world Roxie (and the audience) finds herself in at this time. I particularly find the use of ribbons to illustrate blood/murder wildly effective, noting that Hunyak’s ribbon (the girl who constantly claims she is not guilty) is white whereas the others are red. This suggest that she is - in fact - innocent.

It is also worth noting that while the first story starts off very much “I’m guilty, here’s what happened”, that by the time we get to the inmate who claims her husband “ran into her knife” ten times the stories have become more and more claiming of legal innocence. This is a trend which continues through Velma’s story, where she claims she blacked out after seeing her husband & sister having sex and came to with blood on her hands. We as the audience have actually seen NOTHING which contradicts this story, further creating a nice sense of showmanship within the film.

12) Okay, I am all for good female friendships on film and television, but I would be lying if I said the catty relationship between Velma & Roxie was not entertaining. I think this is a byproduct from good writing (with what we know about these characters, how ELSE could their relationship go?) and the wildly captivating chemistry between Zeta Jones and Zellweger. Their relationship is one of the key sources of conflict throughout the film and with those two actresses it just WORKS.

13) Richard Gere as Billy Flynn.

The number in Roxie’s head which introduces us to Flynn - “All I Care About” - is a pitch perfect example of expectations vs. reality. After what she’s heard about Billy (which isn’t much mind you), Roxie expects him to be this honest to goodness lawyer who only wants to save women from dying in by the noose in Chicago. What we get however is the craftiest, most manipulative skeeze ball in the film. So why is he so damn likable? Who is he comparable to the roguish Han Solo? Why do we root for him? I think that is all in Gere’s performance. It would be easily to play him as a disgusting slime ball but there is a charisma that Gere brings which I think elevates the character and the film. Originally offered to Hugh Jackman & John Travolta at different parts, Gere’s chemistry with the rest of the cast is great and although the film didn’t land him an Oscar nomination he did receive a Golden Globe for his work.

14) I think it’s worth noting that Roxie does not take too long to adapt to prison. Again evidence that she’s not as innocent as she wants people to think.

15) “We Both Reached For The Gun”

I can never tell if this or “Razzle Dazzle” is my favorite number in the film, but I think for a visual standpoint it HAS to be this. This is once again where the conceit of “the musical in Roxie’s head” benefits the film GREATLY. The imagery of Roxie being a dummy operated by Billy to sell her story not reflects on their relationship in an incredibly clear way (as well as how Billy is literally using people) but also is just visually fascinating. Zellweger is a lot of fun during the number, and if you ever want to know why this film won the Oscar for best editing the year it was nominated just watch this scene.

16) The song “Roxie” when Roxie is at the top of her game is a great character study. It goes even deeper into Roxie’s desire for fame and admiration, a key quality in her character that drives pretty much all her actions throughout the film. It features gorgeous cinematography with its use of mirrors and presents us with Roxie’s ideal self. This ideal self is not a good person (not necessarily), but someone who is adored by her audience. If that doesn’t speak to who Roxie is as a character I don’t know what does.

17) A film is told in cuts, as in cutting from one moment to the next in as clean and clear a way as possible.

Velma [after Mama suggests she kisses Roxie’s ass to maintain some position]: “Over my dead body.”

[We cut to the mess hall, where Velma is seen smiling at Roxie]

Velma: “Mind if I join you?”

18) “I Can’t Do It Alone”

Up until this point we have not seen Velma truly vulnerable. We have peeked more into who Roxie is as a character than who Velma is. That all changes with this number, which shows us that Velma is just as desperate for the spotlight as Roxie is. She NEEDS to stay relevant, she NEEDS the fame and the admiration, and only when it was too late did she realize that the murder of her sister took away one of the key things that made her so desirable to the world in the first place. This song is a fun number that adds nice depth to Zeta Jones’ character and shows off just how talented she can be with Velma’s vulnerability.

19) My heart broke a little when I saw Velma’s face after Roxie’s rejection of her.

And in that moment and that moment alone, I think I shipped the two of them together.

20) Lucy Liu’s glorified cameo as Kitty, the newest jazz killer in Chicago and the one who threatens to take away Roxie’s fame, is a perfect example of how easily Roxie can fall. But here’s the thing, Roxie is smarter than she appears. And more manipulative. It is her greatest strength that people underestimate her, so when she “faints” and mentions “the baby” everyone - from Velma to Billy - are all surprised by her.

21) I was a naive 13 year old. I didn’t understand that the doctor who said he’d testify that Roxie was pregnant had very clearly slept with her (hence Billy’s remark about his fly being open).

22) “Mister Cellophane”

Somehow this song not only shows us how ROXIE perceives her estranged husband as being someone who’s not worth caring about, but also makes Amos into a sympathetic character. He is not particularly whiny about the fact that he’s oft forgotten, he’s just a little sad about it. Reilly’s performance in the song is filled with soft sorrow and vulnerability we don’t always get to see from the actor, an honesty which carries the entire song on its back. It is a truly worthy number to be included with the rest of the film, with its Chaplin like art style and Reilly’s vocals, and I’m glad it made the cut.

23) In a lot of ways Chicago is a noir comedy musical. I say this for two reasons: Amos being kinda screwed over at the end, and the fact that Hunyak - the only innocent girl in the jail - is the only who is hanged. This also reminds Roxie of the fact that she IS on trial for murder and of the fatal consequences she could face.

24) “Razzle Dazzle”

If “We Both Reached for the Gun” is my favorite number in the film from a stylistic standpoint, then “Razzle Dazzle” is probably my favorite from a thematic one. Gere expresses Flynn’s belief that the courts are just a circus, simply entertainment to be manipulated, in a way which is just that: entertaining. I am always totally taken in by the song through its themes of craftiness, playful melody, and fun visuals. It is just a wonderful number which I love watching again and again.

25) If “Razzle Dazzle” doesn’t tell you how Billy sees the court system than this line will:

Hell, the non-musical court room scenes are in a lot of ways more dramatic than the musical ones.

26) This film had a song which was shot but not included in the final cut, one sung between Mama and Velma called “Class”. Still found on the movie’s soundtrack, “Class” had the pair discuss how the world seems to have gone to shit and how no one has any class. It was cut both for pacing issues and - largely - because it did not fit the theme of “the musical in Roxie’s head”. Roxie was at the court house and these two started singing after hearing about what was going on over the radio. It is a wonderful song but I think the film works better without it featured.

27) It took absolutely no time at all for Roxie not to matter. The press didn’t even want her picture after the verdict was read. Another killer, another star.

28) The final number of the film is a dual thing. The first of which is Roxie singing the song “Nowadays” on her own at an audition. The song is sad, somber, and lacks umph. This causes the directors to pass on Roxie. But when Velma and Kelly work together? When they’re able to work with their heat and chemistry and put on a duet of “Nowadays”? The umph is back and it is a wonderful number to end the film on!

I’m obviously biased through my own personal experience with the film, but I think Chicago is quite possibly the best movie musical of the 21st century (yes, even better than Les Miserables). The acting is incredible across the board, with Catherine Zeta Jones and Renée Zellweger being the obvious standouts. The concept of “the musical in Roxie’s head” allows for a musical which is unique and supports a wonderful art style. The songs are fun, the pacing and editing are great, and it’s a technical spectacle in its subtletly. Just a wonderfully entertaining film I think everyone should watch.

#Chicago #Chicago Movie #Roxie Hart #Velma Kelly #Rob Marshall #Catherine Zeta Jones #Renée Zellweger #Richard Gere #John C Reilly #Queen Latifah #Dominic West #Epic Movie (Re)Watch #Movie #Film #GIF

[nessietessimalnua]

SCORE - research notes

SCORE: A FILM MUSIC DOCUMENTARY

Marco Beltrami - PIANO TUNES WITH THE WIND - MALIBU (LOOK INTO): Sound travels through the wire faster than the air, results in a reverse echo - no effect needed (find film used for) - The gunman - columba (instrument), intrigue - following a mystery,

ROCKY

Jon Burlingham, film music historian - Leonard something or other Bill Field, organist - Wurlitzer

MAX STEINER - king kong - orchestra music in a movie?? It completely changed the movie - what was before unexciting and studied became terrifying with the addition of music  

ALFRED NEWMAN - horns and woodwinds - 20th century fox logo

David Newman - a flow, like speaking: it fluctuates

John Debney

James Cameron - spot session, trying to communicate the sound they hear in their heads, etc. - most directors don't know how to convert emotions into music, so the composer has to act as a 'therapist and go through the mish-mash 

BEAR MCCREARY - try to figure out what their insecurities are first,

MERVYN WARREN

MYCHAEL DANNA

HANS ZIMMER - always the blank page,

RACHEL PORTMAN - change in the direction in the scene, often a prompt for when music will come in (quote);

CHRISTOPHE BECK -

Joseph Trapanese - invent a clever way of introducing something familiar

Motif - group of notes that might highlight what a film is (close encounters)

Beethoven - took a motif/theme, spin it out : 5th symphony

Simple hooks, feels like a pop song, casting them in different lights

HOWARD SHORE: "by using motifs, it helps you to understand the relationships in the story - when you hear a certain motif, you connect it, and it actually helps you follow the story." LOTR AS AN EXAMPLE "By the time you get to the end of the film, when you play that music in its full glory, it's already familiar to the audience. We're kind of building our way up to that main course."  

ALEX NORTH - a streetcar named desire (background of ballets and shows - first film score incorporating jazz in writing)

The Pink panther,

JOHN BARRY - James Bond. Came from a band - band sensibility to movies,

big band was cool, swung, felt like a guy that could do anything - no spy/secret services without a reference to James Bond, just like Morricone with spaghetti westerns

ENNIO MORRICONE - Kill you with a melody - The good the bad and the ugly: guitar into the western environment - still the sounds of westerns 50/60 years later

BERNARD HERRMANN - THEME FROM VERTIGO: mystery - little phrases that circular madness to them that worked really well - everything driving you forward in a sick, disastrous way

psycho - tricked you into thinking you saw way more of the violent acts in the scene that actually occurred

TOM HOLKENBURG -

HEITOR PEREIRA

MARK MOTHERSBURG - rugrats on a toy piano

Any instrument is valid if it improves the music

Anything can be music

hurdygurdy - instrument

DARIO MARIANELLI

PARTICK DOYLLE

TRY TO FIND THE GENERAL RHYTHM IN THE SCENE - SEVEN MONTHS PRODUCING THE SCORE, DIFFERENT TYPES OF DRUMS (MAD MAX) - DRUMS UNIQUELY RECORDED, COMBINING TRACKS, AGGRESSIVE, - " don't care what it is, if I make a track, it has to i’ve me goosebumps myself"

"Goosebumps"

PROF. SIU-LAN TAN: different aspects of music are processed by systems in the brain - multifaceted - melody pitch, tempo and rhythm, -- physiological reaction - reward center, dopamine, react to music. Film music and orchestral music is of great interest to scientists because of it's ability to emote: film music isn’t something we pay conscious attention to and yet it has such a powerful impact on us - an audience's eyes can be drawn to different parts of the screen with music that matches certain characteristics being shown on the screen - for example a rising pitch with something that's rising: UP - first time we see the balloons - important visual motif and theme - interesting to see that music can be part of the choreography of our eye movements ET - Vast expansive music with the taking off of the space ship - go from big music to small - reminding us who's going into the spaceship, it's very sad, these are farewells - this fanfare that's very triumphant, saying we're looking at it from Elliot's view point, it's not a loss, it's almost like saying "Mission accomplished" - film music, so powerful, so un-captureable to scientists

QUINCY JONES -  everything you see, you here (used to be) - eyes doing the same things the ear was doing

JERRY GOLDSMITH - planet of the apes: using modern techniques, reapplied it into drama - rubber balls being bounced in bowls, metal bowls, CHINATOWN - four pianos, etc. - ballsy

RANDY NEWMAN

JOHN WILLIAMS - jazz pianist - JAWS - crazy experiment - engine, accelerate - if we didn’t have that theme, we wouldn't know what was happening - spots and places music in the movie - only wanted music to announce the arrival of the shark STAR WARS - huge impact - theme - symphonic score, rediscovered the classical orchestral film score, good and bad, beautiful themes for romance and heroes, the Darth Vader theme - so marshal and broad - "oh boy there’s something not good here"; helps discern characters SUPERMAN theme - krypton theme: mysterious, av-ante garde, way of surrounding pieces with other pieces INDIANA JONES raiders of the lost ark - spends more time on those small bits of musical grammar so they seem inevitable - plethora of parts ET - film music has changed because film has changed, what it needs to do - end of ET - wide space of just music, JURASSIC PARK -

air studios - pick a studio ‘cus it's appropriate to the sort of sound you want to make - churches - haunted, etc. DAVID ARNOLD. - CASINO ROYALE - acoustics, choice - hundreds of mics - how close/how far you wanna feel from the music.

ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS - live sound, less absorbent material on the walls - great reverb, Beatles, Return of the Jedi, lord of the rings, mission impossible - different layouts for different sounds - Rogue Nation, changing music at different cuts to fix problems/change it up

film making styles have changed, so has film music

19702 - synthesizers and punk

DANNY ELFMAN - short musical ideas that become big musical ideas - Tim Burton, batman - only one rule: there are no rules -

THOMAS NEWMAN - difficult to develop what the sound it - like Danny elf man, developed his own sound  - Shaw shank Redemption. American Beauty - marimba, sets the tone of the film, sets you a little off balance, captured the way of ding uncertainty - establish a key center, things will then weave in and around that baseline - creates a texture that lives behind the orchestra, yes could write orchestral scores, but sometimes a film needs something more intimate. prevailing mood, slap it on an image and let it sit for 2 minutes - cold, emotive piano

HANS ZIMMER: unconventional rock swagger to film screen - GLADIATOR - brutality, violence where the notes are placed, intensity - woman's vocals over the orchestra - shaped cinema - took the string section and made it like a guitar - they're playing rhythm - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN - like led zepplin payed by an orchestra; DARK KNIGHT - blurred the line between giant symphonic and orchestral - constant pulse - powerful, exciting - INCEPTION - it's like a new morning, washes over you in waves, music just piles up - left with a big question.

People who aren't film composers being asked to make film scores - can bring so much authenticity to sound music - sounds are extremely contemporary - SOCIAL NETWORK - disturbing lyrical piano - human and technical, emotionally dark, - ATTICUS ROSS and TRENT RIZZLER

unconventional image and unconventional sound - so much greater than the sum of their arts beautiful chaos far more experimentation, freedom, Technology has made it possible for every composer to be a producer - at the core of it is the tune

STEVE JABLONSKY - Lockdown theme - first introduces french horns into the score, mixing them up a bit, bringing texture to the piece, you want your intention to be clear - the horns give it more of an emotional weight - you want to make sure the emotions you mean to grab the audience are strong enough, make bold statement

ALEXANDER BELSPATT

FOX STUDIOS - LA, stronger sound, London, softer sound -

HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS -

WARNER BROS. STUDIOS - JOHN (PAUL??) DEBNY -  

music - the most human and emotive thing we have

ELLIOT GOLDENTHAL

BRIAN TYLER - if everything was perfect in music, everything would sound terrible - fast and furious 6 - you can feel when a cue is working the audience - goes to watch audience reactions when watching the movie, helps him for future films - get a sense of how did this work, do they scenes move people - will run into a bathroom stall, will see if anyone is humming or whistling the theme - feels like he affected them on a level they're not aware of -

TYLER BATES

MOBY - the one art form that doesn't technically exist - you can't put your finger on music - it's just air waves moving a little differently

Film music being used outside of film - Remember the Titans - Obama, whatever the audience felt in the theater was resonant again

HANS ZIMMER - LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH THAT FREQUENTLY COMMISSION ORCHESTRAL PIECES - WITHOUT THEM, ORCHESTRAL MUSIC WOULD DISAPPEAR, WOULD BE A CULTURAL LOSS TO HUMANITY, - we all have fragility, when i play you a piece of music, i completely expose myself, and that's a very scary moment - i love i love i love what I do -

music plays such an important role in a film

film music i one of the great art form of the 20th and 21st century

RYAN TAUBERT - SCORE

James Horner - titanic - sketch out on synthesizer

#research #research report #year 3 #ba3a

[martens-movie-reviews]

Released: May 1, 2015 Running Time: 2 hours 21 minutes

“When Tony Stark jumpstarts a dormant peacekeeping program, things go terribly awry, forcing him, Thor, the Incredible Hulk and the rest of the Avengers to reassemble. As the fate of Earth hangs in the balance, the team is put to the ultimate test as they battle Ultron, a technological terror hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they encounter two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff.”

Marvel Cinematic Universe – Source – Marvel Studios

You can find all of the reviews for the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the link here. At that link, you can also find the dates that the other reviews for the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be posted. My plan is to release one every single day, and because I’ve already reviewed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 here, and Spider – Man: Homecoming here, they will not be included in the two weeks leading up to Thor Ragnarok.

As such, I will now move onto the actual review of the film, and I hope you enjoy!

The Avengers: Age of Ultron Trailer – Source: Marvel Studios

Cast and Crew

This film was written and directed by Joss Whedon, returning for the last time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after he was ‘absolutely drained and exhausted after this film.’ Now, I’ve already mentioned his previous work in the review for ‘Marvel’s The Avengers’, however, I will do a quick recap of it here. Before joining the MCU, he was known for directing and writing hit television shows including ‘Firefly’, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and Dollhouse. He has since worked on writing and directing portions of the ‘Justice League’ movie that is coming to theatres on November 17, 2017, and is currently working on ‘Batgirl’ for Warner Brothers as well.

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The cast for the ever expanding Avengers: Age of Ultron includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Linda Cardellini, Claudia Kim, Andy Serkis, Stellan Skarsgård, Thomas Kretschmann, Kerry Condon, Josh Brolin and Stan Lee

Review

The opening sequence of this film is straight out of a comic book onto the big screen, and it was beautiful. The scene featured the Avengers all working together, having been clearing out the remnants of Hydra and going after Loki’s Scepter to finally get rid of the threats left behind by the Chitauri. It was exciting, and fun, and even has Cap telling people to watch their language. We are also briefly introduced to two new characters in Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, who use their powers to mess with the Avengers a bit.

The one thing that I had a problem with at the beginning of this film was the lullaby, that was used by Black Widow to soothe the Hulk, and to calm him down enough to get him to revert back to Banner. While that is something that they would have obviously tried to figure out as a team, I didn’t like the execution of it, nor the implications that would later be revealed between the two characters.

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Dr. Helen Cho, developed a machine that is able to create and synthesise quick healing of flesh wounds, and perhaps more (never explored further). It’s a quick and easy explanation that can be used if ever the Avengers are scene injured in one scene, and ‘fine’ the next. I enjoyed that little scene where Barton was getting fixed up, as it displayed the camaraderie that the Avengers had with one another.

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With the Scepter back in the Avengers hands, the mad scientist, Banner and Stark (mostly Stark), decide that it would be a good idea to use the scepter that they’ve been studying to help them in creating Ultron, the peace program that would be able to protect the planet. As everything Stark does with good intentions, it doesn’t really go all that well.

The celebration scene where we get to see the Avengers all relax and have fun, is somethign that the movie did extremely well. They managed to make these superheroes extremely relatable, especially in the Mjolnir scene, where all the men try and take turns in lifting the hammer. The best part of that scene was when Rogers made it budge, and the priceless look on Thor’s face was extremely satisfying and hilarious.

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Ultron as a character in this film starts off really terrifying as he has no control over the emotions that he has, and translates the phrase ‘peace in our time’ into meaning that to have peace, humanity must be extinct, as they are the ones fighting one another, and destroying the planet. It’s not a wrong analogy that Ultron comes up with, but the execution of the idea of manufacturing peace is not humane.

Over the course of the movie, he becomes more obsessed with destroying the Avengers in a grand and theatrical way (something he got from his creator (Stark), that he comes off as weak.

From Left to Right: Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Steve Rogers, Don Cheadle as James Rhodes / War Machine, Claudia Kim as Dr. Helen Cho, Thor, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff – Source: Marvel Studios

The music in Avengers: Age of Ultron was done by Brian Tyler & Danny Elfman. I feel that they both delivered great scores and themes for the heroes, while also being consistent throughout their differences. Before writing this review, I was under the impression that it was only Elfman who had worked on the score, not realising that they worked together and separately on this film.

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The cinematography of Avengers: Age of Ultron was done by director of photography Ben Davis. This film featured really somber framing, as well as gorgeous shots. I enjoyed and am surprised by how many characters he was able to fit into a single frame, as the group is only getting bigger. I really enjoyed the action scenes, and appreciated the one shot scene in the church with the Avengers fighting the Ultrons.

Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue – Source: Marvel Studios

The character of Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the ultimate android, using the Mind Stone as some sort of super battery. To Ultron, Vision is the perfect being, and as displayed when he picks up Mjolnir, he is worthy of that ability. I feel like they might be backing themselves into a corner with this character whenever the character meets Thanos. Once Vision loses the Mind Stone, will he be finished, or will he somehow live. Infinity War will answer a lot of questions, and will probably feature a lot of deaths. I hope that one of them isn’t Vision just to be able to see people’s reactions if ever Marvel Studios decides to further explore the love interest between himself and Scarlet Witch as implied in Captain America: Civil War.

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The Maximoff twins, without the use of Mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they have been named ‘miracles’, given their enhancements via the Mind Stone that was in Loki’s Scepter. Wanda / Scarlet Witch was portrayed wonderfully and creepily by Elizabeth Olsen. I really loved what they did with the character, even showing glimpses of the potential of her power after her brother’s death. I am happy that they chose to keep Wanda, and ‘let Fox have Pietro’, however I wish we could have had both.

Pietro Maximoff, Marvel’s ‘answer’ to the Flash from DC. He is able to run extremely fast without getting tired, however they chose to add that limitation in the movie so that he would not be overpowered. I feel like the back and forth that he and Clint Barton had throughout the film was fun and enjoyable, and I was happy to see that he will be remembered in the MCU through Nathaniel Pietro Barton, Clint’s third child, after Quicksilver sacrificed himself to save Clint and the child that he had gone to get.

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Scarlet Witch got to mess with everyone’s minds, and show them visions of either their worst memory or their worst fear? It wasn’t very clear on that, one thing I truly enjoyed of that was Clint Barton’s response in not wanting to be mind controlled again, and decided to electrocute her with one of his non-lethal arrows.

Tony’s vision showed him the death of the Avengers, and the gaping wormhole that the Chitauri were coming through in New York, it leads him to really go after the Ultron project as wants to prevent that from ever happening, and continues the journey that he was on in Iron Man 3, with wanting to protect those that he cares about.

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Natasha’s vision was a memory of her training that she went through in the Red Room, forcing her to remember the horrors that she experienced, including the graduation ceremony where she was sterilised, which influences her to taking the path towards Banner, especially because he doesn’t want to fight, and she just wants to escape, as he once did.

Steve’s vision included him back in the 40s, after the end of the war, where he survived and got to have that dance with Peggy Carter. It was a touching scene, where you realise that his worst memory / fear? is that he couldn’t grow old with the person he loved, and that everyone that he cared about is now long gone. I was surprised that we didn’t see Barnes in that scene of his, even if it was only a glimpse.

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Scarlet Witch had one more victim in mind for her mind games, and unfortunately we don’t get to see what caused the Hulk to change, but it’s easy to figure out, most likely the hulk is his worst memory / fear, and in that becomes self explanatory. The good thing about that scene, is that it displays to the world what the Hulk is capable of, and we also got to see the Hulkbuster armour go toe to toe with the Hulk. They caused so much destruction, and the fight was so intense and fun to watch, that you can understand that the Hulk is something to be afraid of, especially if he loses control as he was forced into doing.

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Avengers: Age of Ultron is also the start of the rift that will grow to cause the Civil War between the Avengers, with Tony wanting to protect the planet at any cost, while Rogers wants to have the power of free will, and be able to save who he wants and when he wants. The scene between the two chopping wood really shows the tension between the ‘two leaders’, and I feel like it was brilliantly acted by Evans and Downey Jr..

The part of the movie that I feel was the most forced thing out of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe was the whole Banner / Romanoff ‘relationship’ throughout the movie. It wasn’t needed, it was awkward, boring and just plain weird. Natasha must know that there could be no sex life with Banner, as evidence from ‘The Incredible Hulk’, where Banner can’t sleep with Betty Ross because he can’t even get a ‘little bit excited.’ I feel like it was forced, as I’ve already mentioned, and I still don’t know why Marvel thought it would have been a good idea.

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The final confrontation between the Avengers and Ultron felt weak, and copies the same third act formula from the first Avengers film. A shit ton of robots (Chitauri) that are extremely expendable and able to be taken down with ease, versus the Avengers team, with two new heroes added, after an inspiring speech from Hawkeye to Scarlet Witch.

That is one of the greatest problems with the film, was that it felt very much like a carbon copy of the first one, while also throwing in Deus Ex Machina of a Heli Carrier with the help from Maria Hill and Nick Fury. It felt like they just didn’t know how to properly do a third act of the film on this one, and that’s a shame because the first act was fantastic, the second one was good, but the third one was weak.

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I really enjoyed that Clint Barton had a secret family that Natasha of all people knew about. It was a little convenient in that Ultron had access to everything on the internet, but wouldn’t have known that Barton was married and had 2 kids. I found it really touching, as it gave a reason for Barton to be a part of the team, he is the most human out of them all, and he is doing the superhero act because it’s his job, and he wants to protect his family. I thought it was touching to see the Avengers reactions upon finding out.

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At the time, I thought that Thor’s vision that Scarlet Witch had given him was kind of lame, and took him out of the story and it added a storyline that wasn’t needed in that movie. I still believe some of that, as it doesn’t add anything whatsoever in the film, but it does set up the next movie that he is set to appear in, Thor: Ragnarok. He sees the infinity stones that have been seen in the MCU thus far, and he knows that it’s not a coincidence, so he decides that the best thing to do, is electrocute the cradle to bring Vision to life with the Mind Stone. One thing that doesn’t really make sense is how would he know about the Power Stone being in the MCU?

His vision also hints at the whereabouts of the last Infinity Stone, the Soul Stone, when he questions Heimdall about what happened to his eyes, which were white in this scene, but are usually orange, the colour of the Soul Stone).

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The Hulk, after being tricked and forced to turn by the Black Widow, decides to leave the Avengers after the events in Sokovia, and ends up disappearing. We will hopefully find out exactly what happened in Thor: Ragnarok, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they just gloss over that little detail.

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The Avengers end up getting a new facility, courtesy of Stark using one of his father’s old warehouse in upstate New York to avoid a confrontation where civilians can be hurt near their base of operations. We also get to meet the new Avengers, which include Black Widow, Vision, Scarlet Witch, War Machine, Falcon and Captain America.

We get a fun little chat between Thor, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark where the ‘humans’ debate whether Vision being able to lift Mjolnir counts, as he’s an android. Thor finally leaves, running Stark’s lawn, and heads off towards Ragnarok.

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There was only one post credit scene in this film, and that was of Thanos grabbing a gauntlet and saying that he’s going to have to do it himself, leading into Avengers: Infinity War.

Josh Brolin as Thanos ‘doing it himself’: Post Credit Scene – Source: Marvel Studios

Overall, I feel like this movie could have been a lot better in terms of how the villain was used, the manipulation / release of the Maximoff twins, the lullaby, the hinted relationship between Banner and Romanoff, and being too much like the first Avengers film. There was a lot of good moments, which is why the score might be higher than people think. I really enjoyed the opening sequence of the film as well as the after party that followed. I feel like it made the Avengers relatable and fun to see them interacting as the friends that they’ve become since their first mission in New York.

The twin’s ability was visually well done, except I had problems with Quicksilver being tired. I loved the realization that Barton was hiding a whole life from his friends, having his family off the books at S.H.I.E.L.D. which was really convenient but held true to the character. This film also helps in setting up a lot of films from Phase III of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with; Ulysses Klaue for Black Panther, Stark and Rogers starting to have more friction due to their beliefs for Captain America: Civil War, Thor on his side mission & Hulk disappearing for Thor: Ragnarok, and Thanos in the post credit scene for Avengers: Infinity War.

Promotional poster – Source: Marvel Studios

At the end of the day, this movie had a lot of shortcomings, and was extremely noticeable after coming off two very great movies in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. I have to give this film a score, and that score is 7/10.

What did you think of the film? Are you excited for Thor: Ragnarok? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading,

Alex Martens

The Avengers: Age of Ultron Review Released: May 1, 2015 Running Time: 2 hours 21 minutes "When Tony Stark jumpstarts a dormant peacekeeping program, things go terribly awry, forcing him, Thor, the Incredible Hulk and the rest of the Avengers to reassemble.

#Comic Book Movie #MCU #Movie Review

[natasha-tv-blog]

UNIT 8 RESEARCH

Tim burton is one of my favorate directors as he has his own unique style and creates films that are to his liking and are very entertaining. Also he is a very good director since i always hear about how the people involved can rely on his organisation and skill as a director, i hope to use him as a rolemodle for my unit 8 piece as a director using his style as my inspiration for my ghost tale.

""Timothy Walter "Tim" Burton[1] (/ˈbɜːrtən/; born August 25, 1958) is an American film director, producer, artist, writer and animator. He is known for his dark, gothic, eccentric and quirky fantasy films such as Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), the animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), the biographical film Ed Wood (1994), the horror fantasy Sleepy Hollow (1999), and later efforts such as Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Dark Shadows (2012) and Frankenweenie (2012). He is also known for blockbusters such as the adventure comedy Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), the superhero films Batman (1989) and its first sequel Batman Returns (1992), the sci-fi film Planet of the Apes (2001), the fantasy drama Big Fish (2003), the musical adventure film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and the fantasy film Alice in Wonderland (2010), which garnered a worldwide gross of over $1 billion. Burton has worked repeatedly with Johnny Depp, who has become a close friend of Burton since their first film together. He has also worked with musician Danny Elfman, who has composed scores for all but three of the films Burton has directed. Actress Helena Bonham Carter, Burton's former domestic partner, has appeared in many of his films. He also wrote and illustrated the poetry book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories, published in 1997 by Faber and Faber, and a compilation of his drawings, sketches and other artwork, entitled The Art of Tim Burton, was released in 2009. A follow-up to The Art of Tim Burton, entitled The Napkin Art of Tim Burton: Things You Think About in a Bar, containing sketches made by Burton in napkins at bars and restaurants he occasionally visits, was released in 2015. Both compilations were published by Steeles Publishing.""

Our idea is for 4 friends to go talking and laughing about the ghost stories that surround their location and them convincing each other to enter the woods that most of the stories relate to. After a lot of teasing about being scared they enter the woods laughing and jocking about the stories until they see a figure that seemingly dissapears after being spotted. They brush it off as a person messing about and go to investigate about what was going on and what they saw but where they saw the figure there is now a doll, laughing they throw the doll between them and then hear a scream which they also blow off as kids until the second scream is closer as they drop the doll screams are herd and sticks are thrown out of no where at the group. As they panic one of them goes missing and one by one from that point we see there death.

We are hopeing to film in friday woods for this dramatical piece.

After some minor altercations i am doing my own piece instead of the original idea.

I am hopeing to do a music video to a gorillaz track, 'feel good inc.' or 'amarillo'. I have a few dancers that are willing to dance to these tracks and create a music video with me.

A BIT ABOUT THE GORILLAZ 1998-(ONGOING) " Gorillaz are an English virtual band created in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. The band consists of four animated members: 2-D (lead vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, keyboards) and Russel Hobbs (drums and percussion). These members are fictional and are not personas of any "real life" musicians involved in the project. Their fictional universe is explored through the band's website and music videos, as well as a number of other media, such as short cartoons. In reality, Albarn is the only permanent musical contributor, and the music is often a collaboration between various musicians. Writers and critics have described their music as alternative rock, Britpop, trip hop, hip hop, electronica, indie, dub, reggae and pop.

The band's 2001 debut album Gorillaz sold over seven million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2001, but the nomination was later withdrawn at the band's request. Their second studio album Demon Days (2005) went five times platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US. The band has won other awards, including one Grammy Award, two MTV Video Music Awards, an NME Award, three MTV Europe Music Awards, and have been nominated for nine Brit Awards. The band's third studio album, Plastic Beach, was released in March 2010. Their fourth studio album called The Fall was released in December 2010 as a free download for fan club members, then in April 2011 as a physical release. After a six-year hiatus, Gorillaz announced their fifth studio album Humanz, which was released on 28 April 2017."

THIS IS WHAT I GOT FROM WIKAPEDIA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillaz)

My favorate music videos are from ludacrus, prince and the animated awesomeness that is the gorillaz.

my music video will be of dIsabled dancers in a dance class to be inspirational as well as being a music video. my hidden meaning is for people to see that no matter what you camn still do what you want whever you have physical, mental or peer problems/illnesses.being yourself is hard, but when you feel most comfortable doing the things that people say you cant you just have to go for it i learned this from experience.

i want to put a quote at the end of the video an inspirational quote. The music i used in the end was the script - hall of fame.

EVALUATION

My music video had a lot of inperfections and a lot of mistakes but i still hoped i got the message across.

EVALUATION - CAMERA WORK

My camera skills could have been a lot better as much of my angles were the same or had very shaky hand held footage.I feel i could have done a lot better if i had tried to plan better or even if i had booked a steady camera from the media department. My camera skills were basic and not that of a high quality, though i did have an array of different angles.

EVALUATION - ORGANISATION

My organisation skills were not that great either as i did not try my hardest but i did get dancers and a location in 3 days with consent forms. I was able to book a camera, get a group of dancers and also get consent forms in 3 days and still get everything i wanted to get.

EVALUATION - EDITING

My editing was not very clear cut as it was a little hard as i am not very experienced with the editing software and am not very confident in editing. It was a amature styled attemp at editing but i believe it will surfice.

EVALUATION - OVERALL PRODUCT

My overall project was not as bad as i thought but was still lacking in many areas and is a very amature attempt at a music video considering it was done by a media student i am a little dissapointed in my self for the music video but i still feel i have delivered the message i had hoped for.

EVALUATION - MESSAGE TO SEND

I think the message i was trying to sent was recieved with the music video and i think it was still a powerful message even though the video was a little shabby. My message was the you can do whatever you want to and that phsical and mental disabilitys cant stop you from trying nor can it stop you from living your dream.

[singloom]

2016 Anime/Animation Challenge Revisited ~ August + September (and that one in July I forgot)

The Corpse Bride (August) Like many, I grew up with the stop-motion animation spectacle that was The Nightmare Before Christmas, a charming gothic-style feature with singing skeletons, plenty of catchy musical numbers and a gorgeous The Corpse Bride is something of a Spirital Sequel to the former Halloween/Christmas OTP musical and, interestingly, is based on an old Jewish-Russian folk tale about a woman murdered on the way to her wedding. A gothic romantic comedy musical, we are told the story of Victor, the son of wealthy fishmongers, who's arranged marriage with the beautiful Victoria does not go as smoothly as he hoped. Because he accidentally proposes to another girl called Emily in the woods in the dead of night. Oh, and Emily is dead. That's important. We have our Corpse Bride. Like The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride is a stop-motion film, giving it a very memorable visual appeal. The most clever example of style is the contrast between the Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead. The world of the living (set during Victorian times) is deliberately void of colour, very drab and drained, whereas the underworld is vibrant, colourful and, ironically, more full of life. If you love critical analysis like I do, you'll have plenty of food for thought at the way it symbolises social class distinctions in the Victorian Era. The character design screams Tim Burton, especially in the forms of Victor and Emily, the latter very beautiful and iconic despite the whole being dead thing. As for the music, with a soundtrack by Danny Elfman, you know what to expect, standouts including "Remains of the Day," "The Wedding Song" and "Tears to Shed." The Bittersweet Ending and beautiful message from Emily herself gave The Corpse Bridge extra brownie points for me. Give it a watch if you want a romantic comedy with a different visual style and plenty of songs. Re-Zero -Starting Life in Another World- (+ Shorts) (September) Okay. This was the biggy. Think of a Trapped In Another World show like Sword Art Online, Hack and Log Horizon, but crank that Grimdark all the way up to eleven. You get Re:Zero, the story of typical high school student Subaru, who is mysteriously whisked away from his home in Japan to a fantasy world. He even meets a cute girl, a half-elf named Satella. Seems super magic and cool, right? Well, it would be expect for one thing. They're both murdered. And then Subaru wakes up exactly where he was when he first came to the fantasy world. It becomes clear very quickly that Subaru has something of a "Groundhog Day Meets Respawn" situation going on. Every time he dies in this new world, he returns to a certain " checkpoint" in the story (like the first day.) Make no mistake, Re:Zero may be a fantasy anime, but it's also pure Psychological Horror, Nightmare Fuel that saturates everything and, thus, makes almost every episode a Wham Episode. You're hit hard as you watch Subaru struggle to survive and save the people he grows close to and loves, only to fail and die horribly, often alongside his newly formed friends, then respawn, aware of his death and the knowledge from that "playthrough" (for lack of better word.) Break the cutie, much? Subaru himself is a very interesting part of the Re:Zero experience. His behaviour is something of a base breaker for fans, but we still get to follow his journey, seeing the best and worst of him. His blind adoration of Emilia, trying to remain strong in a very bleak situation, absolutely humiliating himself and at times behaving like an entitled prix (especially in episode 13,) suffering an absolute breakdown, his friendship with Rem, the despair and just everything. Love him or hate him, Subaru is what makes the show so enthralling as we suffer and feel with him. While shows like Sword Art Online start out strong with appealing premises only to falter as the series progresses, Re:Zero felt much stronger to me, keeping me engaged with the Respawn gimmick and watching what this does to poor Subaru as his sanity begins to slip (mega props to his Japanese voice actor, Yusuke Kobayashi.) Only the third arc really slipped for me, as it shifted from the Respawn thing and went in a slightly different direction, but it was still overall a very strong show. Personal thing, Emilia, Ram and Rem are absolutely adorable. <3 Rewatch (The One I Forgot in July, Oops) Thanks to working in an environment with plenty of televisions all competing to give you THE ULTIMATE VIEWING EXPERIENCE, I was exposed to a LOT of Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Like, over and over again. That's a lot of exposure and that's not including the countless times it's been on television. That could be why I'm sort of indifferent to it, compared to the other Ice Age films. Don't get me wrong, it's still entertaining and a good way to pass the time, but it's not the strongest film in the franchise. The third movie gives us Sid being kidnapped by a T-Rex Mommy (after he finds and "attempts" to raise her babies) and his friends, Manny the Mammoth, his mate Elly, Diego the Smilodon, and twin possum troublemakers, Eddie and Crash, set out on a perilous journey to rescue him. But not without the help of a seasoned, albeit slightly eccentric, weasel survivor with an eyepatch voiced by Simon Pegg. No, really. There's also a sweet part of the story with Manny and Elly expecting their first child, which injects much needed heart into the film. The relationship between Manny and Elly is adorable and this was the stronger narrative in Dawn of the Dinosaurs compared to the driving force behind their newest adventure. Diego was also an excellent source of support as he struggles with the prospect of staying with his friends or moving on to pastures new following Manny's new family. Card on the table, time. I was not too crazy about the whole "Sid and his baby dinosaurs" storyline. Yes, it was midly heartwarming at times and it was the eventual cause of his friends coming to his rescue, but boy, did it get dry after awhile. Compared to other silly, daft characters who exist solely for comedy relief, I feel there's no real depth or substance to Sid, so he outstays his welcome in lengthier ventures. He was tolerable in the first film, not so much now. Second highlight of the movie, Buck. Just Buck. His onscreen time is guaranteed comedy gold, especially given he's supposed to be the Weasel Man in charge of this rescue mission. Voiced to superb perfection by Simon Pegg, this experienced adventurer of the dangerous wild will make you laugh, as he is a walking, talking Crowning Character of Funny. I could easily watch a film dedicated to this character if he kept the same level of humour as he does here. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is an easy watch, much lighter and softer compared to the somber and perilous previous entries. This film has plenty of comedy (mostly from Buck or the Chasm of Death laughing gas,) very entertaining scenes of action and, generally, a movie you can just sit back and enjoy on a lazy day. Oh, and don't lose any sleep over Scrat. If you loved the shenanigans of that nut loving squirrel beast, he's still here and not alone this time.

#2016 anime challenge #anime #re:zero #ice age #the corpse bride

[aion-rsa]

Aliens, Clowns & Geeks Review: Sci-Fi Comedy Aims Low And Scores High

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

No one sets out to make a cult movie. Most filmmakers aspire to commercial heights even if they only have the budgets for a B-movie. They see films like Blair Witch realign box office accounting and apply all kinds of quantum physics to mimic the exponential multiplication. Very few achieve it, and the ones which do usually do it by accident, and certainly not with serious intent. Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is not afraid to be ridiculous. It joins the ranks as such brave films as Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, and Frankenhooker.

It is also so much more than these films, dripping with artistry, and yet considerably less, with masturbating aliens, pussy ping pong, and sphincter-pinching obelisks. Richard Elfman’s sci-fi comedy has an abundance of experimental fun and a happily reckless disregard for taste. It owes as much to Frank Zappa as it does to Frank Capra, and can in some ways be seen as a screwball comedy take on the 1955 film noir classic Kiss Me Deadly. For a silly film, Aliens, Clowns & Geeks summons serious plot twists. It captures the casual surrealism of the Marx Brothers in hyper-speed.

Though it’s not on the level as Forbidden Zone, how could it be? Elfman’s 1980 cult classic ranks way past closing time on the clock of midnight movies. Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is still completely original. Unlike other films where low budget hobbles creativity, this uses a lack of funds to its advantage. In some ways this is like Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!, except done on one-thousandth of the budget and with 1/100th of the stars. Aliens, Clowns & Geeks marks the final feature film role for the late Verne Troyer (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Goldmember, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). His Clown Emperor Beezel-Chugg is a memorable turn. Narcissistic, lethal, and commanding, he is the Emperor of the Nine Planet Federation, and still gets hauled in for Illegal dwarf tossing.

The little clown who gets tossed around is played by Nic Novicki, but don’t feel too bad for him, he takes dirty pictures of nuns in porta-potties in his spare time. George Wendt plays a priest who condemns him to eternal damnation for it. French Stewart (Stargate, 3rd Rock from the Sun) gets the Fickle Finger of Fate Award for being able to maintain an Arte Johnson impression throughout a whole film as the German scientist Professor von Scheisenberg.

Mimicry is only one extra talent the actors bring into their roles. Rebecca Forsythe contorts her voice and face excruciatingly and exquisitely as Swedish lab assistant Helga. She’s studied quantum, subquantum and super-quantum dynamics, and delivers one of the greatest pickup lines in cinema history: “you would be surprised at how incorrect the calculations of many rocket scientists can be.” Her body proves to be equally supple whether during head-banging sex or in one-on-one martial arts combat.

No one quite makes the faces or shrieks the screams quite like Bodhi Elfman, who plays the lead, a jaded actor named Eddy Pine. Bohdi, the actor playing the actor, is a cartoon character masquerading as a person. His cynical Steve Buscemi-esque delivery grounds him even as the only missed opportunity in the film is a Looney Tunes sight gag where hens lay so many eggs they rise to the roof of Porky Pig’s barn. 

Happily, the camera turns away when the obelisk is introduced to the film. Whether it is just a worthless novelty or the key to the universe, Eddy’s anus is “the chosen portal.” The Chinese military wants the obelisk, there’s an intergalactic battle between alien clowns and green Martians over it, and Dr. von Scheisenberg wants to melt it down for clean energy. About a foot long, and looking like the Washington Monument with squiggly sub-particle lettering, it is also known as the jamtoid key, and is worth more than a three-picture deal, but “money won’t mean nothing if the world explodes.”

Elfman, who also directed Shrunken Heads, and Modern Vampires, has a background in theater, and uses troupe mentality by casting actors in multiple roles. Anastasia Elfman brings the fire of a true believer to five characters. Helga’s sister Inga is played by Angeline-Rose Troy, who also plays Eddy’s junkie-whore mother. The noises she makes in one particular chase scene is so alien and unexpected, it brings the whole movie to another level. Steve Agee plays Eddy’s recently transitioned Burlesque dancer and bar-owning sister Jumbo, as well as the chicken-suit wearing Eddy Pine. Richard Elfman plays the clown Da-Beep. Martin Klebba is an angry clown captain.

The final character is the original soundtrack, which upstages the action in the best of ways. Aliens, Clowns & Geeks could be called a musical, but not in the same way The Rocky Horror Picture Show is, even if there is gender fluidity flowing through it. For the film, Elfman reunited with the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, who starred in Forbidden Zone. The score was written by Danny Elfman and Ego Plum. Danny Elfman wrote the theme song to The Simpsons, the music to Nightmare Before Christmas, and did the singing voice of Jack Skellington. Plum is best known for the noises he made for SpongeBob SquarePants and The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, but also plays in the band Mambo Demonico. Consisting of 75 minutes in a ninety-minute movie, the music makes the film unique. The diverse mix of genres makes the movie feel like live performance.

Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is laid out in the three-act story structure of classic comedies. It is zany, evoking the feel that logic has been usurped by the most unreasonable intrusions. The film opens on the road. The first victim is a large biker clown who is mind controlled to be some kind of monosyllabic Terminator-style obelisk retrieval machine. Eddy is taking his sorrows for a swim in the deep end of a dive bar. His network series, “Cry Me Dry,” was cancelled a day before it was set to air. Their first encounter is inadvertently suspenseful, as the clueless Eddie chalks up a seemingly random request to another day in Hollywood. 

The movie then takes on a science fiction turn while keeping to an LA Noir sensibility, albeit with frenetic sexcapades (“May you procreate and spread your clown seed wide”), campy caricatures, vampy vehicular battles, and trampy throughlines. Masturbating aliens remotely manipulate blond femme fatales with X-box controllers, making the conquest of earth look like a video game. This highlights the depersonalization of battle, intergalactic or terrestrial. This very human alienation is further accentuated every time the green aliens have to get approval from corporate. There are impossibly surreal scenarios, like a ménage à trois scene where Eddy’s on the bottom and the POV shows the two girls on top. The scene ends in a nuclear explosion, topping the fireworks display of the first climax of Deep Throat. There is a head exploding scene which is more over-the-top than Scanners.

As comedy, each of the set ups have great payoffs, and the running gags never trip up, even if Eddy slips into Shakespearean soliloquies before exiting, stage left. Elfman mocks Hollywood itself, pointing out that the Beverly Hills Police Department only takes calls from celebrities while actors kiss ass on Hollywood Boulevard all day. The film even throws in visual sight gags, like a bucket of brains which is kept in a joint compound container labeled “head stuff.” One character is reading a book called “The Strawberry Fields of Heaven by Blossom Elfman.”

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Aliens, Clowns & Geeks makes no apologies. You just have to go with it. Groucho Marx once advised if nothing else is getting a laugh, “drop your pants.” This turns out to be the greatest weapon of the movie. It saves the day as much as it lowers the bar. It is worshipfully irreverent, and politically incorrect. There is no shame nor the slightest consideration given to cancel culture. “Life is complicated, take if from the guy with a dick in a dress,” we are advised in the film. Even insane biker clowns may not be what they seem. Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is silly, goofy, stupidly intelligent, and absolutely what a mad scientist would order.

Aliens, Clowns & Geeks will be opening in a drive-in run, double billed with Forbidden Zone: Director’s Cut. Details will be announced. 

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