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all-drarry-to-me · 4 years

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Could you do a queer literatur recommendation post with your experience so far? I would love that! All the best, Emi P.s. I recommend comicwise: Heartstopper (print+tumblr), Always human, Aerial magic (webtoon)

Thank you for the recommendations! I love “Heartstopper” and will definitely check out the others. (:

And yes — I would LOVE to! I feel like most of the ones I've read have been fairly mainstream (and many have come from Tumblr recommendations), but I hope there's a few on my list you haven't heard of:

1. “How to Be a Normal Person” by TJ Klune: This is the first book I read that related to asexuality and it really helped to change my perspective on my own identity. It shows a healthy, beautiful, thriving ace relationship and just healed my heart a little. I fell in love with the setting and with the characters, then the story is so sweet, and honest, and I couldn’t help but fall in love with that, too. It’s focused on two men in the little town of Abby, Oregon — with an incredible side cast featuring an all-female biker gang trio (maybe sisters, maybe lesbians in a poly relationship), a ferret named after a president and a lot of weed. It’s focused on Gus and his attempt to woo Casey and it’s HILARIOUS. The sequel (”How to Be a Movie Star”) is almost as good — it follows one of the side characters, who’s also ace (but in a different way, showing the spectrum of asexuality). That one features California hipsters, strong male friendships and a mention or two of monster porn. It makes sense in the book, I swear.

2. The Captive Prince trilogy by C.S. Pacat: I fell HARD into this fandom. I binge read the books during a long weekend and was immediately obsessed. The plot is intricate and compelling, and I could write pages about my love for the characters. (Literal pages; I’m not joking.) There’s politics and corruption, betrayal and love; I’ve read all three multiple times now. Do be warned — the books get heavy; there’s war, sexual assault and a host of other things that could potentially be triggering. High-key recommend, but do be cognizant of the subject matter before choosing them. And perhaps don’t read them in public, like I made the mistake of doing.

3. “Radio Silence” by Alice Oseman: A hint of mystery, a relatable struggle of college applications — this book revolves around a podcast inspired by “Welcome to Night Vale” and is a really unique read. It’s been a while since I read it, but I remember really connecting with the characters. Oseman is active here on Tumblr, and as Anon mentioned, does a lovely comic called “Heartstopper.”

4. “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” by Benjamin Alire Sáenz: This one, too, I read in a weekend. It’s as much a queer love story as a coming-of-age novel, focused on two boys in their late teens as they struggle with their identity — in this case, both their sexuality and their race (both are Mexican-American). The story is heart-breaking and beautiful and I absolutely loved it.

5. “Red, White and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston: A co-worker of mine read this and told me it was “basically just porn” and that’s NOT at all what it is! It’s so much more than smut, and so much more than a love story. I finished this one like a week ago and I’m still in awe of all the things McQuiston made me feel. By having a female president and a scandal revolving around an email server, it brought back all the feelings I had post-2016 U.S. election. That hurt. More than I thought it would. But it’s also about living life for you and the main character’s bisexuality crisis is one of the most relatable things I’ve ever read. I swear I don’t cry easily — but I definitely cried a few times reading this one.

6. “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller: Like Captive Prince and RWRB, this is another one I saw raved about on Tumblr — and potentially unpopular opinion here, but it didn’t quite do it for me. It’s still going on the recommendation list because I know so many other people who list this book among their favorites, but it didn’t hit me in the same way. The Greek mythology is definitely interesting and Miller’s an obviously talented writer, but I had a hard time getting into it. Still, worth checking out and deciding for yourself!

7. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky: If you haven’t read it, then read it. This isn’t one that initially comes to mind when thinking about queer literature — for some reason, it exists in a separate space in my brain — but one of the main characters (played by Ezra Miller in the movie version) is gay and there’s a whole conflict about being gay and coming out, which I think is even more well-done in the book. It’s been one of my favorites for YEARS, though this one does have some heavy themes, too, many of which are more of a focus in the book than the queer character and his experiences. High-key recommend this one, too — don’t let the fact that it’s last on the list fool you for a second.

There you have it: Those are my top ones thus far, but I’ll keep y’all updated if anyone’s interested! I just ordered the Foxhole Court trilogy and have a few others on my to-read list . . .

#asked and answered #anon ask #how to be a normal person #captive prince #radio silence #aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe #red white and royal blue #the song of achilles #perks of being a wallflower #dot posts

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irarelypostanything · 4 years

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HBO’s “Silicon Valley” - A brilliant but shocking ending

A friend told me that he didn’t mind having the plot of “Silicon Valley” spoiled for him, but even he probably wouldn’t want to hear what happens in the last episode. It completely changes a person’s interpretation of the show, and it definitely isn’t something a person should hear about before the end. It’s not a huge twist, per se, but a tone shift.

*Spoilers*

Someone on Reddit pointed out an easter egg in Silicon Valley season 5: There’s a task on a scrum board that simply referenced “p = np.” This, I’d say, is the main equation for the final episode. I’m surprised only one other comment on the forum so far points it out, so I really hope I’m not wrong about this, but the significance of the AI solving one “impossible” encryption time in polynomial time proves something really significant.

That’s the first layer of brilliance in this final episode.

If we could solve a certain type of problem in polynomial time, the implications would be far-reaching. It would break encryption, but there are positive aspects to consider as well. Some speculate (though others think it’s a stretch) that solving P = NP could be used to cure cancer, because of the application in protein-folding.

I’m probably oversimplifying, and maybe getting certain elements wrong, but here’s my favorite video on the topic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX40hbAHx3s

Anyway, the reason I think this is so brilliant is that it makes an ironic twist on the supposed deux ex machina of the previous episode. They just succeed, spectacularly, with some speculating that Gilfoyle foreshadowed a kind of skynet revolution. The show doesn’t take that route, and I’m so glad they didn’t. Instead of gaining sentience, which is a possibility for AI but one that has become a tired cliche, the series enables their AI to solve a problem a little bit obscure to your average person, but very widely discussed in the software and biology sectors. It not only shows that the writers did their homework, but also really challenges what we should do if such a solution fell into our lap. They extinguished it. I never thought someone in that situation would.

And that leads to the second layer of brilliance: The end scene complication.

Read again through the lens of Richard’s missing flash drive, and this story paints a very different picture for how things played out. Monica stole the drive and gave it to the NSA; Gilfoyle and Dinesh likely used it in their cybersecurity company. It’s a whole new reading of the characters in this show, but with a kind of dark take.

Finally, in the last layer of brilliance, this episode manages to be bittersweet and shocking without giving into cliches.

They fail. On purpose. They succeed at failing. Dinesh finally does one right thing with Gilfoyle’s decisive trust. Everyone goes their separate ways, and the epilogue in the beginning was actually just taken out of context. Belson allies with a person he had plagiarized to become even more successful; the other characters meet their own respective fates. And in spite of these diverging paths, they still end at the same place.

Closing thoughts

But...I don’t know. I think I need to take some time for it to air out.

We begin with Richard and Big Head, two friends who are profoundly unhappy. Richard is unhappy until he realizes his value; Big Head is unhappy until he gets lucky. But Richard, in that final scene, desperately wanting to tell the truth and also having to bow down to something Belson had started?

It just seems too sad, and a lot of things aren’t explained...like Bream in prison. And the fake TJ Miller reappearance seemed out of place to me.

I am going to miss the show, though. Pretty great, probably one of my all-time favorites, and definitely with a finale I didn’t see coming.

#hbo's silicon valley #20-minute freewrite #hbo #silicon valley

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smokeybrandreviews · 4 years

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Deepest Dive

Thalassophobia is the fear of the ocean. I have that sh*t in spades. It’s deep, dark, and unknown. As a grown man in his mid thirties who can’t swim a stroke, i respectfully refrain from entering the sea. That said, i marvel at what has been found there. What little we have found there. We know more about the goddamn moon, than we do about what’s under our own waves, here at home and that’s staggering to me. How can something be so abundant, so dominate, and simultaneously, so unknown? That’s craziness to me. When i heard about Underwater, i immediately knew i had to see this movie. I’m entranced by these types of films because the possibility of some, undiscovered, gigantic, predatory, deep sea creature is very real. Exploring that reality, letting your imagination play in that sandbox,always kicks out something unique, and often, profound. Does Underwater pull this off? Did i finish this film feeling the way i did after Leviathan? Deep Star Six? The Abyss?

The Good

Underwater has a tremendous atmosphere. this thing nails that claustrophobic panic that you rarely see executed correctly in one of these types of films. I felt that rush of sheer panic throughout this movie, especially in that opening scene.

Speaking of atmosphere, this thing leans real heavy into that Alien aesthetic. There’s a visual language which these films share, that echoes through Underwater. It’s not a bad thing, mind you. Alien is one of my all-time favorite films so i adore seeing that type of production whenever it crops up in cinema. However, it’s hard to homage without embarrassment. Alien was lightning captured in a bottle. It excels at so many things and it does it while looking effortless. Underwater is not that. Underwater is very laborious. It feels like it’s trying too hard to be a Ridley Scott film which is hilarious because i don’t think Ridley Scott even knows how to make an Alien film anymore. Even so, Underwater is the closest to that razor-edged, disgustingly gritty, manic desperation,you feel on the Nostromo so high marks for that.

There is a look to this film, when you can see it, that is incredibly unique. It’s Deep Star Six meets Abyss meets Alien but so much more than that. You can tell that there was a strong vision propelling this world as it began to unfold over the course of the plot.

I cannot praise this opening sequence enough. That sh*t sent me into a straight fervor. I love the way it’s shot. I love the realism in the survival effort. I love the utter futility in Stewart’s face. Excellent. I would have changed one thing but, aside from that, outstanding.

Speaking of Stewart, she gives an excellent performance. I’ve like her, mostly, throughout her career, with the exception of the Twilight films. Those things were the worst but that’s mostly because the source material is sh*t. Given an opportunity, Kristen Stewart can be incredibly compelling in a role. Panic Room, Adventureland, Zathura, American Ultra, The Runaways; All great performances. Personal Shopper is my favorite post-Bella infamy but her role as Norah Price is pretty legit. She’s the most convincing Ellen Ripley i’ve seen onscreen since Sigourney Weaver Cargo Loaded that b*tch out of an airlock.

That creature reveal was pretty legit. Very chestburster in implementation but still worthwhile. Everything hearkens back to Alien with this movie. It’s a little heavy handed cribbing from it’s very blatant inspiration, especially as you continue through the plot and realize there’s a hive, drones, and even a goddamn queen; All with their own independent vision, of course.

The pacing in this flick is mad sprightly. It’s like a power-walk from one scene to the next, clocking in at a surprisingly tight hour and a half, roughly. You get through this entire movie in no time.

The Meh

All that voice over. Ugh. I hate when films do this, especially at he beginning. Sh*t’s the most effective way to completely deplete tension, especially when your film is trying to build up to a sudden, pronounced, event. It works when your main character is in solitude or when there is a principal protagonist but this film does neither of those things. There’s a reason they do things this, way which leads me to my next point, but take away this inner monologue or whatever and certain scenes become far more effective.

TJ Miller is in this movie. He plays TJ Miller. I’m getting tied of TJ Miller.

The rest of the cast did their part. The material most of them had to work with was pretty mundane so their characters are inconsequential, which is a shame because i really like some of these actors. Jessica Henwick is adorable and Mamoudou Athie has proven he has the skill to be big, all the more distressing about that lack of material. Imagine these characters having that initial bonding scene. A little lunch or something, together, before the initial collapse. there’s comradery, you build a sense of endearment to characters while establishing traits, gives your actors room to act so when sh*t hits the fan, you feel it. Hell, having Kristen Stewart go to bed early, only to wake up and go directly into that epic opening sequence would have been brilliant.

The editing in this is hit and miss. Alien was so effective because they didn’t have any goddamn money. They had to be clever with edits and sh*t because they couldn’t afford more film for reshoots. Underwater was shot digitally. There is no film. This is all computers, man, so no restraint of takes. That means no restraint on cuts and there are some absolutely atrocious jump cuts in scenes you do not want them. This is more a critique on modern film making than a knock of this film, specifically, even if it has some of the more aggressive examples i’ve seen of this sh*t in a while.

The actual underwater sequences are dark ad f*ck. It’s hard to see what’s going on most of the time. That’s forgivable, to an extent. The monster you see in your head is always far more terrifying than the one you see with your eyes. I get it. But you can’t see sh*t; Not the monster, not the crew, not the surroundings, nothing. That’s a function of being at the bottom of the goddamn ocean but damn, dude, really? Can a motherf*cker get a more powerful flashlight or something? It’s hard to react when i don’t know what i’m reacting to.

The Bad

The way this thing ends is real bad. Not so much the climax but the resolution. It feels like the production ran out of money. It kind of mirrors the opening credits in a way but, after spending all that time in this world, learning about these characters, ending the film how they did is wildly unsatisfying if a little frustrating. I imagine this was because of budget reasons but, come on? A little extra cash and you could have had a real gem.

The Verdict

For all the praise and indifference i have about this film, the biggest thing that both irks and compels my mild adoration is the fact that it unabashedly wears it’s love for the original Alien on its sleeve. This is Alien, if it were made today, but underwater. That “if it were made today bit” is what kills it. You could get away with something like this back in the day because cats knew how to stretch a dollar. There was minimum studio interference and creators could create, especially with smaller budget fare like this flick. Not so much anymore. Margins are razor thin and every dollar counts so none of the major studios take chances. If this were an A24 film, it’d be be much better but it’s not. It’s a Fox leftover so Disney really wasn’t trying to actually spend more money than they already had. Missed opportunity.

Ultimately, Underwater is a good time. It’s competently made, technically sound, and has a compelling premise that does a decent job of building tension. It does, however, drop the ball on characterization. you never feel part of this crew. it doesn’t have that comradely scene like Alien does and you need that in this type of flick so when the horror starts, you feel the loss. You don’t feel anything for these people. They’re characters not a crew. Outside of that, the performances are decent and the effects were much better than you’d expect for how much this thing cost to make. They flub the landing, for sure, but the ride to that point is pretty entertaining. Underwater feels like there was more they wanted to say, more they wanted to do, but the rug was pulled out from under the creators at the last minute and they had to run with what they had to the box office. I’d say give it a shot but don’t judge it against it’s very obvious inspiration. Alien is forty years unassailable but Underwater does pulls off a decent homage. If this thing was cared for a little more by the studio, this could have been a contender for that crown. As it stands, it’s the best Alien film since Aliens. Underwater is thrilling at times, groan-worthy at others, a little disappointing toward the end, but entertaining throughout. It’s definitely worth a watch.

#Smokey brand Movie Reviews #Underwater

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halcyon-travesty-blog · 5 years

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I HAVE SEEN THE NEW DRAGONS MOVIE!!!

I’ve just seen what might be the best movie ever (I don’t live in the States so earlier release!!) and need to process my emotions and discuss discussable points through this rant post, so fairly obvious warning:

SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING

Alright, you have been warned.

PS: an edited, spoiler-free version may be posted later

THE HIDDEN WORLD IS AMAZING! Such a beautiful story, a more-than-fitting conclusion to the epic tale of dragons, vikings, love, loss, leadership, growing up, acceptance, strength, becoming who you were always meant to be, and, perhaps most importantly, learning to let go and stand on your own.

I’ll try and sort aspects of the movie by paragraph but this is pretty much just a therapeutic emotional outpouring so here we go.

First cab off the rank (although it may be obvious), the animation was incredible. The village, the Hidden World, every island and ship and dragon and outfit enriched with vivid colour and intricate detail. The outfits were a particular highlight for me (a la my post a few months ago about their battle suits - they look even better on the big screen); even the updates for characters like Valka and Eret were great. The obvious question I guess is: was the Hidden World itself worth it? A HUGE YES. I thought maybe it would remind me of another other-worldly movie (e.g. James Cameron’s Avatar), but it didn’t; all I could think about was how beautiful the world’s design was, with all the colours and lights, waterfalls and chasms and crystals and, of course, dragons.

Grimmel was a good villain, nothing ridiculously ground-breaking or whatever, but not a bad bad guy by any means in my opinion. There were also three warlords who had employed him whose roles were very minor and pretty much just a way for him to discover that (prank!) he hadn’t killed all the Night Furies after all. The movie isn’t really about the villain though, he’s more of a plot advancer, a catalyst if you will.

The Stoick and lil baby Hiccup flashbacks are gorgeous and serve almost as a form of conscience and inspiration for Hiccup: a monologue on love (sparked by a cute “are you gonna get us a new mom?”) that Hiccup recalls when considering letting Toothless go be with his love, the Light Fury, is particularly poignant.

The Dragon Riders are wonderful and hilarious once again, and a particular highlight of the movie for me was how they were learning to work together more, a la Race to the Edge, especially (sobs) without their dragons. Astrid and Hiccup have many great moments together once again. For those wondering who won between Rufflout and Rufflegs: Ruffnut says she can’t choose between Snotlout’s ego (“I don’t know if he’ll ever love me more than he’ll love himself) and Fishlegs’s meek nerdiness, but at the Hiccstrid wedding says (or maybe jokes) that she chooses Fishlegs because she “likes sensitive guys.” The replacement of TJ Miller is nothing to worry about: it’s noticeable if you listen closely, but definitely not a problem. Ruffnut’s prisoner monologue is a comedic highlight, Tuffnut’s “boy talks” in regard to marriage! (more on that later) are also great, Fishlegs is pretty much just Fishlegs and Snotlout’s banter with Eret and Valka are fun. Our teenage adventurers have grown up, and with growing up comes responsibility, something I’ll explore more in...

Mature Chief Issues (TM)! Hiccup is a young chief with many balls to juggle: raiding trapper ships and rescuing dragons, a dragon overpopulation crisis on Berk, managing viking and dragon priorities, his relationship with Astrid (and the possibility of marriage), threats from enemies across the seas (and the target he has inadvertently made Berk), the legacy of his father (considered one of the greatest chiefs of all time), and (perhaps most importantly) his own self-esteem, acceptance and self-worth, fundamentally the question of his worth without Toothless. This is one of the reasons why I (and many others I suspect) love this franchise so: it deals with mature issues like responsibility and leadership in a meaningful and realistic way. When Hiccup says they’re all going to pack up and leave in search of the Hidden World, he faces opposition and doubt, and as the film progresses he must further contend with the conflict with Grimmel (and events such as Ruffnut getting left behind at the base) and Toothless’s budding relationship with the Light Fury.

A lot of people have been complaining that the Light Fury has been ‘feminised’, and that she shouldn’t look like she does from a zoological standpoint. I read a particularly good post a while ago by a tumblr user who was a zoologist or something like that (no disrespect intended, just can’t remember exactly); if you can find it I recommend the read. I agree with the points made in those arguments, but can’t help thinking that her design is beautiful, and her personality is definitely not weakened. She glistens in the moonlight and fights with incredible strength and can turn invisible at will for goodness sake. Their love is sweet and wholesome and makes for a breathtaking flight sequence and a funny scene reminiscent of the Hiccup-Toothless bonding and drawing scene in HTTYD1. The dragon babies are cute (although I don’t understand why they’re each blotchy black and white when Night and Light Furies are apparently the same species, so therefore based on gender the kids should be one or the other, but anyway) and the Light Fury provides Toothless with someone to spend his life with in the Hidden World when the dragons go away.

Yes, it happens. We knew it would. “There were dragons when I was a boy” sent me into a flurry of tears, and Hiccup and Toothless’s reunion with their kids at the end of the movie was...I don’t really know what to say. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. The dragons go because, as Hiccup says, “The world doesn’t deserve you”. More enemies would rise to fill Grimmel’s place, and dragons will never be truly safe unless they disappear. I think most movie-goers will know deep down that humans and dragons aren’t going to end up living in the Hidden World together like Hiccup suggests; it is, quite simply, not meant to be. Toothless leaving allows him to complete his journey of becoming, in terms of being an alpha and literally standing (flying) on his own (with a self-functioning prosthetic tail). Toothless leaving is also the final step in Hiccup’s becoming, as he learns that he is strong, can stand on his own and lead, even without his faithful dragon by his side. It is hard, as Astrid says, but he can do it, because he has always been a great viking, and has the support of his friends and family. Letting go takes courage and maturity, but can sometimes be the only way you can become who you are meant to be. Hiccup and Toothless’s parallel journeys are truly something to behold. There is a lot more I would like to say on this, but at the current moment I believe I lack the eloquence to do so. In summary, the moment is beautiful and everything you don’t want it to be.

On a happier note, THERE’S A HICCSTRID WEDDING!!!!!!! Following much jest and uncertainty (aka foreshadowing) throughout the film, Hiccup and Astrid have a beautiful winter wedding with the whole village present. Gobber cries, Snotlout cries, Fishlegs cries, I cry, you cry, everyone cries. Astrid’s hair is left down, the bride and groom wear white (don’t think vikings actually did wear white but they look awesome so whatever), there’s a couple of traditional viking things and then comes love then comes marriage then comes BABY IN A BABY CARRIAGE!!!!

The auburn-haired girl, perhaps 7 or 8 years old, and the blond-haired boy, maybe 5 or 6, joined their mother and (bearded!) father on an unexplained boat journey to the entrance to the Hidden World, where they meet up with Toothless, the Light Fury and their children and we come full circle, with the kids holding out their hands and Toothless leaning in, an image we know and love all too well. They fly together, we the audience are promised that dragons did exist and may return someday when the world is worthy of them, and the movie ends.

One of my favourite things about this franchise will always be its maturity and the beauty in simplicity (aka a story of growing up and letting go). I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that this is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen and I literally feel privileged to have experienced this story. I cannot recommend it enough and intend to see it again sometime in the next week. More posts and analysis and etcetera will come (apologies for the hiatus - exams and Christmas and yes hectic), especially after it is released in more countries, and I hope everyone loves this film as much as I did.

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allthefilmsiveseenforfree · 5 years

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How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Finally, 2019 offers me the opportunity to see a sequel for a movie when I don’t remember anything about the previous installments in the franchise. Dragons. The main guy, Hiccup, lost a leg (I don’t remember how - also why is he named Hiccup? Couldn’t tell you.) There’s a girl warrior who’s way better at being a warrior than Hiccup - I think she’s the love interest. The first one definitely made me cry, but then again, what doesn’t.

With all that in mind, I went into this film pretty much a blank slate, but with a vague sense of hope for it to retain the tone and emotional heft of the first two films in the trilogy. So does The Hidden World soar above the rest, or is this final entry in the trilogy best kept hidden? Well...

I don’t know if this is quite Toy Story 3 level, but this film provides a bittersweet and solid ending to a trilogy of films that have never shied away from teaching children about some of the hardest truths - sacrifice, loss, growth, and change. In other words, growing up.

The plot is sort of incidental - Vikings, dragons, living together in perfect harmony -> dragon hunters, oh hey there’s another night fury, and it’s a ~lady~, it’s probably safer for everyone to move to a hidden world where all dragons live but we have to FIND IT first. Mix all that stuff up in a blender, and you can probably figure out the main plot points here.

Some thoughts:

Definitely did not realize Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Astrid (America Ferrara) were actually a couple now.

One of the things I love about these movies is the character designs being so varied and interesting. Each dragon has its own personality, each Viking has a different face and body shape. There’s a ton of attention to detail that adds to the richness of this world and this entire culture, and that care seeps into every aspect of the film.

The voice talent is tremendous, especially from the MVP of these movies, Baruchel. Most people in the cast have been playing these roles since 2010, and it’s clear that these characters are near and dear to their hearts. Baruchel imbues the perfect balance of confidence and insecurity as the Chief of his people still finding his feet - it’s a really sweet and grounded performance that anchors everything in the movie.

I say all the voice talent is amazing....but there’s one. fucking. exception. I don’t envy filmmakers when they have to replace an actor with another actor because the original guy *surprise!* did something horrible, but this guy Justin Rupple is doing such a weird, terrible TJ Miller impression in the role of Tuffnut (I don’t even want to talk about these names) that I not only feel bad for him, I feel bad for the audience as well.

Related note: I don’t understand the trend, especially in kids’ movies, for the character who is self-described as literally the most annoying person on the planet to be the comic relief. I love Kristen Wiig more than I love some of my own family members, but that doesn’t mean you can just put her and this TJ Miller knockoff in a position where they’re chattering endlessly with nothing to say and call it hilarity. Ruffnut and Tuffnut are the two weakest links in the film and they have SO MUCH screentime, it sucks all the air out of every scene they’re in.

Are you actually telling me that a civilization that bases all of its economy, weaponry, armor, recreation, and all around culture around dragons doesn’t fireproof their goddamn houses? Is that what you’re telling me?

My favorite thing about these movies is probably Toothless and his entire character design and animation. Having not one but two Night Furies just doubles the fun here, and everything about the way Toothless and the Light Fury move is so gorgeously graceful. I particularly loved everything about the mating dance scene, giffed above, and the mirror image way they move around each other, both as they’re getting to know each other and as they become a more entwined pair.

In today’s edition of Did I Cry, the answer is YES, yes I did, kind of a lot, nonstop, for about the final 7 minutes.

I think the moment that best represents all the care and love that goes into these films is the moment when Hiccup is saying goodbye to Toothless as he is going to leave and start his new life with the Light Fury. Hiccup’s arm is outstretched with his hand on Toothless’s nose, pressed flat, and he turns his head to close his eyes and look away as he gently lifts his hand away, letting go. It’s the exact inverse of the first moment Hiccup and Toothless met (I at least remember that much from the first film), and it’s a perfect, wordless representation of their entire friendship and partnership over the course of these 3 films. What an achingly lovely way to remind us all that we all will someday lose the ones we love (including our favorite fictional Vikings and dragons) - but how sweet the time we spent with them was.

#119in2019 #how to train your dragon the hidden world #httyd the hidden world #httyd 3 #how to train your dragon the hidden world review #jay baruchel #america ferrara #kristen wiig #hiccup #toothless #movie reviews #film reviews

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wendip-week · 6 years

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Wendip Bits from the GF Complete Series Commentary/Lost Legends Comic

Hey all! @ddp456 here!

So, in between helping Kenzoe64 with the last few pages of the Protector comic and working on chapters of DBR3 (yes, I swear it’s still coming) I’ve had a bit of a secret project I’ve been working on (and to be honest, I’m kinda surprised no one else beat me to it)

Over the last few months, I’ve had a chance to rewatch Gravity Falls through the newly released Complete Series Blu Ray set, and for this, listened to every commentary created for each episode, as well as those made for the special features disc (which forgive me if I’m wrong, but was for the BD set, right?).

While the tracks give a HUGE insight on all things GF, it also unveils the curtain on many things Wendy and Dipper related; some things I guessed correctly from the very beginning (see my personal notes for bragging rights), and some, well, that kinda shocked me, and left me uncertain about a few details. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As you can guess, think of this as a dissection of the commentaries given, focusing on our favorite duo from the series, and afterwards, I’ll include a few questions of my own. Fair enough? Let’s get started:

(Tidbits in the first few episodes)

-Alex Hirsch states that Dipper’s crush on Wendy was always meant to be a big part of the series.

-Hirsch wanted to drop Wendip hints in the first episode (Tourist Trapped), but Rob Renzetti (Supervising producer director, creator of My Life As a Teenage Robot) talked him out of it, saying that he was doing it way too soon.

-The age difference between Dipper and Wendy was the very first conflict that came to mind in the writer’s room, so therefore, it was used.

-The persona of Wendy herself was crafted like that of a “cool camp counselor” so that she could do cool adult stuff, and be able to do “kid stuff” as well without being out of place.

(The Inconveniencing)

-The Cold Open for Episode 5 (Roof Time!) was created at the last minute because the writers realizes that the Wendy/Dipper connection really wasn’t justified. The roof sequence was to make not only Dipper fall in love with Wendy, but the audience as well. (D’aww! - Editor’s note)

-At the end of the episode, the second “Zipped Lips” motion between Wendy and Dipper symbolized many things. It shows that Dipper (despite lying) is accepted by Wendy into her social circle, and given her friendship. Her lying to the other teens is just as important, as she does so without Dipper asking her to. This was done to make Wendy as real as humanly possible, showing that she is just as cool as Dipper (and we as an audience) make her out to be.

-Hirsch often laments on the fact that they didn’t do a full “Wendy-themed” episode. He explains that the point of many episodes is that a said character “learns a sin” and they were afraid to do so with Wendy, in fears that it would ruin her chemistry. (more on this later - Editor’s note)

-They foreshadow the conflict over Robbie and Dipper (involving Wendy) and recognizes that things weren’t always realistic (e.g. how Dipper can beat up the Multi-Bear, but how he was deathly afraid of Robbie). Hirsch’s reasoning is that the audience seems forgiving with such exaggeration as long as everyone appeared to stay in character ( again, more on this later - Editor’s note)

(Double Dipper)

-Originally, Double Dipper had nothing to do with Wendy (GASP! - Editor’s note) The original premise was about Mabel trying to set up a party so she could mingle with the citizens of Gravity Falls, and make new friends, and Dipper, being the anti-social opposite of her, tries to prevent this at every turn, only to fail. It was only when at the last moment, someone suggested to have Dipper’s story be about Wendy.

-During the slow dance scene, the animators specific added a shot of Wendy from Dipper’s POV so that we (the audience) could understand and feel the same anxiety that he did at that moment.

-At the dance of the episode, Hirsch and the rest of the crew theorize about what happens when Dipper goes back inside the Shack at the end of the night. He specifically asked, “Do you guys think he asks Wendy to dance?” The rest of the crew disagree, saying they can picture Dipper trying to dance on his own, and Wendy cheering him on, sprinkling confetti on him from afar like in the beginning of the episode.

(Cute, but what about this?

is it non-canon, now? Did the commentary happen before the real Journal 3 was written? Or is it presumed that Dipper lied in the journal? What the fuck? - Editor’s note)

(Irrational Treasure)

-Going off on a tangent, Hirsch describes Dipper’s crush on Wendy as “creepy” and “over-the-top.” He details that it’s Dipper’s seriousness that leads to misfortune, and for that, he takes a lot of lumps.

-The Zodiac is mentioned here, and the writers explain that the Ice wasn’t always related to Wendy. The symbol was random.

-And as a cute sidenote, the “binkies” that the Pines twins have at the back of their heads were taken from the same ones that the Mario Bros. have.

(Time Traveler’s Pig)

-Alex Hirsch goes hard on Dipper here. He explains that Dipper has a very naive, yet forgivable, but wrong idea about romance.

-He feels that Dipper would die a thousands deaths to have Wendy feel the same way about him.

-Dipper is desperate to have this perfect moment, this perfect day with Wendy, because he believes that he’s not perfect on his own (told ya’ all! - Editior’s note)

-Hirsch says because of this, Dipper doesn’t deserve to get what he wants. This idea of how the world works shouldn’t be rewarded.

-He adds that creating the lessons above was the hardest part of writing the episode.

(Fight Fighters)

-Hirsch knew that the “crush” angle was getting old, but he loved the story presented here. He says that “Dipper’s heart was in the right place” when defending Wendy against Robbie. (again, take that, internet! - Editor’s note)

-Hirsch was blown away by the internet’s response to the episode, shocked to see how many people have had a negative reaction to it. At this point, Jason Ritter (voice of Dipper) responses, “What?! Love doesn’t die, guys!

-Alex goes into how he doesn’t care for “shipping,” that the “Wendy/Dipper” stories come from need for conflict, but not from character relationships. With Wendy involved, Dipper is motivated, desperate, and will do the most insane things.

-He agrees with internet that the crush wasn’t really going anywhere, but he loved the W&D scripts that kept coming in.

-Robbie’s calling out Wendy like a dog (C’mon, out, girl!) was ad-libbed by TJ Miller.

-Hirsch believes that if left alone, Robbie would have never fought Dipper. He was jealous that his girlfriend was going off on all these weird adventures with this kid. (Wait, so there are untold Wendy/Dipper adventures out there?! - Editor’s note)

-The height difference between Wendy and Dipper literally comes from Alex’s real life (and his twin, Ariel, was taller, like Mabel), where he was the smallest kid in class, and his science partner in school was regular sized, and also, his secret crush.

(The Deep End)

-The episode was always meant to be a non-serious, low-stakes piece. Dipper’s having a good time with Wendy was not meant as romantic, but as friends.

-Wendy was originally meant to have a two piece bikini, but the network made them change it (So, wait, it wasn’t a homage to the Sandlot’s Lifeguard Wendy? - Editor’s note)

(Boyz Crazy)

-Hirsch regrets not clarifying the Robbie/Wendy/Dipper portion at the end.

-He insists that the hidden message in the song was mere coincidence. Wendy was not hypnotized.

-He sees the situation as follows: Dipper is jealous that Wendy is into Robbie’s music. For this, Dipper figures there has to be a sinister reason for this.

-Robbie definitely stole the music, but didn’t know that the message was there. Hirsch says as a child, he was personally fascinated by rock bands having hidden messages in their records.

-At this point in the commentary, Ariel Hirsch chips in, saying that in the end, “Dipper wasn’t thinking about Wendy.” Jason Ritter (Dipper himself) agrees, “He’s only thinking about calling out Robbie.” (told ya’ all x3. - Editor’s note)

-Alex Hirsch’s quote about the hidden message: “Backward messages can’t control people’s behavior because you can’t understand them!”

-His notes on Stan and Dipper bonding in this episode: “Both would rather believe that there is a huge conspiracy rather than they’re bad with women.”

(Land Before Swine)

-Hirsch says as side-notes that Wendy had a running bet with Grunkle Stan about who would eat the corn-unicorn first (he didn’t bet on Waddles). Also, he says that Ford has a fear of women because after a bad experience involving someone being freaked out by his six-fingers.

(Gideon Rises)

-Hirsch admits that Gideon’s speech to Dipper is bullcrap. Dipper has beaten plenty without the aid of the Journal 3, but his insecurities make him believe otherwise.

(Scary-oke)

-Wendy has two cut scenes that are shown in the Special Features disc. At the beginning of the episodes, she (along with Soos) is interview by the news and she is chided for using the word “Jerkface” on live TV. She then goes into a huge rant about her “freedom of speech.” The second shows that Wendy was given the blow-horn by Mabel to be the official hype person of Scary-oke.

(Into the Bunker)

-ITB won an Annie award?! (Didn’t know that - Editor’s note)

-Hirsch wanted to keep the Dipper/Wendy crush going, but could see that the audience was getting tired of it. The writers decided to have Wendy become a member of the team and go on adventures, choosing to have Dipper deal with heartbreak sooner than later.

-It was considered to be the third priority for the second season. (Reveal Author, Revisit Switch in the Woods, and Kill the Crush)

-Speaking of, the Bunker’s staircase was taken from the video game classic, Myst

-The script for “Into the Bunker,” was given to Matt Chapman (of “Homestar Runner”/Strong Bad fame), because all of his GF scripts happen to have heartbreak in them, earning him the nickname, “Shipwrecker.”

-Wendy and Dipper’s movie night/Cold Opening was the very last thing to be added to the episode. They needed something to tie Dipper’s investment to both the adventure at hand, and the Wendy crush

-In this, Dipper’s confidence grows by defeating Gideon, and when Wendy says she doesn’t need guys, it brings him to turmoil by the impossible and hopeless.

-The symbol room was originally the “Gonna Die” room.

-This episode is in Alex Hirsch’s top 5 GF episodes, because of its darker tone.

-He details: there are so many good moments in this episode where Dipper is suffering at the hands of this girl that’s so much cooler and so much beyond what he could even understand.

-The GF team knew that this had to be a stand-out episode for Wendy. We had to spend a lot of time with her, showing that she could hold her own and make a valuable addition to the Mystery Crew. Hirsch regrets not doing that more. For this, every time Wendy is added to the team, she’s awesome.

-The most amount of takes in the entire series was the “Dipper crying over dead Wendy” scene. Hirsch explains that it was a hard thing to sell, and a really vulnerable moment.

-ITB’s ending was one of the hardest endings to write. The commentary says they rewrote it 5 times to get it right.

-An idea used was “Love is temporary, but friendship is real love?” (Hell, that’s what I use about 90% of the time - Editor’s note)

-The line “Don’t be itchy.” was added super late to the script. The team tried to avoid as many cliches as possible.

-The first time the Wendy/Dipper confession scene was watched in animatics, Hirsch and crew felt that it was “too romantic,” like a romcom.

-In the Special Features disc, we see a sneak peak of the deleted scene. In this, Dipper goes in on a rant of despair, pledging to Wendy that he’ll try to avoid the Gift Shop from now on, and that she’ll never have to talk to him again, before she stops him and tries to calm him (Dude, Dude, it’s okay...) (Poor baby... - Editor’s note)

-The scene was meant to reflect Alex’s own puberty, which wasn’t romantic, but nightmarish.

-”It’s meant to be terrifying for Dipper. His heart is in his throat as he has to have this talk with Wendy. He’s frozen, waiting for it to pass, and Wendy can see this pain, and she’s doing everything she can to show him, “Nothing’s different. Everything’s normal. You’re normal. These feelings are normal. I’m a couple years older than you, and I’ve seen this. I’ve been around the block. We all go through it. You’re going to be okay.”

(Kinda wish they went this route instead of the whole “age” thing. It’s beautiful - Editor’s note)

-It couldn’t be a “will they/won’t they” situation. The real question was “will they be friends after this?”

-The writers could see a very legitimate path where Wendy is like, “Dude. you’re creeping me out. Maybe we should take a little time from each other because this is not healthy, etc.” The fact that she was so beautiful and cool and treats Dipper so well shows that she IS the awesome kind of person that Dipper thinks she is.

(The Golf War)

-A quick note about Dipper and relationships. Dipper’s normal social fear melts away when he’s around someone he hates so much. Someone like Pacifica brings out pure sass and rage. (HA! - Editor’s note)

(Little Gift Shop of Horrors)

-There was a possible story being tossed around where Wendy gets a tattoo and gradually, it overtakes her/she becomes the tattoo herself. Alex Hirsch loved the idea of a living tattoo, stating that it’d fit with Wendy’s rebellious teen nature, and that she’d learn a lesson at the end of it.

-The writers passed, saying that Wendy is very hard to write for. When we see her, she’s cool and controlled, and for a short story concept, finding that depth to make it valuable would be difficult. Plus, they didn’t want to be compared to Moana (or the fact it’s almost exactly like a Goosebumps story? - Editor’s note)

(Society of the Blind Eye)

-Hirsch and the writers loved the Wendy/Mabel scene because there’s not many of them throughout the series. To them, it was great to show Wendy as the “cool, older sister.” Hirsch dug Wendy’s complete disregard of boys. “Don’t worry about them. Yeah, whatever, they’re a dime a dozen. I’ve had so many boyfriends...”

-The writers discuss what kind of man Wendy would end up with. “He’d have to be something - some kind of specimen. She’s so confident and having a good time, comfortable in her own skin; if a guy’s cool, she’ll be “Yeah, I’ll try it out,” and when she’s bored, “Yeah, no thanks,” leaving a bottomless scar inside their heart,” going on to cite Robbie as example.

-Alex Hirsch added the line about Wendy’s being stressed 24/7. It’s obviously not what she shows the world, and yet, it shows how you can vaguely see it there. (Tell me about it - Editor’s note)

(Blendin’s Game)

-Alex Hirsch’s view on family: “Friendship is thicker than water, and family’s something you can create.”

-Hirsch’s further thoughts on shipping: He tells the writers that it’s meaningless. He rather ask if they have a compelling story instead. He doesn’t care about love, saying “Love isn’t the end - it’s a story turn.”

-A member of the writing cast was going to comment on the baby Wendy and Tambry scene, when she was interrupted, and the point is never bought up again. (Dammit! - Editor’s note)

(Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons)

-Hirsch debated about having a scene where Dipper reveals his real name to Ford. The consensus said no. The same happened for “Dipper and Mabel Vs. the Future.”

(The Last Mabelcorn)

-Originally, the episode was going to be a Wendy-eccentric episode involving her family and her relationship with Manly Dan. On top of that, she was going to gain magical weather powers as well. The team decided against it, not wanting to be compared to the movie, Frozen, as well finding it hard to balance considering Wendy’s grounded character.

For this, they made it up to her by having Wendy (and her influence) take over the episode after the first third.

(Roadside Attraction)

-The Special Features disc shows an alternate opening that doesn’t showcase a Dipper/Wendy angle at all. Dipper asks a group of ladies to borrow a quarter and instead, gets beaten up for it. Mabel and the gang figure from this that Dipper needs help talking to women.

-The whole point of the episode (to Hirsch) is that Dipper gets advice from Stan when Dipper is only trying to move on, while Stan has no idea what he’s doing, stating he is not a role model by any means. The lesson is not to present false affections and learn to hear other people’s feelings. “Stan lives alone for a reason!”

(Dipper & Mabel Vs. the Future)

-The Mabel/Wendy scene was created so that if someone as cool as Wendy doesn’t like High School, it immediately changes Mabel’s perspective on the matter.

-One of the Government agents were originally going to offer Dipper an apprenticeship/”advanced learning path,” in due to all of his discoveries and research.

-Hirsch figures that Ford’s speech towards Dipper is similar if not the same that he gave to McGucket. Ford takes advantage of hero worship - it’s not so much as he needs an apprentice, rather to have someone that’ll do anything he says. (So where are those people that says Ford doesn’t have a mean streak in him? - Editor’s note)

-Upon Dipper rescuing Ford, Jason Ritter laments on commentary, “If only Wendy could have seen that moment...” to which the room explodes with laughter.

(Weirdmageddon Part 1)

-Hirsch explains: “Wendy is the most grounded character in the series, so in this ungrounded scenario, she is able to make the most of it. She can handle just about anything.”

-Wendy’s speech to Dipper was struggled with for a while. It had to be a speech not about Dipper’s self-confidence, but about how he needed Mabel back (which the writers says there’s truth in)

-The live action Wendy and Dipper scene (with Jason Ritter and Linda Cardellini) had lines cut from the final version (Son-of-a-... Editor’s Note)

-The Gideon/Dipper speech represents the full completion of Dipper’s Wendy arc. It’s a real-life lesson that Hirsch says many people in real life still don’t get.

(Weirdmageddon 2: Escape from Reality)

-A deleted scene in the Special Features disc expands on the beach scene, where Mabel zaps Dipper, Wendy, and Soos’s ruined clothing into gaudy swimwear (though Wendy has a cute flower in her hair ala Hawaiian). They go to the beach and Wendy begins to admire the hunky volleyball players, leading to a jealous Dipper.

-Alex Hirsch explains that the fantasies offered in Mabelland aren’t fantasies, they’re easier outs. Wendy’s is teen rebellion rather than facing reality. Soos’s is the dad he always wanted.

-With Dipper, what was originally going to be behind the door was Ford and the offer of the apprenticeship. They would go off on adventures and discoveries, only to stumble upon a now-alone Mabel, growing up in High School, and having a real life. Hirsch axed the idea, believing that Mabelland, and by extension, Bill Cipher, wouldn’t show the downside of any fantasy, rather Dipper would have to discover it himself. For this, the writers had to go back to “the Wendy Well.” (Special note: we at @wendip-week have to use the phrase, “Wendy Well” more often - Editor’s note)

-Earlier versions of the episodes had different “Wendy wants,” including one where we find her writing deep poetry. The writers go on about her fantasy, saying that it couldn’t be a “perfect guy,” because she’s self-realized. But at the same time, they admit that Wendy “exhibits destructive character flaws that she has to get over.” They add, “She really loves that aimless teen rebellion, that it’s hard to turn down all that chaos.” (So, why the hell didn’t they make an episode about that?! And I wanna see Poet Wendy ASAP! - Editor’s note)

(Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls)

-Alex Hirsch: “Gravity Falls was always meant to have a bittersweet feeling to it.”

-Weirdmageddon was about giving everyone a hero moment. Part 1 was Wendy and Dipper’s. Part 2 was Mabel, and the Mystery team as a whole. Part 3 was the Stan twins and the town united.

-Jason Ritter marvels at the Wendy and Rumble sequence, noting how all the other characters are fighting with machines, and yet Wendy is going at it bare-handed.

-Weirdmageddon was approved to be a made-for-TV movie, but Disney demanded another 3 episodes for regular air. The team declined.

-There was never an official plan for the Zodiac. It was something the team made as a tease, but after seeing fan response, they knew they had to do something with it. Linking Wendy with the bag was a last minute decision simply because of the scenes involving her and ice throughout the series.

-A quick note about the original quote of the Llama, versus the final one given by Larry King, “Llamas are dumb, blonde, beautiful, and they spit!” (BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! - Editor’s note)

-Hirsch is a big believer in visual aid. The Pines twins changed on the inside, and he wanted something to show that on the outside as well. Mabel got to keep Waddles, and for that, Dipper received Wendy’s hat, as a symbol of their friendship.

-Rewatching the scene, Jason Ritter says that he believes Dipper never takes off Wendy’s hat, and is too shy to tell anyone its origins. (”When people ask him, he’s like “Don’t you worry about that...”)

-Alex Hirsch says the switching hats idea came from a storyboarder’s sketch, in which he said, “That feels right.” (Uh-huh. Just a sketch... - Editor’s note)

The Wendy’s note scene was meant to be ambiguous about two things. The first being “Mystery.” It gave Dipper one last question to ponder in his head. (Had to do one last tease, eh? Editor’s note)

-The second was “Endings.” “Did something just die here? Are all these things we love really gone?” HIrsch says not quite. “Endings are new beginnings.”

A few neat points of interest (non Wendip related)

-Jason Ritter is a HUGE gaming fan, where he was able to name almost all the references in “Fight Fighters.” He also played and completed the Gravity Falls 3DS game twice (where Alex Hirsch admits he never has...)

-Hidden in the Double Dipper episode, there is a secret commentary track, where Jason swoons over Wendy for part of the episode, only to be interrupted by his clones (including one that had to camp out for “The Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild)

And lastly, I want to address the new comic, Lost Legends. While it didn’t have a hint of Wendip in it:

(sorry, fam, Wendy making a crack about Dipper wearing a skirt doesn’t cut it for me. And didn’t mean to mooch. @fereality-indy. - I couldn’t find a real scan)

But it does contain two other important pieces of information (besides Mabel getting her just-desserts).

The first is a code that gives the hint, WENDY'S MOM: IN ANOTHER DIMENSION?

Such a thing would explain a ton. One would guess that Wendy and her family believes that her mother just vanished, meaning she could have abandonment issues. (and yes, kids, such a thing can affect how people have relationships)

And to add to the tease, there’s a second hint as well in the first story:

(and thank you, GF Team for giving me another canon point to add to the Protector comic by stating the BES still exists!)

But back to the task at hand, we see that the far right vital has Wendy’s mom’s memories. Is this in conjunction with the above point? Or its own theory?

Hopefully, this plot point is exploring in the next piece of GF related media. All I can guess is this, if Wendy’s mom really is stuck in another dimension, the Pines better pray they didn’t have anything to do with it...

The only other interesting thing to note is that at the end of the second story, Wendy makes an comment about “overthrowing the government,” which kinda sounds like the cut scene from “Scary-Oke” mentioned above. Is it a statement of the politics taught in the Corduroy home, or is it a reflection of current views from Alex Hirsch and the writers? (It’s fascinating either way, IMHO).

So, with everything said and done, I’ll admit, reader, I’m a bit mixed up, feeling wise.

On one hand, Alex Hirsch himself confirmed a shit-ton of Wendy and Dipper info that makes me feel like:

But at the same time, it seems like one of my favorite parts of the show is the one he could care less about - that it’s an end to a means. The closest feeling I can relate to is how the Professor in the 2nd TMNT movie inadvertently tells Donatello that he was an accident.

And I get it, the series is based on the dude’s real life, and that includes nearly every aspect of Wendy and Dipper, rather it be good or bad (or as he describes it, mostly bad). But that’s kinda of why I love it, too, that I can relate to that as well, as I’m sure many of you can. I can say with full honesty that I’ve been both a “Dipper,” where I’ve followed along with a way-too-cool-for-me-girl like a lost puppy, and I’ve been a “Wendy,” too, in which a small ball of wonder looked up at me like I was a gift from God, and I tried my best not to sour or pervert that, and yet, remain honest. It is an interesting story, even if it’s not the main story.

Man, he wasn’t kidding when he said “Gravity Falls was about being bittersweet,” eh? But still, the fact remains: while it wasn’t perfect for ol’ Dipper, at least he wasn’t Patti Mayonnaise-d.

Between the numerous essays and questionnaires I’ve whipped up this summer, I still believe that there is ton of info to be asked and answered, especially involving our non-official favorite duo. We can only hope that the powers that be may want to wish about that “Wendy Well” one day in the future. Nothing is ever certain, and with that, I’ll leave you with some of the truest words out there, straight from Dipper Pines himself (and because I can’t find the damned gifs.)

Until next time.

#dipper pines #wendy corduroy #gravity falls #wendip #wendipweek

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anhed-nia · 6 years

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THE EMOJI MOVIE

I've actually tried to watch this several times, and never made it past the first twenty minutes or so. The whole concept--that emojis inside a boy's phone struggle for survival when their glitchy antics provoke him to try to wipe the device--is so uninspired that it was hard for me to imagine it even being kitschy enough to justify watching the whole thing. However, since its release (only a year ago, but isn't it starting to feel like it's been with us forever?), THE EMOJI MOVIE has become so notorious that suffering through it feels like some sort of rite of passage. As of this morning, I can say with absolute certainty that this experience is actually much worse than you probably think it is.

I don't even want to get that much into the "plot", but for the sake of whatever: TJ Miller is a "meh" emoji by birth, who is secretly plagued by a full spectrum of emotions. When he is classified as a "malfunction", in a series of repetitive arguments that sound uncomfortably like they're just barely skirting "the R word", Meh goes on the run to avoid destruction by his fellow emoji, who need to manage this crisis before their user erases all of them.

If that is like...not very heroic-sounding to you, then you're hearing me right. THE EMOJI MOVIE is I guess about being yourself or something, but the details of Meh's adventure are so outlandishly stupid that it's hard to even worry about the moral of the story. To my apoplectic shock, our hero's escape from peril is totally dependent on Dropbox. That's almost all you need to know about this movie, actually: That it requires you to somehow reimagine a collaborative file management product as the Millennium Falcon, or Dorothy's ruby slippers, or something. Even if I were able to accept this proposal, it still remains beyond me why a tween boy would have Dropbox on his phone. I mean, is he going to Project Management Junior High or something?

Of course, this is only one example of THE EMOJI MOVIE's inability to produce exciting, easy-to-understand ideas. It may not be surprising, on paper, that an unwieldy chunk of the story involves a loud advertisement for the money-grubbing mobile game Candy Crush. However, it's still jarring when the movie has the sheer nerve to insert its characters into a 3D version of the very-2D Candy Crush board, have them discuss the rules and mechanics of Candy Crush at length, and then have them actually play Candy Crush, in a scene that really accomplishes nothing other than exactly what is on the screen while it lasts. The audacity of the thing makes the McDonald's breakdancing sequence in MAC & ME look downright subtle.

The aforementioned scene should really be enough to sink basically any cinematic ship, but THE EMOJI MOVIE doesn't settle for less than 100% failure. Almost everything in it is so poorly considered that there isn't enough time in my life to get through it all, but I have to get *some* things off my chest. I mean, how the fuck do you take a concept like this, and decide that a whole bunch of your movie should involve DANCING? How can you possibly ask me to look at a bunch of Pac-Mans with little rudimentary limbs, and expect me to be able to tell that SOME of them are really good dancers and SOME of them are really shitty dancers, and ALL OF THE SUSPENSE hinges on this distinction? And while we're talking about physical activity, what are even the rules of this world? Apps are both giant monolithic cubes, like they are on your home screen, that can slide around and crush you between their unyielding walls, and they are ALSO little subdimensions that you can enter (not that we really see how this works) and dick around in. "Internet trolls" are somehow not separate human users, but technological entities that exists inside the world of the phone, right alongside junk mail and computer viruses. And speaking of junk, like, why is the phone owner deleting individual apps WHILE he's on his way to a Genius Bar to get the whole device reset? What the fuck is going on in any part of this movie?

While I'm talking about how ~completely~ disastrous this movie is, though, I should admit that maybe I blew past the plot too quickly. The most remarkable thing about THE EMOJI MOVIE is that it manages to be so fathomlessly moronic, AND so majestically pretentious at the same time. There is something interestingly perverse about the idea of taking humanity's most vapid, dehumanized linguistic development, and using it as some kind of allegory for the supremacy of emotion, and the prismatic nature of the soul. It's disturbing, actually. On the one hand, the movie cannot resist advertising for office products and parasitic IAP-driven games, and all of its ostensible charm is predicated on the viewer's preexisting familiarity with fun icons for human shit and compressed fish byproducts. On the other hand, the movie makes a big deal out of identifying the fascism inherent in controlling how people express themselves, and confining their potential to the dictates of their heritage. At some point the movie even drags in some shallow commentary on the tyranny of gender roles, with a subplot about a "princess" emoji rejecting the few, oppressively girly options for females of the species--just in case there were any audience members left who didn't feel personally condescended to yet.

At this point, you might be wondering why I even bothered to write all this down, having already suffered the unnecessary indignity of watching the thing. The truth is that I have an insatiable curiosity about the psychology of productions like this. When I see something so abjectly catastrophic, I start to have enthralling nightmare visions about what it must have been like to make this movie. Especially considering the fact that it is animated: At what point did people begin to realize that something really bad was happening? Who noticed it first? Was there a protracted period of convincing oneself that everything was going to be fine, or did the darkness sink in at the very beginning? What happened when the movie came out? Have all of the actors even see the whole thing? How did they manage their social lives when it started to become common, international knowledge that they had participated in the creation of one of the worst movies in the visible history of the medium? Does one lose relationships over a movie like this, either among friends who don't know how to address it, or comrades who can't stand the slightest reminder of what they've been through? I am completely entranced by my own fantasies about what happens with movies like this. I would happily watch a documentary about the making of THE EMOJI MOVIE, or better yet, some sort of distorted psychodrama about the emotional environment of the production. Somebody get Peter Strickland on the blower.

PS Mike White, I am so, so sorry. What happened to you?

#the emoji movie #blogtober #animation #comedy #too many celebrities to name #how did this happen

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butdidyousee · 5 years

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9 Days of Christmas movies🎄🎅🏻☃️

With Christmas approaching rapidly, I decided to give you 9 Christmas movies(one to watch each day.) that I really like, both currently and when I was a kid. A couple of honorable mentions in here as well(In case some of my list just ain’t your bag). I would also like to say, I thought this would be easy; but once I got started I had to leave out a ton of titles and rounded it out to a few favorites.

🎄Jingle All The Way(1996) - Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad star in this great classic. I always forget that Arnold is a jack of all trades with his acting. Action is in the bag for this dude. He nails down family fun and comedy often. This is a fun movie that will bring some 90’s nostalgia to any millennial. Was this movie the year of the Furby or tickle me Elmo? Objective of movie: get the toy to get kids love. Kid loves you anyway.

🎄A Bad Moms Christmas(2017) - The bad moms are back, this time their own mothers drop in during the holidays. What’s an over-worked mother to do? Rebel against Christmas in the way the bad moms do. Really cute and funny movie with great underlining messages. Also, Christine Baranski and Santa strippers, Woof!

🎄Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer(1964) - This classic stop motion movie has been around for generations now. Although the filming seems primitive, the message and fun are clear and it’s got great songs that I have been singing for years. Besides, every kid should know about Rudolph and misfit toys.

🎄The Night Before(2015) - Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon- Levitt have a nack for “bro” type movies. This is no exception. An annual night of debauchery searching for a holy grail of Christmas parties while running around NYC with your best friends whilst wearing your proper ugly sweater. I don’t think it gets more holiday than this super fun adult movie.

🎄Prancer (1989) - I never believed in Santa growing up and the thought of magical reindeer sounded so odd to me. But when I saw prancer on TV for the first time, I cried and really did wish this was all real.(gimmie a break I was like 6). As an adult now I understand. Thanks to prancer that it’s so much deeper then the magic. It’s belief. Everyone around our protagonist thought she was crazy but she cared for the animal anyway and her belief was not for nothing come Christmas time.

🎄Four Christmases(2008)- The baby throwing up scene, the baby throwing up scene, the baby throwing up scene. Ok now that’s out of the way. This was a funny fast paced movie with 2 big names attached. A bit of holiday lessons but funny over all. I will say this movie doesn’t hold up. But, I did love watching it at the time. It also reminds me that I’m not the only person that’s not into family during the holiday.

🎄How the Grinch Stole Christmas(1966/2000) - Another holiday classic. This movie has been remade and remade, the message stays the same but weather it be live action or CGI animation. This movie is always a laugh when you’re a kid and brings you back as an adult. Jim Cary was also an amazing grinch. He was born for the role truly. I also find myself singing your a mean one Mr. Grinch waaaay more than I truly should during the year.

🎄The Santa Clause (1994) - This is one of the first movies I saw in theaters and owned. This is a great memorable movie with some great lines and a fun time to watch. Tim Allen’s style of comedy truly helped make this movie a delight.

🎄A Christmas Story(1983) - Another nostalgia sake movies. This movie will play on TBS for 24 hours every Christmas and is always a fun watch. Looking back now. It holds the test of time story sake and does the best it can for the time. But, the chances of someone getting you a leg lamp as a gift is silly. That’s what makes this movie great. That and it taught me not to lick a pole in a cold winter day.

🎅🏻———🤶🏻———🎅🏻———🤶🏻.

❄️Honorable Mentions❄️.

☃️Office Christmas party(2017) - This was an underrated film in my opinion, TJ Miller plays himself as normal but running a company and basically throwing a gigantic rave as a Christmas party. As an adult, it made me wonder how many of my co-workers would just unwind if the situation presented itself correctly? Easpecially at the end of the year.

☃️Home Alone(1990) - You can never beat Macaulay Culkin’s big break out role. This movie also raised a lot of questions such as how did Mr. McCallister afford to take all those people to Paris during Christmas time being a single bread winner with such a large household? How did Kevin burn his face when he didn’t even really shave? Also for a stay at home mom, Mrs. McCallister didn’t keep very good track of her children.

☃️Christmas with the Krank’s(2004) - Another holiday good time with Tim Allen. Just add a little Jaime Lee Curtis and some Christmas Shannanigan’s while trying to avoid Christmas and you have a funny cocktail that’s fun for everyone. Good easy watch and the over acting make it funny to watch.

☃️The Nightmare Before Christmas(1993) - I felt like I had to throw this in because so many people love this movie. I for one have thought it’s been overrated for sometime. I understand that for the time the animation was something to write home about, But it just felt to me like all the goth kids finally got their mainstream movie. But I do love the idea of Halloween at Christmas, Danny Elfmen and Tim Burton did have a great partnership here, no denying that.

What are some of your favorite holiday films or shows? Or know of Something I should check out? Leave me comment below✌🏻

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briangroth27 · 6 years

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Ready Player One Review

I went into Ready Player One with polarized preconceptions. Several friends loved the book so I was initially excited, but in the run-up to the film's release hate exploded online and I saw all manner of spoilers and scans of troubling chunks of the novel, which made me much more wary. I still liked the story’s idea so the trailers’ focus on nostalgia didn’t bother me, but I didn’t know what to expect going in. I was pleasantly surprised: it’s a fun roller coaster! There are several strong ideas at play, even if they aren't fleshed out as much as they could've been. It definitely seems like most of the book’s problematic stuff has been excised, making for a fast-moving, enjoyable film with a strong, important message.

Full Spoilers…

Tye Sheridan was solid as Wade Watts/Parzival, a generally good guy obsessed with OASIS’ virtual playground and the quest to win control of it. Sheridan was awkward and geeky enough to sell a classic nerd persona without being so overbearing or unlikable that it's unbelievable Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) would fall for him (or that we would root for him). An altercation in the real world with Wade’s aunt’s (Susan Lynch) boyfriend (Ralph Ineson) was a nice moment for Sheridan to show Watts’ vulnerability and fear, giving a glimpse of how differently he reacted to challenges outside the OASIS. I would’ve liked to see more opportunities for that in the script, particularly after Art3mis meets him for real. While I was glad Wade was toned way down from what I’ve heard he is in the novel, I think he’s written a bit too safely. He’s likable, but he’s so much an everyman that he lacks conflict. I don’t think genuinely good characters are boring, but challenging their beliefs is a way to make goodness interesting and this film doesn’t do a lot of that. That could’ve been easily remedied by playing up a few aspects of the movie version to give him a stronger arc. For example, Wade’s poor and wants to win the contest so he can live a life of luxury (winning comes with a huge payday). Why not use that selfish—if understandable, in a world consumed by severe economic decline no one cares about because they all escape to the OASIS—instinct to spark more conflict with Art3mis, who wants to better the world with her winnings? Why not have Wade argue that it’s easier to play in the OASIS than to endlessly fight and maybe really die for people who don’t care about the real world? Maybe even let the promise of relaxation, safety, and an end to financial worries tempt her a bit so her values are challenged as well. When she beats that temptation to carry on with her crusade, Wade could also realize there are more important things than his own comfort.

Also, Wade declares his love for Art3mis way faster than anyone could reasonably love someone, somewhat undercutting the “take chances with your heart” lesson he learns later, so I wish the script had given him time to find out what real love is. He could still be intimidated by the enormity of real love, necessitating that lesson when actual feelings are on the line. While I don’t think their love story is any shallower than in the average film, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been deepened. Lean into Wade’s instant “movie love” and have it mess up Art3mis’ quest by making his help a hindrance for a while. His eagerness to connect with her does destroy his real life, but the movie only comments on how foolish he is to reveal his real name, not that his infatuation is the cause. I also wish there was much more reaction to Wade’s family being murdered; it radicalizes him to Art3mis’ cause (making his aunt into yet another woman in a refrigerator, unfortunately) and Sheridan is good at conveying the loss for the few moments the film lets him live in it, but beyond that it felt like the loss got forgotten somewhere. Even when Wade and his friends intercept villain Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) as he’s exiting the OASIS and trap him in a simulation, Wade’s rage at his aunt’s death seems to be mostly an act, because he has a totally cool head as soon as he leaves Sorrento’s presence. Had the movie presented this as an example of how disconnected players had become from people in their real lives (even if they do make friends with people online), it would’ve been a strong, compelling rebuke of the OASIS. If that’s the intention, it needed a vocalized realization and a moment for Sheridan to explore it.

Olivia Cooke was awesome and driven as Samantha Cook/Art3mis, who—like others have pointed out—had a stronger plot and motivation than Wade did. Since her father died a debtor worked to death by the evil corporation IOI, she was out to prevent them from winning the contest and (in the book, so I’ve been told) wants to use her financial winnings to better the real world. I wish that end goal had been clearly articulated in the movie, because while I like the idea that the world is so bad that the only thing worth fighting for is an escape from it, the huge sum of money the players were competing for could make a real difference. Also, it might have been interesting for Art3mis to be out to shut down the game altogether. There's a literal "delete the OASIS" button—which I kinda wish was designed to look like the Ghostbusters’ Containment Unit—introduced at the end that's never referenced elsewhere, so why not tease it earlier as part of Art3mis' mission? Shutting down the game (and reimbursing everyone for their virtual loot) so that people would be forced to focus on bettering and living in the real world would’ve been a logical goal for her. That's where you could play up Wade's reverence for James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and his OASIS by making him argue for the importance of a game, leading to them compromising with the "close the OASIS on Tuesdays and Thursdays" idea at they implement in end.

Samantha immediately shutting down Wade shortening her real name to Sam after they met in the real world was a nice beat; it was a small moment, but it’s cool that she got to assert her chosen identity in the real world as well as online. I loved that she was weirded out by Wade saying he loved her so quickly and that she called him out on not really knowing her, instead only seeing the parts she wanted him to see. Those both felt like realistic reactions and smart commentary on internet (and real-life) interactions as informed by movies where all romance is a speedy fairy tale. I do wish they'd continued to subvert and expand on those ideas, however. They could've played up her insecurities about her real self beyond being embarrassed by a birthmark, which would've been a nice contrast to Wade's confidence in the OASIS vs. his considerably more fearful real-world persona. It also would've been nice if more than her birthmark had thrown Wade off. Props to him for not caring about her physical appearance, but that's a really low bar; why not include some personality traits he doesn't like? Different tastes in pop culture? Are there things about Wade or his interests she doesn’t like? At the very least, her rebellion could've fueled conflict between them and created much more drama than her apprehension about her birthmark did. Her drive could've been too much for him at first, since he just wanted a cozy life and she's putting her real self in danger. Now that I think about it, playing that up could’ve been a reference itself to Han and Leia in the original Star Wars. While conflict and challenges would’ve generated more sparks and, eventually, a stronger bond, both Sheridan and Cooke sold what they got and I liked them together. While I appreciated that they were drawn as more or less equally capable in the contest (and Samantha was definitely more capable in the real world), I didn’t need her to tell Wade she knew he'd win: it seemed less supportive and more like it undercut her own skills to nod at him being some kind of savior. She does get a lot to do in securing Wade’s access to the final challenge from behind enemy lines, though, which was cool and made winning a bit more of a team effort.

I liked Wade’s best friend Aech (Lena Waithe) a lot and the reveal that the male avatar was controlled by a woman was cool. It was also a nice touch that her mechanic skills weren’t received with shock once her friends knew who she was (and that she didn’t need to explain how she was such a good mechanic!). Waithe was good with what she got, but I wish they'd used her to explore the idea that the OASIS lets you be anyone and anything you want a bit more. Wade gets confidence, Samantha gets beauty and the power to strike back, and Sho (Philip Zao) gets respect beyond his years, but letting Helen articulate exactly what she gets out of the OASIS could’ve been a powerful moment and an argument for its positive aspects. I’m glad the movie at least nodded at her being a lesbian (by having her avatar enjoy making out with the Shining ghost (Gem Refoufi)) instead of ignoring that altogether, though that’s the perfect example of something that could’ve been expanded upon by giving her a moment to say the OASIS allowed her to acceptably live her truth. I wish we’d gotten to know Wade’s pals Sho and Daito (Win Morisaki) better as well. They could've at least had varied goals; rather than seeking control and fortune, maybe one of them could’ve just been down to complete the challenges like a trophy hunter in today’s video games. In general, I would've liked to see more of Wade's competitors before he brings everyone together at the climax. TJ Miller’s I-R0k is a great counterpart to Wade, given he comes off as a much more problematic nerd than Watts does, but he’s still essentially an IOI stooge rather than a player with his own agenda. Are there rebel Gunters Art3mis works with that do extreme things she doesn't approve of? There's only so much screen time, of course, but after the first leg of the Egg Hunt it felt like only the High Five and IOI were invested in the quest.

Mendelsohn was good as the evil businessman in charge of keeping IOI's profits up. That he wanted to monetize the OASIS by putting ads all over it and wanted to charge for its use made him a good avatar for both Hollywood leaning on nostalgia instead of creating new things and for the forces opposed to net neutrality, since this tech should be for everyone. The fact that he was greedier than outright mustache-twirling evil (until he started killing people) was a smart choice that kept him human. At the same time, that greed quickly led him down a "who cares" path: he has no concern about zeroing out everyone scrambling for the Easter Egg, which would bankrupt everyone against him (I hope Wade restored those players' coin counts!), and that was good character progression. I also liked his fake geek scene: being fed trivia to convince Wade they were the same (and his general exasperation with geek culture) was a good way to make him markedly different from every other character in the movie, particularly the younger generation. I also liked the change in his response to confronting Wade as an “inferior” geek and Wade as a competent rebel threat. I've seen it jokingly pointed out that a rich white guy like Sorrento just admitting he's a criminal and giving up at the end is the most unrealistic thing in the movie, but I think that's foreshadowed by Wade confronting him with the "gun." Nolan respects the gamers when they show the capability to end his life; as soon as they're willing to play by his rules, he takes them seriously and backs down almost immediately. Like Wade’s online courage and offline weakness, Nolan has an “avatar” of strength in the real world around people he believes are less than him.

Contrasting with Sorrento, I really liked that the IOI researchers (Turlough Convery, Joe Hurst, Eric Sigmundsson, James Dryden, Danielle Phillips, Rona Morrison, Khalil Madovi, Morris Minelli) were truly invested in the outcome of the game and (eventually) watching Wade win it. Their glee at the success of the hunt and the purity of the final challenge added a lot of texture to them. They may have sold out to IOI (or simply been forced into working with them because of debt or promises of riches), but they weren't just heartless drones. While I appreciated that depth, I was a little confused about the power IOI wields in general in this world. One of their divisions seemed to be a (virtual) privatized debtor’s prison and I would've liked to see what that was like when not engaged in the egg hunt (assuming it existed before Halliday's challenge). That seems ripe for the potential to program nightmares into prisoner’s minds when the only crime was falling behind on their debts. I've been told that in the book, IOI's Sixers are more like indentured servants and I could see that spin in the film (particularly through Samantha's dad), but some clarity on what their actual power level and place in society was would've been appreciated, because it certainly looked like Samantha had been arrested by them. It was also a little odd that IOI could blow up part of the Cleveland Stacks and no authorities cared or even showed up until the end, unless that's a comment on the classism of this society. Despite that lack of clarity, "the common people vs. a corporation with too much power" is a solid theme and the movie plays it well. I also appreciated that Sorrento’s real-world muscle was headed up by a woman, F’nale Zandor (Hannah John-Kamen). She could’ve easily been a guy and most movies would’ve gone that way, but making her a strong, dangerous woman who didn’t like Sorrento that much was a cool choice. It would’ve been nice for Samantha, Sho, and Daito to be able to defeat her instead of Wade (who was focused on the OASIS during their fight), though.

I liked Halliday and his quiet sadness in the wake of the important lesson about connections he'd learned too late. He seems much more likable and understandable than what I've heard about his book counterpart. I'm pretty quiet in real life, so I could definitely relate to his difficulty opening up to people. The fact that his quest to know his favorite pop culture is really a quest to appreciate the game and the world outside by connecting with real people (first Halliday, then people in your real life) was an awesome twist. Whether Halliday is really dead or not doesn't matter to me; either way, he is free of his creation and has found a successor who can do what he couldn’t. Halliday’s programmed self leaving with his childhood self was a perfect exit from the story for him. Simon Pegg gave a solid, unexpectedly subdued performance as Halliday's former friend Ogden Morrow that I liked a lot. He had a good bit of tragedy to him over falling out with Halliday and I liked how he figured into the OASIS world. Serving as the docent of the Halliday museum felt like a cool way to honor his friend and preserve his memory while potentially trying to figure out exactly what drove them apart. I’m glad that the fact that Halliday was in love with Og’s wife wasn’t played to make anyone look bad—rather, it was treated as just something that happened—and the real tragedy was that they fell apart over something Og probably would’ve forgiven Halliday for had they just talked about it instead of Halliday bottling it all up inside (another lost connection).

I liked the references in Halliday's virtual world—I love 80s/90s pop culture—but almost none of the cameos stunned me. They were more like set dressing selling the idea of a nostalgia playground and that’s all they needed to be. If they were the real characters instead of players using avatars, we'd lose focus on Wade, Samantha, etc. and their struggle. While we do get glimpses of interests beyond the 80s/90s—the Adam West Batmobile, King Kong, mentions of steampunk, and disco music (bizarrely referred to as "old school"...all of this is old nowadays, not to mention to teens in the 2040s)—as others have noted it would've been nice to see more diverse fandoms represented by the Gunters, even while they were engaged in cracking Halliday's 80s/90s-focused challenge. It would've brought more variety to the characters. As for the contest itself, I loved the race and The Shining test a lot. The race for the first key, through a twisting and turning New York, was a great adaptation of racing games that made me think of Split/Second. It also featured two of my favorite cameos in the movie, Rexy from Jurassic Park and King Kong, because those “were” those characters. The Shining challenge for the second key featured an excellent recreation of Stanley Kubrick's movie before morphing into pretty much exactly what I'd imagine a bombastic video game version of that film would be, which was cool. That adaptation being hated by Stephen King was also a nice tie to Halliday becoming disillusioned by what people were giving up to use his game. Jack Torrence’s fall and attempt to destroy his family also feels like a pretty perfect (if extreme) parallel to Halliday feeling he’d betrayed his best friend by secretly loving his wife and cutting him out of the company. The chaotic melee leading up to the final key was fine, but full of players I didn't know or care about so it fell flatter than it probably should have (one of the "real" characters thrown into that battle gets a great moment, though). On the other hand, the final challenge was a nice, quiet moment that fit the film's theme and Halliday's lesson. It felt right to bring it all down to one player connecting with the designer of one game. The actual final challenge was perfectly personal too, but they totally missed a chance to homage The Last Crusade by having Halliday’s wizard avatar say “You have chosen…wisely.”

I liked the ideas behind this world quite a bit. It’s definitely prescient to showcase a world in love with distractions and games to the point where they stop interacting with real people or doing something worthwhile with their lives (who among us hasn’t gotten distracted by Twitter or Facebook and put off doing something we should be doing?). They did a great job of showing how much people were wrapped up in their virtual lives, spending real money (even their mortgage money!) on virtual trinkets and upgrades. That real-world financial connection made the stakes high enough to carry the film for me. It's true Wade and the High Five are only fighting for a recreational toy (even if it has other applications like education) without having goals for their lives outside the OASIS, but in the dystopia they live in (and in our real world), people need a release and escape: our lives can't just be work/school, food, bathroom breaks, and sleep. That's why we go to movies and play games in the first place. It's why people shouldn't police what people on food stamps use them for; existence should be more than just existing. At the same time, remembering the OASIS is just a game, not the pinnacle of your existence, is a great message and the movie walks the line between these seemingly at-odds lessons very well. To that end, I wish they'd said the High Five were going to use their enormous winnings to make the real world somewhere people would want to explore too.

I'm interested to see if the novel expands on what you can do in the OASIS beyond playing. I did miss the first minute or two—I came in as Wade was introducing his treadmill/haptic suit—so perhaps some of these elements were referenced and I just missed it. I've heard kids go to school inside it and that's an interesting opportunity for students to be exposed to any facet of history/science/whatever in a tactile way through VR. I'd be interested to see how much work is done online in conjunction with OASIS applications, if any. Do people buy their food with OASIS coins? The more real-world things are wrapped up in the program, the more crucial it becomes to save it from a corporation that wants to eventually price people out of vital services. On a more personal level, seeing more people experimenting with how they present themselves to the world would've been great. If they can literally be anything or anyone, a lot of personal freedom is also at stake. Aech and Shao touch on this freedom, as does Art3mis with her idealized appearance, but I would've loved to see more, particularly with today's political battles over transgender rights. In terms of how people in this future interact with each other, I found it disheartening that even 30 years from now, in a world where everyone is constantly online playing in the OASIS, Wade still has trouble believing a girl—even the famous Art3mis!—could be an expert at trivia. This very modern problem doesn't come up much in the movie, but the Slappers Only line stood out to me. Wade and Samantha test each other on Goldeneye 64 knowledge, which is fine, but it's obvious by what she says that she'd know what Slappers Only is without Wade mansplaining it.

From the look of trailers, I never would've guessed Steven Spielberg directed this. However, he brought his trademark heart and humanity to the CGI elements and video game structure; even in unfamiliar trappings, it felt and acted like a Spielberg movie. Despite areas where the characters could've been fleshed out to create more conflict or explore the personal freedom of the OASIS, Spielberg's touch and the strength of his performers kept them likable and engaging. He also maintained a quick pace: this didn’t feel like a two and a half hour movie at all. I thought the CGI looked good, given this was supposed to be a video game with game graphics. Since it intentionally looked "off" from reality, it wasn't jarring to have anime-inspired avatars or constantly shifting geography. I liked that the score had touches of film scores from the 80s in it; those bits of nostalgia did get me. From the excerpts I've read online, most of the novel’s problematic elements were removed for the adaptation. Wade doesn't show any transphobia—Aech brings up the idea that Art3mis could be a guy and Wade denies it, but seems to accept that possibility anyway. They're worried Art3mis is a guy who’ll steal Wade’s coins, not that he’s a guy who wants to date him. There's no "masturbation manifesto,” no super-long lists of everything Wade has studied (partially because they can just show us all the references and partially because the movie has a more personal egg hunt). Wade's attempts to make Art3mis like him are also toned down or cut altogether, though I wouldn't have minded including one or two and subverting them to teach him that real love isn't like in a movie where grand gestures and "persistence"/stalking will get you everywhere. Unfortunately, it did seem like there was still a noticeable lack of content by female and minority artists, though. Thriller gets a shoutout, but only as a costume Wade considers wearing. As I’ve seen pointed out elsewhere, there was also a lack of 80s content that was geared toward girls. Why not have Jem and the Holograms playing the club Wade and Samantha go to or something? This section of the OASIS is curated to Halliday’s tastes, sure, but if we’re going all-in on the 80s and 90s, largely ignoring minority and female artists is a pretty huge oversight.

I don’t think my critiques here are about movie-ruining problems, just areas where a good, solid film could’ve been exceptional. Even if its characters could’ve been expanded to make more of an impact and statement, Ready Player One is definitely worth seeing! It's an exciting adventure with heart and a great, relevant message. I had a lot of fun and I recommend it!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

#ready player one

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perpetuallyfive · 6 years

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breonnick replied to your post :It’s super fucking weird, right, that TJ Miller’s...

Seeing how most of this was done after he finished his scenes/ the movie was done waiting to be released. I feel like you should judge more heavily on who will hire him on movies that are just starting production and all future productions. Like I dont have an issue that there not cutting him out of deadpool 2. I would have an issue if he comes back for 3 though.

Because you gotta remember not every production could have the freedom to do what the movie All the money in the world did to Kevin spacey. Be it money, Contracts/legal issues, or even time. That’s why I feel it’s better to judge on who keeps giveing him jobs here on out.

A few things.

Ready Player One absolutely had the budget to remove him and the original Deadpool was a massive success at the box office. It’s not some small indie nothing. They could have chosen to spend the money, if they thought TJ Miller’s inclusion would cost them ticket sales. That’s how this shit works. All the Money in the World was so costly in removing Spacey specifically because of contract negotiations -- and Ruffalo’s desire to capitalize on that -- and yet they still went through with it because of insistence from creatives and a desire for an Oscar season push. They felt it was worth the financial risk to preserve the dignity of their film and to do the right thing.

Of course, Fox knows their target demo will hand wave most of the things he was accused of, but hey, known unstable man has proven to be unstable enough to now face federal charges that could lead to up to five years in prison and look even worse leading right up to the film’s release. Maybe they should have taken care of their shit.

But you know, if they didn’t want to spend money to put safety precautions in place that could have potentially saved a woman’s life, I’m not entirely shocked that the film that is only generating mostly negative buzz out of SXSW and similar early screenings didn’t want to exert the effort to remove Miller even though they’ve gone back in for reshoots.

I guess they felt the money was better spent on meme based advertising.

Everyone has their own personal line with things and I’m not going to suggest people shouldn’t see this movie because of it. (I would suggest they consider skipping it because, again, a stunt woman died doing a stunt that people from the set claim they advised producers she wasn’t ready to do.) I don’t think anyone’s a bad person for seeing a movie. But I think it’s bullshit to try to give a massive company like 20th Century Fox a pass on what’s intended as a tent pole release.

This is a bigger deal than a film like All the Money in the World in just about every conceivable way in terms of positioning and importance to brand -- outside of Oscar potential -- and if the people involved with it creatively and within marketing wanted the change, it would happen. They just don’t care.

#breonnick #long post for ts

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smokeybrand · 4 years

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Deepest Dive

The Good

The Meh

TJ Miller is in this movie. He plays TJ Miller. I’m getting tied of TJ Miller.

The Bad

The Verdict

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officialdeathbycinema · 7 years

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Star Wars Official Trailer Analysis

OK! So i've watched...and re-watched...and rewatched...and analyzed this two and a half minute piece of cinema hypeness, and i've a few things to say if you don't mind...well, I really don't care if you do mind or not because it's 2:10 in the morning and i've been trying to bring my thoughts together on not only a trailer, but two movies as well, so fight me.

So we open to see an Imperial Officer looking silhouette staring at an assembly line. This could be Ben Solo, but for all intents and purposes, i'm going to assume this is the previously unseen "Rose" character, only officially depicted in Funko Pop! form. I'm honestly kinda interested to see what we see in this character, considering she's been so prominently featured in toy sales but no real promotional material for the movie itself (As i'm typing this however, I looked back and it really is just Ben).

Six seconds in and we transition, the change in scenery accompanied by Ces- I mean Snoke's voice over towards Ben, giving the audience a taste of what we have in store when it comes to the new Emperor-type Big Bad. We see a bunch of AT-M6 Walkers in a line for a span of three seconds, which then transitions into an overhead location shot of what i'm going to assume is Snoke's actual lair, which we see Ben and a good number of troopers walking in formation, presumably on the way to see the Supreme Leader (HA, Rocky and Bullwinkle reference!) at thirteen seconds in. Then a profile shot of Ben with his helmet on at fourteen seconds, which leads into him reaching down and picking up a new saber. This being essentially the same saber design, only sleeker, blacker, and more refined.

After that, a few seconds of black, followed by the blasting sound of a saber igniting and we see Rey on Ahch-To. We're gonna skip ahead to thirty-five seconds in, and watch Luke Skywalker take back his saber from Rey. But at thirty-eight seconds, we hear Rey say the line "Something inside me has always been there." Ok, that's a pretty cut and paste line, so i'll move on because that's probably one of the least interesting things to talk about in this trailer. Forty-one seconds into the trailer and Rey is entering the temple tree, where the books are held. Now in the first trailer we saw the insignia of the "Grey Jedi". Think of them as the agnostics of the Star Wars universe. That's obviously an oversimplification, but we can get to that topic later. Maybe when the films come out, but later. Forty-seven seconds in and she's training with a saber, and I'm really wanting to assume she's been here for a few months, and not just a week or two after the first film when this scene plays out (*cough cough, make Rey not a Mary-Sue anymore cough cough*). The force is apparently so strong with Rey that she can make the ground crack beneath her, which prompts Luke to say, in my opinion, a very interesting line.

At fifty-two seconds we hear Luke say the line: "I've seen this raw strength only once before. It didn't scare me enough then, it does now." Couple that with imagery of a building burning, more burning, and Luke's robot hand emerging from debris like he's in The Evil Dead, and people are going to assume one thing. They're going to assume that he's talking about Ben Solo. I however, do not think this is the case. Sure he underestimated Ben, but he wasn't scared of him because he was family, not because he had darkness in him. No, he's not talking about Ben, or Vader, or even Starkiller. No, I think he's talking about Sideous. Because if you remember the original trilogy, Luke was very, VERY headstrong when it came to defeating the dark side, and in turn didn't take the Emperor as a serious threat until it almost cost him his life...but now that he sees that same pure, raw power, it TERRIFIES him. But then it plays into the whole "Old man doesn't want to train young pupil for something that happened to them personally until they reluctantly give up" cliche that this series seems to want to jerk off like Ron fuckin Jeremy...but I digress. From one minute and three seconds in to one minute and eight seconds in, we hear Ben say the words "let the past die" while he subsequently DESTROYS his Darth Fanboy helmet (Which is what i'm going to be calling it from this day on forth). He could be talking about his time as an agent for the light side, or this could be a potential scene beginning a redemption arc for Ben where he tears away from his Kylo Ren persona. But then again, a redemption arc wouldn't be that fun when you can just kill the character before that happens in the slightest....or just have him evil, you know, because evil apparently isn't cool anymore, everything has to be "tragic and misunderstood"...AGAIN, I digress. Then comes a starship battle, and boy HOWDY is Ben one hell of a pilot. He says the line "Kill it, if you have to", which is in relation to the previous line of "Let the past die"...and then at one minute and fifteen seconds, we see General Leia....which basically is an "oh fuck" moment because I'm basically just calling it that she's gonna kick the bucket HARD in this movie, and the news of her playing a "pivotal role" is highly exaggerated.

One minute, seventeen seconds: Mommy senses baby through force, and vice versa...or IS IT? My whole thing about how the trailer is edited is weird, because there are some obvious weaving techniques being put in here to deceive the audience. So how I think this scene is going to play out is that Ben is ordered to destroy the Resistance base on that particular ship, which he does. But you know, since Snoke's whole thing is manipulation of Ben, and losing his mother (since it was explained in the last movie that his bond with Leia was far stronger than his bond with Han) would essentially put him in a state of darkness, making Snokes job WAY EASIER. So Snoke tells Ben "Hey, I don't like this Resistance ship. Blow it up." to which Ben replies "Alright, you've not really sent me astray before, why would you do it now? It's not like you're a manipulative dickbag that looks like a scrotum wrapped in one of Hugh Hefner's robes.". But then Snoke "fails" to mention that Leia is on that ship. She senses him, but since he's STILL not mature enough in the ways of the force (and sometimes this series throws continuity into the wind like Nana's ashes on a late summer evening), He doesn't sense her until it's too late. He doesn't sense her persay...but he senses a lack of her. He feels that classic disturbance in the force. He doesn't know why until later...and he doesn't know that he had just killed his own mother, a woman he loved so dearly, and the reason he was so conflicted about going fully dark side. But now that she's gone...Snoke can take him, and Ben is so distraught...that he listens, and fully accepts his role as not Ben Solo, but Kylo Ren.

BUT THAT'S JUST HOW I WANT THE SCENE TO GO DOWN, I DON'T THINK THE WRITERS ARE GONNA BE CLEVER ENOUGH TO DO IT THAT WAY.

One minute and thirty three seconds...Porg.

One minute, thirty seven seconds, Poe Dameron vs Ben Solo dogfight which is no doubt gonna be really cool. One minute, forty seconds, Finn vs. Brienne of Tarth in a giant Aluminum onsie...I mean Captain Phasma. Probably gonna be really cool, I just want more character growth in Finn since he had a pretty weak arc in Episode Seven (well, at least it was stronger than Rey's).

There's some more lines said by Luke which are pretty uninteresting, but at one minute and fifty-seven seconds, we see our first look at Snoke, and boy was I accurate in my description. You guys remember that scene in Deadpool where they basically just let TJ Miller riff at Ryan Reynolds for three uninterrupted minutes? Yeah, that. But my sister did raise a pretty good theory for this scene earlier, and she said that Rey might be experiencing one of Ben's memories...even though she's probably not.

Two minutes and three seconds, black screen with Rey's dialogue leading us into the most misleading part of the trailer which has the #Reylo shippers up in arms. We hear Rey say the words "I need someone to show me my place in all of this." and then we see Ben raise a hand towards the camera. Now upon first glance, we assume he's offering to take Rey under his wing...but these two shots aren't even in the same scene. The lighting is all wrong for this to be possible for one thing, two the tones of each shot are different as well. The light that is facing Rey camera left is pure, and unobstructed. She's in the temple tree on Ahch-To, presumably talking to Luke and convincing him to train her. But when the camera is on Ben, he's obviously in the tail end of a battle sequence. He COULD still be talking to Rey, but no, the line given is in a completely different scene. So no #Reylo shippers, your beloved character parallel fetish fodder is not canon yet, keep writing your fanfiction. Now that last paragraph could potentially label me as Anti-Reylo, but then again not only do I not care if I am labelled as such, I just don't care about the delicious death threats i'm BOUND to get from subsequently posting this analysis on Tumblr once i'm done posting it to Facebook.

Anyways, the credits roll three seconds after that, we're promised a film on December 15th, and the first week of tickets are probably already sold out as i'm writing this. But overall it was a decent trailer as far as analytical material goes, and I don't really think we need another since the movie is two months off.

So yeah, weeee Star Wars...I think the internet is just RUINING this new trilogy for me.

#reylo #star wars #the last jedi #rey #kylo ren #film criticism

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xoxorumourhasit · 7 years

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EastEnders and its axing of young actors/characters...

So if a character is between the ages of 15-24 in EastEnders, they don’t stand much of staying in the show for long. That’s what seems to be happening these days, and it doesn’t matter how long they’ve been in the show, what family they’re part of, how good their character is, or their potential.

Yesterday it came out that Abi and Lauren would be written out, and lots of young actors have been axed in recent years. Young actors are actually more likely to leave as well, so when you couple that with them axing them, you don’t end up with your originals left. Forgetting Lauren and Abi, this is who we’ll be left with: Ben Bex Louise Whitney* Jay Johnny Shakil Keegan Travis Josh Keanu Bernadette * Whitney’s 25 in a few months and she hangs around with more older characters anyway, so to be honest I wouldn’t really count her. In terms of character introduction, 5 of those have only been introduced this year. Shakil’s been there just over a year, Johnny was only reintroduced over a year ago, Louise reintroduced less than 2 years ago, and Bex has only really started having storylines in the last year. So who the young cast were this time last year was very different, and 3 years ago, even more different.

Young characters are needed to build the future family generations, like Sonia, Martin, Stacey, Ian, Sharon, Michelle and Robbie are currently doing for us. 2/3 years ago they seemed to have decided to start doing away with a lot of their young characters, without giving the majority of them a proper chance. I know Sonia, Martin, Stacey, Sharon, Michelle and Robbie have all left in the past – BUT, bar Robbie, that was all the actors’ choices, and they all stayed at least 6 years in their original stints. It feel likes Lucy’s death seems to have been the catalyst for this getting rid of young actors/ruining their chances to be long-term.

I didn’t agree with the Lucy storyline at first, but when it started I began to, and I liked it – until they revealed her killer. I won’t go into detail here (I wrote a whole blog on it), but I didn’t think Bobby made sense. I still don’t, and now I disagree even more with the storyline because with the way they ran the storyline, Bobby ending up leaving. He had to, they had turned him psycho. Now I don’t think they had to turn him psycho, they could have just left it a seemingly accident. But they did… and with Peter already gone, and Lucy dead, they got rid of a potential 15-24 year old character. I know Bobby will be able to return after his prison sentence, but he’s probably always going to have a psycho personality, meaning he will never last long. It’s the same with Steven – they had him go psycho 10 years ago, he returned normal, but they made him psycho again. Now Steven is just a few years too old to fit the young character bracket, but he did interact with a few young characters, and they’ve killed him off now. I don’t feel there was much more for him as he went too psycho this time, so don’t necessarily agree with killing him off, but now Ian has 2 dead children. And I just don’t see Bobby having a permanent future in the show, and they really didn’t need to make him psycho as Ian already had a psycho child. Although the Steven death wasn’t part of the Lucy thing, Cindy and Liam’s departures were. Well, they chose for it to be, as Cindy threatened to reveal it. I don’t see why they even had Cindy leave, there was no actual need for it – she’d been in the show for less than 2 years, and there was plenty they could have done with her. Her and Liam were good together, although Liam’s immediate family had left (bar Whitney), they could have had him as part of the Beales. But the Beales in particular just don’t seem to stand a chance with their kids these years. I know they couldn’t predict the actor playing Peter leaving, but that just goes to show – why get rid of your young cast when it’s likely a fair amount of them will leave anyway? The Cindy exit was after the Peter exit, it never made sense to me. TJ was also a 15-24 year character who left, he was the father of Cindy’s baby. That was a understandable axing – they axed the whole family, the actress playing Bianca was leaving and the family’s connection really was with her. I don’t think they ever quite gelled in the soap, though TJ could have been a potential reintroduction when he was older if Cindy had still been around. There have been other axings I’ve agreed with – Dexter, for example, he wasn’t a very good character and his parents had left so. Lola, I did not – they could have explored her with Jay, she had Billy, and they could have explored her as a young mother more. It seems to be what they do with the young single mum characters actually - axe them: Lola, Cindy, now Lauren, and technically Abi as she is a mother to be. Throwing it back 10 years, young mum Demi Miller. I can’t find someone in the last 10 years whose been a young single mum and stayed – the majority have been axed, others have left. I do wonder if Stacey would have been axed - the actress left soon after Stacey gave birth, but by the time she came back she was in the ‘older’ category.

The actors playing Nancy and Tamwar both chose to leave. Tamwar had a good run, but Nancy was only in the show just over 2 years. The actor playing Fatboy did not – but I didn’t disagree with the decision, he lasted a lot longer than expected, and he hadn’t had much of an impact on the show. I completely disagree with them killing him off though, he was essentially a comedy character, and he died in such a horrific way. With the actor playing Paul, it wasn’t his decision. I was never a fan of the character, and he didn’t have much of an impact really. But the decision to kill him off was interesting – Pam and Les had lost their son and now their grandson; Ben was losing his partner so young, a partner he’d not long been public with; the fact it was a homophobic attack, which I felt was an important issue to raise. With this axing, as the exit was so interesting, I actually agree with it. We also had the actor playing Kyle leave, again not his decision. I liked Stacey having family, but with all the other Slaters gone it now feels like that era has passed really, like she’s a Fowler now. To be honest this is a good idea, because I don’t see them ever getting rid of Stacey, and the Fowler’s are one of the original families. We lastly have Lee, who again did not choose to leave, but it was a decision I agreed with. I just was never really a fan – I never really saw the need to have another Carter child, Johnny and Nancy were enough. To be honest, I think Mick and Linda can just work by themselves. I’d rather Johnny go than Lauren and Abi, though I do get with the new characters they’re giving them time. I guess going on the ones who have been there more than a year, if they’re looking to cut down on young characters then I’d go with the ones playing Johnny and Shakil, just because I don’t feel there’s that much you can do with them. Although Travis and Josh are apparently regulars, I don’t think either of them are going to be long-term. To be honest, on the current young actors list the only ‘stars’ I see really are Bex, Louise and Jay. The newer characters may start to shine don’t get me wrong, but Lauren and Abi already were. And Max will still be there, and so will Dot and Jack. The Brannings were massive about 5 years ago, and to be honest they probably did need reducing, but now there’s barely any left, and I think they need Lauren and Abi. Both actresses have proved their loyalty, and lasted long-term. All these new young characters may not – although of my list of 14 young exits over the last 3ish years, only 3 actually chose to leave, and 2 of them hadn’t been in it long. I have to wonder if the reason why it’s not more is because they’re axing them before they have a chance to think about new roles, I mean look at the list: only 3 of them were there more than a few years, and to be honest Liam really was only a couple of years into having storylines of his own so I’d say he was more like 2 years than 7, same with Bobby.

Danny-Boy Hatchard as Lee – 3 years Riley Carter Millington as Kyle – 1 year Jonny Labey as Paul – 1 year Eliot Carrington as Bobby – Less than 2 years Ricky Norwood as Fatboy – 6 years Mimi Keene as Cindy – 2 years

James Forde as Liam – 2 years having storylines Danielle Harold as Lola – 4 years Hetti Bywater as Lucy – 2 years George Sargeant as TJ – Less than a year Khali Best as Dexter – 2 years So yeah I’m not happy with them axing Lauren and Abi, I feel like they’re introducing young characters just to axe them later. Especially when these characters are needed to build up key families, it’s a bit frustrating. Bobby, Cindy, Lucy – the Beales; Liam, Abi, Lauren – the Brannings; Lola – the Mitchells. I know we have Bex for the Fowlers/Brannings, and Louise for the Mitchells – but it just feels they kind of thought we got rid of Lola so let’s bring in Louise; let’s have Bex for the Brannings. I think they’re both great, and are part of key families too, BUT neither have been it the show all that long, they could decide to leave in a couple of years time. But Lola, Lauren and Abi showed their loyalty. To be honest I see Bex or Louise getting pregnant, and then them writing them out… Gahh.

Anyway that’s just how I feel. Hopefully they won’t kill off Lauren and Abi, like they did with Ronnie and Roxy. And yup, I completely disagreed with that decision too.

#eastenders #jacqueline joss #lorna fitzgerald #lauren brannng #abi branning

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