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mochalottie · 11 months

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I wanted to make a larger post about ATSV because I've been listening to the soundtrack on loop for the past week, I'm going to see it again tomorrow, and I just made a very astute observation about the film and its music (and no, this is not a chance to show off my music film degree shut up--)

So, in the previous Spiderverse-film there was a lot of focus placed on the Original Soundtrack. I mean the songs used in the film (diegetically) and which were inspired by Miles' story. It included stuff like Sunflower and What's up Danger.

It meant that there was less emphasis on the film score, written by Daniel Pemberton. Apart from only Miles' theme throughout his journey, and his fight theme in the collidor 'Miles Morales Returns' there isn't much of a focus on the score itself. It falls to the wayside unless people actively go to listen to it. I mean, the cover art for it was actually really simple until recently. The big 'Spider-man' graphic wasn't there a few weeks ago.

Now, there's nothing bad about this at all, and in fact I haven't come here to criticise this, only to observe and possibly gush about how it's changed. Because it has changed; this time in ATSV there's less of a focus on the OST and more on the score. It's far more prevailent, to the point where each Spider person is getting their own theme.

That includes Gwen, Miguel, Miles, Pav, and Hobie. And each actually sounds really well characterised.

Gwen's, which is heard really prevalently during the battle with Vulture at the beginning is very drum heavy (obviously), but the main melody rises in quick succession in what could be a slide, but nearly couldn't because you hear each individual note. We know for a fact that Gwen is the only Spider person in her Earth, so it could almost be a nod to her rising to the challenge. Learning to defend her city whilst also always getting back up. Someone also pointed out that the drum solo heard at the beginning is used at the end, and is part of her theme. It also makes sense why she would form the Spider band, because the drums form the foundation so that the other instruments can build upon it.

Miguel's is first heard when he steps through the portal, and obviously it sounds ominous and menacing. But, I don't believe he's a bad guy. Someone said here that there's a difference between an antagonist and a villain. Miguel is the antagonist, which is reflected in his theme, because he is far different to the other Spiders. He's a vampire, for one, his world is set in 2099, and he was the first to figure out the canon events. The setting is why, I think, his theme is so techno in style. It also has the same rise and fall motif that is similar to Gwen's, a bit of word painting in a sense.

We then come to the main character Miles, who's theme we did experience before in the first film, but it's far more developed in this one. For one thing, it's longer in time, second, it's set during the chase scene with the Spot. We know from the last film that Pemberton is a master at meshing the diegetic music into his score (for example adding in some of Miles' theme into What's up Danger) and it's no different here. At one point, he changes the record scratches (which are literally him scratching the vinyl recording of the score) to the screeches the goose makes whilst Spot and Miles are duking it out in Foam Party. And obviously more rising scales, and epic orchestration but meshed with the record scratches and errant cowbells.

I think Pav and Hobie are my favourite new characters. Like Pav 'Just coconut oil, prayer, good genetics' 'chai tea? chai is tea! Do you want some coffee coffee with a side of cream cream?'. He makes me laugh every time and he's such a sunshine boy I wanna squish--

ahem. anyway.

Obviously, Pav's theme is very culturally accurate, but he hasn't been able to get away from the traditional record scratches and hints of techno like the other Spiders. It doesn't have the rise and fall motif (yet) but that could be because he hasn't been Spider-Man all that long (six months and he still got a badge) and he hasn't experienced any of the major sacrifices Spider-Man usually does. And we hope that he doesn't anyway, cause they need a bright and smiley Spidey that's not weighed down by the weight of his fecking responsibility.

What can I say about Hobie's theme. What can't I say about Hobie's theme. It is downright headbanging screaming at authority fuck the monarchy english punk!! I love it to bits, the way it reminds me of so many other great bands whilst also being really bloody original. Good drum runs like holy shit, good guitar riffs (you can bet their fingers might be bleeding by the end of it) and it just gives the vibes of late 70s. It just fits so so well.

All of it does, the whole score is amazing and I would absolutely adore to pick Daniel Pembertons' brain in finding out how he decided each Spider would sound. Like, the tiny details every creator put into this film is insane.

Each Spider even has their own unique thwipping sound how specific can you get!!!

Anyway, I'm done. For those of you who read through this, know I did it during half of my lunchbreak because this film is giving me brainrot.

#lottie and music #lottie watches movies #across the spider verse #miles morales #gwen stacy #miguel o'hara #pavitr my beloved #hobie brown #atsv spoilers #itsv #smatsv #i just love films scores guys okay?#let me fangirl

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tgammsideblog · 7 months

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WISH (2023) has a lot on its shoulders and I understand the criticisms I’ve seen, but isn’t it just so nice to finally have a genuine Disney villain again? No twists, no sympathy shoehorned in, just pure evil. ❤️

See, that's where people jumped to conclusions

Discussing what initially connects Asha and Magnifico, Buck observed “They both believe in the power of a wish and what it means to people and protecting a wish. They both have that same philosophy.” As Buck noted, “As the beginning, they both believe in the same thing. And so you can see, which happens in life, someone takes a different road then what they could have.” Veerasunthorn said the story essentially functioned as Magnifico’s villainous origin story, with Buck noting that with many other Disney animated villains “they are fully formed villains when they step on the screen. This one, you get to see his sort of descent into madness.”

The director said this:

Lee said that as much as they enjoyed that, once they decided for Wish they had “this hunger to have that fun, classic villain we all wanted, we asked ‘How do you do it in a way that isn’t a copy of past villains and isn’t in a way that just feels like shallow or hollow? In today’s audiences, what are people looking for in a villain?’ To me, that’s the daunting part.”

Source: https://www.fandom.com/articles/disneys-wish-depicts-a-hero-and-villain-with-a-different-kind-of-dynamic Which makes sense, since they want to bring the concept of old villains back but they don't want to do a cheap copy of something they already did.

And having in mind that current animated films like Tmnt Mutant Mayhem, Across The Spiderverse and Nimona have complex themes about structure and morality, Wish didn't have a lot of interest outside its unique animation style and classic villain trope returning. With this, it picked up my interest more, since it looks like story is aiming to do something interesting.

My problem would be that King Magnifico's character is that he sounds a little too similar to Alma from Encanto. They have similar goals in believing that they are doing the right thing for their community/family. And i'm afraid of King Magnifico ending up a little too much like Alma.

I just hope the film itself takes a different direction with him, like making him turn more evil and extreme as the story progresses, so it allows him to be his own character.

#wish disney #king magnifico

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domsaysstuff · 2 years

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Tagged by @elmindredaniq to say my 9 favorite films which thank you hon!

Okay so the problem with me and movies is that whenever someone asks me about my favorites I suddenly forget every movie to ever exist and also I can't really categorize any movie in like really "favorite" category but I'll show and tell y'all some movies that are very dear to me.

1. the half of it

Okay so this movie is such a comfort to me? Like it's about this blossoming friendship between a local himbo and a lesbian and there is a sapphic love story in the background and it's so soft and tender and gentle. The thing is I love friendships and I think we focus so little on them and this one just scratched the itch, like noone gets the final girl at the end but he does chase after that fucking friend after his lesbian best friend because he loves her. Platonically, and idk just the way he tried to get along with her father and the way she tried to support his dreams and just platonic soulmates do things to me. And the cinematography is stunning. And like I said we do get a wlw storyline, like what can I girl want more?

2. Spiderman into the spiderverse.

It's fun, it's comfort, the art is fucking amazing, the story too, the leap of faith moment? Fucking legendary, i will never not be in awe of it. The son-father relationship? The found family?THE SOUNDTRACKS AND MOTIFS WITHIN IT I'm just grrrr brain go brrrr.

3. Pride & Prejudice.

I will never not love this movie, it's just so *screams*, the touches, mr darcy, how fucking joyful it is, how gentle, also I just love pride and prejudice and I'm sorry to every other adaptation but in my mind this is the one and it has nothing to do with my crush on Keira Knightley, not even a little (it does but shhh)

4. Jennifer's Body.

First of all my queer awaking, like this movie said, yes YOU DO LIKE GIRLS, like the kiss scene has done things to me and I have never been the same. I love this movie, it's for the girlies about that girlies and man get eaten, what more one could want?

5. 10 things I hate about you

C'mon it's a classic. We all love it, honestly Pat IS our pretty boi™ and the only men ever and Kat is so snarky and bitchy as she deserves, also it's just such a fun watch.

6. The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

It's campy, it's horny, it's loud, it's out there, it's fun and it's queer. Like definitely a comfort watch. Do I think there are some questionable things™ in it? Yes but i don't care, I love it, it's my queer comfort film and you could pry it off of ny dead cold hands.

7. I Killed My Mother

Listen, this movie shaped me. Like nothing understood my relationship with my mother when I was younger as this movie and sure some other movies that did have came out since then but by God was it the culprit of my younger self angst. I will never forget some lines from this movie, it's deeply ingraved in my brain. It also has a queer side story.

8. Whisper of the heart.

It's definitely a comfort watch, definitely even more so since I'm a writer myself. Like this movie is just so fucking kind if it comes to art and the love story God, my standards for love have risen since I watched it. I mean all Ghibli movies are good but by god this one is just making me feel things.

9. Love and Leashes.

Listen, this movie is just, I want to eat it. Sometimes still all I can think about is the pulling wax scene and the scene where she fucking steps over him in her heels, like I'm just so *AAAaaaaaaaaa* about it.

Honorary mentions; Tangled, How to Train Your Dragon, Kill Your Darlings, Kiki's Delivery Service

And my polish little precious queer movie that I treasure very much since I am polish and queer: Hiacynt

So yeah, probably if I thought a little longer the list would be different and longer and stuff but that's it.

I'm tagging @daltoneering @rainbowcolored7 @bestiesincrime @mortimerlatrice and @kin-kinn but like no pressure if you don't want to do it 🥰

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maxwell-grant · 3 years

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In your Lupin/World post you said: " I’ve nursed a pet theory of mine for a while now that, perhaps, one way the pulp heroes could once again thrive and find new audiences could be by making the same jump to anime that Lupin did ". So, do you still want to share it ?

Well I guess there's no reason to put it off any longer. So, let's get into.

First thing we gotta establish is that, despite being much more distant from that medium than they are from comic books and film, the idea of pulp heroes crossing over to anime is not as impossible as it may seem. And I don't mean it just because of aesthetic or thematic similarities shared between (there's an argument to be made that John Carter was the first isekai), I mean in terms of literal pulp adaptations. For a start, we have Captain Future as easily the most direct example. He was a 1940s pulp hero who eventually got an anime adaptation in the 1970s that used the plot of the pulp stories word per word, making it arguably the most faithful adaptation of a 1930s-40s American pulp ever made.

There is a long, long, loooong history of cultural exchange between anime and western properties, you can trace it all the way back to Osamu Tezuka openly being inspired by Carl Barks's Duck comics and setting forth many traits that would become identifiable as hallmarks of manga itself. Japanese creators have mined a lot of material from Western properties and in the process did a lot of work in reviving interest for said properties.

It's not a stretch at all to argue that the main reason Arsene Lupin is a worldwide cultural icon today has much less to do with the original stories, and instead a lot more with the sheer devotion Japanese creators have to the character and the immense cultural legacy of Lupin the Third. The Cobra manga was one of the greatest selling series of all time, and he was the space cowboy long before space cowboy before a pop culture archetype. Nadia: Secret of Blue Water, a series openly based on 20.000 Leagues, directly led to the creation of Neon Genesis Evangelion, as EVA was originally planned as a sequel for it.

In fact, you could very well argue that, pound for pound, many, if not outright most, of today's most popular and critically acclaimed properties, across all mediums, are those that participate in this decades-long artistic back and forth. Metroid, Castlevania, Dark Souls, Avatar, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Fist of the North Star, Berserk, Metal Gear, Hollow Knight, Cowboy Bepop, Earthbound, Vampire Hunter D, Hellsing, Samurai Jack, The Boondocks, Powerpuff Girls, Kill Bill, Pacific Rim, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jet Set Radio, Into The Spiderverse, Batman Beyond, Teen Titans, One Punch Man, fucking My Hero Academia and UNDERTALE. Hell, look at Star Wars! It's not even just a stylistic or thematic choice or a rich well-spring of influences, it's a sound, downright obvious, decision to anyone who wants to try and ensure success towards their property.

And the very clear message that a lot of people seem to think nowadays is that everything needs to have an adaptation, everything's gotta try being a movie or tv show. A lot of people approach comic books as just a place to try out soon-to-be movie pitches, and it's hard to blame them. The Marvel characters became blockbuster juggernauts thanks to the MCU and achieved the impossible of turning characters like Rocket Raccoon into household names. Invincible used to be a popular comic that became a super popular cartoon and suddenly it's like, what, the most popular superhero property right now not from The Big Two or from MHA? Movies, cartoons and videogames are the big mediums these days to try out for, and they are properties that the pulp heroes have only just barely dipped their toes in.

Currently, the big reason why characters like The Shadow or The Phantom sustain popularity is because of the 90s films that ensured more people learned about them than they ever would if they had just stuck to the comics. Characters much bigger than them have achieved stardom and died before and after them. Pulps are one of the least acessible mediums nowadays, and comic books keep lagging behind the popularity of their respective characters. The message is now as it's always been: Adapt or perish. So, why not adapt?

Why not give The Shadow a stylized anime of his own where we get to see in full who inspired the fashion of the likes of Vampire Hunter D and Alucard? Why not let Shinichiro Watanabe take a crack at the Green Hornet? What medium could possibly depict The Spider more accurately than a gory batshit slaughterhouse in the style of Wicked City? Why not put the likes of Conan or Elric or Imaro in a videogame where you get to live out the sword-and-sorcery fantasy in full?

Why not divorce these characters from their superhero forerunners and the medium they rule, from the time trappings and outdated cultural aspects that many people insist are the key reason these characters can't or shouldn't be revived, and instead pluck them into an entirely new medium, where they are more free than ever to run rampant and shine again?

I definitely think it's the best way you're ever going to see them thrive again in modern times. These characters have had to adapt so much as is, why not give them a clean slate and a new medium and see what happens?

#replies tag #pulp heroes #the green hornet #the shadow #captain future #cobra #lupin the 3rd #jjba

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kiyaar · 3 years

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Any thoughts on the new Spider-Man trailer? I really love your reviews of the MCU’s nonsense, so I’d thought I’d ask lol.

i watched this three times for you, anon. there is a lot of nonsense! • zendaya continues to be the best part of tom holland spiderverse • the city falling into itself thing was cool the first time, when they did it in inception, and everyone is always going to think of inception any time someone else does it now. stop trying to be inception. • this is a spiderman 2 (mcu) peeve that has carried over, but I think they fucked up by revealing spider-man's secret identity. i would have probably said the same thing about iron man (2008) if i had been a die-hard tony comics fan at that time, but i think it worked out for him. but 616 spiderman has a lot of baggage around his identity, guards it arguably more fiercely than anyone else on the avengers. i'm drawing parallels between him and tony because they have both been so anal about their identities that they have had retcons/do-overs/take-backsies about their superhero IDs because it's a Big Deal. so right now I have very little idea where the mcu thinks it's going with that and I worry that we're headed for a reset with this multiverse hopping shenanigans they're trying to set up. and. dare i say it. a one day more situation. (i do not call this energy to fruition) • may continues to be hot • trying VERY HARD to overcome my distaste for benedict cumbersnatch to see through him and into the stephen strange. what if arguably did a better job of this and made it easier for me. • he could definitely be a skrull, but also he has made a lot of ego-driven decisions that end up having large fallouts in 616 so i would buy it either way, i guess. i think i expect more of him, and i'm disappointed in him for Casting That Spell, but i'm not surprised. • i think it is likely that there are offscreen (off-trailer) indications that Casting That Spell might be necessary to fix not only peter parker's sloppy identity management problems but also like. a multiverse crack or disturbance or something so i'm reserving my opinions about the oocness of his decision for now. • they'd better not fucking kill Happy Hogan • I am honestly dreading the city folding shenanigans because it means that we are still locked in this deathgrip with CGI-lust and it's distracting and dumb. and i hate it. bring back practical sfx. • why is everyone losing their mind on social about alfred molina. i don't understand this thirst flavor, are you all okay • he does look much better without a bowl cut • will willem dafoe be in this? i saw a lars von trier movie where his penis was out and if he shows up as norman osborn that's all i'll be able to think about • this trailer actually tells us little to nothing about the plot of this movie and i like that • i have seen every spider-movie to date • sinister 6 though? • prepared for post-film bestiality discourse if rhino or lizard shows up • fully expecting symbiote nonsense and i, a monsterfucker, am Ready for the body horror flavor to really permeate MCU fanworks for a time

#mcu #spoilers #no way home

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piracytheorist · 2 years

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I've heard from people who play League of Legends (I haven't played it, I just know some of the lore) that if you know the game, you can appreciate some of the Easter Eggs Arcane has hidden, but the overall story is it's own thing.

That being said, I would be interested to hear your thoughts on LoL's animation, Annie. It's one of the coolest animated stories I've seen, and someone in the comments called it the prototype Arcane.

Huh. Yeah, I did check a bit on the LoL wiki, and it looks like Vi and Jinx didn't have much of a known backstory before Arcane came out. So it looks like they made it its own thing to fit in the entire lore... so still I feel like we're missing characterization from Jinx. Maybe Jinx was already popular as the Murder Kitten she was in the later episodes, and they wanted to add a backstory to her, but weren't sure how to show her transition from a young, insecure orphan who depended a lot on her bigger sister for emotional connection (and bless her soul, Vi tried so hard), into a girl in her late teens ready to blow up and shoot down anyone or anything that stands in her way or just because she felt like it. So they just took her from 0 to 100 from one episode to the next and went like "That's the Jinx fans know lmao". And like. I felt particularly cheated because a) her design was the one (1) thing that made me want to watch this show and b) I felt her pain of rejection by her sister so fucking hard in my gut that I connected to her... and I don't mind that she's a Murder Kitten. I just wish we were given the transition to that.

Annie was heavy! I did not expect that, even after having just watched Arcane, lmao. But yeah, the animation is so cool, like traditional hand-painted frames - it reminds me of something I heard about Into the Spiderverse, where they intended each single frame to look like a panel from a comic book (and they nailed that), and in Annie it feels like every frame could be its own painting. I love seeing other styles of animation, especially considering how Disney and Dreamworks seem to focus only on the same 3d cartoonish-realistic style nowadays. I mean, at first it was only Pixar that did that. And it would be awesome if it had stayed that way and Pixar had kept 3d as its own style. Dreamworks followed, and then Disney took it upon itself to never release another 2d-animated major film after The Princess and the Frog. Which is why I was impressed by and appreciated Arcane's animation in the first place. Animation in itself is so wonderful and complex and it's a damn shame that the biggest animation studios in the world only choose the single same style to do it.

#samatedeansbroccoli #ask and ye shall receive #arcane spoilers #arcane lol

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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years

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What I Thought About "What If...Captain Carter was the First Avenger" from Marvel Studios' What If...

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Back when Marvel Studios announced the new lineup of films and shows, I was admittingly underwhelmed. Nothing we've seen so far has been poorly written, far from it, but during the announcement, nothing really popped out at me as worth getting excited for. That is, except for one series: Marvel Studios' What If... An animated series that changes the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all through the simple question. The question being, "What if this happened instead of that."

From the get-go, I was sold on this idea. I'm a sucker for hypothetical scenarios, thinking up all the ways of how some of my favorite stories in fiction could be drastically different thanks to one tiny change. Some might call that "Fanfiction the Series," and while you're not wrong, I fail to see how that's a criticism. Because fanfiction can be fun...just as long as you ignore the sick freaks, sure, but it still can be fun! So whether Marvel Studio's What If... is fanfiction or not, it still didn't change how excited I was to watch it. Was it all worth the hype? Well, to answer that question requires spoilers, so keep that in mind as we dive deep into Marvel's most ambitious project yet.

Now, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

The Watcher: Gonna get the generals out of the way before I talk about what I specifically like about this episode. Ok? Ok.

Now, using the Watcher as the narrator for this series is just perfect. What If... already has a similar energy to The Twilight Zone: An anthology series that takes viewers to new and mysterious realities all through the guidance of an omniscient narrator. And using the Watcher as that type of narrator might just be the second-best choice...number one would be Stan Lee, obviously, but...he's dead now. May he rest in peace.

I haven't read that many comics, so there's not much that I know about the Watcher's character aside from a ten-second Google search. But something tells me that a character described as a celestial being that observes and records the events surrounding the galaxy sounds like the exact type of omniscience to guide us through the unknown. All added with Jeffrey Wright's performance, who really does convey a character that sounds like he's as old as time and wise beyond his years. Plus, it's pretty cool that such a seemingly odd character now technically plays a major role in the MCU canon. Comics are weird, and if the Watcher proves anything, it's better to embrace that weirdness than deny it.

The Animation: Looks like someone watched Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.

That really is the feeling I got when watching this. What If... doesn't look as good as Spiderverse (Nothing can be as good as Spiderverse), but the idea is still there as it combines primarily CGI animation with a few hand-drawn elements. It makes certain scenes just pop and, at times, even makes specific shots look like they're straight from panels in a comic book. Besides, while Spiderverse still looks better, that doesn't mean the animation isn't phenomenal in What If... The scenery looks gorgeous, the CGI models moderately match their live-action counterparts, the expressions are fantastic, and movements are as smooth as butter. There was definitely some money that went into this series to make it look as good as it did, and my eyeballs were more than grateful because of it. Especially when it comes to--

The Action: Holy s**t, was it a good thing that this series was animated!

The MCU has had its fair share of great fight scenes in the past, but it always felt restricted to what the big superhero fights could be due to everything needing to look "realistic." That all changes in What If... Because now that this series is animated, we can finally chuck realism out the window and allow these characters to be as epic as they were in the comics. The movements are swift, the blows look like they hurt, and best of all, you actually get to see characters fighting each other! There are no random cuts to hide the stunt doubles or weird camera angles to avoid audiences seeing how ugly the CGIed replacements are. We get to see all of the action with zero restraint, thanks to the fact that animation is limitless and allows writers to get away with literally anything. And shows like this make me wonder, "Why the hell isn't the MCU animated?"

Peggy as Captain Carter: It's here that we get into the specifics, and by golly, do I love me some Peggy Carter making a return. And what a return she made!

Seeing Peggy kick Nazi ass as Captain Carter is as awesome as it sounds as she gives a new definition of a "Strong, independent woman." She took s**t from no one and was more than willing to destroy anybody who said differently. It's a ton of fun for fans (the ones who aren't sexist, at least) and even fun for Peggy as well now that she gets a chance to wreck shop. However, that in itself could cause problems. If you watched Agent Carter (a great show, by the way), then you'll know that Peggy doesn't act as...somewhat meatheaded as she does here. As she said it herself, she's "usually more covert than this." And she is, as she was pretty much the first superspy in the MCU, who's impressive through how she effortlessly infiltrates her way to winning the day with diminutive requirements for fighting. So stripping that away gets rid of a core part of what makes her character so interesting. Although, in fairness, you could blame the fact that the reason she's acting like this is that the super-soldier serum is messing with her brain a bit. We've seen through U.S. Agent the reciprocations of the wrong person taking the serum, and while Peggy is far from the worst pick, there are hints of why Steve Rodgers was the best choice. Still, even though it's not the same Peggy Carter, that doesn't mean Captain Carter is a poor addition to the hero roster in the MCU. She's cool in all the right ways, even though they're drastically different from what made her compelling, to begin with.

Howard Stark: Another character I'm more than happy to see again!

Howard didn't leave that much of a grand of an impression in Captain America: The First Avenger, but in Agent Carter (Seriously, great show), he was a blast. You can just tell he was Tony Stark's father through all the ways he fast-talks in and out of problems and brilliantly comes up with solutions thanks to being tech-savvy. The main difference between Howard and Tony, however, is that Howard prefers to stay on the sidelines, where Tony learned to be more proactive. You get a sense of that in this episode. Because even though he goes to save the day, you can tell that he would rather be anywhere else. And, as a bonus, Howard's just funny. Probably not up there as one of the funniest characters in the franchise (Paul Rudd's Ant-Man reigns supreme), but he still cracks me up more times than not. Howard may be nothing more than a side character, but he'll always win me over no matter how small of a role he has.

Steve Rodgers in the Hydra Stomper: Don't mind me. Just admiring the fact that despite being crippled and skinny, Steve Rodgers still finds a way to fight the good fight, which is who Steve is to me. One of the best things about The First Avenger is that it fully understands the hero that is Captain America. Serum or not, he will do all he can to do the right thing and won't give up despite how many times others tell him he should. So if Steve's going to fly around in a suped-up Iron Man suit that's appropriately named "The Hydra Stomper," then Steve'll f**king soar. Because he is a gosh dang superhero, no matter what name he takes at the end of the day.

Fast-Forwarding Through Events: Some fans might take issues with this. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see all the little changes that Captain Carter makes to the story, but realistically that's not the best choice to make. Let's be honest, there's not that much to show other than what this episode did, and doing a full-on rewrite of Captain America: The First Avenger would have rubbed some fans the wrong way. Besides, from what I can tell, most of the What If... comics are one-shots that very rarely branch out into longer arcs. The primary goal is less to write this large-scale story and more of this self-contained narrative that does what it precisely delivers: Show fans a glimpse of what would happen if this happened instead of that. That's what we were given, and I can't really complain that much. I would have loved to have seen more, but I can learn to be happy with what I got.

Colonel Flynn Taking Credit: This guy is sexist and an idiot, and that's why I hate him...but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't at least chuckle when he said everything was his idea. It's such a scumbag move that I couldn't help but find the humor in it.

(Like, what even was that scene where Peggy was pissed at Steve kissing a girl. THEY WEREN'T EVEN DATING !)nd Steve falling in love inThe First Avenger, which certainly wasn't helped by how they had these dumbass misunderstandings of each thinking the other was dating someone else. Here, they at least get to interact, confiding in one another about their insecurities and offer support when needed. And while it may be a little rushed, I'm more willing to believe their romance in under thirty minutes than I did in over two hours. It could have been better, but it also could have been much, much worse.

(Like, what even was that scene where Peggy was pissed at Steve kissing a girl. THEY WEREN'T EVEN DATING AT THE TIME!)

“I won’t tell you anything.”/”He told me everything.”: That's the Peggy Carter I know and love! Added with a solid joke, too.

Steve’s Pratfall: It's nice to know that no matter what universe we see, Marvel is still funny.

Peggy’s Sacrifice: Much like Peggy and Steve's romance, I buy Peggy's sacrifice way more than Steve's. Several fans already pointed out how it makes no sense for Steve to crash the plane into the icy waters when it seemed like he had enough control to land it or could have easily jumped out after aiming for the crash landing. Here, there's a more legitimate reason why Peggy sacrifices herself. The monster was undefeatable, and the only way to stop it was to push it back through the portal. Peggy, being the only one strong enough to do so at the moment, was the only option, and there was no way where she didn't end up going through with the monster. Even her return makes more sense, as I think her being lost to time and space sounds more believable than Steve surviving being frozen in ice. Something no mortal man should live through. Peggy's sacrifice proves that while the MCU can't change its cannon past, the writers learn from their mistakes and make something better.

WHAT I DISLIKED

The Reasoning Behind Peggy Becoming Captain Carter: So, the idea that one small change can greatly alter the story we knew is a great one, and it's one of the main reasons why I was excited about this series...but how does Peggy staying in the room cause the Hydra agent to detonate the bomb early? I understand the ripples that come from the Butterfly Effect, but I feel like that's too big of a leap to reason how Peggy ends up taking the serum instead.

Colonel Flynn: How is it possible that this guy is somehow even more of a pain in the ass than the general he replaced? At least Chester Phillips had the decency to respect Agent Carter!

Red Skull is Still on the Dull Side: Red Skull isn't an awful villain, but he wasn't really a great one. It's the same here, as he's just as forgettable and wooden an episode of television as he was in a full-length movie. But at least he had a cooler death this time.

Sebastian Stan is Not a Great Voice Actor: He's not awful, but his talent really doesn't shine in this regard. Some people think that being an actor and a voice actor is the same thing, but it's not always the case. Through live-action, actors are given a chance to express emotion through their expressions, movement, and voice. With voice acting, actors still have to convey emotions, but strictly through their voice. Meaning that actors like Sebastian Stan are limited to what they're used to and can stumble a bit when trying to perform in a field of acting they're unfamiliar with. You can tell he was trying his best, but this type of thing can take far more practice for others to perfect.

“Whew. Thanks. You almost ripped my arm off.”: ...hhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHA! HA HA! Ah...oh man...I, uh...I felt the internal bleeding with that one. Wow. Just...wow.

Bucky Leaving After Steve “Died”: Ok, now that's the biggest bout of bulls**t I've ever heard. BUCKY WOULD BE WITH STEVE 'TILL THE END OF THE LINE AND WOULD NOT HAVE LEFT THAT QUICKLY!

...This episode did Bucky dirty, didn't it?

IN CONCLUSION

I'd say that "What If...Captain Carter was the First Avenger" is an A-. It's still a solid start of what I can already tell will be a great series, but some elements could have used some polishing out. I loved it, but it wasn't as bloody brilliant as it could have been.

(And I meant it: WATCH AGENT CARTER! It's pleasantly surprising!)

#marvel cinematic universe #mcu reviews #marvel studios what if #peggy carter #captain carter #steve rodgers #hydra stomper #howard stark #bucky barnes #what i thought about #what if reviews

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langernameohnebedeutung · 3 years

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I think what also makes those flying or magic (or flying magic) fight scenes look weird or boring in live action but fun in animation is that in live action you can tell it’s ‘not real’ because as good as cgi has gotten, you can still tell the difference from real things, while in animation everything fits together because it’s all animated anyways. So you end up with animated Spider-Man getting thrown around and crashing into things in Spiderverse or the ps4 game looking more ‘real’ and impactful than any of the fights in the mcu movies, or the tv show, or the dc Snyder cut trailer, because in the animation due to it all being animated anyways it looks like the (animated) character themself got thrown into something, while in the live action it looks like the (real person) character got replaced with a ragdoll last minute, taking away any impact, because you visually can tell it isn’t the same character/person/body or what have you . It’s like if you have a dramatic scene with a human actor , but when the character gets thrown in the resulting fight they make a jump cut and throw around a muppet version of the character instead (and then as soon as the character lands it cuts back to them being human ofc) which just. Yeah.

Daamn I thought the same thing while playing the Spider-Man games, the animated suits on the animated characters end up looking more real by contrast than the animated suits on the live action characters because animation makes us expect that vague veil of unreality while in a live action context, it’s just really jarring.

I mean, mostly I can live with bad animation and bad effects - as long as I can tell what is happening on screen and the story makes up for it. But ... so many films these days simply rely on dazzling us with their great visuals and if visuals are all you have...they better be good, you know?

Also the novelty wears off very quickly.

The first show I really remember watching as a kid was the original Star Trek, aka a show with...horrible effects by today’s standards. A show that made do best they could. But since it was the first thing I ever watched as a kid, it didn’t really register that those were bad effects by my time’s idea of effects. I probably saw it the same way my Mum would have as a kid.

Yes, I could mostly tell that these walls were very fake and that they glued horns on a dog. But it was only after I watched modern films and modern shows that when I finally went back to Star Trek I realised that these effects could at times actually take me out of the story (and those were stories that didn’t rely on the effects to impress us).

And with the CGI stuff of the last few years, a) progress is so quick that the time until we notice something is outdated is much shorter than it was thirty or forty years ago. b) so many things have been done to the death over and over again - and because of CGI, they all look very similar (I can only imagine that these are things that people learn will look very good in CGI). So watching a sky scraper collapse or glass shatter into a million pieces or stuff like that really...loses the dramatic effect it has. It becomes cliche like many narrative and film methods quickly do. And c), as I said, if there is no story to back the whole thing up, there is very little reason to watch the film again in ten years for nostalgia.

#Anonymous

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oxfordsxbrogues · 5 years

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“The Amazing Spider-Man”: What it Means to Be Awkward

Ever since Tom Holland swung his way into our hearts as Peter Parker, people have been trashing on the Amazing Spider-Man series (2012-2014), which is really weird because when these movies came out, people couldn’t get enough of them. People loved the action and intensity, blending comic book wonder with intense realism. The acting, the visual effects, the story... people loved it all!

Well, almost all.

The one flaw that die-hards almost universally agreed upon was the characterization of Peter Parker (played by Andrew Garfield). People loved his quipping, confident Spidy, but once the mask came off people thought he was too cool and confident to be Peter. He simply wasn’t nerdy enough. When I first saw it I didn’t really mind, but with all the recent hate these movies have been getting and the fact I haven’t rewatched the first one in a few years, I decided to rewatch it and see if there was anything I was too lenient on at age thirteen

First of all, this movie is still fantastic. Real talk, it ties with Homecoming for my second favorite Spider-Man movie after Into the Spiderverse. I think all the hate that’s been popping up is a byproduct of the recent fandom trend of “Piling Unwarranted Hate Onto Something Good To Praise Something You Think Is Better,” a la pitting Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) against Rocketman (2019) or Aladdin (2019) against Beauty and the Beast (2017). This is a really mean-spirited aspect of fan culture that’s been really “in” recently, but that’s the topic of another article.

Secondly, when people said that Peter wasn’t awkward enough, I think they were looking for awkwardness in the wrong places. Look at his mannerisms in his introduction scene:

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He can’t make eye contact. Nothing he says registers above a mumble and he can’t get through a sentence without stuttering. Between the teacher, the couple making out, and Flash he can’t get a word in edgewise until he shouts at Flash, and even then his pacing is uncertain and stilted. His clothes are muted compared to everyone else’s and he sinks between his shoulders. I wasn’t able to find this clip, but in class he sits in the back of the classroom and buries himself in his arms.

There’s no way around it. Peter is definitely awkward, insecure, and severely emotionally stunted. The difference is that this has nothing to do with him being a nerd.

Peter’s original otherness stemmed from the fact that he was a nerd, which worked for 1962 and even 2002, but this was made in 2012. Arguably, the true dawn of the Age of the Nerd. Suddenly it was cool to be smart and have niche interests and wear big thick glasses. In that, this Peter’s still a nerd, but that’s not where his otherness stems from. Between these mannerisms and the backstory established in the first five minutes of the film, his otherness stems from having severe emotional issues linked to his parents’ deaths and some degree of undiagnosed social anxiety.

Compare this scene to the basketball scene, post spider bite and when he’s gaining confidence in his abilities:

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His posture is better. He looks Flash in the eye as he taunts him and his voice doesn’t shake. For the first time, he’s actually smiling. And even with all this, his voice is still soft, his clothes are still muted- even wearing the same thing he was earlier in the week. He’s still the same character from before, but through finally getting to seek answers about his parents (and a little spider science) he’s been able to grow and develop.

Y’know, like how characters (and by extent, people) are supposed to.

Were audiences so distracted by the traditional semiotic markers of “coolness” (skateboards, spiky hair, being more traditionally attractive, etc.) that we all just overlooked these traits? Or were people expecting more of the over-the-top awkwardness from Toby Maguire’s portrayal, and when they didn’t get it they automatically marked Andrew Garfield as a bad Peter? Or is it that this characterization could be better understood in today’s day and age, were we understand more about teen mental health and can better recognize the signs of someone struggling emotionally? Whatever the reason, I hope we can move past this hatred phase and remember this movie for the gem that it was.

#spiderman #spider-man #the amazing spiderman #the amazing spider-man #spiderman 2012 #spider-man 2012 #andrew garfield #andrew garfield spiderman #peter parker #character analysis #cultural analysis #anti hate culture #fan culture #fan culture analysis #mental health #teen mental health #film analysis

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monkey-network · 4 years

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An Unfortunate Critique of Spiderverse Part 2 (of 3)

Want Part 1? Here you go. Otherwise, enjoy the show.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse was a fun award-winning 2018 animated film with a basically unanimously positive fandom, regarded generally as both a masterpiece Spider-Man film and a remarkable animated film overall. And while I do not disagree with that, it definitely earned its spoils, it pains me a bit to bring up the reason(s) why I can’t call it the masterpiece that many claim. I like this film, but I don’t love it as much as others and I wanted to express why. And I will see to be critical, not cynical. Fair enough?

Part 2 ~ The Spiderversal Stakes

To get a little personal real quick, I’ve been at this whole reviewing/analyzing for plenty of years now and I say the hardest part of doing these type of critiques, aside from not coming off as a cynical bitchlet, is conveying yourself properly. You don’t want to give people the wrong idea about what you want to get across.. Which is why this part is hard to express because there’s a lot to mull over and I don’t wanna bore ya. So with that said, I got a problem with the plot, but first lemme talk about my favorite Spidey film, Spider-Man Thre-

Sorry but we gotta talk about this

When you think about how the storyline of 3 plays, you’ll feel exhausted by of how much was thrown in (Venom, Sandman, the New Goblin, Emo Peter, etc.), the movie had to seriously juggle a lot in a little over a couple hours. Then again with all that, it never felt like the movie was inconsistent with the focus. It’s campy as hell but I felt it still had that good modicum of serious that Raimi’s 1 and 2 pulled off just as well, a quality balance. You grasped everything it threw at you by the end. Now Spiderverse, minus the credits, is an hour 45 minutes and it felt like the two points of the story, setting up the multiverse and Miles’ uprising as a heroes, were at rubberbanding odds with each other.

When I see Spiderverse, Miles’ story mostly overshadows the tension that came in the multiverse getting fucked up, and that the final fight of Miles and Kingpin is the only time where I felt shit got serious. Otherwise, the whole aspect of the Spidermun slowly dying because they weren’t in their realities and the multiverse colliding felt much of an afterthought for most of the film. Narratively, it has a good pace of doing what it needs to do, but on the look back the journey didn’t stick with me as well as I thought.

If I can bring in some previous examples, the likes of Kung Fu Panda and The Lego Movie had better stakes because it felt like the two storylines (the protagonist’s upbringing and the villain’s scheme) were prominent throughout the films once they got going. Po wasn’t just training because he wanted to be better and found the ways to do it, he was training hard because the villain was on his way and the defeat of the Furious Five showed he meant business. The Lego Movie takes a step further by having Emmett and the gang be on the run, we see the villain’s increasing impact as we go along, giving us on the fly experiences that provides Emmett’s “leap of faith” type breakthrough while the villain finally goes all out with his scheme. It helps make the stakes and optimistic breakthrough of overcoming them both escalate and converge naturally.

You know, not doing what Kingdom Hearts 3 did

Not saying Spiderverse doesn’t naturally converge its two storylines well, everything about it was clear, but the effects of the Super Collider come off as very infrequent and thus made the escalation disjointed. The whole “cellular decay” bit with the Spidermun could’ve been a great way to add some tension, like “Oh shit, this could be disadvantageous in the fight at Aunt May’s house. Put our heroes on the ropes.” It doesn’t happen, in fact the fight felt like it disappeared the moment Aaron and Miles were on the roof. It felt like a slight inconvenience than a matter of winning or losing everything, even in the climax. Same with the whole “reality warping” idea, it would’ve been very cool to see reality start to deteriorate or change around our characters, make the news media go “Oh shit, what’s happening?” or put the Spidermun on a little edge instead of them just solemnly waiting for a little anime girl to heely her way in with the flash drive to save the world. As great as the scene was, the “leap of faith” felt disconnected where I say a scene of Miles noticing the glitches from the hotel after he was living in the moment for once would’ve been a great transition to the climax. Show that he’s ready and amped to be the new Spider-Man, but knows there’s no time to lose. Have the life-threatening factor be more of a looming presence. If not that, might as well not add it in, especially at the last minute. I mean it’s possible.

Like what happened to Liv? We don- we don’t see her after everything is over. Is best villain just gone now forever?!

I talked previously of how Peni, Spider-Noir, and Spider-Ham were wasted in the film, but they were but a fraction to the whole idea of the quantum warping and how it felt like an afterthought until near the end. And as I mention Doc Ock, it mostly felt like the villains just come and go. Prowler is the exception, but I completely forgot Kingpin fucked with reality to get his family back. Shit, I forgot Scorpion and Goblin were in the movie. I’m not saying we needed the know how of everything, but I figure better time to conveying their stance in the film would make them more memorable. Spider-Man has great villains, and most of the films knew how to mix their presence in with our hero’s life fluently. If the major world ending threat wasn’t much, it didn’t help that most of the villains here supporting that threat were flash in the pan at best.

like a majority of blockbuster villains

Now off the bat, as I mentioned before, I am not a fan of movies that notably wink and nudge that a sequel is around the corner. I’m okay with things being open-ended but I draw a line at a film being forced to feel lacking because it’s relying on a sequel to pick up the slack. There are exceptions to this of course, but great films should be able to stand on their own and not be codependent on sequels to make them better. With my talk of the B-team and the whole reality warping aspect of the film, the Spiderverse part of the title feels like setup for the sequel and while there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it doesn’t help when half the 1st film feels minor and somewhat forgettable in my case. Miles’ story was great but it’s like we had to flip flop between his story and the setting up for more. And it’s that story rubberbanding that leaves a less satisfying note to me compared to not only other films in general, but other Spider-Man films where even when a lot is thrown at me, each of the Raimi trilogy felt conclusively satisfactory as both a whole and individually.

It honestly makes this ending pretty mixed in my eye

But on this note, I don’t wanna end on a sour grape, not when the 3rd part is gonna end this whole critique off more optimistically. So as much as I harped the whole setup Spiderverse aspect, the silver lining is that this felt like the first few hours of Kingdom Hearts 2 with Roxas. This is a weird comparison but it does feel like Miles is at the twilight of his life in this film. We get some great action but his involvement in the film is kept at arms length while the other Spidermun are stepping well. It’s only after Aaron’s death, the dejection, and Jefferson’s uplifting words and this shot in particular where we can finally say...

Spider-Man has Awaken Again

I can step on anything in this movie but it’s where Miles gets his groove and is there for the other spidermun in the climax when I say that it’s a give and take. This movie isn’t perfect, and I can’t say it is my favorite Spider-Man film ever, but it definitely knows what it wanted to do and I can’t give them enough credit. I said before, but this film certainly has its ambitions and while not everything lands well with me, what they get right is what they handle in spades. The best about it all is where part 3 is gonna pick up. Stay tuned...

Otherwise, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy your day.

#spider-man into the spider-verse #into the spider verse #spiderverse #itsv #spider-man #spiderman #marvel #critique #analysis #long post #Good Stuff

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bearpillowmonster · 5 years

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Top 15 Movies

I made that Top 15 Games post so I decided to do movies as well, same rules apply here but you’re going to see mostly Marvel and Disney movies anyway so I made it one per franchise such as one Star Wars, One Avengers, One Guardians, with that Guardians Vol. 2, Pirates: Curse of the Black Pearl, Spider-Man: Homecoming were the runner ups. No particular order.

Incredibles: I went to the theaters to see this and I feel so happy that I did, I remember being so impressed with Dash running on the water then beating those goons. It really set the bar and holds up today considering I hold it higher than it’s sequel and it made me a fan of Brad Bird.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse: Am I hopping on the bandwagon here?...Nope! I was making this list and I was going to put either the first Raimi film or Homecoming and I started thinking...why not Spiderverse? I really adore the other ones but there are a few glaring problems with them, this one...I can’t actually name any.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: I really enjoyed this when I saw it, it’s one of those where I can watch it again and again and not get tired of it. I’m not sure why but it was a lot more fun than I expected, it also had ONE of the best villains of the MCU (in my opinion) as well as the worst.

The Losers: I see this as a staircase to the Marvel universe, I mean we have Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans here, what’s not to love. I think we all know what my favorite part was...

The Three Musketeers: Mickey, Donald and Goofy: It did justice to the characters and made a classic story into something new and entertaining. It’s underrated. And who can forget this part:

Tron: Legacy: This or Tron, This or Tron? Both were very good but this one has a little better effects obviously as well as doing a lot of things that the original already does, add Daft Punk’s killer soundtrack in there and you got yourself a formula for an uprising. #TronLives #FlynnLives

Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Good voice acting, cool effects, a nice aesthetic with the glowing lights, crystals, and ancient technology (I guess you can say I like blue lights judging by my previous entry) But I remember first seeing it and immediately feeling the weight from that beginning with Kida’s mom. It’s a nice adventure and makes me wish that it’s sequel wasn’t so iconicly hated because it gives the title a bad name. I refuse to watch the sequel if it really is that bad.

The Lion King: Can you blame me? Do I even have to explain? Animation is gorgeous, designs are peak, music is top notch, and expressions that they get ‘Oh so right’ that no live action remake could ever recapture. This is considered a masterpiece. I can quote it on the daily, remember even the tiniest details and just the amount of times I’ve seen it makes me want to say it IS a part of who I am.

The Avengers: Infinity War was close but this was the cake. You can walk into a room with this playing at any given moment and be like “Oh yeah this is a good part.” They spend every minute doing something interesting.

Captain America: The First Avenger: A lot of people overlook this one because of the other 2 but this one will always be my favorite. I remember seeing it the first time, just came out on DVD and my mom went to her baby shower, me and my dad watched it and she came back AS SOON as it was done, as if this was just to pass that exact amount of time. Cap is a character you want to root for, his morals are worth fighting for. Iron Man may have started the MCU but I say Cap shaped it and made it better, this was the real start (as Avengers was next. Red Skull is just a villain I like, both movie and comic as well.

Baby Driver: I was superhyped to see Spider-Man: Homecoming so I traveled just to go see it as early as I could, I said if anything went wrong, I would go see this. I ended up being fine and waited until this was on DVD. Edgar Wright has some of the best editing in his movies, the way this movie uses music, the tone, the idea of it being in the perspective of the ‘Getaway driver’ it makes it exciting and gives it spunk, it makes you like the character, the music, and heck root for a criminal. I wasn’t a big fan of the big twist everyone likes with the villain but that’s ok.

Inside Out: I went to Disney World and when I learned they were still playing this in theaters there, I dropped everything and went to go see it. Little did I know how right I was because I really enjoyed it. It’s an emotional film, gets me crying probably more than any other film, it really nails what’s it’s talking about...feelings. Mix that with glowful animation, good voice acting and a lesson that makes you think and really ponder.

Guardians of the Galaxy: I thought this would try and be like Star Wars and just be a giant battle in space. Nope! This has charm, character, and maybe a little bit of rudeness but man! I mean escape from prison in zero gravity, freezing in dead space, singing in the middle of everything and once again the villain. Why do I like the underrated villains? I think it’s a good contrast with the goofy personality of the characters to have a serious, brooding, and gritty character. As well as a proper introduction to Thanos (yeah he’s still number 1 villain in my book)

Star Wars: Somewhere, somehow, this had to be on the list. One way or the other, Star Wars is a phenomenon that can’t simply be ignored, with all the controversy and misdirection within the community right now, for some reason I keep getting tossed and turned but I find myself coming back e-v-e-r-y-t-i-m-e! I’ll say A New Hope is my favorite but really, I could say just about all of them. Something about seeing Luke, Vder, Leia, and Han in the same place just tops it off. The witty duo of R2 and 3PO, the original Death Star, the quotable moments that make you wish you were on that planet yet also find yourself relating with the way Luke wanting to get away but at the same time missing his old ways.

Black Panther: I’ll be honest. I don’t really like Black Panther in the comics. I felt like he was a cool secret weapon in the cartoons but I never really gained my appreciation for him until Civil War came out, then I really liked him. I figured out why too, I just really didn’t like how bland his suit was in the comics, I ended up reading a few anyway after the movie. I think he’s worthy of the Infinity Gauntlet like in the comics. Well this movie came out and I saw it opening day to a big crowd, it had good music, good style, a fresh take and blend between ancient and modern styles (kind of like how Atlantis did) as well as giving it a sense of culture, and not shying away from that. It’s almost like the Lion King, I never felt the same way about a film but those two feel similar and for that alone is a feat.

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vroenis · 4 years

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When The Internet Is Your Counsellor

By the way the Kaossilator arrived and that thing is fucken rad, I can’t believe how cool it is. Every world government should provide one for every school child as well as vaccination and sex-ed and we’d be on our way to world peace.

On the ever lengthening timeline of post-KRZ anhedonia, I may be approaching a terminal state. I maybe a few steps removed, I’m still at least listening to music, but circumstances have arrested the momentum I had in the studio so I’ve really drifted away from the track I was working on, and I’m much more motivated to come up here and write at the moment. That’s a good thing, I guess. Nevertheless, I’ve been here before plenty of times so it’s time to write about it.

I don’t know whether others quite know what it’s like to not be interested in anything. Or to this degree. Or perhaps from a reference point from being interested in almost everything, to then being interested to almost nothing. I don’t know if it’s a part of being bipolar or my character or something else. I don’t really care what it is, but I’ve had it most of my adult life and a fair portion of my adolescence. During elevation, I can’t have enough stimuli and will hunger for more, rapidly digesting and consuming thing after thing in order to keep occupied.

I don’t know whether I’m currently elevated or depressed though (clinically? Not sure if that’s the right term, but depressed as in the opposite of elevated, but certainly not sad, just not elevated - anyway, you get it). I’m in or approaching stasis, that’s always how I’ve characterised it. I’m stimulated by nothing.

Nothing is interesting.

Almost nothing. There are traces of this that are permanent, though, and persistent in the other states of my bipolar cycle. For example; I don’t identify at all in any way with superhero themes in films and narratives. I’ll still watch them occasionally and sometimes I do really enjoy them, so by no means would I say I dislike them even in general; some of them have been fantastic, but there’s nothing intrinsically interesting about superheroes. That’s not at all critical of the theme - I don’t care enough to be critical of it so I don’t have any commentary to offer on the subject. The same goes for Star Wars and Star Trek.

These could be easy pickings because they’re all significant Western cultural phenomena. Could a person say the same thing about something I like? I don’t know if there’s any blanket thing I really like, for example, trance music as a genre. But then I guess the same could be said about superhero films as a genre perhaps. I don’t know. Maybe I just don’t understand the culture or the genre.

But right now you could show me anything, literally anything and I wouldn’t care. I watch the weekly trailers and there’s nothing but a clinical assessment of what the product is and what market it serves. To be fair, I’m like that most weeks, but much of the time I still maintain a sense of fun as to what most productions are and why the creators made them. I know most pictures won’t be made for me, that’s OK, but I still appreciate passion projects of any dimension and while there’s plenty of cynicism both in Hollywood and indie cinema, there’s still a lot of heart to be found therein. I’ve mentioned it before, if you look at the film_notes here, they’re full of absolute wank and I don’t deny it, but maybe I should add all the really fun stuff that absolutely belongs on there. I should see if Speed Racer is listed because it is definitely deserving, as well as Spiderverse and a bunch of others.

See I remember my joy and wonderment. I also know it will come back. I remember the records written to my brain of playing my instruments here in the studio, too, but I’m detached from them. I can see them, identify them, however the sensation of the emotion is gone.

I’m going to stop this discussion here, and those with the best intuition and/or interpretation will understand why. I encourage you to approach me for discussion in private.

In the meantime, let’s deflect to my current listening rotation. My thumbing at the Kaossilator has precipitated an onset of house music, so I’ve dived back into Anjunadeep beginning at their most housiest of house comps, Volume 5.

It’s really great, I feel like this was when Jody Wisternoff was at his most classic of house before the compilations started going really deep into that awesome chilled in-between space it is now where it’s kind of deep-house but also progressive trance but not as anywhere near as hard as what we get in the Anjunabeats stuff of-course. It makes Volume 5 somewhat of an anomaly in the lineage of the series but a wonderful standout, and I really appreciate it for that. Here is a lazylink to the Anjunabeats store website where you can listen to it and buy it for a tenner in US dollars and it’s worth it so you should.

#Kentucky Route Zero #Bipolar #Cinema #Anhedonia #Mental Health #Anjunadeep #House music #chrono #2020

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merrysithmas · 5 years

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Do you like marvel movies ?

In general, i do not. i feel they are extremely repetitive and formulaic and boring. also they have next to no representation and what they do have is almost always token. the fact that, for instance, the ONLY major female character they had for the first 15 YEARS of their film saga was never given a stand alone film or backstory? truly bizarre and blatantly sexist. they also erased the fact that Hawkeye is deaf and uses sign language. Andrew Garfield was fired from playing Spiderman because he suggested Spiderman could be bisexual (it’s a fact he was fired for that reason - Stan Lee got very upset he said it). And say popular fan ships for MCU fans like Stucky, one of the textually supported ships of the MCU — after TWS they purposefully cockblocked those fans by having the characters pretty much never talk again because they were afraid (homophobia) people would see Steve as Not Straight.

They also dared to claim that they had LGBTQ rep by including a 5 second scene when the director played a character saying he was going out on a date with a guy, a scene that is obvious was going to be cut from the international audience bc it had zero impact on the story. That was 5 seconds in 15 years - in arguably the last truly blockbuster Marvel movie (Endgame) and end of the golden age of the MCU. They waited, literally, until the last second and still somehow managed to cop out. i just dont wait for rep anymore (we shouldn’t have to beg anyone for anything) and if it isn’t included - ESPECIALLY in world-reaching popcorn cinema - it’s cancelled for me.

also, Disney is the most powerful movie corp on earth - they pracitically have a monopoly over hollywood. they literally have NO EXCUSE not to include rep (people of color, LGBTQ characters, disabled characters, female characters) in their films because it is quite LITERALLY impossible for them to lose money because of that monopoly. but they truly choose not to.

now the newer films (black panther, the new valkyrie movie, the new spiderman movie) do have some great female rep especially. so perhaps they finally realize they can’t show us the same story about a white guy realizing he needs to do something important over and over and over again. I AM still very bitter the new SM films didn’t focus on Miles Morales with Peter as his mentor (as they went and did peripherally with Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse - a great movie!). and i do appreciate the messages of some of their films - Cpt America “the spirit of freedom” standing against fascism both outside and inside the US Govt, Tony Stark a billionaire realizing capitalism is used for evil and war profiteering and trying to change things to his own peril, Thor the heir to a holy throne seeing his father’s empire was built on blood and lies. but overall, i find the writing of their movies in a strictly structural sense pretty bad and very light on dialogue - which makes the character relationships largely the fans’ own creation not actually active on screen. its boring to me — all action but no character moments.

so no, im not a marvel fan. that doesn’t mean i dont think they’re fun sometimes and i dont begrudge anyone for liking them - theyre chirpy, loud, silly, irreverent, and light fair that can make life happier. and sometimes that’s nice and very much needed - for me too. but are they my personal favorite? no and i dont like the companies that make them.

however i have MAD RESPECT for the makers of Deadpool who made one of the characters have an on-screen girlfriend and call out bigots ON SCREEN. i was in Utah when i saw it in theatres and cheered SO LOUD in a theatre of conservatives and i felt so empowered bwhaha

#ask #anon #:)

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bombshellsandbluebells · 5 years

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Unpopular opinion here, but I'm not all that upset about Spiderman no longer being part of the MCU(this feels like a temporary thing at best). After getting spoiled by Spiderverse, I don't need another Spidey film franchise. Also, anything that slows down Disney buying everything under the sun's a good thing. My brother said it best: Disney's no longer cute. They're scary.

I have mixed feelings to be honest. On the one hand, it’s narratively not satisfying to rip a character out of a franchise when they’ve been built up so much in it. Feige can say that Carol is the next face of the MCU all he wants, but honestly the only character that has been NARRATIVELY set up to be the new center of the MCU is Peter Parker.

I mean his last movie was all about him taking the torch from Iron Man - and I don’t think that was just an in-character/world thing, I absolutely think that was Marvel saying post-Endgame that this is how they set up this new phase of the MCU post-Tony Stark.

I already wasn’t quite sure they could pull the Infinity Saga again in terms of managing to keep audiences engaged in characters and storylines across movies because Endgame felt so final - and now with this, this REALLY screws up things on a narrative level. The MCU basically works writing-wise like a tv show, so this is just as jarring to the story as a character suddenly leaving a tv show without warning because the actor got cast somewhere else.

It’s going to be jarring and it’s going to be hard to keep making it feel like one long story if characters just start dropping out of it. And it’s kind of unsatisfying to end MCU!Peter’s storyline so suddenly after they just set up what was clearly meant to be a huge cliffhanger.

BUT AT THE SAME TIME aside from being disappointed on a narrative level (not even that I thought Far From Home was like....that strong of a story tbh, but STILL in terms of the whole MCU it definitely screws up the writing overall) Sony is completely right to stand up to Disney and I am GLAD that Disney is not just automatically getting their way.

Disney owns too much and Sony standing up to them instead of just handing over more money that Disney doesn’t deserve but just wants and expects because they have the power is GREAT.

Unfortunately, the anger is all being directed at Sony for ruining the storytelling of the MCU rather than DISNEY for being greedy and trying to throw their weight around.

So like, I’m annoyed that narrative decisions are being forced by money (which always happens, but this is the most OBVIOUS case of it in the MCU), like, good for Sony. Stand your ground. Disney is a shadow of what once made it great and it’s ruining the film industry and they should get used to not getting everything they want.

(Also.....as much as I love Tony and I love his relationship with Peter so much....Far From Home was way too much about Tony and it might be nice to see a Tom Holland led Spider-man film that isn’t just about the Avengers/Tony. That said....it’s also not satisfying to set up a relationship and then just drop it and expect fans to not mind after getting emotionally connected to it.)

Anyways, it’s a mess. Disney will probably get their way in the end. Creativity at the heart of filmmaking and storytelling is dead because money is king. And Sony won’t get the credit they deserve for actually standing up to Disney because all (most) Marvel fans are yelling about is Peter not being in the MCU.

#ask

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lumikinetic · 5 years

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*flops down on sofa*

*exhales*

Tumblr gives me a lot of wild shit every now and again. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's hilarious, sometimes it's disheartening. And then yesterday came along and gave me the one-two punch of:

Captain Marvel being dolled up by the Russos instead of a jacket, S.H.I.E.L.D baseball cap and a Nine Inch Nails shirt, which is how she should be (not gonna talk about this, just want it out there that I'm pissed about it)

One Day At A Time being cancelled

ODAAT I'm gonna kind of touch on because it's not really what I want to talk about, but it did help me finalize the words for what I do, and that's capitalism in entertainment.

The most annoying goddamn trend in filmmaking (and of course in TV and Netflix/Prime originals) is companies caring more about their bottom line and less about making good content, and yeah I know this dead horse isn't just beaten, it's thrown into an active supervolcano but it really pisses me off and it's why I hate the new Star Wars stuff (well OK hate is a bit strong but they're uh Not Good) but I'll get to that. What corpos can't seem to get into their bloated skulls is that one cannot exist without the other. You need to put out good, quality content with value so that fans like it so they give you money so they increase your profits so you can make more content and so on. But somewhere down the line some fuckhead went "what if we just pushed out what we have?" and just kinda expected us to not take notice.

Now before the comments section gets all hot and bothered because I know some people on this site don't have the gift of reading comprehension, I know profits are important, I'm saying when companies shun good filmmaking for more money, they get lazy and all they can think about is profit and not how they make that profit, they don't care at all about using that money to make more good, valuable content.

One Day At A Time

I've never watched One Day At A Time but the fact Netflix just outright cancelled it knowing damn well what it meant to the people the characters are representing is just disgusting. And they have the fucking audacity to blame it on the viewership? I've seen hundreds of artworks, gifs and a video clip here and there of this show. I've seen precisely one (1) meme of 13 Reasons Why and that is literally it. I'm not following the tags for either. Plus, #saveODAAT has, last I checked, 350k tweets on trending or thereabouts?

So obviously the viewership isn't the problem, it's the racism and homophobia of cancelling a Spanish (? - again, never seen it), LGBT+ focused show that a lot of people quite happily and positively connect with when a crap show about suicide and Friends gets to stay on. It's just ugh. Cancelling a show like this then paying something like $100mil to keep Friends. I was going to expand on the shitty capitalism here but tbh that's it, Netflix are making bad decisions and like I say, I'm only going to touch on it because it's not the main part.

Star Wars

Go watch the original trilogy and it's clear George Lucas was trying to create and do. He was trying to make art. The key difference between that and modern SW to me is BB8. Look at C3PO and R2D2 and already you can see they belong. C3PO is a translator droid and I'm not sure what exactly R2's job description is but it's obvious he does some kind of pilot assistance for X-Wing fighters. I never understood people who said R2 never did anything, because they obviously haven't seen Star Wars. You get that this is an R2 unit, right? Like, there's more than one out there and they have a job they were specifically built to do, it's just this one particular R2 unit who had to carry the message? Anyway, I'm derailing. R2 and C3PO have functions and they're clearly not new, they've been used for a long time. Then you look at BB8 and instantly it's like "this is a toy. This so called character was designed to sell toys". And then he was. He's a toy, he's on bags, notebooks, pens, clothes, everywhere. Disney is less concerned about making a Star Wars movie and more about making money off of the Star Wars name.

Into The Spider-Verse VS YA Movies

YA movies tend to suck because they were adapted from books and we all know how that pans out but the reason I'm using YA books specifically is because my mind jumped to The Hunger Games. I couldn't tell you a single fucking thing that happens in those movies. They're so dull and dead and forgettable and the characters are borderline unlikeable but you know which one I do like? Catching Fire, for one reason and one reason only: Jena Malone as Joanna Mason. Save for Haymitch, she's the only character I liked because those two are the only characters with any kind of charisma or life to them. They made an at most halfway decent attempt overall at recreating some otherwise really great books and they made a big show out of it, hiring some pretty well known names. And I'm not disparaging their performances, it was just what I call, ever since Suicide Squad came out, the Harley Quinn effect, in which good actors get given a good character and perform them really well and, through no fault of their own, fuck it up because the character was written poorly and no matter how well they act, if the script doesn't change, the performance will always be shit. The same for Divergent. And Percy Jackson. And Fault In Our Stars.

Then outside all of that you have Perks Of Being A Wallflower which is just a great, heartwarming movie because the characters feel like people and the brightness isn't turned way the fuck down in post and you actually want to be invested, and they're not afraid to have a colour palette beyond a splash of pink here and blue there and red there. Plus, Ant-Man as an English teacher. THEN you go watch Spider-Verse and oh hey. I can actually see the movie now. And I mean see it. They do not slack off when it comes to visuals. Even by animation's standards, everyone is so expressive and alive and... animated. Sorry, I couldn't get a better word but they are! When you look at Miles in comparison to Katniss in terms of writing and performance, the difference is just startling. The only times I can think of where Katniss shows any kind of emotion in the first movie is when she slams the knife in the table and Rue's funeral and I had to think about that. Without thinking for Miles, already I've got "who's Morales?", the scene where Uncle Aaron teaches him the shoulder touch, the scene where Miles spray paints in the subway, that scene in the alley, the moment in Olivia's office when he just freezes after she says she can't wait to watch Peter in immense pain Like That and made all the wlws melt in their seats. You get the idea. So what's the point for this section? Well, as simply as I can put it, Hunger Games was made with money, for money. Spiderverse was made with love, for love. Spiderverse cared about people who read comic books and paid more than enough tribute to the art forms people think of as lesser for no goddamn reason other than elitism and proved for the thousandth time that it is something that can be used in filmmaking. They were trying to make art. Hunger Games and most other YA novel movie adaptations saw a preestablished fan base they could exploit for money. They were trying to make money.

Rambo

This was a weird one, yeah. Don't worry I was confused too when it popped into my head. I saw the original Rambo a while back and what I liked about it (and Apocalypse Now) is it wasn't a war film where the USA charge in and hooray everything's all right, this movie grabs your shirt and says "hey. Vietnam did something to these guys and they're not OK. Probably they'll never be OK". Then I watched the Rambo reboot that came out in like 2011 or something and I remember thinking "OK so now he's just this dude? Who lives in Thailand... And what, that's it?" There was no scene to show his psychological state today. Nothing to acknowledge his PTSD. They just thought "hey! Let's make Rambo but this time, just give him guns and and yelling and spray some blood!" The reason I kind of ended this train of thought quickly is because I realised that, let's be real, the main body of Rambo's audience just want to see Sly Stallone kill some fools. But yeah, the fact that they just ignored John's mental state in place of mega violence is such a glaringly obvious move to just appeal to violent teenage boys.

The Auteur

My favourite director is Wes Anderson and my favourite movie is The Grand Budapest Hotel (though Panos Cosmatos seems to be eyeing these titles with Beyond The Black Rainbow and Mandy, I haven't watched them yet). Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Wes Anderson, auteurs always stand out even though their movies are all the same, and I think the reason they're so successful is because that specific style is so much better than most other mainstream cinema. I'm not saying that those other movies are bad, I love them and will watch them again and again but I'm saying Wes Anderson could make a short movie and it would be better than most Marvel movies put together (don't talk to me about Captain Marvel, I haven't seen it yet. Gonna see it this Sunday). No matter what you think of these directors, you can instantly tell the difference between these movies that they care about and the passion and hard work they put in and Disney pumping out their 400th reboot.

It Keeps Working

You guys wanna know the thought that keeps me up at night? Someday they're going to make a Fortnite movie. You guys wanna know why it keeps me up at night? Because it's going to be popular. Yeah, obviously not at the box office, because it'll be a videogame movie and those are worse than book movies, but it will be popular for no apparent reason. And what pisses me off is that Fortnite's popularity is only because of the battle royale mode, which has now essentially become synonymous with dying franchises and it just adds another layer to the lack of creative effort and the movie will just be Hunger Games with guns. Exactly the same as what I said at the start of this rant, there's a really noticeable shift from making content to jumping on whatever bandwagon is passing by because you know it'll make you money. Yeah, you have to spend money to make money but that doesn't mean you get complacent in what you spend your money on or if you spend money at all because when you cut corners, consumers can see that shit.

Anyway I'm done complaining thanks for having the willpower to pay attention to my dumb opinions.

#discourse #odaat #one day at a time #capitalism #star wars #into the spiderverse #rambo #long post #hunger games #hunger games: catching fire #ya fiction #young adult fiction #netflix #eat the rich #corpo #captain marvel #marvel #disney

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