#potential comedy duo of the century | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

reluctantjoe · 3 months

Text

Interview – A Midsummer Night’s Dream director Eleanor Rhode talks technology and Wonka star Mathew Baynton

Aiming to take the chill off this winter is the RSC’s new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ahead of the opening this week, director Eleanor Rhode spoke to Gill Oliver about her take on the Dream and what it’s like working with Wonka star Mathew Baynton.

TECHNOLOGY combined with centuries-old stage illusions are making one of the Bard’s most captivating comedies even more magical.

The RSC’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which opened on Tuesday for an eight-week run, features Ghosts and Wonka star Mathew Baynton as Bottom.

Fresh from his roles as a murderous doctor in the Agatha Christie TV series Murder Is Easy, and an evil chocolatier in hit movie Wonka, Baynton has long been a hero to parents and kids everywhere thanks to his leading role in five series of hugely successful kids’ comedy TV sketch show Horrible Histories and later, its spin-off ‘Bill’, a panto-style take on Shakespeare’s early life.

Also in the cast are Nicholas Armfield as Demetrius, Sirine Saba as Titania and Rosie Sheehy as Puck.

The equally prestigious creative team line-up includes composer Will Gregory (one half of electronic music duo Goldfrapp), set designer Lucy Osborne and illusion direction and designer John Bulleid, feted for his work on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the RSC’s The Magician’s Elephant.

Weaving all these star-studded strands together is director Eleanor Rhode, who describes Baynton as “an absolute genius” and the whole cast as “amazing”.

Ms Rhode made her directorial debut for the RSC in 2019 with a radical re-telling of King John – a production that was cut short due to Covid.

Now back to take on Midsummer’s Night Dream she’s happy to be back in Stratford.

“The company is wonderful, and everyone is working together brilliantly so it’s very exciting to be back up here - it’s a lovely place to work," she said.

She brings a fresh and confident vision to Shakespeare’s popular tale of four young lovers who, faced with the prospect of unhappy marriage flee the court of Athens and stumble into an enchanted forest.

Nearby, a group of amateur actors rehearse a play to celebrate an upcoming royal wedding and when the mortals cross paths with a warring fairy King and Queen, chaos erupts as the real and fairy worlds collide.

Ms Rhode explained: “The thing that’s always interested me more than a literal forest is leaning into the dream of a Midsummer’s Night Dream, so this is very much a dream space.

“The most exciting thing is finding that crossover between contemporary technology and stage illusions and stage tricks that are hundreds of years old, so expect to see a lot of those things combined.”

By the RSC’s standards the production is a short run but there are upsides to this.

“It means some of the people who would love to come and work up here but can’t commit to a year away from the other projects they’re doing, can come, have a really lovely time and be up here for 10-weeks - we wouldn’t necessarily be able to get them for longer, so that’s enormously gratifying,” she pointed out.

After this run, Ms Rhode, who has a decade's experience of directing, will spend time in developmental workshops before overseeing her second audio play for release on Audible.

She enjoys working in other mediums such as audio, and is excited by the potential that comes with the “pollination of ideas between lots of different disciplines”.

But unlike the RSC, the theatre industry overall tends to be extremely traditional and not geared-up for sweeping change.

She explained: “In terms of creating experiences which are live but also digital at the same time and which have a really broad reach in terms of the audiences, you’re engaging with people who aren’t traditional theatre goers and really broadening the scope of what live story telling can be.

“There’s a whole heap of possibilities and the lovely thing is that a lot of the technology is already there - the technology isn’t the thing - it’s actually the ability to craft brilliant storytelling entwined with the technology that’s sometimes quite scary.”

As for this production of Midsummer Night’s Dream, no one should worry about technology or stage illusions over-shadowing or interfering with the intimacy of live performance.

“You shouldn’t notice the technology and it shouldn’t feel like a standalone thing, in the same way that stage illusions shouldn’t – everything is entwined with the story,” she said.

“My hope is that it’s something the audience don’t really think about, they just enjoy it.”

She added: “This production is already looking beautiful but it should also be very surprising and, hopefully, keep the audience on their toes with all the amazing magic that’s going on in the show.

“Regardless of that, strip away all the technological and magical surprises and the play is the thing.

“It’s a brilliant show with brilliant actors in it - that’s the key thing."

#stratford herald #eleanor rhode #mathew baynton #mat baynton #a midsummer night's dream #a midsummer nights dream #midsummer night's dream #amnd #rsc #royal shakespeare company #was debating putting his name in the tags but he got a mention in the title and in the interview so #also #did the interviewer not do their research? “murderous doctor”?? i think they've gotten a little bit confused #anyway a lovely read and i had to pay for this loool. getting rid of this free month trial asap #rj: interview #rj: a midsummer night's dream #rj: 2024

5 notes · View notes

smokestarrules · 1 year

Note

Totally agree with you that Lilith is the funniest bit of TOH. And woulda thunk it after her characterization in Season 1??? But, for real, I lose it every time she goes "Let's boogey on down to history town" with that stupid little shimmy and Luz just puts the cherry on top by sincerely reacting to that by calling her "Cool Aunt Lilith." And whoever thought of Lilith and Hooty being besties needs a raise because that is the comedic duo of the century.

Exactly!! I love Luz and Lilith's dynamic especially because of how that scene portrays it -- Lilith is quite possibly the least cool character in the show, but Luz legitimately thinks she's the coolest of them all. It's really sweet, and Lilith clearly appreciates it.

And yeah, Lilith and Hooty being comedy besties was NOT on my bingo card, but clearly I was an idiot for not seeing the potential there.

#toh #lilith clawthorne #luz noceda #hooty #smokey answers #anonymous

40 notes · View notes

vaguely-concerned · 4 years

Text

Mass Effect: Annihilation thoughts

TL;DR I fucking LOVED IT, a balm to my heart after struggling through Nexus Uprising! Also canonical lesbians! The sweetest quarian & his badass grandma! Elcor Hamlet except this time it’ll make you cry!!!

- Aaaaaah the audiobook reader is Tom Taylorson (so male Ryder)!! Fryda Wolf (female Ryder) read the two others and did a nice job, but man I’m soft for his voice in a way only rivaled by (...outside-of-Overwatch!)Jennifer Hale and Nicholas Boulton haha. He also has a much better handle on the pronunciations and voices for the different alien species -- delightful, I’m still cackling over his pitch perfect elcor impersonation. (Bioware please give him more Scott Ryder to voice I miss my son)

- I’m only about half an hour in and this is already SO much better than Nexus Uprising, it really does feel like a brave new galaxy haha. Very funny, very warm and smart and engaging in how it does its characterization and Valente clearly has affection for the setting and the universe, she and Jemisin both do incredible jobs with these.

- I’m fucking crying laughing at this cross-species near-brawl over a flower arrangement, god I love Mass Effect SO MUCH (what a neat idea though. something blooming quietly even when no one can see it. impractical as hell and hilariously including a high-nutrition celery now, but still neat)

Taylorson continues to wonderful things with the voices, that volus suit sound is so good. (he’s just generally really good at comedy) also a volus bellowing insults ‘moments before punching an anti-bouquet batarian in the groin’ sdafhjklsahfsjadkhfklajshdfkjlsadhf

- a high as a kite elcor... what a time to be alive, to get to read this book

I have already reached the ‘I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR’ stage with these characters, hard boiled drell detective lady and sweet sweet quarian first officer and manically enthusiastic elcor doctor TOT I would die for any one of you!!!

- The quarian/multispecies ark was built for long-term habitation, potentially over multiple generations. So what you’re telling me is that the quarians are the only ones who fucking thought this through and the rest of the Initiative probably should have listened to the people who’ve essentially been living on arks for ages. Who’d’ve thunk huh lol. (I guess the in-universe explanation is that people like the mysterious benefactor just wanted those arks yeeted to Andromeda ASAP, no time to get fancy in case the Reapers changed up their schedule. Fair enough)

- ;n; petition to let senna have a SAM pls (also uh. how happy do you think the stringently anti-AI quarian pathfinder will be when he finds out about everyone else’s SAMs lol lol lol he’s going to PASS OUT FROM RAGE upon meeting ryder. well he sounds like an asshole, I hope he dies so senna gets a chance)

- I can’t BELIEVE yorrik is an anti-stratfordianist, i am betRAYED! disgraceful, how can I still love you knowing this (and yet I do he is extremely funny and sweet)!!! (at least his theory is that this so-called ‘shakespeare’ was actually an elcor, which makes it better somehow lol. anything so long as he’s not an oxfordian tbh)

senna and yorrik’s friendship is so good and wholesome

- I really love the consistent alien POVs in this book, mass effect should indulge in this more -- everyone loves this universe so much, bioware, stop making us squint through a human lense to look at it!!

- oh of course quarian ‘pirates’ exist, the people who’re thrown out of the fleet must be doing something huh.

- haven’t written that many notes in a while just because I’m enjoying myself so much, I keep forgetting

- lfsdkhfsajkldhfskadjhfsjakdfhsdkjfh communist volus!!!! this is not a drill, communist volus! I am completely and utterly charmed by this entire book

- the quarian ancestor VI is so interesting and weirdly touching. senna is adorable (and relatably neurotic lol)

grandma AI smoking T___________T I love everything about this, she’s so cool. the worldbuilding being done around pre-geth revolution rannoch here... exquisite

- way to make me cry about batarians cat valente ;_______;

- the voice acting is SO FUCKING GOOD! I keep forgetting it’s one dude reading all these characters haha, I caught myself wanting to look up who voiced this dying batarian. (special shoutout that he does so many wonderfully distinct and specific female voices!)

- haHA I KNEW the quarian VI was a full AI (or near enough that it makes little difference tbh)!!! this fabulous grandma was self aware the entire time b i t c h e s !!!!

- the running joke of borbala’s ‘you need ______? I can make _______ happen’ is SO satisfying hahaha

ooooooh serious femslash vibes!!!! initially I thought batarian ex-crime matriarch was too old for drell PI, but this is undeniable. (I don’t think we actually ever get to know how old annex is, anyway, come to think of it) I guess if asari get to be five times older than everyone else and still fuck freely this isn’t really that weird lol

- “don’t look! it’s not so bad if you don’t look!” ofhsdalfhskldlsfjas oh senna baby boy

hey qetsi? qetsi both senna and I love grandma liat more than you. stand the fuck down

- NOOOO GRANDMA LIAT ;______________________________________;

- do you think SAM could meet liat (either ship!liat or just grandma!liat).... and have... a friend ;_________; (a cool laidback friend who isn’t a murderous angaran ai who might very well go the murder suicide sort of friendship route lol)

anyway I miss SAM a lot and love him??

- yorrik noooooooooooo this is awful everything is bad and terrible I love all of them so much why must senna be sad and watch everything he loves fade away 😭😭😭

“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand?” He realized he’d forgotten to preface the words with an emotion. Now they wouldn’t understand what he meant.

Oh. Oh what a way to drive home the sadness and loneliness of this moment f u c k (and again the emotion taylorson brings to it jesus cHRIST)

I’m destroyed over how much senna and yorrik love each other, cross species found family out here wrecking my heart in true mass effect style

- yorrik is such a great character though. he’d be so easy to make a one-note joke character (like most elcor have been in canon lbr), but there’s nuance and depth and just enough satsifyingly believable alienness there. (I love the staunch elcor ‘you can’t call anything love that hasn’t lasted at least two centuries’ perspective haha) his memories of his childhood and disappointment with his profession and everything... goodnight sweet prince indeed :(

- they went and made elcor hamlet heartbreaking how dare they

(to be real for a second I think some of the human culture references are a little bit clunky, but the elcor hamlet stuff is perfect. contextualizing a throwaway joke from the original trilogy and giving it emotional depth, helping us see it from the elcor perspective and how frustrating and lonely it is to be so fundamentally not emotionally understood or seen on a level most of the other races are, despite their other differences, even though you have all these feelings and want to communicate... its very good.)

fun additional fact: both mordin and yorrik have played/wanted to play polonius in a production of hamlet! though I guess mordin is the slightly problematic fave in that duo and yorrik is a sweet melancholic angel who has never done anything wrong in his life, I would say protect him but I guess it’s too late for that D:

- qetsi giving off some real ophelia vibes here, I wish yorrik was here to see it, he’s the only one who’d properly appreciate it despite it all

- I. am. SO FUCKING HUNGRY for more mass effect after this (well even more so than usual) I’m so hyped!! I love this universe so much! I want a new andromeda game with senna as quarian pathfinder and grandma liat as the ship’s AI and see how they interact with ryder and SAM! (honestly though I feel like senna might be the one who’d translate the most cleanly into a game, I think there’s a lot of potential in him that’s barely being realized towards the end there with his deep righteous rage cutting through his uncertainty. also I just want nice things for him. is that so much to ask. he is a good boy, yorrik was so right.)

- aaaah not just femslash vibes, canonical lesbians, this is not a drill! I can’t wait until they propose... ‘we get shit done together, want to be in good cop/bad cop with me until the day we die y/n?’

- the ME universe doesn’t feel quite itself without all these ‘background’ species hanging around, I suddenly realize. I dream of an Andromeda sequel with all of them on the board and in play again Y-------Y

- potential Liat and SAM dynamics are so fucking interesting though! if she becomes/is confirmed as a full AI (all I hope and dream of), you’ll have two artificial intelligences with such different starting points but not that dissimilar goals? Liat was an organic person once who’s looking out for her family even now, and SAM is completely artificial but also intimately tied to and protecting His People. (and pulling a whole lot of symbolic weight re: the strength of familial/interpersonal relationships to boot; he’s the best way alec ryder managed to connect with his children. even though he was dead. because as established alec ryder was a disaster of a person)

- I enjoyed the loose murder mystery structure of this quite a lot, but that might also be because nexus uprising is so shapeless and meandering by comparison that I’d be relieved by anything else (sorry I’ll stop ragging on NU soon it just. took some hours of my life I can’t get back)

- jemisin did great stuff for characters already in andromeda (cora, SAM, alec ryder) and valente made me remember just why I love this universe so much and desperately want these aspects brought to andromeda too... and now I’ve exhausted all the fresh mass effect content I had available to me and will sit here consumed with lust for the rest of the time it takes for a new game to be announced thank you and goodbye

#mass effect #mass effect andromeda #mass effect annihilation #*vibrates silently with cravings for more mass effect all while knowing it's gonna be a good goddamn while yet*#thank you cat valente this was a very nice gift

19 notes · View notes

picnic-betch · 5 years

Text

Green Book Review: we keep calling it a feel-good film, and that’s the problem.

In the 1960s, and for much of the twentieth century, black Americans relied on a small booklet called the “Green Book” for travel; in it was listed all the establishments which black people could safely patronize. Its very existence is a saddening and poignant reminder of how blacks learned to deal with a near-constant level of discrimination and outright hostility, even when planning something as benign as a family vacation. The eponymous film released this year tells the story of Tony “Lip” (Viggo Mortenson), a working-class Italian from the Bronx, who ends up working as a chauffeur for Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a world-class pianist touring the South. The two couldn’t be more different, and the conflicts that ensue as they set on their road trip form the backbone of the film.

From this description, the movie seems like a perfect platform from which to explore the tricky issues of racism and black-white relations. However, the film is packaged into something entirely different: a feel-good buddy comedy reminiscent of My Fair Lady, in which two characters from opposite classes initially clash but eventually learn from each other. Tony and Don’s bickering focuses less on the vastly different treatment they receive based on their skin color, and more on the petty habits that one would find annoying in a roommate: Tony’s smoking, overeating, and crass language. In fact, his transformation from low-grade racist (throwing away the drinking glass used by a black plumber) to Don’s staunch defender is astonishingly smooth and fast. The deep, painful divide of black and white is glossed over to plumb the comedic potential of Tony learning proper grammar or grudgingly picking up his litter.

The movie, of course, cannot avoid issues of race altogether. But the moments that would normally incite viewers to a feeling of burning injustice and impotent anger - when Don is refused entry to shops and restaurants, told to use an outside washroom, or jailed for doing literally nothing - end up as set pieces for Tony’s character development. Each of these scenes pivots around Tony’s actions: we watch as he upbraids a shopkeeper, punches a policeman, or receives a lesson from Don in dignity and restraint. Consequently, the power of these scenes, and of Ali’s skillful acting, is diminished. Rarely, Ali’s character drops his controlled facade to reveal the anguish underneath; at one point, he spits out, “If I’m not black enough, and I’m not white enough, and I’m not man enough, then what am I?” But these moments end abruptly and are never truly addressed again. In the next scene, Tony and Don are sharing a motel room as if nothing had happened, and we’re back to watching Tony make cracks about the women in Pittsburgh.

But perhaps most painful to watch was the filmmaker’s decision that Don had to learn some type of lesson from Tony in return - and this lesson ends up being on embracing his black heritage. Tony scolds him for preferring classical music to popular black artists, and in what is meant to be a comedic highlight, teaches the uptight Don how to eat fried chicken. However, these moments feel contrived and somewhat insulting. Why does it follow that an educated black man has never had fried chicken? Why is it necessary that Don has to “learn” from Tony at all? When Don lashes out at him for this, we think that perhaps Tony has learned a lesson - that he shouldn’t dictate to Don how to embody his own culture. But the ending of the film, in which Don at first reluctantly and then joyfully plays jazz music in a black establishment, makes it clear that Don wasn’t “black enough”; that he needed this final change - encouraged by a white man, no less - to become truly fulfilled.

This movie had so much potential, but dismisses highly topical and sensitive issues for the sake of creating a feel-good film. I’m surprised that no one audibly scoffed at the film’s ending, which involved the duo making it back home just in time for Christmas dinner, after being assisted by a friendly white policeman. (Not kidding). Many reviews have praised the movie’s humor and heart-warming ending, but perhaps the question should be whether a movie that deals with racism in the 1960s should be a “feel-good” film at all. Maybe it shouldn’t be a feel-good film; maybe the ending should have left us a little more uncomfortable. Not every film about race has to be tragic and depressing; I fully acknowledge, as Green Book seems to highlight, that history has moments of hope and fellowship as well. But to end the film with such a neat, picture-perfect moment seems a great disservice to ongoing struggles of blacks in America.

#green book #green book review #viggo mortenson #mahershala ali #racism #movie review

15 notes · View notes

twh-news · 6 years

Photo

'Early Man' Review: Nick Park’s Stop-Motion Marvel Is More Advanced Than Its Primitive Protagonists | IndieWire

With all due respect to Pixar and Studio Ghibli, can we start acknowledging Nick Park and Aardman Animations as the innovators they are? Those who’ve seen the “Wallace & Gromit” shorts and 2005 movie tend to love them, but the studio responsible for that iconic duo doesn’t get a fraction of the acclaim. Maybe it’s because the British studio has never been especially prolific, but with “Early Man,” its first feature film since 2015’s delightful “Shaun the Sheep Movie,” Aardman once again reminds viewers that its stop-motion creations are consistently joyous spectacles.

Beginning, as it must, with a primordial prologue about the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs — just as it strikes, two dinos who were fighting moments before embrace in fear — the film concerns a tribe of well-meaning cavemen whose happy existence is disrupted by the arrival of civilization: Bronze Age intruders show up one day, there to turn their communal cave into a mine so that Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston) can maintain his lavish lifestyle.

Park, a four-time Oscar winner who created Wallace & Gromit 30 years ago, is stepping into the director’s chair for the first time since 2008’s “A Matter of Loaf and Death” short. He hasn’t lost his step, with his latest fictional world being both a departure from, and continuation of, his usual settings. At the center of it is Dug (Eddie Redmayne), Park’s latest affable protagonist whose good nature can’t stop him from getting into increasingly ridiculous situations.

He and his cohort live in the crater left by the asteroid’s impact, which has grown lush and verdant in the centuries since it struck; the human price of progress was steep even then, as stone gave way to bronze and left the primitives in its wake.

Park fashions this inevitability something akin to Mordor encroaching on the Shire: industry subsuming an old idyllic world. If that setup sounds too Luddite-friendly, it’s also quite funny: Dug is among the smartest of his tribe, which is led by the very old (read: 31) Chief Bobnar (Timothy Spall), includes a rock with a face painted on it and a pig named Hognob (voiced by Park himself). He feels like a Gromit stand-in and, though not as memorable a companion, is still good for some laughs.

Under Nooth’s yoke, warring tribes settle their differences on the soccer pitch rather than the battlefield; England’s national team may be underachievers in the 21st century, but their predecessors in Real Bronzio were a dominant force to be reckoned with. And so it is that “Early Man” turns into a sports comedy of sorts, one in which the motley crew of good guys must somehow overcome an imposing squad that is in every way their better.

That’s especially difficult when Dug’s tribe is exiled to the Badlands, where they’re besieged by giant mallards, harsh conditions, and a paucity of the rabbits they used to depend on. Their temporary home proves the ideal training ground, however, its cruel landscape and craggy formations making formidable obstacles that do a right proper job of preparing the underdogs for their big match.

As ever with Aardman, the cleverest moments are also the most fleeting. Lord Nooth can be spotted reading a newspaper called the Prehistoric Times; a woman seeing sliced bread for the first time exclaims, “Wow! That’s the greatest thing since, well, ever.” The narrative as a whole is familiar, if not overly so, and after the Silent Era gags of “Shaun the Sheep Movie” it sometimes feels like “Early Man” could have gone further and been similarly ambitious.

What really gives our heroes a potential upper hand can be best described by a scene from, of all things, Carlos Reygadas’ “Post Tenebras Lux.” Assembled on a rainy field, a rugby team huddles as their leader explains the key to victory: “They’ve got individuals; we’ve got a team.” That isn’t an uncommon message in an animated movie aimed toward kids, but it is a worthy thematic bedrock.

Grade: B

“Early Man” opens in wide release on February 16.

#tom hiddleston #early man #film review #article #Aardman #Nick Park

25 notes · View notes

spotlightsaga · 6 years

Photo

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... The Mick (S01E17) The Intruder Airdate: May 2, 2017 @FOXtv Ratings: 1.891 Million :: 0.73 18-49 Demo Share Score: 8.75/10 @SpotlightSaga @CulturePit Not quite the end I was expecting. Then again after enduring 17 hilarious episodes, I suppose expecting the unexpected goes hand in hand while watching ‘The Mick’. Despite the chaotic nature of the ‘Snowball Effect’ style Black Comedy, there were always some things within this series’ core narrative that just had to be eventualities. Sooner or later, The Pemberton Parents had to show back up... And all of these Season Finale swerves with the house burning down; the elusive Pemberton duo being yanked from obscurity and heading to Federal Prison; the potential for major money issues for Mickey & The Kids going forward; they all promise a very different S2. Nothing is going to be the same for anyone, including the viewer. With a falling average in the ratings as a Network as a whole, FOX hasn’t exactly done many things right lately. However, green-lighting The Chernin Brothers’ ‘The Mick’ for a 2-Season deal was one of the smartest things FOX has done in a hot minute. The Execs could have easily broken contract & given up on this one. It started hot in the numbers and eventually padded out to around 2-2.5 Live Million Viewers, with about an 0.7 18-49 Demo. That’s right where fellow FOX Series ‘Gotham’ has found itself, and that show has gotta be way more expensive to produce. Both survived the chopping block, because not only are both solid shows... They are killing it with Streaming Deals & DVR Clicks. Keep watching. We need more outlandish new comedies like this one. For Network Television, The Chernin Bros & 20th Century Fox Television really created something special with the ‘The Mick’.

#The Mick #fox tv #20th century fox #fox #tv comedy #comedy #sitcom #Spotlight Saga #tv time #Culture Pit #thomas barbusca #sofia black d'elia #Jack Stanton #scott macarthur #the intruder #tv meme #meme #kaitlin olson

4 notes · View notes

sophiehunteroctopussyblog · 7 years

Link

As storm clouds gather around movie mogul Harvey Weinstein in the wake of an explosive New York Times report with allegations of sexual harassment and other misbehavior, his company’s Oscar season hopefuls are staring down an unsure future. Frankly, though, this year’s potential contenders — “The Current War” and “Wind River” — were already facing an uphill battle. Unlike previous years when the Weinstein Co. and Miramax juggled numerous strong awards contenders, mounting expensive, competitive campaigns and lavish Oscar and Golden Globes parties, the company’s financial woes have resulted in pared-back awards spending. Weinstein’s awards season presence is often felt beyond his on-screen contenders. He holds an annual pre-Oscars bash at the Montage Beverly Hills, where illuminaries like Oprah Winfrey and business leaders like Amazon chief Jeff Bezos have been guests. Last February, Beyonce, Jay-Z, and Lin-Manuel Miranda attended the soiree. He also partners with Netflix every year for a well-attended Golden Globes after-party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Given the current scandal, it’s unclear at this point whether Weinstein will even show his face during this year’s awards season. Weinstein had high expectations for Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s “The Current War.” The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon as electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, respectively, in a story of the duo’s cutthroat turn-of-the-century race to determine whose system would power the modern world. But reviews at the Toronto Film Festival seemed to seal its fate. The film “can’t generate even the slightest bit of interest in what happens to any of its characters,” read Variety‘s take. So it was back to the editing suite, where Harvey Scissorhands, his longstanding nickname for his heavy-handed control of the editing process, would step in. That was in fact where he said he was on Wednesday when Varietyreporters first reached out to him about the then-upcoming New York Times report. But for a film that has already been dismantled by critics — it currently sits at 31% on Rotten Tomatoes and has a 42 score at Metacritic — the merciful thing might be to hold it for 2018 rather than release it under a cloud. “That’s the question of the week,” one person involved with the film said. Gomez-Rejon could not be reached for comment. In the wake of “The Current War’s” Toronto stumble, the Weinstein Co.’s efforts appeared to shift to its August release “Wind River.” Indeed, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Taylor Sheridan’s (“Hell or High Water”) directorial debut, a murder mystery set in Wyoming’s snow-blown Wind River Indian Reservation, is the embattled distributor’s biggest success story of the year. Weinstein acquired the film, which cost $11 million, at the Cannes Film Market in 2016 for a figure reportedly north of $3 million. It went on to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and has generated $33 million at the domestic box office after two months in release. The campaign gears are already turning; a pair of screenings was recently set for this weekend at the DGA Theater in Hollywood and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Sheridan, stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen, and key crew members will be on hand for post-screening Q&As. But the last thing an indie success story hoping for an awards season profile needs is a scandal overshadowing its efforts. Through his publicist, Sheridan declined to comment. A third, outside possibility for Weinstein this season might have been “The Upside,” Neil Burger’s remake of the 2012 French film “The Intouchables,” with Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, and Nicole Kidman. It, too, performed poorly for critics in Toronto, but as a populist comedy featuring an on-fire Hart, the film might at least have box office potential. At the festival, Weinstein told press that he planned to qualify “The Upside” for awards consideration in December and then go wide next year, perhaps angling for Golden Globes comedy recognition as a ploy to boost its commercial prospects. (Per contractual obligations with Sony regarding the December release of Hart’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” Burger’s film cannot open wide before March.) But that runs counter to producer Todd Black’s expectations. “I think that was only in [Weinstein’s] mind and not in any of our minds,” Black said. “Nothing’s changed. We’re coming out in March. All we’re concerned about is a big, fat commercial release.” Nevertheless, Weinstein could use a hit sooner rather than later; the often resilient impresario has been dogged by ongoing murmurs that his company, which recently saw significant turnover among key executives, continues to be in financial straits. But he obviously has other concerns at the moment. “I don’t know that Harvey has much say right now,” Black said.

4 notes · View notes

xseedgames · 7 years

Text

Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection - Localization Blog #2

“Rally-ho, true believers!” I shout, swinging into the grand hall on a chandelier, interrupting the fancy party. Everything stops as eyes are focused solely on me – on my roguish good looks, my brand-name tabard, my elk leather highboots. I somersault to the floor, landing on my feet with a flourish and a bow. “I know you must have thought this high society gathering dreadfully dull without me here to tell you about the intricacies of composing prose for novel electronic amusements, so I’ve come to enlighten and entertain thee. Also, did you know all the food here is free? My pockets are full of cocktail wieners right now.”

Indeed, it’s an honor to see you again, dear readers. I hope you enjoyed my previous blog about the upcoming PC release of Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection. As a small refresher, it served as something of an introduction to Zwei: II as a game – what it’s all about, its two main characters, the setup of the story, and its battle and leveling system. You can think of it as a sampler platter to give you a taste of why this game’s cool.

Do a barrel roll

Today, in my second Zwei: II blog, I’d like to go into more detail on the process of writing and editing for the game, and some of the things I dealt with and thought about as I localized it. I’ve done an entry like this for each of my prior projects, and I always enjoy it because it gives me a chance to briefly pull back the curtain and share with you some of the minutiae of localization, and the truism that every project is its own beast.

One interesting thing of note about this project is that it’s the first project on which I served as the sole editor. When I started working at XSEED, most of my prior localization experience had been as part of a team working on large single projects, while most of XSEED’s workflow at that time had been to keep a single editor on a project as much as possible. Each method has its own benefits, as you’d expect. When I work with a partner or team, I enjoy being able to bounce ideas off them or ask for hot takes any time I want, like, “Okay, which of these five potential quest names sounds the best to you?” or “Here’s what I have so far for this scene, but I want this girl to sound more disinterested. How would you do it?” We solicit general impressions from the office fairly regularly, but having other editors acquainted with the specifics and setting of the project you’re working on gives you access to an informed, expanded scope beyond your own intuition and experience. That’s important, because every editor is naturally going to have some characters or scenes they click with more readily than others.

On the other hand, flying solo can also be nice because it represents a purer distillation of editorial voice. With single-editor projects, you know that all the text in the game was overseen by the same person, making thoughtful choices with full knowledge of where everything fits in the greater scheme of the story. I think that’s what XSEED values about this methodology, but with the arrival of mammoth-sized scripts like those for the Story of Seasons and Trails of Cold Steel games, it became a matter of practicality to learn to work well as small teams on projects – a challenge I think our editors have risen to meet in admirable fashion. Of course, that’s not to say I didn’t have a lifeline or two working on Zwei: II. Junpei and Tom were an ever-present source of support whenever I had a question about something in the Japanese – and there were many, many of those over the duration of the project. Even when you’re working alone, you’re never truly alone when you’ve got the office familia backin’ you up.

Getting to work on a project by myself has also helped me better understand my own work process. One nice thing is that everything I mentally bring to a project – the stories I’ve consumed and experiences I’ve had that color how I interpret characters and scenes – remains consistent throughout. This is especially pertinent when writing for comedic scenes, as no two editors will have the exact same sense of humor, and Zwei has more than its share of wisecracks and comedy. The scary thing about being the sole face of a game, though, is that anything that’s weird or wrong, any jokes that totally fall flat, emotional connections that don’t get made – that’s all on me. In a way, it’s a test of myself as a writer and editor, with you all as the judges. With the original Story of Seasons, Tom and Ryan lent me a hand, and I had the dashing Young Kris as my partner for the first Trails of Cold Steel, but here, you get pure Nick, for better or worse (hopefully for better).

I mentioned briefly in my previous blog that Zwei: II felt like it was deeply informed by ’90s anime and manga, and I’d like to unpack that a little more for you here, in case your curiosity was piqued at the notion. After all, a lot of the games we work on here at XSEED are pretty anime-flavored, right? What’s one more on the list?

Here’s my take. Over time, the general vibe of anime has undergone change, as all thriving arts tend to. One major difference – the one most relevant to our discussion – is the observation that protagonists in many modern series tend to be passive, disaffected, reticent, or otherwise hesitant to engage the world and situations around them. They’re the reactive sort. Sometimes it’s because they’re exceptionally socially aware. Sometimes it may be because they’re awkward youths. Sometimes it’s because you get the impression that the writer really wants you to think this person is cool or above it all. Anime from the ’90s, on the other hand, is much more associated with protagonists who leap into situations without thinking, do things without considering the ramifications of their actions, and adhere to a personal code or philosophy that the character consciously or unconsciously holds. Both approaches, in the hands of a good storyteller, can and have made for some great entertainment, but from a writing perspective, the “’90s anime” types are definitely easier for me to work with. They’re more expressive, more willing to engage, and their very being tends to create conflicts that help drive the story and the growth of both themselves and other characters.

During the time I was working on Zwei: II, I actually ended up rewatching a season of Ranma ½ (those blu-rays are preeeeetty sweet) and seeing the Tenchi Muyo TV series for the first time (on loan from Tom). Seeing those really made this whole point click with me, like, “...That’s it! That’s the kind of comedic stylings Zwei is trying to channel!” Not in the sense of specific plot points or characters from any particular series, but the sort of atmosphere that was about creating opportunities for amusing things to happen. Ranma, for instance, tends to nettle many of the characters in his series not on purpose, but just by being who he is. And not just that – doing it on purpose also comes very easily to him (just watch how he loves to bait Ryoga or Kuno with his taunting). Ragna is less purposefully ornery, but his decisive personality draws the admiration of some and the exasperation of others. Plus, later on in the game, you run across a genuine hot spring, and we all know what a staple of the era that is. ;)

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Tragedy is easy, comedy is hard,” and there’s truth in it. Most of us love a good comedy, but do any two of us love all the same comedies or laugh at all the same things? Humor is deceptively difficult because it’s so mercurial, influenced by the times, by moods, by delivery, and more. A bit that might leave you stone-faced Monday night could have you busting a gut Thursday night. Understanding why something that makes you laugh does so is the study of a lifetime. There’s really no shortcutting it – you have to get the mileage, experiencing things that make you laugh, thinking about why, and chasing the next thing you think might give you another shot of mirth. I can only hope that I’ve imbibed enough of the spirit of humor to properly convey the charm of what is perhaps Falcom’s most levity-laden title.

Yeah...just hangin' in there, y'know...

Beyond my approach to the game itself, we have its characters – the heart and soul of the action. Quite often, early on in the process of localizing a game, I’ll get an impression of a character as, “Oh...I guess he’s a lot like X from [other source],” and as I make a couple of those anchoring connections and begin considering the characters in the game from those perspectives, they begin to show their multiple facets. Lest you think this sounds too close to, “Oh no, he’s just taking an existing character and foisting that persona on this carefully crafted, unique game character!”, take a measure of comfort in my assurance that I, too, would be dissatisfied with an approach that oversimplified. Think of it more as a basic framework – scaffolding that lets me clamber around the object d’art to get at the fine detailing.

With Ragna, for instance, his characterization is very front-loaded in the game. Right away, you know he’s a freewheeling pilot, sort of a hotshot, and likes to do things his own way. The image he creates is very “early 20th-century flyboy,” and I sort of conceptualized him as a guy who wouldn’t feel out of place if you stuck him in among the cast of “The Rocketeer.” Speech-wise, his alternating between laid back and fired up reminded me of Gundam Wing's Duo Maxwell, and like that character, Ragna likes to chime in with some tongue-in-cheek commentary if something patently ludicrous or weird happens in the game. Finding characters who are reasonably like the one you’re writing for helps, as does understanding the milieu in which a character exists – what they were doing just before the story began, and what the world around them that shaped them is like.

There are actually a couple characters who have what I termed “Ragna-variant” speaking styles. Ragna’s main vocal tic is that he sometimes truncates words ending in “-ing” (so “nothing” would become “nothin’,” and “fighting” would be “fightin’,” though I tried to generally keep it to one per text box – it’s a spice, not a marinade), so among the expanded cast, you get some people who speak that way because they have similar lifestyles. Odessa, as a rough-and-tumble Treasure Hunter who specializes in capturing bounties, is very colloquial in her faux old-west style. Gashler, who runs the garage out by the airstrip, is a full-bearded, goggled mechanic that sort of reminded me of Cid from Final Fantasy IV, and his speaking style is pretty thick – one of the most affected in the game, though I tried to make it still pretty easy to comprehend. One also has to consider that people who have special styles of speech have certain occasions where that’s either suppressed somewhat, or is expressed with even greater emphasis than normal. Even old man Gashler might speak (mostly) standard English if you dragged him to a black-tie event, but on the other hand, if someone said his workmanship is rubbish, I have no doubt that he’d be cussin’ up a storm, blastin’ furnace-fire, and lettin’ loose with the sort of strange, idiomatic expressions that only grease-stained mechanics know.

Ragna being an unusually “American-feeling” character made him pretty easy to write for right from the start. Alwen took a little more finesse and more time to find her ground – but not because she was difficult in a conventional sense. The trick with Alwen was that she definitely inhabits a certain archetype, at least partially, but I needed to figure out how much of that I needed to accurately represent her, and when to let her individual characteristics shine.

Alwen, as the daughter of an esteemed Trueblood vampire house, can be very prideful, bordering sometimes on haughty. She learns fairly quickly that the world beyond her castle has more complexities than she gave it credit for, but her distance from the world of humans actually gives her some surprising insights. Now, the most common way you see characters like Alwen played are that they step out into the greater world, eventually realize how much they don’t know, and depend on their friends to teach them what it means to really live along the way. Alwen...has some of that, but it’s the way she interfaces with the world that makes her an interesting and fun character. For example, she doesn’t technically NEED to eat food, but likes eating a ton of it (on Ragna’s dime, of course) just because it’s tasty. She’s not afraid to walk right into town and make small talk with the people. Alwen may be a vampire, but she’s refreshingly (and oddly) free of so many of the preconceived expectations people have about what vampires are like. She even calls Ragna out on this early on in the game when he’s shocked that she walks around just fine in the bright morning sunlight. A great deal of Zwei: II’s story is really her story, especially when it comes to getting the ball rolling, and it helps the story greatly to have a character who both entices with a bit of the familiar but also stands out due to individual quirks.

I also did with Alwen a variant of what I did for Laura in Trails of Cold Steel, where I shifted her from talking with a “proper,” antiquated style of speech to a more natural speaking style that still retains the idea that she’s highborn. Coming at this from a lore perspective, Alwen hasn’t been out of her castle in the last 100 years or so and has learned what she knows of the world from her estate’s extensive library, so it would be very feasible for her speaking style to sound older than that of Ragna or the people of Artte. In practice, though, Ragna having a casual style of speech and Alwen’s speech being fairly rigid made it difficult for the comedy to land, and to really connect with Alwen as a character. Can you imagine what Star Wars would’ve been like if Princess Leia spoke like a medieval fantasy princess while trying to banter with Han Solo? That’s the kind of disparity I’m talking about. It might’ve been funny, but for reasons entirely unintended. So after thinking on it a while, I decided to adjust Alwen’s speaking style, dialing it back. My priority was to keep her sounding articulate and well spoken, but casual up the language so that the banter between her and Ragna has the requisite snap it ought to. In my opinion, the net gain from that was well worth the adjustment, which you’ll be able to see for yourself when you play.

Sort of tangentially related to that, in the Japanese version, Ragna goes through basically the whole game calling Alwen “Princess” (“hime-san”). The best reasoning I could figure is that maybe, having taken on some power from their blood contract, Ragna feels he should acknowledge her as his liege, but...that explanation totally flies in the face of Ragna’s personality. Ragna is a guy for whom there is ONLY a first-name basis (or a nickname if he finds one for you he likes). The most likely explanation is that it’s just the difference between politeness levels in Japanese personal address versus Western personal address, but the title put a certain amount of “distance” between them that I didn’t want to remain there for the duration of the game. The alteration I made to compensate for this was to have Ragna refer to Alwen as “princess” a bit at the very outset of the game, but quickly fall into using her first name, which feels much more natural for the character. To draw the analogy with Star Wars again, think of it as Han Solo going from calling Leia “princess” or “your worship” in a sort of snarky context when he doesn’t really know her to simply calling her “Leia” once he’s spent time with her and knows her as an individual. Plus, with as big a deal as Ragna makes over wanting to work together with Alwen as “equal partners” at the start of the game, it would be weird for him to then go on to refer to her by her royal title for the rest of the game.

This discussion isn’t meant to be a comprehensive retrospective of Zwei: II’s localization, of course; just a list of some of the noteworthy things I grappled with working on the game. Editorial work does have its pressures and difficulties – when the buck basically stops with you, how do you know you’re making the right call? – but ultimately, these kinds of challenges are what keep the job fresh and interesting. The point of all the character personality profiling, the speech styles, the fine-tuning, is for players to be able to sit down and experience a fun story and memorable characters that “just work,” no speculative microscope examinations of the translation required. I think my obsessive tweaking and spit-polishing will make for a better game experience...but you don’t have to take MY word for it. Give Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection a try when it comes out and see for yourself!

#xseed games #xseed blog #xseed #Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection #post: nick #long post #Falcom

45 notes · View notes

celeryhawk30 · 5 years

Text

‘Secret Life of Pets 2’ and ‘Dark Phoenix’ Vie for Top Spot in Crowded Box Office - TheWrap

Last weekend was a busy one for movie theaters with three wide releases from major studios, but it doesn’t get any quieter this weekend with the release of two major titles: Universal/Illumination’s “The Secret Life of Pets 2” and Fox/Disney’s “Dark Phoenix.”

“Secret Life of Pets 2” is expected to take No. 1, though with an opening weekend much smaller than its 2016 predecessor. Box office trackers are expecting an opening for the animated movie in the $60 million range, and the studio expects that an opening in the $50 million range would be a strong start. However, the first “Secret Life” earned a $104 million opening en route to grossing $875 million worldwide, second only to “Shrek 2” among non-Disney animated films.

But even if this sequel doesn’t match the original’s box office total, its presence will be welcomed by movie theater owners. While last summer’s box office was strong, “Incredibles 2” was the only major box office force among animated films, though “Hotel Transylvania 3” provided some modest contributions.

Also Read: 'The Secret Life of Pets 2' Film Review: Cartoon Offers Outdated Messages About Marriage, Manliness

“Secret Life of Pets” was key to Illumination becoming a global box office force on the level of DreamWorks and Pixar, expanding the studio’s stable of characters beyond “Despicable Me.” The sequel should have the same overseas potential, grossing $31.6 million in nine markets throughout May, and it should provide even more fuel to keep families coming to theaters along with the usual Disney fare.

Speaking of Disney, “Dark Phoenix” will mark a big moment in that studio’s history, as the “X-Men” film is the first major blockbuster it will release from 20th Century Fox. While Disney has released other Fox films since acquiring its former competitor back in March, including the Christian film “Breakthrough,” “Dark Phoenix” is the first to come from one of the major franchises that Disney sought after to build its already dominant IP stable.

While the horror spinoff “The New Mutants” is still to come, “Dark Phoenix” will be the final film to feature major members of the X-Men like Charles Xavier and Jean Grey before they become a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the coming years.

Also Read: 10 Riskiest, Priciest Summer Movie Gambles, From 'Dark Phoenix' to 'Detective Pikachu'

But the series’ final installment will be a far cry from its box office peak. The film is estimated for an opening of $55 million, which is only slightly better than the series low opening of $53 million earned in 2013 by “The Wolverine.” The studio is projecting between $40-50 million for “Dark Phoenix” domestically in over 3,700 locations.

Long term, “Dark Phoenix” is expected to at best match the global total of 2016’s “X-Men: Apocalypse,” which made $543 million thanks in good part to a $121 million Chinese gross. But even if this era of the X-Men goes out with a whimper, its presence will only add to Disney’s already enormous market share, which currently sits at over 35% with more than $1.5 billion grossed domestically in 2019. With its intensely anticipated slate, Disney is already expected to gross way more than $3 billion this year, but the additional grosses from Fox films could push it close to the $4 billion mark.

Based on the famed “X-Men” comics arc of the same name, “Dark Phoenix” follows Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) as her telepathic and telekinetic powers are heightened following a solar flare. However, the rise in those powers also creates an evil alter ego, the titular Dark Phoenix, which threatens to destroy both the X-Men and humanity.

Also Read: Why the Memorial Day Box Office Isn't What It Used to Be

Written and directed by Simon Kinberg, the film also sees the return of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Evan Peters to the cast, with Jessica Chastain also starring.

Farther down the charts, Amazon Studios will return to theaters with the limited release of “Late Night,” a comedy about a struggling veteran late-night host who tries to recover her ratings by hiring a woman of color to her all-white, all-male writers’ room.

Critics have been generally positive on the film with a 77% Rotten Tomatoes score thus far, but praise has particularly been heaped on leading duo Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, who are getting early Oscar buzz for their respective performances as the seasoned host and her new writer.

Also Read: Emma Thompson Tries to Be a 'White Savior' in New 'Late Night' Trailer (Video)

“Late Night” will try to turn that into hype into some success similar to that of their 2017 film “The Big Sick,” which grossed a solid $42.8 million. The comedy opens in Los Angeles and New York this weekend, with a wide release on June 14.

Source: https://www.thewrap.com/secret-life-of-pets-2-dark-phoenix-box-office-preview/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

0 notes

samanthaviolet · 7 years

Text

your final paper

I took a history of american television class in the spring, and after turning in my final paper, my TA emailed me with an email whose subject was “your final paper.” My heart sank as I opened an email that I was sure was going to be bad news, and she said something along the lines of how she was super impressed with it and that if I wanted to get it published, I probably could.

now, I don’t know how valid that is, nor do I care too much to go into the detail of how to achieve actual, real life publication. But, i do know that I can copy and paste it here, and that throws it out into the world and reaches the potential that Victoria saw in me.

This one’s for you, Vicki.

LADIES WHO LAUGH: Exploring Feminist Progress in Saturday Night Live

“Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” These seven words explode from the mouths of varied celebrities and comedians at 30 Rockefeller Center into the homes of millions across the nation, always at the same time each Saturday night. Saturday Night Live, the late night sketch comedy show created by Lorne Michaels and produced by NBC (commonly referred to as SNL), has been entertaining audiences since its premiere in 1975. With over thirty years of sketches, political commentary, and social spoofs, the show has been a breeding ground for discussions on representations in the world and workplace, specifically with regards to gender. Through an analysis of casting and a variety of show content, this paper will prove Saturday Night Live’s reflection of the women’s movement, effectively portraying women’s changing societal roles during the thirty-two years it has been on the air.

The format and structure of Saturday Night Live has stayed relatively in tact from the first episode to present day. Having a show primarily driven by the cast, beginning with seven members and getting all the way to sixteen by Season 42, an additional celebrity host appears on each episode. The ratio of male to female cast members is fairly close (in fact, they made it a point from the beginning for it to be equal among the genders, even though they have strayed from this ideal in recent years), but the number with regards to the hosts is startling and gives a good insight on which gender mainstream audiences. Over the forty years of SNL, there were 370 men as hosts and only 175 women (Baskin). Women have always been seen as the outcast with regards to entertainment, especially comedy, and this statistic proves that SNL was not doing much to break that. They had to give the people what they wanted in order to keep their ratings up, and instead of using their platform for good, they used their platform to perpetuate the inequality of women in entertainment.

These gender dynamics are not only seen on stage, but in the writer’s room as well. Saturday Night Live organizes the content of its show on a week-by-week basis — pitches happen on Mondays, table reads happen on Wednesdays, and material that worked from these move on to the shows on Saturdays. The weekly process weeded out all the ideas until only the best remained for the live airing on Saturday night. For sketches to proceed to the actual show, they had to be “funny in the room.” The problem is, is that most of the people in the room were men. Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad state in Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live that “a lot of the women writers’ sketches weren’t making it on the air, and the women performers were getting too many secretary and receptionist parts, written by the men” (Murphy). The gender binary was alive and well in the writing room, but of course, it was alive and well in every aspect of professional work, even in the wake of second-wave feminism. This misogynistic environment wasn't actively being worked against, either. Original SNL cast member John Belushi is often cited with his claim that “women aren’t funny.” His stunts to get women off the show included sabotaging table reads and even pressuring executive producer Lorne Michaels. He also refused to appear in the sketches written by women writers (Miller). This attitude toward women existing, as well as being tolerated by network executives, dominated for most of SNL life in the 20th century.

From the beginning of the show, the male-dominated aura of production prevailed. Women, as stated before, were cast as receptionists, nurses, makers of the household, and waitresses. Besides their actual roles on the show, they were also commonly seen solely as the objects of the male cast members. A great example of this is seen in the recurring sketch “The Festrunk Brothers,” featuring SNL greats Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin. In this sketch from the third season, debuting on September 24, 1977, the duo try to pick up two women played by fellow cast members. The lines they give to the women are outlandish and supposed to garner some laughs, but causes more of a head-turning reaction than they probably intended. After some small talk, they lead into, “You know, you American girls have such big breasts all the time! Well, I guess you must like us by now, so please give us the number of your apartment so we can go up and have sex with you right now.” The antics between the two pairs continue until the end of the sketch (Baskin). Of course, it leaves live audiences and the people at home laughing at the absolute ridiculousness of the interaction. But, why would it be acceptable to be saying that to a woman at all, especially on national television? In a textbook on arts analysis, scholar Mark Fortier defines feminist theory as “profoundly concerned with the cultural representation of women, sometimes as a strictly masculinist fantasy with no relation to real women, sometimes as the appropriation of women and women’s bodies to masculine perspectives” (Fortier 72). This sketch violated both of these ideas by simply having the women in the sketch portrayed as the object of the men’s desires. Until the turn of the century, this is what plagued the women of the highest rated comedic variety show since the inception of television. Women already have the lower hand with regards to their legitimacy on screen (in both television and film), and portraying them in this light does not lend itself to improving this situation.

By 2000, SNL was dealing with some low ratings and trying to keep the show fresh and interesting after 25 years on the air, and to combat this, they began to flip societal expectations. In 2002, Newsweek proclaimed: “For most of its 27 years, Saturday Night Live has been comedy’s premier boys club. But not anymore.” This sudden influx of women increased the amount of women performers seen on screen and the show was carried with show-stopping females. It led into the time of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Kristin Wiig, the women who have made names for themselves in the entertainment world, using SNL as a springboard. This is directly related to the increase of women and women’s power in the writing room (Murphy).

As the years went on, there was increase of women on the production side, which correlated to an increase and improvement of female representation on the performance side. While of course it wasn’t perfect, there were not only were more women included in the acts, but the way that they were represented did not always align with traditional gender roles. For the first time ever, there were sketches entirely comprised of female cast members, without leaning on the stability of a man. “The Women of SNL” parody sketch (spoofing The Real Housewives) is a 2010 special from Season 36 that premiered on November 1, 2010, featuring women cast members and alumni. Seeing a couch full of just women was a sight that was not commonly seen, and relying on each other for the comedic effect was particularly successful. The fact that this special could stand alone separate from the season speaks volumes. Even so, women had to fight to get on. For example, comedian Rachel Dratch (famous especially for her hilarious “Debbie Downer” persona) took multiple auditions to get on the show. After her first audition, she recounted that “I didn’t get it that year...they said, ‘we’re not taking any women this year. But maybe next year.” She got casted three years later (Itzkoff).

Reporters began to claim at the beginning of the 21st century that women had moved from “saucy sidekick to stand-alone stars.” Helmed as the “Tina Fey” era, this is when cast members such as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler began to be known as the faces of the show as a franchise, both on screen and off screen. Here is when sketches such as “Debbie Downer” and

“Target Lady” became recurring, and women sketches took up a bulk of the program time. Another big marker of women’s progression on Saturday Night Live was the addition of female anchors on the weekly segment “Weekend Update.” A spoof on current events, “Weekend Update” features commentary and satire in the middle of each episode, usually led by a male cast member who is presented as themselves (rather than as a character). Jane Curtin was the first female anchor in the second season of the show. While it was great that she was at the desk, the treatment she received from aforementioned John Belushi contradicted any kind of advancement that the presence of a woman created. Belushi would scream and raise fists in the air, telling Jane to calm down. Of course, the famous phrase “Jane, you ignorant slut!” proclaimed by co-star Dan Ackroyd resulted from her stint on “Weekend Update” during an episode premiering on May 26, 1979. Lorne Michaels did nothing to stop these slanderous and misogynistic ad-libs. In an interview with Curtin, she stated, “Lorne didn’t help, because that isn’t what Lorne did. Oh, it was ridiculous. It was just insane...you just have to learn to live with it, [and] plod on” (Miller). After Curtin’s departure in 1980, a woman didn’t sit behind the desk until twenty years later, with Tina Fey’s addition in 2000. In the beginning of Tina Fey’s reign as “Weekend Update” anchor (co-anchor with Jimmy Fallon), there was a part of the segment entitled “Women’s News,” in which Fey commented on issues such as reproductive rights and women’s roles in the home and at work (this is seen in a Season 28 episode from 2002). This direct dealings with issues of women was a direct result as Fey’s appointment of head writer. The progress of Tina Fey’s work on “Weekend Update” compared to Jane Curtin’s shows the amount of progress that SNL took in the women’s movement on television.

Broadly looking at television in the 1970s, the medium was struggling itself with its identity just as the female population of the United States was. As Kirsten Lentz says in her essay, “Quality versus Relevance,” “If 1970s feminism, broadly speaking, sought to champion the ‘rights’ of women, drawing attention to the inequities of gender role socialization and attempting either to revalue or to eschew femininity, 1970s television was similarly enmeshed in an attempt to resist its inferior status in relation to other media (especially cinema) and to revalue or reverse its associations with femininity... Scholars of television and feminism have tended to assume that the relation between the television industry and the feminist movement is primarily a negative one. According to this model, television has generally acted to distort, trivialize, or erase feminist issues and the women’s movement” (Lentz). However, as time goes on, to its credit, Saturday Night Live did do a lot to help progress the movement. Seeing women on TV and talking about women’s issues became a normal thing for the American household, making the feminist movement less of a political craze and more of something that every citizen can take part in. And this quality is what makes SNL so popular and a show that hasn’t gotten old for the forty plus years it has been on air —it reflects an ever changing society and challenges old- school ways of thinking.

However, that’s not to say that Saturday Night Live is perfect in the representation game by any means. Minority women, especially LGBTQ women and African American women in particular have always faced adversity in the entertainment industry, and Saturday Night Live has not properly used its platform and clout to change this. In its entire history up until 2013, there have only been four African-American women featured. After Maya Rudolph’s departure in 2007, there were none. Long-time cast member Kenan Thompson has had to cross-dress to impersonate several women, from Maya Angelou to Jennifer Hudson. In an interview with TV Guide, Thomspon made statements refusing the show’s request to portray black women, hoping that his resistance would prove to the network that advancements have to be made. Sasheer Zamata being hired was the first African American to be hired since Rudolph, and still stands as the only African American woman on the show today (Weisman).

By analyzing Saturday Night Live with a feminist lens, viewers can view the show as a program that did a lot for women in the entertainment industry, yet still is not reaching its full potential in what it can do for women as a whole. Women will always have the lower hand in regards to equality in entertainment, however, seeing the progress in the past gives hope that it will continue to improve, on Saturday Night Live and beyond.

#saturday night live #academic writing #television history #feminism

2 notes · View notes

movieswithkevin27 · 7 years

Text

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a film that Luc Besson is the perfect man to bring forth to cinemas everywhere. An imaginative filmmaker, as demonstrated with The Fifth Element, the source material's imagination is renowned due to how it influenced the decades of science fiction films and universes that came in its wake. Set in the 28th Century, Valerian introduces the audience to the world as it is at the time. At the height of inter-species relations, the world has come together to create a floating city called, "Alpha". Playing host to species from every corner of the world in order to have all of them share knowledge with one another, it should come as no surprise that Alpha will also play host to a cover-up. Dreaming of an unknown species that relies upon the power found within a special pearl, Agent Valerian (Dane DeHaan) comes to realize that this species did once exist and is now subject to a cover-up hiding their destruction and existence from records. With the help of partner Agent Laureline (Cara Delevingne), it is up to the duo to reveal the secrets that lie within the heart of the Alpha ecosystem.

Unfortunately, Valerian is a film that greatly disappoints. Despite the strong pairing of director and material, as well as a largely strong casting job (aside from the leads), the film winds up slipping up continuously. By the end, it is clear that one thing is true: the film would have been a lot better if it were not serious. Playing too often like a great satire on society and film by Paul Verhoeven, Valerian is instead Luc Besson making a film with dialogue and plotting so bad, it just has to be a satire. Unfortunately, it is not satire. Far too many lines elicit unintentional laughter. A saccharine explanation from Laureline to Valerian on what it means to love somebody is met by DeHaan uttering out, "I'd die for you." At the end of the film, when Valerian gives Laureline a ring, she says, "That's so romantic." One can argue that Valerian is a bit ahead of its time and will eventually find its audience, but lines such as these will never work. Future praise will have to note the way in which the film's dialogue slacks throughout or else that praise can be easily written off.

The film's dialogue and writing is the type that really leaves nothing to chance. Having characters explain their emotions and every feeling - especially in the dreadfully developed romance between Valerian and Laureline - the film trusts the audience to do very little in the way of thinking. Instead, it opts to spell out every detail to you, even if it is entirely frivolous. Often times, characters pop up and either explain their role to the audience or somebody else will have dialogue dedicated solely to explaining who they are and what that person will do in the story. Exposition-heavy lines regarding the world of Alpha, how everybody comes to share knowledge there, and the various groups found in the city, are not just forced, but horrifically written. Are we really to assume that two federal agents tasked with impossible missions have no idea who lives on Alpha? It is the center of their universe, yet they have no clue what happens there and need to have it explained to them? Hard to believe, at best. Thus, Besson needs to sprinkle it in the film in various doses. From flat-out having the computer explain it all to characters randomly dropping information about how the world works into an otherwise typical conversation, Valerian takes various approaches to teaching the audience about the world of Alpha. Unfortunately, none of it is useful - literally zero of the characters it introduces and explains pop up in the story - and all of it is heavy-handed anyways. For Valerian, it shortcuts world building by way of exposition. This has the unfortunate side effect of making it feel as though the world of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is not one worth exploring any further.

The way in which the romance between Valerian and Laureline, any character building moments, or side conversations, are written is really where Valerian plays like a satire. Written in such a way that the romance is the type of teenage angst that Nicholas Sparks would churn out to rave reviews among tween girls romanticizing about their first boyfriend, the romance never ceases to be awkward. Ignoring the complete and utter lack of romantic chemistry between Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, the scenes never work anyways. The filmmakers know what love looks like, so they included scenes that play out these moments. Playful, hurtful, and passionate, the scenes and the way in which they are staged often hint at the skeletal remains of love. Unfortunately, as with any bare bones rendition, it lacks any beating heart or emotion. DeHaan and Delevingne not only fail to sell the romance, but Besson's script fails to instill it with any feeling. It is written to be acted out, so who can truly blame the actors for not being able to bring the dead back to life. It is a romance so telegraphed and palely written that it is only appropriate for it to be acted out in such a manner that is deserved by such poor writing.

Had the film been a satire, it would certainly explain many of its scenarios. With the Sparksian romance, Besson could claim credit for mocking such overly romantic films and the need for love above all other pursuits. Whenever a scene is ripe with tension, a line of dialogue is dedicated to reminding the audience that Valerian wants to marry Laureline and is serious about it all. If he wishes, Besson can claim this is a way to mock films that introduce unnecessary love interests as a subplot. By calling attention to it constantly, he highlights just how absurd it all is and how distracting it feels to the audience. The romance as a whole is written in such a way that calls attention to the "going away to war" vibe that many young adult romance novels imprint into their romance. With the two here rarely leaving one another's side, it has the same feeling and could be played out as a satire on the way in which young adults approach love in an "all or nothing" fashion. In the same vein, mocking of the decay of social mores is another satire Besson could claim. With Valerian having a playlist of women he has been with, he treats women in a comically over-the-top disposable fashion, yet comes clamoring to Laureline that he does in fact love her. With DeHaan have a disinterested frat boy vibe to his acting style, this is the perfect match of actor and satirical material for Besson to take aim at the way in which romance is being trivialized. Not only is it turned into intensity and commitment all the time at all costs, it is also never treated with any respect. Everybody wishes to rush into everything without pausing to get to know one another and enjoying dating each other. If Besson wished, this is an avenue the film could have taken. Unfortunately, it neither a spoof like Galaxy Quest or a satire like Starship Troopers. Instead, it is a misfire, through-and-through.

Instead, it is not a satire. While all of the aforementioned areas are heightened to the point of satire and comedy, none of them really click in a truly satirical fashion. Rather, they are played will full commitment and belief. They are written seriously, acted seriously, and seen seriously. There is not a satirical bone in this film's body, which is a shame. What themes the film does develop it spells out for the audience. With the antagonist being a General who wishes to cover-up his wiping out of a planet, the film spells out its parallels to the world. As the world gets closer-and-closer with knowledge sharing and international relations taking centerstage with the world becoming a global community, disunity is greater than ever. Occurring both within individual countries and between countries, the more our world becomes global, the more segregated it becomes. For groups of people like those who lived on Mul, they are discounted as being primitives incapable of understanding anything, thus disposable. Even when confronted with evidence to the contrary, pre-conceived notions and prejudices still reign the day for this tribe of people that speaks a foreign language and possesses distinctly African features. No matter how advanced they may be, it is easier to escape guilt and culpability by pretending they are savages who will never improve. While an interesting theme, Besson spells it out for the audience from the moment the antagonist is revealed and even before then. Had it been treated in a more graceful fashion, it could have really hit. Instead, it feels preachy. Worsened by the inclusion of Bubble's (Rihanna) backstory as an illegal immigrant who has been a prostitute since age four, the film is one that preaches and spells out its key takeaways without giving the audience a chance to figure out the film's goals for themselves. Unfortunately for Besson and the film, spelling out removes all of its power, the potential for pathos, and any tension the film may have as the hero squares off with the antagonist.

Yet, nothing the film does wrong allows its leads to get off the hook. Led by Dane DeHaan, the acting in the film is largely quite horrific. Saying lines as if he is seeing them for the very first time, DeHaan lacks any confidence, charisma, or charm, in the lead role. Instead, he comes off as a guy who feels superior to the material he is performing and gives a performance that would raise concerned eyebrows in a read through. Unfortunately, it is the performance the film ultimately ran with and released. One would like to assume it is the by-product of Besson trying to elicit a better performance, DeHaan having no idea how, and the crew just giving up eventually and moving onto the next scene hoping for better. Better never comes, however. Instead, DeHaan lacks any feeling in a largely lackadaisical and disinterested performance as a frat boy action hero. Had DeHaan's role been one of a disinterested prick, he would have impressed. Unfortunately, he is a committed prick here played without feeling. The emotional hole left by DeHaan is never filled, with the end result being a film that utterly lacks any presence or impact. His love interest, Cara Delevingne actually out-acts DeHaan. Praise given to her performance is largely misguided, however, because she is still dreadful. Not as bad as DeHaan, but still unconvincing. Playing the role like a privileged and snooty millennial (oh wait), Delevingne walks around like a model on a runaway, wishing she was off doing better things. When put together with DeHaan, any scene that relies upon the two of them speaking to one another elicits a constant and ever-present thought that maybe Valerian has jumped the shark and it is time to walk out of the film. While the number of scenes between the two of them are relatively minimal, they are so disastrously bad, it is likely to be chalked up as some of the worst romantic partnering of the year, perhaps the decade.

In criticizing DeHaan and Delevingne, however, it is only appropriate to heap praise upon Ethan Hawke. Popping up as a seedy club owner on Alpha, Hawke's Jolly the Pimp is a revelation. While his scenes and presence are not strictly necessary, Hawke is the sole actor who plays the film as it should be played: insanely. Committed to his goofy and comedic performance, Hawke is apparently the only actor who read the script before shooting the film. He knew its dialogue was wonky, its characters light, and its plot just alright. Thus, he approached the role in the perfect fashion, chewing up the scenery and really hamming up the role. Thus, it is no surprise that Hawke's appearance comes in the film's best sequence. Baring some impact on Valerian's relationship and supposed commitment to his one true love, Laureline, the sequence tempts him with Bubble. An exotic dancer and hooker working for Jolly, Bubble performs for Valerian and is willing to do whatever he wants. However, he quickly turns his focus back to Laureline and goes to rescue her with Bubble's help. Featuring excellent special effects as Bubble switches between personas and clothing in a seamless and shape-shifting fashion, the scene is one heightened by both the great special effects, solid character elements, and great introduction of Hawke's Jolly the Pimp and a surprisingly alright Rihanna as Bubble. Without this scene, the film would be markedly worse.

What does save, and often elevates, the film is the special effects. Though the script may appear to have no benefited from the massive $200 million production budget, the special effects most certainly did. A beautiful array of colors bursting with life, feeling, and power, Valerian is a film that can only be described as gorgeous. No matter the flaws of the film, watching this one in cinemas is more than worth the price of admission for the effects alone. Starting off with a gorgeously crafted and detailed sequence on the planet Mul, the scene is not just brimming with great atmosphere and mystery, but also great effects. The design of the people from Mul is impeccable, the effects of the ships crashing into their planet is incredible, and anything to do with the Mul converters is awe-inspiring to the degree that it silently captures the striking and grandiose impact Besson so desperately tried to conjure up throughout. The first mission undertaken by Valerian and Laureline is similarly blessed with great effects as Valerian is able to somehow transport through some arm gadget to where a crime is taking place, all while staying invisible in that realm. It is a complicated, but wholly neat and incredibly original concept. Terrifically realized, the sequence is horribly written to the point that it is almost ruined, but is too beautiful and smartly designed to ignore. Later, on the planet Alpha, scenes seem to exist solely to show off the gorgeous effects and thank God for that idea. With scenes of them going jellyfishing hunting underwater and being fished by fake butterflies, Valerian continues to stun with effects even when they are not strictly necessary. Part of the awe is certainly the light show the film puts on, but not entirely. Instead, the scope and seamless introduction of the effects in these films is what really seals it as a beautiful work. The film's climax with the Mul building a ship, going into space, and cordoning themselves off from Alpha with a Stargate-esque portal, is appropriately beautiful and further cements the film status as a technical achievement worthy of praise. In spite of its flaws, Valerian's effects are able to make the whole experience more than redeemable, it makes it must-watch cinema.

A visual buffet, Valerian's shoddy exposition-laden script and horrifically bad acting hamstring it to the point that is becomes a thoroughly below average effort. Had the film been a lot about Ethan Hawke and Rihanna, it would have been far better or if the film had embraced its horrible script and became a fully fledged satire, it would be deserving of a vastly improved review. Unfortunately, neither of those are true. Instead, it focuses on a dead fish and a fish out of water to anchor its action set pieces, relegating their beauty and exquisite design to a secondary focus in favor of witnessing the absolute trainwreck that is occurring right in front of your eyes. At the end of the day, a script that explains everything (whether or not it plays a role in the film), introduces hamfisted themes, has horrible dialogue in any scene, has horrific attempts at flirtatious dialogue, and lacks any sense of originality in its plotting (even if the plot indulgences in the second half are welcome relief from the romance), proves to the film's greatest undoing due to the far reaching impact it has on the film as a whole.

#valerian #valerian and the city of a thousand planets #2017 movies #2010s movies #film analysis #film reviews #luc besson #dane dehaan #cara delevingne #cara delevinge model #clive owen #ethan hawke #rihanna #john goodman #rutger hauer

3 notes · View notes

modage · 7 years

Text

My Top 10 Films of 2016

The difference between a good year and great year for film generally comes down to just a couple movies, and in 2016 there were a lot of films that I liked but just a few that I loved. I saw 121 films in the theatre, which is slightly less than last year, but more of those than ever (53!) were repertory titles, thanks to the newly opened Metrograph and Alamo Drafthouse. Unlike last year where studio films dominated my list with grand visions like Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Inside Out, The Martian, Crimson Peak and Creed, this year the films got small. Only 3 studio films made the cut and indies like A24 and Annapurna ruled this year. As long as we still have places like those willing to make sure that film never dies, hopefully there will still be a culture left to appreciate it.

1. La La Land (Damien Chazelle) There has been a lot of talk recently about the death of film. Certainly there is no shortage of great films out there but the size of the audience to appreciate them may be shrinking, and with that the size of the films themselves. In the late 90s successful indie filmmakers could get a larger budget for their second or third film, and the result were films like Boogie Nights, Pulp Fiction and Rushmore. But today it seems like the choices are either jump straight into a blockbuster franchise or stay confined to the indie world. What we’ve lost is the $30m second or third film, the one that comes right after the scrappy indie debut and announces a promising filmmaker as a major talent.

I liked Whiplash but never would have expected writer/director Damien Chazelle to make the leap that he did here, which is a jump in ambition, scale and talent, the likes of which I really haven't seen since the 90s. Movies may be on their way out, but La La Land makes the case for film: the best ones still do what TV never can. The film is so good and such a delicate tightrope of nostalgia/new that I'm shocked that none of the 90s auteurs got there first. (PTA & David O. Russell must be kicking themselves for never making a full-blown musical.) Emma Stone finally gets to show off her full comedic/dramatic potential, Ryan Gosling continues to hone his physical comedy chops, and the pair finally find a vehicle worthy of their onscreen chemistry. If teenagers still watch movies anymore, La La Land should be a total gateway drug to classic cinema like Boogie Nights was for me.

2. Everybody Wants Some!! (Richard Linklater) On first viewing it actually took me a few minutes to warm up to this laid back “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused. Unlike Dazed which showcases the freaks and geeks and jocks of high school life, with Everybody you’re squarely planted in the world of baseball jocks and Linklater may be the only filmmaker who could make you love them all by the end of the film. Featuring a talented young cast who will probably all be way more famous in a few years, this is an all-timer hangout movie.

3. Green Room (Jeremy Saulnier) Intense. Brutal. Shocking. I spent most of Green Room literally laughing and crying at the same time and literally biting my knuckles from stress. Saulnier is a filmmaker who has seen other thrillers and knows how things are supposed to happen in movies, unfortunately for audiences accustomed to the relative safety of those other films, in Green Room nothing happens how you'd expect and no character is off-limits. I left with goosebumps.

4. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins) The last time I was this blown away by a filmmaker who seemed to come out of nowhere with a fully formed cinematic voice was Steve McQueen (Hunger, 12 Years A Slave). In the hands of a lesser filmmaker Moonlight could have been misery porn, but through Jenkins' lense the film never feels anything less than completely alive. As beautifully shot (by Kevin Smith’s DP [!!!] James Laxton) as it is emotionally engaging, Moonlight is the rare “awards film” that actually deserves those awards.

5. 20th Century Women (Mike Mills) Even though his filmography is relatively small, 20th Century Women feels like the film Mills has been working towards his whole career. With a perfect ensemble cast led by Annette Bening (in what may be the performance of her career), a killer soundtrack (featuring Talking Heads, David Bowie) and gorgeous, sun-soaked vision of late 70s Los Angeles, the film is autobiographical, but never restrictively so. Mills steals from life to create something that feels authentic and true, and somehow universal.

6. De Palma (Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow) Most documentaries are either too short or spread too thin. Not the case with De Palma, where the director breathlessly narrates his own filmography, without ever cutting away to anything other than brilliantly edited clips from his films. Focused, comprehensive and absolutely essential for cinephiles. Is De Palma the best documentary ever about a filmmaker? I think it might be. Holy mackerel.

7. Hail, Caesar! (Coen Bros.) The aughts have seen the Coen Brothers produce some of their best and worst films, with the worst ones generally being the broader, goofier ones starring George Clooney. Imagine my surprise at Hail, Caesar! which only appeared to be a broad comedy but in actuality is a strange (but still hilarious) meditation on faith and religion with more in common with A Serious Man than Intolerable Cruelty. The fact that it's also a love letter to classic Hollywood is just icing on the cake.

8. The Witch (Robert Eggers) The best horror films aren’t just the ones that make you jump, they’re the ones that get under your skin and stay there. The Witch is a bit of a slow-burn, completely out of step with modern horror movies, and had me wondering if it would be one of those films to end ambiguously and never really deliver on its setup. But the finale delivers with a sequence so transcendently unnerving that it actually elevates the entire film that precedes it. Just hearing those final words will send a shiver up your spine.

9. Swiss Army Man (Daniels) There are a million ways a movie about a farting corpse could been terrible. But the directors known as Daniels take what could have been a one-joke premise and and turn it into an exploration of friendship, loneliness, shame and some truly interesting ideas. Not everything works (a third act reveal comes closest to derailing the film) but the duo make their surprisingly thoughtful and unsurprisingly hilarious debut maybe the most original since Being John Malkovich.

10. The Nice Guys (Shane Black) The first time I saw The Nice Guys I was actually a little bit disappointed. But after a second viewing I was able to appreciate the film for what it is: an entertaining-as-shit, action comedy written by a master of the genre and starring Gosling at the top of his game as a inept alcoholic P.I. and Crowe as a perfect tough guy foil. In a year where all the blockbusters disappointed, this was the perfect “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” antidote to everything else at the multiplex.

11. Kubo & The Two Strings (Travis Knight), 12. The Handmaiden (Chan-wook Park), 13. Don’t Breathe (Fede Alvarez), 14. The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos), 15. Pete’s Dragon (David Lowery), 16. The Edge of Seventeen (Kelly Fremon Craig), 17. Cafe Society (Woody Allen), 18. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Zach Snyder), 19. The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn), 20. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Gareth Edwards).

Runners-Up: Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan), The Jungle Book (Jon Favreau), Microbe & Gasoline (Michel Gondry), Hell Or High Water (David Mackenzie), 13th (Ava DuVernay), Neighbors 2 (Nicholas Stoller), The Devil’s Candy (Sean Byrne), Sing Street (John Carney), A Bigger Splash (Luca Guadagnino), Elle (Paul Verhoeven).

#listomania #film #top 10 films #la la land #everybody wants some #green room #moonlight #20th century women #de palma #hail caesar #the witch #swiss army man #the nice guys

29 notes · View notes

bharatiyamedia-blog · 5 years

Text

Salman Khan's typically heart-breaking, hesitantly political, plodding trek by way of history- Leisure Information, Firstpost

http://tinyurl.com/y6ldcqm5 Solid: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover, Jackie Shroff, Disha Patani, Sonali Kulkarni, Brijendra Kala, Kumud Kumar Mishra, Rajiv Gupta, Shashank Arora, Aasif Sheikh, Satish Kaushik, Nora Fatehi, Tabu (cameo) Director: Ali Abbas Zafar Language: Hindi Ranking: 2 (out of 5 stars) At a vital level in Ali Abbas Zafar’s new enterprise, the titular protagonist’s father seems to him and says: “Desh logon se banta hai, aur logon ki pehchaan unke parivaar se hoti hai. Tujh mein poora desh hai, Bharat.” (A nation is made up of individuals, and folks’s identification comes from their household. The entire nation resides in you, Bharat.) It’s a line that directly sounds profound however means little. It additionally encapsulates the essence of Bharat: a movie that wishes to be profound however finally ends up which means far much less regardless of its bull’s-eyes. Salman Khan in varied avatars in Bharat. Picture through Twitter Salman Khan partnered Zafar on the writer-director’s Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai with spectacular box-office outcomes. No matter their lacunae might have been, Zafar was profitable in mining Khan’s pure goofiness in each, the latter movie additionally enjoying up the actor’s trademark unembarrassed, unapologetic on-screen bravado to hilarious impact. Bharat sputters on that entrance however scores elsewhere with combined outcomes: it’s often heart-breaking, often humorous, typically political albeit hesitantly so, however by and enormous simply plain uninteresting. Primarily based on the Korean movie Ode To My Father, Bharat is a voyage by way of post-Independence India whereas strolling alongside a typical man whose identify is Bharat with no surname connected. The boy was a resident of Gaon Mirpur, Lahore, when, on the age of 8, his life was torn aside by the cruelty of Partition. His total existence since has been dedicated to conserving the promise made to his Dad (Jackie Shroff) that he would handle the household. After we first meet him he’s an previous man touching 70. Because the prolonged household gathers for his birthday, Bharat (performed by Khan) recounts his journey between 1947 and 2010 in flashback. Alongside the best way, a number of acquainted historic milestones are crossed. Submit-Partition refugee camps, Jawaharlal Nehru’s demise, India’s 1983 cricket World Cup victory, financial liberalisation within the 1990s, the 21st century tv increase and extra cross by parallel to Bharat’s preliminary wrestle to outlive in Delhi, his time as a daredevil bike rider in a circus, migration to the Center East for work, his life-long friendship with the banana-eating Syyed Vilayati Khan (Sunil Grover), his long-standing relationship with the federal government official turned TV anchor Kumud Raina (Katrina Kaif) and surprising excellent news. The voice-over within the trailer had introduced, “this nation was born 71 years again…” Why then does Bharat‘s story cease not at 2018 however at 2010 with the phrases “the start” on display screen? Therein lies a story. Clearly Zafar desires to make a political assertion but keep secure whereas doing so (the truth that he wants to guard himself is a tragic reflection on the present state of our nation, however that may be a separate dialogue). The 1990s are heralded within the movie with the narrator saying that the brand new decade was marked by the arrival of two new heroes, Shah Rukh Khan (that is very beneficiant of you, Bhai) and Sachin Tendulkar, “however the actual hero was (Finance Minister) Manmohan Singh” for remodeling India’s financial system. That is an surprising ode to the previous FM-turned-PM who has been a lot maligned, reviled and mocked within the public discourse prior to now 5 years, most not too long ago within the Hindi movie PM Narendra Modi. One other former PM a lot reviled in recent times is projected as a hottie earlier within the movie. Whereas each feedback in Bharat are in themselves courageous within the sense that they defy the mob, I suppose the choice to keep away from 2014 too will be deemed an announcement, its import presumably relying on which aspect of the political divide you stand on. Intelligent? Considerably. And if you concentrate on it, amusingly so. The format of this movie is brimming with potential, and has been tapped brilliantly by cinema prior to now, Hollywood’s Forrest Gump being a shining instance. For essentially the most half although, the historic occasions cited in Bharat serve extra as markers of dates slightly than having any fascinating or deep connotation within the context of the main man’s bio. Mix that with the absence of the same old crowd-pleasing Salman Khan insanity, and Bharat finally ends up being neither right here nor there. The humour, for one, is weak. I imply, c’moooon, Bharat’s Mummy says “Tonsil” for “Titanic” (the ship) and he corrects her, announcing the phrase as “Titonic” as an alternative. Aiyyo! Eye roll. Oddly sufficient, the comedy works in its most juvenile parts as a result of these elements are headlined by the inimitable Sunil Grover or Rajiv Gupta. The 2 ace their respective scenes. Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan in a nonetheless from Bharat. Picture through Twitter Khan and Kaif, alternatively, are off the mark and off color all through. Nope, even when Bharat addresses Kumud as “Madam Sir” with the actor’s signature cutesiness it falls flat. Kaif’s Hindi diction has at all times been problematic, right here it’s not even papered over with the by-now-standard her-character-grew-up-outside-India excuse and the best way she says the English phrase “retailer” greater than as soon as in a specific scene could be very distracting. Just like the duo’s performances, Bharat‘s songs too are lacklustre. Irshad Kamil’s lyrics for ‘Gradual movement’ are kinda entertaining, ‘Zinda’ is sorta catchy, however on the entire I discovered myself questioning when Vishal and Shekhar will subsequent give you a soundtrack to match the memorability they delivered in Dostana. Little question Zafar means properly with Bharat, however his writing typically unwittingly shows his social conditioning even when he’s trying a progressive message. That is epitomised by a scene wherein Bharat tries to persuade an African pirate that there isn’t a color prejudice in India, which is ironic contemplating that their dialog is contained in a scene that includes a racist joke a few black-skinned south Indian man. In contrast to the latest Bollywood launch Kalank, the villains of Partition in Bharat usually are not confined to the Muslim group. In a decade when the world and India have been engulfed by Islamophobia, that is vital. Nonetheless, Zafar’s choice to incorporate the nationwide anthem proper in the course of the movie needs to be questioned, figuring out as we try this the anthem has been a supply of rigidity in some halls in recent times with sure viewers members selecting to make use of it as a software to vent a sure nationalist aggression towards others. At one other place Zafar questions the necessity for marriage, which is a gutsy factor to do for a Hindi filmmaker – after which he pulls again. And the best way Disha Patani’s character enters then abruptly exits the scene turns into one more occasion of the dispensability of glamorous girls in business Hindi cinema. The very best of Bharat comes proper to start with after which nearly in the direction of the top. The preliminary portrayal of the Partition and later efforts to reunite households separated on the time could appear emotionally over-wrought to some, however I confess I used to be lowered to tears in each segments. Sadly, what comes between, although largely inoffensive is simply sporadically rewarding. Removed from being a Forrest Gump with Salman Khan, Bharat is generally a plodding trek by way of post-1947 to up to date India. Up to date Date: Jun 05, 2019 16:59:20 IST Your information to the newest election information, evaluation, commentary, stay updates and schedule for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on firstpost.com/elections. Comply with us on Twitter and Instagram or like our Facebook web page for updates from all 543 constituencies for the upcoming basic elections. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function() {n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)} ; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '259288058299626'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.9&appId=1117108234997285"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Source link

0 notes

recentanimenews · 5 years

Text

The Good, The Bad, and the Shiraishi: Golden Kamuy is a Western?!

With the lure of mysterious, life altering riches hidden away by a criminal mastermind, a post-war soldier looks to turn his misfortunes and woes around by finding the gold… or die trying! Along the way, he meets up with some mysterious outlaws, tussles with soldiers unwilling to let the glory and carnage of war go, and befriends an indigenous girl who he decides to help recover the gold and find her missing father while learning to survive in the wild from her. If you read that and started thinking of Golden Kamuy, you’re obviously right, but if you read any of that and thought it sounds kind of similar to stories like Red Dead Redemption, Shane, A Fistful of Dollars, Unforgiven, True Grit or Once Upon a Time in the West, you might be onto something: Golden Kamuy is a Western! And not only that, but we think Golden Kamuy is the GREATEST anime Western of all time! Saddle up and get ready to ride into the wild Hokkaido yonder!

Western movies are not fairly popular today, but they used to dominate the Hollywood landscape, influencing filmmakers from around the world, and in turn being influenced by them! Sergio Leone’s great Spaghetti Westerns could never really have taken shape without influence from Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, and the Magnificent Seven drew heavily from Seven Samurai. Films like The Searchers and Once Upon a Time in the West became classic films, cementing many Hollywood actors into legendary stars through their roles. Other actors, like It’s a Wonderful Life’s Jimmy Stewart, got their start and fame through Western movies, while resident Ronald Reagan rode his Western acting roles to fame and later the presidency.

While the Western has a stereotype of being linked to being an “American-only” genre, their conventions are broad and universal: lost souls searching for meaning in a new land, wild gunfights without the rules of society to hold them down, lawlessness and law fighting one another, exploring the untamed and vast wilderness, and of course, lots of gold! Even the idea that Western movies are just about dusty cowboys shooting each other at high noon is a misunderstanding; many Westerns ventured into mountains, plains, frigid climates, and even outside of America itself! Anime has had a small share of Western titles in the past, most notably Cowboy Bebop, El Cazador de la Bruja, and Trigun, many of which added sci-fi or semi-futuristic flair to fill out their world. But there aren’t many ‘traditional’ Westerns set during the turn of the 20th century, featuring a ragtag band of survivors and outlaws looking for fame and fortune… until now!

So what makes a Western? Well, there are so many various types that it can be hard to pin down! There are Westerns devoted to pastoral, romantic images of settling the untamed wilderness, Westerns about scoundrels and gunslingers, and Westerns about the realities and harsh nature of life in the West; there are even Western comedies and parodies. That said, a Western usually features a lone protagonist who either ends up searching for lost riches, fighting bands of roving bandits and thugs, or otherwise trying to make a living in the wild west. Many of them tend to be either mysterious wanderers, returning soldiers, guns for hire, or otherwise unattached individuals who seem to have nothing left to lose, and everything to gain! In Golden Kamuy, this rings true for Sugimoto, who upon returning from the Russo-Japanese war is simply looking for a way to earn some money so he can return to his dead friend’s wife, Umeko, and pay for her eye treatments in America. Sugimoto is haunted by the demons of war, keeping to himself the things he saw and experienced in order to come back alive, preferring to storm forward as much as possible rather than look back. Like most Western heroes, Sugimoto is serviceable with a gun, although not quite the crack shot that other characters are! Sugimoto’s grit and determination to succeed are what really fill out his role as a Western hero; you can’t kill an immortal, after all!

Sadly, many classic Westerns today are marred by their less-than-ideal depictions of indigenous Native Americans, usually relying on stereotypes and massive mischaracterizations of the realities of American expansion into the West; even Westerns that attempted realism or less idealistic stories tended to still cast “Indians” in disparaging roles. In this circumstance, Golden Kamuy surpasses other Western-style stories in its depictions of the Ainu, particularly through the character of Asirpa. The Ainu are depicted humanely in Golden Kamuy, and the show goes to great lengths to portray their culture and traditions authentically, from food to language. Asirpa is a strong-willed and capable hunter, determined to find her father and the Ainu gold, and while younger than the rest of the cast, happens to be one of the fiercest and battle-ready companions Sugimoto has. Westerns often feature duos working together, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Sugimoto and Asirpa are a deadly and heartwarming pair of friends committed to seeing each other succeed.

Of course, Westerns also have their fair share of rascals, rapscallions, and bandits, and the escaped convicts of Abashiri Prison are almost too outlandish in their dastardly ways. While some, like Hijikata, are seemingly more normal and noble, the rest of the lot are a mixture of murderers, serial killers, thieves, and other dangerous types that would easily fill out any rogues gallery. But one thing Western films do well is make these types of characters loveable and endearing in their weird, rough, outside-the-lines of society ways, and Golden Kamuy does that to a T, making even the likes of serial killer Henmi oddly charming. The main crew of convicts that circle Sugimoto’s group are the most eccentric, as if coming to life from a grindhouse Western film, with the likes of “Professor Penis” Ushiyama Tatsuma, a man with hardened bones in his body that make him nearly impervious to bullets with a physique to match, Ienaga, a woman who has... interesting... taste in dietary trends to keep her beauty at the cost of other’s lives, and of course the lovable (or detestable) idiot Shiraishi, a man with no brains but the ability to escape any situation except his own idiocy. The Abashiri convicts add a layer of outlaw flair to the series, as Sugimoto becomes a bounty hunter of sorts, looking not to bring them to justice, but to collect their tattoos!

Many classic Westerns are set not just in the rolling wilderness of the west, but also following the end of the American Civil War. Following the divide of the country, the West became a refuge for the lost and the damned, of those fleeing persecution, and of those hoping to start fresh. In Golden Kamuy, the Russo-Japanese war has just ended, and while Japan wasn’t in a fractured civil state, the outcome of the war left numerous soldiers lost and without a cause or reason to do anything but look for new wars. The soldiers of Golden Kamuy fit into these similar roles as many Western films, from the crazed and war obsessed Lt. Tsurumi and his fanatical 7th Division--men looking to start and continue endless war as the only way to rationalize their existence in the world--to Sugimoto, a man with survivor’s guilt and PTSD looking to atone or find a reason to keep going.

Then there are men like Ogawa, a devilish and cunning sniper who may just be playing all sides against each other in order to see who comes out on top… so he can replace them! Tanigaki is another man called to war, who finds his role following the fighting to be one where he looks to reconnect with his roots, finding solace in the Ainu, similar to his own Matagi. That says nothing of the old soldiers in Hijikata and Shinpachi, men who perhaps lived too long and, while their desire to reclaim Japan’s glory days may seem impossible, fight with the fury of a thousand men to see it brought to fruition!

Of course, no Western would really be complete without, well... the West, and Golden Kamuy uses its setting of Hokkaido to take advantage of this. Many Western stories took place across the vast stretch of land west of the Mississippi, meaning not every story was a desert tale, but instead featured vast and diverse terrains including forests, grasslands, and even the cold north of Alaska and Canada. Golden Kamuy takes the wild very seriously, as the characters not only learn to survive off the land due to Asirpa’s hunting skills, but they also learn that nature can be a furious and untamed power, capable of easily felling the strongest men in a single blow! More pastoral Westerns would focus on the beauty and calm of the untamed wilderness, and Golden Kamuy has its share of that too, featuring the then not yet developed forests, mountains, and other areas of northern Japan’s wilds. The cooking and food elements of Golden Kamuy are not out of place here either, as many Westerns described how wanderers, natives and settlers learned to eat, live, and survive off the land, developing unique mixtures of food cultures and new ways to prepare and eat wild animals.

Golden Kamuy isn’t just a Western, though, it’s the best anime Western ever! Golden Kamuy takes everything that makes a great Western story, and cranks the dial to eleven! Sugimoto isn’t just a brooding loner, he’s a loud, determined, potentially crazy soldier hunting down some of the most dangerous (and easily just as crazy) criminals in order to take their skins, find the hidden Ainu gold, and hold up the promises he made to his friend before he died and to his partner Asirpa. Sugimoto’s weird gaggle of supporting characters range from a cannibalistic serial killer to a man too stupid to live, and Asirpa turns a lot of Western stereotypes on their head and kicks them right in the butt with her amazing hunting, cooking, and survival skills. And where most Westerns focus on robbing banks or finding stores of gold, Kamuy’s level of gold is so huge that it could topple the Japanese economy, putting any who have control of it into a potential bid for starting their own army, let alone taking over a country! If you enjoy Westerns, there is a lot in Golden Kamuy to love, and if you’re itching for a show to scratch that Western itch after playing Red Dead Redemption 2, Golden Kamuy has what you’re looking for! And while there aren’t many cowboy hats to be had, this anime does have its fair share of interesting headwear...

As the second season of Golden Kamuy moves forward, we’ve already met a cast of new and exciting characters, had the tease of Asirpa’s father’s identity, and even potential promise of visits to Russia itself! Golden Kamuy shows no sign of slowing down in its high paced action, and no one character is truly safe from maiming or even death, meaning that the body count is likely to rise before Sugimoto and Asirpa find what they’re looking for. And if Westerns have taught us anything, it’s that these adventures sometimes have a bittersweet ending… But hopefully, the Immortal Sugimoto will prove that wrong in the end! So saddle up, get your favorite camping mug full of coffee, prepare yourself some osom--er, miso flavored chitatap, and settle in for the rest of Golden Kamuy’s wild adventures!

Have any favorite Western style Golden Kamuy moments? Let us know in the comments!

Haven't watched Golden Kamuy yet? Don't delay and watch Golden Kamuy today!

----

Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known to profess her love of otome games over at her blog, Figuratively Speaking. When she has the time, she also streams some games. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

By: [email protected]

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

1 note · View note

recentnews18-blog · 6 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/dads-army-at-50-beloved-home-guard-sitcom-about-waiting-for-a-fight-that-never-came-celebrates-half-century/

Dad's Army at 50: Beloved Home Guard sitcom about waiting for a fight that never came celebrates half-century

Dad’s Army, the BBC’s classic sitcom about hapless recruits to the Home Guard, braced to defend our fair isles from Nazi invasion, celebrates its half-century on 31 July.

The women and children of Walmington-on-Sea could rest easy in their beds knowing the south coast town was under the protection of Captain Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe) and his band of rigorously drilled veterans, armed to the (false) teeth and ready to see off the Teutonic hordes at a moment’s notice. Couldn’t they?

The adventures of Sergeant Wilson (John Le Mesurier), Lance Corporal Jones (Clive Dunn) and privates Frazer (John Laurie), Walker (James Beck), Godfrey (Arnold Ridley) and Pike (Ian Lavender) brought joy to millions over the course of the show’s nine-year run, during which 80 episodes were produced, followed by a feature film in 1971 and a touring show in 1976.

The legendary British comedian who paved the way for Alan Partridge

Dad’s Army was created by writing duo Jimmy Perry and David Croft under the shrewd guidance of producer Michael Mills and remains instantly recognisable from its theme, “Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler?”, sung by period music-hall favourite Bud Flanagan.

The show dwelt on Mainwaring, a fastidious bank manager, whose attempts to instil strict discipline into his platoon of “Fighting Tigers” (the programme’s provisional title), despite their advanced years, dithering and confusion, frequently ended in disaster.

Mainwaring’s bristling frustration with this well-intentioned mob was brilliantly set against his rivalry with Wilson, a deliciously wry, bored presence throughout. Class tensions abound, Mainwaring dismissing Wilson’s education at a “tuppenny ha’penny public school” and quietly seething at the latter’s having served with genuine heroism at Mons, Passchendale and Gallipoli.

Lowe gave us one of British comedy’s great characters – haughty and self-important to the last, a study in footling English officialdom – but he was greatly aided by the coolly experience character playing of Le Mesurier, also put to good use in his role as reluctant stepfather to Pike, whose mother Wilson is dating.

Many of the cast had real war experience of their own – their familiarity with military life as younger men no doubt helping to inform their performances. Lowe had served with the British Army in the Middle East during the Second World War, after being rejected from the Merchant Navy as a result of his poor eyesight, while Le Mesurier had fought in India with the Royal Tank Regiment.

Dunn had been captured while fighting with the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars to prevent the German invasion of Greece and was subsequently held as a prisoner of war in Austria.

Perhaps most extraordinary of all was Ridley (Godfrey), a veteran of the Somme badly injured in combat who nevertheless shelved his career as a popular playwright to enlist again for the Second World War, serving with the British Expeditionary Forces in France and guiding journalists to the front line. Discharged on health grounds, Ridley, of course, returned to patrol with the Home Guard in Caterham, Surrey.

The idea of men aged between 17 and 65 otherwise unfit to join the army being put to use defending the home front was conceived of by secretary of state for war Anthony Eden, who invited applicants to apply to their local police station in a radio address of 14 May 1940. Originally known as Local Defence Volunteers, the name was subsequently changed to the Home Guard by Sir Winston Churchill to convey a grander sense of importance.

The cast of Dad’s Army on set in October 1974 (Getty)

More than 250,000 men attempted to sign up in the plan’s first week of operations. There were 1.5m Home Guardsmen in place by July.

Perhaps the first to realise the rich comic potential of the situation was Liverpudlian comedian Robb Wilton, famous for his inspired radio monologues: “The day war broke out, my missus said to me, ‘It’s up to you… You’ve got to stop it’. I said, ‘Stop what?’ She said, ‘The war.’”

Other key comic influences on Croft and Perry include British film comedian Will Hay, a specialist in schoolmasters and other exasperated authority figures, particularly his feature Oh, Mr Porter! (1937), itself partly inspired by Ridley’s drama The Ghost Train (1927). A young Clive Dunn had appeared in Hay’s earlier Boys Will Be Boys (1935).

Another was the plucky spirit essayed in Ealing’s wartime caper Went the Day Well? (1942) in which sleepy villagers are forced to rise up and defend the duck pond from Fifth Columnists after the Home Guard has been gunned down on a country lane. Adapted from a story by Graham Greene, Alberto Cavalcanti’s film boasts the extraordinary sight of future theatrical dame Thora Hird manning a machine gun.

Arguably what made Dad’s Army so special was not the comic mechanisms at work, although these are deftly tuned and the authors and actors deserve every credit, but its conjuring of a very particular mood.

Clive Dunn, Arnold Ridley, Bill Pertwee, Arthur Lowe, John Laurie and John Le Mesurier (Chris Ware/Keystone/Getty)

The war had finished 23 years before the show first aired in black-and-white at 8.20pm on 31 July 1968 and yet the atmosphere of unease that lingers in the background at all times, for which Captain Mainwaring is something of a lightning rod, is ever-present and absolutely right for its historical moment.

The residents of Walmington-on-Sea attempt to go about their life as normal, the absence of the town’s menfolk uncommented upon, nor the church bells fallen silent.

The Home Guard likewise must be vigilant and ready for the fight, perennially poised for a fight that might never come. As The Telegraph’s Charles Moore put it so brilliantly recently, Mainwaring’s recruits are “a bit like Shakespeare’s soldiers before Agincourt”.

Like Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (1953), Dad’s Army’s is a comedy of stasis. These old boys are braced for the chance to prove themselves heroes and make the ultimate sacrifice if necessary, but know all the while the opportunity may never come. With hindsight, we know that Adolf Hitler’s Operation Sea Lion never came to pass and their visions of a final stand staged in the streets of our quaintest market towns would never be realised.

When they do finally encounter a U-Boat crew in “The Deadly Attachment”, the situation is every bit as petty and childish as you might expect: Pike branding Hitler “a twerp” and their captain duly entering his name in a notebook for future reference.

Clive Dunn as Lance Corporal Jones (Rex)

Though history denied Mainwaring’s Fighting Tigers a real shot at daring-do or the sort of grand finale Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) executed so devastatingly, their dedication is very moving on the few occasions it is allowed to surface above the farce. Take this simple exchange from “The Battle of Godfrey’s Cottage”, in which they genuinely believe they are under attack:

Mainwaring: “It’ll probably be the end of us, but we’re ready for that, aren’t we men?”

Frazer: “Of course.”

Dad’s Army was rebooted with great sensitivity in 2016 – and an all-star cast including Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay and Catherine Zeta-Jones as a ravishing femme fatale. Toby Jones wisely elected not to imitate Lowe as Mainwaring in a part that was always a thankless task. The project largely suffered by being unable to satisfactorily answer the question: who is this for? An unfamiliar irrelevance to younger viewers that left older fans pining for the uniquely beetle-browed presence of John Laurie.

The mark the show has left on British culture is vast, Jonesy’s catchphrases alone becoming part of the language. “Don’t panic!” shouted in a state of enormous panic, sums up the national character more astutely in two words than others have achieved with a thousand.

0 notes