#the fucking 'they call her... the crossbow killer gag' is actually thematically relevant!! women telling their own stories!!

[james-stark-the-writer]

the difference between the fourth wall breaks of something like the Deadpool movies compared to something like Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law is that every joke in Deadpool feels masturbatory like the writers think they're so hilarious for doing a fourth wall break like that's never been done before whereas both of the other two not only feel right at home with the characters' personalities but are much more natural and much more well done compared to the jokes in Deadpool or its sequel. (do not get me started on Deadpool 2, the movie sucks ass in basically every way except for the characters of Domino and Yukio. every single joke in it was outdated before it was even written. they were making fucking dubstep jokes in 2018. it was a 2012-ass script made way too late and riding on the coattails of the first with even less effort into being actually good.)

but the difference between those properties is that Deadpool wants to be congratulated for being some insanely crazy shocking movie that's pissing off the studio system or whatever but every single joke in it was approved by those people because it makes them money like it's so antithetical to the entire point they're trying to make and it makes for a very infuriating watching experience sometimes. the cognitive dissonance is hard to swallow with that one. but the way BOPATFEOOHQ and She-Hulk do their bits feels so much more authentic and less self-congratulatory and also just like they're clearly done with so much more passion and effort and care? when I watch either of the Deadpool movies, I feel like I'm watching a bunch of executives jerking themselves off. when I watch the other two, I feel like I'm watching a passion project that the executives clearly didn't give a shit about and thus the creative team were actually allowed genuine creative freedom with not a lot of oversight. that's a little less true with She-Hulk (especially in terms of that glorious finale although even that feels more authentic and artist-driven than most things in either Deadpool movie. Kevin Feige's boring, sanitized ass does not have the range to do that finale) being a MCU property although Phase 4 was so fucking experimental and it was a joy to behold even if not everything hit but it's still true and more authentic for the most part. with Deadpool it feels like the only person who really really cared about it was Ryan and like maybe a few of the other actors who actually did do commendable work with what they were given but with the other two projects, it feels way more collaborative because every single person showed up and cared deeply about what they were making.

(this is an addition to the tags bc I ran out [apparently i forgot there was a 30 tag limit] but. anyway the point is. Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is a phenomenal movie in basically every single way and you should watch it.)

#James talks #sorry I just wanna scream about how much I love BOPATFEOOHQ again #the first CBM since 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 that felt more like the voice of artists than the voice of a studio. #I love Shazam but even that felt like it was a little studio driven instead of being a David F. Sandberg movie. #like BOPATFEOOHQ feels artist driven the same way The Batman does and the TASM movies do. #not to derail this tag rant but the TASM movies are Marc Webb movies through and through. #yes they have Sony's grubby hands on them with the product placement and shit but they are inseparable from Marc's vision #they are what Marc cares about more than what the studio cares about. the thematic interests are all Marc Webb. #anyway point is: more art like BOPATFEOOHQ bc it actually cares and less shit like Deadpool that is just pointing and laughing. #Deadpool feels like it's laughing at the concept of superhero media and it's a horrible boring deconstruction of it bc it doesn't get it. #it feels bad to the psyche the same way those meme disney show record scratches do— #like 'my life is kinda crazy' but it's 'ironic' now so it's 'funny'. #'see it's funny bc they're self-aware!' okay but what are they doing by being self aware??? #I'm not saying every piece of art has to be some profound exploration of whatever but Deadpool feels bad to watch in a way the others don't #BOPATFEOOHQ is actually fucking commenting on something using its gags! #the fucking 'they call her... the crossbow killer gag' is actually thematically relevant!! women telling their own stories!! #a subversive joke actually playing into the themes of the project!! imagine that! care ajf effort put into saying something!! #anyway Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is phenomenal. #genuinely one of the greatest CBMs out there. also just a phenomenal time. even tho Parasite is a better movie overall #— BOPATFEOOHQ was my favorite movie of 2020. #some of the best action around with a great script with amazing pacing and phenomenal acting and a great score and soundtrack!! #literally nothing more to ask for. #one of my usual criteria for evaluating how good a piece of art is how much I'd add to it to help it do what it was trying to do. #like not cutting anything from it unless absolutely absolutely necessary. just adding like maybe 10-15 minutes to the runtime and— #helping maybe a few weaker elements shine more. with BOPATFEOOHQ the only change I'd make is to have more of the characters. #let us see more of Cassandra and Black Canary. more of their inner lives and backstories. #Christina Hodson tells us their stories with great efficiency and it's done really well but visually I'd just like to do more with them. #give them each maybe a 2-3 minute scene with what their daily routine is like. #maybe explore Canary's history with her mother more. see how it ties into the GCPD more effectively. #maybe actually see Cassandra's parents and how she deals with them daily instead of hearing about it from her hiding outside