#There are 2 sets 5 actors and zero budget

[technofinch]

tonight i bring you another of god's perfect movies

[justfandomwritings]

An essay on why I won’t be watching next season.

1. Obviously actors have to promote their shows and hype them up. But the interactions between Nicola and Luke during the press tour were, in retrospect, clearly also acting performances, and it is rare to see acting within the press tour to the degree that those two put on while grossly exaggerating things like how sexy this season would be or how much Polin we would get. I don’t blame them. It’s clearly what they were told to do. And it’s fine to hype a show, but I think a lot of people felt genuinely lied to with the WAY this season was hyped.

2. The casting has been color conscious and inclusive in a way I greatly admire. But they have not been inclusive in other ways. And that’s not to say they should have to be. One show shouldn’t bear the responsibility of being inclusive to everyone and making up for an industries worth of exclusion. But we have exactly one size inclusive character in this whole show, and I’m not even demanding more, but to butcher the season of the only size inclusive person in this show this badly and in these ways sends me a clear message of what the writers thought they could get away with with a curvy actress and how they saw her.

3. The wait times for this season and next season are just too long. The hype dies down too much between seasons such that we care less and less each time we get a new one, especially when you only give eight episodes, regardless of their length. You know who also gave us a season in 2022 and then an eight episode season this year? house of the dragon. And they have to CGI a fuck ton of dragons. Yall were sitting on this season being done filming for over a year and for what? What did you do in post? A bee? And then to have the audacity to do it in two parts? Fuck off.

4. Add to that. The costumes and new sets looked so much cheaper this season than previous seasons. Where did the budget go.

5. The plot is too crowded. Maybe you thought a curvy girl couldn’t carry a season. Maybe it was bad writing. Obviously you needed Cressida and Eloise to have decent amounts of screen time but you also did half of Francesca’s story and set one up for Violet and Benedict that collectively took the majority of the screen time and left us with very little Pen and Colin. Which was a disservice you never gave Anthony or Daphne’s seasons and was why they were good. We got enough crumbs of the others to tell us what was happening but not enough to make them feel like main characters or to make it feel like an ensemble show. There were leads in season 1 and 2. This season it was an ensemble with too many moving parts. But everyone’s said that. It’s not surprising.

6. My biggest problem is the tone. The blame. Admittedly I’m a woman who relates strongly to Penelope so I’m not impartial here. But for a character who spends her entire life being abused by every single person in this show, who is pushed to her absolute breaking point before finally giving her mother and the tonne a taste of their own medicine. For that character to receive no grace, no understanding, no respect, for the vast majority of the season hurt. To not only have zero understanding of her situation but to frame the entire plot of the show around the fact that SHE alone should be sorry. To have minimal to no groveling from Colin over what he said last season, to have no acknowledgment of how he treated her as a safety net, to humanize Cressida who made her life hell with minimal acknowledgment of that fact, to have Eloise get ONE comment from Cressida of all people about her friendship with Penelope but no real reflection from Eloise or acknowledgment on her part or apologies for what a truly SHIT friend she was for DECADES. That hurt. Because the message is that sure, they can push you to your fucking limit, you can break after years of being bullied for your weight and your looks and your status. Your own mother and sisters hands can be filthy with insults and abuse. Your friends can treat you like utter garbage for years. They can befriend your bullies. Your soon to be husband can, very recently, insult you to his friends behind your back. But you owe them the apology for breaking after years of abuse. It’s not that the tonne couldn’t be angry or that they all should’ve fallen at Pen’s feet. It’s that those arguments never happen at all because once again, just like when she was being used and abused by everyone, everything was put on Penelope. And the cycle continues.

7. Colin should’ve groveled more. I know I said that in the previous point but it really ruined things for me so I want to emphasize it. I wanted that man on his knees the whole season, and I should’ve known I wasn’t gonna get that when y’all dropped the list of songs and there wasn’t any of the A List Yearners on the list. But I’m still mad.

8. Actually that’s a good point. Did anyone else think the songs didn’t go as hard this year? Except Pitbull were we excited about any of them?

9. You did the Pride and Prejudice ballroom trick with the dancing alone thing and you didn’t nail it. If you’re gonna do that trick it has to fucking HIT. (And it has to be enemies to lovers.) And you did it half assed. You should be ashamed.

10. There was a two second window there when Cressida asked the maid for help where I thought they were gonna swap lives and the maid would go with her aunt and Cressida would become a maid and I was like “holy fuck is Cressida gonna become Bennys love interest?” and that would’ve been better than what y’all did I think. And it would’ve justified her excessive screen time.

11. I love gender swapping Michaela and making Francesca bi. We love it. But why was Francesca immediately interested. Once again the writers don’t understand pining. Michaela is PINING for Francesca and can do nothing but love her from afar. Francesca loved John completely and whole heartedly. Michaela was a beautiful love story for her but was also a second chance. She loved John completely. She would never have an emotional affair on him. How did you immediately ruin such a beautiful second chance romance?

12. Where was Pen’s friendship with Anthony or Lady Danbury? Why wasn’t Colin proud of Pen the way he was in the book? To make her even more alone? To emphasize that she was alone and at fault and helpless? Fuck off.

I just don’t have it in me to watch this show deteriorate further.

[orionsangel86]

Listening to The Sandman Audible again and I can't help but think about a few interesting choices made including:

1. Hob and Dream have absolutely ZERO chemistry. Like there is nothing there at all. I physically can NOT ship Audible Hob and Dream the actor playing Hob is just far too Straight and kinda annoying #sorrynotsorry. I've listened to Hob's scenes with Dream in Audible a few times now for my Dreamling meta essay and its literally a zero on the chemistry front. There is nothing compelling there I'm afraid.

2. However Dream and Lucifer have amaaazing chemistry and its honestly difficult to listen too WITHOUT assuming they had a fling back in the old days. Its implied in the comics, but imo they went pretty heavy in this (clearly Michael Sheen knows all about getting fans to ship his characters lol).

3. Titania x Dream is confirmed in Audible. They talk about how they slept together in A Midsummer Nights Dream (I checked and this isn't in the comic and Titania refuses to talk about her relationship with Dream in The Wake so its only ever implied until the Audible show). This officially makes Titania the only confirmed ex lover Dream is actually still on good terms. Something worth exploring in our meta analysis perhaps?

4. What the hell happened in Babylon? Okay so do y'all remember Pharamond? The transportation guy who helps Dream and Delirium travel on Earth? Yeah I barely paid attention to him in the comic, but in the Audible show he's like a super simp for Dream. I dunno if its just me but the chemistry between them is heady... like with Lucifer I get a strong impression that something went down between them and I'm just gonna go ahead and consider "we drank wine together in Babylon" a euphemism from now on.

5. Furry Porn...? I am absolutely dyyying to know how Netflix plans to portray Lady Bast, and Dream when Lady Bast sees him, because they dont have a lot of options tbh. Either they pull a Doctor Who cat people thing (which is always gonna look clunky and low budget) or they do some form of uncanny valley style CGI (prob the most likely option) or they just go full furry outfits (the funniest option imo however unlikely). Either way though, the Audible show turns up the heat. I love the voice actress for Bast, she totally leans in to the sexy kitten persona - like Cat Woman but extra furry and in heat. I wanna see the cat lady totally come on to Tom's Dream and see his reaction to her propositioning him whilst he has a cat face. Do NOT chicken out Netflix. You better lean into the extra weird even if it does end up looking like furry porn. I wanna see it, and I'm not even a furry! 😅

6. The Goddess of Love in the strip club - honestly HOW are they gonna adapt this? Its difficult enough having to listen to Neil Gaiman's voice explaining in graphic detail how the men watched her dance whilst ejaculating over and over again until they were "cumming blood".

Also "you really don't like women do you?" One issue before "he's gotta stop hanging out with poets and stick with me, I'll set him straight."

Dream really isn't beating the gay allegations anytime soon lmao.

[zeemczed]

So I Finally Watched Goncharov (1973) - WHAT NOW?

First off, congratulations on breaking out the Laserdisc player. Or low-quality MP4 rip or whatever. I hope you enjoyed what is arguably one of the best (and low-key queerest) mafia thrillers of all time.

BUT RIGHT, what do you watch now that you’ve whetted your whistle for weird semi-gay mob violence? Well, here’s a list of eight recommendations (why 8? I couldn’t think of ten that were quite good enough, that’s why) to get you going.

8. AKAGI, 2015.

Underground gambling, incredible intensity, betting your own blood on mahjong... this one’s heavy on the gambling terminology, and can be a little hard to follow if you don’t know about the game, but it’s worth it.

7. UN ASONTO DE PLATA Y PLOMO, 1988

“An Affair of Silver and Lead” is one of the best proto-narcocorridas out there. A borderline rock opera (with a gloriously copyright-infringing soundtrack), Un Asonto took a look at Scarface and said “yeah, but what if we play how awesome being a gangster is straight?” Compared to Goncharov it’s devoid of nuance, but the cinematography and violence is beautiful, and the characters are brilliant. If you aren’t cheering after watching Fuego Caliente gets his ass handed to him by Diego De La Montoya, check your pulse.

6. WELCOME TO WABASH, 1992

Despite the small town Indiana setting, this gets very dark, very intense, and very weird very quickly. Interesting for many reasons, not the least of which is because it blew a hole in the “war on drugs” rhetoric of the era (one of many reasons it didn’t get a wide release). Wet Charlie’s story is a hell of a tearjerker, and the background “we can’t call it a romance but it’s totally a romance” between Jen and Big Linda is a remarkably heartwarming thread in a movie that ends with 80% of the cast dead.

(Jen and Big Linda survive. That’s not a spoiler, you find that out in the first scene, thank you nonlinear storytelling.)

5. BURIED IN MUD, BURIED IN BLOOD, 1960

If Goncharov had more beatniks... it wouldn’t be this, but it’d be kinda close. A knee-jerk gritty backhand-response to the stylish heist movies of the era, BIMBIB is a tale of desperate thieves trying to unload a stolen Renaissance painting before they get fingered - or worse, before the bill for everything they used to steal the painting comes due. Spoiler: SHIT GOES BAD QUICKLY. Might have been partial inspiration for Guy Ritchie’s later work. Fair warning: If you’re allergic to bongos, watch it with the subtitles on and sound off. And no, the title makes no sense, but the studio insisted on using it.

4. SHOOT THE SHAGGY DOG, 2002

A bargain-bin treasure, STSD was a direct to video release that should have at least gotten an arthouse release. Half the actors are wooden and overly stoic, the sets are obviously sub-zero-budget, the cinematography is a joke, but the plot will keep you on the edge of your seat, and the few good actors - notably Chaim Wallace’s turn as Frankie - have enough gravitas to pull the rest along. “Gang wars are always brutal, kid. When the other gang’s the police, that doesn’t change anything.” Goosebumps, every time.

3. THE GODFATHER, PART 2, 1974

I mean, if you’re gonna watch Goncharov, you might as well, right?

2. ÖFEKLI KAPLAN VE SONSUZ GüN, 1989

It’s TURKISH GONCHAROV! I’m not actually kidding. “The Furious Tiger and the Endless Day” started out as a remake of Goncharov, before the director took it hard in another direction. Hence why the Goncharov expy, Avci, dies halfway through the movie, and the equivalent of our favorite ice-pick wielding “little guy”, Demirci, is the one to tie up the loose ends with his own flavor of brutality. If you’re of a certain age, you might have seen part of it already - it got shared on Kazaa and Limewire a lot, usually with filenames that suggested it was porn. Not GOOD, but surreal as hell, especially if you’ve just watched the actual Goncharov.

1. FACE EATERS FROM DIMENSION X, 1990

Don’t let the B-movie title dissuade you. Once you get past the Troma-typical gorn and sex, you’re left with a remarkably tight crime story about warring families, the inevitable breakdown of diplomacy, and a stinging rebuke of the concept of the Nash Equilibrium. Also the titular Face Eaters are freaky as hell and I want one as a plush toy.

[forthegothicheroine]

Top five dumbass characters (affectionate)

Aww, I love this question!

1. The Pirate King from Pirates of Penzance. Really, I could nominate anyone in the operetta (Frederick is dumber in some ways, and Mabel's whole appeal is singing sweetly while saying incredibly dippy things) but I have to respect for someone whose whole (great) sex appeal comes from being an idiot. He's a parody of villains with honor, in that his honor prevents him from successfully being a pirate and his piracy prevents him from successfully being honorable. Kevin Kline as the Pirate King was my first ever movie crush.

2. Murasaki from The Hero Yoshihiko. This zero-budget Japanese tv show is kind of in the same vein as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where a heroic youth sets out to defeat a demon king with his ragtag adventuring party, several of whom are openly trying to kill him. Murasaki is one of those people, setting out to avenge her father's death based on a picture of the killer, which is scrawled in childish stick figure and could be literally anyone. She's not the dumbest member of the party, but the fact that they can't even trust her with a real weapon yet still keep her in the adventuring party warms my heart.

3. Nadja from What We Do in the Shadows. Again, she's in a cast full of dumbasses and hardly the dumbest one there, but the concept of Gomez and Morticia But They Suck was wonderful and Nadja is the far more endearing partner. Her handling of the Bram Stoker's Dracula plotline with her reincarnated lost love, such that she ends up ruining his life, was an absolutely wonderful deconstruction, beautiful in her failure. I want to dress like her and blame witches for literally everything that happens in my life and turn bullied nerd girls into vampires on a whim and misunderstand the concept of a superbowl party.

4. Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World. I'm a simple woman who laughs at simple jokes. These dumb metalheads have a public access tv show that's basically a forerunner of Jenny Nicholson-style youtubers, where they ramble about whatever is in their head at the moment and showcase random dumb stuff, and the main draw is just their goofy personalities. Wayne/Cassandra is one of the only times I've really bought the 'schlubby guy and super hot girl' pairing because Wayne seems like he'd be a genuinely fun guy to be with (maybe this comes from having a female director.) The gang of friends are all well meaning and sometimes intentionally funny, but very easy to trick and very immature in their humor. Plus Wayne and Garth have meta-narrative powers which they only ever use at the very end of their movies at the last second.

5. Nick Bottom from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I think that many actors identify with this guy, and I certainly do. Who doesn't know the desire to perform literally every part in a play with performances melodramatic to the point of hilarity? Once again, Kevin Kline imbues this dumbass with sex appeal and heart. His speech about the fairy dream is poignant exactly because he's expressing such beautiful visions but is just not as eloquent as he thinks he is. Once again, I can relate.

[kpopmakesmequestionmylifechoices]

Kingdom Round 3: "Plagiarism", rigged voting and fanwars.

[Disclaimer: It is possible that for fans of certain groups I'll come off as offensive. I like each of the groups, I possess albums of TBZ, SF9 & SKZ, and I watched HOURS of content/debut programs of ALL the participating groups. Nevertheless, I will ALWAYS say my honest opinion. If you want to fight me, you're ofc allowed to do so but I hope you're all mature enough to not feel offended by opinions.]

Act 1: Tbz, where do your ideas come from?

So what I've noticed is that there's a massive difference between tbz behind the scenes and other groups'. Not only in this episode. So far, tbz simply DID NOT show how they create ideas, stages, how they practice. They picked a song, fooled around, and then met up with RTK members. It was cute sure, but it had NOTHING to do with the stage. The other groups showed practice scenes, showed their ideation process, showed who taught them and how. The boyz didn't. No practice, no ideation. Only song choice. We didn't see them practicing the choreo, we didn't see how they even got the idea for this stage. Their behind the scenes footage sadly has NOTHING to do with their performance. I really wish we could see them practicing and coming up with ideas.

Another big problem I see with this, is that they literally don't explain where their ideas come from. Now for people who know Game of Thrones (GoT hereafter), it probably appears rather obvious that the previous and also this stage was inspired by GoT, right? The white walkers? Ice and fire? The throne? The freaking red wedding??? I can't be the only one who sees a connection between their stages and GoT. ATEEZ said they were inspired by Pirates of the Carribbean. SF9 said they were inspired by film noir and showed how they worked with an actor on their storyline. iKON explained how they associate inception with dreams and put together their ideas. But TBZ didn't freaking talk about any of this. Either it was never recorded, or it never was aired. In any way, it's extremely suspicious in my eyes. Moreover it's just pretty shit to not say where your idea comes from. Especially not when you even name your stage after the iconic red wedding... Now IF they were NOT inspired by GoT, then it would be some... extremely huge coincidences... especially the stage title is just a bit too much tbh. But more to that stage later.

Edit: It came to my knowledge that according to deobis, Cre.Ker will post the content after Kingdom on tbz social media. Whoever took that decision needs to be fired tbh. If the content will be released, I'll link to it and add some few words to it.

Act 2: The good, the bad, and ... All hail king Juyeon?

Let's talk about the performances now.

SF9: What I dislike is the fact that as I stated in my previous Kingdom post, they are forced to do such dramatic musical/movie stages to even be recognized as part of the show. Moreover, I found it weird and unfitting that they held guns during the group dance parts, to me it seemed a bit off. Also, at times, their energy level seemed a bit low.

What I liked is that even tho it was a MASSIVE set, the performance still was extremely easy to understand and follow. They all looked insanely good tho, SF9 simply is mature and manly. I liked the concept, it was fresh because it for once had no fantasy vibe but actual criminal mafia energy. My favourite parts were Jaeyoon's fighting scenes because they were very well choreographed. Altogether, I really enjoyed it and also found it interesting how they referred to the Boyz crown scenes on RTK.

The Boyz: In my eyes, this is already the second GoT inspired concept they did. Not a fan of this. Moreover, I'm a bit pissed that it looks as if they are selling all that as their own ideas. As I said before, I believe this is GoT inspired, the name at least definitely was - but it's never said that the inspiration comes from there, because we literally have no information about where their ideas come from and if it's even their own ideas. To me it has the bitter aftertaste of wanting to hide sth the viewers aren't supposed to see. But this is not tbz fault but the fault of whoever writes/directs/edits their footage.

With the title of the stage given, I actually thought I'd see a wedding. But what I've seen was a woman in a bird cage. And then many more women. I failed to see what this all had to do with a wedding, and I moreover failed to see the connection to "THE" red wedding. And I failed to understand the plot once again, and because they didn't explain it beforehand, I'll never understand it.

What I liked is that the performance was way less dramatic than it was ever before. It didn't seem like a stunt show anymore, it didn't seem overdramatic anymore. It was easier to focus on the performance. Sadly, I noticed that this "downgraded" (aka slow-paced and less dramatic) stage was unfortunately underwhelming in comparison with what they did before - which was sth I predicted from beginning on. At some point you can't go bigger anymore, and if you tone it down it'll automatically seem underwhelming.

Edit: It's sad that they have this pressure to outperform themselves because they've won RTK. But honestly, it was clear that the winner would have this pressure on them. I don't see why I would pity them for this, after all, each of the groups feel pressured anyways and I rather feel sorry for ALL groups together because this whole ranking/competition thing is just unnecessarily stressful. But once again, I don't understand why you all blame MNET for this. Don't forget that the companies have contracts with MNET and knew that shit would go down. If you blame any bigger instances, then please also the companies who put their idols on the show. It's not like they got forced to make their groups participate.

My biggest criticism this time however is the fact that they give the most screentime to Juyeon (and Sunwoo because of the rap parts), and the rest of the members barely appear, or basically aren't shown at all. I already felt before that there was a strong focus on Juyeon, but now it's srly showing very clearly. I really like Juyeon, but I don't find it fair. I think that doesn't do justice to the other members, which deserve screentime as well. In conclusion, tbz on kingdom is an extreme mess in my eyes, with lots of communication- and management flaws.

iKON: I belong to the group of people who heavily prefers THANXX over inception, so I was a bit sceptical about the song choice. They really made a YG version out of this tho, I was pretty impressed. The stage concept was pretty nice, iKON surely knows how to use light. Now the stage seemed very inspired by Inception (the movie) which makes a lot of sense - but wasn't communicated either. Just mentioning this because I critisized tbz earlier, so I think the same applies here to some degree. I didn't recognize the song anymore tho but I found it pretty refreshing. In my eyes they did the best so far in making another group's song their own. This could have been an iKON song for sure. As always, a fun stage.

My personal ranking will follow after the other stages.

Act 3: About cheating and faking.

The Voting looks as follows:

Views: 1. SKZ 2. iKON 3. ATEEZ 4. BTOB 5. TBZ 6. SF9

Online Voting: 1. SKZ 2. SF9 3. iKON 4. BTOB 5. ATEEZ 6. TBZ

Btw if anyone knows the overall voting, please comment or send a message, because I somehow missed it?

I said it before, and I say it again, this entire voting is rigged and I totally don't care about it anymore at this point because it's absolutely not trustable. Experts didn't know about the budget differences, who even are the experts, why did SF9 get zero on-site votes, and then ofc the fans who created 50 accounts to vote...this voting is a joke. What I can totally not understand is how ATEEZ and TBZ can rank last for online voting. Sth seems off here to me, especially the fact that SF9 ranks last in views but ranks 2nd in votes? I'm sorry to say this but I think that's the result of the ZZZ fanwar. My assumption is that there must be a big mass of people who purposely voted NOT for TBZ & ATEEZ, and my guess is - no offence - that those were stays. In accordance with the fanwar, they didn't give their 2 other votes to the other ZZZ groups but to whatever other group. Or in general the ZZZ fandoms purposely not voting for each other. That would explain extremely well why SF9 could suddenly rank 2nd. I'm tired of this voting, of fanwars and all this drama and I decided to not care about the official voting anymore.

If you got to this point, I wanna let you know that I feel very blessed that you made it through this long post hahaha. Thanks! And for the next week, I expect BIG THINGS. I'm the most excited for BTOB. Them covering back door is the most absurd thing I've imagined for a long time hahahaha. But Eunkwang with tattoos really is a good sight, isn't it ;)?

[sirload139]

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[tsuki-sennin]

Mina-san, bonne lecture~! (Tsuki recaps his feelings about Kamen Rider Saber, a personal essay.)

So, Saber... what a wild ride it's been, huh? Just a quick heads up, this is very long and rambling, and also contains spoilers for everything in Saber. It's fine if you don't wanna read all this, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

TL:DR, Kamen Rider Saber's an undercooked hot mess I absolutely adore, warts and all.

Speaking as objectively as possible, it's a 6/10. Probably closer to a 5 than a 7... it's not great: All the different plot elements are cluttered and weirdly paced; character focus is disjointed and clearly biased toward certain characters, leaving great ones like Kento and Ogami, interesting ones like Kamijo and Hayato, and underdeveloped ones like Sophia and especially the Shindais in the dust; not to mention its balance of comedy and drama is off, and while both are very effective, there's a lot of mood whiplash that can take you out of the story. I also feel like a lot of the easily avoidable character conflict could've been easily resolved, even in universe, by simple conversations. Be careful Fukuda, I think Inoue might sue you if he finds out you've been biting his style and doing it worse.

Rider shows have a very frustrating tendency to drop cool form ideas and not do anything with them, and I don't think it's ever been more the case than with Saber. There's a similar argument to be made with the majority of Heisei Phase 2 after Gaim, but wow. The suits are expensive to make without just straight up recycling everything, I get that, but man, I really wanted to see more Wonder Rider forms. How come Touma got all the fun, eh? Of note are the Blades King of Arthur forms (which look amazing by the way), Espada's Jaaku Dragon forms (one of which I even drew last night), even the non-elemental random Wonder Ride Books all have awesome design elements that go tragically unused. Even if the other Swordsmen just kinda have the ones they do get to use slapped onto them, that's at least something. Touma also just straight up only uses Diago Speedy twice and never again. You have cool props guys, don't waste them like that!

Speaking of waste, Espada, goddamn. Since most of the Wonder Ride Books are Story Type and he needs one very specific Story Book to transform, he doesn't get much of... anything, really! No Wonder Rider forms like Blades, Lamp Do Cerberus being exclusive to Ganbarizing, only getting to use the Ride Gatriker like once, he even spends the second and third arcs as a completely different Rider, then once he comes back he doesn't get a King of Arthur-granted upgrade or even a Necrom Espada form. ...at least, not yet anyway. I'm holding out hope for Espada x Necrom and the eventual Saber V-Cinemas. Extra Rider stans, we will be well respected someday.

The Unreal Engine CGI used for fights in early Chapters was pretty good but wow it feels disconnected and they really drop it quick. I feel like if the animators had more freedom to use as many forms as they want, we'd have gotten a lot more mileage out of the books beyond... decoration basically. I actually really liked the CGI sequences, they felt creative and were fun to follow along with.

The soundtrack is pretty great on its own and conveys what it needs to, but they seriously overplay the orchestral themes. It honestly feels kind of... stock at times. I think my favorite parts of the score are when it winds down, since it feels a lot more natural and lets the cinematographers and actors speak for themselves.

As awesome as I think Falchion's design and the Mumeiken Kyomu are, The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin comes up short as its own standalone thing. You'd think 30 or so minutes of non-stop action would be awesome, and it almost is? It's as good as a typical episode of the series with a higher action budget, but it kinda drags on a bit too long; and although I think Emotional Dragon looks cool, it feels a bit tacked on. Coming off of the incredible Zero-One REAL×TIME, it doesn't give you much room to breathe, which Rider films are typically great at handling. I also thought the resolution for the kid's subplot was kinda forced. He does an okay job at acting considering his age and doesn't overstay his welcome, but I really don't see how 20 minutes of violence and action is enough to convince him to be brave enough to go play with the other kids. 5/10, it's closer to a 4 than a 6 and I think that maybe Zero-One should've stood on its own if they really had to push back Kiramager Bee-Bop Dream because of the pandemic.

Alright, with all that said... As imperfect and undercooked Saber was, like Ghost I can consider it a personal favorite, 10/10. Call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but holy hell it's just the show I needed. Takuro Fukuda has a talent for creating fun, wonderful characters and utterly fascinating worldbuilding and concepts. It's a shame he doesn't utilize them fully, but hey!

The action and fight choreography are pretty top notch as usual. Lots of beautiful shot composition and set pieces, and plenty of great angles to help keep up with the extra busy action. I love watching the suit actors perform and they deserve all the respect in the world for their hard work in those hot, sweaty, and heavy costumes. Their visual design is also top notch, with lots of unique and fascinating forms and cool weapons I desperately want to play with despite being broke, all with spectacular finishers and hype jingles with the voice of Akio motherfucking Ohtsuka calling them out. A real feast for the eyes. Not a single bad suit among them, yeah I said it, fight me.

The crossover specials are soooo good too.

-I went over my feelings on the Zenkaiger crossover episodes in a separate post (good luck finding that btw), but to sum it up, they were great character moments for Zox and the Shindai siblings with lots of great screwball comedy and some good old fashioned meta humor.

-The Ghost crossovers are great little side stories all about how Daitenku Temple somehow had the Ghost Ijunroku Wonder Ride Book? I genuinely have no idea why it was there, or how Makoto had the Specter Gekikou Senki, and as far as I remember neither of their origins are explained. Did Luna or Tassel hand them off to them and told them to wait for a sword guy? And why do these generic French Revolution Gamma villains working for Danton get their asses handed to them so easily by Kanon, who literally just became a Rider? I thought that Makoto deciding to adopt all the Kanon clones into his family was both hilarious and adorable though; considering all the crap they went through, I think it was a good ending to this plot. Gimme Espada x Necrom already Toei/Bandai/Fukuda/whoever I need to yell at, give Kento things to do, I beg you.

-I haven't actually seen Super Hero Senki since it's not available for subbing yet, but apparently there's a Journey to the West plot starring the Taros and Ohma Zi-O and I want to see that so badly.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra? Yoohei Kawakami? A match made in heaven, that's what they are. All of their themes are absolute bangers. All of them. Almighty, Kamen Rider Saber, Sparks, Taju Rokou, all excellent and empowering pieces. Rewrite the Story, Will Save Us, and The Story Never Ends are all amazing inserts done by the cast, and it makes me wish we had even more of them to help break up the monotony of the score.

The characters are what easily make this show such a great watch though. For the most part, they have great personalities and chemistry, consistently fun and interesting scenes, well acted and... sometimes well-written development, and deeply investing personal stakes.

Narrating it all is the delightfully eccentric Tassel/Viktor, portrayed by Romanesque Ishitobi "TOBI" of the Paris-based Les Romanesques. I was utterly confused by his presence at first, wondering why there needed to be a narrator when the story would've been perfectly fine without it. He even got a special spot in the opening despite having no stake in the plot despite seeming to live in Wonderworld, who the hell is this guy? But then I thought "OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD". I thought it'd be some subversion of expectations, true form, "That Was His Mistake!" shit. Trust me, it made a lot more sense in my head. I'm very happy that they didn't do that, as I grew to love having male Yuuka Kazami as my narrator, and when he was shown to be actually important by being friends with Yuri my mind was blown. And doubly so when I realized just how deeply necessary to the plot he really is.

Rintaro/Blades is up there as one of my all time favorite secondary Riders, since his curiosity is always consistently funny and adorable, his forms are all gorgeous and impressively designed, his relationships with Mei and Touma are absolutely sweet and compelling to see unfold, and his arcs about becoming willing to call out those he views as family and coming to terms with his feelings of inadequacy and both moving past and using them to strengthen himself are always great lessons to pass on to kids. ...even if they took like 10 goddamn episodes to be conveyed in what could've been 5, but hey, Takaya Yamaguchi does a stand-up job all throughout. Rider veteran Eitoku's refined, almost logical movements with the Suiseiken Nagare absolutely beautiful to see in action, and his final form having the same white and blue color scheme as Zooous's base form is an amazing touch I don't see appreciated enough.

Mei Sudo's also absolutely wonderful, serving as the perfect emotional core of the story, responsible for most of the funniest lines, sweetest character moments, and some of the most deceptively compelling drama. Asuka Kawazu brings the perfect energy for such a dynamic and well rounded character, and absolutely nails her scenes of quiet turmoil. As much as I would've loved her to become a Rider, I don't think she really needed to. She's already done so much to help, and as cool as it would've been to see her pick up a sword and fight alongside them as Espada, Calibur, or Falchion she's already endeared herself to me as one of my favorite supporting characters in the whole franchise.

I can't get enough of my homeboy Kento Fukamiya/Espada. Like Rintaro and everyone else for that matter, he also suffers from Saber's pacing issues; and like his predecessor Valkyrie from Zero-One, he doesn't get a proper upgrade aside from his Wonder Combo, instead becoming an anti-villain using a completely different powerset and shifting the Raimeiken Ikazuchi out of focus for the Ankokuken Kurayami, and I feel there's a serious missed opportunity to see him use Jaaku Dragon with Alangina. However, Ryo Aoki's performance is probably among the most easily praiseworthy in the whole cast, managing to convey both Kento's kind and knightly stoicism as Espada and his emotionally unstable despair as Calibur perfectly, in conjunction with Yuji Nakata's experienced and expressive stuntwork.

Ren Akamichi/Kenzan's a dark horse favorite for sure. I remember back when Saber was first picking up, people hated this breezy mad lad for being such a simple character at first. Overly concerned with strength? Black and white world view? Annoyingly energetic? Agh, real-feeling character flaws, I hate them, get him away from me! But then y'all came crawling back. Eiji Togashi's apparently a bit of a rookie actor, and it really shows with some stilted delivery and the way he sometimes bobs his head when giving his lines, but man he improves dramatically as the series goes on. His inexperience ironically ends up really selling his character development, and his unexpectedly beautiful relationship with Desast is special evidence of that. The Fuusouken Hayate's three modes and Satoshi Fujita putting them to excellent use through his stellar acrobatic movements are also really cool.

Why did Luna have to be a child for so long? Does Wonderworld not age whoever inherits its power? Well since Luna randomly becomes an adult in Super Hero Senki and some of the final episodes, I guess so? Miku Okamoto does a fine job for a kid actor, but she's basically done all the heavy lifting for the whole series and doesn't give Mayuu Yokota enough time to get a feel for her character as an adult. How did she choose Touma to inherit the power anyway? Does she just subconsciously decide to trust him with it upon seeing how kind and passionate about storytelling he is? Well if that's the case, why didn't Kento get at least some of that power too? He's just as important to the merchan- I mean Luna-chan, isn't he? Why did Tassel pick her over someone who isn't a literal child who'd be understandably terrified about basically becoming an embodiment of storytelling?

Sophia also kinda suffers from the same problems. Rina Chinen's voice is very pleasant to listen to, but she doesn't really do much beyond serving as a source of exposition and support. I think her dynamic with Mei's adorable, and given her kindness I can certainly understand the respect Northern Base has for her, but she doesn't really contribute a whole lot. If she could use the Kurayami and become Calibur all this time, then why didn't she take it from Kento and Yuri and do so earlier when Kento decided to go back to being Espada? I know she's not much of a fighter and as the closet thing the Sword of Logos has to a leader after Isaac's death I'd understand not wanting to put her at risk, but considering Storious is destroying the world, and she's very evidently kicking a lot of ass in the first part of the final battle even in the basic Jaaku Dragon form, I think it would've helped a lot, just sayin'. Tassel at least has the excuse of being unable to interact with the real world, but Sophia obviously didn't just be put in charge of Northern Base just because she's a pawn in Isaac's plans right?

Ryou Ogami/Buster is also a victim of the disjointed character focus. I have no problem believing he's an excellent father and fighter thanks to Yuki Ikushima and Jiro Okamoto, respectively, but he feels a bit flat and simple in comparison. His rivalry with Desast is randomly dropped, his wife doesn't even show up until the final episodes, he's kinda sidelined in terms of action a whole lot. I imagine that must've sucked for the Rider Dads out there. He does get to star in his own manga, and that was pretty good, so I guess I can't be too mad.

Tetsuo Daishinji/Slash fares better though. Hiroaki Oka, being a Kamen Rider fanboy himself, manages to make him among the most relatable characters in the series. Not only are his hyperfixation on swordsmithing and anxiety played surprisingly believably, Hirotsugu Mori letting him cut loose is extremely cathartic and hilarious, and you really feel for him when the Onjuuken Suzune becomes the first victim of Calibur!Kento's sword sealing.

Yuri/Saikou's another dark horse favorite, for me at least. "Oh great, Avalon guy's got even more merchandise to sell, I wonder what his Sword of Light is- it's himself. Well... that's different." I admit, I didn't like him at first. He felt like he was there to fill out character dynamics in the absence of both Rintaro and Kento, I thought his gimmick was too silly even if his design and jingles were bangers, I didn't particularly care for his power set. But then XSwordman came around I totally got it. He's an endearing, hard-working man trying his best to catch up on all the cool shit he missed, unafraid of experimentation, ready to throw down at a moment's notice, serving as a wonderful bit of consistent support for our heroes, a truly knightly individual, an absolute Chad. and goddamn does he make me worry. Tomohiro Ichikawa, I salute you good sir.

Even if they fall short compared to the rest of the cast, the Shindai siblings are at least cool enough to not wanna write out entirely. They kinda devolve into comic relief after they become allies, something that villainous Riders from Chase onwards are very prone to doing, and it's especially awkward in their case because I think that they kinda get off scot-free for obeying the obviously sinister and crazy Isaac for so long, as well as driving a wedge between a lot of people and threatening children in Reika's case. I think their sibling dynamic is nice though, even if Fukuda recycled it from Makoto and Kanon and has some... questionable possessive undertones as a result. It's cool how they're basically foils to Touma and Rintaro though. The dispassionate and methodical Reika/Sabela is beautifully played by Angela Mei and her moments of emotional depth are fascinating to watch. Her Rider form is a thing of beauty, and its use of literal the Eneiken Noroshi's smokescreens and Yuki Miyazawa's precise and deadly stinging strikes are a joy to watch. And while Ken Shonozaki's not given the best direction as the undercooked plate of 7-Eleven fried fish that is Ryoga/Durendal, he manages to sell him as an experienced and hardened warrior with an awkward side that's especially evident in the Zenkaiger specials. His goddamn RWBY weapon that is the Jikokuken Kaiji is absolutely sick, I'm a sucker for transforming weapons and its combination of time and water powers is really cool, especially with Yasuhiko Amai's deliberate and forceful acting in the suit.

Daichi Kamijo/the Second Calibur, for as brief as his story was, was a pretty cool starter villain. Hiroyuki Hirayama brings this poor bastard to life in a genuinely touching way. I love how as Calibur he goes full force on his creative use of Wonder Ride Books for attacks, and his debut as Jaou Dragon got my blood pumping. His end is also deeply tragic, and I really felt for him when he realized just how badly he fucked up. Hayato Fukamiya also does wonders for the backstory, and while he also doesn't get much to work with, Mitsuru Karahashi makes his regrets and love for Kento feel genuine.

Legeiel and Zooous are both very intimidating and entertaining villains. On top of being just the right balance of goofy and threatening, Kairu Takano and Koji Saikawa's stage presences are both very strong, and their mixture of camaraderie and in-fighting is extremely believable. Zooous's rivalry with Rintaro feels incredible to see through to the end, and although Legeiel doesn't get quite the same treatment, Elemental Dragon had such a cool debut that it more than makes up for it. Their final fights are also absolute spectacles. I don't think their sympathetic angle works even close to as well as it does with MetsubouJinrai or even the Gamma, but I get it, power corrupts, and you probably feel a lot of sadness and regret for things you've done when you die unless you're a right bastard.

Isaac/Master Logos/Solomon is kinda generic. As wonderful as Keisuke Soma is, he doesn't get much dimension to work with. The result of that is while he nails being as smug and punchable as possible, he feels almost... comically generic. Genta Umemori from Shinkenger was full of personality! He was also basically some guy, but he was fun, he felt connected to the rest of the cast! Meanwhile the only real time we get to see Isaac's depth is when we see him crying over his failures. I almost appreciate him being unapologetically evil though, since I've seen way too many shows where redeemed villains get off scot free for way worse things, and some where they outright demand you to sympathize with them despite them doing nothing to warrant it.

Bahato/Falchion surprises me by not just being a movie villain whose actions affect the main plot, but also being a movie villain who actually gets to appear in series as a recurring threat! ...and it's not a particularly great showing on his part, sadly. Masashi Taniguchi does a wonderful job with what he's given, but his character feels like a retread of Eternal without any of what made Katsumi Daido a compelling and frightening villain. I'd like to believe Yuri when he says that he used to be a good person and a hero to the people, but I can only hear so many anime villain monologues about the pointlessness of life and the beauty of destruction before I can never take them seriously again. ...I think that's his biggest problem, actually. I thought he was an overall uninteresting and generic villain in the movie, and the cartoon nihilist he's shown to be in series is only a small step up. He still feels like filler. If only there were a far better written and much cooler villain who takes on the Mumeiken Kyomu after his de--

Desast is probably one of the finest anti-villains I've ever seen in recent years. On top of an absolutely badass character design and the excellent combination of Kazuya Okada/Danki Sakae's suit work and Koki Uchiyama's stellar voice acting, his story being so thoroughly intertwined with Ren's makes their shared journey and bromance a borderline Shakespearean tragedy. His struggle for identity despite Storious treating him as nothing more than a failed experiment and the Sword of Logos treating him as a mere monster really gripped me, and the way he uses what little time he has left to encourage Ren into blossoming on his own is absolutely beautiful. I think his enmity with Ogami is criminally underexplored in series, considering he killed several of the previous Riders and how Ogami's in desperate need of screentime.

Then there's our main villain, Kamen Rider Storious. Robin Furuya brings an incredible amount of charisma to this character, expertly portrayed as both a sinister, manipulative bastard , and as a lonely, tragic figure that arguably makes him feel even more villainous. Speaking as a struggling writer myself, it's easy to feel stuck in the idea of "fuck it, who cares, maybe everything is predestined", but I can't imagine what it's like to know that as the truth and carry it with you for all that time. All of your grand ideas have roots from your experiences, and you're not the only one who even could have those experiences. It's easy to just fall into despair and give up trying, but would that make you happy? Sure, Storious is sadistic, he may be fulfilling his goals, he may be ungodly powerful... but it's not enough for him, is it? All of his friends are gone, one of them even at his own hand, he probably doesn't have any idea what to do after he destroys all the world's stories, Touma even reached his full power before he did, and his downfall is so predictable that even a blind person could see it. He even seems to welcome it, what's up with that? But then I realized... OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD. He's so far gone, he's so desperate to stick it to the Almighty Book, he's willing to twist the archetype of the Hero's Journey so hard, it snaps in two. What I think is interesting is that he's ironically trying to chase the trend of "edgy superhero story" that became super popular in the 21st century. The Boys, Brightburn, Kamen Rider Amazons, The Sentry, No More Heroes, Magical Girl Site, even mainstream comics from DC and Marvel... Surely Storious must've seen the cruelty and tragedy these stories are filled with, but he chooses to go through with trying to force the world into this direction anyway. Did they, along with seeing the ever-popular tragedies of legendary playwrights and bleak satire of the twentieth century fuel his despair?

And yet... there's one who stands in determination against his ideals.

Our hero, Touma Kamiyama, the titular Kamen Rider portrayed by Syuichiro Naito and Kousuke Asai, he speaks to me on a personal level. There're plenty of jokes to be made about his procrastination in early chapters, his godless fashion sense, and him doing the funny run up the slope, that's all fine and dandy, but I rarely feel so connected to a character the way I did Touma. The struggle to create, find companionship, live your life, reach out to others... these're things a lot of people struggle with, and of course you see them depicted a lot in media about creators, but Saber gets to the root of what the greatest thing about storytelling really is. Giving people hope, while using the pain of the past as fuel for the future. Sure, Storious may be right about how every story has been done as far back as human civilization gets, he may even be right about how any spin or creativity humanity has is outright predestined. It should be pointless to even try, right? That's where Touma Kamiyama disagrees. He didn't spend all that time fighting and creating just to give up at the idea of predestination. His novel writing-fueled creativity in his early training, his devotion to his friends that let him surpass Kamijo as Dragonic Knight, his compassion for the Primitive Dragon that let him combine their powers to destroy Legeiel as Elemental Dragon, his resolve that let Xross Saber dethrone Solomon, and his passion for the craft of storytelling that let our heroes channel their wishes into Wonder Almighty... all stemming from the belief imparted onto him by his predecessor that "Hope lies beyond your resolution." And that you decide how your story ends. He may not be the greatest Rider to some, he may be as lame as others think he is, he may not even be my favorite, but I have no issue calling Touma Kamiyama... Kamen Rider Saber, one of the all time greatest carriers of the Kamen Rider name.

The final chapter's definitely not as great as some other Rider finales, but goddamn. Primitive Dragon consciously choosing to save Touma is so sweet and such a great emotional payoff, I loved jamming out to the opening theme while our boys lay the smackdown on Storious. Wonder Almighty's a fitting final bit to close the main series out with, if not exactly a great one. I think the cover is great, and the book's body is a lovely shade of candy apple red, but I really don't like how its pages are just the covers of the other books copy-pasted onto onto the pages, that feels lazy. Maybe if it were a panorama of all the books' characters, I'd like it a lot more as a symbol of how unified the Swordsmen are, but eh, what can you do? On a related note, does this mean all the "last episode extra final forms" of the Reiwa Era are gonna be named after their series's opening? That's a neat idea.

I felt a lot of feelings seeing all those video messages of Rider fans all across Japan talking about their favorite stories, and how their passion and fond memories help reshape the world. Mei's monologue at the ceremony about is also really touching and- IS THAT A HUMAGEAR!? :O

Y-yeah dude, it is! Wow, where have you guys been for the past 48 episodes?! Are you guys doing okay? How come you're like... the only one here? Is the technology of Hiden Intelligence only really that prevalent in that very specific metropolitan part of Japan and they're just not coming around much over here? Is it like Dragon Ball where anthropomorphic animals are just vibin' with humans while the heroes are off kicking ass? Apparently he's played by Hasegawa Keiichi, who wrote this episode and had the award ceremony named after him. ...is Hasegawa Keiichi a HumaGear in this universe then? Did he set up this award ceremony in Touma's honor? If so, why is it named after him? Did reading one of Touma's books lead to his Singularity? I know this is just a cameo, but... god, I have so many questions that probably will never be satisfactorily answered.

Overall, if I had to compare Saber to anything, it'd probably be Sam Reimi's Spider-Man trilogy. It's awkward, stupid, overwrought, undercooked, illogically written, scattershot, cheesy as fuck, and has a tendency to squander its otherwise fine execution; but the sheer passion for storytelling, sense of spectacle, deeply fascinating characters, and belief in the ideals set forth by the cast, crew, and fans are absolutely admirable. Improvements would certainly make it an overall better experience, to be sure, but there's something deeply captivating about how wonky this series is. Seeing everybody get their happy ending after all they've been through felt extremely gratifying though, and I may have to wait another for the epilogue to and then wait for Revice, but... man. I'm hella proud of our awkwardly-emoting, fashion disaster novelist and all of his heavily flawed friends for carrying the Kamen Rider name on to the future. Here's hoping Revice will keep it going.

Alright, that's everything I wanted to talk about. Sorry this was so long and ramble-y, I had a lot to say. I'll probably be liveblogging Revice as episodes of that come out, so... look forward to that, I guess. See ya.

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 32: AMJ #5.1

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Well here we are at the final issue of this arc, of what was originally supposed to be the end of this series. I think it’s safe to say that it’s too far gone to be salvaged now. But let’s wrap this up and see if any further damage is done.

As always we have the recap.

Once more, the full title of the movie is here in the recap and yet to be in the story itself, although we got half of it last time.

The recap reaffirms this story’s misguided idea that Beck was trying to be a better man, with his desire to make a film as the only proof. Something just occurred to me about that actually. This story spins out from ASM but in those issue the idea of Beck becoming a better man was never even hinted at. So did Williams just ignore that stuff and impose whatever story she wanted to tell? If so that’s pretty lame writing. At least organically pivot to that. Try to make the transition from Mysterio in ASM to the redemption mode Mysterio not feel as abrupt and part of the same story.

It also doubles down on this horseshit that MJ would honestly let Mysterio walk around free because she connects with him on art. See part 12 for why exactly this is horseshit.

The recap also mentions the Savage Six’s attacks. Nothing wrong with that although it just drives home how (like with beck and the other criminal crewmembers) MJ knows bad people are doing something bad but is doing nothing to stop them doing those bad things. Does that remind you of another story? Like say one from 1962?

Finally I just despise the final line of the recap. It frames MJ and Beck as buddies which is just gross.

As we open up the story proper, we see beck and MJ shooting a scene from the movie. It entails the pair surrounded by robot soldiers and MJ fighting them off. She leaps from a cliff making Mysterio scream ‘Noooo!’. It’s over heard by nearby civilians in the park. Back at the set MJ exits the bouncy castle she landed on and ‘McKnight’ asks Master Matrix if they got the footage; they did.

Not much happens in these pages but there is still a fair bit to unpack.

First of all the fact they are still filming this stuff tells me (maybe I’m wrong) they were more than a few days away from finishing filming last issue. So that’d be even more time that the crew and innocent people have been in danger from the Savage Six.

Also, like last issue MJ can suddenly pull off these very gymnastic moves out of nowhere.

Furthermore let’s consider that the scene is in the middle of being  filmed right? But there are these robotic soldiers with pencil thin waists. They can’t be people in suits. The sheer number of them and the size of them mean they can’t be models either and the way in which they move means they would either have to be

CGI. Except CGI is inserted after a scene is shot, you can’t capture it on camera whilst the actors are filming it in real time

Real robots. Except Mysterio’s budget for practical effetcs was cut way back in issue #2 and creating or hiring out at least 12 (I counted) actual robots would surely be beyond their budget

They are illusions created by Beck. Except last issue he said he’d only use illusions to make MJ look convincingly like Spider-Man. If he’s changed his mind and is more willing to be less authentic why bother having a real actor complete the scene with Spidey at all?

Finally civilians can overhear Beck’s scream. But wouldn’t park goers also have heard the megaphones or other loud noises from the set? Remember in issue #3 how the whole reason they relocated to an abandoned zoo in the first place (and thereby scared Charlie away) was to maintain secrecy? If they are within earshot of a friggin park how has no one overheard the megaphones or other loud noises that the film set is bound to make? Are you telling me that they really never needed to film outside of the caves before this day? That’s rather contrived isn’t it?

On the next page we learn that it’s the last day of filming and MJ just wrapped up her scenes.

However, the investor from issue #2 is open to the possibility of funding another leg of secondary photography. This means that the movie might continue to film and they could reinstate stuff they cut, including scenes with MJ; presumably this would include the romance cut in issue #3.

There are two major points to bring up here.

The first is that I personally suspect that the movie possibly being extended was not Williams’ original plan for this issue. It strikes me as something written once she knew that this series would continue beyond issue #5. As in since the series is continuing the film they are making continues too in order to possibly provide more plot for consequent issues. It might also be Williams being meta.

The more significant point though is that by extending the shooting it means that the crew and all those people from issue #4 would still be in harm’s way due to the Six and the paparazzi they employed.

Notice how no one bothers to think of them with MJ simply delighted and commenting upon how her  character’s scenes could be restored. Once more Williams writes MJ as totally selfish here.

We then get a splash page of Mallorie using a megaphone. She instructs the crew that they only have an hour (magic hour specifically) to film the last scene. One hour and one last chance to finish the movie.

Nothing much to say on this beyond repeating that the park goers should be over hearing Mallorie.

I also find the editorial box a little pretentious but that’s just me, it’s not something to fairly hold against the story.

MJ and Beck talk about the fulfilment of the latter’s dream. Beck explains he feels strange. MJ is surprised at this because he’s getting more money for his own work. Beck clarifies that he feels strange to have made it to this stage. Because they’d faced so much adversity he had expected nothing else. He’d been emotionally preparing for failure. Now he feels strange because he has to face the possibility of success.

He continues that in this final scene he shall envision himself fighting his own demons. He credits his success to MJ personally. She in turn affirms how proud she is of him and that she never disbelieves in them. She heads off to relax and Mallorie assures her that she’ll be called when they wrap up. After all, they need to break up the set pieces.

There are three things notably wrong with this page.

The smallest of these is the dialogue. ‘We faced so much adversity that I’d begun to anticipate nothing but. Deep down, I’d been emotionally preparing…’

It just doesn’t read well and at first glance seems like it’s a grammatical error. As in the intent was meant to be ‘anticipate nothing. But, deep down…’ It’s not technically wrong, but the word choice makes the intent less clear. Using ‘nothing else’ or something other than ‘but’ at the end of the sentence would’ve made the dialogue flow much better.

The more significant problem is MJ talking about Beck getting more money for his ‘own work’. The way the emphasis is placed is clearly intended to mean that prior to this moment Beck wasn’t getting money for his own work but someone else’s. 

This is likely a reference to the first two issues wherein Beck got funding by selling the investors on a different movie than the one he was delivering. The problem is the money they have been using up until now and the additional funds they might get haven’t been off the back of Beck’s own work. The fact that he’s gained trust and money whilst pretending to be Cage McKnight, failing to inform the investor he’s a criminal and has hired criminals mitigates ‘his own work’.

MJ and Beck have no idea if the investor knew of McKnight’s reputation or past work. They don’t know if on some level that influenced his decision to finance them. Even if he didn’t the mere fact he didn’t know he was indirectly giving money over to criminals on the run (some of whom are murderers) makes MJ’s point moot. 

Most people wouldn’t have done that for ethical reasons or just out of concern for themselves. It’s not as bad  but it definitely shares similarities to Otto as Peter Parker dating Anna-Maria Marconi. At best that’s unethical and deceitful and so is failing to inform the investor that he’s financing a criminal.

The biggest problem though is the continued sympathetic framing of Mysterio. Oh how lovely for his character to have had a change of heart and now believes in himself. Good for him. 

How wonderful MJ helped him reach a more positive place in his life and fulfil his lifelong dream. Sure hope none of elderly people who’s life savings he took had dreams of helping their families after they died. Sure hope Gwyneth didn’t have any dreams or ambitions for her life beyond high school.

Fuck this misinterpretation of Mysterio seriously. And no, I have zero faith at this point that Williams is setting up a big rug pull down the line. Everything up until this issue has convinced me this is just how she sees Mysterio. 

And even if she is planning a bait and switch, the fact that she’s had MJ and Beck become sincere friends is aggressively problematic. For God’s sake MJ is so sad Beck has demons. She’s so proud of him. So happy her belief paid off and he fulfilled his dream.

She’s saying all this about a man who abducted her, faked the death of someone she loves, tried to frame, psychologically attack and murder the love of her life. He’s not even expressed any remorse for any of that!

Later MJ records a video message to Peter.

The PeterxMJ shipper in me loves this scene when it’s removed from all context (like how MJ has continuously lied to Spider-Man). I think Williams and Gomez love these scenes too. All three scenes focussing upon MJ and Peter’s relationship have made good use of their chemistry as characters and successfully delivered romantic moments. The art in particular is worthy of praise. The body language Gomez gives MJ converys her flirtatiousness and fun and her facial expressions (within the context of his style) sells you on the idea that she’s talking to someone she is in love with.

It’s nicely followed up on with the first line of the next page where MJ admits being in love makes her dorky.

MJ goes to hang out by the fence (for some reason) where she spots a van pull up. The Savage Six exit from it along with Charlie, who hands over some contact details to Vulture. I’m not sure if MJ is overhearing this herself or if it’s just for the reader’s benefit, but someone from the set emphasises the crew have but one shot to finish the movie. MJ sighs and removes her earrings as the Six make their way up the hill towards the set. Clearly she is ready to fight.

Way to make Charlie comically irredeemable Williams. He’s not been a nice guy up until this point but we might forgive a normal man for being intimidated by these ix violent crooks. But she just has to have him actively try to maybe get some employment out of the situation. On top of everything else it’s just a step too far and it makes him cartoonish. That’s not too much of a problem if he was an actual super villain but he’s just a normal person who’s being written as going the extra mile to be an asshole. He’s not even slightly upset he’s probably helped get many innocent people killed right now.

I also do not buy for a second that van could possibly fit all those people. Yeah, six normal humans sure. But look at the sheer size of Rhino, Scorpion and Stegron. It’d be doubtful it could fit or take the weight of any one of them. But ALL of them and four other people too? Bullshit.

As for MJ in this scene, isn’t it convenient she decided to chill-out by that fence and it happened to be the exact spot the Six were going to pull up in front of. And she happened to do it at the exact time too. What an insane coincidence.

I have mixed feelings about her framing in this scene. Because it’s bad ass and cool and normally I like seeing her like that. But at the same time why is MJ so utterly casual about this situation. She’s not even slightly worried. She doesn’t even look determined. She looks totally non-plussed. Friggin Spider-Man himself wouldn’t be non-plussed by this situation and his odds of survival are vastly better than MJ’s.

MJ is framed and acting like she’s Batman facing some B or C listers. But the ‘power scale’ is simply not like that in this context. The reality of the situation is far more serious than that. She cannot reliably be sure she’s win this fight at all.

I get Williams wants MJ to come off as awesome in this series. I get that she wants to celebrate her character. But this is not the way. Show the characters with flaws, concerns, with weaknesses. But that’s indicative of MJ throughout this story. MJ has been framed as awesome, cool and totally capable throughout this story. That’s great for maybe an issue, maybe even two. But five in a row?

For five issues in a row, MJ always has an answer to every problem. For five issues in a row she’s unflinchingly pragmatic. She never makes a mistake beyond not doing fight choreography fast enough? The closest the story comes to depicting her as imperfect is her discussion with master Matrix last issue and that was framing her as possibly  wrong. Then everything since that moment has shown her to have been justified in her convictions. The only thing she’s truly failed at is keeping Charlie on set but she came up with a solution to that immediately that in turn made her look awesome again.

It’s like this series has taken the idealized view of MJ Peter would have of her and then treated that as her actual character even when the story isn’t from his point of view. Her failings and set backs are minimal whilst her successes are huge. She’s redeemed Mysterio, made his dream come true, made a whole movie click, patched every hole, literally saved the live of the crew.

And now she’s nonchalantly going to kick the asses of six guys who Spider-Man himself has rarely found to be pushovers. Okay maybe nowadays Spider-Man might find beating them easy due to his experience. But in his earliest encounters that wasn’t the case. MJ has never one-on-one battled any of these guys before to my knowledge. But now on her first try, with no powers, no weapons or equipment, no real training, she’s nonplussed about fighting all Six of them at once.

Jesus Christ.

Remember how Spencer within his first 12 issues had MJ confront some concerns she had over dating Peter again with the Lookups?

Remember how Spencer in his first issue had Spider-Man save the day but not be non-plussed or supremely confident about it? Remember how it wasn’t framed as easy?

Shit, MJ’s most iconically bad ass moment wasn’t framed this way. She was scared of Chameleon.

The story framed her as determined in spite of her vulnerability.

She wasn’t going in sure she could win, but she was going to damn well try. Her victory was even a surprise to her

That is absolutely not the case here. Sure, we as readers know MJ is going to win because she wouldn’t be killed off in her own ongoing series. But that certainty comes from outside the context of the story, whilst the framing here is outright telling you MJ is going to be a bad ass and will  win. 

Maybe we don’t know the specifics of how, but there isn’t the slightest ambiguity conveyed. The framing has neutralized the danger and suspense. You aren’t reading the next few pages so see if or even how MJ is going to get out of this one. You are reading to simply see how the Six are gonna get their asses kicked.

What’s so frustrating is that this is not how Williams framed MJ in issue #3 when the Six initially attacked. There she played things correctly, MJ was framed as in peril and had to psych herself up to get the job done.

That was great.

But that’s not here. Here Mary Jane is framed as casually confident in spite of the exact same situation. Only worse because she’s not got Beck there to actually do the fighting for her.

It’s deplorable writing. It’s deplorable framing. And Williams doubles down on it immediately with the next panel when MJ insults the Six. Then tells them they’ll have to get through her first. They laugh of course (which is a prelude to her obviously winning).

Vulture demeans MJ by calling her an attractive accessory. She then hits him with her palm, which seemingly injures his face.

How wonderfully original.

I’ve never in my life  seen a story where seemingly threatening people (usually men) dismiss and demean a female character as a non-threat and just a pretty face, only to be proven totally wrong. That’s oh so original in fiction, in comic books and in Spider-Man comic books too.

Also, I question if MJ could really hurt Vulture that way.

This guy has been punched in the face by Spider-Man himself and that was without his helmet. The guy has super strength so is Mary Jane basically shoving him really going to hurt him? If so then that’s a huge design flaw for a genius inventor to make isn’t it?

Everything else I could say about this page I already mentioned about the last page and in the description for this one.

The art and facial expressions are very good though, kudos to Gomez.

Oh wait, there was one teeny, tiny little thing I forgot to mention. So the Six’s goal is to get to the set right?

And there are six of them right?

And one of them can fly, some of them can leap large distances and others can just break through walls right?

And there is a huge fence right?

Why don’t they just go around Mary Jane?

They are treating this like MJ is the one and only entry point to the set when she isn’t.

They have numerous options for at least one of them getting to their target.

But stupidity is par for the course with this series isn’t it.

The next page is a beautifully drawn splash of MJ hitting Tarantula with some of the set.

I respect Williams knows enough about MJ to understand she uses her limited resources to her full advantage. The dialogue makes that clear. She clearly understand how MJ fights. But again the framing is jacked. Out of context it might seem cool but in context it’s asinine, especially when you consider she could’ve ended this threat altogether with a phone call to some super heroes. Cloak and Dagger are delivering food to this set but she can’t ask them to fight the Six for her?

More problematically where the fuck did that set piece even come from? I checked the art and couldn’t find any yellow thing in sight. We don’t even see how MJ got a hold of it between panels. She palmed Vulture then off-panel grabbed a set piece from thin air, jumped up and smacked it on Tarantula.

That is shitty fight choreography. Fight scenes in comic books are supposed to have a sense of flow, to clearly convey how we got from A to B. Here is a much better example of how you do it featuring Spider-Man fighting (a different) Tarantula.

In contrast to that AMJ #5 is just reaction A jumping immediately to reaction B.

I’m leaving it there for now. We’ll wrap up the issue and initial arc next time.

Previous Part

Next Part

Master Post

[migleefulmoments]

"Hahaha. A friend pointed this out. W online shops too!" What does this even mean?! I don't know anyone in 2020 who doesn't online shop besides my 80 year old grandparents because they refuse to learn how to use a computer 😂 I don't get how Will, a 30 something year old man, online shopping is worthy enough for Abby to comment on it. I'm sure Chris does it too. And Darren.

On Nov 5, Darren wrote this post and the cc fandom lost their shit.    

They decided that organizing 10 costumes for multiple events in two different states for two different people was not worthy of acknowledgment- especially since they wore several purchased costumes. They spent the next 30-ish days mocking her “online shopping skills” like the petty idiots they are and now they bring it up two months later. 

Anonymous asked: this is funny, C posted a photo of beard, D posted photos with the beard. Almost like they were sitting next to each other and saying “ok ok I will say this”

ajw720 answered: The only difference, C controls his SM and the bearding, D does not, but they knew the Halloween post was coming when C posted his belated b-day wishes (not that he acknowledged they were late).  

It really is, if you can remove the very human, tragic element, like a script for a really bad D Movie.  C posts “Happy Birthday, Babe!” a day after the man’s actual b-day and “D” praises his fake bride for MAKING TEN costumes.  Sure praise her if she actually designed them and sat with her sewing machine.  No, she went online and ordered things (I doubt she even went to a store).   And 3 couple costumes were cheap frankly.  The only thought was how narcissistic she could be in their execution (as @flowersintheattic254pointed out even the Mario costume had  a reason, it was a reminder of Japan and the fake encagement by referring to the ad that paid for their trip there).

And seriously how are people not questioning that she spent the entirety of her month picking TEN costumes?  Who has time for this?  I know, i know, a person whose only role in life is to play fake plus one.

I am just so tired by D in particular being utterly dragged down by the useless dead weight by his side and his team’s sole ambition to promote her and make her sound like a decent person.  

If they wanted to praise her, maybe they should have forced her to participate in the zero waste initiative instead of sitting drinking by the pool or have her volunteer to help young girls who have been kicked out of their homes, or have been raped.  Or pick any cause and truly volunteer her time to promote it.  If she is not going to actually get a job and pursue a career, please force her to do something that is actually of value and contribute something good to the world. But to praise her for picking TEN costumes?  

Praise that comes from a man who this year alone won three awards, is starring in a show he created and wrote the music for, has his first big movie premiere this week, is exec producer and star of a huge show on N/etflix, just announced his starring role with 2 A++ lists actors next spring on Broadway, celebrated the 5th anniversary of the festival he created, volunteered his time for the zero waste initiative, performed at several charity events, and was just yesterday name limited series actor of the decade.  Where is the praise for him from his “bride”?  He at least deserves it.

How do they not see how ridiculous it is for someone with D’s accomplishments in 2019 alone praise a person for purchasing TEN costumes for Halloween?  And stans, how do you accept that this is right or normal.  You really know nothing about him and have such little respect for him as a person if you continue to accept the character his idiotic team has created on his behalf.  It is so far from the person he is and that he generally holds himself out to be when given the opportunity.  

This isn’t about being a “gay fetishist” or “hating woman” this is about wanting for D to be fairly and accurately represented and no longer forced to participate in this stupid, life sucking game to promote a person that contributes absolutely nothing to the world.  If you want to have a strong female role model, there are so many, i’ve talked about a few in the past few days (thus far Nancy, Lea, and Phoebe) and will continue to do so, but please stop worshiping a person whose sole reason you are speaking about her is her connection to D, even if you refuse to accept it is fake.  

klainecentric Finished reading the funniest ig story of the day, the qween being praised for sitting in front of either a sewing machine or computer...bravo your majesty qween....your my hero well done.👏👏. And all I can think of is how irrelevant the statement D made about being an emotional horder, being a very private person and finally D saying he's lazy when it comes to social media, I'm internally screaming in frustration because yeah we know D wouldn't have written a post praising that lazy good for nothing waste of space but he's coming across as a lier and it's extremely damaging to his character as a person. I absolutely hate lying and every time another "private" moment is posted to the world is another small piece that's chipped away from what D has originally stated about privacy. PBB, nobody cares about your cheap arse highly flammable costumes you buy online, did you forget about your piano baby adult strip club. I'm sure there are still plenty of people out there you can hire to rub and flaunt their flanges all over the beer taps, why don't you keep busy on that instead. If you want to make costumes, I'm sure you can sew some mighty fine titty tassels together. It'll be cheap nasty, sound familiar.

souly So, let me get this straight. We should all praise a person for going online, looking up different costumes in online stores, putting those in their shopping basket and hitting “buy”? Because I do that at least once a week with other stuff. Do I get praised for that now? Pretty please? I’m doing good work there and buy a lot of stuff, therefore I must be the best person ever!

notes-from-nowhere You’re my Queen. Please, love me.

souly

(I think I got it right. I’m getting the hang of what said person is doing. Wheee! ;))

notes-from-nowhere You nailed it 🤣

ajw720 Yesterday I got a delivery of car food. And instead of his usual seafood mix up greats, I got him shrimp flavor. I’m awesome!!!!!

souly Oh, hey! I think we should all take pictures of whatever we bought online during the week or month and make individual posts on all of our social media accounts about it. Because, you know…

cassie1022 I picked up stuff I ordered online at Target and PetSmart. Does that count? Should I receive accolades because my cat will have fresh litter to do her business on?

souly Only if you post the pictures to prove it! ;)

ajw720 As soon as I get home. Pictures forthcoming. Shrimp cat treats and I also got a burgundy blanket for my new comforter!!! Life goals!!!!!!!!!!!

souly Okay, so, let’s see… What did I buy online during the past month that can be shared as pictures? Some things are gifts, so I obviously can’t post anything about those yet. But I think these here are safe.

Let’s start with one of my fav new shirts. (Excuse the grainy quality. I had to quickly edit it for privacy reasons. :p And yes, that’s a butterfly mirror.)

The rest are behind the cut to save your dash from drowning in too many pictures. ;)

cheekyface72 You’re my queen from now on…

ajw720 I think emmy/sag/gg/CC winner DC should write a post @soulypraising your awesome, amazing, unparalleled online shopping skills!  You earned that praise.  That cat toy is particularly spectacular.

*********************

Just A Taste of M’s Amazing Online Shopping Skills that are worthy of such Praise

ajw720

Super Mario with inflatable Dragon $54.66 (x)

Princess Peach $78.99 (x)

chrisdarebashfulsmiles. i can’t

flowersintheattic254. When you add the fact that the wedding was sponsored so heavily, and her history of outfits I think it shows Mi@rren is something that’s always been done very much ‘on the cheap’.

From work vacays (honeymoon included), RC ‘glue gun’ looks, thrift shoes and subsidized weddings.

It’s BUDGET BEARDING!!!

leka-1998. It’s not worth more than this, that’s for sure.

notes-from-nowhere  We are so ungrateful. She worked hard to find the gloves.

I bet she had to click on another link to find them. She deserves another accolade.

ajw720 @flowersintheattic254 Budget Bearding!  I LOVE It! (and something tells me D’s SW costume in particular was far cheaper than either of these).

souly That Snow White dress can be found for about $25 in a ton of online shops. I stumbled upon it even before Halloween way too many times. 😂

@notes-from-nowhere The plush question mark block can be found in a couple online stores like this one. She simply glued it onto some gloves - or asked L to do it with that glue gun of hers.

flowersintheattic254 Well funnily enough I think we may have confirmation that 🚽🚽 glued on the puppies so I guess YES to the question mark block too!!!

cassie1022 They can’t even glue things properly. Why am I not surprised?

leka-1998

SW

So, so amazing. Bow to the kween and her not so helpful helper.

************************************

There are lots more...I figured enough of your brain cells died reading the ones I posted.  On Nov 30 she is STiLL bringing it up”

Anonymous asked:

Whenever I see miarren gifset they always use the same quote underneath (the rolling the windows down quote) and at first I rolled my eyes and thought uh not that quote again, and I can't believe it took me this long to realise it's because there is literally no other quote that can be construed as loving. You can hardly put down "she's a big girl" whenever you make a set of gifs with M beaming and D looking like someone murdered the dog he's allergic to.

ajw720: And I love the Emmy quote as it was an absolute reference to his character who was a psychopath. Pretty telling if you ask me. But that reference is over their heads.

And pretty much the only one. Guess saying he’s a ball and chain kind of guy isn’t romantic. They can’t even take pooping exes as he clearly steered the conversation away from her. Lovely lady of many moons? Nah she sounds like a stranger. Saying nothing changes after marriage? Sounds boring. It’s a struggle. But hey she’s an excellent online shopper that he done got hitched to!!!

[cammcharg]

A film composer interviewed me...

I was recently honored to be approached by a film composer who wanted to interview me over a couple of drinks, and this is what they came away with...

Interview with a Film Director Cameron McHarg

Cameron McHarg grew up in the rainy, blue-collar suburbs of the Pacific Northwest. He has won the Gold Addy and Silver Telly Awards, and was a shortlisted winner for the Cannes Young Director Award for the commercials that he'd written and directed. His first short film, Kicking Sand in Your Face went on to success on the international festival circuit, and was later sold to cable networks in the US, Canada, Russia, and Ukraine. His second short film, the end has also had a long and successful run on the film festival circuit and has screened internationally. Cam has written two feature films currently in development set for him to direct: the 1970's motorcycle road film/crime/thriller - Sitiado and a gritty coming up age (Stand by Me meet Deliverance) drama set in the 1990 Pacific Northwest - Monroe Log. He is also in the early research phase of writing a crime/drama based around Apache gangs in the American southwest. Cam was recently featured in Volume 2 of The Top 100 Independent Filmmakers in the World, now available on Amazon.

1.How  did you come to be a director/producer?

Cameron: I actually started as an actor. Then, I co-produced a documentary that ended up doing well and I earned a scholarship to attend the prestigious film program at Art Center College of Design In Pasadena. Besides, I was at a point where I just hated the idea of sort of waiting for someone to choose me. I hated that powerlessness. And I have always loved the whole process of movie-making. Whenever I did work as an actor I was very fascinated and interested by the entire process and I thought that would help me work my own way in without having that hopeless feeling anymore. I hoped I could mix the best of both worlds. And that’s how I got into it initially.

2. What qualities do you look for when hiring a composer for your  project?  Is there one quality or thing that will get you to consider someone more than others?

Cameron: It might sound like a strange answer, but since I am not a musician myself, all I can do is to abstractly describe feelings, moods, atmospheres; my musical vocabulary is limited.  That’s how I would describe things anyway, even to actors. When I talk to a composer I would try to explain what I am looking for that way and if they could get what I am going after from just my description- that’s huge. I think it’s a difficult thing to understand. It’s like going to a hairdresser and you sit down and say: “I don’t know..I just want to look good.” If I can talk to a composer and stumble around just like I am doing now trying to describe the concept of the story and what I am trying to make it feel, and they can come back with something (and it does not have to be perfect, we can make adjustments) and really get it..  It’s not necessarily listening to the composer’s music and going: “Great!” It’s more about their ability to understand what I am trying to go for in a story: the mood, the feeling rather than a rational idea. A composer who is technically great and talented might not be enough. Someone with a sensitive soul would be a better fit.

3. In your opinion, is it more important for a composer to have a unique musical voice consistent in all of their work? Or is it important for the composer to have a broad range of compositional ability to draw from so they will likely be able to adapt to what the project needs stylistically in any given scene / scenario?

Cameron: I would lean towards the former than the latter. I think a lot of people can be very technically proficient doing a lot of different things, but people who have their own specific life experience and their unique background bring something very special to the table, that no one else can do, maybe. And I am more attracted to that. It’s true for me personally. I would be the same way about an actor. Again, it goes back to communication. If a composer can really get me..I would rather choose that over someone who can sort of do a little bit of everything. I think there is something beautiful about it. It is such a collaboration, there are not a lot of differences between an actor and a composer or anybody else. If you throw these ingredients into the mix, various artists that have that specific background instead of a bunch of technicians that are generally good at a lot of things, I think it’s going to be more colorful, there’s going to be more to it.

4. What do you want to see / hear in a demo cue from a composer?  Something custom made for your project?  Something from other projects in a composer's past that might be similar?  Live recordings?  Are MIDI sampled recordings ok?  What format do you want any demo material in?  (Audio CD, flash drive with audio files, video files so you can see how well the composer scores to picture, etc...)

Cameron: Ideally, it would be great to hear something custom, again, it goes back to this topic: I would like to see if the composer can understand what I am trying to do. Of course, I would be curious about what has been done before to get a feel for things. I will get back to that example again. We are all just collaborators trying to make a movie, we are just pieces of one big puzzle, and we are equal pieces. I hate auditioning actors, I would rather meet people and get a feel for them, I would want to see what they have done before, but it is  more about mutual understanding and connection, trying to scope this movies together. To answer your question, ultimately, it would be nice to hear a shot of something that’s for the particular movie. It does not matter that much to me whether it’s live recordings or samples, it’s irrelevant. Video is not necessary, I would even listen to it with my eyes closed, I don’t need to see anything. It is not as important to me as getting that feel. But it’s me, I might be particular.

5. How do you budget for the music in a film?  Do you determine score costs ahead of time based on the kind of score you want or is it based on a flat percentage of the film's budget?  How do you determine what a composer's involvement is worth on your project?

Cameron: I hate the business aspect of it so much. I see a composer as important as anybody else. The composer is probably the most unrecognized artist in the film business. I think that if the music is good you don't even notice it, oddly enough. It’s similar to editing in this respect, if you do notice it- the editor might be doing something wrong. I just recognize them as being unsung heroes. I don’t know how to budget for it, I’d say it is usually a flat percentage of the film’s budget.

6. What is your opinion on a composer working for little to no monetary compensation (i.e. for free)?  Many entertainment industry departments have union representation that sets a minimum pay "standard" for what those jobs cost from week-to-week or day-to-day.  But composers do not have and can not unionize by a National Labor Relations Board decision from the early 1980s.  Does this affect at all your hiring or budgeting process for music?  What is the lowest budget amount you have ever had for music score?  What is the highest amount?

Cameron: It’s so messed up. So many of us are asked to work for free and I’ve done it many times, as an actor particularly. The only exception to it if everybody is doing the film for free. I have done short films where everybody was paid next to nothing and the ultimate goal for us was to make something we are proud of to use it as a showcase. But nobody makes money off of short films anyway. If you are making a feature where somebody is going to profit off of it, it is an outrage if you are asked to work for free, everybody should be compensated. What you are doing is worth something and there should be no shame in asking to be compensated, because you are bringing something valuable to the table that no one else can do. And if there is a producer who is going to make a dime off of it, or anybody else,  they should share. The lowest budget: I’ll start with zero, which I had to deal with more than once.  The highest -is the film I am doing right now that is in the early stages of pre-production. The budget is small- around $1M dollars and I don’t know the exact numbers but it would the same as we would pay to the DP.

7. How do you communicate with your composer regarding the creative process? What can the composer do to make that easier for you as a producer / director?

Cameron: We’ve touched on this a little bit earlier: I can do odd things to try to communicate what it is I want. I would do clips from other movies, paintings, photos, sometimes other music but not usually, because I don’t want that to taint it. Sometimes in my description I’ll make weird sound effects. I can be so abstract and weird about it, I’ll do whatever it takes to describe it - I would even show odd symbols. In some ways I don’t like it to be super literal so that the composer, the artist, could interpret it in his own way. Going back to the actors, as a director, I would never tell an actor how to read the line ( “Do it like this”..) for him to copy that. I would say something more abstract: “Do it more red!” I would want them to interpret the feelings in their own way rather than me being a puppet master. Same with a composer: I would give you a certain feeling, atmosphere and see how that is colored through you. That’s where special stuff comes from. Anybody can imitate but what's the point? I want you to do it because there is something special about you. There is something I want to communicate through the prism of your perception. I am fishing for a surprise. I am not a dictatorial director, I am a collaborative director.

8. Is it a more important perception for a young composer to have credits assisting other "big name" composers on "big name" films even if their jobs and responsibilities on those films were more technical and nondescript like "scoring assistant" or "midi programmer"?  Or is it a more important perception for a composer to have a list of feature films where they were the department head "composer" in charge and 100% responsible for music, even if those films were smaller, indie, "festival bound" projects that may not have had mass public appeal?

Cameron: I would definitely lean towards the latter. I would be intrigued if they were mentored by some big-name composers on a big movie that I have respect for, I would definitely be curious to see what they can do. But being involved in a big Hollywood movie does not mean much to me. I think that the pendulum swings back and forth and things change, but right now I am not impressed with Hollywood movies, and there are always exceptions, but right now I think they are in a bad place. There are a lot of movies with guys in capes and tights and that’s fun, I can have fun with it too, I love all kinds of movies, but it’s not what I came in to movies myself to do. I was influenced a lot by the stuff from the 70’s that was a whole different ball game. The films were much smaller and centered on people. I would be drawn to something that is more personal on a smaller level then something more peripheral on a bigger scale.

9. Have you ever had a bad experience with a composer?  Did you learn anything from that?  Has it affected how you work with a composer since?

Cameron: I haven’t. I’ve had experiences where on the first try or two, after I have done my best, probably clumsily, to communicate what I was going for, I ended up really having misses. And I felt  a little bit frustrated, feeling that it was going to be tough, but we got there eventually. I think, if I had a really bad experience with someone, it would be more my fault then theirs. I think it would be my failure to communicate what I was trying to do, it would be my responsibility. I remember it was over the phone, the composer was in New York. I did not show any examples. The music that I wanted did not have anything to do with real instruments, it was more atmospheric. I tried to give him mood and imitate the sound with my mouth. As a result, I was frustrated with myself since I failed to communicate what I wanted.

10. From your perspective as a producer / director, what is the one piece of advice you would give a young composer working to build their career in this industry?

Cameron: I think it’s difficult and even unfair, with some rare exceptions, for a young artist to have a lot of expectations thrust upon them, whether it’s from themselves or the outside world, because it is hard to really give everything that you are capable to offer until you really know yourself. It often comes with time, unfortunately, with a little bit of age and life experience, and exposure to life. So, give yourself a chance, be patient and kind to yourself and allow yourself to experience everything life has to offer, including the stuff that’s painful; take it as a gift, use it. Don’t put a timeline on yourself, live your life, don’t put a bubble around yourself: “I am a composer, a musician, all I’m going to do is write music”. Allow yourself to be exposed to life, try to really live it, don’t isolate yourself, let everything in life color you and color your work. Never quit, have faith that when you are ready the time will come.

I have had nothing but composers contact me over the years. I don’t mind it, I actually look at their stuff and listen to it. I understand it’s a hustle, I have done it as an actor. I think it’s smart, because you know what, I will go back; I am doing a feature early next year and these guys that are emailing me are on my mind. I’ll listen to their stuff first before I do any search. I think there’s value in that. You have to be smart about it, of course, don’t email me every week.

And lastly, own  what’s special about you and  don’t try to be everything. Figure out who you are and really own and market that rather than trying to be like everyone else.

[agentnico]

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) Review

Still waiting on that Machete Kills Again...in Space mister Rodriguez. I guess this’ll do for now though.

Plot: An action-packed story of one young woman's journey to discover the truth of who she is and her fight to change the world.

Japanese manga material is still yet to successfully transfer to big budget Hollywood productions. Last major attempt was Ghost in the Shell which wasn’t particularly good. Sorry Scarlett Jo, just cause you are in a film doesn’t make it automatically great, as surprising as that may be. Well, not that surprising actually, anyone seen Lucy? Exactly, point made. Anyway, now box office darling James Cameron and the crazy mariachi that is Robert Rodriguez have teamed up to bring us an adaptation of Battle Angel: Alita. Any good? Well...

The film suffers from its script mainly. Cheers James Cameron, not only are you obsessed with making an unnecessary amount of unwanted Avatar sequels that may not even see the light of day seeing as how long they’ve been stuck in production, but you’ve also gone and forgot how to write a screenplay. What happened, you used to be something. Now, well, now you have a thing for blue people. Typical. So the Alita script is all over the place. There are too many things crammed in and together it all doesn’t really mix and ends up being a bit of a bloated mess. Constantly random parts of the film would drift away from the main plot for either unnecessary exposition segments or useless “character moments”. For example there is a whole scene dedicated to Alita trying chocolate for the first time. I’m guessing this was done for us to connect with the character or something. Look, I’m sure Rosa Salazar had one hell of a time stuffing her sweet little face with some free chocolate goodness at the expense of the studio, but I myself did not care for it. Also, the abundance of cliches and the tacked on romantic side-plot which I gave zero F’s about (okay, that’s a lie, one F was given when that useless romance was over and done with) were something that I’d expect from an amateur but not Cameron. Heck, so many of the movie’s characters also happen to be one dimensional. Billy Zane’s stoic dick face in Titanic had more depth than 90% of this film’s cast. Okay, reading back I didn’t mean to properly trash this film, I guess I’m just a bit of an angry person. Point is that the screenplay is very much the reason this movie falls apart.

That being said Alita is still an enjoyable enough watch, mainly thanks to Robert Rodriguez’s directing as well as the fantastic visuals. A fully realised futuristic sci-fi world blossoming with so many intricate details, from the sets to the costumes to the cyborg tech and the superb action sequences, this movie is a visual feast. A major part of the plot is revolved around this futuristic racing/football sport known as Motorball, and all those sequences are indeed epic. Also, say what you will at first about how creepy Alita’s oversized eyes are, the CGI of her face is quite incredible. Weta have outdone themselves here again, that cannot be argued,

The movie boasts quite a cast, but as mentioned earlier, due to the weak script not many characters stick out, no matter how hard the actors playing them try. Mahershala Ali is wasted as the movie’s villain, whilst Jennifer Connelly, although it’s nice to see her in something again, has a very predictable arc.The likes of Eiza Gonzalez and Michelle Rodriguez pop up, however there roles are so minor that they could’ve been played by anyone. Rosa Salazar of Maze Runner fame as Alita herself in all fairness was decent, being someone we as the audience could really connect with. That being said, her character is one that never loses in this movie. Every battle she fights in she wins. Kind of took away from any stakes. But Salazar was solid (the actress that is, not the Resident Evil 4 villain!). On the other hand her love interest played by Keean Johnson was just another young Hollywood pretty boy with the emotional range of a cat turnip. Christoph Waltz was a very welcome inclusion as the scientist who finds and puts Alita together and becomes her guardian. He was very endearing and it was nice seeing him step away from his typecast baddie roles this time around.

Manga is still yet to successfully translate to Hollywood cinema, Alita: Battle Angel hasn’t changed that. But for a one-time watch Alita has enough visual excitement to bring you enjoyment, though the over 2 hour run-time does end up dragging. Also the shameless sequel set-up with the reveal of the major baddie in the last shot of the movie who was pulling all the strings played obviously by a famous Hollywood A-lister is one cheap gimmick that frustrated me to no end. 

Overall score: 5/10

[b0oker18]

My First Post: My thoughts/headcanon on the relationship of Mulder and Scully pre and post “I want to Believe”

Disclaimer: Originally I just wanted to just share my thoughts on Mulder and Scully's relationship pre - “I want to Believe” and there relationship during “I want to Believe” but I have never really expressed my thoughts publicly before, so this becomes a much longer conversation. So it might get a little messy at some point. I say things like I may get into that in another post and then it goes on for three paragraphs. I just want to get this out there and don’t want to edit anymore. Sorry! Enjoy!

I just re-watched the X Files “I Want To Believe” for the first time in like 4 or 5 years recently, I always liked the movie (I guess), but never REALLY thought about it much other than the MSR scenes.

But upon watching again, and having watched season 10 and 11, (maybe i'll share my thoughts on that another day) I now see the movie with a different set of eyes. Specifically the complex relationship of our beloved M and S. I would like to share some of my theories/headcanon with the tumblr-sphere if there's even anyone willing to listen and give their feedback and thoughts. But please keep in mind that these things are my personal feelings, I have no proof that what i am saying is 100% correct and quite frankly no one else does either. Please Enjoy!

A lot of XF fans say that Scully is sad throughout the entire movie, and I agree, but in my mind it is justified (and please bear in mind that I am mostly thinking just in-universe and not the decision of the writers, directors, actors.) I mean think about it, she has a man at home, who is isolated from the world, he spends his days cutting out newspaper stories and pinning them to a wall in an office the size of a half bath. Mulder is bored, even though he does not admit it. (The pencils on the ceiling in his office are a dead giveaway). Also Scully seems to have her head above water, being a successful doctor. I don't think Mulder is necessarily jealous of that, but it's got to hurt him sometimes. Thats human nature! He lost his chance to tell the world of the things he's done and that sucks!

I also want to be clear that this does not mean I think that M and S spend their days in misery. I think that once Scully comes home from her shifts at the hospital most days Mulder did his damndest to put down the newspapers and be with his woman to the best of his ability. Given his circumstances however it must of been hard to have a fantastic relationship, when he probably never left within a 10 mile radius of there home. I want to believe that there was happiness in those days, and even though I don't think they were exactly fucking like bunnies every night (though in my dirtier headcanon I think the kamasutra was something that suited them in the Bedroom), i don't think they shared every thought and feeling about everything under the sun, remember until season 11 communication was never a strong point. I do think that having each other in those difficult circumstances helped a lot though.

I want to move on the the movie now and sort of get in the heads on M and S. At the start of the movie the FBI comes to “Our Lady of Sorrows Hospital”. They have an ultimatum for Mulder, help us and you will be a free man (which is ridiculous, but you know X Files and shit). Anyway, I could totally see why Scully would jump all over this, for a couple of reasons. 1.) Mulder will finally be free! They can see the world as a couple and truly enjoy their lives. 2.) This one may be reaching but I can accept it. I think in that moment, she believed that once Mulder accepts the FBI’s request and helps them with the case, it would make him see that “hey, you know what? This life is not for me anymore, I’m getting too old for this shit!” which admittedly was not bright on her part. But she took that leap of faith. BTW she sort of admitted it was a mistake several times throughout the movie.

Of course with Mulder being Mulder he dove right back into the thick of it. This is what has been missing in his life for the past 7 years! He becomes that old obsessed Mulder, who I always refer to as “season one Mulder” and because of that he loses sight of what Scully is trying to say and what she wants out of the relationship. Which leaves me to one of the more controversial moments in the film, when Scully sort of breaks things off with Mulder. She cant stand what this case has done to him. She can no longer take obsessed Mulder any more, there relationship has changed. There is no more will they, won't they, there is no more fear of if they got together will it change them in a bad way, which is the feelings I believed they always had during the orginal run. They come home to each other every night now.

I sympathize with Scully here a little bit. I understand where she is coming from. Her life is in a completely different place now, she is a Doctor doing work that must be incredibly stressful and difficult. Not to mention working at a catholic hospital that probably has zero budget and probably can not help 50% of the patients that walk through the door. Basically she can not moonlight as an X Files consultant. I also think what she said in the locker room (I’m not coming home or whatever it was) was a last ditch to get Mulder to wake up and realize that this isn't his life anymore either, which of course backfires.

Now jumping ahead to the end of the movie. The case is solved and life seems to go back to normal. Except of course for the relationship of our dynamic duo, which is still in limbo. Remember how Father Joe told Scully not to give up, clearly Scully struggled over the fact that God may be talking to her through a literal pedifile priest ( yea... I don’t have the energy to get into that today). This is something that she does not to tell Mulder through the entirety of the movie (remember what I said about communication). When she finally tells him, I think that it was the start of the thawing of the relationship which had briefly gone cold.(There is some symbolism in this with the melted snow in the make-out scene) Had Scully not told Mulder what he said I don't think he follows her outside. From there we know the rest. Mulder wants to escape the “darkness” a line that I hate (it's so cheesy), but I'll go with it. Scully of course complies, and they embrace.

Now I want to get into a little bit of post IWTB, which would fall in between 2007 to 2015 I choose to believe that scully breaks things off in 2015 possibly end of 2014, I refuse to believe that they broke up “soon” after IWTB, like CC had implied in interviews, no bro, they didn’t break up that quickly, just no. I believe that after taking there little island getaway things were going very well for M and S, I believe that Scully took a brief leave of absence from the Hospital and M and S got to see a little bit of the world together. Also I will fight anyone who tells me that they did not attend at least one Knicks game together, we all know how much Mulder loves the Knicks (Go Celtics!) (I’m from New England, so sue me!). Mulder and Scully's relationship to me is SUPER complex, there are so many ups and downs, and it did not end with IWTB, which I want to get into a little bit.

So I had a fantastic back and forth with the lovely and super insightful @f-u-carter​ the other day (you can read here the conversation was expanded upon in the notes FYI). It started with me anonymously saying that in my head canon I believed that “Plus One” came before “This” canonically, I had a couple of drinks in me and had some fun with it. The conversation turned into our beliefs as to why we believed Scully left Mulder (in 2015 not 2009 like CC wants us to think). I want to add a little bit to that. So from 2007-08 to 2014 I believe (or at least I want to believe) Mulder was a new man in many respects, I think he left his newspaper clipping days behind him for a while, and although he was still Mulder in a sense, like having many conversations with Scully about X Files related things. I believe that the “boredom” he felt for so long was gone.

So what changed? Why in the season 10 premiere is he back to being old Mulder? Again @f-u-carter​ brought up some great points and it helped change my mind. (here it is again, remember the convo is expanded in notes) I think that the world changed for Mulder in unexpected ways. He was suddenly living in the “Edward Snowden” age, where we are constantly being spied upon (again I’m talking strictly in-universe, I’m leaving personal feelings out of it). This could absolutely put Mulder into another tail spin, like a major one! Also originally I thought the 2012 alien invasion was the major factor, but I don't really feel that way anymore.

I have a feeling this frustrated Scully a great deal, I mean she got what she ultimately wanted from Mulder post IWTB, and know here is is back to “season one Mulder”. Given where she was in life, she just could not deal with it again, and it put a huge strain on their relationship leading to the break up. Look do i like the break up, HELL NO, do I truly understand it - not really. But unfortunately due to a certain creator and his never nude propaganda, it is what it is. I can not ignore canon, so this is me trying like hell to justify.

On the somewhat positive side of things, and I can dive deeper into this in another post, I think what rejoining the X-Files did for M and S was taught them how to communicate about feelings and realize there place in the world. Not necessarily working on the X-Files (but it's part of it) but more so that there is no one else for them in this world, just Mulder and Scully. Fate, God, whatever brought them together for a reason. They are the ultimate bringers of truth, the light in the darkness. P.S. I would love to someday talk about God in the X Files universe and how I believe he/she operates, but I need to collect my thoughts on this some more.

Mulder got his mojo back, and Scully I believe, and this may not be the most popular theory, learned how to forgive herself and let go of the mistakes of her past. The last conversation in “Nothing lasts Forever”, I believe puts some credence into my theory (you can read my theory on what Scully whispered to Mulder Here and I think I expanded on it a little, which you can read in the notes). She talked about her guilt of giving up William and her guilt for leaving Mulder (albeit in an X Filely sort of way). I think the final conversation in “nothing lasts forever” is one of the most brilliant conversations both in-universe wise and directorily wise (is that a word?), and I may blog about that another time. In short I think Scully always looked to God to forgive her, but as my Grandmother used to say “God helps those who help themselves” (i’m not religious, but I think it is a beautiful saying).

Last thing I want to talk about is the most controversial episode of season 11 “My struggle 4”, and some of my thoughts on this. A Lot of X Files fans say that Scully “threw away” William, I hate it when people say this. I can understand why people loathe this ending so much, but if you made it this far in this ridiculously long first post then maybe you can hear me out. Throwing something away is a lot different than letting something go. Throwing away implies that you no longer what something, letting go means that you care enough about something to know when to say goodbye. I believe Scully is doing so with William. I don't think Scully ever believed that she was suddenly going to be a Mother to William after being estranged for 17 years. When Scully said “I was never a Mother to him”, the cold hard reality of it is, she is telling the truth, being a Mother is not just about giving birth, but raising the child until adulthood. William (I hate calling him Jackson BTW) was raised by other people, and as an almost adult, at least old enough to make decisions on his own he CHOSE to be a criminal, CHOSE to be left alone. Scully in my mind accepted that. Going back to “nothing lasts forever” again, remember when Scully was talking about Mulder always “Bearing North” (I’m too tired to find the exact quote, sorry), I think she very much took that to heart, and she is doing the same thing Mulder always did, bear north. William knows that Scully loves him, but she also knows who he really is, something she could never protect, ever. To add to that William would never let her protect him, because she and Mulder would die doing so. It is certainly a very heavy burden for Scully, but one in my mind she has to accept.      

As for the pregnancy… I have a much harder time explaining that one. What it does do though, in my opinion was put M and S in a position that they came close to having but never actually had. Being actual parents, like for good this time. There is no CSM, alien/human hybrids, super soldiers, whatever to take that away. Should we be jumping up and down for joy over this? No. But if we keep this conversation in-universe isn't it kind of what they wanted? There ages be damned. Could they of lived a quiet, peaceful, happy life without another child, sure! But what this baby does is change them as people. We no longer have to worry about Scully leaving for a third time, because Mulder has been reading up the latest conspiracy theory, putting him into another tail-spin. Mulder is an actual Father now, the new syndicate is dead, William can be whoever he wants (and yes I believe Scully and Mulder know he is alive still). What else is there for him now? Other than being the best older daddy and lover to Scully he can possibly be. Do I think this is some brilliant ending, of course not! But, under these circumstances can I live with it? Yes I can. (I realize that this part is my weakest argument, but this ending is canon and for my own sake I need to rationalize it).

So that is my very, very long first real post, about something I care about deeply. I never really had a voice to let my opinion be known, because None of my friends, family, etc. care about The X Files. Which is fine by me. You have no idea how good this feels, my thoughts have been cooped up in my brain for a long time now, and it was starting to kind of affect me negatively (plus I was laid off recently so I have a lot of free time - don't worry though, I was just hired elsewhere and I start in a few weeks!).

If anyone ever reads this post, whether you agree with me or not, whether you think I suck or not, the only thing I really want to do is keep the conversation going in a positive light about two characters and a show that we love deeply. I will try and blog about something X FIles related maybe once a week, every few weeks, IDK yet. (maybe some sports stuff to, cause I like that shit, but if I do I promise it will be quick.) And of course if everyone thinks this sucks, you will never hear from me again lol!    

But I want to keep the conversation going, because it is so much fun hearing other people's theories and headcanons (when it is done respectfully) But the XF community is filled with classy people, and I love that. Anyway here are my closing thoughts for today. Mulder and Scully are incredibly difficult people to read. Because of the structure of the show, there is SO MUCH left unsaid and unseen. But honestly, I personally would not have it any other way. I think it's why I fell in love with these characters so hard. You can take what you want from what little we have seen from their lives, and make of it what you will. Some people think Season 7 was the “season of secret sex”, they were banging every night for like a year, and you know what? There is NOTHING in the canon of season 7 that says they were not. There is a true beauty to that. I honestly believe that. I have to believe that. My opinion, if you care, is that they banged twice in the original run, once after “Per Manum” and once after “All things”, but that's just personal headcanon. But thats it, that’s the show! If you want to believe that M and S proclaimed there love to one another every night during season 8, that’s great! If you still believe that William was a naturally conceived, and CSM only played a very small roll, if any in his creation, that's fine, if you want to believe that after Mulder and Scully had sex the first time, they spent the rest of the night reading each other french poetry, God bless you! Again please understand what i'm saying, the secret beauty to this show that I wish more people talked about is all of the things we don't see, we can shape parts of that universe in our own image, which many other shows don't have the balls to do anymore.

This is the most in-depth have ever been in regards to the X Files and I am proud of myself for doing so, I put my heart and soul into this and I hope you find enjoyment in all of this. Remember Mulder and Scully love each other with the heat of a thousand suns, and even though there have been bumps in the road, at the end of the day they always find their way back to each other. Typing this now, I wouldn't have it any other way and to quote one of the great female characters of all time “I’d do it all over again”. Thank you!

[tvserieshub]

History Channel’s original show SIX came out swinging last year, delivering fantastic action and emotional content hand in hand. SIX grabbed audiences in the first episode and delivered through the entire first season. With season 2 premiering Monday, May 28th we wanted to take this opportunity to remind you why you should be watching this military-themed show.

10. Olivia Munn

Olivia Munn is joining SIX as a shady CIA Operative…need I say more? Ok, maybe just a bit more. Munn is great in everything she does and from what I’ve seen this is no exception. The addition of Munn throws an already ticking time clock of a team into near meltdown. Going into season 2 look for her to be both help and foil to our team.

photo credit @SIXonHistory

9. Troop Support

Even in real life, the cast of SIX has taken their military connection seriously. The actors participated in a Tough Mudder Run as a team to fundraise for the charity Student Veterans of America in 2016 and 2017. They also recently participated in the Flag and Flower challenge created by Preston Sharp. The challenge asks people to visit the grave’s of veterans, leaving flags and flowers to honor them, in particular NOT on holidays. Even as I write this, some of the cast are preparing to participate in The Murph (a physical challenge meant to honor LT. Michael Murphy, a SEAL who was killed in combat). Whether it’s in interviews, or on social media, you’ll find this cast expressing a constant respect for the warriors they portray.

Flags and Flowers event @SIXonHistory

@BarrySloane

@Jaylen_Moore

8. Locations

SIX uses it’s time wisely. It’s no cookie-cutter action show with all the fights taking place in dingy lighting, creeping through underground tunnels. Instead, you’ll see this team on land, in the air, on the water. You’ll see them at home (some of the hardest hitting scenes), trekking through the forest and busting down doors. I love never knowing where the team is going to end up next, there isn’t any sense of repetitiveness.

7. Complex Villains

Forget blah, zero backstory villains. SIX allows it’s bad guys to be every bit as interesting and dynamic as it’s heroes. Tell me, how many other military shows can say that? Dominic Adams spent last season playing Michael Nasry, the American-born terrorist who’s out for revenge. Although we loved to hate Michael and the tortures he planned for Rip (Walter Goggins), you never impatiently wished him off the screen. In fact, I’m happy to say that Adams is back for season 2, although we’ll find Michael in a very different set of circumstances this time around. SIX is also introducing “The Prince” (Nikolai Nikolaeff) as the big bad of the season. Nikolai spent months preparing himself for the role, diving deep in background so that he could best honor the role. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

6. Diversity

When the U.S. military is 40% PoC it’s completely unrealistic to have a military show with no (or a single token) non-white person on the team. Unfortunately, for some networks that continues to be the trend. SIX threw that nonsense out the window, showing a true picture of what a SEAL team would be. We have an African American member, Hispanic member and, my personal favorite, an Afghani American. Yes, that’s right. The first Muslim SEAL portrayed on American television. If that alone isn’t cause for celebration I don’t know what is. And yes, if you’re keeping track – that’s 50% PoC. Thank you SIX.

photo credit @SIXonHistory

5. The Action

The cast of SIX brings it full force physically. Training with former Navy Seals helped the actors hone their physicality and bring realism to their fight scenes. SIX doesn’t have the big budget of network shows and instead relies on the details instead of huge explosions. Although, no fear, you do get your fair share of those as well. The precise shots and killer hand-to-hand combat are impressive in every episode. Whether it’s taking down terrorists or rescuing school girls, you’ll believe every minute. I’d highly recommend checking out the Instagram accounts of the actors, there are lots of BTS videos detailing the grueling preparation they went through to get ready for these roles.

4. Characters

You can tell from episode one that these characters have been fully fleshed out, loved and thought about. Whether you’re watching Bear mourning his daughter, Buddha struggling with a changing family dynamic or Caulder being forced into parental responsibility, each of these men has some serious backstory. One of my favorites from last season was Fishbait, portrayed by Jaylen Moore. Even without the screen time to explore his family life, Fishbait never felt 1 dimensional and Moore was able to grab some of the spotlight. I’m happy to say we’ll be getting more Fishbait this time around! Bill and David Broyles as the writers/creators clearly love their show and it shines through. They’ve lovingly crafted complex 3D people that you will be captivated by.

Jaylen Moore @sixonhistory

Eric Laden @sixonhistory

Juan Pablo Raba @SIXonHistory

3. The Families

This military drama spends a significant amount of time on the effect that this job has on the home life of our SEAL team. These men go through hell and back on a constant basis and that takes a serious toll. SIX addresses this with respect and honesty. Seeing the inner turmoil of the team and the families around them connects you to the show in a way you might not feel if the focus was all on the action side. I’m partial to a good shoot ’em up show, but SIX is an action show I can recommend to everyone. The issues of home life for these warriors are addressed with a frank simplicity that’s stunning.

Brianne Davis as Lena Graves, and Nadine Velazquez as Jackie Ortiz, bring a warmth and personal touch to the show. As a Navy wife, I couldn’t ever watch dramatized shows like Army Wives. It felt nothing like my own experience since it was essentially Desperate Housewives on a base. SIX, however, shows the good and bad of being a military family in a way that I could immediately connect with.

2. The Cast in General

There are some serious heavy hitters here. Juan Pablo Raba plays Ricky “Buddha” Ortiz. Buddha is one of the most compelling characters to me personally because of the strain he feels between his work and home life. Raba brings his experience and acting chops to show that push/pull of warrior/husband powerfully. Walter Goggins is good in everything he does and SIX is a compelling argument for him as one of the best actors out there. Jaylen Moore has been in a lot – but hasn’t had a lead role in a hit tv series. I predict great things coming out of SIX for him, we didn’t have a chance to see a whole lot of background for Fishbait last year, but that will be changing in season 2.

Brianne Davis adds a level of heart and connection to this show that just blew my mind. She was one of the first cast members I wanted to interview because I felt that honest connection from the start. Kyle Schmidt is charming, funny and still manages to break your heart. Edwin Hodge brings a gravity and intelligence to his role and I look forward to seeing where that takes him in this much darker season 2. There isn’t a miscast actor in the bunch, and to honest, I could have written a paragraph for each one and why we love them. From interviews we’ve done we’ve learned that several of the characters were created AFTER meeting the actors who would play them. Juan Pablo Raba and Jaylen Moore in particular. The writers saw potential and they know exactly how to make their stars shine.

1. Barry Sloane

I’ve been a fan of Sloane’s for years, but in SIX he’s a totally different actor. From the bad boy romantic on Revenge to the deputy on Longmire, Sloane has always been good on screen. But in this? In this he’s great. As Joe “Bear” Graves, Sloane brings a power and complexity that shows what a truly phenomenal actor he’s become. Bear is ripped apart, suffering PTSD and struggling to balance home and work. He’s following the path of his mentor Rip (Walter Goggins) in all the worst ways, something the audience hopes and prays he can pull away from. He’s a leader on and off screen, the rest of the cast referencing him in every interview we did. To be honest, I’m really amazed Sloane hasn’t been nominated for an Emmy for his work in this series. Here’s hoping it happens in the future

Interviews

I’ve been fortunate enough to interview several of the hard-working actors from SIX. Check out what they have to say about the upcoming season:

Barry Sloane Interview

Joshua Gage Interview

Brianne Davis Interview

Eric Ladin Interview

Jaylen Moore Interview

Nikolai Nikolaeff Interview

Juan Pablo Raba Interview

  We have more interviews coming, check back soon!!

Get Watching!

All told, SIX is a standout series worth your time. If you haven’t seen Season 1, get binging! Season 2 premieres Monday, May 28th at 10/9c and then moves to its regular time on Wednesday, May 30th at 10/9c. This season promises to be darker, more emotional and explore new sides of our team. It’s going to be great!

I’ll be live tweeting from @tvserieshub all season, check back after the episode for my reviews. Hit me up anytime @nolenag03 to chat about SIX

  10 Reasons You Should be Watching #SIXonHistory +Cast Interviews @BarrySloane @EricLadin @TheBrianneDavis @JuanPabloRaba @Jaylen_Moore @EdwinHodge @NNikolaeff @iamKyleSchmid History Channel's original show SIX came out swinging last year, delivering fantastic action and emotional content hand in hand.

[arishamod]

Komiya Arisha’s Interview Extract on Weekly Playboy, N.o 27 Edition

Translation: JP > EN

More under the cut

“ I was able to “change that zero into one” and I want to continue to do so“

Currently, there is a woman of topic in the anime industry. Komiya Arisa, 23 years old. She is part of the voice acting cast of the hit anime, “Love live! Sunshine!!”, who are holding their live at Seibu Dome this September. Not only will they be touring around Japan, they will also be standing on oversea stages too.

  On the other hand, she has started appearing in productions with Sono Sion, a treasure of Japan’s film industry. With the willingness to perform in love scenes, you can say she is an authentic actress. Furthermore, her huge potential in gravure can be seen in the 27th edition of “Weekly Playboy”.

Have you ever seen someone with the talent of ever-changing expressions, while traversing multiple Medias? Without a doubt, she will be the new type of heroine that will shake the entertainment world, and will be the topic that will be talked about from now on.

1) Admiration for Sailor moon

I was born and raised in a rural town called Shimotsuke City in Tochigi Prefecture. When I was young, I loved Sailor Moon. Somehow I wanted to become the protagonist, Sailor Moon, and started practicing ballet at the age of 3. The tutu that we wore for ballet made it looked like I was wearing the super short skirt that Sailor Moon has (laughs). At that time I watched the Sentai series too, and I thought, “I want to be like those people” and “maybe I admire girls who can fight”

So I started ballet with this reason, and I became fond of dancing, and continued in junior high school. However, my height and weight increased and I was worried about continuing ballet... This was also the time when I was scouted by my agency. It was around the time I was in the 3rd year of my junior high school. Although I was not particularly interested in the entertainment industry, but I was told by my director “it would be nice if you took drama lessons”. This was when I started learning acting along with dance.

At that time, I would travel 2 hours every Saturday to the studio, which was in the city. I think it became quite hard to do this when I was in high school, but at that time I thought that “once I started doing something, I have to go through with it”.

  2) One year of Tokusatsu Heroine

 ***Tokusatsu is a genre in Japan that uses special effects with action scene, similar to how power rangers are. There is no English    equivalent for this word so it will be left in romaji***

 I underwent auditions for stage plays and TV dramas, and I worked little by little. The first major role I received was the role of the Yellow Buster in “Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters”. Frankly I didn’t plan to go for this audition.

I failed the two Tokusatsu auditions that I had before this, and I was waiting for my high school graduation, so I told my agency that “this time, I do not want to go for auditions”. However at the time, my manager applied for it on his own accord. He told me that “you have to go anyway”, and I got accepted.

I was thinking at the time, “I had slowly given up on entering the world of show business, and I will soon go to a vocational school or junior college”, and that it will be impossible for me to become the Sentai heroine that I have always longed for... Life does not always go the way that you think it will be.

As a new blood who didn’t know my way around, the year ahead seems terribly dark. For the Sentai series, we not only had to work on films on TV, we also were working on V Cinema productions.

***V Cinema productions are a type of movies productions with a relatively lower budget in Japan, which was an idea used during that time due to a declining movie industry***

That was the busiest period, and we started from early in the morning and had be at different venues. Even on days that we had a break from recording, I had to rehearse for the Hero Show, every day was incredibly hectic. At that time, I blamed the producer, “that demon was what made it so harsh” (laughs)

3) Diving into the world of voice-acting

In the one year that I spent in the scenes of “Go-Busters”, I started to feel like “right now there is nothing but this production”. After that, while acting on other scenes that did not involve special effects, I was determined to take on the challenge of being a voice actress.

Well, in the Sentai series, doesn’t it involve acting and action scenes while in a mask? For the dialogue that were in those scenes, everyone would record the dubs for it. I also worked with the voice actors that were hired to voice the role of the monsters in “Go-Busters”. I started to feel that, “as part of my acting, I want to be a voice actress”

But, it would be difficult to keep up with the schedule of working in both TV Animes and live filming. That is I felt that this was why iot would be impossible for me to become a full-fledged voice actress. Even so, I still went for an audtion with the thoughts of “wanting to challenge the role of a voice actress”, and I received an audition for “Love Live! Sunshine!!”

Nowadays, to be able to voice for this production and to be asked to be part of live films, and at the same time to be featured on magazines, I wanted to expand the scope of my work. Even so, life doesn’t always go the way you expected it to me, right?

 4) Not hesitant to be in a love scene

The movie, Yumeji: A Spurt of Love (Yumeji Ai no Tobashiri) was released last year. Frankly, this production was decided before the audition for “Love Live!”, and my manager told me, “don’t overdo it”. That was why, there was that love scene.

However, to properly depict the real Takehisa Yumeji, we could not leave out his history of having affairs with other women. This was the demand from the theme of the productions, and I didn’t hesitate to act out that love scene. The Komiya Arisa from both “Love Live” and “Yumeji”, is Komiya Arisa but not at the same time.

As a matter of fact, during the past 1 or 2 months, I have been part of 4 live films. In Sono-san’s “Tokyo Vampire Hotel”, which is being shown now, I am taking on two roles. One of the roles would soon die, while the other is totally unrelated. (laughs)

However, I am really thankful for having this opportunity to be on set with such an amazing director, and being able to gain so much experience with them. “Should I do things like this and that”, was what I was worried about, but at the same time happy about.

 5) Top Gravure

 Recently, it was really fun working in a gravure job. During my teenage years, I was shy about wearing a swimsuit, and I had a complex about my butt being big. However, now that my fan have increased, and the fans from “Love Live!” were really supportive, my mentality changed.

Even with my figure, “I don’t have breasts but I have butt” was what I thought, and this is my selling point. (laughs) I was also aiming to be on the front page of “Weekly Playboy” and “Weekly Young Jump”. I felt that this was what the top of the gravure world was like.

However, this is not the final goal that I decided on. There were moment where I thought, “I want to become this kind of actress” and “this is the type of career that I want to build up”. This was the feeling that I had to not decide on a limit.

For a voice actress and an actress, the amount of drama is different, the industry is also different, and it is difficult to juggle those two roles. Previously, I was told by a big senior “not to narrow down on either of these”. Perhaps, if I stop being a voice-actor, I have to let go the precious voices that I have acted out. I was able to “change that zero into one” and I want to continue to do so. Furthermore, I want to be able to experience everything, and I want to become a unique and fresh new actress.

[sleepykittypaws]

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby

Original Airdate: December 5, 2019 (Netflix) Where to Watch?: It’s a Netflix original, so it should be available on the service forever

In 2017, Netflix dropped A Christmas Prince with zero fanfare and few expectations, an idea reinforced by their infamous tweet actually making fun of subscribers who watched it multiple times. Yet, it became something of a phenomena. Not because it broke any new ground (it very much did not), nor because it was especially good (it wasn’t), but because it not only introduced a streaming generation to the cheese-tastic made-for-TV Christmas genre, it also signaled Netflix’s entry into the holiday film landscape, where they’re now a major player.

Three years later and Netflix continues to milk the Christmas Prince franchise with diminishing results. This year, it’s A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby where Queen Amber (worst queen name ever) and King Richard are having a (spoiler alert) baby. Yeah, as with last year’s Royal Wedding edition, the title basically gives away the ending on this one.

Also like last year’s entry, there’s also some silly political shenanigans that leads to the bonkers interventions that have become this franchise’s trademark.

Does King Richard ride his giant horse off to rescue someone, say, their OB/GYN on Christmas Eve? Of course he does! Is there some far-fetched Aldovian, holiday-related history that is dumped on us via lengthy exposition and ludicrous flashback? Naturally. How about some truly ridiculous green screen? Why, it wouldn’t be Christmas in Aldovia without it!

This time, in addition to giving birth, they’re also re-signing a treaty with their ally Penglia amid flashbacks which made me fear this was going to give us some incredibly cringe-y Asian stereotypes, most of which they mercifully sidestepped. 

They do, though, show us a map that reveals that Aldovia is not the tiny principality we all would naturally expect of a 21st century pure monarchy, but instead is twice the size of Great Britain. This was my largest laugh of the movie, and I never stopped thinking about it.

Also, that very same map also features Belgravia, home of the fictional monarchy from Vanessa Hudgens’ royal Netflix Christmas movie, The Princess Switch, which is currently filming a sequel…And in which the characters watched the movie, A Christmas Prince. 

Considering the consequences of having both Belgravia be a real place in A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby AND the original A Christmas Prince movie existing in The Princess Switch universe made my brain melt and drip out of my ears, so I’m dead now. Merry Christmas!

Anywhodoodle…The treaty suddenly goes missing and the Penglian King and Queen have to stay around and play games—and why is Netflix not selling that Aldovian Top of the Tree game right now, because I would smash that order button so hard—assemble cribs (because royalty always goes flat pack) and attend baby showers held in some sort of in-castle spa we’d never seen before. All while the leads continue to have just about zero chemistry, and the side characters carry on pretending we care about them far more than we do. (Though, I admit, Simon has grown on me.)

I will say that, unlike last year, I didn’t correctly suss out the villain in the first five minutes, as I presumed it was going to be the Penglian attache trying to pin it on poor Simon.

The semi-painful working of Amber’s friends into Aldovian royal life, and the continued so-dumb conceit of her being a “blogger” (so 2005) is wearing on my nerves. And why can’t Raj Najaj’s “Sahil" and Joel McVeagh’s “Andy" be a couple, as was first strongly hinted at, rather than just business partners? I mean, for half the movie I presumed they were, like Melissa and Simon. Sure, it would be trite to have the series only two gay characters coupled up, but no more cliche than any of the other relationships that seem to be based solely on proximity and limited cast budget. ("You and I are the lone remaining singles with speaking parts, we should date!")

And, if you’re wondering if Rose McIver’s baby bump pillow is one of the worst ever to appear on screen, don’t fret, because it definitely is. There’s a scene where you can not only clearly see the elastic belt holding it on beneath her shirt, but there’s also a food stain on said outfit. A sure sign that every expense was spared in making this movie. (Even though this probably had 2-3 times the budget of a Hallmark/Lifetime joint.)

So, Amber solves the mystery with the help of the Princess, fast aging out of her Adorable Moppet role, taking a life-threatening fall in the dungeon, which no one seems especially concerned about. (She splits open a 4” thick rock with her shoulder, but is totally fine.)

Then, Queen Amber gives birth without sullying her peignoir set, or mussing her hair, and they’ve got a three-month old baby (several, actually, of wildly different sizes) in their arms by the time the clock strikes midnight on Christmas. 

There was still fun to be had in just mocking this silly movie, and I appreciate that Netflix leans into ironic viewing of its Christmas content, but I feel like the franchise has reached its natural conclusion—or at least a majority of the actors appear to have lost their interest. Would be happy to see the always game McIver, the best part of the franchise, move on to a new Christmas cliche for Netflix in 2020.

Final Judgement: 2 Paws Up (If they do continue the franchise, Amber’s blog must die.)