#and hes my real life adaptation of the manic pixie dream

[msfilmdiary]

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Starring: Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller, Mae Whitman, Nina Dobrev, Paul Rudd, Johnny Simmons, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Nicholas Braun, and Melanie Lynskey

Screenplay by Stephen Chbosky 

Directed by Stephen Chbosky 

Cinematography by Andrew Dunn

I do not own any of the photos posted. 

SPOILERS AHEAD 

First of all, I want to say that I love this book. I read it once about every couple of months, and I find something new in it every time I read it. 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age film written and directed by Stephen Chbosky. The film is told, like the book, in a series of letters written by Charlie to an unknown recipient. These letters include his triumphs and tribulations of his freshman year of high school. The films depict his mental struggles and his journey with his friends, Sam and Patrick. 

After meeting the well-rounded seniors Sam and Patrick at a football game, they invite him to a party. At said party, Charlie accidentally consumes a weed brownie and tells Sam that his best friend committed suicide. He also walks in on Patrick and the school’s quarterback Brad, kissing, to which Patrick tells Charlie that Brad is closed. Both Sam and Patrick then drive Charlie home and experience the infamous tunnel scene, which is possibly one of the most memorable scenes in the film. 

As the film progresses, Charlie slowly develops feelings for Sam and tells her on multiple occasions. Sam, however, has a boyfriend in college named Craig. Charlie later confesses to Sam that he’d never been kissed, and Sam tells him that his first kiss should be with someone who loves him, and ultimately ends up kissing him.

Charlie later begins a relationship with Sam’s friend Mary Elizabeth after the Rocky Horror Picture Show, while still having obvious feelings for Sam. At a party, Charlie is dared to kiss the prettiest girl in the room by Patrick, to which he ends up kissing Sam instead of Mary Elizabeth, upsetting them both. Patrick advises Charlie to distance himself from everyone for a little while, and he ends up in isolation and deep depression. 

When Charlie returns to school, he notices that Brad shows up with bruises on his face after being caught having sex with Patrick by his father. He claims he was jumped, and begins to distance himself from Patrick, calling him a f*ggot. Patrick punches him, and Brad’s friends begin beating on him until Charlie intervenes and blacks out. After recovering, he finds that Brad’s friends are incapacitated, while his hands are bruised from fighting. Sam and Patrick express gratitude towards Charlie, seemingly forgiving him for past events. However, after blacking out, Charlie’s mental state begins to worsen and worsen. 

TW: sexual assault 

Patrick then kisses Charlie and immediately apologizes. Sam is accepted into Pennsylvania State University, and breaks up with her Craig after learning of his faithfulness. The night before she leaves for college, her and Charlie confide in each other, and he experiences flashbacks of his Aunt Helen, his aunt who died in a car crash when he was seven. After Sam leaves for college the next morning, Charlie’s mental state deteriorates, and his flashbacks become more and more apparent. He blames himself for his aunt’s death, and is later committed to a mental hospital where it is revealed that she sexually abused him. 

The film ends with Sam, Patrick and Charlie revisiting the tunnel where Sam has revealed she has found the perfect tunnel song–“Heroes” by David Bowie. Sam kisses Charlie, and he stands up on the back of the truck, acknowledging that he feels alive with the statement “We are infinite.” 

As someone who's both read The Perks of Being a Wallflower and seen the film, it’s difficult to separate the materials into their own entities, despite being the same story. The casting is near perfection, as I couldn’t imagine anyone besides Emma Watson playing Sam and Ezra Miller playing Patrick. They both deliver a stellar performance, as did Paul Rudd with Mr. Anderson, and Mae Whitman as Mary Elizabeth. 

The film allows Emma Watson to shed her ten year Harry Potter skin, in a role that I don’t think could’ve been more perfect for her. It allows Ezra Miller some dimension when compared to his character in We Need To Talk About Kevin. 

I want to talk about Sam and the “manic pixie dream girl” stereotype that is often placed on her, mostly because I don’t think she fits any of the characteristics. I recently wrote an essay about strong female characters being overtaken by this craize of the “manic pixie dream girl,” to which I discussed her character, and how I think that she is not solely there for Charlie’s gain and fixation (as many characters with manic pixie dream girl syndrome are.) I think her character separation from Charlie is more prevalent in the book, as I believe that her character on paper is more determined to be seen as separate from the people around her. She isn’t there solely to fix Charlie, or anyone around her for that matter. She has dreams and ambitions, and her own goals away from Charlie. She grows as a character, but not at Charlie’s, or any other male character's expense. She is her own person, or character, rather it be. 

Let’s talk about the soundtrack, which I think truly brought The Perks of Being a Wallflower to life from paper to screen. From my perspective, many of those who watch the film now associate certain songs with certain scenes, like “Come on Eileen” with Sam and Patrick dancing, or “Heroes” with the tunnel scene. For one, I think that replacing Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” for David Bowie’s “Heroes'' made the tunnel scene absolutely magical, more than the book could ever do. I think the tunnel scene made the movie stand out, while the tunnel scene in the book was what I remember being as words on paper. I couldn’t see the scene in my head, whereas the film depicted a version that I believe to be more memorable than the film as a whole itself. Other notable mentions I would like to include would be the song “Could it Be Another Change?” and “Teen Age Riot,” which I think were perfect selections for the feel of the film.  

I would categorize this film as a teenage classic (I know, big words) mostly because I think so many teenagers relate to it. It’s funny and charming, but also at times it allows the viewer to think and reflect about what’s happening around them. The film allows a break from reality, but not a complete severe that doesn’t allow one to stay grounded. I also, for another pointer, think the soundtrack is phenomenal. 

That being said, do I think that the film is better than the book? No. A hundred times no. Do I detest the film? No. I don’t. I think it’s a extraordinary adaptation, and I think that it’s so extraordinary because it’s written and directed by Chbosky himself. He created real characters, both on paper and on screen, that allowed many of the viewers to see themselves in the film. He allowed the viewers to (forgive me) feel infinite. Which, in turn, is all anyone truly wants, to feel completely and utterly infinite. 

Overall rating: 8/10

[woozapooza]

I just finished re-reading Tuck Everlasting, gang! I first read this book fourteen years ago, when I was twelve years old, and I was OBSESSED with it. I was always a passionate reader, but this was one of the first pieces of fiction to really take over my life. It was a very formative time for me. In fact, I learned the words “fandom” and “ship” from a fanvid of the 2002 movie adaptation that I watched on youtube. Unsurprisingly, reading this book at 26 is a different experience from reading it at 12. Here are some takeaways from this re-read:

The main factor in 12-year-old Anna’s love of this book was that, much like Winnie, I was positively infatuated with Jesse Tuck. He was, I think, my first fictional crush, and for that reason he will always have a special place in my heart. (And on my whiteboard. When I was 12, I wrote his name on my whiteboard, and it’s still there.) But re-reading, two things about Jesse stood out to me. First, he’s pretty one-dimensional. Second, he acts like a 17-year-old, not a 104-year-old. Listen, I get why some people find the dynamic between Jesse and Winnie off-putting, but I think that just comes from an inaccurate reading. Jesse does not come across as a grown man hiding behind the facade of youth. He comes off as a kid. That’s why I take issue with the podcast I listened to a few days ago, in which the hosts accuse Jesse of “grooming” Winnie. I get why they went on a long tangent about how if you’re a kid and an adult says you’re really mature for your age that’s a red flag, but I think they arrived at that real-world issue by free-association rather than by actually engaging with this book. Jesse is neither that nefarious nor that calculating. He’s just a good-hearted kid who will probably never grow into a genuinely good man because he’s stuck in a perpetual state of adolescent stupidity. Which is really, really tragic! When I was 12 I wanted to marry him. Now I would prefer to save him :/ and also save his family from the tragedy of never getting to see him really grow up :/

Wait a minute, is Jesse a Manic Pixie Dream Boy? Or perhaps a subversion thereof? Discuss.

You know who I didn’t appreciate nearly enough, if at all, the first time I read the book because I was consumed with the preteen version of lust for Jesse? Miles!!! One time I tweeted “you either die a Jesse girl or you live long enough to see yourself become a Miles girl” and it got zero notes because I have fewer than 70 followers and I don’t think most of them would have understood what I meant anyway, but I stand by that statement. Back then I was a Miles-coded Jesse girl and now I’m just a Miles-coded Miles girl. He makes me sadder than his parents or even than Jesse. At least Jesse is enjoying life. At least Mae and Angus have spouses and children. Miles had both and now he has neither. A very telling moment about Miles: after the boys and Mae tell Winnie their story, she decides that she likes them, “especially Jesse. But it was Miles who took her hand and said, ‘It’s really fine to have you along [...]’” Jesse treats Winnie with affection, but Miles treats her with kindness.

And here’s a very telling moment about Jesse: when the gang breaks Mae out of jail, Jesse gives a “bursting, exultant laugh.” I know even mature adults sometimes laugh out of relief, so I’m not saying this reflects badly on Jesse, but I do think it shows that he just doesn’t have his feet on the ground to the same extent as his parents and brother.

I know the worldbuilding is very much not the point of this book, but I am so intrigued by the part where Jesse says that Angus’ theory about the spring is that it’s “something left over from—well, from some other plan for the way the world should be.” What a fascinating concept! I want to know more about that theory!

I had forgotten just how abundant wheel imagery is in this book. Wheels everywhere. Wheels on wheels on wheels. For example, Mae swings the shotgun “round her head, like a wheel” to strike the man in the yellow suit. If wheels symbolize the circle of life, then I guess an act of killing is an appropriate moment for wheel imagery to show up.

When the Fosters learn that TMITYS is not doing so great, Winnie’s father points out that they may regain ownership of the wood, but he avoids saying the word “die.” Winnie says, “You mean, if he dies,” and her family is all like 😱 Guys, seriously? She’s ten years old. My god, she’s old enough to talk about death. No wonder she wanted to run away. How exhausting would it be to be treated like that when you’re in double digits?

I distinctly remember my sixth-grade Language Arts teacher saying, “Forever is a hard concept for kids to understand.” I was kind of offended because I was like “uh, I’m pretty sure adults don’t understand it either.” And I was right! I’m 26 and I still don’t understand the concept of forever! No one does! But even though I still can’t grasp what it means for the Tucks to live forever, I do have a much better grasp of the tragedy of their situation, and maybe that’s what my teacher meant. When I was a kid I mainly identified with Winnie and was basically content to get the story from her perspective, but now I’m reading the Tucks as people in their own right rather than props in Winnie’s journey, and that makes the story much more painful. This post has gotten long enough, so suffice to say that I’m just very emo.

I want to make a separate post comparing the book and the musical at some point, but I want to rewatch the musical first, or at least parts of it. For now I just want to say that in the book, Winnie is really the only truly fleshed-out character. It’s not that the other characters are bland, but they aren’t given a lot of depth, either, and I think the musical did a great job changing that in ways that still feel true to Natalie Babbitt’s characters.

[silenthillmutual]

what Classic Film(TM) you should watch based on who your fave Danganronpa 1/2 character is

disclaimer - obviously as a film dude i’m gonna say you should watch all of these. but maybe watch the one correlating to your fave first!

Makoto: 12 Angry Men (1957, dir. Sidney Lumet) - strong themes of justice, it’s about a jury trying to determine a man’s guilt. it’s basically what Makoto does for the entire game. you’ll also like it if you’re a fan of Phoenix Wright.

Sayaka: A Star is Born (1954, dir. George Cukor) - it’s all about a girl’s rise to fame and how her relationships change with that. there’s three versions of this film, most recently with Lady Gaga. 

Mukuro: Vertigo (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - themes of murder and hiding your identity, losing yourself to a cause.

Leon: Animal House (1978, dir. John Landis) - a comedy about a fraternity. it’s THE college frat movie and i think Leon would enjoy it a lot.

Chihiro: WarGames (1983, dir. John Badham) - two teenagers might have accidentally started a world war during the cold war by trying to play computer games...fitting for the series, no?

Mondo: On the Waterfront (1954, dir. Elia Kazan) - struggling to do the right thing and being sort of frustrated about your circumstances as they pertain to class and missed opportunities. being dragged into bad situations by family. also Marlon Brando is a bicon and very hot in this movie.

Taka: Rebel Without a Cause (1955, dir. Nicholas Ray) - a lot of turbulent shit happens to three teenagers over the course of 24 hours. one of - if not the first canonically gay teenager on film. i think we all know by now that James Dean was mlm, but so were the director and Sal Mineo. big bi polyam vibes; if you like chishimondo as a ship you’ll probably like this film too.

Hifumi: Akira (1988, dir. Katsuhiro Otomo) - had a hard time figuring out what to put for Hifumi, but overall i think if nothing else he’d appreciate how impressive the animation was (and honestly, still is) along with the fact that the mangaka was also the director. so although there’s a lot cut out (the manga had not finished before the film came out), it’s still roughly the same plot as the manga.

Celes: Dracula (1931, dir. Tod Browning) - probably the most iconic iteration of Bram Stoker’s novel, this is the one staring Bela Lugosi. not terribly true to the novel from what i remember, but it’s peak aesthetic and exactly the kind of thing she’d enjoy.

Sakura: Rashomon (1950, dir. Akira Kurosawa) - finally getting onto films i haven’t actually seen but that are on my list. sakura’s another person i had a hard time deciding on a film for, but the “several characters telling different accounts of the same plot” reminded me a bit of her case in the game. 

Hina: West Side Story (1961, dir. Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins) - admittedly i had a different film in mind for her to start with, but Maria’s final monologue fits with Hina’s motivations during Sakura’s case.

Toko: Gone With the Wind (1939, dir. Victor Fleming) - another one i haven’t actually watched yet, but it’s based on a famous novel, described as “epic historical romance.” i think that vibes with Toko pretty well.

Byakuya: Citizen Kane (1941, dir. Orson Welles) - if you’re really interested in film, you’re gonna be made to watch this sooner or later. famous for being the “best film ever made”, it’s more or less about newspaper moguls like William Randolph Hearst - who is also the main reason why this film is famous at all. it’s not exactly a flattering depiction of those kinds of people and boy, did that ever piss Hearst off. if he hadn’t made such a big deal trying to keep Citizen Kane from seeing the light of day, something much better might have made it to the top spot. 

Hiro: The Music Man (1962, dir. Morton DaCosta) - based on the Broadway musical of the same name, a “travelling salesman” (read: con artist) starts to work his latest con on a gullible small town, but actually starts liking the people in it.

Kyoko: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - not to be confused with the other Hitchcock film from the 30s also titled The Man Who Knew Too Much. this is the one with James Stewart and Doris Day. it’s a highly suspenseful film that gave us the song “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)”.

Junko: Gaslight (1944, dir. George Cukor) - ever heard the term “gaslighting”? this is where it comes from! based on a play in which a woman’s husband psychologically tortures her into believing she is going insane.

Monokuma: Duck Soup (1933, dir. Leo McCarey) - all Marx Brothers films are as utterly silly (and sometimes as incomprehensible) as one of Monokuma’s MonoTheatres. i watched about half of Duck Soup and had to stop because it was finals week and i was supposed to be doing something other than losing my shit.

Hajime: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, dir. Frank Capra) - you probably already know this film. if you’re Christian you know it as That Film Your Parents Watch Every Year On Dec 24th Around Midnight. if you have seasonal depression, don’t watch it then; warning for suicidal ideation. it’s supposed to be uplifting. your mileage may vary on that one. 

Impostor: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, dir. Robert Mulligan) - i don’t have a good reason to pair these two up other than gut feeling. as far as film adaptations of books go, it’s pretty damn good, and Atticus Finch is the original DILF. themes of childhood innocence and racism. 

Teruteru: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961, dir. Blake Edwards) - apparently much different from the novella on which it is based, but i think Teruteru would really dig the aesthetic and romantic vibes of the film. Holly Golightly is probably the original Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

Mahiru: Rear Window (1954, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - like It’s a Wonderful Life, chances are good you know this film - or at least, you’ve seen its plot recycled a hell of a lot. a professional photographer recovering from a broken leg thinks he witnesses a murder take place and is determined to get to the truth.

Peko: Seven Samurai (1954, dir. Akira Kurosawa) - another one on my to-watch list, but it’s oft referenced and remade in film. a village hires seven ronin to protect them from bandits who will return to steal their crops. 

Hiyoko: East of Eden (1955, dir. Elia Kazan) - i’ll be honest here, i didn’t really know what to put for Hiyoko because i’m not sure i understand much about her, but i seem to remember her family playing a pretty big role in her being Like That and for “shitty family” the first two things to come to mind were this and Giant. and unless you like 3-hour long movies about the state of Texas, i’m not about to recommend you watch Giant.

Ibuki: A Night at the Opera (1935, dir. Sam Wood) - another Marx Bros film in which they help a girl both to be with her lover and to achieve her dreams of stardom as an opera singer. the kind of silly, manic thing i think Ibuki would like.

Mikan: The Shining (1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick) - i hate hate hate putting this on here, but since this is for film and not books i couldn’t exactly state to read the book. the book is about the cycle of abuse. the movie is more about... a trapped man going crazy in a spooky hotel. 

Nekomaru: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963, dir. Stanley Kramer) - comedy about five groups of people racing to get to a large sum of money buried by a recently escaped convict they stopped to help out after his car crash. it’s a comedy, and just kinda seemed like Nekomaru’s thing.

Gundham: The Seventh Seal (1957, dir. Ingmar Bergman) - i watched this in like 10th grade and all i really remember is a man playing chess with Death and if that doesn’t say Gundham Tanaka to you, i don’t know what does.

Nagito: North by Northwest (1959, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - i don’t really have a reason for this one either but it’s a spy film and i think komaeda could get behind that kind of intrigue. 

Chiaki: Metropolis (1927, dir. Fritz Lang) - not to be confused with the anime, this is a 1927 German expressionist film that seems to be about socialism and unionization. it’s also famous for its (purposeful) use of the Male Gaze and being one of the first sci-fi films ever made. be warned: it is a silent film.

Sonia: Strangers on a Train (1951, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - another one of those films you’ll get told to watch if you’re interested in the queer history of film, i was gonna put something else but honestly the character of Barbara kinda reminded me of Sonia. a famous tennis player meets a man on a train who attempts to plan a double-murder with him.

Akane: My Fair Lady (1964, dir. George Cukor) - i was trying so hard not to double up on the post about musicals, but Akane really does have Eliza Doolittle vibes. they’re both feral and nothing would be able to really domesticate them. for whatever it’s worth, this film and the musical on which it is based is itself based on the play Pygmalion, in which your typical rich cishet white dude bets he can turn any street urchin into a real lady because he’s just that good. you might know the plot better as Pretty Woman.

Kazuichi: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, dir. Elia Kazan) - i don’t really have a good excuse for this one, either; i haven’t even watched it yet (although i have read the play on which it is based). all i’m gonna say is i want Souda to have his gay awakening via Marlon Brando, as we all do.

Fuyuhiko: Casablanca (1942, dir. Michael Curtiz) - despite his love and adoration for Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart decides fighting Nazis is more important. i think Fuyuhiko would like the aesthetic, and the film. don’t let him know but i think he’d probably cry watching it.

Usami: To Sir, With Love (1967, dir. James Clavell) - issues of race and class intersecting in a film about a teacher working with inner city students. i was going to put Singin’ in the Rain here, because it’s what Usami would want people to watch...but i think this better fits the effect she wants to have as a being. 

[flying-elliska]

Ok I caught up with wtfock s3 because well, it felt weird to leave unfinished (except a few clips i just didn’t want to watch, like the attack one). here’s what worked and didn’t for me (i’m pretty critical so don’t read if that sort of thing upsets you or you’re not in the mood) because i still think having this story remade so often is an unprecendented storytelling experiment worth thinking about even when it doesn’t entirely work (and i think argumented criticism is good, but if you post hate about the actors/fans etc you really suck tbh) : 

- to start with positives : like many said, the acting was pretty damn good. overall wtfock has a really solid cast. the willems have succeeded in creating an onscreen queer intimacy that feels very believable, no holds barred and no awkwardness, and they have to be commended for that. there’s a lot of chemistry and tension at first between them, which then turns into something very soft and sweet and puppy-love-like. it was nice seeing Robbe evolve and the sweet bean energy that emanates from how the actor plays him is very very powerful. i also loved the warmth of the flatshare, and as a Dutchie I just adored the Sinterklaas bits, it was so funny and i loved the found family vibes. warmth is just something they do really well, esp with the last clips, perfume shopping, playing board games, the party at the end. They use the Christmassy vibes really well. the cinematography has its moments too, contrasts between warm and cold, the episode at the beach is gorgeous, the sequence in the tunnel, the light on their faces when they are in that classroom surrounded by drawings. wtfock as a whole is also good at creating some very lovable secondary characters, be it Milan, Yasmina, Noor, or especially king Senne. So, I do understand that there are things to love about this remake, which is probably why my disappointment feels so strong. I really wanted to care about these characters in their journey. 

- on to the controversial : i don’t necessarily fault them for wanting to show a more prononced aspect of homophobia. i think the debate about this often lacks nuance. on one hand, this is the sixth remake, and homophobia is something that is still often prevalent, and having one remake show that out of six is not in itself a problem. on the other, yes, happy fluffy stories are important, but sometimes people who have gone through stuff like this also need to see their experiences represented. the power of skam is that it shows difficult experiences BUT ALSO a happy ending. that can be very healing, i think, compared to other stories which focus only on the drama. the trouble is, i don’t think they dealt with it very well, or put any effort into processing the consequences of these harrowing things. and if you don’t, it feels cheap.

- on to my main gripe : the writing. previsible, i know. but to me, essential. and this is not about them ‘changing things’ - i like when remakes change stuff, when they do it well. the thing is, i have been burned too many times before. and when i sense that the writing is being wack, it makes it automatically much harder for me to invest emotionally in the characters. and simply put there were signs early on that made me distrust the writers. for starters, the first two episodes gave me a feeling that they didn’t have their priorities in order. the POV-immersion and depth is one of the most powerful aspects of skam, and it was lost. too many early clips felt out of Robbe’s perspective, and when it was him it was about Noor ; a few clips to show his discomfort were on point, but there were too many of them, and there were repetitive, losing time on what isn’t really an essential part of Robbe’s journey. and while they were spending time on clips that felt like misery flavored filler, they decided several times to condense original clips focused on Isak and Even, together ; like their first meeting and then their first hangout, or later in the series OHN and the minute by minute talk. and i think their story suffered from that. i think because they don’t have a real discussion early on, the buildup of their relationship feels mostly based on physical attraction. and while it certainly is a thing that happens, it just isn’t my fave love story thing. i missed the sweet pining from afar and tension that makes later drama believable. it felt like they brought the drama comparatively too fast without enough character work to make it worthwhile. Also there is just too much time spent on Zoenne drama, and their breakup seems like it foreshadows the dreaded s4 love triangle, which, yikes. the focus is all over the place, the rythm felt incoherent. 

- what’s more, they decided to introduce pretty grave elements of plot, like Robbe using slurs against Sander, the homophobic attack, the suicidal urges on both their sides, Sander kissing Britt while he was still saying I love you to Robbe in the morning, without either proper build up or resolution. It made it all feel cheap, jarring, and unearned, especially when they didn’t put trigger warnings or made jokes about it on insta or waited forever to give news about the characters being ok. it felt like drama for the sake of drama, and definitely not written with a vulnerable audience of queer teens in mind. and at the same time, when it came to the ‘big scenes’ of their relationship, like the first kiss or the universes talk or sander’s episode, it felt more or less lifted from OG without a lot of effort made to adapt it to them. i actually quit live watching/blogging after the first kiss scene, because of how similar it was, and how uninspired it felt, and lukewarm. it felt like a lack of imagination. when it came to OHN, the scene in itself was lovely, but the weird time gap, random timing and people seemingly doing nothing after a suicidal Sander disappeared, sort of broke it for me.  In the OG the combo of buildup, longing, realisation, fear, release works so well in a sequence, and splitting it over time really diluted it, to me. Similarly the quickly thrown out ‘life is now’ at the ending felt sort of out of nowhere, while in OG it was such a lovely bookend, him apologizing to Eva and reflecting on his growth. The symbolism, which ties everything so beautifully together in themes of rebirth, salvation, baptism, union, faith, deciding your own narrative in OG, here feels inconsistent. There is an attempt I see, something about wasteland vs. warmth/family, but it’s often absent of main clips. It’s nowhere near as coherent as it could be. 

- all of this builds up to the main problem for me, of the season. which is, i didn’t really get into Robbe and Sander’s relationship. Or their individual arcs for that matter. When it comes to Robbe, I guess he just isn’t my type of character. I feel like he is missing the fire of an Isak. A lot of the time he just felt too passive, like he let other characters make his decisions. I was waiting for him to stand up for himself more than he did. And there are too many scenes of another character doing his coming out for him. And then Sander ; I have to say I don’t understand all the love his character gets. Maybe because that’s because he sort of gives me Dutch fuckboi vibes...but there were several times he just came accross as a flat out asshole. I found him intriguing in his intro clip, chaotic and charming, but that never really went where i expected it to. i didn’t get his passion, what drew him to art. the symbolism around his character - basically Bowie, and drawing Robbe, and Chernobyl (which is a bit tasteless imho, turning a tragedy like that into a cutesy romantic thing), feels ...disjointed, and shallow to me. Like I never really got into it. And maybe some people did and noticed deeper links but to me, I got stuck at the surface. I saw a lot of interesting theories with what was going on with him but in the end they just copied OG. And I’m sad to say, but he ended up feeling like a manic pixie dream boy cliché to me, and i just didn’t understand what drew them to each other so strongly. Yes, Robbe is caring and Sander is in need of care, but that feels like a very reductive reproduction of OG. Beyond that...i don’t know. Certain complexities of the OG i loved  just...were sanded away, like Isak being ignorant about MI and learning compassion. This just...didn’t feel like it had the same depth, and often felt like soapy teenage drama, leaning too hard and too lazily on the actors’ chemistry. i like my romances wordy and solidly enmeshed in character development, and this was not it. It never felt like they had a real conversation about things, esp after the drama. 

- i think this is the first remake that made me actually angry for reasons not related to problematic cast shit, and so i’m trying to analyze that emotion. for me it comes down to too much drama, too heavy handed. Too much of the boy squad being shitty to Robbe, too much Noor, too much filler clips without any deeper meaning, too much things distracting from getting to know the main characters and going into their issues in depth. They changed stuff, but didn’t have the guts to actually follow through. They broke the mold but only in ways that ended up feeling shallow and unconsequential. Like I would have loved seeing Robbe go to therapy ! see his mom ! Zoe and Robbe go to the police together ! Sander have a complicated home situation ! or doing a Bowie related art installation to express his feelings of alienation ! seeing more of the underground graffiti scene ! or just...something, idk. And them also removing the faith-related themes also felt disappointing. and the ohn clip taking place in the place where sander draws feels very....basic to me, even if it was pretty. very ‘oh he’s an artist, here is his safe place’....hm, okay. I didn’t like that they made Britt into such a villain, I didn’t like how the boy squad showed no care for Robbe whatsoever for weeks until the plot said it was time for them to be redeemed in a way that felt too jarring, and I didn’t like that they made Moyo so horrible but redeemed him so easily. I actually thought they would show that it’s okay to separate yourself from friends who are that bigoted, because it just shows they are not willing to care for people. And him suddenly saying those sweet and mature things felt too out of characters and a ahah ‘gotcha’ rather than depth . I didn’t like that Robbe, too, was made so virulent by his internalized homophobia but got over it so quickly. I think what disappointed me most, in the end, was that I kept picking up potential and the show kept doing absolutely nothing with it, or confirming my fears, and it made me feel stupid and out of tune with whatever they were doing. And it’s, to me, symptomatic in modern storytelling of a trend to privilege shocks and twists over inner coherence and build up. And it makes for...Very underwhelming stuff, in the end. 

- all in all, i think this remake illustrates why s3 of OG is not as easy to remake as it sounds. it’s very intricate machinery, with a pitch perfect rhythm (and an extremely passionate nitpicky fanbase lmao). and if you don’t get all the parts of why it’s so great, you’re going to lose a lot of it. (and all the remakes ended losing up stuff in translation ; more or less compensated by inventivity and charm of their own.) so many mainstream press articles praise the real time/social media format and the ‘real talk about teen issues’ which, yeah, is part of the success, but doesn’t explain the devotion on its own. there’s the way the story uses real time to build up a storytelling rythm that feels organic and makes sense as if it was part of the lives of the viewer. There’s foreshadowing and aftershocks. Wtfock often feels like they wrote the clip numbers on darts and randomly threw them at a week planner. If an episode of a regular series ends on a cliffhanger, we can be thrilled and frustrated and put it aside for next week. but if you end an episode with a character shown to be suicidal, or you don’t show them being okay after a beating, for hours or days, that’s the emotion you leave your viewers with, because skam is a continuous experience. and remakes who pile on drama moments without respite (looking at you too skamfr s4) don’t get how tiring and disengaging this can be, in this format. skam worked so well because of how benevolent it was, on the whole. and also, cheeky, with that ‘don’t take it too seriously’ deflating humor. grumpy isak in ‘hate me now’ mode getting bumped into. this lightness and comedy often feels missing here. also my god the social media is absolutely terrible. plus...there is too much filler. honestly, them having more time, on the whole...ended up being a bad thing. Plus Wtfock feels like it has so much more unadressed plot points, like...why did Sander change his mind exactly and kiss Britt again ? How did Robbe’s mom react ? Who did the attack ? What is happening w Senne now ? etc. And it feels like they just missed the fact that OG, however subtly, did adress those things. 

- now, don’t get me wrong, i’m happy it’s popular in Belgium. On the whole it’s still a beautiful story of love and acceptance. and that people found something in it that spoke to them. but as a remake, it’s probably one of the most disappointing yet, to me. and i sort of...don’t get the hype. and i don’t want to be too ‘oh cute boys kissing’ cynical about it. but i think this illustrates why in the end, this is also very subjective. there are probably things i missed because i didn’t feel the need to examine it in depth or do the extra emotional work that comes with being a devoted fan of something. and some of their choices made me angry, and i’m not forgiving when it comes to these things. i still wish them success for s4 and whatever else, but i don’t think i will watch live, at least unless it gets really rave reviews about their treatment of Yasmina’s season. i mean they got s2 right, who knows? 

[chwrpg]

It’s about time. We’ve been waiting for you guys. -- Nova Lisbon

A NOTE FROM ADMIN B: If anyone can hear screaming in the distance don’t worry it’s just me!!!!!!!!! It’s no secret the Lisbon sisters are the loves of my life so I’ve always wanted to have the full set on the dash to really get into that family dynamic of theirs. And now, thanks to resident angel™ Tiff, we’re one step closer! I love the way you’ve written Nova-- like the other sisters she has that enigmatic manic pixie dream girl facade, but there’s so, so much more behind what everyone else projects onto her. I cannot wait to see her finally get the attention she deserves.

OOC NAME/ALIAS, PREFERRED PRONOUNS, AGE & TIMEZONE:

That Bitch FKA Tiff . 26 . CST

DESIRED CHARACTER:

Nova Lisbon

HOW ACTIVE WILL YOU BE?

7

SECONDARY CHOICE:

-

DESCRIBE THE CHARACTER:

If John Green had ever met Nova Lisbon he would have had a field day with that one. Everything about her from the way she walked with a little skip in her step to her more arbitrary habits like the way she dotted her i’s with hearts and took Buzzfeed personality quizzes when she was bored in class was more than enough material for her to inevitably become someone’s manic pixie dream girl. It wasn’t even that there was necessarily anything special that made her stand out from everyone else, people were just naturally attracted to her because she was an enigma; an experience that they could talk about at class reunions in the years to come. The Lisbon sisters were known in town for the air of mystery that followed them, enticing those who enjoyed a challenge to go to great lengths in hopes of catching the attention of one of the elusive sirens. Catching the eye of one of them was like winning a lottery ticket or climbing Mount Everest. While her sisters preferred to shy away from this portrayal that had been placed on them since their move to Rosewood, just trying to live normal lives, Nova reveled in all of the extra attention, more than happy to take her sisters’ share. Being caught smack dab in the middle of so many personalities made it so that it could be difficult to not get overlooked and that soon became one of her biggest fears, being forgotten and ultimately left behind, even by her own family. A fear that she never shared with any of them out of fear of sounding more irrational than her mother often made her feel. How could she tell them not to be themselves because it made her feel small compared to them when their parents had already stifled almost all enjoyment out of their life? Instead she began doing outrageous things and getting into unsavory habits for the sake of standing out. And in a way showing that she had control over her life, that no one told her what to do, even her parents. Though as mature as she tried to come off she was still a naive, hopeless romantic who could easily be taken advantage of. She fell in love easily. It seemed almost weekly. Unfortunately all of those people were out of her life about as fast as they had come in. But in that desperation to become a person of importance in others lives, in fighting so desperately to not become just another passing flavor of the week, she gave pieces of herself. Until she had given so much there was nothing left to give. Until all that was left was for her to get her shit together and pick up those pieces herself. And slowly but surely she was learning to do that. No offense to Alaska Young, but she was going to become the one who would control the narrative to her own story.

SAMPLE WRITING:

When Nova had first proposed the idea of a peer counseling program she had been met with a couple of chuckles, little bouts of amusement which soon took an awkward turn when the realization hit that she was completely serious. They were completely in their right to believe that she had been joking of course. Up until recently she wasn’t known for taking anything too seriously, much less known to dabble in humanitarianism. How on Earth did this girl, the same girl who throughout high school threw fits mid lecture over something as simple as a break up note think she was equipped to share any kind of advice with anyone? But that was exactly why Nova thought she was a prime candidate to participate in a peer counseling program. While, yes, she had been raised in an extremely sheltered environment she had somehow managed to find herself going through certain hardships that weren’t universally shared in such a short amount of time. Sure, as the whispers around town had led everyone to believe once the girls had all effectively left their time in captivity in their house, there probably wouldn’t have been so many speed bumps along the way if she had just listened to her parents. But she also wouldn’t have learned any of the life lessons she had if these experiences never occurred. For as much as she had been shamed at the time for her mistakes she felt no regrets. These moments and lapses in judgement that she was demonized for, especially by her mother who constantly berated her for being a free spirit, had molded her into the person she was today. The thing with Nova was that she stopped letting herself be bound by the rules the moment they settled down in Rosewood. Which really should have come as less of a surprise considering the compounding frustration that had slowly built up in the girls, passing on the baggage from the sister before them like a rite of passage.

Being part of such a tight knit family had always felt like both a blessing and a curse. The Lisbon sisters had always been as thick as thieves, so close that growing up Nova even believed they all shared a soul. That they all took different parts of it and together completed a whole person. Tessa had snatched up the compassion and understanding, Marina the brutal honesty and vicious protectiveness, Bridget the loyalty and adaptability, and Cecily the courage and patience. At least that was how she coped with their situation, by doing what she always did and romanticizing everything. Perhaps that was where the real problem lied though, that their codependence ran so deep they lost their sense of individuality. But what else were they supposed to do when their growth had already been stunted so severely by denying them the ability to form any true relationships outside of their own household? Even Nova had always been more open to the public than her sisters left a lot of things unsaid, things she didn’t think were of much importance but explained a lot about her character. Things she wanted people to find out about her by looking deeper than surface level. She left hints here and there, little moments with different people, like a scavenger hunt waiting to be solved. It was a path many had tried to venture but very few actually made headway along.

These who truly got to know Nova knew she was like a hurricane; calm and still at times like the eye of the storm, the still point in the turning world as one of her many suitors once stated. But destructive in passing, wearing her heart on her sleeve, and often making a scene when she felt  like she was being played. Maybe that was why no one could quite understand why it was she felt the need to start the peer counseling program. Was it to gain some kind of karmic retribution for all the lives she had turned upside-down? Or was it to live vicariously through the lives of others by listening to their stories like they were retellings excerpts from books in some vast library of life? The truth was much more simple than that. Nova just loved people. And she liked to help them, not out of self interest despite this desperate need to be loved in return, but because she was fundamentally a caretaker.

This was how she found currently herself the only running some errands for colleagues and shopping for holiday decorations to spruce up the little office they used as the peer counseling center. She had taken a bit of a detour in the beauty department when the wails of child snapped her out of her own thoughts. Turning to scan down the aisle and see where the ruckus was coming from she spotted a little girl, no more than two or three years old. Around how old her child would have been had things turned out differently. The kid seemed to be lost and crying out for her mom but there was no one in sight who seemed to be coming to her rescue. She shuffled back awkwardly to the end of the aisle, looking all around to see if anyone was making their way back over for her or even if there was an employee whose attention she could get, but there was no one. Part of her told herself to just go and pretend like she didn’t see anything, it wasn’t her business anyways. But this wasn’t something she could overlook, it didn’t sit right to not do anything. Seeing this tiny person so upset because she was lost and didn’t know what to do reminded her of herself, and how she felt growing up.

“Hey sweetie…Did you get separated from your mom?” She asked timidly, slowly making her way closer to her, crouched down slightly so she was level with the kid to not make her feel too intimidated of this stranger coming up to her. The little girl simply nodded in response, wiping at her eyes and nose with the sleeve of the jacket she had on. “Okay. I’m gonna take you to some people that are gonna help find her, alright?” The Lisbon girl offered in the most reassuring tone she could muster up to reassure the child that things would be okay. Gracelessly she led the little girl through the store towards the front, to the customer service area where she knew the girl would be safe and there were people who were more trained on what to do in this kind of situation. Whose hearts probably wouldn’t be on the brink beating out of their chest from anxiousness of having someone else’s safety in their hands, especially when the girl reached up to clutch her hand only managing to hold onto a few of her fingers as they walked.

As awkward as she herself felt, the unknown leading the unknown, she did her best to keep a brave face all the same. The same forced smile she plastered on whenever she went back home, which she hadn’t been back to since her miscarriage. Nova had never been great with kids. They were a huge responsibility, they required lots of time, they were very dependent. They asked for much more than she currently had to give, more than she thought she would ever have to give. And quite honestly she hadn’t had the best examples of parenting. The fear of screwing up another life because of her own damage was real. It was why as shitty as she felt thinking it she was actually sorta relieved when she miscarried. It was a sad situation knowing there had been a life inside of her and losing it from one minute to another. But it didn’t feel sad to her. To be honest she didn’t really feel anything when it happened other than a weight off her shoulders. It felt like she had been granted a second chance at life. A chance to do everything over but better this time. But currently this tiny person was being so strong and entrusting her whole life with someone she didn’t know. The least she could do was act like she had her shit together for a few moments. 

When they made it to the service desk the employees got straight to making an announcement calling for the girl’s mother. Nova turned to head back to finishing her errands but stopped in her tracks when she felt a tug on the back of her shirt. It was the little girl. She begged for her not to leave and Nova didn’t have the heart to tell her no. So she stayed and played the few schoolyard games she remembered, like patty cake and rock paper scissors, with her until her mother arrived. 

The mother’s face was covered in tears as she scooped up her kid and held her close. She thanked Nova over and over again. “I don’t know how to repay you.” She said through her tears. 

“That’s not necessary, ma’am. Seeing how happy you two are is enough repayment for me. Just remember to cherish her the same way you are now always. Even when she gets older and starts giving you a hard time.” She said with a soft laugh and warm smile. As happy as she was for the happily reunited family she felt a pang in her chest as she thought about how broken hers currently was, everyone going in completely different directions once they had left home. It pained her heart to see someone have the kind of relationship she had always wanted with her mother, to see someone be revered simply for existing and not looked down on as if she was a mistake.

Maybe this was a sign. She had overcome every other problem in her life. Maybe it was time she faced the last one holding her back. Letting go of the anger she felt towards her parents. Or at least confront the issue instead of running from it. She pulled out her cellphone and dialed the number of the one parent she wasn’t scared out of her mind to talk to.

“Hey, Dad…How are you?” She asked softly into her phone.

ANYTHING ELSE?

1985

[mediaeval-muse]

Book Review... A. E. Kaplan, “Grendel’s Guide to Love and War”

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Reviewer Comments: I learned about this book from my adviser. Since both of us are medievalists specializing in Old English, we’re always looking for the next Beowulf adaptation or retelling, since the way the story gets transmitted in pop culture is fascinating. There were some things about this book that I really enjoyed and really found heartwarming - Grendel’s obsession with memory, his relationships, etc. There were a few things I didn’t like, but the story was still moving in a way that I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in a Beowulf retelling.

***Full review under the cut.***

Summary:  Tom Grendel lives a quiet life—writing in his notebooks, mowing lawns for his elderly neighbors, and pining for Willow, a girl next door who rejects the “manic-pixie-dream” label. But when Willow’s brother, Rex (the bro-iest bro ever to don a jockstrap), starts throwing wild parties, the idyllic senior citizens’ community where they live is transformed into a war zone. Tom is rightfully pissed—his dad is an Iraq vet, and the noise from the parties triggers his PTSD—so he comes up with a plan to end the parties for good. But of course, it’s not that simple. One retaliation leads to another, and things quickly escalate out of control, driving Tom and Willow apart, even as the parties continue unabated. Add to that an angsty existential crisis born of selectively reading his sister’s Philosophy 101 coursework, a botched break-in at an artisanal pig farm, and ten years of unresolved baggage stemming from his mother’s death…and the question isn’t so much whether Tom Grendel will win the day and get the girl, but whether he’ll survive intact.

Things I Liked

Re-imagining Beowulf Plot: I must say, the re-imagining the struggle between Beowulf and Grendel as a war over an endless string of house parties is quite fun. It was a believable situation - more so, I think, than trying to figure Grendel as jealous or inherently hateful. It was also a good route to go to make the conflict real but without resorting to violence.

Beowulf Characters: I really liked that Grendel’s mother was re-imagined as Tom’s sister - it made more sense for her to get involved that way, especially since her involvement was upping the levels of the pranks that an ordinary adult probably wouldn’t do. I also liked that the book had the added motivation to end the parties in Tom’s veteran father, who has PTSD. Tom’s father is sensitive to loud noises, and I think it was an interesting way to discuss the impact of the parties beyond just being an annoyance. It also gave the book the opportunity to talk about the complex relationship between father and son, which made me more invested in Tom’s commitment to ending the noise.

Grendel’s Relationship with the Elderly: Tom lives in a neighborhood that is mostly populated with elderly people, and he genuinely seems to care about them. I really liked moments when he expressed affection for his neighbors, and I liked his project of going to interview them all about their lives out of genuine curiosity. It was sweet.

Focus on Memory: I’m actually very impressed that so much of this book was concerned with memory, as it’s a major feature in the original poem. I liked reading about Tom’s interview project and how he grapples with his memories of his mother being incomplete or imperfect.

Things I Didn’t Like

Bro Characters: Rex (representing Hrothgar) and Wolf (representing Beowulf) are the epitome of racist, sexist, self-absorbed bros. While seeing them get pranked was, in some ways, cathartic, I did not enjoy reading about them as such boys without nuance. The annoying parties, in my opinion, would be enough without these characters making off-hand, insensitive comments about minorities and women.

Prose: While parts of this book are quite funny, other parts gave me the impression that Tom was too slick. He always has a quip or a smart-ass response to a situation, whether out loud or in his internal monologue. It felt overdone, and probably would have been better if pulled back just a bit.

Woke Points: There are several instances in this book where the author will insert a scene or conversation that don’t seem to have much to do with the story, seemingly to demonstrate that she has a stance on a particular social issue. For example, there’s one scene where Tom remembers a time he spoke up in class against memorializing Confederate generals, and he gets beat up for it afterwards. Another time, there’s a conversation between Tom and his sister about how her flirting with his best friend could lead to statutory rape and she should cut it out. So much more could have been done with these moments: the racism, for example, could have been integrated more fully to comment on feelings of Otherness and “Outsiderness” that the original poem attributes to Grendel and his kin. Zip’s relationship with Wolf could have also been talked about more so that it commented on one of the themes of the book (privacy or reputation, for example).

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in

(contemporary) Beowulf retellings, sympathetic Grendel figures

pranks and prank wars

Similar Reads

[desaparecidos]

You Review

For all of its Netflix hype, I bought the book to read on a flight in order to numb my mind. I was thinking it'd be the equivalent of binging on a bag of chips or watching reality TV - something easy, brainless - but it was far from.

The narrative is extremely engaging in its fast-paced, present prose, taking you right into the heady, neurotic, downright evil mind of Joe as he stalks his beloved Beck. What grabs me about this book beyond what others mention - intricate examinations of emotional abuse or the beginnings of the abuse cycle, the nuances of obsession versus love (is there a difference?), the dangers of social media oversharing - is the completely humane portrait of Beck provided by Kepnes, who is deft in characterising all of the players in her story.

Joe has over-idealized Beck from their first meeting; it is part of his pathology. He compares her ad nauseum to other Manic Pixie Dream Girls written by men - Natalie Portman in multiple roles, Woody Allen sylphs - with him in the role as romantic hero and protector of Beck from herself. Kepnes goes to pains to draw comparisons to these MPDGs, even ingenuously having Joe mention in passing once he and Beck go to IKEA his disappointment that it has not turned out 'like it did in 500 Days of Summer' - itself a take down of the MPDG trope that he has totally misinterpreted as a tragic star-crossed love story.

But Beck is a real, imperfect person. This novel would be downright boring if it was the same 'perfect angel Mary Sue gets stalked and terrorised by Evil Bad Man.' What I love most about You is the fact that Beck is a terrifyingly flawed human being with her own pathology that skews her towards manipulative, dark and exploitative behaviours.

It is clear from the beginning that Joe is a nice-guy irritation to her - someone to be humoured for goods and services he will provide for free, then promptly dismissed. She is tepid in her reception to him, even though he is performing all the tasks that by right through his romantic comedy framework should have him 'getting' the girl: he SAVES her LIFE from her own clumsy drunkenness, he assembles her furniture, he listens to all her problems and is a nonjudgmental ear even when she has lied about her father having died of a drug overdose(!!!).

She is simply not interested because for Beck, it is all about seduction and the chaos she can wreak upon others. She is NOT a nice girl, and she is fully aware of that. Joe struggles with boundaries but is unaware of the extent of his own unreasonableness; Beck is self-aware of the drama she creates. She compulsively pushes boundaries, wanting to be told no only to manipulate her way past the 'no' - Benji is a symptom of this, and so is Dr. Nicky. Joe offers no turmoil for her, so of course she is cheating on him. He is another facet in her manipulation. And just as he felt nothing for objectified and disregarded Karen Minty, she feels nothing for him.

This is the interesting struggle which the novel hinges on - the pathology of the two lead characters. Beck wants to be idealized and feels she deserves consuming, obsessive love - but she doesn't enjoy its fruits because she leads a life that she hopes, in part, escapes under the radar. In part, she manipulates and mirrors behaviours of her conquests in order to seduce them without truly revealing herself, caught up in the narrativisation of her own life (her junkie dad, her Nantucket townie upbringing, her jealous mum, etc) - the stories told are more important than the truth.

But she has been outmatched totally in her shitty romantic behaviours by the boundary-less, sociopathic likes of Joe, who is willing to give her exactly what she wants and then some. For me the scene that describes their dynamic totally is the one where she finds, to her disgust, the used tampon, only for him to rebut "it's in plastic". She's disgusted by the manner in which he has grossly and criminally overextended himself in her life, only for him to completely misunderstand that the reason it is wrong is not because it's unhygienic, but because it's abusive and violating.

Re: Netflix adaptation versus novel, something that annoyed me was the introduction of Paco to humanise Joe - don't make me feel sorry for him or come around to his side, but maybe him being evil for 10 hours alone would be unbearable - and the fact that they softened Beck a fair bit. Don't Mary Sue her! She's SUPPOSED to be a Manic Pixie Nightmare Girl.

[goodbyecarnival]

failing to be your manic pixie dream girl

a film critic coined the term manic pixie dream girl with the description of a girl that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures. there are more examples of this trope than I can count, but, if I’m going off of only the movies and shows that I’ve seen personally, the tv adaption of john green’s looking for alaska hits the hardest on this for me. alaska is beautiful, but doesn’t obsess over her own beauty. outgoing, but not obnoxious. deep, but not overly emotional. sensual, but not slutty. and best of all, spoiler alert, she dies before she can outgrow her youth and her mystery. our protagonist, miles, searches for answers, tries to piece together her nonexistent puzzle, refuses to acknowledge that her life was simply messy and imperfect. she was not this— this— manic pixie dream girl. so how do I encapsulate that as real person, one who sometimes obsesses over their own beauty, can be obnoxious, overly emotional, slutty, and one who, some would say, has already outgrown their youth and mystery— there is no answer.

there is a boy I want to be close to, platonically, probably. he likes me because I don’t wear too much makeup, or makeup at all most of the time, because I wear semi-revealing clothing and can return his sexual jokes and banter with the virtue of the virgin I am, because even when I feel like the next bad thing that happens will have me drafting another suicide note that never fulfills the purpose of being a suicide note so much as being a rant-y letter to no one, I tell him I’m okay, that life is hard, but I’m trying my best. but the manic pixie dream girl is not one that a man could ever be truly close to, because dare you say too much, reveal too much, exist for too long, and you’ve already lost your magic. so how do you become the manic pixie dream girl? you don’t. because you’ll never be her. because the very essence of trying to be her is failing. how do we remedy this? do I stop wearing glitter just because I know he thinks it makes my eyes look pretty? do I stop wearing my favorite perfume just because I know he likes the way it smells? do I stop making sure I’m just the right amount of messy before I leave the house just because I know he thinks it’s effortless and charming? if I stop trying to be her, do I finally become her? isn’t that the paradoxical state of femininity in this era? a pretty person can only be pretty if they make it seem like they’re not trying. as a person who basks in the art of divine femininity, how do I stop performing? how do I stop being his manic pixie dream girl?

[thevalkirias]

Why Pride and Prejudice is the best love story of all time and the deconstruction of love at first sight

Perhaps everybody has heard, read or watched a story about love at first sight. It’s a cliché that always works in movies. The quirky girl, in a hurry to get to a meeting, stumbles on a grumpy man in the middle of the street and he lets all his stuff fall down. Both bend over to gather his things that are on the street and, for a second, only a second, the girl is not in a hurry anymore and the man’s soul is light as a summer day. That’s it, the passion is born. It’s simple, easy, and works almost every time.

Despite its efficiency in fiction, it’s always rather weird to apply this concept in real life -- to believe someone can fall in love without even knowing the other person. I, personally, can’t imagine falling for someone that supports Trump, or that hates Harry Potter. And you can’t identify these things just by looking at someone.

So why do we so easily believe in the concept that love can overcome anything? That’s another weird-ass concept; should love truly overcoming every single obstacle? If I ever fall in love with a misogynist serial killer, please, rescue me from that trap!! There will never be enough attraction to overcome so many differences. And so we go back to love at first sight: even if I fell in love with someone just by looking at them, I think it’s unlikely I’d still be in love after actually getting to know them.

My favorite love stories are the ones in which none of the central characters is interested in one another when they first meet. The “love at first sight” trope (or: a cliché or allegory used in fiction in order to develop characters or plots) is still recurrent in literature, but many books have been trying to subvert this cliché; such as Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell, or The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater. Both are pretty recent examples – Fangirl was released in 2014 and The Raven Cycle started in 2012. Maybe the subversion of love at first sight is a recent phenomenon, but long before any of these books were published, long before these authors were even born, we already had a good example of a love story in which love itself is a construction that takes a lot of time, and its title is Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen.

2017 marked the 200th anniversary of the author’s death and the 204 years that passed since the first publication of the novel which is perhaps the most iconic Jane Austen wrote. Despite being two hundred years old, Pride and Prejudice is one of those timeless stories. It’s a classic.

In Why read the classics Italo Calvino explains that a classic is a book you always re-read; because if it’s a classic everyone already knows the plot, so even if it’s the reader’s first time with that specific book, she’s revisiting it nonetheless. We can say Pride and Prejudice is a classic because it’s a story that everyone knows: girl meets boy, girl hates boy, time goes by and the guy shows himself worthy of the girl’s affection and both declare they love for each other. Happy ending. It’s not by chance that Jane Austen’s story has inspired many modern adaptations, such as the Bridget Jones’ Diary series, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, or even the amazing web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Pride and Prejudice remains relevant nowadays.

Even though I agree with Italo Calvino, I want to add here another factor that makes Pride and Prejudice a classic: identification. If the characters of the novel were not well developed, so complex that they seem real, a great portion of the strength of the book would not exist. Even more so because in real life people can change their minds, they can turn out wrong and have strong opinions that sometimes lead to mistakes or misjudgments. Being wrong is not necessarily equivalent to being a bad person; actually, those are pretty different things. We are all wrong at some point in our lives – or in many of them. And that’s fine, because we can all realize the mistake, apologize and become better. People can always – and should always – become better, listen to others, empathize and stay away from prejudices. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, the heroes of the story, make mistakes, misjudge each other and others, are prideful and prejudiced, but also regret their mistakes, apologize and become better.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of good fortune, must be in want of a wife. It’s with this sentence that Jane Austen begins her original novel, a quote that has become quite famous in the literary world and is recognized as one of the most memorable first sentences that exist. Reading it here like this, it must sound silly; what if the single wealthy man does not want to get married? Or what if he was gay and is in want of a husband? Nowadays this sentence makes even less sense than it did back then, but this is not what makes it so important: it’s what comes after it.

For those who have read the book or seen the movie, it’s known that the single wealthy man can be either Mr. Darcy or Mr. Bingley. These two are the main male characters that will get married throughout the story. But if we only take Mr. Darcy into account, the truth universally acknowledged does not apply. Maybe the truth is not so truthful, after all. Mr. Darcy is indeed single and has a nice fortune, but we don’t know if he is actually in want of a wife. The sentence “universal truth” is neither “universal” nor “true” because, even though it fits the expectations of the English society at the beginning of the 19th century, Jane Austen knew very well that that’s not the way love stories work. Elizabeth Bennet is not in want of a single wealthy man to marry, and neither is Mr. Darcy looking for such a wife.

Returning to love at first sight: if love depended solely on our first impressions of others, love affairs would be in severe decadency, and if this rule applied to Pride and Prejudice, none of the characters would be married by the end of the story (maybe Jane and Bingley). Elizabeth would remain prideful and Darcy prejudiced, but thankfully second chances exist!

Love at first sight usually comes with the idealization of the loved one. Even though it’s easy to imagine how the other person must be and nurture feelings for this idea, it’s also dangerous. Women’s representation in fiction, even more so in love stories, often comes with the idealization of a perfect woman, a male dream that becomes true. This gives rise to another very common trope: the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, that quirky and beautiful-without-even-trying girl whose only purpose is to help in the development of other characters (usually her significant other). Despite the many studies surrounding this theme, along with the calling out of these flaws, women’s representation in fiction is still in bad shape. Of course, we have to this date many well-developed characters, but there’s still a long way to go. However, two centuries ago, Jane Austen created complex characters, with wants of their own and a critical view of the world.

Elizabeth did not like Darcy when they first met -- or the second time they met, or the third. In fact, she only starts to think positively of him when they really get to know each other – when they talk, apologize for their mistakes and open themselves to each other’s point of view. Elizabeth does not exist solely to make Darcy a better man, nor is the opposite true. Both are equally well-developed and tridimensional characters. It’s almost impossible to read Pride and Prejudice without empathizing or identifying with them.

I think empathy is the main word when it comes to Pride and Prejudice, because it’s only when Darcy and Elizabeth put themselves in each other’s shoes that they are able to get out of their own personal worlds filled with pride and prejudice and start seeing the other with new eyes. And this is also true for Elizabeth and her sister Jane, or her friend Charlotte and her mother; it’s also true for Darcy and the Bennet family, and Darcy and his friend Bingley.

Pride and Prejudice is perhaps the best love story ever because it is about characters that are compatible with the real world, because it believes in second chances, because it depends on empathy, because it shows that it’s possible to make mistakes, regret them and become better and because it shows us that no one is perfect, not even love.

About the author

JÚLIA MEDINA

Júlia studies letters and has studied Russian in college. She has spent way too much time feeling conflicted about being more pop or more cult before she realized that what's truly cool is having fun. Aspiring critic and meme maker, she is just another millenial trying to get over Sirius Black dying. She was born on the same day as Junior from Sandy & Junior and in the same year as Harry Styles (1994) and she considers this to be a victory.

This piece was originally published in Portuguese on March 14th, 2017 as "Por que Orgulho e Preconceito é a melhor história de amor de todos os tempos e a desconstrução do amor à primeira vista". Translated by Anna Viduani.

[rawtaytilacigol]

Henry’s Character Arc

So a little over three years ago, I decided one day to sit down and write a lengthy analysis of Henry from Next to Normal. And, well, I thought I'd revive it, so here we go!

Can I just say how much I adore Henry? Because it’s occurred to me recently that he hardly gets any attention. He’s such an interesting character who grows up a lot over the course of the play—from a misguided stoner who sees Natalie with rose-colored glasses, to a genuinely caring person who is learning what it means to love someone who has a lot going on in their life. Up until recently it always bothered me that he and Natalie ended up together in the end, but after having thought it over, I’ve decided that while their relationship may not last forever, it’s the right thing for the time being.

So let’s look at this development chronologically. In the beginning, Henry is very childish. On the one hand, this makes him very endearing and lovable—like, I can completely imagine him in his room that first morning telling himself, “All right, dude, you can do this. This is the day you’re finally going to talk to Natalie.” He is visibly nervous, and he retreats almost like a lost puppy when Natalie seems to reject him.

He’s also very idealistic, which is best exemplified during “Perfect For You.” At this point he gets very caught up in the moment, professing his love for her and talking all about how he forgets about all the bad things in the world when he’s with her. He insists that he loves her, but I don’t think that’s true at this point; he is more determined to be the one person to save her.

And while I think his proclamation was coming from a very sincere place, this mindset of his proves that he doesn’t see her as a complex person. You can’t really blame him for that though; if this really is the first time they’re speaking after six years, then Henry has definitely had a lot of time to form an idealized image of her in his head. I wouldn’t say that’s his fault. Even so, I’d say it’s a huge part of his character in the beginning, and one of the main beliefs that he has to let go of in order to develop as a character.

Anyway, the main problem I have with him in the beginning is that he doesn’t have any sense of boundaries. He stalks Natalie outside the practice room, tries to kiss her even after she pulls away, and tries to get her to do drugs. He also refuses to accept that she won’t let him into her house—and when Dan lets him in instead, he gladly joins in on the former’s enthusiasm and also feels a small sense of accomplishment. In being invited in, he’s gotten a step further in having a real relationship with Natalie, and at this point that’s still his primary goal.

After the bomb drops during “He’s Not Here,” Henry grapples with the realization that he isn’t the center of Natalie’s universe—she’s not a manic pixie dream girl, and she has problems that he can’t ever understand or solve. Suddenly everyone gets silent and uncomfortable, and it sinks in for the first time that he’s crossed a line.

Still, even after he realizes that Natalie has problems, he does not immediately get out of his self-centered, idealistic mindset. When we see him next, Natalie is venting to him, but he’s not really listening to her—he’s too busy trying to fix her by getting her to try pot. But he doesn’t understand yet that Natalie doesn’t need to be fixed so much as she just needs support.

He continues to push her to do drugs, though, and during “Wish I Were Here” he gets a second reality check. When Natalie loses control and starts dragging him to all these different clubs, he gets concerned and realizes his mistake, and then he genuinely wants to help. He realizes that his way of dealing with his problems might not necessarily work for Natalie, and in understanding this he takes another step in understanding that she is a real person whose experiences he can never relate to. But again, he’s a genuinely good guy who really does like Natalie as a person, which is why he takes care of her towards the end of that number. His motivation has long since changed from wanting to go out with her.

Meanwhile, Natalie herself goes through a bout of self-hatred after having lost control at the club. She pushes Henry away during the end of “Wish I Were Here” and also “Hey #1,” even though she really doesn’t need to. I think that at this point, Henry does love her—regardless of whether or not that love is romantic, he does genuinely care for her as a person, and just because he can’t solve all her problems, doesn’t mean she’s unlovable. But Natalie seems to just assume that he hates her, and he can’t seem to convince her otherwise.

When this comes out during “Why Stay/A Promise,” Henry manages to calm her down—not by trying to fix her, but by just calmly insisting that he still loves her. I read a post here a long time ago that talked about how during that song, Dan is doing all the talking while Henry mostly doesn’t know what to say—most of his lines are simply short echoes of what Dan is saying, or just wordless sounds. And I think that illustrates that Henry has finally understood that helping a person in Natalie’s situation isn’t about saving them or fixing them. but by listening to them and reassuring them. 

That said, though, it’s not that black and white. Natalie still refuses his help when disaster strikes moments later, but in that case it’s help that is actually reasonable. He doesn’t tell her to forget about everything and go to the dance—he just offers to drive Diana to the hospital. Natalie rejects him because she still doesn’t believe that anyone can understand her. It takes Diana to shake her out of that. (On the other hand, it could be Henry who slips up at this point—maybe he’s overstepping his bounds by trying to be involved in Natalie’s family problems. Even so, he has internalized that distraction is not the answer.)

And in “Hey #3,” Henry at first seems to be back to his selfish ways: “Will your mom be okay? / Well, she might be someday. / But for now, it’s all fine? / She’s still on my mind. / Can you leave it behind?” (It was actually this part that made me want to contemplate Henry further.) And Natalie does get some things right here—Henry can’t stay with her forever, and it’s obvious that their relationship is tragically destined to end up just like her parents’. And for the record, I think Diana was completely right to walk out on Dan—the latter was investing too much on trying to solve his wife’s problems, and that was harming both of them. This will probably happen with Henry and Natalie too, and it should.

So for a long time, I thought that Henry was completely wrong in that moment—sweet, but misguided, like he was for most of Act 1. But when I observed Natalie’s self-hatred more this time around, I decided that he had the right idea in telling her that he would be there. Because even if the relationship doesn’t last forever, it is still important for Natalie to know that there are people out there who think that “crazy…and fucked up is perfect.” She can still be loved, and that’s what we can see during the time skip in “Light”—he’s starting to just be there and listen more, and we can see that all her problems don’t have to prevent her from having a pleasant birthday dinner with Dan and Henry.

One of the things I like so much about this ending is that just because Henry has developed, doesn’t mean he’s an entirely new person. He’s not perfect for her, and he’s never going to be. He’s still determined to be, and while that is misguided, this quality of his is also beneficial in a way because it reassures Natalie that there’s someone out there who’s loyal enough to at least try. Henry’s development doesn’t involve him completely shedding that part of himself, but rather adjusting to his reality check and using his new experiences to make that trait more adaptive. I think we all have traits like that, and I think it’s a good message about how one can change for the better without completely erasing the things that make them who they are. I’ve never seen anyone else mention any of this stuff, but I see it as one of many reasons to love Next to Normal.

@deanpala67-79 

[ramblingsrantsreviews]

Daybreak (Netflix, 2019)

There’s no easy way to describe Netflix’s new show Daybreak. It’s part teen drama, part teen rom-com, and part post-apocalyptic nightmare. The best way to describe it, as many professional journalists have, is teenage Mad Max meets Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Now, I’m not a fan of Mad Max or anything to do with the apocalypse or post-apocalypse and yet, I found myself drawn to this story — mostly because I wanted my brother and dad to stop pestering me to watch it. I was surprisingly shocked when the pilot captured my attention and willed me to press that “next episode” button Netflix. Yep, I was hooked.

Daybreak is an adaptation from a graphic novel of the same name written by Brian Ralph. The tv series which was created by Brad Peyton and Aron Eli Coleite, tells the story of Josh Wheeler who is on a quest to find his girlfriend (ex-girlfriend?) Sam Dean in the aftermath of the apocalypse that left only teenagers (and 10-year-old girls?) alive.

With no adults to bring order to the town of Glendale, the high school students do what they do best — create cliques. The cliques, or tribes as they’re referred to in Daybreak, are all controlled by one dominate tribe — The Jocks. Sounds like high school, doesn’t it?

Our protagonist, Josh, has decided the best way to survive the apocalypse is to keep to himself, avoid all tribes and not be a dick. Except, he doesn’t want to be completely alone. No, he wants and needs to find his true love, Sam Dean. Of course, hunting down your true love in a town you’re relatively new too and that’s crawling with Ghoulies (Daybreak’s version of zombies — who are all adults who repeat their last sentence over and over again) is not an easy task for a loner. Despite, his better judgment Josh does end up cultivating his own tribe of sorts out of the misfits roaming around Glendale. Together they form the tribe Daybreaks.

Get the gist? Good.

Now, here’s Dani’s Desk review of Daybreak.

Spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.

Favorite Episode: Episode 2 — “Schmuck Bait!”

While I admit the pilot was interesting, the only reason I tuned in to the second episode was because of the cliffhanger in the pilot. Episode 2 is what really got me hooked on this show because I wanted to learn more about our core characters.

This is the episode where we start to understand who our characters are. We get to see Josh begrudgingly start to bond with his former bully Westly, who has taken on a new outlook on life that has to lead him to become a rōnin searching for redemption, an Angelica, the 10-year genius and pain-in-the-ass Josh occasionally babysat. Also added into this found-family mix, is Eli Eli Cardashyan (yes, it’s pronounced the same way. No, they’re not related) who has claimed the Glendale mall as his own sanctuary and is not happy about the other’s presence. And I can’t forget about the “Witch” who is better known as former-biology teacher Ms. Crumble who has somehow survived the apocalypse and isn’t a total Ghoulie like the rest of the adults in Glendale.

What’s so special about this episode is that we get a sense of who these characters are and the struggles they’ve been facing on their own. Let’s face it, no one wants to be alone especially in a post-apocalyptic world that run by teenagers. It also really sets up the different stories that are going to be explored over the course of the 10 episodes.

This episode is the starting point. The characters are nervous around each other. Some still want to be alone (Josh), others desperately want to belong to a tribe (Angelica) and some just want their mall back (Eli). This is the episode that sets up the before so that the conclusion, in the end, will show us that these characters have undergone a change.

Least Favorite Episode: Episode 10 – “FWASH BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!”

This is the final episode of the series and honestly, it should be my favorite. Obviously, it’s not. Is there action? Yes. Is there a resolution? Yes. The biggest problem I had with this episode was that it didn’t answer any questions.

Daybreak poses lots of questions over the 10 episodes. Who started the nuclear bombing? Why did only teenagers (and Angelica) survive? Is it the same everywhere? Why did the adults turn into Ghoulies? Why didn’t Ms. Crumblr or Mr. Burr turn into Ghoulies? With so many questions, it’s an unfortunate disservice that the conclusion of Daybreak doesn’t answer one of these pressing questions.

Favorite Character: Ms. Crumble / The Witch

For viewers of this show, this might be a shocking surprise. Ms. Crumble certainly wasn’t destined to become anyone favorite’s character. If anything, she was the comedic C plot to an already comical and dramatic a and b plot. And yet, here I am declaring her my favorite character.

Ms. Crumble is intriguing because she’s unlike any character we’ve ever seen before. Josh is basically this decade’s Ferris Bueller. Angelica is a modern Hit-Girl. Ms. Crumble is something totally different.

She’s also the character that really sticks to her values and inequity. Every other character slips up. Josh becomes a dick. Westly plans to kill despite his road to redemption. Even, Angelica gives up on her goal of creating a tribe with Josh and Westly by her side. Ms. Crumble, though, never goes back on her word. She has a few close calls but it never happens. She never eats a child.

What’s even more interesting is she could have been like Principal Burr. She had every reason to turn on the teenagers who tormented her for years and forced her to change her name to Ms. Crumble, but she doesn’t. She loves kids. She wants to help kids. Even with a blood-thirsty urge to consume her former students, she doesn’t.

She also has the single greatest line of dialogue I have ever heard. “My shit is like a Health Valley granola bar that feels solid, but when you open it up, there’s shit everywhere.”

Don’t get me wrong, she does have some faults — like her involvement with Principal Burr before the apocalypse, but her highs far outweigh her lows.

Least Favorite Character – Samira “Sam” Dean

Yeah okay, I know what you’re thinking. Shouldn’t Baron Triumph/Principal Burr who killed and ate students for no reason or Turbo who killed classmates out of jealousy and rage be your least favorite character? Probably. Don’t get me wrong their terrible characters, but they’re not necessarily terribly written which is why my least favorite character is golden girl Sam Dean.

Sam Dean is a textbook manic pixie dream girl. For most of the story, she’s MIA leaving us only to see her as Josh sees her. So maybe my statement is a little unfair. It’s not that she’s a manic pixie dream girl, it’s just that Josh sees her as one. But that’s not the only problem.

Sam Dean is Principal Burr’s go-to student. She’s the self-proclaimed “human sorting hat” when it comes to figuring out where kids belong in the social circles of high school. She’s the nice girl on campus and the it-girl after she makes a viral video of her randomly complimenting her classmates.

But is she really the nice girl we think she is? No, she’s not.

She lashes out at Josh and blames him for her new homecoming queen status since he’s the one who posted her video that went viral. Why else would she have asked him to film it if she didn’t want it to be posted?

She lets Baron Triumph out because she’s convinced he’s the one who can bring order to the students — despite the fact that he’s the one who’s been eating them!

And to top it all of, she goes around whining that no one knows who she really is but doesn’t bother to show them who she really is. Even Josh, her boyfriend who claims he’s in love with her, doesn’t get to know the real Sam Dean.

So yeah, Sam might be Josh’s manic pixie dream girl but she’s also her own manic pixie dream girl. Clearly, she has an idea of who she is that no one else does.

Since no one knows who the hell Sam Dean is, not even herself, her ending is confusing and slightly shocking. Is that who the real Sam Dean is?

Complaints:

Lack of answers.

Again, I don’t understand how a show that presents so many questions can leave so many unanswered. We literally do not know why anything is happening or how it’s happening. I get it, writers want to leave things open for a second season and we need cliffhangers. While that is the truth, they still could have answered at least one question.

And yeah okay, there’s Principal Burr’s crackhead theory that the teenagers are the only ones who survived because they got their HIV vaccine but it’s played for laughs. I certainly didn’t take it seriously. Nor would I be happy if that truly was the reason why all the teenagers were able to survive.

What’s the deal with Turbo? How did his face get messed up? Why doesn’t he talk? When he does talk, he bleeds, why?

Exceptions to the Rules.

Daybreak does an amazing job of establishing the world we are now in and the rules for that world in the first episode. And then, we’re presented with all these exceptions to the rules without an explanation.

If Jayden Hoyles was held back several times in high school, wouldn’t he be an adult? If he’s an adult he should be a Ghoulie. Why isn’t he? I certainly don’t know because it’s never even addressed.

What about Angelica? She’s just a 10-year-old kid. How did she survive? Are their other kids out there trying to survive without their parents? What about babies?

How about Principal Burr and Ms. Crumble? They were both adults that survived the apocalypse. And yet, they’re nothing like each other. Yeah, Ms. Crumble comes to the conclusion that she’s the way she is because she has suffered a traumatic brain injury but is that the truth? Regardless, how are they able to continue to survive?

The reason for the Nuclear War is never addressed.

It seems like a disservice for the show to not even mention or even search for the reason why the nuclear war occurred. Yes, the kids know it was all the adults’ fault but what caused it? Given the times we are currently living in, it would have been fun and interesting to see the kids come up with ideas on why the war started that parallel things happening in the real world.

Praise:

Direct Addresses.

I’ll admit at first I was skeptical of the extent that Josh broke the fourth wall. It was a carbon copy of Ferris Buller’s Day Off (and even borrowed some of his taglines) and seemed like a crutch the writers’ used to explain what was going on. Thankfully, it moved away from a crutch and became an amazing device.

I really loved that each character got their own version of a Fourth Wall Break that fit their personality. Josh had the standard, Ferris Buller one. It fit his character and eased us into this device in a way we were comfortable with. Our resident wild child and wannabe gangster Angelica took a different approached and borrowed from mob movies by narrating her episode with voiceovers. Westly’s episode was narrated by Rza, the de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan, and relied on Japanese animation to help get his point across. Ms. Crumble used flashbacks in the form of a zany multi-cam format to get her story across and Turbo addressed the camera directly relying on doodles on screen since he is mute.

Soundtrack.

Simply put, the soundtrack was amazing. Go stream it on Spotify!

Overall, Daybreak was entertaining but the conclusion left me annoyed and wishing for at least an hour of my time back. The series certainly ends with a hope for a season 2 but I’m not sure if I’d be invested enough to tune in.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Also follow here or on Wordpress to stay up to date with all my reviews, rants and rambles. 

Daybreak is streaming now on Netflix. You can catch the trailer for it here.

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND November 8, 2019 – DOCTOR SLEEP, MIDWAY, LAST CHRISTMAS, MARRIAGE STORY and more

Well, last weekend was a thing, wasn’t it? The movie I liked the most didn’t do great, the movie I really wasn’t into did better than expected, and Terminator: Dark Fate? Yeah, that’s the end of that franchise… hopefully?

This week, there’s some good, some bad and some okay to decent. I’m probably under embargo on the two bad movies so you’ll just have to guess which is which.

Actually, I already reviewed Mike Flanagan’s DOCTOR SLEEP (Warner Bros.) over at The Beat, and my review of Roland Emmerich’s MIDWAY (Lionsgate) will probably havegone up over there by the time you’ve read this. That just leaves Universal’s holiday rom-com LAST CHRISTMAS and Paramount’s PLAYING WITH FIRE.

Doctor Sleepis the latest Stephen King adaptation, this one based on his 2013 novel that is a sequel to The Shining, the movie starring Ewan McGregor as the older Danny Torrance, Rebecca Ferguson as “Rose the Hat” and newcomer Kyliegh Curran as Abra Stone, a young girl with powers who turns to Danny to help her face Rose and her gang of roving power vampires. As you can read in my review, this one isn’t so bad, and if you’re a fan of The Shining, there’s stuff for you to enjoy even though it’s not nearly as scary.

Not sure what more I can say about Midway, other than it’s Emmerich’s version of the WWII Pacific battle with a mostly-male cast that includes Woody Harrelson, Patrick Wilson, Aaron Eckhart, Randy Quaid and many more, most of whom have done better work. Basically, I wasn’t a fan, and I’m not sure how well it will do even with Monday being Veterans Day. I’ll be curious to see how others feel about the movie.

Also, not much to say about Playing with Fire other than its John Cena doing a family comedy with director Andy Fickman, Kegan Michael-Key, John Leguizamo, the wonderful Judy Greer, and honestly, I doubt anyone who might read this column would have any interest. Put it this way, it’s no Instant Family, one of my favorite movies from last year.

In many ways, my favorite movie of the weekend is Last Christmas, directed by Paul Feig from Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters, which is indeed based loosely on the George Michael song of the same name, but it brings together Emilia Clarke with Henry Golding from Crazy Rich Asians, as well as Michelle Yeoh from Crazy Rich Asians, and Emma Thompson, who co-wrote the film.

I’ll have an interview with Feig over at Next Best Picture very soon, but here’s my short review…

Mini-Review: You know you have to be doing something right if you make a Christmas rom-com that’s able to get a Jew into the Christmas spirit while watching your movie even before Halloween, but that’s the case with this great collaboration between Paul Feig with Emma Thompson.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was definitely surprised by how much I liked Emilia Clarke in the role of a fuck-up who can’t seem to find a regular living place since her roommates keep kicking her out. She works at a Christmas shop in London’s busy market owned by Michelle Yeoh, who is lovingly known as “Santa.” One night, her character Kate encounters a handsome and mysterious young man named Tom (Henry Golding), and the two become friends and then get closer.

It’s pretty amazing to see Clarke doing something we really haven’t seen her do before and that’s being funny, but she also sings in the movie and has a nature that some might deem “Manic Pixie Dream Girl”-ish. In fact, she plays an elf. (rimshot) It’s hard not to think of Zooey Deschanel in Elf as you watch Clarke spend time in her work costume but Kate is very likable and nothing like Clark’s previous roles. Golding is as charming and handsome as ever, making him come across like the new Hugh Grant, but their scenes together propel Last Christmas into a place where you really feel for both of them.

There are aspects to Last Christmas that are predictable, including a twist that’s literally spoiled in the first few minutes of the movie, but the movie is just so enjoyable overall that this can be forgiven. Even if you’re the worst Scrooge about the holidays, it’s hard not to enjoy all of the Christmas spirit permeating this movie, particularly Yeoh’s character, but it also finds a way to make you feel good about helping others during the holidays, something that I hope rubs off on anyone who sees this.

Basically, Last Christmas is a romantic comedy that’s actually romantic and very funny, as well as a great way to kick-off the holiday movie season! It’s taken some time, but Love Actually finally has a worthy successor.

Rating: 8/10

You can read more about the new wide releases over at The Beat.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

The big festival hitting New York this weekend, today in fact, is this year’s installation of DOC-NYC, which boasts 300 films and events circulating around the world of documentary filmmaking, including many World Premieres, as well as screenings of some of the year’s biggest commercial and critical hits in terms of docs.

Oddly, tonight’s Opening Night is Daniel Roher’s Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band, which was also the opening night gala of TIFF this year. I still haven’t seen it. Closing night is the NYC premiere of Ebs Burnough’s The Capote Tapes, which I also haven’t seen. The festival is giving Visionary Tribute Lifetime Achievement awards to Michael Apted, who will screen the latest in his ongoing doc series, 63 Up, as well as to Martin Scorsese, whose Netflix film Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story will screen. I actually haven’t seen too many movies in this year’s festival just cause I’ve been busy with other things, but I have seen Joe Berlinger’s The Longest Wave about windsurfer icon Robby Naish and Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe’s He Dreams of Giants, a great follow-up to Lost in La Mancha, which follows Terry Gilliam’s efforts to finally make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Other movies include the World Premiere of Beth B’s Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over on Saturday night, the NYC Premieres of Oren Jacoby’s On Broadway, Beth Kopple’s Desert One, Kristof Bilsen’s Mother plus many more. (On top of that, my own group, the Critics Choice Association will be announcing its own Critics Choice Documentary Awards this Sunday.)

LIMITED RELEASES

There are two can’t-miss movies this weekend, the first of them being Noah Baumbach’s latest Marriage Story, which in my opinion is the best film he’s made in his entire career, and that’s saying something. This one stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as a couple going through a divorce, and if this sounds familiar, it might be since Baumbach’s 2005 movie The Squid and The Whale was also about a divorce, that of his parents. It’s hard not to think that at least some of Marriage Story might be based on Baumbach’s own divorce from actor Jennifer Jason Leigh as Driver plays a theater director and Johansson plays an actor who appears in many of his plays. The real sticking point is their 6-year-old son and the fact that Johansson’s character wants to put him in school in California where she has an upcoming job, but his father, who is about to bring his play to Broadway without his wife, wants him in New York. At first, the couple plan on divorcing without lawyers and remaining friends, but as lawyers are brought on board – played by Laura Dern, Alan Alda and Ray Liotta – things just get more vicious. Not only is this one of Baumbach’s best-realized screenplay but the performances he gets out of his cast are indelible, particularly Driver and Johansson who have a number of highly charged scenes together, including one that’s absolutely unforgettable. It’s easily one of the best movies of the year, and it will be very much in the awards race. Marriage Story opens on Wednesday (today!) in New York – at the City Cinemas (formerly the Paris Theatre) and IFC Center – in L.A. and a few other cities. It won’t debut on Netflix until December 6.

Another movie that definitely needs to be seen is HONEY BOY (NEON), written by and starring Shia LaBeouf and directed by Alma Har’el, who has previously directed documentaries and music videos. It’s loosely based on some of LaBeouf’s own experiences as a child actor dealing with a turbulent relationship with his father with Noah Jupe from A Quiet Place and next week’s Ford vs. Ferrari playing the young actor “Otis Lort” who later in life (played by Lucas Hedges) is dealing with the repercussions of an alcoholic father, played by LaBeaouf, apparently based on his own father? It’s a really amazing film that obviously was extremely cathartic for LaBeouf to write while he was going through his own rehab therapy, plus he also has singer FKA twigs making her feature film debut as an amorous neighbor of Otis who lives at the motel where he stays with his father. I’m not going to say too much more about the film other than it’s extremely powerful and emotional

There are a couple decent docs opening this weekend, the one I recommend first and foremost being Roger Ross Williams’ THE APOLLO, which will open at the Metrographafter opening this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. It’s an amazing look at the landmark Harlem theater that’s made so many careers over the years from performers like Aretha Franklin and James Brown, combining amazing archival footage with new interviews.

I haven’t gotten around to seeing Lauren Greenfield’s new documentaryThe Kingmaker (Showtime), which will open at the Quad Cinema in New York before it airs on Showtime, but this one is about the political career of Imelda Marcos, the Philippines’ first lady who became almost more famous than her President husband Ferdinand, mainly for her collection of shoes.

Samuel Bathrick’s doc 16 Bars opens at New York’s Village East Cinema and in L.A. next Friday. It follows Arrested Development’s “Speech” Thomas as he works with in mates in a Virginia jail to write and record original music as part of their rehabilitation.

Netflix is also releasing Despicable Me co-creator Sergio Pablos’ animated film Klaus in theaters this Friday in advance of its worldwide streaming debut on Netflix on November 15. It features Jason Schwartzmann as the voice of Jesper, a spoiled rich kid son of the postmaster who is sent to a frozen island in the Arctic circle where he finds allies in a local schoolteacher (voiced by Rashida Jones) and meets a mysterious carpenter named Klaus (voiced by J.K. Simmons).

Opening at New York’s Cinema Village is Joel Souza’s CROWN VIC (Screen Media) starring Thomas Jane as a veteran cop with Luke Kleintank (also in Midway) as his rookie cop who are looking for a missing girl and hunting two cop killers in Los Angeles. It also stars Bridge Moynihan.

Nicolas Cage stars in PRIMAL (Lionsgate) as Frank Walsh, a hunter and collector of rare and exotic animals who catches a rare white jaguar, except that the ship taking his cargo also includes a political assassin being sent to the U.S. who breaks free and lets the jaguar loose. So this is like Life of Pi only with more Nicolas Cage? It also stars Famke Janssen, Kevin Durand and Michael Imperioli and opens in select cities asnd On Demand.

Similarly, Danger Close (Saban Films) will be in theatrs, On Demand and Digital, this one starring Travis Fimmel (Warcraft) as Major Harry Smith in Kriv Stenders’ war movie, written by Stuart Beattie. It follows Smith as he takes a group of 108 young soldiers from Australia and New Zealand into the Battle of Long tan against 2,500 Viet Cong soldiers. I guess this is an alternative to Midway for Veterans’ Day?

STREAMING AND CABLE

Debuting on Netflix is Luke Snellin’s holiday rom-com Let It Snow, starring Isabela Moner (Dora and the Lost City of Gold), Odeya Rush, Shameik Moore and Liv Hewson as a group of high school seniors in a Midwestern town who are snowbound on Christmas Eve. It’s based on a book by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle.

REPERTORY

Let’s get to some old(er) movies, starting with the Metrograph in New York, who begins a series with filmmaker Noah Baumbach in Residence in conjunction with the release of Baumbach’s latest and greatest, Marriage Story. Besides screening Baumbach’s own 1995 film Kicking and Screaming, 2005’s The Squid and the Whale and 2007’s Margot at the Wedding, Baumbach will present screenings of Spike Lee’s Crooklyn (1994) on Saturday, Eric Rohmer’s Pauline at the Beach (1983), which inspired Margot with more movies to come between now and November 22. The Metrograph also continues its Welcome To Metrograph: Redux series with Shunji Iwai’s 2001 film All About Lily Chou-Chouon Thursday and again on Saturday. This weekend’s Playtime: Family Matinees is Steven Spielberg’s 1981 classic Raiders of the Lost Ark, while Late Nites at Metrograph  will screen Bong Joon-wo’s The Host on Thursday through Sunday, way too late for this old man. You’ll also have another opportunity to see Hitchcock’s 1971 thriller Frenzy on Thursday night.

TheFilm Forumwill be screening Yasujirô Ozu’s 1957 film Tokyo Twilight in a new 4k restoration starting Friday, as well as bringing back his 1953 film Tokyo Story, as well, continuing from the Shatamachi series which ends Thursday. The Forum is also screening Henry King’s 1949 movie Twelve O’Clock a few more times this weekend, and on Sunday and Monday, it will screen Rowland Brown’s 1933 film Blood Money. This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is George Lucas’ American Graffiti.

The IFC Center is gonna be pretty busy with Doc-NYC (see above) but its Waverly Midnights: Spy Games offering will be Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and Late Night Favorites: Autumn 2019 will screen Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (one of my favorites).

Opening at the Quad on Friday is a 4k 20thAnniversary restoration of Joan Micklin Silver’s A Fish in the Bathtub, starring real-life husband-wife comedy duo Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. The 1999 comedy from the director of Hester Street and Crossing Delancey is about a woman who finally had enough with her stubborn husband so she moves in with her married son (played by Mark Ruffalo!!!), driving him crazy enough to convince his sister (Jane Adams) to try to repair the relationship.

The Roxy Cinema will be screening Valley Girlo n Weds and  Alan Parker’s 1984 film Birdy on Thursday, both starring Nicolas Cage, and the 1979 film Draculastarring Frank Langella on Saturday.

Uptown at Film at Lincoln Center, they’re kicking off a short series called Jessica Hausner: The Miracle Worker, including a sneak preview of her sci-fi thriller Little Joe, and showing her earlier films Amour Fou, Hotel,Lourdes, Lovely Ritaand a bunch of shorts.

MOMA continues Modern Matinees: Iris Barry’s History of Film and Vision Statement: Early Directorial Works, the latter showing Sebastian Silva’s The Maidon Wednesday evening, Jane Campion’s The Piano on Thursday, Debra Granik’s Down to the Bone on Friday, John Cassavetes’ Shadows(1959) on Saturday and Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy (2006) on Sunday, as well as Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

The Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn will show Tom Hanks’ The ‘Burbs on Thursday night in conjunction with Rotten Tomatoes, then next Monday’s Fist City is America Ninja 2: the Confrontation from 1987, Terror Tuesday is one of my favorites, Final Destination 3 (2006) and Weird Wednesday is the 1984 film Decoder.

Out in Astoria, the Museum of the Moving Image will screen Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers (1997) on Saturday as part of its ongoing “No Joke: Absurd Comedy as Political Reality” series. Friday night, its showing Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 classic Koyaanisqatsi, introduced by Ramell Ross as part of his “Some Other Lives of Time: Subjective Spaces for Nonfiction” series. I have no idea what that means. MOMI is also showing Vassilis Douvilis’ The Homecoming as part of “Always on Sunday: Greek Film Series,” which apparently has returned after a six-month hiatus.

Out in L.A., Tarantino’s New Beverly has been showing double features of Jackie Brown with Lewis Teague’s 1980 film Alligator, and no, I don’t know the connection either. Friday’s horror matinee is David Cronenberg’s The Brood while the midnight movies are Pulp Fiction on Friday night and Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence on Saturday night. The Kiddee Matinee is one of my faves, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and then Monday’s matinee is James Mangold’s Cop Land, starring Sylvester Stallone. Next Tuesday’s wacky triple feature is Stunts, Walking the Edge and The Kinky Coches and the Pom-Pom Pussycats. Now THAT is what I call a triple feature...

The Egyptian Theatre is showing Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman in a limited engagement but on Saturday, it will show Raoul Levy’s Hail, Mafia! (1965) as part of “Joe Dante’s 16mm Spotlight” with Mr. Dante in person. Over at the Aero, they’re having a series called “All the Right Stuff: The Artistry of Phillip Kaufman with the director in person and double features of Raiders of the Lost Arkand The Wanderers on Friday, Invasion of the Body Snatchers/The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid on Saturday and The Unbearable Lightness of Being on Sunday (with Juliette Binoche)!

The Friday midnight at Landmark’s Nuart Theater is the anime classic Akira.

Next week, James Mangold’s Ford vs. Ferrari takes on Elizabeth Banks’ Charlie’s Angels and Bill Condon’s The Good Liar, starring Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren.

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of May 2017

Hi guys! It’s that time of the month again, time for me to write a ‘lil bit about all of the various media I’ve stuffed into my gaping eye and ear-holes over the past 30 days. I would have included mouth-holes there too, but Nintendo deliberately made Switch cartridges taste horrible so unfortunately I haven’t been able to eat one. Oh well.

This month includes the return of some Sitcom favourites, more of me slowly, ever-so-slowly playing Zelda, a Booker Prize winner and a nice heap of Marvel Cinematic Universe fun.

Let’s do it!

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Movies

Once again there’s only 2 movies this month, and whilst they are both very different, both provide quite a bit to think and talk about. Up first is Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson 2015). This may be surprising given the types of films I normally like, but before watching Anomalisa I have to admit to not liking Charlie Kaufman as a writer. I’ve seen Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, and none of them resonated with me like they do for so many others. I just find him a bit… pretentious? Like he tries too hard to do different things and in the end it just obscures what he’s actually trying to say? I dunno. But much to my surprise and pleasure, I really enjoyed Anomalisa, which is different from Kaufman’s other work in that it’s animated. This stop-motion story follows a man (voiced by David Thewlis) who is on a business trip to Cincinnati. This man, Michael, sees everyone else in the world, including his wife, a former girlfriend, as the same person. They have the same face, and the same voice (Tom Noonan). That is until he stumbles across one other person who looks different, Lisa, (Jennifer Jason Leigh). It’s a complicated, dare I say, pretentious set-up, but for me it works. The animation is fantastic, incredibly detailed, and it’s used to go to places other animated films wouldn’t. This is a truly adult film, so if after Team America you wanted to see more puppet nudity and sex… I’ve got you covered. The way the technique of having everyone except Michael and Lisa be the same person works is incredibly effective and disorientating. It took about 10 minutes for me to twig it, the unease sort of snuck up on me. I said earlier that I think Kaufman’s gimmickry gets in the way of what he is actually trying to say, but that is not the case here, I think I pretty much got what the film was saying about solipsism, and how so many other films feature a ‘manic pixie dream girl’ who shakes a depressed male protagonist out of their funk. Anomalisa flips your expectations here. Lisa is not Michael’s soulmate, she’s just a blip in his mental illness. If it even is that, he might just be an asshole. That’s not to say that Lisa isn’t a well-drawn character, because she is, and Leigh’s voice acting makes her come to life. Then again, maybe this isn’t what Kaufman and Johnson are saying at all and I’m an idiot. Either way, Anomalisa is a fascinating film that has been rotating in my head since I watched it. It’s unlike anything else I’ve seen lately, and has me reconsidering my position on Charlie Kaufman. I certainly plan on watching the other film he directed, rather than just wrote, Synecdoche New York, and maybe I’ll go back to those other, older films.

Up next, I took a step away from the esoteric puppet show towards the mainstream blockbuster and into the cinema, as I went to see Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn 2017) which is of course (of course) the third film in the third phase of the monolithic Marvel Cinematic Universe. As is par for the course when writing about these films (and some, most, of the TV projects) I feel like I have to fully lay out a bit of bias. I love these films and just seeing these characters on screen and being done justice like this takes away a lot of my critical faculties. Problems I have with other, similar movies, I can brush aside because, hey, it’s the MCU, I trust these people. But that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Guardians 2, and whilst I don’t think it’s quite as good as the first one, I really appreciate it’s weirdness and how much crazy Marvel Universe lore it puts out there, if only just to hint at. The film of course sees all of our favourites from the first film, Star-Lord, Gamara, Drax, Rocket and Groot return for another adventure, but this time, the stakes are far more personal, as Star-Lord meets his father, Ego, who is brilliantly portrayed by Kurt Russell. Firstly, it was just awesome to be back with these characters again, they are just so much fun. The Guardians are perhaps the MCU versions that are the most different from the originals (of course, the comics have in turn, begun to reflect the movies far more) and as such I have a different emotional attachment to them. I’m not constantly comparing Gamora to the 500 Gamora comics I’ve read in my life, I’m just invested in her relationship with Nebula, and with Star-Lord. As I mentioned, the main plot here is Peter and his father, but the script makes sure that every Guardian (except maybe Baby Groot, but he’s adorable enough that you don’t mind) has their own story. Drax forms a bond with the newcomer Mantis (who is great!), Gamora fights her sister again, but even more personally, and Rocket deals with his anger driving people away. I found myself invested in all of these storylines, and it mean that, whilst the overall plot did sag a bit in the middle of the film, I didn’t mind. I will say that I am a bit sick of people dismissing Star-Lord’s story as ‘just more daddy issues’ or something like that. I think that’s reductive, and to me, the real plotline is how much Peter Quill still cares about his mother. His love for her is what snaps him out of cosmic brainwashing, and let’s not forget that, as awesome as the classic soundtracks are, they do serve an emotional purpose, as they are his only link to Earth, and to his mum. Maybe it’s just because my mother died of cancer as well (although hers wasn’t put there by an evil Celestial, at least I don’t think it was), but if anything, this is far more of a ‘mommy issues’ movie than a daddy issues one. I mentioned the soundtrack earlier, and I will say that this particular ‘awesome mix’ was a bit of step down, with the songs either being too mainstream (Fleetwood Mac, ELO) or way too obscure. Maybe I’m asking too much, but the first movie’s track selection was just perfect, hard for lightning to strike twice I suppose. The other character I want to specially highlight is Michael Rooker as Yondu, who is just amazing here. He has real pathos behind him and makes a character I never really knew into an absolute favourite. His storyline also sees the film do something I really didn’t expect and bring in more of the ‘original’ Guardians, the ones who, in the comics, were in the future. This movie has Sylvester Goddamn Stallone in it as Starhawk and I went in without knowing! I love that Gunn hasn’t forgotten the likes of Charlie-27 and Martinex, and that a major movie can feature characters as weird as them. That’s what sets this film apart from me, it’s not afraid to get a bit odd, and to use weird elements from the source material to their full potential. A few years ago, Ego The Living Planet would be considered way too goofy for a film, but not here, here he’s Kurt Russell! Some of this is pure fan-service, but as mentioned, when it comes to these films, I don’t mind that at all. The Stan Lee cameo was amazing, the teaser in the credits for Adam Warlock blew my mind (it took me an embarrassingly long time to connect Ayesha and her golden skin to that classic cosmic character). This film’s links to the wider universe are like that, more hints. I did expect some big Thanos developments, but ultimately, I don’t mind spending 2 hours just inside these goofball’s messed-up heads. I can’t wait for Vol.3, and I hope that, when the Guardians appear in Avengers: Infinity War, they don’t lose what makes them special. This film was just a blast, it delivers more of what you want, as well as surprising you with where it goes, the best kind of sequel.

Television

There’s one new TV show for me to talk about this time out, in the form of American Gods (Starz), the long-awaited adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel. This is an interesting series for me adaptation-wise because, whilst I have read the book, it was a long time ago and I don’t really remember a lot of what happened. Just the basic gist really. This isn’t like Game Of Thrones or The Expanse where the source material is fresh as a daisy in my mind and I’m constantly comparing the show to what I already know. Here, I’m kind of hazy on the details and it’s a lot of fun being surprised both by what I didn’t know, and what I forgot I knew! The basic plot has barely begun, but basically, Gods are real, they live in America, they are at war, and a man named Shadow Moon (as far as I can call this dumb-ass name does have a good explanation) is drawn into their world after the death of his wife and his release from prison (on the same day). Not only is that, to me, a great intriguing premise, but it’s really elevated by some fantastic performances and amazing visual flair. One of the show’s main producers is Bryan Fuller, from Hannibal, and the opening 2 episodes where directed by David Slade, who directed a fair few episodes of that show too, so you can really tell that there’s a link in how the series looks and feels. The dream sequences and trippier moments are straight out of Hannibal, they are brilliant. There’s a sex montage in Episode 2 with Bilquis that is just insane. The performances so far have been great as well, Ian Fucking McShane is of course stealing the show as Mr Wednesday, but Ricky Whittle is really doing well as Shadow, which must be a hard role to play as he’s kind of intentionally inscrutable and a bit blank. And, if you watch nothing else, watch Orlando Jones’ monologue as Anansi that opens Episode 2. It is one of the best single scene performances I’ve ever seen, it knocked me for a loop. It’s only been 2 episodes, but this is already a fantastic, ambitious series that’s unlike anything else on TV. I can’t wait to see where it goes, and what else I can remember.

This month also saw the return of 2 of my favourite US Comedies. Silicon Valley (HBO) is back for a 4th season of tech-based misadventures. So far this season has managed to somehow feel like more of the same, but also change things up in a lot of interesting ways, as the characters move about into new situations. At the end of Season 3 it felt like we were right back to the beginning, but that wasn’t the case, as we’ve seen multiple characters leave companies, join new ones, sell companies, and all sorts of other manoeuvring. The prospect of Richard actually working with Gavin Belson is very exciting. In amongst all of these shake-ups, the characters have continued to be as funny as ever. I love how Big Head continues to fail upwards, he’s now a Professor at Stanford! And seeing Dinesh get a girlfriend is something we haven’t seen before. I’m also enjoying the increased role for Jian-Yang. Jimmy O. Yang has always been very funny in his brief scenes, but now he’s getting actual stories, which is cool. And man, Zach Woods is still killing it as Jared. He had one moment of madness in Episode 4 that had me wetting itself. At times it does feel like Silicon Valley is in a groove, but it’s such an enjoyable groove!

One series that hasn’t been afraid to get out of it’s groove is Veep (HBO), which is now in Season 6, and is a very different show this season. Of course it changed when Armando Iannucci left, but now that Selina Meyer is out of office, it’s even more different. With the character scattered all over the place, I did feel like the first one or two episodes were a bit lacking, but after that, it’s really found it’s feet and become just as funny and scathing as ever. In the wake of Trump it was going to be difficult for Veep to be the same show as it was before, so wisely it’s pivoted, it still has a lot to say about America and politics, but really, it’s become more about seeing who these characters are in new situations. I’m particularly enjoying Dan working as a TV News Anchor and Jonah as a Congressman has just been brutally brilliant, especially with Mary Holland joining the cast as his new ‘girlfriend’. It’s also interesting that the series has started to delve deeper into Selina as a character, and her backstory. She may be a bit ridiculous, but in the world of the show, she is the first ever female Vice President and the President, she is interesting. So yes, Veep has changed, but it’s still intelligent and funny and well worth watching. When real politics is as scary as it is these days, we need this magnificent bastards to laugh at.

Now for quick hits! We’ll start with comedies. LOL! LOL indeed.

The final episode ever of Girls (HBO) was a bit of an odd one, it jumped ahead to the birth of Hannah’s baby (the horrifically named Grover, and that’s a ‘Niam’ saying that) and only featured Hannah and Marnie from the main cast, out in the middle of nowhere. In a lot of ways, it was a typical Girls way for the series to end, Lena Dunham has never really done the conventional thing. I enjoyed it, particularly Becky Ann Baker’s performance. She’s always been excellent and underrated as Hannah’s mother. I will miss Girls, it was funny, different and always provoked debate, and I can’t wait to see what projects Dunham does next. As infuriating as she can be, she is very talented. How about a Dunham/Max Landis collaboration? That could destroy the internet.

I reached the end of BoJack Horseman (Netflix) Season 3, and holy shit, that was brutal. What happened to Sarah-Lynn just fucked me up. And then it’s followed up by the sublime ridiculousness of Mr. Peanutbutter’s spaghetti strainers actually being useful! That sums up BoJack for me, it can be gloriously silly and funny, but at it’s core it’s a dark series about depression and the sadness at the core of humanity (or animality, whatever). It’s one of my favourite shows ever at this point, and I am very excited for Season 4, and just where BoJack is going to go now. It’ll be bad… but also so, so good.

The Last Man On Earth (FOX) also wrapped up its 3rd season very well. Jasper has been a fun addition to the cast, and the 2-part finale in particular was a great, as the series once again upended it’s cast. Erica gave birth to her baby, but then Nuclear Reactors started going off and they had to flee. This series continues to be brilliant at balancing comedy and real dark drama, as the consequences of a post-apocalyptic world are actually thought out. The very last moment also brought Kristen Wiig in contact with the main cast, and what a way to do it.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) has continued to be very funny and strong, and one episode in particular really surprised me, as ‘Moo Moo’ became a serious examination of racial profiling in the Police Force. It’s rare that Brooklyn Nine-Nine addresses real issues, but it did it very well here, I think it should actually do more, especially in this era where the Police, in America especially, are not so popular. I don’t want it to become propaganda for the cops, but it can certainly shine a light on some real issues. As well as being dumb and funny with great actors of course.

The ‘Dreamland’ arc of Archer (FXX) is still going strong. It’s just a lot of fun to see these characters in this setting, and the storyline by itself has actually been rather arresting, with a lot of fun twists and turns. I’ve particularly liked Eugene Mirman’s performance as Cheryl’s brother. He’s delightfully creepy. Also, is Pam just a man in dreamland? Her character isn’t meant to be a woman in drag, here, she’s just a man? I kind of love that.

Oh, and I watched one more episode of Inside No. 9 (BBC Two), ‘Tom & Gerri’. It was very good, and actually managed to surprised me with the twist at the end. It was fun to see Lord Varys himself, Conleth Hill play an actually nice person, and Gemma Arterton was good too. That’s the strength of an anthology show, they can bring in really big names for just one episode.

Bridging the gap from comedy to drama is Better Call Saul (AMC) which is having an excellent third season, as it gets closer and closer to Breaking Bad territory. Not only has Gus finally appeared (with Giancarlo Esposito just as good as ever) but the whole tone of those scenes is straight out of the parent show. Episode 4, ‘Sabrosito’ barely seemed to feature Odenkirk at all. But that doesn’t mean that the series has just become Breaking Bad-lite, as the following episode ‘Chicanery’ was all courtroom stuff, and really did a fascinating job at delving into the central Jimmy/Chuck relationship. It really needs to be said again, but both Odenkirk and Michael McKean are amazing in this show, tour-de-force performances. This stretch of episodes has been a great microcosm of what makes Better Call Saul so good and basically the perfect prequel. It has plenty of links to what came before, including themes and cameos (Huell!) and camera work, but it’s also very capable of being it’s own, separate thing. So good.

The Season 2 finale of The Expanse (Sy Fy) was another strong episode in an exceptionally strong season. It was an incredibly tense episode that brought a lot of things to a head. The central plot of the Protomolecule monster being on the Rocinante tied everything together and, perhaps most importantly, brought the central crew of characters onto the same page. It’s interesting that the show isn’t precisely following a ‘1 season = 1 book’ model, and I like that, it’s allowing for things to unfold at a different pace.

The Americans (FX) is having an… interesting season. It’s still very good and all of the performances and episodes have been good, but, maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t seem as focused as it used to, which is odd, because the writers know they only have this and next year to wrap things up. Maybe that’s actually the reason, they know they have a guaranteed 26 episodes, so can pace things differently? Either way, there doesn’t seem to be any particular driving plot, missions and side characters come and go, and whilst each individual hour has been strong, it’s not a satisfying whole. Yet. I think maybe something big is going to happen (Pacha’s suicide? Something with Pastor Tim?) that will lead to a major event in the finale. Or at least I hope so. This is a fantastic series so maybe I just have too high expectations.

Now it’s time for everybody’s favourite corner… superhero corner!

So far in iZombie (The CW) Season 3, the biggest pleasure for me has been the classic thing, seeing Rose McIver play Liv on various different types of brain. Hippie Yoga Liv, gossipy bitch Liv, Dominatrix Liv and Hot Mess Liv have all been hilarious. I really think McIver is underrated by how she manages to play so many different shades of the same person. Some of the individual cases of the week have been a bit weak, but her performance, along with the new development of Clive knowing she’s a Zombie have made it work. As for the over-arching plots, I liked the way the show revealed that Blaine had been faking his memory loss, and what that means for Major and Liv going forward. The Fillmore Graves plot has been on the back burner a bit, but you just know it’s going to explode later.

Gotham (FOX) has returned with some really great episodes and has become a show that really embraces it’s ridiculousness, and is all the better for it. Corey Michael Smith in full on Riddler mode, green suit and all, is so much fun, as is Penguin and Poison Ivy gathering an ‘Army Of Freaks’ and a goddamn clone of Bruce Wayne. I’m also really enjoying this take on the Court Of Owls, I’ve said this before, but I get an extra kick out of seeing more recent concepts like this used in other media, and so it’s awesome to see something Scott Snyder invented on TV. Gotham is dumb, but it’s the good dumb.

The Flash (The CW) revealed who Savitar was, and it was… actually satisfying. The fact that Barry (or at least a Time Remnant of him) becomes his own worst enemy is interesting, and it’s a perfect expression of the consequences of too much time-travel meddling. What I found cool was that the show followed this big, tragic reveal with a somewhat broad comedy episode where Barry lost his memories. Not only was this funny, but it showed why the show needs a bit more levity. When Barry gets too Emo, things get bad (as shown by the trip to the future, where Barry literally was Emo). I’m also really enjoying Anne Dudek’s guest role as Tracy Brand. Her chemistry with Tom Cavanaugh is a lot of fun. 2 episodes left, and I hope they continue to get the balance between drama and fun right. The Flash is one of those characters who needs to stay optimistic.

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.LD. (ABC) has continued it’s hot-streak with more really fantastic episodes. This Hydra alternate reality arc really has been excellent. It’s allowed us to learn more about the characters, had a real impact, and also allowed the show to comment somewhat on real world political elements. It was cheap, but referring to Hydra’s ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’ was great. The performances have also gone up a gear, Henry Simmons choosing to stay in the Framework was a great, although I do think that somehow they’ll use that machine to bring his daughter into the ‘real world’. Although they might be saving that for Face Turn Grant Ward. I also want to praise Iain De Caestecker, who has taken Fitz from somewhat of a comic relief character into probably the most complex person on the show. He played the ‘evil’ Fitz so well I almost feared he would still be bad once he was back. Mallory Jansen has also been very good, whether as Aida, Agnes or now Ophelia, she has played the same person in 3 very interesting ways. I can’t wait to see how this finale ends things, and to see what Season 4 brings. It feels weird to say this after the slow start, but Agents Of SHIELD is one of the better adventure shows on the air.

And finally, I finished watching Marvel’s Iron Fist (Netflix), and whilst it does have it’s share of problems and is probably the least of the ‘Defenders’ shows, I still very much enjoyed it and am excited to see more of this version of Danny Rand, particularly alongside Luke Cage. Heroes For Hire! I’m not going to re-tread the race conversation as we discussed that last time, so instead I’ll say that, as is customary, some of the episodes did drag a bit in the middle before an exciting ending, and I do think the show’s budget was a bit too low. I think that really hurt things as we never go to actually see K’un Lun or the Dragon Shou-Lou. I wanted a goddamn dragon getting it’s heart ripped out of it, is that too much to ask? I don’t think so. I also think it took way too long for Danny to realise that Howard Meachum was a bad dude, but that naïveté is intentional, and a great character bit. The performances only improved as it went on. Finn Jones is actually very convincing, and both Jessica Henwick and Tom Pelphrey were brilliant. I actually think Pelphrey’s Ward Meachum might be one of the best performances in the MCU, as he manages to make some pretty dumb plot developments work just through his performance. I did like how, by the end, things had been twisted and it was Ward who was working alongside Danny, and Joy who had become his enemy. That was unexpected and fun. Her working alongside Gao and Davos should be interesting in a second season. I did like Davos’ role later on too, Sacha Dhawan was very good, although why does someone from K’un Lun sound so Mancunian? I admit it, I am an MCU mark, but Iron Fist really isn’t that bad, if you give it a chance, it is well worth it, and can only improve. Look, it took Agents Of SHIELD 3 years to get good, I think sometimes we need to appreciate that.

Music

There’s only one album this time out, but it’s kind of a big deal, as Gorillaz are back with their first album in 7 years, Humanz (Parlophone/Warner Bros. 2017). Now the Gorillaz are pretty significant band for me, their eponymous debut was one of the first CDs I bought from myself and I must have played that and Demon Days hundreds of times. Plastic Beach had less of an impact, and I don’t think I’ve actually listened to The Fall. So I’m kind of a lapsed fan, however this particular hype train, and the idea that this was some kind of politically vital and contemporary record brought me back in, and I bought the album, hell, I got the deluxe edition! After listening to it a few times, it’s pretty good, but a lot of that hype is way over-blown. There’s nothing here that’s particularly timely, it’s just the usual Gorillaz mix of interesting backing beats, fantastic guest contributors and Damon Albarn getting to experiment. That’s not a bad thing, but I think I went into it expecting something truly game-changing. That’s probably more on me than Gorillaz though. As I said, the guest stars on here are fantastic, I particularly like Vince Staples on ‘Ascension’, Grace Jones on ‘Charger’ and Benjamin Clementine on ‘Hallelujah Money’, those are great tracks. It’s also a lot of fun to try and spot Noel Gallagher on ‘We Got The Power’. How crazy is it that Albarn and Gallagher are on the same song? Britpop Hell has frozen over. So yeah, this album is decent, but as is probably par for the course with Gorillaz, the ideas and concepts around it are more interesting. The idea of all of these artists reacting to Trump (or not Trump, an un-specified huge event) is great, but the end result isn’t that amazing. I say par for the course, because what’s always appealed most about Gorillaz isn’t just the music, but the whole package, the artwork from Jamie Hewlett, which is fantastic. I think I like the artwork in the leaflet more than the album! Gorillaz are a unique project, and I’ll always appreciate them, but I think I want more than just cool artwork and weird samples from my music at this stage.

Books

2 books this month. I think my reading pace has slowed down a bit, not sure why. Hmm, anyway, I started the month with the last 100 pages or so of Jonathan Wilson’s Angels With Dirty Faces (2016). The history of Argentinian Football got pretty much up to date, as Wilson gets up to the current era of Messi, Aguero, Tevez, Higuain etc. It was pretty much I thought it would be, as the Argentinian domestic game has been basically ruined by all of the best players moving to Europe. What I didn’t know was the state of hooliganism and fan violence in Argentina, which was surprising, and also the continued political links in the game. The fact that the Argentinian government owns the broadcasting rights to league football and uses it for propaganda purposes is very unique, and I would have liked more exploration of that. Imagine if Theresa May was on Match Of The Day or something, At least we know Corbyn is an Arsenal fan. Overall, the end of the book lived up to the rest of it, this was a very readable, informative history of a fascinating subject and culture. Argentina’s national identity is inextricably linked with it’s football, and now, I feel like i understand that country so much more.

After this, I got my fancy literature on, as I read the winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize, The Sellout (2015) by Paul Beatty. Only this isn’t the kind of novel you’d really expect to win such a lofty, some would say wanky, prize. It’s an incredibly dark satire of American Race relations, and it’s actually very funny. The plot sees an unnamed African-American man (he’s only referred to as ‘Me’, which I think is his surname (So his name is like ‘Dave Me’ or ‘Tom Me’ or something) who somewhat accidentally brings back both segregation and slavery to the LA suburb he lives in. It’s an insane premise, but it works, and Beatty’s witty writing carries it through even the largest logic leaps. Much like with last month and ‘Get Out’, I don’t feel like I can fully parse a lot of the more caustic racial elements, being a white non-American, but it was shocking at times, and certainly made me look at certain things differently. I would be interested in reading some of Beatty’s other books, he has a unique sense of humour. I will say that I didn’t really laugh out loud at reading this, like many of the blurbs did, but then I’m struggling to think of many books that did make me LOL. I just don’t do it, even with comics. I think seeing something written down elicits a different reaction in me. More of a wry smile, or an ‘oh, that’s funny, I get that’ than actually laughing. The Sellout comes close though! Maybe literary prizes aren’t so bad…

Games

As mentioned in the intro, I’m still making my way rather slowly through The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Nintendo Switch 2017). I need to carve more time out to play it, but video games, even ones as good as this, are still bottom of my entertainment list. I only really play it when  I have nothing else to watch, read or listen to. As of now, I’ve finally got off the Great Plateau and am in the wider world of Hyrule, and man, it is intimidatingly big. That sense of freedom to do what you want can be both very freeing, but also kind of freezing. I can’t decide where to go, so in the end I don’t really go anywhere. Does that make sense? I’ve just been wandering around and not really advancing the plot. But still, this is an incredibly good game, the look of it is so beautiful, and it’s even more so after the Plateau. I think that is what’s holding me back from playing more, because it looks so good on the big TV, I’m not putting the Switch’s handheld mode to use to play when someone else is using it. The controls are just that level of intuitive that, for me, only Nintendo can reach. The Joycons on the Switch are bit flimsy, but after while, I’m used to it. I’m of two minds on what to do next video-game wise. I really want to pick up Mario Kart 8, especially because my girlfriend wants to do multiplayer,  but can I justify it when I’ve barely scratched the surface of Zelda?

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That’s it! Just an addendum for you, after writing that last bit about the Switch and whether I should by Mario Kart… I went and ordered it on Amazon. So expect something about that next week. I also bought La La Land, so you’ll get to read my lukewarm take on that film on or near June 15th. I’ll probably be lame and quite like it, that’s the kind of person I am, I can never bring myself to truly hate things like the rest of the internet. Anyway, I’ll see you then! Hopefully we’ll be living under a Labour Government by then.

[tresasreviewlibrary]

Review of ‘Scott Pilgrim’ by Bryan Lee O’Malley

2/5 stars

**spoiler alert** 2 disclaimers: 1, I did not read this series for the first time until I was 21, so I cannot really view it through the same nostalgia lenses as all of my friends who read it in middle school. 2, I have tried on two separate occasions to watch and enjoy the film and it didn’t really do anything for me. But, as defenders of adapted film will tell you, “you have to read to comics to ‘get it’” and, in my personal experience, will not acknowledge criticism until you’ve exposed yourself to all forms of the medium. We all know these people. Now I’ve read the series, and I can finally speak my mind. Let me start with what’s good about this story, and I’m just going to refer to it as all one story since all 6 comics are connected. This is a very original take on a young adult love story. The dialogue between characters is very fresh and the obviously manga-inspired art design was an interesting and overall appealing choice. The two characters I enjoyed the most were Wallace and Envy Adams. Wallace had some of the funniest lines and the darkest sarcasm, I wished he had his own book. He is also Scott’s moral compass and an anchoring friend to Scott and the other characters. Envy, I feel, had the most relatable character in terms of development and probably the most fulfilling story arc. I was sorry we didn’t get to see more of either of these characters. I also started to warm-up to Kim Pine towards the end, but once she starts to develop, we suddenly see very little of her afterwards. Now the two most significant problems with the story: Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers. Scott is one of the least likable protagonists in recent memory. Nothing he said was ever charming, relatable or even remotely funny. I understand that he is supposed to be somewhat of an underdog, but toying with the emotions of an unstable seventeen-year-old girl, bumming off all of his friends for money/jobs/rides/gigs/advice he doesn’t listen to, being perpetually threatened by women who don’t need him does not an ‘underdog’ make. There is a point in Vol. 4 where Ramona asks Scott what he likes about her and the only answer he gives is “hot and mysterious” and, I swear, never comes up with other qualities. About 25 pages after that sequence, he decides he is definitely in love with her. What the fuck. And Ramona. I guess all Scott can really say about her is “hot and mysterious” because that’s all she basically is. Seven evil exes and many months of dating and the only piece of personal information she reveals is her age. She is also incredibly vindictive to Scott for the better half of the story which, at first, was kind of funny but grows old fast and by the beginning of Vol. 5, any originality to her character was basically gone. She finds out about Scott cheating and understands that she should not put herself and Scott through the same tired routine of her exes, but still does nothing. At the very least, Scott got closure with his exes by the end of the novel; Ramona’s were just ‘defeated’, meaning she doesn't have to act like a real human person, discuss her issues with them and become a wiser person in the long run. And Scott has to ‘defeat’ the evil exes but not learn maybe a little more personal information about his serious girlfriend? She serves a prop to help Scott get his life together and he never even does. In the same way as a John Green heroine, Ramona’s character is rooted in misogyny but hides behind the mask of quirkiness and whimsicality, i.e. The Manic Pixie Dream. I can’t deal with this girl. There’s a few other problems worth mentioning. As I said, Wallace was my favorite character. He is also gay and believe me, they never let you forget it. I would’ve actually been shocked if there was even one scene with Wallace where a gay joke wasn’t thrown in. Although, I understand that this was the early to mid 2000’s and gay people were still kinda a joke in teen literature themselves. There’s quite a few more characters that fade in and out of the story in various places, but they're pretty forgettable.

This was the first series I’ve read in awhile that I actively tried to enjoy. I won’t lie, I made no effort to try to like Twilight or The Hunger Games, but I really tried to like this. If you liked the movie, check these out, they’re a quick read or if you’re into the manga art-style.

[grim-has-issues]

jess prodman was such a cunty old man