#every like major assassination i feel like. the sequence/scene that followed made the most

[sapphic-woes]

On the topic of origins.

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2021: The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson

I have a few things to acknowledge here before we get into the proper review - this is REALLY LONG and VERY CRITICAL. I promise you I do genuinely love The Stormlight Archive, but if you are someone who doesn’t like to see criticism of Sanderson or Stormlight, then please don’t read this.

This review has spoilers for The Stormlight Archive - you have been warned.

I’ve made no secret of my love for the Stormlight Archive - it’s my favourite ongoing fantasy series. I’ve also avoided reviewing it, and I’ve been putting it off since I first read it back in 2016 (could be 2017? It was a while ago.) How could I review something I love so much? How do I approach reviewing a 1,100 page epic fantasy novel? I just didn’t know. To be honest, I still don’t. I adore this series, it’s become part of my identity - if you asked any of my friends what’s Lizzie’s favourite book they would probably say Stormlight. Maybe Lord of the Rings but that’s a different kettle of fish.

I’ve reread The Stormlight Archive annually for the last five years. I promise myself I won’t reread it and let myself come back in anticipation for the next book. I’ve failed miserably every year. And these aren’t small undertakings - they’re each 1,000 pages and there’s four of them now! For context I usually only read 2,500 pages a month. 

So, I’ve finally decided to review these doorstoppers dressed up as fantasy novels. These reviews are mainly for myself, they’re going to be self indulgent, long, and focus on what I want to discuss like characters, structure, and prose - rather than reviewing the things I should probably talk about (like the actual plot…) I want to work through all the things I love about this behemoth of the modern fantasy genre, but also focus on its flaws. The praise for Sanderson is everywhere, so I want to work through my honest opinion of these books, work out why I love them, and I’ll invite you on this journey of self discovery with me. 

Structure

I’m yet to work out why I’m starting with structure but we are, I guess it helps with the framing. In case you’re reading this having not read The Way of Kings, each book in the Stormlight Archive is made up of 5 main parts that follow major viewpoint characters, and the parts are split up with small interludes that expand the worldbuilding, follow important secondary characters, or foreshadow future moments. Everybook is centred on a key character - in The Way of Kings it’s Kaladin - who we follow in the present day as a major viewpoint character and explore their backstory through a flashback sequence. Each book also has a prologue which retells the assassination of the Alethi king, Gavilar Kholin, and an epilogue from Wit. 

Firstly, this book takes FAR too long to get going and even longer to get into as a reader. I’m not joking when I say there are FIVE introductory chapters: the prelude, a prologue, Cenn’s second prologue (technically the first chapter but it’s a prologue), Kaladin’s introduction, and Shallan’s introduction. It’s too much. We’re jumping around, nothing really makes sense, and we’re not sure how these characters are related. They could be taking place in different worlds for all you know on a first read.

When I first read this book I was a lot more patient with long introductions and multiple false starts - I had the time to dedicate to getting into the story. I could, and did, forgive the THREE false starts to this story before we get to Kaladin’s first chapter. However, the opening structure of this novel is a mistake. If someone gives up in this section I honestly don’t blame them - if I was reading this for the first time in 2021 I probably would too.

The prelude and prologue are both excellent. The prelude in particular is weird and confusing but also sets up a clear mystery and sense of the sheer scope of this story. Szeth’s prologue, the first time we see Gavilar’s assassination, is flawed but still wonderful. The fight scene needed a bit of cutting, for my tastes, and I think the introduction to the magic system is clumsy - there’s far too much obvious info dumping and it needed some serious editing, especially as the complicated use of the magic that Szeth uses is barely relevant in this book. However, I think the Herald’s giving up the Oathpact and a magical assassin is great! They’re a bit weird and you’re not sure what’s going on, but it’s engaging. 

Then there’s Cenn. Poor, innocent Cenn. I’m sorry but he’s completely unnecessary. Independently of the rest of the introduction to the Way of Kings Cenn’s chapter would be a pretty good prologue as he’s there to set up our main hero Kaladin from an outside perspective. We love Kaladin and Cenn’s chapter is fine for establishing him as a typical fantasy hero – he’s a warrior, cares about the people, and so forth.

However, Cenn’s chapter in the context bogs down the opening too much. It’s too long, not particularly relevant, and adds yet ANOTHER prologue to this already enormous book. Cenn’s chapter offers nothing to the reader that we don’t learn later on in the text when the content of Cenn’s chapter makes more sense. We even see the exact same sequence of events from Kaladin’s perspective in a flashback! Not having Cenn’s chapter would add more interest to Kaladin’s character and add more weight to the flashback sequence because we wouldn’t have met Kaladin at his peak (sort of…?) 

Kaladin’s flashbacks aren’t that engaging as it is, he’s a fairly standard fantasy hero from a small village who ends up leaving his happy family to go to war. So leaving a small mystery around him in addition to ‘how did he become a slave’ would help with my engagement. It would leave me wondering how reliable is Kaladin as a narrator, is he really as good with the spear as he claims? I wouldn’t know but Cenn’s chapter removes all the mystery apart from ‘how does Kaladin become a slave’. It needs to go to make Kaladin more interesting and cut down on some of the unnecessary page count.

While we’re at it… Just cut out ALL the interludes in this book, except for the Szeth through line. I KNOW they are here for the Cosmere connections and to foreshadow things much later in the series. However, new readers and Stormlight only readers don’t know this and, quite frankly, they SUCK. In later books the interludes make sense but here they add so much tedious, pointless crap to an already bloated book. They’re too much and add next to nothing – other than seeing Szeth lose it as he kills people, that was fun (in a disturbing, creepy way… Can you tell I like Szeth?) Either this stuff needs to be relevant to the book we’re in now, or painfully obvious that we’re coming back to this stuff in later books. I still don’t know why we got Ishikk’s interlude with the Worldhoppers, and I completely forgot Nan Balat had an interlude. I’ve read this book 5 times… THAT IS HOW POINTLESS THEY ARE! Sanderson should weave the necessary foreshadowing into the main text, intersperse the perspectives we do need for THIS story into the main sections, or cut them out. When I get to the interludes I physically sigh and sometimes put the book down - now I just skip everything but Szeth - but on a first read they’re really off putting. 

To finish up with my complaints about the structure, and this is a big one for me - why do we have huge chunks of this book without major viewpoint characters? I’m biased here but Dalinar is probably the most important POV character in the story because he introduces the real stakes of the story. He has the groundbreaking visions of the past, he is the viewpoint we get into the politics of the war, he is the character who does and continues to have the most impact on the development of the story on his own.Yet, we don’t meet him until we’re 190 pages in… 

Sanderson alternates Shallan and Dalinar’s chapters between the five different parts and that means they vanish for 400 pages at a time. Why? I ended up caring about them right as we’re about to lose their viewpoint again for the next part. We needed to see the three major POV characters interwoven together throughout the five parts, not randomly dropped and picked back up again. The structure of this book was a mistake. 

Okay, I promise I do actually like this book…

Worldbuilding

Something I do love is the worldbuilding of Roshar, and I usually don’t care that much about worldbuilding. I can really appreciate good worldbuilding, especially on the history side of things, but for most novels it’s just fine? If I roughly know what’s going on with the world then we’re good, I can just get on with the story and not worry about it. However, Roshar is genuinely beautifully built! It takes A LOT to get me to visualise a world as I’m not a visual reader. I can feel the atmosphere, get to know characters, but can I imagine a face or setting? No.

There are three fantasy worlds that have allowed me to actually see the world and it’s landscape: Middle Earth, Discworld, and Roshar. The bleak, storm weathered landscape of the Shattered Plains is so embedded in my mind it’s ridiculous, the only place I can picture more is the Shire – and Lord of the Rings has a film to help it!

Now, to be fair it’s hard for me to separate the worldbuilding in The Way of Kings from the rest of the series, so I now have 4,000 pages worth of worldbuilding in my head… However, it’s certainly strong and I distinctly remember having a vivid image of understanding this world, the atmosphere, landscape, and so forth, on my first read. Although it did take me until Oathbringer to realise that everything, except humanity, was basically a crab… (I think that was just me being dense.)

I do think Roshar needs much more of its history to be expanded on. We don’t have much between the Last Desolation (don’t ask me to spell it's in-world title!) and it shows at times. I don’t expect something on the level of The Silmarillion for Roshar, however, I do think we need to see something more substantial in the period between the Desolations and the present day. We know about the Recreance, the attempted takeover of the Vorin Church, and the Sunmaker? That’s 4000 years! To put it into context it’s the distance between us and Jesus’s birth TWICE, it’s like we know about the end of the 11th Dynasty of Egypt, the Reformation, and the British Empire in our own history... We need to find a balance, especially as we get so much development of science in the later books. More history please - but this is a personal issue and a series wide problem, not just The Way of Kings.

Magic System

Now, this is controversial for Sanderson, but I’m going to skip this for now. This review is already well over 1,000 words long and I’ve not even started on the meat of the novel yet. The magic system isn’t really fleshed out in The Way of Kings, we only really know stuff about the Windrunners (in an abstract kind of way) and the very basics of the Knights Radiant in general. So I’m going to discuss the magic when I get around to reviewing Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, and Rhythm of War, basically whenever I have the energy and more space.

Safe to say I actually really like the magic system in the Stormlight Archive. I usually dislike hard magic systems (I think I’m the only person who dislikes Mistborn’s Allomancy - while very well developed, it’s a bit silly and is far too much for my tastes...) as they often take some of the wonder, mystery, and excitement of fantasy out of the story for me. However, I think surgebinding is a fun system and there is a lot more of it for use to discover, preserving some of that mystery. Oh and, if you were wondering, I would be a Skybreaker!

Prose

Okay if you read the structure section and were wondering - why is this woman still reading these books, you’re in for another head scratcher. 

If you’ve ever talked to me about literature you’ll know that there are two things I look for in a really good book: characters and prose. Now characters are something Sanderson does phenomenally well in the Stormlight Archive, but that’s not something you can tell 100 pages into a 1,000 page tome. You have to sit with the characters for a long time and give the author some page time to familiarise you with the people you’re following. If you trust him, Sanderson pulls off some stunning character arcs, especially in the long term and I’ll talk more about characters later on (or you can just skip this section? Up to you really!).

However, prose is something you notice immediately, and Sanderson’s is…utilitarian at best. At worst it’s abysmal. These days I’m very picky about prose, a utilitarian style is fine but a book is unlikely to become a new favourite of mine without good writing. This doesn’t mean I want or expect the writing to be flowery or elaborate, but it does mean I want, and appreciate it when, the prose suits the tone of the narrative and world. I must acknowledge that I’m in a (vocal) minority here, a lot of people either don’t notice Sanderson’s style or like it - I certainly didn’t mind it when I first read ther series - so this is definitely a subjective opinion but one I’m certainly not alone in. 

Nevertheless, for me Sanderson’s prose is overly simplistic, repetitive, and very American. Okay so the American is probably only noticeable if you’re not American. However, I’m used to fantasy having a certain Britishness to the writing style, even when the author isn’t British, but to me (as a Brit and fantasy reader) the Americanisms are painful at times… There is no way in hell I’m ever going to acknowledge that aluminium is aluminum no matter how many times Sanderson uses it! 

Yet it goes beyond a spelling issue because, let's be honest, in this day and age American English is widely spoken and regularly used in fantasy literature - you can’t escape from it as much as I want to. It’s in the style of writing and construction of sentences. The entire narrative reads like an American has decided to tell me a story using their colloquial, everyday speech. It’s a deliberate choice on Sanderson’s part to make things accessible and digestible, and for some people this works. I do think he has a fantastic style to get readers in, especially readers who are getting to grips with high epic fantasy as it’s one less barrier to entry in an already difficult novel. But it does mean rereading isn’t always the best experience and sometimes the writing can jar me out of the story. 

In places it’s too simple and colloquial, so much so the writing becomes clunky, clumsy, and unrealistic to the world he’s creating, especially in descriptive passages and dialogue. It reads like Sanderson could have used more lyrical or formal writing but deliberately chose not to - at the detriment of the prose. This is particularly noticeable with characters like Jasnah Kholin. Jasnah is a princess, brilliant scholar, and political mastermind, she’s known for her poise, elegance, and intelligence. Yet she often speaks like an everyday 21st century American and other characters who haven’t had the same education or training as she has? I can’t believe this for a moment, her dialogue is so egregious in places that it’s like I’ve been hit over the head with my own book! I physically cringe when she says things like ‘“scoot over here”’ (chapter 70, p.1083). WHY is Jasnah talking like this?! It doesn’t make sense to me – Shallan maybe, but Jasnah? No. It doesn’t fit with what we’ve been told about her character.

(Just as an aside, I loathe the word ‘scoot’ – it should be burnt from the English language as an abomination!)

Part of the issue with this is Sanderson usually doesn’t distinguish between the character's voices, both in the dialogue and prose. Most of the time if you dropped me into a random section of the Stormlight Archive with no context I honestly couldn’t tell you who’s speaking or narrating without the signposts Sanderson gives us. This isn’t a huge issue as he’s writing in third person limited, and with context and the chapter icons we know who we’re following. However, it does mean we don’t have any idea of character voice – in the general prose, internal narration/thought, or speech. What’s the difference between Kaladin’s dialogue and Jasnah’s? I have no idea from the sentence construction or speech patterns. Certain descriptions of how characters speak help to differentiate (Jasnah is commanding, Shallan squeaks, Kaladin grunts, etc.) but from their speech patterns I wouldn’t have a clue.

All of this comes back to Sanderson’s overly simple and Americanised style. It’s his choice and it does work for many people, but personally it doesn’t always work with the characters or story. I’m not expecting him to write like Robin Hobb or Guy Gavriel Kay, but some finesse and awareness of character would be appreciated, especially if it helped to differentiate character voices.

I’m also going to throw this out as a very personal issue because I’m not sure where else to put it… Sanderson has the worst sense of humour I’ve ever had the misfortune to read. The comedic moments are occasionally amusing… However, Shallan’s puns are worse than my Dad’s jokes. Every time she says something apparently ‘witty’ and someone else remarks how clever and funny she is I want to hit them... At best she’s mildly amusing, at worst she’s cruel. It’s never funny. (This only gets worse with Lift, I almost DNFed the entire series because of the Lift interlude in Words of Radiance. And don’t get me started on Lopen.)

Characters

At last! Something I genuinely love and the reason I read these books! Sanderson has created some of the best characters in modern fantasy in this series and they are the only reason I’m still going. I like the worldbuilding and plot, but I adore the character work in this book and the series as a whole. The characters are generally so good that, even when I dislike them, it's because I dislike them personally, not that they’re badly written characters! Usually I love Sanderson’s characters though, even when they’re incredibly flawed (looking at you Dalinar!) because he’s particularly good at complex character arcs. 

Szeth – I love Szeth, slightly irrationally for how much he’s in both this book and the series as a whole, but he’s one of my favourite “secondary” characters in the series! Szeth is actually the character who made me fall in love with the series in the first place, which feels weird to say because he only has five or six chapters in the entire novel. However, a magical assassin with a strong, if morally dubious, sense of duty and obligations? Sign me up! The opening prologue from Szeth’s perspective is wonderful - it’s far too info-dumpy but it’s highly engaging and one hell of a way to open the series. 

What really intrigued me about Szeth was his role as the interlude throughline character for The Way of Kings. His internal conflict between his obligation to follow the Truthless’ laws and his personal morality is fascinating. Szeth’s character development has been one of the highlights of the entire series for me, especially as we explore his personal morality, questioning of power, and commitment to law and justice. This conflict is one of the reasons I love the Skybreakers in general and I sincerely hope we get to see more of this (and their conflict with the theoretically similar, although realistically very different, Windrunners) in book 5. However, Szeth is a promise that Sanderson hasn’t kept yet. So much has been built up around his character and we haven’t explored him properly (as of Rhythm of War) and I’m mad about it! He’s an incredibly interesting character, morally and thematically, and I hope Sanderson can live up to the hype he’s built up around him in the first four books of the series. 

Kaladin – Okay the real reason we’re all here, the shining beacon of the Stormlight Archive, everyone’s favourite heroic bridgeman: Kaladin Stormblessed. Confession time – I didn’t love Kaladin the first time I read The Way of Kings. Don’t get me wrong I liked him but I’m generally not a massive fan of underdog superhero narratives. (I’m still not a fan of Bridge Four in general for the same reason, I would apologise but I’m not sorry…)

Kaladin spends most of this novel running bridges for Highprince Sadeas on the Shattered Plains. Unjustly enslaved by a corrupt member of the aristocracy, Kaladin is fighting to keep himself and his bridgecrew alive during one of the most pointless “wars” I've read in a fantasy novel - the pointlessness isn’t actually a criticism. He’s facing systematic oppression and disregard for human life, as well as battling his own depression and forming a bond with a spren named Syl (I absolutely adore Syl! But I want to talk about her in my review for Words of Radiance.)

So… I’ve always been frustrated with Kaladin’s fundamental drive to save people and take responsibility for people’s deaths, even when there was nothing he could have done to save them. This book is probably the worst for it out of the four currently published and I just found it a bit much because I personally struggle to relate to his attitude. This level of personal responsibility is a completely alien concept to me, at least to this level, and it’s Kaladin’s entire thing - his driving personality trait - and I just didn’t get it. Kaladin and I are very different people and for a long time I really struggled to relate to him on the same level everyone else seems to in this book. It also didn’t help that the main plot around Kaladin running bridges, struggling with his depression, and trying to keep his men alive is very repetitive… So when you’re in the midst of it and struggling to connect quite so deeply with Kaladin this book can become a slog - yet, the pay off for his struggles is so satisfying and it is very much worth it for making the end feel earned. 

However, my issues with connecting to Kaladin is definitely on me and this is by no means to say Kaladin is a badly written character, I’ve always admired how well Kaladin is drawn in this book. Within a few chapters I understood who Kaladin is, and really loved the conflict he had with his depression and role as a fantasy hero. It's beautifully painful to watch and, even when you’re a bit ambivalent about Kaladin, you really care about whether he and Bridge Four are going to survive the bridgecrews – and the climax sequence with Kaladin becoming Stormblessed again at the Tower is still one of my favourite moments in the entire series!

However, on this reread of the series I had a completely different experience to what I’ve had on previous reads, and a lot of this is down to Rhythm of War. I don’t want to say too much here because it’ll involve spoilers for Rhythm of Warm but having seen Kaladin confront his, as Ron Weasley would say, “saving people thing” and really struggle to keep functioning as Stormblessed, I was so much more on board with this book. Rhythm of War’s much more personal approach to Kaladin really helped me understand him as a person, not just the underdog hero. The struggle with his sense of self, the way his depression impacts his ability to act, and the way he’s moving forward in Rhythm of War let me appreciate the character work for Kaladin in The Way of Kings. The struggle, graft, and determination, especially given his mindset, is much more admirable when I can strip away the focus on doggedly protecting everyone no matter the personal cost. 

Kaladin and I are very different people, but that’s okay and I’ve come to appreciate him a lot more in the last 7 months. Now I can happily adore him alongside everyone else, and not just nod along with the rest of the fandom because I understand he’s objectively a well written character. Also Kaladin’s mental health rep is some of the best I’ve seen in an epic fantasy series. However, I would approach this book, and series, carefully if you’re sensitive to depression.

Shallan – confession time round two: I hate Shallan. I really loathe her on a deeply personal level. And I’m still bitter about it because I used to love her, when I first read this book she was my favourite character! This was partly due to relating to her and partly due to my frustration with Kaladin. However, as I read Words of Radiance I grew uncomfortable with her and by Oathbringer it became a full on HATED of her…and it’s never gone away.

I first met Shallan when I was a shy 18-year-old, budding historian and scholar. I got Shallan, I loved her plotline, and found Khabranth a lot more interesting than the endless bridgeruns with Kaladin (sorry Kaladin!) I connected with her because she represented (projected) a lot of what I was at the time - and still am today, just an older version of that person. She was the main character that really drew me into the story - yes I loved Szeth and thought he was brilliant, but Szeth is largely absent from this novel and Shallan is the main female lead. 

And then I got hit in the face by the infamous Words of Radiance “Boots” chapter, and I immediately got iffy vibes, then there was the Chasm sequence, and so many other moments that made me uncomfortable. I’ll avoid spoilers and, for now, just say I got hit in the face by Shallan’s innate privilege, her causal abuse of social rank, and complete lack of social and self awareness. To top it off the narrative gives her no consequences for this and even rewards her for her behaviour, rather than making Shallan work through the issues around classism (something I, as a Brit, am hyper aware of and it SHOULD NOT under ANY circumstances be ignored, especially with Kaladin’s narrative running parallel to Shallan.) However, this is later book issues and a major dropped theme that I’m fuming about, but I still found I liked Shallan in THIS book when I reread the series.

Not this time. 

There are moments in The Way of Kings where we can already see Shallan’s privilege and complete disregard of anyone who is remotely lower than her in the Vorin hierarchy. The scene with the book merchant stands out. No one in that scene is innocent, and I’m much less annoyed by it than I am at the “Boots” scene, however, it shows an early form of Shallan’s complete inability to reflect on her own behaviour towards those with less power than herself. She’s casually abusive and manipulative, but no one really calls her out on it. The few moments when someone does confront Shallan about it, and the narrative consistently forgives her because Sanderson allows her to come across as the victor in each of the arguments. This isn’t to say Shallan’s causal abuse of the Vorin social system shouldn’t be present in the book. It’s actually very realistic, in our world white people (especially white women) have behaved like Shallan for centuries. However, what does matter is the narrative framing. However, I’ll dig into this when I get to reviewing Words of Radiance because a lot of my planned review for that book is centred around this issue.

I’m also resentful that Shallan’s character in The Way of Kings is a complete lie – we don’t know her at all, but not in the same way as Dalinar? We KNOW something is off with Dalinar, we KNOW he was a terrible person and a warmonger from the way people talk about the Blackthorn – but Shallan’s reveal largely comes out of nowhere in some respects and I HATE that the person I loved so much 5 years ago was a complete lie. I’m a bitter person and I will continue to hold a grudge until Shallan dies or the series ends, whichever comes first.

Jasnah – my problematic QUEEN. Is Jasnah a shitty person? Yes. Do I love her anyway? Yes. Difference is I knew Jasnah was shitty from the start… I like problematic characters, I just hate being lied to (*cue insincere smile at Shallan*)

Jasnah is a difficult character to talk about in this book because we don’t know much about her other than her public persona, however, she’s a large part of why I love it so much. I just like brilliant women who would kill me, okay? It also helps that she's an historian, I have a soft spot for murderous historians. I’ll talk more about Jasnah when I review Oathbriner, hopefully that won’t be in another 5 years…! I just wanted to highlight that I do love a female character in this book!

Actually on the topic, Sanderson is still a shitty author for female friendships – he has included more female characters in Stormlight but why are there no female friendships that aren’t rooted in backstabbing and lies?!

Dalinar – if Jasnah is my problematic Queen then Dalinar has to be the problematic King. Dalinar is my favourite Stormlight Archive character. I could wax lyrical about what a BRILLIANT character he is. You may not like Dalinar, you may not forgive him, but you have to admit he is the best written character in ANYTHING Sanderson has written, and one of the best in modern fantasy. Nevertheless, much like Jasnah I’m going to wait until I review Oathbringer before I talk about Dalinar because I can’t do him justice without his flashbacks. However, I will tell you a story about the time I first met Dalinar Kholin.

So, I first read The Way of Kings on my commute back and forth to Worcester Cathedral because I had a work placement in the Cathedral’s archives. I’d been doing this commute for months and reached the point where I knew when to get off the train by feeling, no need to check the stations (this is relevant).

 I was on my commute home, and as I was walking to the train station I started part two. I met Adolin and he was fine. I was a bit confused because this was a whole new perspective and set of characters, but I was doing okay. (Yes I was walking and reading, no I do not recommend this arrangement for health reasons.)

And then I met Dalinar. As I got on the train we got into his own head, with the mystery of the visions just starting, the hints towards his complicated relationship with Elhokar, and the amazing fight with the Chasmfiend. Bearing in mind I was automatically doing my commute through this – I’d become so invested in Dalinar, I missed my transfer on the train. I’ve never done anything like this before in my life. I’m paranoid about it! But I was so engrossed in this aged general, who was potentially going mad, that I missed the stop on my train and didn’t even notice until we hit Birmingham New Street.

I was so in love with Dalinar Kholin that I travelled to the wrong city… And my love for him has only gotten stronger*.

Conclusion

Overall I have a complicated relationship with The Way of Kings, and The Stormlight Archive in general. I love this series, I particularly adore the characters and character work Sanderson is doing as the books continue. However, it is severely overhyped. There are a lot of flaws in this book, especially with the writing and structural aspect of this novel. It’s poorly paced, clumsily written, and lacking finesse. For me Sanderson is an okay writer but a wonderful storyteller. As a storyteller he’s made a huge contribution to the fantasy genre and I’m here for the major improvement he’s made in popularising more complex character work and the inclusion of mental health representation. We’re just seeing the start of this shift in the fantasy genre and I’m excited to see where Stormlight and fantasy are going to go with this movement. 

However, as a writer he has a long way to go in improving his craft of writing. These are big books, and I will often forgive mistakes with narrative structure in books of this size because they are so huge. However, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t acknowledge them when reviewing the novel. Mistakes were made, especially in The Way of Kings, and are still being made but Sanderson has been slowly improving with the later books.

There’s a lot to love in The Stormlight Archive - the worldbuilding is insane, the characters are incredible, and the plots are gripping. I love them, and I will continue to eagerly await the next installments! But they’re far from perfect, and that’s okay. Sanderson has captured the imaginations of thousands of fantasy readers and I would highly recommend you give these books a go, despite my critical review. This is a fabulous time to be a fantasy reader and The Stormlight Archive is one of the most exciting reasons to be reading the genre!

*Dalinar and I are going to be on thin ice if Sanderson continues with his character as he did in Rhythm of War, but again I’ll address that when I review Rhythm of War.

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Rewatching the Bourne series

Just recently rewatched this series. In my opinion, one of the best action-thriller franchises around. I caught onto the Bourne movies fairly late. In fact I think Ultimatum was the first movie I saw in theaters. But I caught up with Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy before watching Ultimatum. The initial trilogy in particular is pretty superb trilogy of movies. While I know there are people who don’t like The Bourne Legacy and Jason Bourne, I still find them enjoyable to varying degrees. 

The Bourne Identity is my second favorite film in the franchise behind Ultimatum. In context of the series, you can tell this one is made by a different director since the action scenes look different. The film is a bit more of a mystery because we are basically finding out about what is going on as Bourne does, which can be tricky because, if not executed correctly, without knowing who the character is, you can find it hard to feel attached to the character. That’s where I think Liman did a great job in making Bourne seem like an underdog but still making him a complete badass. The relationship with Marie is key here. Unlike in many spy films where romance seems extraneous to the story, here it works to ground Bourne to some sort of normalcy which he craves and which is why he doesn’t want to continue being a killer. The CIA stuff is also compelling because actors like Cooper and Cox are able to deliver exposition in a compelling way. The pacing is key, which is key to the entire franchise. All 4 movies with Damon clock in under two hours and not a minute of the movie is wasted. The action is excellent but the highlight action piece is definitely the car chase, which is superbly coordinated. Also surprisingly affecting in a very short role is Clive Owen. His death scene is exceptionally well executed and his performance in that scene is really well done. What he says in that scenes comes back later in Ultimatum. Matt Damon was all fresh faced around the time this movie came out and it really was a casting against what he had done prior to this and that works big time. He has a casual, unassuming presence but he just turns on the badass in an epic way. The role suits him perfectly and he’s excellent in it. Franka Potente is also great as Marie. A 8.5/10

The Bourne Supremacy is my third favorite film of the series, just a smidge behind Identity. Its still excellent. Its the shortest film of the series and it does feel it at times. It just hurtles along. I was initially a little annoyed at how they killed off Marie to give Bourne a motivation, but I also understand that practically, its impossible for Marie to keep up with Bourne as he shuttles all the way across the world. The scope of this movie is significantly increased. Whereas the first movie was set in interconnected Europe, largely in Paris, this film goes from India, to Naples, to Berlin, to Moscow. The film also gradually expands Bourne’s past as we gradually start learning about the things he’s done. The film acts as part revenge thriller and part mystery as Bourne tries to figure out his memories. There is a bit of narrative convenience here, that Bourne is remembering details of that assassination just as the CIA is digging into the Neski files. But the film flows so well that you can forgive minor narrative conveniences like that. The film introduces Pam Landy and the CIA side of things is given a bit more of a stronger narrative. Whereas in Identity, the CIA guys were the clear antagonists to Bourne, here Pam Landy is also posed as a figure who is trying to do the right thing. Cox and Stiles are back as Abbott and Pasrons respectively. Julia Stiles didn’t have much to do in Identity other than follow orders but you start to see her role get expanded. Cox takes the role of the primary CIA antagonist. Karl Urban as the Russian assassin was a welcome presence, but in the end the film is carried by Damon. He’s a bit angrier and bit more emotional and he’s excellent throughout. The film introduces Greengrass’ now infamous shaky cam action. For me, while I normally don’t like it, Greengrass is one of the few directors who knows how to do it well. Admittedly, the fight scene between Bourne and Jarda is not the best filmed one, so his technique was still a work in progress, but the rest of the action is top class. Again, the car chase sequence in the finale is top notch and thrilling. Also, it has probably the coolest ending of the series. A 8/10

The Bourne Ultimatum was the first Bourne film I watched in theaters and its my favorite. I think the film is near perfect across the board. I think this film makes the best use of all the cast and Greengrass gives us some terrific action sequences throughout the movie. And because this Bourne tracing back his origin, its perhaps the most compelling mystery of the series as he tries to find out how he became who he is. Firstly, the action is the best it is in the series. The Bourne vs Desh fight is the highwater mark when it comes to individual fight scenes in the series. Its compelling, brutal, and you feel every punch. All the chase sequences, be it foot chases or car chases are incredibly intense. I think the CIA part of the movie is the most compelling it has ever been with David Strathairn is excellent as Vosen, who plays the new CIA antagonist, and Joan Allen continues to be terrific as Pam Landy. Them playing counterparts to each other makes it fascinating to watch even the non Bourne scenes. Then Julia Stiles get an even more expanded role as Nicky Parsons. The Bourne and Nicky dynamic is interestingly played with a touch history and one sided romantic tension which is never directly addressed. But it does make it compelling. Albert Finney shows up as the Dr. Frankenstein of the Treadstone/Blackbriar operation and he’s enigmatic as hell. The climax between Bourne and Hirsch is terrifically acted by both parties. We also see a mirror of the scene from Identity where Bourne repeats the same dialogue to Edgar Ramirez’s assassin that Owen’s character had said to him. Damon is superb as always. Completely natural in the action and perfectly balancing stoicism with vulnerability when required. The film ends on a note that would have been perfect if they had chosen to end the series here. A 9/10.

The Bourne Legacy is kind of the step child of this series. The only movie which doesn’t have Damon/Bourne in the series. Intended to start a spinoff series but didn’t quite have the commercial success to do so. I admit that when I first saw the film in theaters, I didn’t like it. Over time, I have grown to appreciate it more although its still well below the original trilogy of films for me. Firstly, what’s good. Jeremy Renner is an excellent protagonist. Being compared to Damon is a thankless job but he managed to forge a different character in Aaron Cross. Rachel Weisz also does a strong job as Dr. Shearing and Renner and Wesiz have decent chemistry. The film doesn’t try and ape the previous Bourne films and it goes for a different angle. Its more a survival film for the protagonists than a mystery. The characters aren’t trying to bring down the program, not trying to find out something, just trying to escape the clutches of the Defense Department. The action scenes are good. However, the film is the longest of the series and it feels like it. The film also royally wastes an actor of the caliber of Edward Norton. He does fine with what he has but he’s literally just there barking orders in front of monitors. He shares one short flashback scene with Renner, but otherwise is disconnected from the other two leads, Whereas in the previous Bourne films and even in Jason Bourne, there were always at least two main characters who had interactions with each in the rooms of the CIA, allowing for some interplay, this time Norton is all on his own which makes the search for Cross and Marta a lot less interesting. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the idea of chems, but I have grown to accept it. The film also doesn’t have any major hand to hand fighting sequences. They hype up the Larx assassin but he ends up dying because Marta pushes hum while he was riding a bike. Pretty underwhelming after all the build up. What I especially didn’t like is how the film tries to undo Ultimatum’s ending. I don’t know who thought that was a good idea but it pissed me off. In the end, its a decently entertaining movie but its disappointing within the context of the franchise. A 5.5-6/10

Jason Bourne is a bit of a polarizing movie. Everyone was really excited when this movie was coming out and a bunch of them were disappointed. While I do think this is not as good as the initial trilogy of movies, I still do enjoy it. My issue with the movie lies on two fronts. The film is essentially divided into 3 sections. The main part is Jason Bourne continuing to track into his past as he finds out that there might be more to his recruitments than he thought. That part works perfectly and its very compelling. There is the CIA backroom drama between Dewey and Lee and the Asset, which is also solid. What doesn’t work is the third angle about the new blackops program connected with Deep Dream. It feels like the writers and the director stretching to try and be very timely and addressing issues of privacy without making it fit very organically to the story. I mean, Bourne isn’t even really connected to that part of the story and whenever that portion of the movie takes focus, its less interesting. In addition, the film doesn’t make it clear exactly how Dewey is connected to Bourne’s past. The film indicates that Bourne knows Dewey but the how isn’t explained. But everything directly connected to Bourne works well and I did like that the Asset is given a more direct personal connection to Bourne, which makes their individual fight be more personal. I think Matt Damon is excellent in this movie. He plays Bourne more broken and on the edge than he’s ever been in this movie. There are several scenes, such as his climactic scene with TLJ, where you feel him teetering. Julia Stiles shows back up as Nicky who starts Bourne on her journey. Like with Marie, I was disappointed she was killed off but I also get that Bourne needs to be alone in order to be able to move as fast he does from one place to another. TLJ is an old pro at roles like these and it shows. He does it with ease. Alicia Vikander is good as Heather Lee but I feel as the role needed someone a little bit older to be believable as someone as high up as her in the agency. But I suppose her being a young ambitious upstart is part of the point. When it comes to the action, I think its all top notch. I know not everyone likes shaky cam but Greengrass uses it well. The Greece sequence, the car chase in the climax, and the hand to hand fight sequence in the end, is all well done. I am also glad thiat it does seem to indicate that not everything that Bourne exposed in Ultimatum was covered up and Blackbriar was exposed, unlike what Legacy indicated. The film doesn’t address Legacy at all apart from listing Outcome and Larx in the list of Blackops programs. Overall still a good movie. A 7/10 for me.

I do think the series should be ended. There is a feeling of the films becoming formulaic setting in at this point and Bourne has taken down everyone who had to do with him becoming who he was and has no figured how he became who he was. So I don’t think there is anything more to explore. I don’t see The Cross series continuing since it underperformed at the BO and its been a long time since that movie came out now.

[wolf-stark]

You ask I deliver — both tfatws asks in one!

tfatws weekly ask 1

i finally saw ep1!! i wont be able to see ep2 until thursday at the earliest but i already have some Thots on this ep. here are the ones I remember

first is, and i'm so sorry for this, a grammar lesson. an appositive is when you stick an additional phrase in between commas, dashes, or the like. i actually just used one! the "and i'm so sorry for this" in the first sentence of this paragraph is an appositive. thing is, most english speakers don't normally use them when they speak, only in writing. so i'm always on high alert whenever i hear somebody in tv or movies use one. (it's generally a marker of bad screenwriting). anyway there was one right in the beginning of the episode. the white army guy yelling at sam wilson said "first lieutenant Torres, our intel officer, will be helping on the ground." yeah so. the writing of this series started out on the wrong foot for me. but the rest of the episode was obviously tons and tons better (every interview i see with malcolm spellman makes me love him more and more)

the contrast between the opening minutes (falcon action sequence) and the rest of the ep.... i would 100000/10 rather watch a series with just sam and bucky dealing with life. i dont give a single crap about the flag-smashers or any of that. i just want sam, sarah & fam getting their boating business back on the ground & yeeting racist dickwads, bucky going through therapy and making amends, sam and joaquin being bros, sambucky homoerotic tension, etc.

the cinnamontography! wandavision mostly used cinematography to signify era n stuff. tfatws doesn't have wv's premise to go off of, so here's some tricks i noticed:

with sam there's obviously all sorts of shots with the captain america iconography next to his face, but he hasn't totally claimed it. there's the mural of steve rogers in the background; there's sam staring into the shield like it's a spectre of steve's face; there's sam looking into the exhibit, the shield and sam separated by glass and a layer of camera focus. steve is a constant spectre, always there, an idea, a symbol himself. sam's relationship with this iconography is distanced. he is separated by glass exhibit walls. by painting canvases. he doesn't yet feel worthy to take on that iconography. this whole thing was pulled off quite well but also a bit on-the-nose if only in quantity. there's just sooooo much fancy iconography stuff

speaking of the exhibit, there's something that i get real pissy about. it's when like, there's an action going on you're supposed to be paying attention to but the cinematographer is like,,,, hey! check out this location! or this headline! or something! there was a lot of that in the exhibit. the camera was like, you could focus on sam and rhodey's convo (which was fine but could have been so much better with an extra like 10 minutes of deep character study talk) but noooo you want me to look at the symbol for the united nations and read all the text about bucky who hasn't even showed up yet. shut up i know the lore and ill watch the shot-by-shot breakdown yt vids you don't have to make the shot this long jkdsalcjklasejf

my fav trick was with bucky and the therapist. i had seen a clip of the scene with bucky and the therapist beforehand and i thought the cinnamontography was super obnoxious, but then i was like, oh duh. the shots frequently change the distance between the camera and its subject. sometimes it's uncomfortably close and sometimes it's really far. a clear allegory for the duality of therapy, esp for bucky! therapy is an invasive process wherein he is ruthlessly examined, picked apart, and berated for his trauma (this therapist is crap in every way btw, "mean therapist" works for greg house and greg house only). so the camera goes close. it makes the viewer claustrophobic like bucky. but when he's like "no i haven't had any nightmares" the camera suddenly goes really far. we see bucky as this tiny head in the center of the bottom of the frame. we are distanced from him. he has pushed us away. we cannot see him. he lies because he is vulnerable. so yeah, amazing work there. the therapy scene was hard to watch on purpose!

did bucky slip a note to yori inside the dollar bill? bucky stop making me emooooo. the suuper awkward fake smile has me 😭 (veteran trying to adjust!)

mark my worrrrds when sam asks someone y the govt picked john “white bread” walker they’re gonna say “we needed somebody everyone can get behind....someone uncontroversial, someone everyone can see themselves in” like that exact racist dog whistle

tfatws weekly ask 2

just saw ep2 so im taking advantage of the 2 seconds i can be on tumblr without worrying about tfatws spoilers before new episode drops

when isaiah said "your people put me in prison for being a hero" and bucky thought "your people" means hydra. 🤦‍♂️

speaking of racism, the interplay between sam being Black (anti-Black racism) and sam being the Falcon (negrophilia, "can i take a selfie w you as i deny you a loan?") and the intersection between the two (j*hn lichrally called sam "steve's wingman"! he takes the crypto out of crypto-racist in like 2 seconds!) !!!!!!!! a Black celebrity's Black experience, the separation of man and identity!!!! (thinking about vanessa bayer in snl in that skit "beyonce is black" telling her black friend "you're not black, you're...my girl!")

after sam gets racially profiled by cops we see j*hn standing in front of cop cars cinematic parallels turns out j*hn is racist who knew

this therapist sucks major ass but she got bucky and sam together in the same room and ready to collaborate...that's something ig. it was lichrally couple's therapy she said she used her miracle exercise with couples sambucky antis get blended

bucky says "he was wrong about you so maybe he was wrong about me"...that's not how people talk. when therapist asks bucky, the guy who doesn't talk at all about himself, "y do you hate sam", the last thing bucky's gonna do is actually connect his hatred of sam to his own self-worth issues. bucky generally refuses to talk about himself, so why would he talk about himself in the one context that nobody ever links back to their own neuroses: hatred of other people? one thing human beings hate most is admitting we're wrong. admitting you hate someone because of your own issues? that's a major therapeutic step. bucky would absolutely have to be prompted to do that. even like one or two lines of dialogue more would have set up that line better. but in terms of the actual thought? an amazing way to take the sam/bucky relationship. bucky bases his self-worth on steve believing in him, and if steve is wrong bucky has no self-worth, so 1) he has to develop self-worth disassociated from steve's assessment of him and 2) he has to love himself before he can love sam, and 3) he has to realize that sam giving up the shield is a sign of sam's humility not his unworthiness.

conversely, we don't get into why sam hates bucky? yeah sam has the right to hate a guy that has tried to kill him (albeit while brainwashed) multiple times, and now shows up in his life just to bash him but. everything happens so fast i cant follow their relationship

in fact i dont feel like i understood much of anything. like y did bucky and sam go on that mission together? how connected are sam/bucky/joaquin with the government? doesn't bucky just want to retire now? literally what is everyone doing/feeling and why???

if battlestar becomes a knowing commentary on the black best friend stereotype i'm gonna party, but i dont expect much of that

the interplay between man and symbol. captain america is obviously a symbol. the shield is obviously a symbol. but steve rogers? the. man behind the cowl? he too seems to become a symbol. a paragon of a good guy, so good he's unreachable. steve was just a guy stop idolizing him the last thing steve would want is to be idolized

as the resident musician/music nerd on mcublr, 1) that captain america rally music slaps, but 2) re: the song at the end of the ep, if you're just gonna rip off mozart's lacrymosa then at least play mozart's lacrymosa. we wont blame you the lacrymosa slaps (if you dont know what im talking about go on yt and search it up youll recognize it fo sho

look i love enfys nest as much as the next guy but if tfatws is gonna get erin kellyman to play another innocent little gurl blackmailed into the fakeout-villain position (her text seemed to suggest as such) then 😡 like why can't women just....be evil? young, freckly, innocent-looking women? girls are not untouchable pure objects but full of rage and resentment just as much as anyone can be

bonus ep1 comment: bucky says about that senator whose car he hijacked, "she continued to abuse the power i gave her." fictionaldarling on yt say that he says "i" because he can't disassociate himself from his winter soldier persona which begets endless and senseless guilt. like dude. can i not be emo for like 1 second.

OKay. First off, as much I enjoy your sending it to me, what made you decide to send me these??

-

TFATWS WA #1

Don't worry about getting this to me as early as possible. I usually don't watch the episode right away.

1. Cool writing lesson.

2. Everyone wants a comedy show [like Friends] about the MCU superheroes.

3. Cinematography is always a beautiful thing.

4. Sam definitely has to carve his own Captain America status for himself, outside of Steve's ya know everything.

5. They have to do that for people who was just now tuning in because they're in love with Sam Wilson or Sharon Carter.

6. I think the therapist was taking a 'tough love' approach for Bucky, because she likely has some very strong opinions about the literal assassin she's been assigned to give therapy too. She did not choose to talk to him, she was assigned that make that clear in the second episode.

And, Bucky isn't lying when he said it wasn't a nightmare. It wasn't a nightmare, it was a resurfaced memory. So, technically he wasn't lying - and yes, the camera does move away because while he's saying he didn't have a nightmare, he's not expanding on what actually happened - so, he's still pushing the therapist/us away.

7. Bucky, and Steve, have/had a TON to adjust to.

8. Yeah, I agree that will be the bullshit line they give. If they ever actually talk about it.

TFATW WA #2

Yeah, always got to take advantage of avoiding those spoilers lmfaoo.

1. Honestly, that line was double meaning. Both about White people and Hydra [which is made up of mostly white supremacists/nazis] So, the line is gesturing to both White People in general and Hydra assholes together. I think the terminology is “double edge sword”??

2. This whole paragraph structure confused me, ngl - so I'm going to answer it the best I can. I do like that they're not ignoring the fact that Sam being Black is 1000% the reason he's not the Official Captain America - because the gov't is racist as hell.

I also like the little lines about how they point out little things about Sam's Falcon persona, like that kid calling him 'Black Falcon' specifically and Sam's response show the split between Sam and Falcon itself.

John is a dick for calling Sam the wingman of Steve Rogers. Sam was a hero all on his own before Steve asked him to join up again. [Side note, it's lichrally??]

3. Exactly, the parallel of Sam being profiled and surrounded while just on the street and John being surrounded by fans and being able to spring Bucky with apparently only a few sentences shows a Loooooot

4. Honestly, at this point I wonder if she's not actually a therapist and is just an agent assigned to assess Bucky outside of an Official Building. I do know, however, that her 'look at each other and speak' exercise is actually a real therapy practice. It's just a little slower.

5. Actually, I think he would've blurted that out. That whole line. I don't think Bucky hates Sam. I think they could've done the scene better, but I think that had Sam prodded him/the therapist been more annoying Bucky would've lost control of his emotions and blurted out the whole "If he was wrong about you, he was wrong about me" but I feel like the writing for this show is just... not there. Sometimes you blurt shit when you get overemotional and I think that was what Bucky was supposed to be like.

6. I don't think Sam hates Bucky, I think he doesn't trust him though. I do wish they'd talked about that though. The whole 'talk to each other' scene should've been a LOT longer and a LOT slower.

7. Sam and Bucky's relationship is being fast tracked because they don't really know how to work the relationship out, writers-room-wise. Bucky is technically retired, but I feel like he's trying to live up to Steve's expectations and doing what Steve would've done and we all know that if Steve was there, Steve would've jumped on that plane with Sam. It looks like Sam/Bucky/Joaquin are a side-team based from Military services but as Sam says they're all free agents so...?

8. Sadly, They seem to just be propping up to be another stereotype.

9. Captain America is a symbol. Steve Rogers is a man. But now Steve Rogers is an idol because of all the shit he's been through and honestly, it's not a bad thing he's become an idol for people - it's using Steve as a reason to make White Bread Walker the next Captain that makes Steve's idolization so fucked.

10. I don't know anything about music so I have no opinion here, sorry.

11. Enfys?? Also, I think they did the whole Innocent Girl Thing as side commentary for Bucky lowering his guard about seeing a young girl rather than a guy.

12. Bucky is the Winter Solider. The Winter Solider is Bucky. That is how Bucky will always see it because although he was brainwashed, it was still him and he remembers all of it. When you have constant memories of something 'someone else' did, you tend to not be able to pull the two personas out of each other. I want Bucky to take up the title, White Wolf instead of Winter Soldier. Honest.

This is all my opinion, I’m honestly a little disappointed with the writing of TFATWS so far so... I’m not really optimistic about this.

[iatheia]

EDA reviews part 2 - books 10-18

Previous part here

10) Legacy of the Daleks - A very enjoyable read, even though it doesn’t mesh well with Big Finish continuity. I have a few headcanons on how to rectify that, though... The meeting between the Eight and Delgado’s Master left me grinning ear to ear, the way Eight was posturing, wholly aware of the way the Master ticks. I’m not sure I liked Susan quite as much, though - nor was she that fundamental to the story, spending most of the time off screen, but being somewhat unlikeable when she was there. Her final confrontation with the Master was a bit much... Similarly, it was hard to accept Master not recognizing her. That said, the rest of it was a fun romp, and Eight’s thoughts towards the end were particularly poignant, 9/10

11) Dreamstone Moon - Starting right off the bat with an author self insert, and have him being both the source of the conflict and the one to ultimately save the day, kind of - it’s a bold choice.... It’s been said before, but Doctor’s companions really should unionize huh? Eight’s in particular. It really is quite striking that the situation with Sam is pretty much the exact same one as it will be with Charlie - thinking that the Doctor is dead, abandoned, alone, without any network of support. And I’m finally about to have context for that post, so, cheers, I guess. That said, Sam and the Doctor are very much representative of the “quit telling everyone I’m dead - sometimes I can still hear his voice” meme. I’ve lost count how many times Sam decided that the Doctor’s dead within five minutes of seeing him very much alive. (Ok, no, I jest, but it’s a good book, throughly enjoyable from the beginning to end, 10/10)

12) Seeing I - I, uh, really struggle to follow Sam’s logic in the beginning here. I don’t really understand how she ended up in the place she did, after the last novel. Because, she wasn’t alone, she wasn’t abandoned, she was in a company of people, who, uh, cared about her might be putting it a bit too strongly, but who at least could vouch for her. So this disconnect is a bit odd. And, as good as this novel is, as good as the character work in here is, I have a slight disconnect with the rest of it, too. There is too big of a gulf with where the story begun and where it ended - there are too many things going on, too many plots introduced and then unceremoniously dropped. It’s like... Revolution of the Daleks inside of Kerblam, with Nightmare in Silver thrown in with half a dozen other themes from other episodes. When you have the doctor in the machine and the psychologist guy go from primary antagonists to the supporting cast we’re supposed to root for, there is something mildly dissatisfying about it, thematically speaking. Overall, the story in its entirety is less than a sum of its parts. Breaking it into pieces, though, there is a lot of exciting stuff there. 9/10

13) Placebo Effect - Controversial opinion time - I don’t care for Ark in Space. I think it’s a pretty forgettable episode. So any time I encounter any reference to the wirrrn, my reaction is “wait, who?”. And even though I like Leisure Hive well enough, I dare you to find anyone who has been clamoring for the return of Foamasi. This rather made me immediately apprehensive, straight from the preface. In general, there was too much continuity. Stacy & Ssard, really? How deep do you need to be to appreciate their appearance? They are so utterly unnecessary, too, they disappear less than a quarter of the way into the novel, they aren’t even there for set up, they are there for a set up of a set up. If you are actually a person who knew who they were, and wanted to see more of them, I can’t imagine this being all that satisfying. It’s a rather abrupt transition from the previous ark. I dare even say, aggressive, to the degree you have Sam going from “she is afraid to be even in the same room with him, lest she kills him with her soaked through panties” to “she is absolutely delighted when he imparts onto her his grandfatherly wisdom”. Then again, any time either Eight or Sam opened their mouth, I didn’t see Eight or Sam. I saw Four and Sarah Jane. It’s not well written, either. It’s very clunky. The dialogues in particular are obnoxious. Stacy’s and Sam’s conversation, and later on dogmatic discussion between Sam and the priests gave me full on psychic damage. I mostly skimmed beyond that, can’t say there was much to catch the eye. 2/10

14) Vanderdeken's Children - This book is aiming to be a masterpiece, but it’ll just have to settle for being good enough. It does have some interesting twists and turns in here, even though most of them are pretty predictable and expected from the set up. The last couple of chapters, the ending overall, are quite decent (even though all the ebook versions I was able to find cut off the last couple of pages, argh!), but the middle is very middling, with mostly uninspiring secondary characters that are ever so slowly being positioned on the chess board. 7/10

15) The Scarlet Empress - Where to begin... It’s a series of mostly unrelated short stories in a trench coat pretending to be a novel. It’s set up in a middle of a road trip, unrelated not just to each other, but also the measly bit of plot that was given to us? I found it’s quite difficult to engage with the story overall, or follow it, really. It tries to be more character driven than plot driven, which is an admirable aim, and some of the character stuff they have in here is nice, except... Outside of may be bits of chapter 1, I couldn’t really hear Doctor’s voice - any version of him, let alone Eight. Sam fares a bit better, but, at the end of the day... It doesn’t really feel like Doctor Who story. The pacing is completely off, as is the structure, and it was quite nonsensical and whimsical, more akin to Alice in Wonderland than Doctor Who. Not bad in and of itself, just, hard for me to appreciate as a part of this marathon. A note on Iris. I haven’t yet listened to her stand-alone adventures, but I generally enjoy whenever she shows up in Big Finish. Here, though, she was rather lacking Katy Manning’s charm and personality. And, I feel, if you didn’t have any existing fondness for the character before, this novel isn’t going to give you much to care about her. Except, *checks notes*, this was one of her first major outings? Not really a good start. Oh, and prior to this she was in a few short stories, by the same writer. Well, that checks out. 6/10

16) The Janus Conjunction - I really liked this one. Not much to say beyond it, but, very well written, very easy read, practically in a single breath. Excellent characterization for both Doctor and Sam, just a right degree of joyful, determined, adventurous, death defying, mad, delirious, and codependent, almost moreso than any other I’ve read so far. Rather dark, though, I can feel it resonating in the pit of my stomach, and it gets inside your head. 10/10

17) Beltempest - What did the Doctor do to deserve this character assassination??? It’s not without redeeming bits (looks like “I’m not a man” quote comes from here, big yay), but, in large part, is barely a pale shadow of a character I like. Especially in the beginning - he think that Sam might have died and he is ok with this??? After the Dreamstone Moon??? And he is incredibly obnoxious? And Sam was barely herself, even before being... uh, possessed? for plot related reasons. I can’t describe how much disconnect I have with the protagonists here, or with any characters in the rest of the book, for that matter, and how much the dialogue made me roll my eyes. And, ah, the technobabble. I generally try not to overthink the physics of most things in fiction, because, as a certified space scientist, otherwise I’d be here all day, but there comes a point where it crosses the line. After everything else, to read the words “newly born main sequence star” with my own two eyes is just too much. I’m a good person, I do not deserve this nonsense... The first half of the book left me rather put off. The second part left me feeling absolutely flat. No emotions, either positive or negative. And, uh, there was a post going around on tumblr along the lines of “the worst you can do to the character is having them mention a certain food, because the fandom will turn it into an obsession” - it’s rather the same here with Eight and books & classical music. I am rather starting to loose count of the number of times they are trying to emulate the scene with the ending of the movie, where he is lounging about and reading, or specifically mentioning Pucchini. To be fair, it’s not just this novel, but it definitely starting to take me out of it. 5/10

18) The Face-Eater - I’m generally a bit wary of cold opens in the books, because some tend to ramble a bit, with the characters I don’t already know and love, so it’s often is a chore to muster enthusiasm to care about them. This one, though, despite all that, starts very effectively, in a way that made me immediately sit up straight. Very snappish, in a style of noir novels. Too bad it doesn’t quite sustain that energy throughout it. The plot is... interesting, I guess. Characterization is decent, for the most part - although some moments, especially early on gave me a pause, it more than makes up for it in other places. 7/10

Overall impressions so far: Much better than the first set of 9, which often were too deeply rooted in nostalgia to try to offer anything unique. And, I guess, with more writers having a chance to read each others works, the characterization is a bit more consistent (not for every writer, mind, but, in general). How long does it take for them to write a novel of this length, I wonder? A book a month is a rather grueling pace for the series - how far in advance do they start? How many other books come out during that time? 

Sam in particular incrementally found her footing (though, there is a bit of a lag from novel to novel). Instead of imagining literally any other companion, there were certain novels that really helped me to grasp her character. Though, hmm... being Doctor’s companion is not a safe job by any stretch of imagination, but this girl has really been through a wringer. I’m rather struggling to think of any other companion that has been put through so much (non-lethal) battering. There comes a point when one just wants to just to let her have some good time. And, uh, there was a horrible thought that occurred to me, and went to look up how she will depart the TARDIS in the end, and... well, I have a feeling that sometime afterwards I will not like what will happen.

Also, there is this trend of separating her and the Doctor, for a prolonged period of time, them having no idea where to find each other, without any contact, just, stumbling onto one another eventually. It’s a way for writers to have them cover more narrative ground, and you certainly don’t want them attached by the hip, but when they spend less than 20 pages a book in each other’s company, that’s, uh... not a trend I particularly care for.

Well, onto the next batch where we meet Fitz, and say good bye to Sam.

Next part here

[pass-the-bechdel]

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, once.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seven (30.43% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Sixteen.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Film Quality:

Significantly flawed, and well-known in fandom for it. Unpopular opinion? I still think it’s better than the first Avengers film.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Natasha and Laura pass in a single-line trade. It’s sooo close to not counting.

Female characters:

Natasha Romanoff.

Wanda Maximoff.

Maria Hill.

Helen Cho.

Peggy Carter.

Laura Barton.

FRIDAY.

Male characters:

Tony Stark.

Steve Rogers.

JARVIS.

Thor.

Clint Barton.

Strucker.

Pietro Maximoff.

Bruce Banner.

Ultron.

Sam Wilson.

James Rhodes.

Ulysses Klaue.

Heimdall.

Nick Fury.

Erik Selvig.

Vision.

OTHER NOTES:

Everyone talking about Strucker like we already know who he is...

The “Shit!”/”Language!” gag was funnier before they hung a lantern on it. Not least because it takes almost a full minute before Tony harks back to it (fifty seconds, actually. I checked). If you’re gonna make a Thing out of it, you gotta follow up immediately, not after fifty seconds of cutting around to different character intros and action shots and a whole lot of other dialogue. 

Urrgghh, ok, I’m going to break my standing rule about not discussing source material, because we gotta acknowledge the colossal wrongness of re-writing the Maximoff twins - canonically Jewish Romani - as willing volunteers in a Nazi science experiment. It gets worse the more you think about it. There are a few things about this movie which generated significant negative outcry, and this incredibly offensive decision is one of them.

Tony and Thor fighting over who has a better girlfriend does have a certain charm to it. If you’re gonna have a testosterone-off, it might as well be about how great your partner is.

I got a zero out of ten on this out-of-nowhere forced romance crap with Natasha and Bruce. We’ll come back to this later.

“I will be reinstituting Prima Nocta,” Tony declares, as he prepares to lift Thor’s hammer and thereby theoretically take charge of the Nine Realms. Primae noctis (believed to in fact be a myth) refers to a supposed Dark-Ages law that granted lords the ‘right’ to take the virginity of any newlywed peasant woman who lived on their land. So, this is a wonderful little rape joke from Tony (or, y’know, not so little, since primae noctis in reality would make Tony a serial rapist). Ha ha ha ha. Hilarious. Good one.

I’m really mad about the parts here that are total garbage, because mostly, the revels sequence has a nice low-key quality to it, good solid team dynamics. 

I can’t fucking believe that they played the ‘and then Bruce falls with his face in Natasha’s cleavage!’ gag. I cannot believe it. Is this a disgusting frat-boy comedy from the nineties?

Honestly, Tony, just shut up and admit that you KNEW from the get-go that it was wrong to try and make Ultron happen (that is why you kept it secret from everyone else to begin with); don’t try to defend the decision now that you’ve got a ‘murderbot’ on your hands. Take responsibility for a bad choice instead of talking shit about how you had to and everyone else is just too short-sighted, damn it! 

Andy Serkis is delightful.

The Iron Man/Hulk fight absolutely KILLS the momentum of this film. It goes for way the fuck too long (eight minutes) and has no narrative significance at all. Pro tip for action scenes: they should always be driving the story somewhere. You can pull off eighty minutes of action so long as your plot is advancing alongside/within it.

Also, Iron Man causes a huge amount of additional damage during this fight, in the service of the aforementioned pointless action. His efforts to minimise Hulk’s effects are extremely poor, and calling in his relief organisation to clean up after the fact does not negate that. 

Gotta love that throwing a wife and kids at Hawkeye at the same time as we suddenly start pushing this Natasha/Bruce thing. That’s not transparent at all. I also understand this to be a major deviation from Clint’s identity in the comics, and very unpopular with fans for that reason, but regardless; reinventing him as a family man to reset the romantic blather after baiting fans with the possibility of Clint/Natasha in the first Avengers movie is such a shitty move. I was not invested in the ship myself and would have loved to have them reinforce the just-friends relationship between Hawkeye and Black Widow, because there are not enough platonic friendships between compatible men and women in fiction, but 'they’re not interested in each other because they’re busy with someone else!’ is a weak reinforcement indeed. Less forced romances, and definitely less token wifey who exists for no other Goddamn reason at all. This comes out of nowhere, and not in a clever-surprise kind of way.

“You still think you’re the only monster on the team?” Natasha says, after telling Bruce about her sterilisation. This earned a HUGE backlash, and for good reason - despite all arguments about how what Natasha meant was that her being raised to be an assassin makes her a monster, the direct implication of her words as they are phrased and as the discussion is structured is that her inability to have children makes her monstrous, and that’s deeply offensive. It’s also completely in keeping with a narrative which is often played out against women, in which their value as people is attributed directly to their ability to produce offspring, so it’s not even like this outrageous implication of monstrosity - the corruption of what it means to be female! - is that unusual. It’s awful, but not unusual. Add on the fact that 1) Natasha’s nightmare-flashes specifically foregrounded her sterilisation over all other details of her training, supporting the idea that she believes that it’s what makes her irredeemable (instead of, y’know, all the murdering and stuff), and 2) this is Joss Whedon’s work and he is OBSESSED with highlighting the womanhood of his female characters and treating it like their defining trait while also variously punishing them for it, and you’ve got every reason to interpret this terrible fucking line as exactly the heinous thing it (presumably, unwittingly) seems to be. 

Steve ripping a log in half with his bare hands is the funniest thing in this whole movie.

Thor’s brief side-adventure with Erik Selvig is pretty out-of-place. He just...goes for a swim in a convenient magic pond that Selvig chances to know about. Seems normal.

Ultron is full of such boring, empty rhetoric. Reminds me of Loki in The Avengers, with all that sound-and-fury. 

I love Paul Bettany.

Man, they sure do find Natasha instantly. It’s almost like making a damsel-in-distress of her who needs to be rescued by the team was completely meaningless...

Breaking my no-BTS rule (since I already have done for this movie at this point) because it’s well-known how Joss Whedon ordered Elizabeth Olsen not to show exertion or ‘ugly emotion’ on her face in this film, because God forbid she compromise her attractiveness by being human. Joss Whedon is not human; he’s fucking trash. 

The final fight sure does just, y’know, get to a point where it ends. They really did not ratchet up the tension over the course of the Sokovia conflict, it just goes along until it stops (also, they say Sokovia is a country, but then they never call the city anything else, it’s just Sokovia. Is the city conveniently named after the country (very confusing), or is it a city-country, like The Vatican? I kinda assume it’s option three, which is that no one bothered to care because it’s just some fake European placeholder anyway and we’re not supposed to notice such a dumb oversight).

“I was born yesterday.” This is the best quip in this whole thinks-it-is-way-wittier-than-it-is movie.

Helen Cho deserved better than to be a prop rapidly dismissed and then just trotted past at the end for an ‘oh, she survived, btw’. 

Back when I reviewed the first Avengers movie, I said that I considered that film to be heavily overrated, so maybe it’s not such a surprise that I actually like this one better. The two primary problems I had with that first film were the overly simplistic plot, and the fact that most of the characters were OOC compared to previous films, and this movie does do better on both scores, so I feel more engaged by it, and less annoyed. That said...this movie has still got a lot of problems, and those include iffy characterisation and a plot with various holes, nonsensical complications, and conveniently ignored or smoothed-down dynamics. When I say I like this movie better than the first one, I mean just that: I like this better. That does not mean I am here to sing its praises. 

The tacked-on romance is part of the problem - for Clint as well as Natasha (but especially for Natasha). After Hawkeye was so heavily under-used in the first film (and his slightly-ambiguous relationship with Black Widow was the only human element that made him a character instead of a prop), Age of Ultron attempts to compensate by giving Clint a personal life, in the form of a magically-appearing heavily-pregnant wife and a pair of nameless children. The function of this family appears to be 1) to give Clint a reason to not be interested in Natasha, and 2) to ‘humanise’ him by giving him something to fight for and get home to, because we all know nothing legitimises a character quite like some otherwise-irrelevant dependents. Want a man to seem lovable and important? Give him a pregnant wife. That’s what women are for, anyway, right? To enhance a man’s story? In this case, to provide a man whose purpose in the story has been contested with insta-personality, because ‘he’s secretly a family man, ooh, twist!’ is way better than having to spend time on giving him something to do in the plot that is actually meaningful in some way. Great logic. Makes Hawkeye super dynamic, right? 

Natasha, unsurprisingly, is hit much, much harder. As the only female avenger and one of only two prominent female characters in a cast which has seven-to-nine male characters of equal or greater importance/screen time (YMMV on whether or not you think Fury and Vision count for that list), the pressure is already on for Natasha to be served up a quality narrative, because if she doesn’t get one, well...she doesn’t have six-to-eight alternative characters to pull the weight for her gender. The best solve for this problem would be to avoid the ‘Token Woman’ cliche in the first place, but since we missed that boat...not having the personal story of your only primary female character revolve completely around her womanhood and her catering to heteronormative expectations of a love interest would have been a good choice. This weird, forced, chemistry-free thing with Bruce Banner? Was the worst thing they could have used to define Natasha’s presence in the film. It sticks out like a sore thumb every time they have an awkward interaction, and it leads in to that atrocious ‘monstrous infertility’ element (though that particular egregious mistake could have been included with or without a romantic blunder, it...probably wouldn’t be, and we’d all be the better off). Even the Hulk-whisperer part of the relationship - while not awful on its own with all the unnecessary romance and Unresolved Sexual Not-Tension removed - serves to highlight Natasha’s female-ness by making her the soft maternal figure for the team, because God forbid one of the other male members of the team be asked to ASMR-speak to the Hulk while delicately caressing his hand. If Natasha’s presence in the first Avengers film leaned too heavily on her gender identity as a defining trait (and it did), this movie doesn’t fix that problem at all: it doubles down on it. 

The good news for most of the excess of male characters is, they by-and-large don’t feel as OOC as they did in the first film. The boorish romantic entanglement aside, Bruce Banner is still a naturalistic character highlight (all credit to Mark Ruffalo, who probably doesn’t know how to turn in a bad performance in the first place), and Thor’s dialogue is way less ridiculous this time ‘round, so he lands a lot closer to his personality from previous films simply by virtue of sounding like the same guy (unfortunately, the plot does not have the faintest idea what it wants to do with him as a character). Steve Rogers is still being written as if being Captain America is his character, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of his identity, albeit one which conveniently allows him to behave in a stereotypical self-righteously bland manner, thus avoiding the need for any nuance in his perspective or actions. This borderline fanfic-flamer ‘Captain America is my least favourite character so I’m going to write him as a boring stick-in-the-mud and then hopefully no one else will like him either!’ approach doesn’t grate quite as badly as it did in the first Avengers, and it can’t cancel out the innate level-headed charm of Chris Evans, so as disappointing as the bias is, it’s still a better balance here than it was last time. The one character who is not so flatteringly handled, however? Also happens to be the one who was arguably handled best last time, and unfortunately, he’s the one who is essentially treated as the ‘lead’. 

The big problem for Tony Stark is that this movie is not interested in digging in to the pathos of any character, it’s all-flash-no-substance on that front, and Tony really, really needed a less heavy-handed slathering of ‘afraid of what might come (feat. messiah complex)’ to motivate his actions and reactions in this film, because without any exploration he’s basically just a billionaire kid playing with matches. If this were an Iron Man film (either the first or third one, anyway), we’d get into some tasty deconstruction of Tony’s mental state and confront his hubris, etc, and - crucially, most crucial of all, it’s a mainstay of all his past stories in the MCU - Tony would own up to his mistakes, listen to the advice of those around him, and take contrite steps toward fixing the problem not just in the direct sense of ‘beating the bad guy’, but also in the personal and emotional sense of working on his own flaws and making amends with the people he hurt along the way. This movie offers none of that. To begin with, Tony’s ‘I know best and I will not be taking any questions’ approach to creating Ultron feels like a significant step backwards in his character development so far (Iron Man 3 was specifically about addressing his PTSD and associated tumultuous emotions surrounding the fear of imminent alien invasion, so his reactionary and secretive behaviour in this film feels particularly out-of-touch with a mental reality Tony has been explicitly working on for the past couple of years); Tony is actively aware that it’s a bad call and thus hides it from the other Avengers until it’s too late, and then he’s bizarrely unrepentant about his mistake. Worst of all, he actually attempts to repeat that mistake, only worse, late in the film (the fact that his idiotic ‘mad scientist’ pep talk actually convinces Bruce to help him again is the weakest character moment for Bruce outside of the aforementioned romance crap). The plot rewards Tony’s second, far worse mistake, in the creation of Vision, who turns out to be ‘worthy of wielding Thor’s Hammer’ and whatnot and conveniently provides every necessary skill to defeat Ultron in a deus ex machina so overt you could use it as a textbook example, so even though Tony had absolutely no way of knowing that he’d get a good result this time and almost every reason to believe he’d just compound the existing problem, his reckless disregard for the literal safety of the planet is treated like a good thing because it happens to work out this time, and they just kinda sweep under the rug the fact that Tony is playing God (and being uncharacteristically stupid and selfish about it - in other films, Tony is normally only reckless with his own safety, and it’s when his actions spill out into unintended consequences for others that he realises the error of his ways and cues up a positive learning curve; it’s what makes him palatable). At the end of the film, once Ultron is gone and Tony has thrown some dispassionate wads of cash into ‘relief efforts’, he strolls and quips and eventually drives off into the sunset in his expensive car, with nary a mention of, I dunno, maybe a little guilty conscience? Maybe a hint of having learned a valuable lesson? The closest he gets is just suggesting that it might be time he retires from Avenging, but neither he nor anyone else lets on that there’s a need for serious self-reflection. The Tony Stark in this movie is the nightmarish male-fantasy version of the character, the playboy with the cool tech and no limits who does whatever he wants and then...literally rides off into the sunset in the end, no muss, no fuss. He’s kinda like a complete reversion to his original self, pre-Iron Man, frittering money around and designing weapons of mass destruction while convincing himself he’s bringing peace to the world one explosion at a time, but that Tony has no business here, seven years of character development down the track.

While we’re talking iffy characterisation, we should also segue into plot, and that’s something we can do easily enough by looking at our villain, Ultron. Calling Ultron an actual character feels...ambitious. He’s a CGI robot full of empty rhetoric and, you guessed it, more of those quips that this movie has in place of any meaningful dialogue. I’d call him self-fellating, but he ain’t got nothing to fellate, so instead he just blathers a lot in a manner that sounds vaguely poetically intelligent but is, upon a moment’s consideration, just vapid nonsense (much like Loki in the first Avengers, as noted above, but at least Loki had the benefit of a flesh-and-blood actor delivering his lines with conviction; James Spader does solid work as the voice of Ultron, but trying to make a CGI robot who spouts a school-kid’s attempt at edgy philosophy sound like a genuine menace is an uphill battle). Speaking of genuine menace, I assume the reason the film is called Age of Ultron is because A Couple of Days of Ultron Causing Disturbances in a Handful of Specific Locations was too much. For all the big talk (and there is..so much), Ultron doesn’t get up to all that much trouble, most notably in the sense that he apparently has his code all over the internet and yet he doesn’t bother stirring up a single ounce of chaos with that ungodly power. Why bother including this as an element of the character if it achieves zero story? Is it purely to make Ultron seem ~unstoppable~ because he keeps downloading into new robots? Because it didn’t really land, y’all. They try to play it like a big victory for the good guys when Vision burns Ultron out of the ‘net, but in context it’s meaningless because he didn’t do anything while he was there. Pretty much everything about Ultron was all talk, little to no action - even a whole bunch of the trouble he did cause happened off-screen, with Maria Hill just popping in to let us know that ‘there are reports of metal men stealing shit’. Cheers, cool. And you know, Ultron makes a song and dance about how he’s going to save the world by ‘ending the Avengers’, but then he...does not pursue that at all. He tries to make himself a pretty body, the Avengers thwart him, and then he enacts a doomsday machine to destroy all life on Earth. Like every other aspect of the character, the whole ‘end the Avengers’ schtick is just white noise, there’s no meaning in it. Ultron is just a same-old-same ‘What if Artificial Intelligence wants to WIPE US OUT?!’ cliche, and maybe that’s what he was in the comics too, I don’t know, but it’s the job of the film to tell that story in a dynamic way, and they had two and a half hours to do it. And yet.

There should be more to this than a nondescript placeholder villain concept and a series of action set pieces that just kinda happen until they stop. At least the first Avengers had some variety in each of its action sequences, using the location and the different skills and weapons of its antagonists, whereas this one is just ‘there are robots and the good guys punched and shot them until they were all broken, the end’. Even making the city fly in the end doesn’t actually make it interesting, not least because the characters spend most of their time running around the (weirdly, perfectly stable) streets not having to deal with any consequences of being up in the air anyway, and the doomsday device is too nebulous to ratchet up any real tension about figuring out how to deal with it. The conflicts with the Maximoff twins have at least some spark of life in them, but the characters themselves are treated to an over-simplified and very contrived narrative arc that uses what they do and what they know more as plot devices than as details of actual people’s lives, leading to a cheap death for Pietro so that Wanda will be distracted enough to abandon the big ol’ doomsday button, and it’s just all so convenient. There’s no heart in any of it, and it makes the moments that try to have heart all the more embarrassing and out-of-place (don’t even get me started on what a prescribed attempt at tugging the heart-strings it is to have Hawkeye name his magnificently well-timed newborn after Pietro, because DAMN). When I said I liked this movie better than the first Avengers, I meant just that: I like this better. That’s not to suggest that it is significantly better in any sense, because it isn’t, and I can’t even argue that this one has a better story, because honestly, it doesn’t. The first film made more sense, it was just less interesting to watch, and the things about it that were contrived were contrived in different ways. The first film was weaker and more irritating on character, and character is always the most important part of a story for me, so as annoyed as I am by the major character blunders in Age of Ultron, I’m still not as annoyed as I was after The Avengers. That is damning with the faintest of praise; this is just not a particularly good movie, it makes a poor use of its cast at the best of times, delivers a sub-par action extravaganza, and the script is not half as witty as it gleefully convinces itself that it is. It comes as no surprise, I’m sure, that I am very glad a certain writer/director departed the franchise after disappointing everyone with this outing. I say I like this better than the first Avengers, but gee, it’s a close call.

[ljones41]

"DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER" (1971) Review

"DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER" (1971) Review I might as well be frank. After my recent viewing of "DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER", I have come to the conclusion that it just might truly be the worst or second worst Bond movie ever released by EON Productions. I certainly view it as an unworthy follow-up to the superb "ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE". Yet, despite my low opinion of the movie, I also found it to be very funny. 

The movie’s pre-credits started the movie out with a montage featuring Bond’s search for Ernst Stravos Blofeld, head of SPECTRE and the man responsible for the brutal murder of the agent’s wife of a few hours, Teresa Bond. And yet . . . the movie had never clearly stated that Bond wanted revenge for his wife’s death. Rather curious. I suppose that Broccoli and Saltzman wanted the audience to forget about "ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE" . . . and at the same time, remember that Bond had a reason to seek revenge against Blofeld. The movie eventually unfolded a tale featuring a diamond smuggling operation from South Africa to Amsterdam and finally to Las Vegas. Apparently, the operation seemed to becoming to an end, since two assassins – the very funny Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, played by Bruce Glover and Putter Smith – seemed to be killing every courier/link that formed the smuggling ring. Her Majesty’s government, worried that the stability of the diamond market might be threatened if all the hoarded diamonds are released at the same time, ordered MI-6 to investigate. M assigned Bond to investigate the matter. At first, the British agent (along with diamond smuggler Tiffany Case, Felix Leiter and the CIA) discovered that a reclusive American millionaire named Willard Whyte might be behind the smuggling operation and the murders. But this proves to be a red herring and Bond finally realized that Blofeld (whom he thought he had killed in the pre-credit sequence) had taken control of Whyte’s business operation to use the diamonds to create a satellite with a powerful laser on board in order to blackmail the world. And of course, Bond destroyed Blofeld’s operation before the villain could blow up Washington D.C. What is it about "DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER" that made it such a terrible Bond movie? One of the main culprits had to be Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz’s screenplay. Their first mistake came in the form of Bond’s search for Ernst Stravo Blofeld in the movie’s pre-credit sequence. It all seemed so vague . . . almost pointless. In fact, it seemed as if the screenwriters and producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman had been torn between a desire to make fans forget about "ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE"’s tragic ending and a fear that those same fans might not forget. Which would explain why the movie’s opening found Bond traveling from one location to another in search of Blofeld. He even managed to nearly strangle one contact with her bikini top, titillating certain fans of the franchise. Yet, not once did Bond ever mention his late bride or her murder – obviously the main reason behind his search for SPECTRE’s leader. I could not help but conclude that the entire sequence was nothing but a cop-out. And the story had failed to improve following the opening credits. I never could understand why Her Majesty’s government had deemed it necessary for MI-6 to investigate a diamond smuggling operation. Why not seek the assistance of an agency like Interpol or something? And why would the CIA be interested in such a case? Both MI-6 and CIA’s interest all came about before the revelation of Blofeld using the diamonds to create a weapon to extort the major superpowers. And I never could understand this. Bond’s investigation took him to Amsterdam, impersonating one of the links in the smuggling operation – Peter Franks. From this point forward, a serious of implausible moments appeared in the story. After a fight with the real Peter Franks, who had appeared at Tiffany Case’s Amsterdam apartment, Bond planted his own wallet in the dead smuggler’s jacket. Tiffany discovered the wallet and expressed dismay at the idea of someone killing 'James Bond'. Could someone please explain how a diamond smuggler would know about a MI-6 government agent, yet have no knowledge of Blofeld or the fact that he had been her actual boss? And there are more implausible moments to follow: -After Mr. Slumber prevented Bond from being incinerated, Bond accused him and Shady Tree of giving him bad money (they saved him, because he had switched the real diamonds for fakes). Yet, he pocketed the ’bad money’and used it at one of the Vegas hotel/casinos. -Bond and Tiffany found dead prostitute Plenty O’Toole in the latter’s Vegas swimming pool. Apparently, there had been a scene in which Plenty (who had been dumped out of Bond’s hotel room and into a swimming pool by gangsters working for Tiffany) had returned to Bond’s room and found Tiffany’s purse. If this is true, I can see why this scene had been cut, because it lacked sense. But why had EON Productions failed to cut the scene featuring the discovery of Plenty’s body, as well? -The stunt featuring Bond’s two-wheeler driving of Tiffany’s Red Mustang through a narrow alley seemed . . . questionable. -Why on earth did Bond bother to wear a tuxedo in order to break into Willard Whyte’s penthouse? -Since Blofeld had left instructions to Bond (impersonating as SPECTRE minion, Burt Saxby’s voice) over the telephone to kill Willard Whyte, how did Saxby learn of the assignment in order to appear at Whyte’s house to do the job? -Why would Tiffany be suspicious of a Blofeld in drag and tail him, when she never knew how he looked in the first place? And I doubt that she knew about the cat. "DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER"’s script had ended in a rather disappointing showdown on a SPECTRE-controlled oil rig off Baja California. Come to think of it, Blofeld’s "death" and Bond’s showdown with Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd seemed equally lame. The movie had also marked Sean Connery’s last appearance as the agent in an EON Productions’ Bond film. He returned following George Lazenby’s decision not to continue with the Bond role. Granted, Connery’s performance had its moments. He seemed to be at his funniest in this movie, displaying a true flair for comedy. And his elevator fight with Joe Robinson (portraying Peter Franks0 made it apparent that he had not lost his touch with action films, following a four-year hiatus from the Bond franchise. And yet . . . I could not help but wish that Lazenby had continued his tenure as James Bond, following "ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE". Perhaps the Australian’s presence could have guaranteed a more serious follow-up to Tracy Bond’s death. Then again . . . perhaps not. And despite Connery’s comedic touch, he seemed to have lost some of the fire that had made his earlier performances as Bond so memorable. In fact, he seemed to have sailed through the entire movie without any true depth. There seemed to be a split opinion amongst fans regarding Jill St. John’s performance as smuggler Tiffany Case. Some viewed the red-haired Tiffany as a funny, smart and sassy woman. Others regarded her as nothing more than a bubble-headed bimbo. Personally, I agree with both views. I liked St. John’s sharp portrayal of Tiffany in the movie’s first hour or so. She portrayed the smuggler as a sharp-tongued woman who was shrewd enough to keep Bond’s paws off of her, until she needed him for her advantage. And she helped Bond infiltrate Willard Whyte’s desert laboratory. But once Blofeld was revealed to be alive, Tiffany became this idiot bimbo who allowed herself to get caught by Blofeld; and who helped Bond on the oil rig and later against Wint and Kidd with great ineptitude. Her character seemed to have lost its steam by the movie’s last half-hour. Charles Gray, who had been last seen as a murdered MI-6 agent in "YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE", became the third actor to portray SPECTRE leader Ernst Blofeld on screen. I have to give points to the British actor for being the wittiest villain in the franchise’s history. Although he had spent most of his on-screen time in the movie’s second half, more witticism streamed out of Gray’s mouth than any other actor or actress. And as funny as he was, this abundance of witticism had also lessened his impact as a villain, I am sorry to say. This seemed rather odd for an actor like Gray, who has proven to be more intimidating in other roles. "DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER"’s supporting cast had seemed at best, a mixed blessing. Not many Bond fans have been impressed by Norman Burton’s gruff performance as CIA agent Felix Leiter. Frankly, I found his gruffness rather amusing and witty . . . in a deliciously acidic way. Speaking of gruffness, Bernard Lee seemed downright acerbic and hostile during his brief appearance as M. Neither Lois Maxwell and Desmond Llewellyn as Moneypenny and Q, respectively, came off as memorable in this movie. Marc Lawrence and Sig Haig had portrayed two of the gangsters who popped up during Bond’s first day in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, they came off as movie gangsters from a 30s crime melodrama, instead of modern day thugs. Donna Garratt and Trina Parks portrayed Willard Whyte’s bodyguards, Bambi and Thumper. I must admit that they were memorable, although Ms. Parks had struck me as a bit of a drama queen. Lana Wood (Natalie Wood’s younger sister) portrayed the unfortunate Plenty O’Toole. And honestly? I now feel that Ms. Wood was one of THE WORST actresses to appear in a Bond movie. Okay, make that the second worst. I consider the actress who had dubbed Marguerite Le Wars’ voice (the actress who played the photographer in "DR. NO") to be the worst. Speaking of bad acting, who on earth had the bright idea to cast Country-Western singer, Jimmy Dean, as Willard Whyte? No wonder he had never pursued a movie career. Dean must have been the biggest ham in the movie, considering his tendency to bellow nearly every word that came out of his mouth. Hollywood star Bruce Cabot ("KING KONG" [1933]) seemed like a waste of time in his role as Blofeld minion, Burt Saxby. What a shame, especially since "DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER" was his last film. The movie’s bright spot came in the forms of Bruce Glover and Putter Smith as Blofeld’s assassins, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd. Glover and Smith portrayed these two hitmen (and possible lovers?) with wit, style and a delicious touch of menace. It seemed a shame that they were killed off in one of the lamest action sequences of any Bond film. I am trying to think of a Bond movie directed by Guy Hamilton that has really impressed me. So far, I cannot think of one."DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER" is certainly not that movie. Granted, it has its bright points – the witty humor, a sassy Tiffany Case in the film’s first half, a great fight scene between Connery and Robinson; along with Bruce Glover and Putter Smith. I would also like to add that I also enjoyed the film’s musical score by John Barry and the theme song, performed by Shirley Bassey. Granted, the song lacked the excitement and brashness of "GOLDFINGER" and the lyrical beauty of "MOONRAKER", but I still managed to enjoy it. But considering some of the second-rate performances found in this movie, along with poor editing and piss poor writing by Maibaum and Mankiewicz, "DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER" strikes me as being the complete nadir of the Bond franchise. And that is saying something about a movie that I still enjoy watching . . . much to my continuing surprise.

[recentanimenews]

The Most Memorable Anime Dance Sequences of All Time!

Anime is an amazing medium because of the way things flow and look on screen, like when action sequences suck us in with amazing animation and quieter scenes can stun with captivating visuals. Perhaps one of the least appreciated parts of anime, though, are the amazing dance sequences that can pop up in our favorite shows and even in their opening and endings. Dance can really be an amazing medium on its own, and with the right animation and music, anime dances can seem almost magical! But which ones are the best? I’ve gathered what I think are the 10 best overall anime dance sequences, and I’m ranking them based on their style, choreography, and their overall ability to stick in our minds. If you’re looking for a new dance to try out with your friends at a cosplay gathering for this year’s con circuit, or maybe you just appreciate a good dance as much as I do, hit the dance floor and get ready to show off some sick moves!

10) Kill Me Baby Ending Dance Sequence

    Coming in at number 10, I’ve got the dance from the Kill Me Baby ending theme “The True Secret of Our Feelings.” This unique duet encapsulates the odd mood and style of the series, with a unique blend of comedy that is wholly its own. While it is a unique and quirky dance, that’s the reason I found it so memorable! Seeing this dance at the end of every episode was a great way to cap off any episode, as well as a great little bit of music and dancing that captured what Kill Me Baby was all about: weird, cute comedy! One of the things I really appreciated about this dance was the way that the moves keep specific timing with the beat, which really showed a level of though similar to the sometimes subtle punchlines of the show.

9) Sgt. Frog Ending Dance Sequence

    Fittingly at number 9 spot is the 9th ending song of Sgt. Frog, “Spinning, Turning, Once Around!” When this song hit during the anime’s broadcast, it became a huge sensation online, spawning lots of people doing their own group renditions of the dance. At first it might seem like the song is more memorable and catchy than the dance, which is why it’s a bit lower on our list than others, but the dance itself is quite fun and actually very subtle! Much of it is focused on specific, timed movements between a group, and keeping up that manic pace as the song’s tempo increases is part of the fun. The parody videos people have made are almost as entertaining as the original (especially to see how people interpreted Tamama’s entrance into the ending!), so for that reason alone I knew I had to put it on this list.

8) Free - Iwatobi Swim Club-'s Ending Sequence

  Free! -Iwatobi Swim Club- certainly made a huge splash (sorry, not sorry) when it hit the scene a few years ago, and people were instantly sucked into the sports and non-sport drama of the swim club boys. But perhaps one of the most memorable parts of the series was it's absolutely off the wall ending sequence, featuring cast members alternating between dancing in a night club and an Arabian themed hunt for an oasis! While some might argue that certain viewers were more interested in the amount of abs on display in the ending, I’ll say that while that was great, the oddball dance sequence and fun visuals of the ending are what really caught our attention. Free! itself seems to have owned up to the silliness of the first ending, as the recent movie had the guys creating a themed recruitment video in something of a fun callback to the original season’s ending visuals. The night club scene was so popular, it even inspired some neat merchandise for fans to buy! And while fans will probably argue over who the best Free! boy is, I have to say that Haru’s hair flipping to the beat in this ending is pretty show stealing!

7) Carnival Phantasm's Opening Dance Sequence

  The TYPE-MOON series Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime have spawned countless fans between all of the various versions of anime spin offs from the original games, but none perhaps captured the madcap silliness the fandom had invented better than the Carnival Phantasm series. A selection of comical shorts featuring characters from both the Fate and Tsukihime series, the show kicked off each episode with a high energy and catchy theme song that was accompanied by the main characters of each series dancing along in time. Seeing Saber, Rin, Arcueid and many others dancing cutely was enough to get this on our list, but the huge group dance scenes in between those really helped cement this one in place. Carnival Phantasm was filled with callbacks to events in both series, their anime, and even long-time in jokes, and the opening copied that as well, with odd little easter eggs for careful viewers to spot. Although Carnival Phantasm never got an official release outside of Japan, the opening song was popular enough to inspire some fan reactions. If you take a look at it, let us know if you can spot the Assassin cut-out…!

6) JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable Opening Dance Sequence

  As much as I would like to put this next entry on the list with “Koichi pose” and leave it at that, there’s definitely more to be said about this one. Our number 6 spot goes to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable’s first opening song, “Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town,” featuring cast members dancing along to the song as they introduce themselves. Diamond is Unbreakable really exuded a specific bouncy charm and vibrancy to it that made it different from previous JoJo seasons, and this opening song really helped to sell that mood. Starting off with Josuke, Koichi, Jotaro and Okuyasu on a stage like a boy band, the song kept up that high energy throughout, making it a catchy tune with somewhat even more memorable dance moves. Although it isn’t as thoroughly choreographed as some of our other entries, it would be hard to really forget certain scenes here, and the way it fits the series is a huge plus to us.

5) Blood Blockade Battlefront Ending Dance Sequence

  Blood Blockade Battlefront was a series that dripped style from the way it was animated to the character designs, and the ending theme, “Sugar Song and Bitter Step,” had an amazing segue of dancing scenes that really helped cement that in our minds. Much like Sgt. Frog, the ending of Blood Blockade Battlefront spawned lots of homage videos from fan artists and cosplayers recreating the dance steps with their own unique takes on it. Perhaps one of the most memorable bits of the whole sequence, though, is the way in which it helped sell character interactions and relationships even in the ending song; watching the various ways Zapp interacted with people, for example, or the little cues to season one’s major plot points in various parts was a hidden treat that rewarded keen viewers attention. The song itself matches the jazzy dance steps and costuming as well, making it an overall catchy and fun sequence to watch over and over again!

4) Uta no Prince Sama Ending Dance Sequence

Considering that it’s a series about handsome idols doing amazing song and dance routines, it probably doesn’t surprise you to see Uta no Prince Sama’s “Maji Love 2000%” make it onto our list at number 4. The dance is so fluid and stylish that you could easily see a real idol group easily perform something similar, and the accompanying fan screams during specific moments really made the whole scene amazing. Plus, as the pay off to a tense and dramatic season finale, the whole dance really felt like an amazing reward for viewers to see. I’ll be honest with you all: there are a few scenes in this dance that I enjoy quite a lot, and it probably isn’t hard to figure out why! If you like your idols handsome and with good rhythm, you should consider checking out Uta no Prince Sama!

3) Vegeta's Bingo Dance from Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods

  This next dance caught us so off guard when I first saw it that I think you’ll agree it deserves a high place on our list: Vegeta’s bingo dance! First seen in the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods movie and then again in the Dragon Ball Super anime adaptation of it, Vegeta’s desperate attempt to distract Beerus from destroying Earth was perhaps never so apparent as it was in this madcap dance sequence. Vegeta’s improvisational song and dance are pretty amazing on their own, but perhaps the most memorable thing about them is what it meant for the Dragon Ball series as a whole: a marked shift in Vegeta’s character and personality. Super really focused heavily on Vegeta’s growth early on, letting us see his change from the cold hearted and distant “Prince of all Saiyans” of Dragon Ball Z into a man who, while still surly, really cares for his family and other people enough to throw away his pride and put on a ridiculous dance to save the day. I love Dragon Ball Super and I love Vegeta, and this dance really just put a big bow on why!

2) Torture Dance from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

  A relative newcomer compared to the rest of the list, our number 2 spot goes to that torture dance scene from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind! One of the best things an anime adaptation can do is take things that it’s source material did, and give it a unique spin that only an animated series can do, and David Production really knocked it out of the park with this! Changing a single page set of panels into a minute long visual trip was amazing! It also gave us a little fun insight into the relationships of the Bucciarati gang; we see goofball Narancia start off, only to have the slightly more serious Mista join in, followed by the extremely high strung Fugo working together in perfect harmony as their torture target suffers in the background. The original song, “Canonzi Preferite,” created to go along with the dance is another great touch, as are the trippy visuals between dance steps. It’s a real treat to watch this dance scene over and over again, and it’s something that really helped me find my love for Part 5 immediately!

1) The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Ending Dance Sequence

If you’ve read this far and asked “Where is it?” you’ve probably already predicted what's in the #1 spot: the famous “Hare Hare Yukai” dance from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya! It may be hard to imagine that it’s been over 13 years (ohmygod, it’s been THAT LONG?) since this song first hit the anime world like a tidal wave, and it’s dance soon became a convention staple for groups of cosplayers! It’s hard to deny the memories of seeing fan renditions of the dance pop up on the early days of social media, and the enduring popularity of the dance sequence really says all there is to say about why it’s my number one pick. Even if we discounted the history now attached to the dance, it’s hard to argue that there’s a stronger contender on our list; the song is matched perfectly by the movements of the cast, and it gives off an air of natural movement that’s hard to match! Many other dances on our list are broken up by other strings of animation stills or cut aways, Hare Hare Yukai got an entire minute of pure dancing down the line, with impressive choreography considerations for its age. It’s pretty hard to deny: Haruhi is still on top when it comes to dancing!

And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this collection of amazing anime dance sequences, and if you feel so inclined, maybe you can dance along yourself at home or at your next convention outing. Just remember to limber up, practice, and dance like the blinds are closed; after all, dancing is about having fun, so hit the floor and get to it!

Have a dance that you think should be on this list? Let us know in the comments!

----

Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[delayedcritique]

DEADPOOL 2 REVIEW

“Everything you want in a “Deadpool” sequel while also underusing a lot of its material”

BY COLLIN DE LADE

              “Deadpool 2” is the latest sequel in the X-Men/Deadpool franchise starring Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool. After getting involved with saving an out of control young mutant named Russell (Julian Dennison), who is being hunted by an assassin from the future named Cable (Josh Brolin), it is up to Wade to save this kid, while making as many jokes along the way. The original “Deadpool” was one of my favorite movies of the year it came out. I was very excited for this follow-up and even had some predictions of what surprises were going to come. “Deadpool 2” delivers everything that audiences want in this follow up, and yet it misses out on some key opportunities that anyone would expect to happen.

              The “Deadpool” franchise is all about its humor and ‘Deadpool 2” doesn’t disappoint in that department. Ryan Reynolds proves once again that he was born to play this character. There is not a moment where you don’t sympathize or get disconnected with Wade Wilson due to Reynolds’ performance. Just like any sequel, “Deadpool 2” has even more humor than the first and luckily, the humor works even more than in the first film. Just on Ryan Reynolds alone, “Deadpool 2” is a must-see. However, there’s more to the film that both makes it even better and slightly worse.

              “Deadpool 2” adds some new superpower characters to work with and against Deadpool; including Russell, Cable, and the luck-based superhero Domino (Zazie Beetz).  These three characters represent the overall strength and weakness of “Deadpool 2”. These three characters are very worthy additions to the cast and the actors playing them give great performances. However, all of them are underused to some degree. If any other actors with less talent played these three characters, then all three of them would have ended up being forgettable. Thankfully, Dennison, Brolin, and Beetz brought so much charisma to their respected characters to make up for their lack of screen time. Unless characters like Vanessa and Negasonic Teenage Warhead though who were criminally underused, Russel, Domino, and Cable are giving a respectable amount of time to shine. It’s simply just disappointing that they’re so good that the audience would leave wanting more from them.

              There are two big criticisms I had with “Deadpool 2”; the first one is how much it shares similar beats to the original film. Anything that worked in the first one was brought back in some way to the sequel. Luckily, it never gets to the level of “Hangover Part 2” where it’s a note for note remake, but it goes just enough over the line with the number of reused gags that are brought back. Even with that criticism though, almost every gag that was reused was tweaked to being even funnier than in the original. As much as I was initially distracted by how much it borrows from the original, it managed to instantly win me back over by the places it goes with the gag. I’ll compare it to how “22 Jump Street” borrowed heavily from the original and yet still made it work the second time around. It’s given a pass this time around, but it will become a problem if it's done the third time around.

              My comparison to “22 Jump Street” is a perfect analogy to how I feel about “Deadpool 2”. Both films increase the amount of humor and action while successfully making an even funnier movie than the first time around but losing the originality of the first film. Even my second big criticism relates back to something “22 Jump Street did so well. Across various other reviews for this movie, nearly everyone declares “Deadpool 2’s” after-credit sequence the best of all time. While I will agree the concept is great, it still lags behind “22 Jump Street’s” post-credit scene that delivered on countless of potential sequels to the “Jump Street” franchise. While “Deadpool 2” has a very different form of its post-credit scene, it’s idea is just as clever and creative as “22 Jump Street”. The criticism with “Deadpool 2” though is how it doesn’t do enough to fully satisfy the audience. While “22 Jump Street” executed over a dozen ideas for its sequence, “Deadpool 2” only does four. This criticism over the film’s post-credit scene is the overall feeling I had towards “Deadpool 2”; some great ideas with nearly perfect execution, but lacking a satisfying amount of it’s best ideas.

              “Deadpool 2” is difficult to review thoroughly, as the majority of it’s strength can be summed up as ‘it is funnier than the first film, but not as good at it overall”. Unlike any other superhero movie or comedy, “Deadpool 2” takes some very surprising turns involving its characters that makes the sequel both better and worse than its predecessor. By going deeper into more elements and characters that worked and didn’t work would ruin the overall ride that “Deadpool 2” has to offer. It would be very surprised to find anyone who enjoyed the first “Deadpool” but didn’t enjoy it’s follow up. While one big moment might lose a couple people, the countless amount of genuinely laugh-out-loud moments instantly redeems itself.

              “Deadpool 2” is definitely worked checking out with lower expectations. Fans of the original are nearly guaranteed to enjoy the follow-up installment with the caveat that it doesn’t satisfy the most ‘fan-pleasing’ desires. The film is even more raunchy, gory, and filthy humor-filled than before. Parents of young children are strongly recommended to keep their innocent minds away as it is definitely not an appropriate film for them.

8.5/10

[nixonsmoviereviews]

"Underworld: Blood Wars"- A mildly entertaining but ultimately mediocre installment in the long-running franchise. A solid script is let down by a weirdly uneven execution.

While never quite becoming a massive mainstream success, the long running and generally popular cult-franchise “Underworld” has for the most part been a great deal of fun to follow for the past decade-and-a-half.  With its trademark gothic visuals and a flare for top-notch action, the ongoing saga about the battle between vampires and werewolves has remained consistently entertaining and engaging, even as it’s gotten progressively sillier with each new installment.

 Unfortunately, after the films reached a surprisingly pleasing crescendo in quality with the third installment “Rise of the Lycans”, there was a noticeable dip in quality with the follow-up, “Awakening.”  It began to lose sight of why audiences fell in love with the series in the first place.  And that downward trend does sadly continue in the newest chapter- “Underworld: Blood Wars.”  While by no means a terrible film, the fundamental issue with “Blood Wars” falls on one key issue- guidance.  It boasts a pretty good story and some solid writing… but is drastically let down by a weirdly awkward and frankly clunky execution.

 Kate Beckinsale returns as former Death Dealer Selene, now on the run with her friend and ally David, played again by Theo James.  After being betrayed by power-hungry vampire heiress Semira (Lara Pulver), Selene and David are forced to take refuge with a clan of Nordic Vampires hiding out in the arctic.  Here, they will come across revelations that could hold the key to turning the tide of the war between vampires and werewolves.  But it may not be enough, as both species have become woefully misguided and bloodthirsty from centuries of pointless war, and been driven to the point of near extinction…

 First things first, as always the cast is pretty darned solid.  Beckinsale is as fiery and fierce as ever in her iconic role as the vampire assassin Selene, and I actually really enjoyed Theo James and how he handled the character of David this time around.  Charles Dance brings a sense of class and gravitas in his returning role of Thomas, and we get a pretty good turn from Tobias Menzies as a Lycan lord named Marius. Menzies, best known for his roles in series like “Game of Thrones” and “The Crown,” does well with the part and gives it a nice sense of menace, even if he’s never really the main focus.  The same cannot be said for Lara Pulver, however, who comes across as, well… a bit silly as the vampire villainess Semira.  She plays the role as a spoiled brat, and it feels contrived and at odds with the other performances.

 Writing duties are handled by series newcomers Cory Goodman and Kyle Ward, and I actually for the most part felt that they were a good fit.  Their combined credits include a slew of odd and unusual films, and it benefits the story, which takes many intriguing twists and turns I might not have expected otherwise.  Particularly fascinating is the addition of the Nordic vampire tribe, which have their own unique methodology and temperament… almost feeling more akin to spiritual monks than traditional blood-suckers.  It gave the franchise a fresh new perspective that hearkened back to the originality of prior films, and was very much needed after the tonal inconsistencies of the previous installment.

 Unfortunately, the film falls apart all too often due to the mixed efforts of director Anna Foerster, in her feature-film debut. Foerster, whom has worked on a number of high profile films in the past as a cinematographer and effects artist, sadly isn’t able to muster much excitement nor style with her first major foray into filmmaking.  Her sense of scope and composition is limited and stilted, and the sense of pacing she constructs is so manic as to be distracting.  The film moves far too fast for its own good, and lacks a clear focus on narrative and character.  Foerster knows how to block a scene technically… but not how to convey emotion or story within that scene.  It’s almost heartbreaking, because she doesn’t slow down enough at all to allow us to take in the sights, the feelings, etc.  She’s just too pre-occupied on hitting beats and checkmarks.  And it tanks almost every major sequence.  With the exception of the admittedly well-staged action and a very fun climax, it’s just woefully not well made.

 It’s frankly mind-boggling how the poor pacing and construction almost completely ruins what could have otherwise been a pretty decent entry in the series.  And it just goes to show you how invaluable series co-creator Len Wiseman was to the success of those early installments.

 “Underworld: Blood Wars” is a frustrating film.  It has so much potential, but squanders much of it with its uneven and shoddy execution.  And it only lessened my excitement for potential future films. My advice?  Bring back Beckinsale and the series creators Wiseman and Danny McBride for one last film… hopefully one that will redeem the series after the weaknesses brought about by the one-two punch of “Awakening” and “Blood Wars.” Go out with a bang, guys. Otherwise, “Underworld” might very well be finished.  I’m giving “Blood Wars” a middle of the road 5 out of 10.  It’s just creative and entertaining enough to be worth a watch for series fans.  But it’s thus far the weakest of the bunch.

[aion-rsa]

Utopia US Remake Ending Explained: Who is Mr Rabbit?

https://ift.tt/3kvTqix

Warning: contains major Utopia spoilers

With newly invented characters and a whole new world wrapped around bad guys/pragmatic planet savers The Harvest (the US version of The Network), Gillian Flynn’s Utopia makes considerable changes to the Channel 4 original. It’s faithful though, in most of the ways that matter – Jessica Hyde, the unforgettable Arby, Wilson Wilson and more are all kept intact, just transplanted from London to Chicago. There’s some very close translation of a few memorable scenes, as well as a good amount of invention. Flynn rewrites the backstory to weave in new setting ‘Home’, and new players, chief of which are John Cusack‘s Dr. Kevin Christie and Rainn Wilson’s Dr. Michael Stearns (the latter a sort-of combination of the original’s Michael Dugdale and scientist Donaldson).

Flynn’s series takes the bold step of taking us inside the shady global organisation pulling the strings of global virus outbreaks, and building an unsettling cult mythology around it with its own tagline: what have you done today to earn your place in this crowded world? Well, in our case, we’ve sorted through the many threads of the Utopia remake finale to explain anything viewers may have missed the first time around… Major spoilers ahead.

Who is Mr Rabbit?

‘Christie and I have parted ways, he just doesn’t know it yet.’

It seems that both Christie and Milner are ‘Mr Rabbit’, i.e. the head of shadowy bio-warfare/new society group The Harvest. Both have the Chinese symbol for rabbit carved into their torsos, and both worked together on the production of viruses for use as germ-warfare post 9-11. The mysterious Milner (The Wire‘s Sonja Sohn), however, told Jessica that she and Christie had parted ways, though he didn’t know it yet, pointing the way to a potential rivalry should there be a second season.

What is The Harvest?

It’s the organisation started by Christie and Milner, which is behind the introduction of man-made viruses into the population. Its ultimate purpose, or at least, Christie’s purpose, is to sterilise the global population for three generations, thereby forcibly reducing overpopulation and the strain it places on the planet’s natural resources.

What is Home?

‘A new society, a grand social experiment’

The headquarters of The Harvest, where children (especially twins – matching pairs are useful in genetic studies) are shipped in from impoverished countries all over the world and brainwashed in Christie’s beliefs. Some are experimented on, some are trained –like Arby – to be assassins, others are trained to sacrifice themselves as martyrs. They’re all taught to respect the ‘purpose’ assigned to them, and to end each day by asking what they’ve done to earn their place in this crowded world.

What is hidden inside the Flu vaccine? 

‘You won’t be having any children’

A sterilisation gene that’s passed down for three generations, stopping anybody who got the vaccine from having children during that time. It’s part of Christie’s Thanos-alike plan to reverse global overpopulation and reduce the pressure it puts on scarce natural resources, which he predicts would lead to the “war of wars”.

What happened to Jessica in that yellow house?

‘Your father created you for me’

She was gassed and experimented on as a child, her body used to test viruses, vaccines and genetic behavioural modifications. The ‘presents’ she remembers being delivered were crates of children purchased from their parents in poverty all over the world, there to be used as lab rats, or trained as soldiers or martyrs. When ‘Mr Rabbit’ used to give Jessica cookies, presumably they were infected with various flus against which she’d been vaccinated. (Or maybe they were just cookies? He does love kids, after all.) Jessica lived there alone, being experimented on by her father, until Artemis (a combination of UK character The Tramp and Jessica’s unseen trainer/saviour Christos, whom a 15-year-old Arby tortured to death) broke them both out, hiding Jessica’s father in an institution and taking the girl on the run.

Who was the man in Jessica Hyde’s basement?

‘My dear, he didn’t care about you at all’

Jessica’s father, the scientist who drew the Dystopia and Utopia comics, and who manufactured multiple viruses during his time working for The Harvest. When Artemis sprang young Jessica and her father from Home and took them on the run, she hid Jessica’s father in an insane asylum (the same one Dr Mike was checked into by his Harvest sleeper agent/wife Maureen), before Milner presumably had it burned to the ground, taking Jessica’s father and imprisoning him in the basement underneath the yellow house.

Read more

TV

Utopia Review (Spoiler-Free)

By Lyra Hale

TV

Utopia: How the US Remake Changes the UK Show’s Most Controversial Sequence

By Louisa Mellor

Is Milner Jessica’s biological mother?

‘I’m not Homeland, I’m Home’

There’s nothing to suggest that Jessica wasn’t simply part of a shipment of children, raised by her scientist ‘father’ in the same way that Dale was given twins Charlotte and Lily to raise as his own. However, there’s a chance that she could be her father’s biological child, and if so, there’s also a chance that Milner is her biological mother (though at this stage, we’re only in the realm of mad speculation.) Arby does call Jessica his sister, but presumably he’s talking figuratively in light of their shared childhoods as lab rats.

Why did Arby/John betray The Harvest?

‘Every child needs love, I think’

Because he read the Utopia pages he’d taken from Grant, and realised that The Harvest had subjected him to experiments as a child that turned him into an unfeeling monster able to commit brutal acts without feeling remorse. Arby (a modification of the initials R.B, which stood for Raisin Boy, the name the Harvest scientists gave him because of his fondness for chocolate-covered raisins – he didn’t even have a name) realised that Harvest had mistreated him, and so decided to choose his own name – John – and his own purpose: to help his ‘sister’ in experimentation, Jessica Hyde.

Why was Wilson Wilson with Thomas and Christie in the end?

‘Everything I do is a cure for our current situation.’

Because (unless he’s playing the double agent game) Wilson Wilson had come around to Christie’s way of thinking, and so betrayed the group. As its most fringe member, and a believer in conspiracy theories, Wilson felt that Christie was right about global overpopulation (remember his frustration about Dr Mike and the rich oligarch whose house they crashed at having too many belongings?). Wilson, we can assume, has now joined The Harvest as one of Christie’s followers, despite The Harvest having murdered his family.

Why didn’t Dr Mike destroy the vaccine’s mother egg?

‘Whoever holds the egg holds the power’

When Dr Mike destroyed the eggs in which the vaccines were stored, it was assumed he also destroyed the mother-egg containing the source of the sterilisation vaccine that Christie Labs were preparing to send out all over the United States. The last we saw Dr Mike, he was driving out of Chicago with the mother-egg intact. After being used and manipulated by Christie and The Harvest, he’s taken the vaccine mother-egg to use as a bargaining chip. 

How did Jessica get the T-shaped rash flu and why didn’t she die? 

‘Your blood is slowly saving you.’

On the drive back from destroying the bunnies at the travelling petting zoo that was spreading the ‘Stearns’ flu around US schoolchildren, Jessica was bitten on the finger by the white rabbit the gang had taken for Dr Mike to test. She was thus infected with the flu and started to develop its characteristic T-shaped forehead rash. Dr Mike discovered that the rabbit was infected with flu, but it was a different strain to the one he’d developed a vaccine for. That told him that the vaccine in production at Christie Labs wouldn’t cure the T-shaped flu – that was all just pantomime to get Americans clamouring for the vaccine – so it must have been designed for another secret purpose (see above).

What were all those marks on Jessica’s back? 

‘Thanks to you, humans will be immune from acting with greed.’

The constellation of different shaped marks on Jessica’s back, like her ‘starburst’ arm mark, are scars from various vaccinations and experiments her father and Milner performed on her. Milner and Jessica’s father were working on genetic modifications to human behaviour, forcing people to “act correctly” by taking away their free will. Inside Jessica Hyde’s blood is a whole bunch of vitally important genetic information, which is why Milner needed Jessica herself back at Home. The Harvest’s search for the Utopia manuscript was only ever intended to bring Jessica back after Artemis smuggled her and her father out when she was a child. 

How did Becky contract Deel’s Syndrome?

‘What we are doing is far bigger than death.’

She was deliberately infected with it by The Harvest when they sent the disease out into US schools in order to test whether they could introduce a virus into humans that would then be passed on genetically, as a dress rehearsal of the sterilisation plan.

Where did everybody end up?

‘We won, we wiped you out.’

Jessica is currently being held captive by Milner, along with her father, at Home. Becky was captured by Thomas, Christie and Wilson Wilson, who appears to have gone over to the dark side. Grant (still wanted for the killing of Cara’s family) was captured by the police. Alice and Ian were left on the run together. And Dr Mike was last seen driving out of Chicago with the ‘Stearns Flu’ vaccine mother-egg in his possession. 

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Utopia is available to stream now on Amazon Prime.

The post Utopia US Remake Ending Explained: Who is Mr Rabbit? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3681MZI

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #226 - Zoolander

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: DVD

1) This film’s opening sequence is actually very interesting. We get an early feel for the film’s sense of humor as well as the surprisingly tense intrigue which gives the movie its edge.

2) Fuck, there’s a Donald Trump cameo in this movie. Fuck that guy.

3) Ben Stiller as Derek Zoolander.

This is one of Stiller’s more unique performances, as it doesn’t rely on as much of a dry sense of humor like many of his other movies do. The idiocy of Zoolander allows for Stiller for some more room to play around. It is a trick to make Zoolander stupid but still likable, someone the audience sympathizes with and roots for. There is a risk of wanting him to fail because he’s so vain, but Stiller is able to get the heart of the character across. Yes, he’s stupid and vain, but you never get the sense that he’s being malicious. It’s this performance which is a key reason Zoolander has become the cult classic it is today.

4) Owen Wilson as Hansel.

A little less outlandish than Stiller’s Zoolander, Wilson still is able to define Hansel with a number of quick/off the cusp lines. His chemistry with Stiller is a standout part of the movie as he is mostly an enigma/enemy for most of the film before becoming an ally by the time the credits roll. His idiocy is on par with Zoolander’s and Wilson is still able to play the character as sympathetic, but he’s cut from a different cloth. He’s a different kind of idiot than Derek. The one thing I don’t get is, why is Hansel the rookie? Aren’t Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson the same age?

5) The tone of this film is unique for a broad comedy. The story is surprisingly dark (?), largely about Derek’s downfall and the risk he has of being a murderer. In most of the film, every scene just makes things worse and worse for Derek.His three best friends die an explosion, he’s largely mocked/humiliated/manipulated, he’s dealing with an existential crisis about who he is, and he’s rejected by his family. All of this gives the movie a unique edge, a defining flavor which has helped it be so endearing for so long.

6) Oh look, Jerry Stiller’s character just sexually harassed a woman by pinching her butt without consent. And it’s played off as a joke. Ah, 2001.

7) Will Ferrell as Mugatu.

One of the best scene stealers in a film FILLED with scene stealing performances, Ferrell (who is funny in pretty much all the movies he’s in) plays Mugatu with such bizarreness and occasional mania it’s hard not to find the performance funny. He’s the bad guy, a total weirdo with some serious self worth issues he’s covering for, and Ferrell just has so much fun in the part (meaning the audience has fun watching him).

8)

Maury [played by Jerry Stiller] (after Matilda asks for his opinion on Mugatu): “You want an opinion? With a good push up bra you could actually have a nice rack.”

Was this ever funny and not just painfully sexist?

9) Milla Jovovich doesn’t get enough credit for this film as Katinka.

Her role may be smaller than say Will Ferrell’s, but she owns it completely. Every moment she’s on screen is hysterical and defined by her bravado. I didn’t even realize it WAS Milla Jovovich the first time I watched this movie, she’s that good.

10) Derek’s hypnotism scene (and following karate scene) is wonderfully bizarre and represents the film’s sense of humor well. It’s all so strange and outlandish, unlike most other broad comedies of the time, it’s hard not to be memorable.

11) Christine Taylor as Matilda.

Taylor is largely the straight woman in the film but plays against Stiller well. She’s not the worst written female protagonist in an early 2000’s broad comedy I’ve seen, but she could be better. The character is made interesting more by Taylor’s performance - which imbues her with a sense of humanity, realism, and passion - than the writing, which has her more as a plot device than anything else. But, like I said, could be worse.

12) Ah! Winona Ryder is in this movie! I forgot about that.

13) The pre-walk-off encounter.

This scene is supported almost exclusively by the chemistry between Wilson and Stiller. Wilson in particular takes command of the scene, stealing it even from Zoolander with great lines like, “Don’t you know I’m loco?” It’s a lot of fun.

14) DAVID FREAKING BOWIE!

15) The Walk-Off

Quite possibly the most fun scene in the entire film, it is once again made by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson just letting loose on screen. It just keeps building, the ridiculous of it all, supported by strong editing and fitting music, before reaching its inevitable and hysterical climax.

16) This film features a wonderfully weird character detail of Derek not being able to turn left. I can’t even imagine how anyone even thought that up but it just helps to define the movie.

17)

JP Prewitt: “The fashion industry has been behind every major political assassination over the last two hundred years.”

That’s it. That’s the plot of this movie. That’s the concept. And how totally freaking random and wonderfully weird it is. That idea on its own is hysterical.

18) David Duchovny’s role as JP Prewitt in this film is brief but a strong one. Definitely calling back to his role as the conspiracy obsessed Mulder on “The X-Files”, he helps support the film’s unique mystery driven tone.

19) According to IMDb:

Derek's repetition of the line "But why male models?" for the second time, in the cemetery scene, was an ad-lib by the actors; Ben Stiller forgot his line and simply repeated the earlier line again, and David Duchovny ran with it and gave him a straight answer.

20)

Matilda: “That shemale Katinka is not messing around.”

Ugh, I do not mis the early 2000s transphobic humor.

21) The heart to heart between Hansel and Derek is surprisingly poignant and sweet. They’re able to communicate honestly about their insecurities and move past it to be friends. I wish more of my gender was like that.

22) Matilda’s backstory is a double edged sword. On the one hand, her feeling about unattainable standards of beauty are incredibly realistic and great to feature on film. On the other, Derek and Hansel make jokes about her being bulimic (even if they apologize for it later). So, take that as you will.

23) Did we REALLY need an orgy scene?

24) The breakdance fight between Hansel and the DJ is pretty funny, specifically in the constant changes in music it yields.

25) Sometimes, I’m Mugatu.

26) And Derek stops a throwing star with a look. That’s how this film ends. Because why not?

27) The ending at Derek’s school is surprisingly sweet. It feels earned, sincere, and sympathetic. He’s worked past the BS of his life to actually help people (or at least, what this film presents as helping people). Hooray!

Zoolander is not for everyone. But if you’re a fan of kinda dumb comedies then you’ll dig it. It’s very funny, supported by Stiller’s performance as well as those he surrounds himself with (Ferrell, Wilson, Taylor, Jovovich). It’s a good movie to relax to and just enjoy. So maybe give it a shot.

[nicksebastiaofmp]

FMP Evaluation

We were asked to create a final major project where we could choose from 4 different themes. It was: Gaming, Graphics, Photography and Video. The aim was to produce something more than just a regular project we did in past. Basically, we had 8 weeks to proof that we’re worthy to get great qualification from this course. In this project we were meant show all of our skills, knowledge, creativity, terminology, etc. We’ve gained from being on this course. 

Intro: 

I chose to do video as it is closest theme to my heart. I like telling stories and any sort of video is a way to tell a story. I’ve had a story in my head I wanted to visualise and so I did. When I found out that we’ll be able to choose I didn’t hesitate I knew this was my time to create it. I started brainstorming my prime ideas, drawing the logo I wanted to appear in the short film, talking about scenes a bit, mainly describing my ideas, taking about actors from drama school, etc. For my initial research, I headed to ancient civilizations as it was relevant to my idea and tried to get as many information as possible. I’ve written the proposal based on my initial research and I was ready to start writing the schedule. I completed the schedule for 3 weeks and started looking forward to filming it. 

Research 

Research played a big role in this case and I was aware of it.  The first research I had to do, was the primary research in the classroom, which is the collection of information that is later used in secondary research. The aim was to find out what individual students like and what they would like to see on the screen if it was related to film. I think that listening to the opinion of a couple of classmates helped me, but I also have a few friends from University who explained to me quite a lot, their advice was very valuable.  On the other hand, if someone is aware of what they desire and goes after it, they do not have to ask others for permission, because then the personal work changes them into the work of others and here the originality disappears.  I do a lot of research without being aware of it, but I often find it unnecessary to write about everything I do and keep repeating myself.  I mostly wanted to watch sci-fi movies that would tell me a bit about their spell and so I could learn something new, then I watched the directors and writers behind the sci-fi movies.  I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos where YouTubers talk about, how to keep the camera properly, how to colour correct, how to film a cinematic sequence, etc. I wanted to make it look like film and make it as far away from amateur work, I just wanted it to be not like the stuff I did in the past and by practice and training I think I did.  Even playing games (mostly Assassin's) shown me a lot about the then civilizations, which was useful for my research.  For example, watching the movie "The Island" gave me some suggestions for my actors' clothes, it's all just a test to know what I'm capable of for now.

Target audience

My target audience are females from 18-24 who like horror type of movies with little bit of action and excitement. I did try to make it look like an action sequence with a bit of excitement I guess, but I also did what I liked. I remembered what I was supposed to create and somehow focused on it, but at the end of the day it was my work and I cannot satisfy everyone. 

 My demographic profile of my audience is literally just their age and gender in this case, the most common age is 18-24 and the gender are females. When it gets to psychographic audience it starts to be wider. There are students who don’t really have taste in movies, students who are into action and horror movies, some search for an excitement and death in the movie and some wouldn’t even want to star in a movie. I’ve got all this data from the survey monkey that I did like 2 months ago. I mean it’s important to know what they like, so you roughly know what direction to head, but at the same time you need to find a way that will suit the majority. I figured out that they somehow like action, so I made it look action. I’ve seen in all in quantative form. 

PRODUCTION

I knew that as soon as I had the actors and the plan I could start filming.  Before I started filming, I took my time to walk around the town in order to find an appropriate location, (location recce) so I wouldn't waste my time later.  I had my actors fill in the release forms and I filled out my call sheets in their presence and the filming could start.  First shoot took a place in town and my house.  I know I was supposed to follow the schedule, but I rather followed my script because it told me all I needed to know.  I experimented at every location because the shot in my head will always be different on the camera, the biggest challenge was probably working with green screen and POV shots.  I watched YouTube videos as part of my production and slowly learned how to make sequences look cinematic.  I knew enough about Adobe Premiere, and I wanted to discover more about Adobe After Effects for this project.  I have to say that at first glance these two programs are very different and it takes time to know what to do.  I tried to experiment with many shots, but everything was futile.  Then I did, I said to myself I have to do one at least thing in After Effects. I was most interested in 3D motion, a feature that allows you to track an object or background in a 3D environment which saves energy and time. As far as the main edition is concerned, I edited it all in Adobe Premiere and the photos that appeared in it were designed in Adobe Photoshop.  I wanted it to be different this time, so I decided to work harder than ever. The edit itself took about 2 days of pure time, my editing contains a lot of effects we haven't talked about in the classroom, effects like Posterize time, Motion, HSL secondary, etc. PT allows you to slow down the sequence to a minimum frame speed which creates this nice “ghosty” looking sequence when you duplicate it and put a normal sequence on top of it. Motion helps you to track anything you want within the sequence, but it takes time and determination. HSL secondary is a new feature in Premiere and what it does is that it basically allows you to pick a colour and highlight it which is good when doing for example a black and white video, but you just want this specific colour to be seen or when you deal with really bad green screen you can highlight the green and make it pure green to make it easier for Ultra Key. All this above had a huge impact on my work I wouldn’t do anything without what I just stated. 

REFLECTION

I guess I should feel satisfied and proud of the work I’ve done, but nothing is ever enough for me, so I just did what I thought was right. It took some time to finish and don’t get me I wrong I thought I won’t be able to do so due to having so many actors, but I didn’t give up and carried on. My first plan was to film a proper short movie that would last like 12-15 minutes, I’ve written the script for it, but due to lack of time and loss of my USB I had to stick to a trailer of this short movie. My overcome was not to give up and look forward to the final lane. If I was going to do it differently, I’d probably start filming even earlier and would make sure I back up my stuff to avoid any inconvenience. Working independently is alright I mean I always do at the end of the day. I prefer to work alone rather than listening to someone, but for this project I had a team that helped me a lot and I’m grateful they did. When it gets to these famous Hollywood movies, they haven’t been done by just a one person either, so. I did follow my schedule at some point, but as I mentioned earlier I mainly followed my script and it worked. My schedule was completely screwed up when I lost my USB stick I had to redo everything and that completely changed my plans. If I would’ve backed it up I wouldn’t become so concerned afterwards, at that point I really thought I won’t be able to do it again, but I did. I used my time wisely, even though this occurred. I guess I could’ve begun earlier, but as I was relying on my actors schedule I couldn’t do much. I did stuff in a meantime, for the shots I didn’t need them to be on, but for the most of it I was powerless without them. 

Presented Work

I feel like I’ve met the requirements to a high standard which makes me proud and fulfilled. I’ve received some nice feedback so far, and I looking forward to see more responses.  

PEER FEEDBACK

[furederiko]

The Dragon's Dilemma!!! For a show with a direct reference to number 9, Kyuranger uses its 9th episode to extend beyond that number instead! XD

- Surprise, surprise! Eventhough Draco Violet made quite an entrance last week, his bravado gets cut short because... his suit has a time limit. No wonder the Draco Kyu Globe looked rather, bland, right? Of course, his main goal is merely to distract Ikagen and Madako long enough for Team Spada to get Team Stinger to safety. Correction, not exactly Team Spada, when Spada himself stays behind just in time to help Commander Xiao, and... gets abducted instead. Ouch. - Bruised and battered Team Balance catches up on this development via teleconference. It might take some time for them to return, so nice excuse to let them off the team! Champ being sarcastic, and Xiao playing janken-kyu (rock-paper-globe) with Kotarou while everyone is waiting for his explanation, are a sight for sore eyes,eh? LOL. Well, here comes the twist. Xiao is NOT a Kyuranger, never was, never has been. Even Ikagen and Madako call him "a pale imitation" while sharing the story to their captive. Which is a convenient way to make Spada up to date. But who or what is Draco Violet, then? - There are Change Kyu Globe, which the legendary Kyurangers have each. Draco however, is just a Skill Kyu Globe, similar to those auxilliary ones like Cancer, Pisces, etc. Xiao, who surprisingly looked really skinny without his Commander's coat, developed the Ryuu Tsueder to force a transformation. This occured before any of the legendary Kyurangers were discovered. So a prototype hero, if you will, which explains the limited use. I don't know about you, but this feels like a nod to "Denji Sentai Megaranger". - We also learn that the assassins wiped out most of Xiao comrades, thus explains why the Rebellions seems 'low' in personnel. What he doesn't reveal to the Kyurangers however, is the fact that during his youth, his rebellious attitude of ignoring orders (or insubordination, if you prefer fancy words), caused the unfortunate death of his Supreme Commander, Big Bear (VA: Kiyoyuki Yanada, who's currently voicing FBI Agent Camel in "Meitantei Conan"). Yes, Big Bear sacrificed himself to protect Xiao from Ikagen and Madako. Hence the hidden grudge aimed towards them. NOTE: Quick trivia! Do you know that the Draco constellation exist in the same family to... Ursa Major and Minor? Coincidence much? Not that it's important of course. After all, it's not like those constellations have anything to do with Big Bear or Kotarou Sakuma, right...? *wink* - Lucky, who seems to be getting more serious in each episode, thinks that he, Spada, and the others won't make the same mistake as Xiao. Unfortunately, it seems Xiao is more intent to repeat history in his tenacity to do the right thing. Vowing that he will not lose a single Kyuranger, he knocks Lucky down and heads out to do what it takes to save Sapada. This can't be good, right? I wonder if this means Spada's going to be the next Commander? Nope, that's not the case. Spada refuses to let Xiao fights alone (while spouting a cool cooking-related reason as well), and neither do the others. - Wow, I get the chills seeing Lucky scolding Xiao for fighting alone. When a loud and generally happy-go-lucky character can deliver a rousing speech, that says a lot, right? And further confirming my suspicion that Lucky works as a catalyst for Kyurangers, all Change Kyu Globes (including Team Balance's, who are still on route) light up and transfer their power to the Draco Kyu Globe. In a scene that easily reminds me of "Dragon Ball" (complete with wish-granting dialogue LOL), a massive violet dragon appears in front of them. We're witnessing the birth of a new Kyuranger! - The violet Draco Kyu Globe is complete now, no longer looking bland. And #10 The Dragon Ma-Star Draco Commander is officially born. Proof? He no longer has time limit, and has his own official roll call now. A cool action sequence is what follows. While Leo Red, Lupus Blue, and Aquila Pink teams up to handle Malistrate Metchatsuyo-Indaver; and Scorpius Orange, Chamaeleon Green, and Dorado Yellow deals with Malistrate Mutschatsuyo-Indaver; Draco Commander takes on Ikagen and Madako all by himself, outdoning both with impressive demonstration of the Ryuu Tsueder's rod/rifle modes... and cocky attitude. "Galaxy! Dragon Crash! Fire!". NOTE: With the convenient absence of Black, Gold, and Silver, this 7-colored formation is clearly a nod to "Ressha Sentai ToQger" Returns. Speaking of which, for a non-Anniversary season, Kyurange sure have so many nods to past teams, huh? - While Ikagen runs off with a piece of Madako's obliterated body, the Malistrates turn giant. Which means, yes, in a cool "Gosei Sentai Dairanger" nod, it's time for Draco Voyager to debut! Loving how the cockpit is held by the dragon's arms instead of plugging in the back like the others. On its own, his Voyager singlehandedly defeats both Malistrates easily. "Dragon Break!" FTW. And together with Kyuren-Oh and Lupus Voyager, the final Stardust Consumarz is destroyed. My goodness, this episode's mecha fight is magnificent. I just love it when the individual arsenals get to show off and kick some butts. I'm curious to why the BLUE Voyager is left out from Kyuren-Oh's formation though? Foreshadowing much? ;D - No moment to waste, time for a new Commander's order. A title rename into "Uchu Sentai Zyuranger" (which is itself a nod to "Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger", of course)!!! Yep, that's NOT happening. Kotarou argues that with the same reason, he can become a Kyuranger too then. Perhaps... next week? LOL. Hmmm I wonder why the Ursa Major constellation lights up when Xiao is talking about Big Bear? Another most curious bit... *wink* NOTE: By the way, Commander Xiao is taking the ending dance spotlight with Raptor. But he's not part of that crowded group shot yet. Possibly... starting next week?

Overall: Kyuranger succeeded in giving its first two-parter, an equal if not better second half/conclusion. Great action scenes, fantastic story beats, and multiple nods to past Sentai seasons. Giving flaw or 'sin of the past' for its commanding officer was truly a nice touch. It allowed the show to explore a little backstory for him, but also turning him into a more relatable character. More importantly, Xiao was granted his true power via the 9 Change Kyu Globes, so his ascension to hero status never broke the symbolism of the title. In this case, the Kyurangers have proven why they are called 'Saviours of the Universe'. At the very least, they just saved Xiao's life so he could carry on with Big Bear's legacy... Next week: Orion's crashing down? Ghost of Brother Bear? And oh boy... it's a Blue Boy...

Episode 09 Score: 8,4 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: April 12th, 2017 - Version 14. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

[recentanimenews]

Staff Picks: Our Favorite Anime of 2019

Welcome to the third post of our annual “Staff Picks,” in which the Ani-Gamers team selects some of our favorite anime, manga, and video games of the past year. This time we’re covering anime!

If you’re strictly looking at the anime output of 2019, it was yet another great year. An ambitious second season of Mob Psycho 100, highly anticipated CG productions like Promare and Beastars (still not available on Netflix!), a new music-focused series from Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop), and Netflix’s big US-Japan co-production of Cannon Busters, among many others. On top of that, Evangelion made its triumphant return to North America thanks to Netflix, stirring up some new controversy along the way.

Unfortunately, all that good stuff was clouded by the worst anime news in decades: a brutal arson attack at Kyoto Animation that left 36 people dead, 33 more injured, and many of the studio’s production materials and digital backups destroyed. The attack represented not only a major tragedy for the anime industry, but the worst mass murder in post-war Japanese history. The victims included acclaimed veterans like Yoshiji Kigami and countless young artists, many of them just out of college and eager to begin work at their dream job. KyoAni was one of the few studios with a reputation for treating their workers with the dignity that they deserve, making the loss of their talented, passionate staff all the more painful. Thankfully, KyoAni has managed to gather a huge number of donations from fans to support the victims’ families and the studio has resumed production, with the new Violet Evergarden movie scheduled for April 2020.

Below, Ink and Evan have listed some of their favorite anime titles of 2019, covering TV series and movies, action series and comedies. Enjoy, and feel free to chime in with your own 2019 picks in the comments.

Ink

#3: The Magnificent Kotobuki

It’s not that I see this title qualifying as one of the best anime of the year, it’s just that, as a WWII plane otaku and airshow enthusiast, The Magnificent Kotobuki (TMK) is one of my personal favorite anime from this past year. Watching TMK is like watching someone play Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge but with much more attention paid to the planes’ mechanical details and exterior wear as well as some very convincing weight dynamics applied to the dogfights. (The dogfights, by the way, range from intimate 1-on-1’s to squad based to air force against air force (and everything in-between) – all presented in loving detail with so many different angles and approaches that they are definitely the stars of the show.) The characters, save Captain Dodo (the stone-faced badass pictured above), are superfluous, but there’s a fair amount of comedy (mostly stock but some original gags) that works well because of the characters and how they’re used that keeps the show entertaining even when not in the air. The only downside, and it isn’t much of one, is the 3DCG animation used most noticeably for the characters; it stands out like a sore thumb against more organic backgrounds, but not so much as to make the show unwatchable. I looked forward to each episode release every single week.

#2: Wasteful Days of High School Girls

I stand by my original description of Wasteful Days of High School Girls (WDoHSG) as Teekyu x Azumanga Daioh with a load of wit via well-placed running gags and impeccably timed, snarky one-liners. It’s cast is a large ensemble, and the show does well via piecemeal introductions that eventually allow the characters’ traits and tendencies to be expressed and received differently depending on which characters are present – the depiction thereof, as someone prone to excessive compartmentalization, I appreciate quite a bit. Watching people bounce off of other people to varying degrees is great, and the aforementioned timing, crucial to any comedy, is spot-on, but WDoHSG also leverages repetition of animation and situational cuts to great effect. I’d be failing the show completely if I did not mention its AOPOTY (Anime OP of the Year), which consists of an all-female (VA-sung), almost nonsensical, gag-filled rap/pop track ("Wa! Moon! dass! cry!") that initially backs the narrative of a photo-bombing Tanaka as she takes candids of her friends (the cast) and later delves into visual gags and welcome randomness that gets more fun as you get to know the characters. WDoHSG is nothing deep, but it’s a show that consistently makes me belly laugh, and that’s exactly what I needed this year.

#1: Carole & Tuesday

After watching the initial trailer for Shinichiro Watanabe’s new music-focused joint, I was skeptical; the guitar playing animation seemed loose, how much could you do with a keyboard, and something just felt off in general. (Watanabe has said he doesn’t like loose depictions of music being played — one of the reasons Kids on the Slope was so intricately animated.) I was very happy to put my initial impressions behind me, however, very soon after I started watching the series proper. It’s a title with a ton of heart that wants to resolve issues stemming from socio-economic disparity through the creation of art. The topic of privileged creator vs. struggling artist is addressed too lightly and almost dismissed via casual acceptance in the first season; resolutions come a little too easily, and arguments that should be had are, for the most part, laughed off in the face of loneliness/desperation. That, however, feeds into the show’s main focus which is healing and growth through friendship and creation/expression — coming together to be something more than yourself by being a part of something greater to which you personally contribute. And that really sets up the second cour. The pacing is rushed but no unacceptable, and the characters are as charming as they are amusing (and vice-versa), but the main reason why this is my favorite of the year is simply that it got me to watch an in-series version of a reality TV show that was, itself, fun, funny, and increasingly tense.

Evan Minto

#3: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind

The hits keep on coming for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Following up on last year’s excellent Diamond is Unbreakable, Golden Wind takes us to Italy to check in on Giorno Giovanna, the son of infamous vampire Dio. Golden Wind’s cast lacks the easy charm of Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi, and Rohan, and it’s hard to hold a candle to Yoshikage Kira in the villain department, but at least for me the leads aren’t the real stars of this show. In Golden Wind, Araki’s overactive imagination seems to get a bit of a power-up, as everything from the costumes to the Stand powers becomes even less plausible (and thus, better). Characters walk around wearing entire outfits riddled with holes for fashion reasons. Enemy stands can do things like accelerate the aging of everyone in a train or — get this — spawn a baby assassin out of a briefcase. David Production, too, are at the top of their game on this latest adaptation, continuing their strong command of Araki’s unique character design style while bringing in new animators to craft dazzling action and effects sequences. Stone Ocean is on the horizon and I couldn’t be more excited.

#2: Mob Psycho 100 II

When it comes to anime adaptations of ONE manga series, I was always a One-Punch Man guy — there’s nothing quite like watching the coolest action concepts crumble into dust under the scrutiny of ONE’s sardonic, anticlimactic sense of humor. But 2019 brought us second seasons for both of his big series, and let’s put it this way: I didn’t even bother with the second season of One-Punch. Mob Psycho 100 Season 2 is a stellar follow-up to what was already an excellent first season (it was one of my Staff Picks back in 2016). The season picks up thematically where the previous one left off, as psychic middle-schooler Mob seeks self-improvement and greater self-confidence. Sometimes the show’s character arcs feel like retreads (the faux-psychic con man Reigen is as devious and manipulative as ever), but then it unexpectedly dives down dramatic avenues that push the characters to their breaking points. More than anything else, however, Mob Psycho is worth watching for the dazzling artistry on display in nearly every frame of every sequence. Action scenes crackle with energy, and the animators spare no expense detailing the supersonic whiplash and earth-rending force of the series’ many psychic battles. What has always set Mob Psycho above the rest, though, is the fact that even the scenes of daily life are beautifully animated, full of loose, expressive, and frequently laugh-out-loud funny character acting. This is one of the best-looking shows in years, and highly recommended for any fans of great animation.

#1: Promare

No anime experience of 2019 can compare to sitting in the largest ballroom at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, cheering and hooting along with the crowd as I watched Promare for the first time. Studio Trigger’s first feature film plays out like a compressed version of Kill la Kill and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann; it’s one magnificent set piece after another, strung together by a series of unlikely twists and betrayals. The gags are fast and exceedingly dumb, the characters are larger than life, and oh yeah, it’s about gay firefighters duking it out with eco-fascists. On top of that, the film’s eye-popping, candy-colored world is powered by a groundbreaking 2-D/3-D hybrid production, utilizing the best talent at both Trigger and their sister studio Sanzigen and merging their two styles into a unified whole. Promare may not be my favorite from its creative team (Kill la Kill and Gurren Lagann are tough acts to follow), but it provided me with more pure, unpretentious fun than anything else this year. I liked it so much I made a whole damn website to celebrate it!

Check out our 2019 Manga Staff Picks and 2019 Video Game Staff Picks too!

Staff Picks: Our Favorite Anime of 2019 originally appeared on Ani-Gamers on January 9, 2020 at 2:47 AM.

By: Ink