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invisibleicewands · 6 days

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A Very Royal Scandal, reviews

A Very Royal Scandal review: Rises above Scoop with a more thoughtful take

[...]

The question is, and certainly should be, does it measure up in its own right, as both a piece of drama and an exploration of this period in recent history?

However, because of Scoop's success earlier this year, there is also another question out there, one I'm sure the team behind would prefer wasn't the centre of attention - how do the two compare?

On this front, A Very Royal Scandal actually comes out favourably, as the superior telling of this story. While Scoop was ably performed and highly watchable, it also felt somewhat surface-level - an adaptation which failed to get under the skin of its characters, or examine the events it was depicting.

The grand total of Scoop's exploration was seemingly an assertion of the power of journalism - a perfectly fine assessment, but not particularly surprising or noteworthy. A large amount of that film's intrigue came from its picture-perfect recreations of real-life individuals, images and videos, particularly the interview itself.

A Very Royal Scandal, on the other hand, partly by dint of its extended runtime, is more interested in both the inner lives of its two central figures, Maitlis and Andrew, as well as the limitations of journalism, and the wider impact of a one-hour, on-camera conversation.

It tells its story across three episodes, and three distinct chapters. The first focuses on the build-up to the interview, much as Scoop did. It feels fairly familiar.

The second focuses primarily on the interview itself and the surrounding days. Again, not dissimilar to the Netflix film.

The third is where this show deviates, as it follows its central figures in the days, weeks, months and indeed years following the interview.

This third episode is by far and away the strongest, in part because it's traversing new terrain, but also because of the complexity of its discussion.

In focusing in on the lives of Andrew, Maitlis and others after the interview, it isn't afraid to examine the downsides, as well as the up. It isn't simply a celebratory lap around for Wilson's Maitlis, nor is Sheen's Andrew villainised.

Instead, the duo both, in their own ways, struggle to come to terms with exactly what has happened, or how they should feel about it.

In truth, that is the case throughout the series, even in between the more mocking and satirical scenes, pricking Sheen's Andrew's pomposity. There is an emotional rawness to the characters, and an interest in the personal, beyond the professional or political, which was largely lacking in Netflix's version.

The cast are unsurprisingly impressive. Sheen does a typically assured job as Prince Andrew, getting laughs when he needs to, provoking outrage when it is called for and appearing a tragic figure, all without externally making a call on his motivations, truths or untruths.

It's a role that Sewell excelled in and brought to life effectively in Scoop, but the additional runtime affords Sheen and the writers the opportunity to delve more into the character's psyche and his relationships with those around him. [...]

A Very Royal Scandal (2024) Review: A Royal’s Fall from Grace

Michael Sheen and Ruth Wilson give two knockout performances that are buried under convoluted character development and a refusal to definitely cast a character in an entirely good or entirely bad light which ultimately leaves them in no man’s land rather than paints them as complex beings. While Maitlis was an executive producer on the show, the series could have greatly benefitted from the inclusion of more female collaborators to tell a story that relies so heavily on the power of women using their voices.

A Very Royal Scandal TV review — Prince Andrew’s excruciating interview revisited once more

[...] The floundering interviewee is played by the chameleonic Michael Sheen in an inversion of his role as the interviewer in Frost/Nixon. Ruth Wilson is as formidable but notably less frosty as the Newsnight griller-in-chief Emily Maitlis (an executive producer here) than Gillian Anderson in Scoop. And while some scenes play out almost exactly as before — not least the reenacted interview — a shift in focus from Newsnight guest booker Sam McAlister to Maitlis herself here gives a richer sense of being in the extraordinary position of having the power to challenge a prince. [...]

Is Michael Sheen and Ruth Wilson's new real-life drama worth a watch?

[...] Meanwhile, Michael Sheen is no stranger to inhabiting the pores of actual people – let alone those in the whirlpool of a royal scandal. But without much more than a grey hairpiece to transform him into the now-disgraced duke, you could initially mistake the man having staff tie his laces for a haughtier Aziraphale. [...]

A Very Royal Scandal on Prime Video review: I'd crawl over harsh terrain to watch Ruth Wilson and Michael Sheen – this felt like I had

I’d crawl over harsh terrain to see Sheen and Wilson in just about anything. After AVRS I felt I had. His chameleonic power seems muted, while her attempt to capture Maitlis’s grave diction makes the broadcaster sound glutinously smug. There are nice turns from Joanna Scanlan as Andrew’s hapless secretary Amanda Thirsk and a bouncy Claire Rushbrook as Fergie. As factotum Sir Edward Young, Alex Jennings is so dry you fear he’ll blow away.

A Very Royal Scandal Is an Actor’s Showcase that Interrogates Media’s Most Famous Train Wreck

[...] Wilson’s portrayal of Maitlis focuses on the tensions between the hard-hitting journalist and the real person: her genuine desire to hold the powerful to account, her struggles to be taken seriously in a man’s world despite all her professional success, her attempt to balance her marriage and family with a career in the public eye. But her performance is a generally restrained one. Sheen has a bit more freedom in his interpretation of the prince, given that much of the show’s assumptions about Andrew’s relationships and state of mind are made up out of whole cloth, and he navigates a delicate balance of fact and fiction throughout.

His portrayal of Andrew is perhaps more thoughtful than the man himself truly deserves, as Sheen presents the disgraced royal as almost laughably out of touch and fully oblivious in the way that only the very rich and extremely well-connected can ever really manage. Having never faced anything like consequences or accountability for his actions, Sheen’s Andrew often seems genuinely startled to discover that he could, and even his most delusional statements—such as claiming he can’t sweat or that there’s no way he could be expected to remember every woman he’s been with, sexually speaking—are made with the sort of absolute belief that only comes from spending an entire life never once being told you’re wrong.

It’s a performance that is often difficult to watch for all the right reasons, if only because Sheen makes it so easy to see how this self-involved, self-interested man has sailed through life considering nothing but his own desires and never, ever paying for the consequences of his choices. He finds genuine bits of humanity in Andrew’s relationship with his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, as well as his obsessive insecurity about his place within the hierarchy of the royal family. It’s not a sympathetic portrayal, by any stretch, but it is a surprisingly layered one.

Where Scoop often comes across as cheerleading for the practice of journalism in general and as it’s practiced at the BBC specifically, A Very Royal Scandal opts for a more thoughtful approach, asking what, if any, good this interview actually did. [...]

#Michael Sheen #Ruth Wilson #A Very Royal Scandal #reviews

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writingforfun0714 · 2 years

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Y’all….that new Peter Pan and Wendy movie…looks bad.

Before everyone comes at me for being racist, lemme explain.

I have ABSOLUTELY ZERO problem with a POC Peter Pan. I have NO PROBLEM with a black Tinkerbell. I don’t mind a scraggly/hobo Captain Hook and I liked Ever Anderson from her role as Young Natasha Romanoff in Black Widow so not that my expectations for her are high, but I know that her acting can be pretty good for a kid. And as a POC myself, I’m all for representation.

But the track record for successful Disney remakes (of their animated movies) isn’t high. The remakes are kind of like this generation’s animated sequels from the 2000s. Some people really like the live-action remakes (just like there are some that love the animated sequels), but lots of people seem to hate/dislike them. I’m weird I guess..I like lots of the animated sequels but don’t like most of the remakes.

That’s one of my problems with this movie (at least from what has been shown so far). There isn’t anything new (besides designs/looks of the characters) introduced.

Personally, I really only enjoyed the Cinderella, Pete’s Dragon, and Jungle Book remakes (Maleficent/Cruella/Aladdin I thought was ok. Could’ve been better imo but definitely not as bad as some others). Cinderella, Pete’s Dragon and The Jungle Book remakes are the only ones I’ll actually rewatch.

I’ve seen most of the remakes (except for Pinocchio w/ Tom Hanks) and don’t like Lion King, Mulan, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, and Beauty and the Beast. I’d heard the Pinocchio remake was terrible so I just didn’t even bother.

I’m skeptical about The Little Mermaid remake (again, not because of a POC Ariel) but Melissa McCarthy has always been a fav of mine so I think I’ll see it (unlike Pinnochio. Guillermo Del Toro’s version on Netflix is so great and definitely superior).

But another problem I have with this new Peter Pan and Wendy movie is the color. Everything looked muted and not bright (even on Neverland). The Little Mermaid has this problem too. The lighting makes it look dark (yeah it’s deep in the ocean but even Finding Nemo did a better job w/ lighting). That’s the same thing with this Peter Pan remake. Everything looked a little saturated too, if that makes sense.

Now I wanna get to one of my main problems with this movie. The Lost Boys. I have NO PROBLEM with people identifying the way they want. Whatever makes you comfortable. But my problem was more with the delivery of the lines. Wendy looked over and said “wait, but you’re not all boys.” And one of the girls snaps back with a ‘so?!’

While I can’t exactly explain why I dislike that particular exchange, I just thought it didn’t sit well with me. I’m wondering because of the addition of girls that the way to become a ‘lost boy’ will change. In the book, Lost Boys were male babies that would fall out of their prams. I believe they said that only happened to boys because they weren’t as smart as girls or something (it’s been 20yrs so please correct me if I’m wrong).

I just don’t think we’ve seen enough at this point for it to be good. I’m really hoping that once other trailers are released, my opinion will change. I really think we just haven’t seen enough.

Also does the actress that plays Tiger Lily look a little too old? Idk I just thought she was supposed to be like a teen girl. The actress looks to be late 20s-early 30s maybe.

I’d also like to point out to those saying they hate the movie because there are girls that are Lost Boys. My problem was the delivery/acting of the lines, not that there are girls with the Lost Boys. Saying only boys are stupid enough to fall out of their prams is just untrue because that’s something that can happen to any baby. Plus those that say that Wendy being female is special because she’s a mother figure to the boys? Like do girls not deserve a mother figure too?? Disney has historically avoided mother/daughter relationships so this would be a great opportunity to switch it up.

And people have a problem with a black tinker bell like she isn’t some sort of made up magical creature. Like c’mon. Plus people saying Hook doesn’t look ‘hot’ anymore. Guys I don’t think he was ever supposed to be good looking. I’ve never seen any of the live action peter pans, but I know Jason Isaacs plays Cap Hook in one movie and yes, he’s good looking, but if I remember correctly, in the books, Hook used to be in the navy or something and eventually went crazy and started tracking down/hunting the kids. He’s supposed to look…like a hobo.

So yeah, in short, my problems are with the acting so far and the lighting/saturation. The effects look decent but again, I think I really need to see more footage and I hope my opinion will change cuz I really enjoyed the animated Peter Pan as a kid.

#disney #remake #peter pan #wendy #peter pan and Wendy #new trailer #peter pan remake #reminded me of that GoT ep #the whitewalker battle #couldn’t see #the lighting was shit #peter pan trailer thoughts #disney remake #thoughts

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gretasworld · 1 year

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Interview with Robert Belgrade, voice of original Alucard, Sotn, Castlevania, konami.

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Voice of Belgrade the musician and vocalist as Konami Alucard is far superior than netflix version flop actor James Callis.

#original castlevania #originalalucard #robertbelgrade #konami #fucknetflix #fuck netflixvania ignorant fans #antinetflixvania #anti netflixvania #Youtube

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grigori77 · 2 years

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2022 in TV - My Top 10 Shows

10. THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY (season 3, Netflix)

The lovable and deeply weird adaptation of My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way’s epic mindfuck of a cult comic book from showrunner Steve Blackman (Bones, Fargo, Altered Carbon) has pulled off a particularly impressive feat, managing to drop THREE essentially perfect seasons of TV in a row without ANY signs of flagging in quality, pace or sheer sense of fun. After the bonkers time-travel shenanigans of the first two seasons, things in the timeline have REALLY gone to pot, and now the gloriously dysfunctional Hargreaves siblings have got a truly diabolical enemy to deal with, namely the Sparrow Academy, a far superior group of superpowered oddballs that were trained by their adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreaves (Colm Feore), when he discovered what a “massive disappointment” his original collection of inexplicable orphans would become. Worse still is the fact that one of them is a new, far more unpleasant version of their late brother Ben (After Yang’s Justin Min), who instantly takes a personal set against them … absolutely bonkers and enjoyably irreverent, this show remains as unrepentantly mad as ever, with the entire cast shining throughout, although once again Robert Sheehan effortless steals every scene as louchely nihilistic clairvoyant Klaus. Extra kudos of course have to go to the show for allowing Elliot Page to transition as his character goes from Vanya to Viktor, although we should also thank Netflix for seeing the good sense in picking it up for one more season after this given that whopper of a cliffhanger …

9. OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH (HBO Max)

One of the year’s biggest surprise hits came in the form of this riotously unique surrealist sitcom series based on the true life tale of Stede Bonnet, the gloriously flighty 18th Century Barbadian aristocrat who left his plush life of privilege and luxury in order to pursue his personal dream of becoming The Gentleman Pirate. Problem was, he’s THE WORST pirate there ever was, a genuine embarrassment to the profession, who mostly rose to fame after he was taken prisoner by and become the object of playful amusement of the feared terror of the High Seas himself, Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. The undeniable highlight of this show has to be enjoying the sparkling interplay between the two leads – Rhys Darby is, as always, an unbridled delight as Bonnet, the most unflappably effervescent hopeful idiot to have ever lived, while Taika Waititi’s clearly having the time of his life presenting the most feared pirate who ever lived as a disenchanted but ultimately gentle soul who’s long since grown tired of the ferocious façade he’s had to cultivate for himself over the years. The rest of the cast are huge fun too (none more-so than Ewen Bremner as Bonnet’s entirely bizarre first mate Buttons), while the characters and sparkling scripts crafted by showrunner David Jenkins (People of Earth) and his writing team are a veritable masterclass in how to present a perfect show about LGBTQIA folk and their daily struggles through the prism of delightful absurdist comedy.

8. THE MIDNIGHT CLUB (Netflix)

Mike Flanagan continues his assault of sheer small screen horror brilliance with this pitch perfect (sort of) anthology series based around the tales told by a group of teenagers thrown together in Seattle’s Brightcliffe Hospice for terminally ill adolescents in the mid-90s as they attempt to deal with impending death and all the horrific emotional baggage that comes with it. Iman Benson (Uncle Buck, Black AF) shines incredibly brightly in an astounding youthful cast as Ilonka, the desperate dreamer who’s checked in with the intention of discovering the source behind a little known cure for her thyroid cancer which may exist somewhere in the hospice, while Nightmare On Elm Street’s Heather Langenkamp is wonderfully complex as Brightcliffe’s firm-but-fair chief resident doctor Georgina, and a winning selection of Flanagan regulars show up in a variety of roles (along with the resident cast) in a variety of intriguing roles in the titular group’s cathartic late night pastime of telling each other spooky tales. These are the undeniable highlight on offer throughout the series, covering a fascinating range of genres from mysterious whodunnits and ghost stories to time-twisting sci-fi brain-melters that never fail to impress as Flanagan gets a chance to stretch his range a bit, but the overarching storyline is intensely compelling too as we come to really care about and root for these kids. As we’ve come to expect from his work, this is spooky, creepy and insidiously unsettling, but once again there’s as much emotional intensity on offer here as bone-deep spine-chilling terror. Unlike the rest of his TV work to date, however, this one was CLEARLY intended to be a proper ONGOING series … so of course Netflix has gone and cancelled it. At least we’ve got his adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher to look forward to, and he’s DETERMINED to bring Stephen King’s legendary The Dark Tower to the screen in far better style than the criminally awful 2017 movie, so there’s still hope …

7. CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS (Netflix)

Another big surprise hit sneaking in under the radar this year was this unexpected anime gem from Kill la Kill creators Studio Trigger, based on the cult tabletop RPG which spawned the troubled yet deliriously popular video game. Anyone who knows me, of course, knows this is RIGHT UP MY STREET, I’m a total sucker for anything cyberpunk, as well as anime in general, so this was a perfect combo for me, but even so I was generally surprised by just HOW UNBELIEVABLY GOOD this actually turned out to be. It’s pretty short too – with ten episodes each clocking at around the 25-minute mark it’s pretty easy to binge in a single sitting – but thoroughly sweet, each instalment propelling the impressively robust story forward at quite the pacy clip towards a suitably explosive climax, with plenty of blistering action and compellingly dark techno-shenanigans along the way. The real reward here, however, is the characters, a crew of dysfunctional misfits brought together over the course of the series who perfectly encapsulate the brilliantly crafted universe’s dark and dangerous criminal underworld – the central love story between teenage dropout turned cybernetically-enhanced mercenary David and born-survivor elite hacker Lucy is compellingly intense and realistically written, but the best addition here has to be hyperactive pint-sized cyber-badass Rebecca, who’s an ultraviolent delight from start to finish. The animation is some of the very best I’ve EVER seen in anime, and the design work throughout is never less than stellar, wisely taking its lead from the impressively inventive game but still happy to carve its own path. The end result is one of the best animated shows I’ve come across in quite some time (it’s not on Arcane’s level, but comes damn close), so it’s a shame that, since it was apparently intended to be a standalone, we’re unlikely to see any more in the future …

6. WARRIOR NUN (season 2, Netflix)

Debuting in the middle of the Pandemic turned out to be a stroke of truly great luck for Continuum creator Simon Barry’s unique but also intrinsically challenging adaptation of Ben Dunn’s gloriously bonkers comic book Warrior Nun Areala, which became an impressive runaway hit for Netflix and made a second season inevitable. Gods knew it quickly earned a rabid following (myself among them) who were champing at the bit for more, but shooting restrictions meant we’d have to wait a little bit … but it’s finally arrived and it is REALLY GREAT, actually IMPROVING on the previous run as we follow unlikely Warrior Nun Ava Silva (a truly spellbinding turn from the thoroughly adorable Alba Baptista) and her gang of rogue holy helpers on their quest to take down the Big Bad false messiah threatening to turn the world into hell on earth, the fallen angel Adriel (William Miller). Along the way they get into an endlessly inventive series of scrapes, fights and misadventures that are a gleefully subversive joy to watch, but once again the real charm here is the will-they-won’t-they back-and-forth dance that continues between Ava and Kristina Tonteri-Young’s precocious but also thoroughly awkward Sister Beatrice. Plotwise, things are tied off in a fairly neat little bow by the end of this season – albeit through an emotionally devastating climax which you definitely need to keep the tissues handy for – but even so there’s enough room for more that it’s a criminal shame that Netflix have decided to pull the plug on this one too.

5. PEACEMAKER (HBO Max)

Whatever you might think about Warner Bros./Discovery in general regarding its current treatment of the future of the DCEU (especially after the shocking fate that befell the heavily anticipated Batgirl movie), and about filmmaker James Gunn in particular now that he’s taken over as the head honcho on the franchise itself, you can’t deny that he did a phenomenal job with this deliciously non-PC spinoff from his awesome 2021 Suicide Squad soft-reboot. Michael Cena’s Christopher Smith was one of the film’s biggest hits, so a series following his exploits as the titular antihero was a damn smart move, the former wrestler-turned-actor once again proving what a comedic genius he is as he flexes, gurns and drops hilarious inadvertent one-liners as one of THE WORST SUPERHEROES in the entire DC Universe. That being said, the show’s frequently stolen out from under him by Unreal and Time After Time’s Freddie Stroma, who’s even more of a blissfully awkward joy as Smith’s best friend/unwitting nemesis Adrian Chase, aka Vigilante, a ridiculously talented combat nerd who desperately wants to be a badass dark avenger like his bestie, while there are similarly game turns from Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee (both reprising their roles from The Suicide Squad) as the downtrodden ARGUS agents charged with keeping Smith under control along with Danielle Brooks’ geeky new recruit, and there’s an irreverent and perfectly scummy turn from Robert Patrick as the Peacemaker’s white supremacist supervillain father August Smith, the infamous White Dragon. A riot from start to finish, this show is packed with over-the-top, ultraviolent action, jet black humour and an endless series of razor sharp winks, nods and homages from one of the best geek-master filmmakers in the business. Best of all, though, has to be that STONE COLD GENIUS title sequence, choreographed to perfection to the brilliantly awful earworm Do You Wanna Taste It from irreverent Norwegian glam metal band Wig Wam, which is guaranteed to have you crying you’ll be laughing so hard. Personally, I can’t wait for more of this one.

4. GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES (Netflix)

Anyone who’s been following me long enough to know what I like should know that Guillermo del Toro is one of my favourite filmmakers of all time, I simply ADORE his work, so an anthology show of dark and disturbing horror stories shot-right-through with his irresistible geeky stylistic DNA was a no-brainer for me. ESPECIALLY since he opens every episode with an adorable intro where he presents his philosophical thoughts on what we’re about to experience in the style of Rod Serling. XD The stories on offer, meanwhile, are an eclectic bunch, ranging from short-sharp-shock creature features to broadly satirical body horror, but there’s an impressive line in cosmic terror on offer here too, with several entries wearing del Toro’s deep-seeded Lovecraft influence on their sleeves. They’re also consistently impressive, without a single dud in the selection, although the undeniable highlights of the whole bunch, for me, have to be the adaptations of actual Lovecraft stories, Pickman’s Model and Dreams in the Witch House, which perfectly encapsulate the author’s restless sense of endless low-key dread and horrific anticipation, with the eldritch horrors unleashed brought to deeply disturbing life through a selection of impressively palpable physical effects that’s become one of del Toro’s greatest strengths. The production values on offer here are second to none, as is the quality of the ensemble casts and the directors bringing each story to life, which includes the likes of Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice), Panos Cosmatos (Mandy), Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home At Night) and David Prior (The Empty Man) - each filmmaker does wonders for their individual stories, showing spectacular flair and skill throughout, but every single episode still has the titular master of weird cinema’s fingerprints all over it. Which is exactly what you want from such a wondrous tribute to one of the best visual storytellers out there right now …

3. THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA (Amazon Prime)

Netflix really seems to have dominated all on the small screen this year, but Amazon have still managed to make their presence felt with one of this past year’s BEST OFFERINGS, in the form of a gleefully irreverent animated adaptation of the first Campaign of wildly successful Dungeons & Dragons-based live-play table-top RPG webcast series Critical Role. Most of my followers should already be keenly aware that I am quietly OBSESSED with the ongoing games, so when they announced this I was almost delirious in my excitement, and this first season paid off all our mad expectation MAGNIFICENTLY. Starting out as a Kickstarter by the Crit Role gang themselves with the intention simply to make an animated special, the resulting support was SO STRONG they were able to spring for a whole series, which was then picked up for genuine syndication by Amazon, and the rest, as they say, is history … best of all, though, is the fact that, because it’s their baby, the original cast IN THEIR ENTIRETY are involved in bringing it together, from the writing to the character performances, and since they’re a collection of highly talented voice-actors they’ve done a STUNNING job here … but then THEY DO know their characters right to the bone. Animated with EXQUISITE attention to detail by Titmouse (Metalocalypse, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Animaniacs and Pantheon among others), packed with stunning action and dark thrills and shot-through from start to finish with an infectious sense of humour, not to mention a veritable DUMPTRUCK’s worth of epic feels, this is an absolute riot from start to finish. I’m waiting with eager anticipation for the imminent arrival of the second season, and am sublimely happy Amazon have already commissioned a third …

2. STRANGER THINGS 4 (Netflix)

After season 4 ended in such a crazy place, with Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown) depowered and Hopper (David Harbour) assumed dead but actually VERY MUCH ALIVE in a Siberian gulag, we were left with a hell of a lot of crazy questions, but we never had any doubt The Duffer Brothers would deliver those answers and more in style. That being said, they really pulled out ALL THE STOPS with this season, not only upping the scale to delirious levels but also massively increasing the overall runtime, which even prompted Netflix to employ a somewhat frustrating tactic of splitting the season into TWO PARTS with an entire month of waiting in-between … but at least the end result was some of the year’s most engrossing and thoroughly AWESOME television. Certainly this one packed the small screen’s biggest amount of WOW, as we’re finally given the fascinating but also thoroughly horrifying origin story to both the Hawkins Lab psychic experimentation project AND the Upside Down itself … giving away more threatens MASSIVE spoilers, but once again every aspect of the show deserves LASHINGS of praise heaped upon it, from the spectacular effects work (particularly some truly stunning prosthetic make-up work bringing the series’ ultimate Big Bad to life) to the uniformly astounding cast, with the ever-reliable returning players (particularly Brown, Harbour, Winona Ryder, Gaten Matarazzo, Sadie Sink and Joe Keery) once again doing their fair share of the heavy-lifting while the newcomers (most notably Joseph Quinn, Jamie Campbell Bower and Tom Wlaschiha) each make strong impressions going forward. By turns thrilling, terrifying, heartfelt, funny and inventive, but always pitch-perfect in its nostalgic charm, this show continues to be one of the very best pieces of top-notch small-screen entertainment around, and I cannot wait to see what’s to come in the final season …

1. THE SANDMAN (Netflix)

If ANYTHING was gonna beat Stranger Things to the top spot, it could only have been Neil Gaiman’s VERY hands-on adaptation of his own thoroughly beloved revolutionary cult comic book series. Seriously, Gaiman changed the game with this title, so he was THE ONLY ONE we, the hardcore faithful, could possibly trust to bring his masterwork to life on the small screen, and after his astonishing efforts with the Good Omens show we had the utmost faith that he had the chops to pull it off. We were not wrong … working closely with fellow showrunners David Goyer (Blade, Batman Begins) and Allan Heinberg (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Wonder Woman), Gaiman has produced a series that wisely stays faithful to the original source material, essentially splitting this first season into two arcs, with the first realising Book 1 of the comic, Preludes & Nocturnes, while the second focuses on Book 2, The Doll House. Tom Sturridge (The Boat That Rocked) was PERFECT casting as Dream of the Endless, one of a unique family of near all-powerful cosmic beings charged with the control and caretaking of various aspects of the Universe itself – Dream, obviously, rules over the province of the Subconscious, while his sister, Death (Killing Eve’s Kirby Howell-Baptiste), is pretty self-explanatory, but not at all what you’d expect. After imprisonment for almost a century, Dream is looking to put his house back in order, but this brings him into direct conflict with various entities, including, dangerous “sorcerer” John Dee (David Thewlis), the Devil themselves, Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie), and monstrous rogue nightmare The Corinthian (a chilling performance from Boyd Holbrook), while the foundations for a far darker, more wide-reaching conspiracy are being laid by hands much closer to his heart … this adaptation is nothing short of a MASTERPIECE, Gaiman and his helpers bringing his creation to life in the most magnificent of ways in one of the most spectacular chunks of television I’ve ever had the privilege to witness. Spellbindingly beautiful, emotionally devastating, spine-chillingly horrifying and effortlessly entertaining in equal measure, every single element of this show was brought to bear with the utmost attention to detail, and the results are nothing short of perfection. Netflix have wisely picked it up for a second season, but we can only hope they maintain their faith in the series long enough for Gaiman to bring the entire saga to life …

Honourable mentions:

The Boys (season 3, Amazon Prime); Andor (Disney+); House of the Dragon (HBO); 1899 (Netflix); Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+); Obi Wan Kenobi (Disney+); Reacher (Amazon Prime); Interview With the Vampire (AMC); The Man Who Fell To Earth (Showtime); Gangs of London (season 2, Sky Atlantic)*

*What can I say? There was A LOT of great TV this past year …

#best tv shows of 2022 #the umbrella academy #our flag means death #the midnight club #cyberpunk edgerunners #warrior nun #peacemaker #guillermo del toro's cabinet of curiosities #the legend of vox machina #stranger things 4 #The Sandman

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headlesssamurai · 1 year

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favourite shows or movies lately

Lately? That's a tough quark to glimpse. And I don't really do favourites per se, but I reckon there's a few have stood out from the pack or that I've otherwise enjoyed, even if all are not exactly "recent" themselves. TV: - Yellowjackets - The Terminal List - Andor - Succession - Tulsa King - 1899 - Silo - Alice in Borderland - Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities - Copenhagen Cowboy

Movies: - Mosul (Netflix) - Barbarian - Asteroid City - The Whale - Sisu - All Quiet on the Western Front - The Banshees of Inisherin - Medieval (2022) - Troll - The Menu - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Everything, Everywhere, All At Once - Men (2022) - The Quiet Girl

Of the larger-budget mainstream offerings, Marvel and DC films remain the same outhouse-stench of detritus they've been for years now, but what else is new? I believe Mission Impossible: Fallout is observably a far superior film to Dead Reckoning Part 1. I was also remarkably unimpressed with both Oppenheimer and Barbie, considering Greta Gerwig's otherwise great work on Lady Bird and her version of Little Women, and while Christopher Nolan's stellar talent as a filmmaker remains obvious I've seen nothing to convince me The Prestige is not his best film nor that his upward track of quality ended with the ambitious reach of Inception. And I can't help but feel Across the Spider-Verse is both way too long and emotionally inferior to its progenitor, even without being a "part one".

侍 headless

#anonymeisters #curious people #jorma tommila #and dog

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ziieanna12 · 2 years

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Wednesday Review

So between these deadly deadlines that (feels endless) I've been facing for almost a month by now, I watched WEDNESDAY on Netflix few days ago. Yeah I did maraton, and I finished in three days totals.

I've always a fan of The Addams Family so by the time the first teaser dropped, I was so excited to watch it. The moment I look into Jena's eyes, I knew she'd cary this series so good. And the result is true. I feel amazed by her hard work and talent, not to mention her passion for this project.

BEWARE OF SPOILER!!!!

DON'T READ THIS IF YOU DIDN'T WANT TO GET SPOILED!!!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

Out of any Addams Family universe, I might say that Wednesday in Netflix is by far my favorite. Yes we didn't see much of her family but just like the title say, it's Wednesday's story. We see how she saw the world through her dark and sinister aura, making the whole school know her as the trouble maker. And in my perspective, this series might be one of the few universe of Addams Family that made Wednesday experience a character development.

I like the way she is cold, selfish, calculating, but somehow like any other person that experience a transition of adolescence, we saw how she's too quick to judge people when she's trying to figure out who's the monster. It made her like human, made her feels more organic and has her own distinctive characteristic from any other version of Wednesday in the Addams Family universe.

She admited (the moment she got expeled) how at first she didn't like having friend because she view them as disapointment, now she accept that's actually her that's disapointing others. (I also love the fact Enid is there with her, encouraging her, that's too cute~). Then near the end of the series, I can see how she's way warmer than the first time she came to Nevermore. She's still Wednesday, but she's evolving. And I find it sweet. Yes even though I feel the love triangle is not really necessary, her chemistry with Tyler is pretty heartwarming (even if I knew he only manipulate her because Thornhill asked him to).

And of course on top of any other chemistry she developed, Wednesday and Enid is the most superior to me, even her with Bianca also had some character development. I just love the way that Enid is not only lovely but also both physically and emotionaly strong, she's someone that you can always count on, rely on, depend on, she's my sweet little baby, I love Enid so much~ And the hug scene... Oh my God...I always had tears in my eyes everytime I rewatched that scene....

Hands down, I enjoy this series so much! Every person did a great job for this project. I'm waiting for Season 2, especially her relationship with *ehem* Enid (⁠~⁠￣⁠³⁠￣⁠)⁠~

#netflix #wenclair #wednesday is soft for enid #enid sinclair #wednesday #wednesday addams #Wednesday Review #Enid

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my-jokes-are-my-armour · 2 years

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Blood origin

OK, so today I am gonna try to make my review and quick analysis of Blood Origin and try to survive it.

I'll precise more than once but I am not a defender or a hater of the show. There are aspects of it that I love and other that I dislike, even hate. So I do both parts in my critics. You've been warned.

Before I enter in full analysing mode, I'll just put some thoughts on the main characters and the show itself.

I won't go in full details (but it will be long anyway 😅), so consider that to be my relatively spoiler free review. It contains spoilers but I don't really say how things went, more what I thought about it. For obvious reasons, I will tag nothing but the #twbo.

The short version

So you can decide to chose to continue reading or not, I'll make it short here so if you are unhappy with it you can leave already 🙂.

Did I like it ? Yes ! 😶‍🌫️

Is it a good story ? In my opinion yes.

Was it good with the canon ? No. They are deviating a lot on some points. But for the thematics yes and I understand some strange choices. Other... less.

Did they try to save it with Jaskier ? Yes.

Are they milking the franchise? Yes...

What I did like ?

The thematics of the series. The parallels and the cycles.

The characters chimestry (especially the seven). Jaskier is a bonus 😏

The ambiance, the music and the sceneries.

Some cool ideas and good fights.

What I didn't like ?

Too far from the canon for some points that could have been integrated.

Too fast. They should not have cut 2 hours of it. But we don't what was in those 2 hours, so...

The cgi. I don't care about that, it didn't bother me but it can bother some and objectively that's not good 😅

The entity in the void plan. I have an idea of what it is at if it's that, that explains a lot of what went wrong 🧐

Are you still there ? Can I go into a more detailed review?

General opinion

First of all, I don't find this a masterpiece but there things I really dig in it and overall I enjoyed it.

Huhu, I enjoyed the show and I had a fun experience of watching it with some of you on discord ❤️. It was my first time that way and I liked that we were elaboring theories while watching. The bottom of that is : I am not an english talker so following both the show and the conversation was tricky sometimes. I always watch it in original version so it double the challenge. Some actors have tick accents and I needed the subtitles 😅.

So I watched it again later and it elevated my appreciation of it (and my complains also lol).

About the source material. Well, this is more based on the Netflix canon for some plots. Some things from the books are not explained enough to be associated with them, but there are metaphors that they took and made theirs. For example, I am pretty sure that all the monolith things are their take on the "Gates of Worlds". I never made the link in the main series but now I am convinced they are. I'll get there in analysis.

For the rest, more or so, they took the ideas developed on the books more than exact things. I understand that their vision can be upsetting for those who loved the rich stories of the elves that is nested in the future of the main plot, and for those who liked the game version of it. This is a really simplified and twisted version of the books. Also certain liberties have been taken. So book accuracy criticism can fully be understood from this perspective.

I will always find the book version superior in terms of lore. Yet I didn't have that canon problem personally, because I found the other links to the source material interesting. And in a way I guess that I have accepted the Netflix canon as another take of it. This is my point of view and I am not there to say I am right above others. What I want to do is : try to explain all the connections I found with examples, more that just saying this is OK or this is wrong with passion or anger.

That said... opinion now...

My first impression was positive but I found the series too rushed. I feel that the 2 hours cut is a miss. It would have slowed the pace and would have given us more time with the characters who I enjoyed.

Before hand I had a worry about the voice over of Seanchai, but finally it was discreet and wasn't too explanatory, like "I am telling you what you don't understand because we don't have time". There was some exposition moment indeed but not that much. It was more there to articulate the fast forward moments.

That said some characters suffered from the fast narration. The trio of the woods as i like to call them - Callan, Sacaré and Syndrill - were those who had the less time to tell their story. But they had a good chimestry together. For the opponent side, for me Balor suffered the most. He was cool but his inner motives were not that much illustrated. Like we don't really see the effect of his low cast borned birth. He just says it. For Eredin... well hmmm that's harder in a very twisted way (and it has nothing to do with his sexual inclination).

On the good side, I have a very soft spot for Meldof 😅. Her with Callan was really nice to see also. Even if he hadn't much back story at least he had chimestry. Éile and Fjall were the most developed and at the first watch I enjoyed their story but found their chimestry rushed. On the second watch I dug more into it.

I will develop more on the characters part.

I enjoyed the fight scenes. And that some of them carry some characterisation. Like the fact that they are all skilled in combat but they have to learn how to fight together, for example. Also a part of me was like yeah but why ?

The show had clearly a low budget in comparison of the main show but I found it visually good. Yes sometimes cgi is a bit low but it didn't bother me at all. And god, I love Merwyn's wardrobe and stylists lol. On the other end, I wish we could see more of the high cast elves. We had more of the low cast that displayed more "human like" costumes. On the main series it has meaning as they live on humans lands now. So they adapted. I am a bit deceived that they didn't add something distinctive for their culture there.

The music is great and seems very nordic to me. Maybe this is a good point as much as a bad point as it would have been better with more eastern influences? I don't know. The Lark songs are good and I liked her voice. I liked a lot 2 songs of her. The Black Rose and The Echo and the River because they hold meaning within the story. I'll tell more in a more specific post also 😅.

Mild spoiler (mild because the official clip is already out lok). As much as I listen in repeat the song, the Jaskier's song is not his strongest. It was clearly made in a rush. It slaps and the lyrics have meaning but this is not up to the narrative building. Also musically, the verses are clearly a mixed of "Toss a coin" and "The Golden One" so... Yeah lazy. I saw that Joey was credited for the music not the lyrics (well yes I can tell haha - they are not that bad but it covers only the riot part and they are straightforward) but for the music I find it strange because the verses are clearly not in his confort zone in low range. Maybe he played instrument in it or helped for some arrangements. Or maybe he is credited to get something from it in compensation 😅. Seriously I feel like this is the minimum for being the biggest PR shield they used all along. But I'll elaborate my bittersweetness of that in another post. So many posts I want to write 😮‍💨.

That said I question myself a lot about that story Jaskier has to bring back to galvanise non humans.

Anyways. Nonetheless to say, I loved Jaskier's part in the series but I am not really objective about that. Yet I will argument in another post dedicated to the narrative (one more...).

And just because I'm in the narrative part in my general opinion bloc, I can say it there. This is what I enjoyed to most about the show. The parallels and the cycles 😅. I didn't find it confusing at all even at my first whatch. This is too fast yes but not hard to understand. Very straightforward on the surface, richer under.

Some references about the lore are there but not said, as for the Aen Seidhe and Aen Elle. Those we see are Seidhe a long time after the depature of the Aen Seidhe.

The characters

Éile and Fjall are the main focus. They have the most time to develop their relationship. The accent was almost made on that, only for the drama 😅. Their back story is fast but a least we have something to understand their motivations. They are used to make us understand clan's rivality at first and unveil sordid stories about their species. (I have a problem with the clan thing by the way but I need to find the time to elaborate)

My complain here is more on the emotional part with other members of their siblings that falls flat for me. They have no time to grieve or to comfort each other more than for the relation they have together. Some deaths should have more meaning for example. Death of members of their family is used just like a trigger that fuels a burst of angry to justify a sudden change of mind, not very much more.

Meldof doesn't have this problem as her arc is about grieving and vengeance, and what's left behind... She is the most attaching one. Her story is simple, it has a beginning and an end. Her story with Gwen is bittersweet and mirrors the cycle of hatred. Also it refers a lot to the main series. It helps build the elves not as innocent than they were protrayed before and leaves us wondering of what would happen if their would overcome the humans...

Scian has an interesting back story and arc that make us understand her motivations and her scepticism. The back story isn't very detailed but it is part of the global narrative. Her combat scenes are great.

Callan is the weakest link in terms of storytelling but he has a marvellous synergy with Meldof and I loved their relationship.

The Celestial Twins, Sacaré and Syndrill are so important and very little developed 😭. I feel like in their past, in their relationship, there was a lot to say but that was probably cut. Basically she is the key to understand old magic used by the elves. He is the key to understand monoliths. And this is so rushed. I wished we could see more of them to understand some things better. Also this connects dots from the main show that were vague. It has nothing to do with the canon for what I remember about magic, but I find it interesting in its ways.

What I like the most about the Celestial Twins thing is that the elves value both high science and superstitions but the mystical part has really concret effects on their lives.

Now for the antagonists part.

Balor is the pivot point but he is not fleshed out. Said low born he aimed the top. He has a personal quest to gain power so he can rule everything. But we don't see his low born condition. We don't see disdain for his birth in other high born characters. Also he has an assistant who proves herself the person he valued the most but we don't understand why. They barely interact. I would have guess something like Celestial Twins for them but she didn't display any kind of magic so... It's very hard to connect with him even if his part is interesting. He is the character that makes us understand that the magic the elves are using is not chaos until it pour into our world.

Eredin is the most damaged character there. I don't mind the part with his lover as it seem to bother a lot. It's here to illustrate that the elven civilisations has the cast system as discrimination, not sexuality or skin colour. A system that have here the same repercussions. My main problem with him is... him lol. Yes he has ambition but he is flat and his story is all over the place with the canon. And I don't understand why they did this. I get that we met him "before" he is evil but in the book he is evil before what happened to him in the end. Lore character wise this is the one that I wasn't pleased at all with. He could have matched way better the empress ambitions with some good evil traits. Its a bit like Balor and Merwyn had stolen his purpose.

Speaking of her, Merwyn in another hand is a very interesting antagonist. Puppetised and puppeteer. She has a passion for those who came in the Continent first (the Aen Elle I suppose) and she wants the elves to return to their past glory. She has a complex of greatness and she turns out to be a coloniser. She wipes the current system and becomes empress with Eredin and Balor's help but she makes awful mistakes. Some seems done due to the fact she is a puppet but then... Her ambition is her fall down. She seems to care about her people but her ways are built on a terrible past.

One problem that is not clearly said in the main show and in this one is the fact that elves do not use agriculture, they collect. So her solution for the famine that is spreading is to get the resources they need in other worlds. And to achieve that she wants to "civilised" those worlds. This is a good use of the lore and a miss at the same time. We barely can connect the dots there. (I will explain later for the lore)

She is gray and at the beginning we can empathise with her until she reveals herself. I liked her ending.

There are other characters from the lore in it but I tried to speak about the main ones that cary the story. For me there was way too many characters for a so short among of time. They tried to tell too much.

The narrators

Seanchai is the narrator of the story. They tells it to Jaskier for him to ressurect it from the past of the elves to help them. Both are used as the narrative framing device for the show. We have to keep in mind that those two weren't initially in the show. My guess here is that Jaskier was pushed in for audience reasons but his cameo was less important in the first place. Yet he would have been told the story anyway.

I really want to see that piece of musical he had done in the first place 😅.

That said. I catch the Jaskier bait. And for some reason this is interesting for his development too. He learns something valuable that is strangely connected to the lore but in a twisted way. And it goes back to S2. That is for another post again 😮‍💨.

Also from a less grounded perspective, I loved the implications of him being told the story of another heroic bard from the past and his warrior lover 😏. They are two many dots to connect there so even if I tried to keep my head out of it, sometimes I remembered that Jaskier was listening to the things we were watching and I was like : Seanchai don't give him ideas, please 🤣.

We already know Jaskier so he is easy to connect with and Joey put on a hell of a range of emotions for his short appearance.

Seanchai is an intriguing character and interesting overall but they is just a voice in the end. Their motives are unclear. Someone pointed me out a Gunter theory before the show aired and I have to say there are some similarities. I don't think that's them but probably there is some inspiration.

The thematics (this is the most spoilery part)

There too much there lol. This is where I think they lost themselves. Telling too much in a so small among of time.

I am not against action packed movie or series, but The Witcher have long contemplative parts. This is something I miss a lot in all the shows. There were some bits in S2 but here almost nothing. With so many characters it would have helped flesh them out. I had read that they cut to keep the action up and I remember in interview of S2 where LH said that the there was not enough action material in the book she was adaptating for a TV show. For me this is one enormous mistake but it underlines how TV shows are conceived. Are we that much distracted to can't stay focus on a calmer development ? Also I get the need to not give too much to build the need to have more. But in this case I don't like it. The milking plan of the franchise is way too obvious.

For me the main plot, and the story that I liked, is how stories can change the world. And how a song can carry hope.

The Lark (Éile) is a warrior that became bard and one of a song speaks to the heart of the lowest cast. This song gives them the courage to rise. A lot of that is confirmed by Balor that fears the hope that The Seven are giving to the people as they can't be stopped by the empire. He want this heroic story to stop before it set fire in the heart of those who are oppressed. "Put them to clay". He tries and fails but my complain is that we don't see it.

I guess that a lot we don't see is because we can't 😅. For the same reason we barely see any crowd to the crowning the Merwyn. No budget to make it real lol.

The fall and rise of empire is ok. This is a common theme. What I liked in it though is the cycles. We have those who want things to stay as they were. Those who want a change. Those who make changes. And those who believe that they are changing things and just repeat the cycle instead.

And it is a perfect metaphor of what is happening right now with the show... are we just repeating ourselves ? Blind to what is good for some. And unacceptiing what others find so wrong for the others. In a sad way I think showrunners are pushing too far and too fast for changes to be tolerable. In my opinion, they will end it all the same way Merwyn ends and that sad.

Those cycles and the bad things that are implied is the reason why I don't get why Seanchai gives Jaskier this story (except for the very last part with the prophecy of course). But she ask him to sing about the Seven to give hope to the elves of his time. And he does that with that song in the credits. But in the end she is using him to revive a dying fire.

The thing I find interesting too is this : forgetting means repeat error from the past or lost purpose on the way. Clearly elves use masse massacre as a way to rewrite history, as their very long life span make the stories last longer, as long as there is someone to remember (Scian or Meldof are tiny exemples). Then when it's the time of humans to rule, this is the same thing but those who want to rewrite history have a easier task as generations of humans come and go faster.

On the other hand, remembering seems as wrong as forgetting here. They use the past believing they would make better things of it than their ancestors. Balor ends up breaking everything on his way. To save the present Merwyn believes she has to repeat the horrors of the past. Éile changes things and she breaks the cycle in a certain way but this is in vain as we know how it will go centuries later for her people. What impact would Jaskier make with his song ? Fuel anger ? Help them resist ? He feels for them and empathise to their suffering. He believes he does good but would he ?

I mean that's what I love about this spin off. It's all gray and that easy to see the world we are living in into that. There is no perfect answer. But plenty of room to think. There are large parts of the books that hold those thoughts. The world changing too fast, hard to find a place under other rules that don't match ourselves. Racism and colonialism. Twisted story told (by Jaskier himself until he learns what truth carries) that makes the concerned ones to react in anger but debate also. Those with longer life span that still carry the past (Yarpen Zigrin is way more interesting in the book for that).

All those things are in the books. They are not told the exact same way because it would take forever. But this is a part of how I connect with what I love about The Witcher stories.

Then we have two other plot points that are unfortunately rushed. The first one is the proto witcher. Mark my words, this is not the first one. He will be created by humans later.

This plot here has three (four...) purposes. And I don't like any of them haha ! Nonetheless it was kind of cool. First, they use it to implant the idea that it is the historical answer to the monsters later on. Could have been said (better) in the main show many times. Secondly, they use it to twist (not fully but just too much...) something of the lore about what is special in elder blood. This is interesting in the Netflix canon but this is not in terms of lore. I understand a bit the simplification but in the same time I find it bad. Thirdly, it gives an explanation on how twisted the creation of witchers is. It taps onto forbidden magic and ethical blindness. The thematic is interesting but not really necessary as the fact that submitting children to the trial of the grass already reflect that in the show lool. And the (fourth) point: this is a big trope to connect both shows of the franchise. As much as I like the love story and the drama it carries, the tropes are too big.

The other plot is the Conjunction of the Spheres. That one is OK I think but its importance is somehow under the water. This show tells us about the parallels worlds and I loved that trying to end the use of the monoliths (the gates) they ended in the biggest catastoprophy. They give little about the monoliths except there were used differently when the dwarves had them. There is a lot to connect to the original lore there, but they used it almost the other way round. Until it falls back "almost" in place.

The last thing I want to say without going into much spoilers of other stuff is the ghost entity in the empty realm. If this is what I think it is then it connects the shows with the thing I found the worst part of S2's writing, justifying a colossal mistake. For me this a very wrong take. But one it connects with something of the first season that was not clear and explains a lot. I don't know how to feel about it. Maybe there is a answer in S3.

But everything is about parallels and cycles, right ? So i dread a lot 😅

There is a lot that I didn't speak about because I want to dig more with it and it will be way too spoilery.

Conclusion

I had a good time and I like the show. I found a lot to dig in. I found a lot of twisted lore. I am passionate for some parts but I understand constructed criticisms of the fans that dislike it for what it does to the canon. For me the representation isn't the issue. There are bigger problems underneath.

That said, I believe it gives a lot to think and it has some great underlying connections with itself, the main series and the books.

I believe also that this may put an end to the franchise. The main reason I am sad about this is because Joey's Jaskier is, for me, the best iteration of the Jaskiers. In this show I loved him to bits because they pushed simultaneously the "old" Jaskier and the "new". For my tastes, he is perfect. (And Joey teasing us is just the best part of it 😅).

This blog is about Joey so I'll dig really further on his part later on.

I hope it was clear enough that is my opinion only and I don't push anyone on a direction or another. I am not stating. I tried to justify my plus and my minus the best I could, so please don't use this for spreading hate to any side.

#twbo #twbo analysis #long post #review

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smokeybrandreviews · 1 year

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Gum-Gum no Excellence

I finished Netflix's take on One Piece yesterday and, i must say, it was superb. I did not think they'd be able to actually capture that kinetic, endearing, emotional, slapstick energy that the Straw Hat's exude but, to my joyful surprise, they absolutely did. This version of One Piece is every bit as valid as the manga and anime versions. In some regards, I'd say it's even better. Certainly the pacing is far superior. I mean, we spent, like, two episodes in Syrup village which is all you need. I hated that arc because it was so goddamn meh. Not in this adaption. You get in there, you get what you need (Usopp and Going Merry) and you're out. It's actually kind of amazing how adept the writers on this show were able to distill forty-five half hour episodes, into eight hour long entries, without losing the plot is borderline miraculous. There were changes made due to budget concerns and the like but, overall, the alterations were more positive than negative, something that is quite rare in modern Hollywood. I have an issue with the fact that this thing cribs way too much from that Pirates of the Caribbean aesthetic (this show is nowhere near as colorful or explosive as the manga and anime) but that, i think, is just for normie yankee appeal. I doubt the masses would except the technicolor camp of the original vision but who am i to day? What i can say is that the cast is pitch-perfect.

Months ago, when the cast was first announced, i wrote an entire essay about how perfect it was. If you're curious, it's titled "Bon Voyage". Search that up and give it a read. In short, i thought the cast was perfect. There was a lot of frustration about "forced diversity" and perceived "wokeness" but that wasn't the case at all. The characters actually skewed to how Oda, himself, saw them. Luffy was Brazilian, Zorro was Japanese, Sanji as French, Nami was Swedish (i think), and Usopp was Black. That sh*t is chock full of proper diversity and, surprise-surprise, the cast reflected that. Hell, Oda even praised Inaki Godoy for his portrayal of Luffy, even though he's Mexican, not Brazilian. To be perfectly honest, i think that cast, the chemistry of the main characters, is the strength of this show. Godoy's Luffy is a standout, capturing that naive yet powerful energy Luffy exudes. Dude is the engine which makes this show go but his energetic presence doesn't overshadow the rest of his crew at all. Emily Rudd's Nami is every bit the sardonic straight man i expected her to be and Mackenyu's take on Zorro is every bit the bad ass i imagined the Pirate Hunter could be in live action. The lone weak link, i think, is Jacob Gibson's Usopp but that's mostly because Usopp is useless in these first few arcs. Kid gets much more bad ass as the narrative progresses. Hopefully, we'll get to see a bit of Sogeking before Netflix inevitably axes this show because, if we're being honest, that Alabasta arc is about to cost a ton of f*cking money, and Netflix is notorious about not cashing out. I'm curious if this thing makes it past the three season death date because, seriously, even the supporting cast kills. Morgan Davies' Koby, Aidan Scott's Helmeppo, and Vincent Regan's Garp are perfect contrasts as the stalwart Marine contingent in pursuit of the free-wheeling Straw Hat pirates.

The villains, too, were pretty solid. I thought Arlong was kind of rushed but both Buggy and Mihawk were perfect. Their portrayal gives me hope that cats like Crocodile and the CP9 can be executed in live action rather faithfully. I don't know what the future holds for this adaption but i adore what we've gotten so far. and so do general audiences. Outside of the weird slather of grime the US perspective pushed on this technicolor wonderland of camp, Netflix seems to have cracked how to adapt anime. Well, if I'm being honest, that was more James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez with Alita: Battle Angel but One Piece is the next step in that growth. In terms of Comic adaptions, I'd say Alita is akin to Blade and One Piece is this genres X-Men. Cats can look at this show and see the ground work laid. They can crib that formula, tweak it as necessary, and really understand how to translate the very Japanese feel of anime toward the more mundane and formulaic notions of the American palate. I love what I've seen in these first eight episode and look forward to what comes next. I want Skypiea. I want Lougetown and Dragon. More than anything, i want Alabasta because i NEED Nico Robin. She's my favorite character of the entire series and it would be an absolute shame if we didn't get such an integral part of the Straw Hats. Hell, even Tony Tony Chopper needs to at least make a cameo. Netflix's One Piece was excellent. On it's own, as a show, it was fun, whimsical, entertainment. As an anime adaption, it's one of the best I've ever seen, up there with Alita and Speed Racer. All eight episodes are out right now. Go binge them right now. Support this fantastic show because we need more of this and less of sh*t like Bebop and Death Note. Even though i kind of like Netflix's Death Note.

#One Piece #Netflix #Going Merry

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smokeybrand · 1 year

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Gum-Gum no Excellence

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itsclydebitches · 2 years

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Lee Eun-hyuk in the adaptation: *The stoic, cold and rational leader who has to harden his heart to help everyone survive*. Dorky Lee Eun-hyuk in the Webtoon: If you turn, I won't hesitate to... To... Pffft- I can't say it with a straight face. Wanna geek out over anime?

YEAH when he showed up my brain went, "This has to be Eun-hyuk because #glasses but he's a bright-eyed dweeb smiling politely at everyone? Excuse me??" Netflix!Eun-hyuk would only EVER smile while staring at his family photograph and listening to his beloved sister's music as a collapsing building kills him and he resists monsternization 😔

Everyone is pretty different so far, which in some ways is kinda nice? The webtoon and adaptation already feel like very distinct stories to me, so there's less "I can't believe they didn't adapt this ~properly~/the show version is SO superior" going on in my head. All originals and their adaptations are separate things, obviously, but so far Sweet Home's characterization differences are extreme enough to make the whole experience feel like a "new" story.

#Sweet Home

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autisticlio · 2 months

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Now that I have time to think over the film, I'll go ahead and give my thoughts on Brand Upon the Brain.

Warning for mentions of underage sex and spoilers.

To quickly explain the film, it is a 2006 Criterion film project made by Guy Maddin. It tells the tale of the fictionalized version of Guy receiving a letter from his long lost mother, requesting he return to the lighthouse orphange he and his family lived in to cover it up in paint. As he does, he recalls his childhood where his mother acted as a tyrant to the orphans and horrors beyond belief occur in his father's workshop.

My memories of the film prior to rewatching were vague. I could only remember fragments of the ending, specifically the phrase 'She was blind as a bat' and a naked person atop a lighthouse light. Trying to search for it would result in the 2019 film The Lighthouse appearing instead. However, while The Lighthouse is the superior film in my personal belief, Maddin recaptures the 1910s silent film aesthetics far more accurately. The 2000s in particular would have live showings of the movie, where a narrator would be on stage as the film played. Title cards can be seen throughout as the camera becomes a jittery mess between the film's twelve chapters. The way I saw it was through my mother's ex-friend watching it from Netflix's DVD service. While not as authentic, the DVD offers three narrator tracks to listen to. I choose Guy Maddin himself for my watch.

In any case, the music is beautiful throughout. Even if you are unable to watch the film, I believe anyone into classical music should give it a listen. Interestingly, alongside The Lighthouse, I also found myself reminded of Rule of Rose. This was moreso in both revolving around adults' mistreatment of orphans and the music. Guy and Sis' mother is a terrifying villain if you ever had the misfortune of being raised by an overbearing mother. I would not be surprised if she was based on real life experiences from how accurate she was, to the point of threatening suicide as a control tactic and her obsession with becoming young again, thus using the orphans to drain them of their nectar.

However, with this film is an elephant. A giant elephant in the room. Throughout the film, there is a heavy focus on the relationship between Sis and Wendy. Wendy is a teen detective who arrives to discover why the orphans bear brands upon their necks. After becoming infatuated with Sis, she disguises herself as her brother Chance instead. The two become lovers. I genuinely enjoy their dynamic and found myself wondering how Sis would react to the truth.

Then comes the problem. The problem is the film puts at least 1/3rd of the film to be dedicated to the two teens having sex, outright showing them undressed and full body nudity. There is also a scene where the mother is shown attempting to kiss her son's buttock. What I am getting at is the film is uncomfortable with the child characters. This is not me saying nudity should not be depicted at all or discussing sex is bad. My problem is that in essence, most of it lingers on for far too long considering the characters' ages. If they were intended as 19 I would be fine with it, but when there is more evidence pointing to them being younger... It is very uncomfortable. It genuinely makes me wonder why child me was able to be in the same room.

In any case, I now know what it was that I saw as a child. When the film focused upon the mystery on what Guy's parents were up to, it was a fun thriller mystery that kept you glued to your seat. But in essence, I believe one would be better off watching The Lighthouse.

#i talk #ask to tag

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omglisalithium · 1 year

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This is going to be a random rant about the live action One Piece series on Netflix, as well as Disney. They're not related, but this will make sense later. This review will not contain spoilers. Full disclosure: I'm vaguely familiar with the original manga and anime, and my husband helped me write this because his knowledge of the OG series is far superior than mine.

Let's start with the bad:

It's VERY important in any series or movie, regardless of whether or not it's a remake, to properly set the stage so that your viewers understand the goal and know what's going on. My husband called it out immediately at the very start of the first episode that a major line explaining the goal of the show hadn't been stated right, which I feel will cause confusion among new viewers who might not be familiar with the original series.

And now the good:

It was crystal clear that a lot of love and care went into the casting, costuming, the musical score, and the writing. There are parts that are a bit awkward, but I feel like that's just something that happens with nearly every live action remake. The special effects consistently had me floored, and I didn't watch a single episode without saying some version of "that was fucking incredible and I want to know what program they used" with nearly each effect.

Here is where Disney comes in.

What brought me to write a review about One Piece in the first place was that I found that Tomorrow Studios and Netflix only started principal photography for the show in January 2022, and started actually filming in AUGUST 2022. Excuse me??? How is it that Disney has all of the money, manpower, and resources available to them at the drop of a hat and they can't get out a decent show or movie in less than 2 years, and yet a fairly small film company teamed up with Netflix got all their filming done in a few months AND had the best special effects I've seen in years?

And yes, I am fully aware that covid was a thing that pushed a lot of projects back, and also that the live action One Piece had been worked on since 2017, but people, they got amazing filming and editing done on an 8 episode show with each episode being about an hour long in less than a year. How long have we been talking about the Ahsoka show before Disney confirmed a release date? Over 3 years. Even before covid, it still took Disney 2 years to crank out each of the Star Wars sequels. Like hello??? This isn't the 70s anymore. With all the film industry's technological advancements, it's no longer acceptable for a company as big as Disney to take more than a year to get the next show/movie out, only for said show/movie to be very disappointing. It took them a decade to get out sequels for movies like The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. I'm sorry, but it's just not acceptable anymore and we shouldn't be putting up with it.

TLDR:

Live action One Piece: 10/10

Disney's ability to get quality movies/shows out in less than 2 years even though they have the resources to do it in 1 year: -10/10

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christmaszombies · 3 years

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How did I miss ‘Murder in Successvile’ the first time around? One of the best comedies I’ve seen in years. Absolutely absurd but yet weirdly convincing world building. Binged the full show in 2 days. If you need something to watch it’s on YouTube.

#I wanted to watch the original bbc version once I saw an episode of the new netflix take on it #and as usual the British one is just… far superior #I’ll probably watch the American version but they took the best element out of the show???#that the town is full of celebrities who in that world aren’t celebrities but just normal people #played by impressionists #and the celebrities are the murder suspects #US one just has… random characters #excuse me the uk ones police chief is fucking gordon ramsey lmao

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grigori77 · 5 months

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Movies of 2024 - My Pre-Summer Rundown (Part 1)

The Runners-up:

20. ROAD HOUSE – ranked VERY HIGH INDEED on the list of great movies that really don’t need remaking, Doug Liman’s stab at turning 1989’s beloved original guilty pleasure action-fest into something a bit more modern doesn’t QUITE succeed, but it’s still a whole lot better than it has any right to be. Jake Gyllenhaal’s Dalton is a very different beast from Swayze’s but he is the surprisingly warm heart at the centre of this deeply revisionist take. Ultimately the old one’s STILL the superior film, but this is still a very admirable attempt.

19. ARGYLE – while it ultimately fails to capture the charm of director Matthew Vaughn’s far more enjoyable original Kingsman film, this gloriously DAFT sort-of-meta adaptation of the popular espionage adventure novel is still a whole lot of fun. Bryce Dallas Howard is charmingly nerdy as the author who discovers that the fictional adventures she writes about Henry Cavill’s titular master spy are actually VERY REAL, but the true star of this film is Sam Rockwell as one of the most unlikely action heroes out there …

18. SIXTY MINUTES – Netflix’ razor sharp, super-trim real-time action thriller is a tour-de-force breakneck romp which is sure to provide a major breakout for French writer-director Oliver Kienle (Isi & Ossi, Two Hands). Martial artist Emilio Sakraya shines as Octavio, an MMA fighter who ditches a match in order to attend his daughter’s birthday party, only to find himself fighting his way through various thugs as he races through Paris streets in a desperate bid to make it on time to avoid losing custody of his little girl.

17. I.S.S. – sneaking in largely under the radar, this super-tense sci-fi thriller from director Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Blackfish, Megan Leavey) deserves a lot more attention than it’s likely to get. The International Space Station becomes a microcosm for the world as the sudden eruption of nuclear war between America and Russia leads to a fraught standoff between the astronauts and cosmonauts in orbit. If nothing else, this should be a star-making turn for its lead, Ariana DeBose (Hamilton, Schmigadoon!).

16. GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE – 2021’s Afterlife may have been a clunky misstep in Sony’s attempt to soft-reboot the franchise, but this follow-up definitely gets things RIGHT back on track, delivering a much more interesting and original story and making the new generation of spook-wranglers a good deal more interesting. It’s still a ways short of the quality of the original Ivan Reitman movies (or even the unfairly maligned 2016 movie), but it’s at least good enough to appease us the fans …

15. SOCIETY OF THE SNOW – writer-director J.A. Bayona (The Impossible, A Monster Calls) retells the true story of the desperate battle for survival of the Uruguayan rugby team who crash-landed in the Andes in 1972, previously brought to the screen in Frank Marhsall’s divisive 1993 movie Alive. This is a far more introspective and authentic film, and ultimately proves the superior cinematic account, lending a moving air of poetic beauty to an otherwise harrowing tale of loss and hard-won triumph

14. REBEL MOON, PART TWO: THE SCARGIVER – once again, this is likely more of a placeholder than a true review, since I fully expect to give both movies a far more comprehensive once-over when the Director’s Cuts of Zack Snyder’s two-part overblown sci-fi space opera are finally released. Suffice to say, this is already a MUCH better film than Part One, regardless of what the reviews are saying, so I can only imagine whatever we get in the extended version will only add flavour to what’s already a perfectly decent flick. Honestly, I really LIKE these movies, even in their chopped-down condition they’re far more fun than we really expected them to be, and there’s no escaping the fact that, just like the first half, this is a genuine visual work of art, Snyder again proving that whatever else you might wanna say about him, he really is a master of visual storytelling. We’ll just have to see how the proper FINISHED films turn out, whenever that is …

13. DAMSEL – Millie Bobby Brown shines as a princess shipped to a far-off kingdom to wed a prince in order to save her impoverished land from succumbing to famine, only to discover she’s really being sacrificed to a ferocious dragon. Following the Dragonslayer blueprint of playing medieval fantasy as pure survival horror, this taut suspense thriller from 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo does a really beautiful job of taking a classic genre trope and turning it on its head in winning style.

12. ORIGIN – both adaptation and biopic,this moving drama from writer-director Ava Duvernay (Selma) tells the true story of journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) while also following her journey as she wrote her incredibly important nonfiction novel Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents. The subsequent film is at once a powerful account of a woman’s struggle to overcome personal grief and a potent treatise on how centuries of systemic racism and elitism have created massive social divides all across the modern world.

11. MONKEY MAN – Dev Patel makes his directorial debut while starring in this wonderfully bizarre action thriller about a poor boy living in Yatana while seeking revenge against the powerful men who destroyed the forest home of his childhood. Touted as an Indian John Wick, this is actually a far more psychologically intriguing film than that, tackling weighty sociopolitical themes with powerful emotional and theological resonance. That being said, the action sequences ARE genuinely spectacular too …

#2024 in movies #road house #road house 2024 #argyle #sixty minutes #netflix sixty minutes #i.s.s.#ghostbusters frozen empire #society of the snow #rebel moon part two the scargiver #damsel #origin #origin movie #origin 2024 #monkey man

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