#unfortunate CGI reuse

[dbphantom]

Was not kidding about having that exact screenshot to reference the room saved to my phone btw. With regards to the emoji I don't remember why I reacted to it with that tbh but it stays because it probably had a purpose at some point that I'll remember in the future

I have mental illinois

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)”

In 2009, I watched Avatar, the $2 billion movie that used the papyrus font as its logo, in IMAX 3D. It was a wild experience as I have never seen such amazing CGI in a film. James Cameron, the director, then announced he was making 3-4 sequels to Avatar which was kind of baffling. 13 years later, we finally get a sequel. Was the sequel worth the wait?

Firstly, the visuals of this movie are somehow even more amazing than the first film. The forest of Pandora looks more stunning than it did 13 years ago; the advance in technology is very evident. The scenes in the water look gorgeous and so real that it's hard to believe it is CGI at times. One thing with the first movie was that it felt like live-action people were in a green screen room. Avatar: The Way of Water is mostly CGI with live-action blended in. We see live-action characters move in the same scene as CGI characters and interact with one another like living beings. It didn't give that green-screen feeling, which was awesome. I also love the world-building and design of the world. There are water-based Navi clans with looks and customs that are different from the forest Navi. You can see it in their skin colour and the design of their hands and tails. The sea creatures also have great designs with their own rules and how they operate. It was clear a lot of thought was put into everything.

The original 2 main characters, Jake and Neytiri, return from the 1st film but they are not the main focus this time. The main characters are their kids with Sigourney Weaver returning but playing as one of those kid characters instead. I was a little worried as kid characters tend to be annoying but I think the writer did a good job of making the kids not completely annoying. Sigourney is surprisingly convincing as a young kid and I was interested to see more of her character in the future. I think James succeeds in making us care more about these new characters than he did in Avatar 1. Jake, despite not being at the forefront this time, has his character arc. He is no longer the fearless leader he was in the 1st film as he now has 4 kids to take care of. His priority is different and he struggles with that. Stephen Lang also returns as the antagonist, Colonel Miles, again despite dying in the 1st film. He was very one-dimensional in the 1st Avatar but here they do try to give him some more depth which I appreciate.

However, Neytiri is unfortunately very sideline in this sequel. She is barely relevant until the end of the movie and even then, she doesn't have any character arc. If anything, I feel like her character somehow feels worse here. One thing I struggled with in the 1st film was remembering names including that of the main characters. Unfortunately, I still have this issue in The Way of Water. This is thanks to the fact that a character's name only ever seems to be mentioned once and never again which makes it difficult to remember anyone. For example, Kate Winslet of Titanic fame is in this movie but I wouldn't be able to tell you what her character's name was for the life of me.

In terms of the story, it's very simple and by the book. It is about the kids learning the customs of a clan and struggling to fit in which sounds awfully similar to the 1st film or a high school drama. The plot works fine but it is very bland and predictable. Every cliché and trope you see from a coming-of-age story is here. The movie is also really long with a run time of 192 minutes. I'm not sure the plot justified that run time as there were many moments where a lot doesn't happen and could've been cut to reduce the runtime. James Horner, the original composer of Avatar,  passed away and was thus replaced by Simon Franglen. Simon does a serviceable job but the music score is just not very memorable compared to Jame's music score. The best soundtrack in The Way of Water is the ones that were reused.

Overall, Avatar: The Way of Water is a proper cinematic experience. Yes, the movie's plot and characters aren't that memorable but the visuals are truly amazing. In an era where it feels like we get a lot of poorly made CGI, it is a breath of fresh air to have a movie that has beautiful-looking CGI for what feels like the entire movie! Watching in it cinema with IMAX 3D was a terrific experience and it is the best way to watch Avatar: The Way of Water. I'm thoroughly looking forward to the sequels!

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[nightcoremoon]

Wakanda Forever was not the greatest movie in the world. obviously. how could it be? their lead actor died before they could film enough to complete so they had to rewrite the whole thing. that always ends up in disaster. except here.

I’m not going to ignore the flaws. studio interference was blatantly obvious. it’s something I agree with them on but it’s still tiring to see every single movie exist as a ploy to sell action figures to little girls while sidelining the character the movie is named after. I can tell they reused shots from the first draft of filming and just mouse dropped them in. the CGI was awful as always post-endgame (and honestly? as post-infinity war) and they used way too much of it. martin freeman was only there because his contract required it and his character had no meaning other to be A White Guy Who Isn’t Evil. the plot was Everyone Is Stupid At Least Once and I hate idiot ball plots, and the character motivation for the protagonist was Why Would God Let Bad Things Happen To Good People and honestly that is such a stupid plot device that has never been done properly (the answer is Because God Gave You Free Will, Dumbass). Ironheart would have been a good inclusion in a movie that wasn’t (supposed to be) about Black Panther. I hate the movie’s title because it’s the most generic possible title that could have possibly been made, EXCEPT as a wink to the audience that just because Chadwick unfortunately passed far too soon doesn’t mean that Disney is going to completely forget about Wakanda (not because they actually care about black people but it’s because they care about black people’s money). and I hate that the way they implemented this is just to have T’challa Junior exist so that we can still have a boy black panther in a few years because god forbid we have a non-sexualised girl stay a main character for more than ten minutes on screen. they got their 4 seconds of begrudging diversity in if you squint and recognize that it’s intended to be romantic and not just gals being pals. and this is more of a gripe but didn’t Letitia Wright get #cancelled a few years back for making a bunch of homophobic remarks? if so then yeah there is no such thing as cancel culture. but that’s more of a gripe.

with that being said:

what a really fucking great movie. I’m genuinely pleasantly surprised that this turned out as good as it did compared to what I was worried it might end up being. the direction was fantastic, the fight choreography made sense, and the film was so pretty, especially in the underwater sections. all of the mayan architecture and culture looked fairly accurate as far as my knowledge of mayan civilization goes. The Protag’s character arc was hands down the best in the series second only to Tony Stark (whose arc took 10+ movies so there’s no competition). the black panther design is definitely the best designed female armor in the series. the fact that the villain being White Imperialism is boring means they succeeded at making it appear systemic as it is in real life, because it’s a very intelligent idea to literally say Hey, Spain was Evil, The US and France ARE evil, And The Victimized Demographics Uniting is the Only Way to ensure White Supremacy loses, but packaged in an easy to digest “revenge is bad” story. and of course having over half a dozen main characters be intelligent & capable black women with agency is such a breath of fresh air… that we’ll probably never breathe again considering how bad the marvels tanked. oh well. and it was very nice to see michael b jordan again.

overall I think I enjoyed it more in a vacuum than as part of the franchise.

[stagbeetleboy]

My interest in starwars mostly lies in alien design but tbh the costuming and aliens have been lackluster. The best looking aliens in kenobi were ones reused from the sequels and were background characters. Initially it was argued that the grand inquisitor’s makeup was poorly done bc of fight choreography but not only did he not engage in saber combat but he’s officially down for the count for however long.

I know it’s not a movie so there’s no movie budget but that’s exactly the problem. Disney would rather make cheaper cash grab limited series than risk putting money into another poorly received movie. Any movies they do make will be devoid of any good ideas bc they won’t risk doing anything unexpected with the franchise.

If you think marvel is formulated starwars will be ten times worse moving forward. Solo’s failure and negativity surrounding the sequels has them scared for their life to do anything truly new. They’re even scared to recast original trilogy characters bc of solo. Starwars is destined for shitty lifeless cgi Luke copies.

All my love for starwars will be redirected in indulging my own stories and concepts. I don’t feel the need to completely separate myself from starwars bc I have always focused mostly on my own starwars ocs and one off fanarts so this blog will function as normal. Just know I’m not having the best time within the fandom.

This is still unfortunately a starwars blog but it’s also my blog.

[orangeoctopusart]

A warning before I even start: if you have not seen Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness and don’t want spoilers don’t read (also some this won’t make sense). The general idea of it will because I am talking about this kind of in a general term but be warned.

(Disclaimer: these are my thoughts and opinions. If you have different ones than that is great! Go ahead and have them but this is how I am seeing all of this. I also have nothing against Peggy as a character I just don’t like how Marvel is using her.)

Now to start it off, I did not like Multiverse of Madness. In general, I thought it was okay but I had a lot of problems with the story and characters. Don't get me wrong I like America Chavez. I think she will be interesting to watch in the future. The CGI is good, the rest did not sit well with me.

One thing that really ticked me off about the movie was Captain Carter (I don't even know why she was in the move really, she didn't do anything); specifically her line, "I can do this all day." Yes, she says this.

Now you may be thinking what is the problem with this? It's just a line. Here's the thing, it was only used because Steve has it as his catch phrase. This line is not her motto. It does not follow who she is as a character. I'm pretty sure that the only reason it was used was because Captain America uses it.

With Steve Rogers it makes sense. It's his line that goes along with his character. It was his when he was without the serum and stayed even when he received it. It shows how he's never going to give up. With Peggy I don't see this line working the same way. She should have her own catch phrase that shows who she is as a person. This line doesn't do that.

This leads me to my main problem. Marvel at this point, is just recycling lines from movies and characters.

This also was very evident throughout What If?. Lines from specific characters were used by others for really no apparent reason. It was like Marvel was just trying to leave them in to get reactions (which they did get from me but not a positive one).

What I fear from here is that it's only going to get worse. I think they are just going to keep reusing lines and parts of characters. It's like they are forgetting that they are different characters who have different personalities.

Unfortunately, I think this especially will come into play with the next superheroes. A lot of then are coming from a previous hero. Then the writers might just be like, "Hey you know what would be fun? Them saying the exact same line as their mentor!"

I don't think that both Steve and Peggy would both say the line, "I can do this all day." Just because they both have the serum does make them the same person. It doesn't make them have the same attitude. Peggy should have her own catch phrase and way of doing things.

This is not me saying that lines can't be reused. They can. However, you can't say that Steve and Peggy would have the same catch phrase. It doesn't make sense as characters. That same with What If? you can't reuse lines and put them with other characters. It just doesn't work.

The main point of this is to express my disappointment with how Marvel is just reusing things that worked. It's not showing in a good way. To me, it just looks like lazy writing.

Once again, this is just my opinion and what I have noticed. If you have a different perspective feel free to comment. I'd love to hear your opinion.

Always, thanks for reading and have a great day!

[moomingitz]

I'll give my more detailed thoughts on the other aspects of Sonic 2 later(I've been busy and tired for the past week), but here is my general opinion of the movie, for now, and beware of potential spoilers up ahead. This may be going into potential unpopular opinion territory, too:

While I enjoyed it and thought it was fan service in the best way possible; I'm gonna have to say that I still like the first movie more, especially after going back watching it again after I watched Sonic 2 in theaters. The big, main reason why I feel that way?

Less is more.

While fans may think that the first movie isn’t exactly “Sonic” feeling enough by having it basically be a buddy movie involving Sonic and some sheriff from a podunk town in Montana, it’s still a more focused one that knows exactly what it wanted to be. The second movie feels like it was trying to introduce and set-up too much at once for future installments(a trap later MCU films eventually fell victim to), even with it’s over 2 hour runtime.I think that because the first movie was mainly centered around just Sonic and Tom it was able to take it’s time to properly develop the friendship between the two. While in the second movie it just feels kind of rushed at least when it comes to Tails, unfortunately, because it’s not just centered around Sonic and Tails and it’s far from the only thing going on in the film.(It also doesn’t help that they went and reused the exact type of scenario they used for Tom and Sonic to take a break and bond. Only this time it’s a restaurant in Siberia, instead of a biker bar.)

This is also why I feel like there isn’t as much tension in most of the action scenes compared to the first film. While there wasn’t as much action until later on in the first movie, I was able to better understand what exactly was personally at stake for Sonic and Tom. While in the second movie things we barely got to spend much time for more slower character building moments with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles(at least for must of the part on his end), and even Tom and Maddie. Whether the SFX, CGI, or choreography is good in a movie can only do so much if I don’t feel invested enough with the characters or conflict they’re in.

I think this ultimately played a big part in making the moment Sonic went super feel kind of anti-climatic, too. Well, that, and how in the first movie it felt like a pure genuine beat down from Sonic, while in the sequel Super Sonic kind of easily dissembles the the egg robot and Robotnik just goes, “See ya haters! lul!”

This is why have to agree with critics who are saying that the sequel feels more like a generic action movie.

I still enjoyed the sequel. But I feel like the first movie was more focused and down to Earth, despite it’s flaws(especially when you consider what it went through production wise). Basically, have more moments like Sonic and his friends playing baseball with their new adoptive human parents going forward, so that there will be more weight to when all of the actiony end of the world stuff inevitably happens again.

I know they said they plan on following he game’s storylines to a T going forward, and Knuckles is getting his own mini series, so hopefully they won’t rush things narrative wise again.

[meowstix]

fuck it my thoughts on every pokemon theme song

indigo league: it’s good and all but compared to other themes there’s no way i could confidently call it the best. also has anyone even heard the full version bc i sure hadn’t until recently

pokemon world: i really don’t know what to say other than this slaps HARD, especially the movie version

pokemon johto: the second best one, this song fills me with so much joy i love it so much........ movie version is far worse though imo

born to be a winner: it’s like indigo league but cooler, specifically it reuses a part of the full version of it, i’d say it’s better but still not close to the best. movie version, however, gets to go in the cool kids gang.

believe in me: ok i legit remember this one only because of pokemon heroes..... and yeah it’s a good song!! i don’t know what else to say honestly...

i wanna be a hero: most of the song is meh, but there’s a couple good bits, wouldn’t say it slaps but it’s not bad

this dream: this one’s pretty nostalgic to me bc i used to watch this one dvd with a few of the hoenn eps on it a lot and i think they might’ve had this theme song?? i can’t quite remember though

unbeatable: HAHA IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE HE KEEPS LOSING!!!11 jokes aside i also have immense nostalgia for this one bc i don’t really remember if the dvd i mentioned above had any episodes with this dream as the theme song but this one was DEFINITELY in there

battle frontier: it’s fine but also like. if this song was a person i would probably hate them idk how else to say it honestly

diamond & pearl: awful, i hate it, the worst one. i remember in the pokerap bdg mentioned “educational rap flow” and i feel like that applies here. the ending is pretty decent though.

we will be heroes: i guess they knew diamond & pearl was bad bc sinnoh’s other themes are a lot more.. pretty, i guess? not like they objectively slap they just feel like the aim’s more uplifting and.. kinda sorta calm i guess. anyway this one’s fine, definitely a step up from diamond & pearl.

battle cry: yes this song’s good but that PERCUSSION..... a whole different level and it alone makes me declare this song a banger

we will carry on: honestly i don’t really vibe with this one but i can’t call it bad. percussion is once again great here.

black & white: the song itself is decent enough but the animation is unique and neat... i just like the funny cgi pokemon ok

rival destinies: it’s fine but also this feels too much like a love song and i do not like that. like yeah they say “friends” but let’s be real these are love song lyrics.

it’s always you and me: this one’s very nice and happy and i like it but it also has those love song vibes unfortunately

xy: man x/y really did love gen 1 huh........ anyway the original vs this is just daniel vs the cooler daniel... still not part of the cool kids gang though

be a hero: absolutely SLAPS. also they never say pokemon in this one so go apeshit with those amvs lads. how many of these have hero in the title anyway jesus christ

stand tall: it’s cool and good but also i made a playlist of pokemon music and put this there, hit shuffle, and got it like 5 times so augh

under the alolan sun: i know the theme songs generally have some amount of cheesiness to them, but this is too much for me personally. also “it’s like i’m on vacation” isn’t this the one series where ash goes to school how do you mess that up

under the alolan moon: first off, apparently this one and challenge of life. don’t have full versions?? idk what’s up with that. anyway i don’t like this one and is the only one i’d call bad besides diamond and pearl .

the challenge of life: honestly this one’s short and sweet, that’s all i have to say about it actually.

after the rain: the best one, please listen to the full version if you haven’t i’m begging you it’s SO GOOD..........

[optimusphillip]

OptimusPhillip Reviews 23: Studio Series 22 Dropkick

While I do have a lot of nostalgia for the early Michael Bay movies, I cannot deny that Bumblebee was a far superior film. As a result, it’s hardly a surprise that some of the first Studio Series figures I sought out, and to this day the ones that I seek out the most, are the ones from Bumblebee. And now that I’ve secured all four toys of the film’s main villains, Shatter and Dropkick, I think it’s high time I gave them a review, starting with Dropkick in his helicopter mode.

Helicopter Mode

Just like in the movie, Dropkick transforms into a Bell AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopter (thank you, TFWiki). While there sadly aren’t many clear shots of Dropkick in helicopter mode from the film, he is a near-perfect match for the pictures I was able to find of the real AH-1W. Almost every panel line, vent, fin and light is present in some form on this figure, which is very impressive. They even included details like the small fin under the tail and the upward angle to the forward gun, which probably could’ve been left off and no one would notice. In fact, I was confused by some of these details before looking up the real helicopter, but I’m just so glad that they took the time to carry everything over. There are some imperfections, owing to his nature as a transforming robot figure, but even then he’s pretty clean overall. Though he seems a little tail-heavy in this mode, to the point where he’ll occasionally have a hard time sitting flat on his landing skids.

The helicopter is primarily done in a light gray, also like the movie. However, there’s also a lot of extra blue details, which aren’t present in those few shots I am able to make out. Also included are a pair of jolly roger decals on either side of the nose, which can be seen on his other modes in the movie, though I can’t tell if these are movie accurate in this mode. Aside from those, the only other details are pretty basic: safety warnings on the intakes, and Air Force decals on either side of the body. It seems the rest of his paint budget went into painting more gray onto the body and nose pieces, which are both cast in clear plastic to create the look of a glass cockpit. While it’s probably not the most movie accurate deco, I personally really like the way he looks.

Of course, being a helicopter means that he retains some functionality in this mode. The tail rotor is pinned into place and can spin freely, as one would expect. The main rotor is also pinned into place, but there’s too much friction for it to spin freely. Instead, you have to be constantly pushing them to keep them spinning. I don’t exactly know why, I’m sure there’s a reason, but it’s kind of annoying. Aside from that, you can remove the missile launchers from under his wings, since they’re just mounted on 5mm pegs. This means that you can also mount pretty much any other weapon you want underneath, just in case the stock parts don’t appeal to you.

Conversion

Dropkick’s conversion scheme is actually quite a lot of fun. The way the legs fold up to form the underside of the helicopter can feel a little clunky at first, but after a couple tries it becomes simple enough. The part I really like is how the entire leg and torso assembly rotates around. After that, the tail section splits apart and does some pretty clever folds to turn into the robot arms, which are then locked into place by folding down the chest piece. Unfortunately, the intake sections can kind of get in the way at times, especially given how loose they seem to be. Once the arms are done, just position the main rotor and the intake pieces correctly, and we're done.

Robot Mode

Onto robot mode, and this is the part where the figure starts to lose me. I don’t know when in the film’s production cycle this toy was designed, but this figure bears only the most tenuous resemblance to the CGI model from the film. The most glaring inaccuracy is the almost complete lack of visible car parts, aside from the taillights on his knees. He’s missing the wheels on his arms, the door wings, the headlights on his chest, all major details of his character model. Sure, you could argue that the intakes on his back are supposed to mimic his door wings, but they don’t really work for that. Even the rotors on his back are in the wrong spot.

Then we get to his proportions. In the movie, Dropkick was big and beefy looking bot, looking almost like a bodybuilder. This toy couldn’t be further from that. His limbs are lanky and thin, with almost no muscle definition aside from the kibble on his calves. Not only does this make him even less accurate to the movie, but it makes him look almost frail, which just doesn’t feel right at all for a Decepticon warrior. I know that the Bumblebee toys had a bit of a troubled production, but these are details that go back to the concept art. Aside from that, my best guess is that these are concessions made for the sake of the vehicle mode, which I can somewhat accept, but is still very unfortunate.

At least the head design is accurate. The three stripes of silver grating on his cranium, the triangular mouth parts, and the beady red eyes under the arched brows are all present from the movie design. There is some slight overspray on my figure’s forehead ridges, but I’d still say the head sculpt is the best part of this robot mode.

At least he’s decently well articulated. Ball joints in the neck, shoulders and hips, bicep and thigh swivels, 90 degree elbows and almost 180 degree knees. You can definitely get some awesome poses out of him, though strangely for a flyer, he doesn’t have a hole for a flight stand anywhere on him. Still, I’ll give him points for posability.

Lastly, we come to his weapons. The missile pods from helicopter mode transform into a pair of handheld Gatling guns. 5mm handles means that they can be given to other figures if you so choose. They’re alright, I guess, but they’re nothing like his weapon in the movie. Still, it’s a clever reuse of a vehicle mode part, though I wish they’d included his movie weapon.

Backdrop

Dropkick’s backdrop is labeled by the package as “Autobot Pursuit”, but it doesn’t really resemble any scene from Bumblebee. In fact, it looks very similar to the one that came with Studio Series Thundercracker, who bears Dark of the Moon branding. This really confuses me, since the inaccuracies with the figure can at least be attributed to either being based on an earlier model or concessions for the sake of transformation. Here, though, there’s no reason not to just use a scene from Bumblebee. Even if it was a placeholder of some kind, they could’ve changed this at any time at what I assume would be little cost. Why they chose this backdrop of all things is beyond me.

Okay, enough negativity. Since he’s so slim, Dropkick in robot mode actually has a really nice footprint for the base here. Even with his legs spread out for a dynamic pose, he fits on the base with no difficulty. The only challenge is keeping the rotors out of the way of posing without bumping them into the backdrop. The same can’t be said of his helicopter mode, however. It’s so long that it’s almost impossible to sit him down on the base without having the sides folded all the way out. Still, he is thin enough to fit on the base without hanging off the front, and his landing skids are short enough to fit easily. Just don’t expect to compact the sides with him in helicopter mode.

Final Thoughts

As harsh as I’ve been on this figure, there’s very little actually wrong with him. His helicopter mode is well detailed, his transformation is lots of fun, and his robot mode is well articulated. What kills it for me, though, is the inaccuracy of it. Studio Series is all about screen accuracy, so seeing a figure under that banner that resembles the movie design so little is a major letdown. If you’re specifically looking for a good representation of Dropkick, the only real appeal I can see with this figure is the helicopter mode itself, since that’s definitely where he most resembles his movie self. Aside from that, you’d probably be better off hunting down his remold as AOE Drift. However, if you’re just looking for a fun Transformer to mess around with and don’t care about screen accuracy, he’s actually pretty good and I would recommend him.

[snkpolls]

SnK S3E15 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 321 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

RATE THE EPISODE 308 Responses

Overall the fandom enjoyed the episode, with the vast majority of votes being at either a 4 or 5.

Best ep of the season thus far, Bert's monologue/transformation was amazing. Some fantastic VA work by Tomohisa and Inoue as well. CG CT also looked far better than I thought he would. These next few episodes are going to kill me. I can't wait.

Fantastic episode. Bertholdt's monologue was the best part.

Great episode, very dramatic, awesome OST. I am not looking forward to the next few eps, except for Floch's villain origin story!

Can’t wait for the next episode, this one was so good!

Editing was a bit choppy, voice lines cut half a second too quick a few times.

First ep of S3P2 to get a 10/10 from me <3

The animation was pretty lacking in this episode. R&B’s running animation on the wall felt pretty lazy, there was that reused shot of the beast Titan’s throw from season 2, Bertholdt’s character design felt inconsistent as well as Zeke’s. They really need to get the old team back on the animation cause the current team clearly doesn’t know how to handle aot. It’s getting on my nerves.

The episode was absolutely awesome.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 308 Responses

The Bertl Bomb™ was the scene that respondents were most excited about. Following behind that was Mikasa’s brief skirmish with Bertolt, and closely behind that was Armin and Bertolt’s shouting match on the rooftops.

BERUTORUTO=GOD

I’m mikasasexual

As a huge Bertholdt fan, it was so great to see Bert as the centre of attention for once. It makes me really sad knowing what comes next.

Bert bomb made my bomb go off

I love Bertholdt's resolve. This scene made him one of my favorite characters.

Bertholdt vs. Mikasa was so fire 🔥

One of the best episodes without a doubt. Bertholdt's monologue before transforming was even more impactful than in the manga.

Explosion aftermath was disappointing. I expected a sea of fire. The one they gave us doesn't feel like something big just happened

That "Levi's 5 seconds of screen time" was good, too!

Why isn't "Mikasa comforting and protecting Armin" an option for favorite moment in this episode? Because those were definitely my favorite moments in the episode

The partner gesture between Reiner and Bertl is the death of me

Am I the only one who get's goosebumps  in the scene before he transformed himself into the colossalus titan and said: 'I feel like, no matter how this all plays out, I can accept whatever happens. That's right, nobody's in the wrong. There's nothing we could do. Because this world....is just...that cruel.' This scene was impressive back in the manga and I'm proud how good Tomohisa Hashizume nailed it. He's an amazing voice actor, especially for Bertholdt.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE APETITAN AND YOUSEEBIGGIRL REARRANGES? 296 Responses

Overall the fandom was excited about the new versions of familiar songs with 71% of respondents feeling that they were “totally epic!” 18% agree that the rearranges were good, but that they can’t surpass the original versions.

The soundtrack was lit.

Music was awesome!

Ngl I've watched the episode many times bc the OST during some scenes is just SO GOOD!!

WHO WON THE SHOUTING MATCH? 308 Responses

Over ¾ of the fandom agree that Bertolt dominated the shouting match on the rooftop.

I feel Armin won the "debate" because Bertolt, in his zeal to convince himself that he wanted to kill people he used to see as friends, wasn't making any sense

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT BERTOLT’S DEVELOPMENT AT THIS POINT? 308 Responses

46% of respondents were happy to see how far Bertolt had come as a character at this point in the story, while 34% were just happy to get more dialogue and thoughts from him. A small percentage had been curious where his character would go from here.

Godtolt on the way

He ditched the alter ego built up out of guilt, and it's cool to see him truly one of the strongest characters fighting off Mikasa while in human form

I wish we had more Bertl development! He could’ve been really complex, but just isn’t due to a lack of screentime. Compared to someone like Reiner or Annie, this was his one moment of pure raw character development

He reveals his true warrior colors

I loved it, one of my favourite chapters because of his resolve and how he himself was surprised about it.

He's only moving forward as a character and does what needs to be done. Bertholdt, your doing amazing sweetie!

With all this development just to kill him off was heart breaking.

Honestly, I’m so proud of him. He was amazing and it’s so nice to see a confident Bert. I don’t think it’s a development worth praising in terms of moral standards but it suited and made sense for his character

I feel like this is where his character peaked. It was pretty flat before season 2

I just don’t like bertolt in generalI really like his development but it's a shame that he severely lacked screen time before this episode

I'm not really a fan of Bertolt so I'm neutral on this

I still hate his traitorous guts and can't wait for THAT scene to be animated

Fucking loved it. It's one of my favorite chapters (and now episodes) just because he's talking so much and he's badass af. My boy is finally shining!

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT ARMIN BLUFFING ABOUT ANNIE A SECOND TIME? 306 Responses

Just over half of respondents feel that Armin should have tried a different tactic with Bertolt, while 46% felt that it was worth another shot to try and manipulate Bertolt’s feelings for Annie again.

Has Armin ever convinced anyone of anything they didn't already believe?

He was so used to Bertholdt’s behavior and there was nothing that would’ve made Armin think Bertholdt would have the reaction that he did

Lame. He didn't use much of intelligence here.

It's low, I'm happy it didn't work again

He learned some pretty vital things - how far the Warriors are willing to go, what their priorities are, what Bert's state of mind is, and where his loyalties truly lie. I don't imagine Armin went down that track solely because he thought it would have the exact same effect, but rather to 'check something' - exactly the same as Bertolt.

I think it not only was a good attempt to take (it worked before, why not try it again), but I also think it is incredibly important to show Armin's flaws. Yes, he's an amazing strategist. He's also still sixteen and not always entirely confident. Having Armin make mistakes like relying on old ploys that worked keeps his character more grounded and realistic

Smart people tend to use the same tactics over and over again as long as they're successful and for good reason. After all, why wouldn't you use the same tactic if you know it brings success? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's only when said strategy or tactic doesn't work where the individual would entertain the prospect of changing it or never using it again.

That’s Very Unfortunate!

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT CGI COLOSSAL TITAN? 306 Responses

36% of respondents aren’t very impressed with the CGI colossal titan, while 29% actually found the effect to be pretty awesome! 13% feel it’s disturbing and a small 7% just find it cringeworthy.

Alright

CGI doesn't bother me. What bothers me is how animators overly rely on it. Several decades ago animators made great masterpieces without cgi, all by hand. I understand using it because it makes things easier, but exceeding quality should still be top priority. If you can't make it better with CGI, then go old school and do it right.

Decent but could be better

U can still notice it is CGI but I think their CGI has gotten better compared to some of their earlier uses of it

Doesn't fit with the art style, which is as bad as unfair splitting potatoes

Not too bad but could definitely have been better. Understandable since there has only been one full body shot of it before and that was a sharp backwards, down looking angle.

Don’t really care much for cgi complaints, animating that would be a lot of work, their efforts are better elsewhere

It was necessary and didn't look appallingly bad.

I don't get why people hate it so much? I think it's fine

I hated it in season 2 and I hate it more now

Bad

Don't like CGI anything in any anime so take from that what you will

Most angles he looks fine! The only part that he looked off was when we got the face shot of him panning out to the rest of his body

Thought it looked solid. There were some really great shots of him this ep imo. Hopefully the action bits will look as good, and they mix in some 2D shots as well.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE 104TH RIDING ON TITAN EREN? 306 Responses

Over half of the fandom agree that this detail is something that’s very adorable, while 22% feel it’s just pretty neat. A combined 21% of respondents either feel it’s not that big of a deal or simply don’t care about it.

>AMJCS who cares?

Good boy protecting his friends? Hell Yeah!

I want to ride pieck - Not an innuendo, i just want a go in one of her turrets

It's gay

Lads you would never get me off that thing, I'd be saddling him up to go grocery shopping

Save me a seat guys!!

HOW WELL DID THE EPISODE ADAPT THE CORRESPONDING CHAPTERS? 306 Responses

Manga readers are overall happy with the adaptation of chapters 77 and 78, with over 90% saying that it was close to being perfectly done.

DID MARCO’S DEATH AFFECT YOU AS MUCH AS IT DID IN THE MANGA? 305 Responses

41% of respondents felt more heartbroken to see Marco’s death play out in the anime, while 31% say they felt more sympathetic toward Marco. 14% weren’t affected when this scene played out in either story-telling medium.

About the same level, still utterly heartbreaking, though

DEATH TO THE TITAN TRIO!

Didn't feel as much. Not because it was a bad adaptation, but just because I've already read it and knew what went down.

I felt more sorry for RBA than Marco in this version

I still had lot of emotions with the adaptation, but there's no compare to experiencing it for the first time

I was absolutely sobbing when I read it in the manga. Anime-wise I was more prepared to handle the scene

Watching Marco die again reminds me of why, even in current manga, I still completely and utterly LOATHE/DESPISE/HATE RBA. No, I don't care about their "tragic backstory", they don't deserve empathy of any kind.

It had the same impact when I first watched the trailer for the Lost Girls OVA, which spoiled me his death

It was tough to watch, but it was necessary to deepen Reiner, Bertolt, Annie (and Marco)'s characters. It was very well done, dramatically

Oh fuck it was WAY WORSE animated. Actually hearing his cries and screams is something that can never be duplicated in written form

I did not anticipate being as affected as I was by the Marco flashback. That doesn’t give me hope for how I’m going to handle the rest of the RtS arc. The emotions of the characters are being portrayed very well this season.

NOW THAT WE’VE HAD A CHANCE TO LISTEN TO ZEKE HAVE MORE DIALOGUE, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HIS VOICE? 305 Responses

The majority of the fandom believe that Zeke’s seiyuu is a good fit for his character, although over half of the fandom had expected his voice to sound a bit different. 10% feel it wasn’t the best choice, while a small sliver of respondents don’t care for the voice at all.

I can't unhear DIO. Thanks Zeke, thanks Koyasu.

Zeke's VA also voices a lovely, kind character in Violet Evergarden, so his lines are making me really, really uncomfortable

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT PIECK’S TITAN VOICE? 307 Responses

30% of respondents are excited about Pieck’s titan voice, while 28% feel it’s not what they expected to hear. 18% find the voice “acceptable” while 17% want to wait and hear more before making a final verdict.

Pieck's voice was unexpected in that it was terrifying, much like Ymir's Titan voice

Holy shit. I'm gonna hear it in my nightmares

I rabu Piku.

REGARDING CURRENT MANGA EVENTS, DO YOU THINK REINER STILL WANTS TO STAY TRUE TO HIS PROMISE TO YMIR? 308 Responses

Nearly half of the fandom believe that Reiner would still like to honor his promise to Ymir, but feel that he will never actually get to pull through. 15% believe that he’s still determined to save Historia no matter what, and 18% believe that he’s actually stopped caring about his promise (or perhaps just Historia in general) altogether.

Good question. I really want to have a scene with him facing Historia, his reaction to her pregnancy should be interesting

He doesn't want to save HISTORIA because he doesn't know her. The one he wanted to save was KRISTA. But she is already "dead"

I think Reiner has done what he needed to

I'm not sure, I think his main concerns are the kids and stopping Eren

It has to be real low on his priority list right about now given the circumstances

Of course not, Reiner only cares about his own manpain

He still calls her Krista and she probably has already chosen a side most likely Yeagerist

ARMIN HAD WISHED FOR A CHANCE TO NEGOTIATE AT THIS POINT, SIMILAR TO CURRENT MANGA EVENTS. IS THIS PROOF THAT HE HASN’T BEEN CHANGED BY BERTOLT’S MEMORIES? 308 Responses

44% don’t want to say either way whether Armin’s pre-titan behavior is indicative of the influence that Bertolt may or may not have over the Armin we know in the current manga. 39% believe that this is proof Eren’s words to Armin were total B.S., and 12% think this isn’t really proof of anything.

Armin Has always been the diplomat, while Eren is a man of force. Mikasa is in between. It has always been that way.

Past and future are influenced the same when paths are concerned so there's no way to tell.

I don’t think it’s enough to prove or disprove but this is an interesting idea

I don't get this 'changed' shit. Of course having access to someone else's memories has its own influence on a person, but that's true of anyone on the planet who's read a memoir as well. Everything has its effect. The titan shifter thing is obviously a bit more invasive than that, but it doesn't mean he's now suddenly possessed by Beartoto's fucking undead spirit.

I'd like to think it is but with everything Isayama's been throwing at us from out of left field who knows

he's always wished for negotiation, but he seems to have changed in his methods for negotiation. armin used to be more abrupt and upfront, whereas now he seems more tentative

No, he wasn't chanced that much. He understands RBA better and has more sympathy for Annie (maybe even has a crush on her) but it has nothing to do with being a slave.

SIMILARLY, MIKASA POINTS OUT HOW BERTOLT FEELS LIKE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON. ARE THE MEMORIES OF HIS PREDECESSOR AFFECTING HIM IN THIS ARC? 306 Responses

Over half of the fandom feel that Bertolt’s current behavior at this point in the series is of his own will, and not influenced by any prior holders of the Colossal Titan. 38% think it’s possible he’s being influenced by memories of his predecessor(s) at this time, while a small percentage feel that he is definitely being influenced by someone else’s memories.

He was badass but I think he was affected by memories of the previous CT owner.

I think that Mikasa thinks he’s acting like a different person because he is. I think this is what Bertholdt is really like but with the 104th he was playing a role so he didn’t get too attached to them.

Still wondering if the "he seemed like a different person" comment was a note about development or supposed to foreshadow something about the Titans influencing their hosts.

I think it’s original Ymir controlling him through the paths

Probably. It seems like a bit of a drastic change to go from quiet, self-deprecating and remorseful to cold, outspoken, and trying to morally justify his actions. It's just too drastic a change.

Confidence boost is completely irrelevant to paths.

We don’t even know Bert’s previous predecessors!

Nope, that's have something to do with "character development", people change sometimes after time and grown more indepented and strong of their own shadow.

I always thought of it more as Bertie finally coming down on a side and the pair picking up on that. He was always so meek and indecisive, but now he's been forced to make a choice and to do it he has to shed his old skin and become more ruthless.

Not at all he ditched his guilt that made up the act they knew him for.

WHAT SCENE ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE PREVIEW? 307 Responses

The overwhelming majority of respondents are looking forward to the Survey Corps’ suicide charge against the Beast Titan and his flying boulders. Nearly 30% are looking forward to the moment that Levi gives Erwin his promise to kill the Beast Titan. A small percentage are most looking forward to Armin and Jean decide who’s going to lead the 104th to victory.

I am not ready for the next two episodes

I’m gonna get my ASS FUCKED SO HARD I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO. THERES GONNA BE SHIT EVERYWHERE. ERWINS GONNA FUCKING DIE. LEVIS GONNA BE SAD.

fuck next week's shit is good, hype

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

The "predecessor's memory affecting current shifter" is, as far as I'm aware, just a theory that I don't buy into. I've only seen a person "changed" because of the Founding Titan's vow. Otherwise, the shifter's personality remains the same. Armin has always been an advocate for talking and negotiation. We see this in the Trost arc when the Garrison nearly kill Eren with that cannonball. So no, I don't think anyone's memories are "affecting" anyone, including current Eren.

Loved pretty much everything in this episode except for the CGI CT. Didn't expect to see uncensored Reiner, which was weird because Mikasa cutting off Bert's ear was more censored. And I'm a bit disappointed we didn't see more shots of Bert with his V fringe off his forehead. He looked so cool in the manga!

This episode gave me anxiety 'cause I know what we'll going to deal in the next three ones. The soundtrack gave intensity in every scene that its put on it, plus the fantastic job of the VA, perfect work. And just thinking about how the next episodes will be.... *goosebumps*

Wit studio handled the cgi very well imo. It's very difficult to animate this action heavy arca with rubble, smoke, odm scenes etc. and I think they are adapting the manga very well with the right pacing per episode which is also a challenge to fit within 20 minutes.

Bertolt is best boi and this episode was the best of all 3. He deserved to survive and mature up. Hashizume nailed him JUST RIGHT and his interactions with Reiner this episode were on point. The scene where he outsmarted Armin and countered Mikasa was worthy of applause.

i wish it wasn’t too rushed some moments aren’t as emotional as they should be

mikasa looked so good this episode and i'm so happy with how wit isn't screwing her over

After seeing this episode and Marco's death, it makes me sad that Reiner lost his pal Bertolt. They should be suffer bois together. Even still, some of the animation this episode was reallyy not great, so I rated the episode a 4.

Bertolt has proved on this episode that he's one of the best character of the series

I miss berthold so much and seeing him at his best was awesome but it’s really hard knowing what’s going to happen next

This is shaping up to be the best season of Attack On Titan. Cheers for more!

zeke’s beard is the tenth titan shifter

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 295 Responses

Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again in a few days! 

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 110

Episode: Futari wa Precure Splash Star 12 - "Choppi is a li'l bit Homesick?" Date watched: 02 April 2019 Original air date: 23 April 2006 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/sBJsHUI Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

I don't want to say that Splash Star is fairly derivative of the seasons that preceded it, because it's more accurate to say that there are some basic genre tropes that both shows explore, and that pop up again in many of the succeding Precure shows. That being said, it's hard to ignore that many episodes to this point have been similar to FW/MH episodes, so when an episode like this happens along that tells an original idea, it's worth pointing out.

In this case, the subject is Choppi feeling a bit alienated in the Land of Greenery (Earth), and longing for her home in the Land of Fountains. Some of the scenery she sees reminds her of home and the fun times she used to have. She tries to bottle up her feelings and not admit to Mai that she's homesick and kind of lonely, but because she doesn't talk about her feelings, Mai doesn't realize anything is wrong, and the problem exacerbates.

Choppi feels alone while Mai is eating dinner with her family

The next morning, Mai wakes up and can't find Choppi anywhere. After meeting with Saki and Flappi, the fairy confirms that she hasn't been taken by Dark Fall, because he'd be able to sense if she were in danger. The trio spend all day looking for her in every possible location they can think of, namely the great tree, but also the playground, the shrine, the softball field, and a scenic overlook. Finally Mai thinks of one more place she could be, so they set off. Finally we learn that Choppi is at the highway overhang from the previous day that looks out over the lake. The view reminds her strongly of the Land of Fountains and she flashes back to a more innocent time playing with Flappi and some spirits.

Notably, aside from the tree and fire spirits, there are also some ground spirits flying around as a hint of things to come. Choppi's reminiscing is cut short by the appearance of Moerumba, who interrogates her for the location of the Foutain of the Sun of course, but Flappi senses the danger and fortunately the girls are already close to her location. Moerumba summons an Uzainaa out of some random equipment in the back of a truck to distract the girls and he grips Choppi tight, heating up his hands to get her to confess.

Saki pulls a trick that has no business working, but this is a kids show. She says the fountain of the sun is behind him as she points, he looks, and then they urge Choppi to escape. She bites Moerumba's finger and he throws her at the girls, who are then able to transform. The fight with the monster is kind of unremarkable, it can shoot poison goop for some reason and use a charging attack that is easily avoided. It has tentacles that it swings around to knock the Cures about but they manage to push through its attacks and knock it over, then they use Twin Stream Splash to finish it off. Afterwards, all four of them look out at the scenery and discuss the day’s events. Flappi encourages Choppi by saying that sometimes he gets lonely and misses their home, but she responds that she’s fine, it’s fine, everything’s fine, it’s fine. Fine. Then Mai gives her some of the best advice that I think may have ever come out of this show: “You don’t have to worry about not worrying us.” They all four vow to tell each other everything and pledge that they’re all in the fight against Dark Fall together.

Also there’s a framing device about Mai making a painting for the art club about “scenery that makes an impression on you.” You will surely be shocked to hear that she chose the view that Choppi had of the lake and tree. Mai presents it to the club members, who all fawn over it, and she states it represents a place that is very important to her and a friend, as she nods in Choppi’s direction in the back of the class.

The theme of the episode is honesty: honesty to yourself, and honesty to others, even if that honesty is inconvenient. That’s a very important message, especially in Japanese culture which is built around politeness and not inconveniencing others, and I applaud them for the decision to write this. Your emotions are important and your feelings are valid, and they are only going to grow more complicated if you bottle them up and don’t discuss them for fear of troubling someone else. Also, it’s okay to be homesick, to miss a familiar place for whatever reason, even if you’re better off in your current state.

One gripe I have is that despite Moerumba being hounded by Akudaikaan and Gohyaan that he's running out of chances, he doesn't seem to have any particular plan going in. He would be more than capable of defeating the girls if he simply didn’t assume one or two attacks could defeat them. He literally had the girls in a very vulnerable position, holding Choppi hostage so they couldn’t transform, but due to an absurdly silly trick he lost control of her and they gained the upper hand.

I understand the rules of the genre and I know that, if he truly won, there would be no show, and I know people watch this show to see the hero triumph over evil. However, you can conform to the genre rules while still presenting your villain as a credible threat. In today’s example specifically, if Choppi had gotten out of his grasp by some slightly more creative method that didn’t make Moerumba look like a total dope, instead of one of Akudaikaan’s stronger soldiers as he is treated, then I would be less frustrated. Have her bluff her way out, have the girls distract him and then quickly snatch her from his clutch, there’s other ways. Then, in the fight itself, the monster could have used the tentacles to hold onto the girls to bring them close to it’s spinning danger wheel area. Show me that Moerumba deserves the rank he has within Dark Fall by showing him use strategy like in episode 10, with the Uzainaa on the open ocean. Have him learn from the failures of previous fights and plot a new strategy to learn where the Fountain of Sun is and/or defeat Pretty Cure. Fire is a very flexible element for a villain so the writers could concoct some pretty clever uses for it to challenge the girls. Unfortunately, Moerumba does not do this, and he has very few chances left, so enjoy his singing, dancing, gratuitous spanish-using ass while you still can. Soon, we enter the best arc of the show.

Upon rewatch I discovered a few bits of recycled animation (within the same episode): one honestly pretty good pan around Saki and Mai as they were searching for Choppi gets reused in two locations in pretty short order, and then of course a lot of the views of the lake are repeated. Also, at the end of the episode when Mai gets inspired by the view, the water is rippling more than it was previously, and it’s very clearly CGI in that instance.

though it’s a bit more obvious in motion

Next time it’s Moerumba’s last stand so look forward to that!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 Zekkouchou Nari

Miracle Drop Count: 5

[thesffcorner]

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame is the latest and concluding  film to the first 10 years of the MCU. Endgame, takes place right after the events of Avengers: Infinity War, and follows the remaining heroes as they try and regroup after Thanos’ snap.

This is a film that, in some ways has been in the making for over 10 years. As such, there are a lot of expectations placed on it, and I don’t think it’s humanly possible to meet them all. For the most part, I enjoyed it; there were some issue with the pacing and characters arcs, but overall, this film is a masterpiece, if nothing else than it’s sheer scope. The Russos have set out to make a celebration of the entire Marvel universe, and in many ways there were successful. As an experience, watching the past 10 years of film-making being brought in and celebrated the way they are here was super positive, and though I found the story a bit lacking, I think it’s worth seeing if nothing else, then for that alone.    

Let’s be real though. You don’t want me to convince you to see this. You were already going to see it. Presumably, if you are here, you want to read what I thought about the film. So let’s cut to the chase, and under the cut and let’s get into my SPOILER FILLED thoughts.

Let’s start with the run-time.

This film, is a little less than 3 h long, and you FEEL, every single min of those 3 h. Part of the problem, is that there is no intermission; the other part is the structure. The first 40ish mins, are setting up where the characters are, the bulk of the film has to do with the Avengers going around collecting the stones, and then the third part is another 40 mins of a CGI battle that feels like it lasts an eternity. Helms Deep, ain’t got nothing on this; it’s so long it actually felt more draining than the almost identical hour long Battle of Wakanda for Infinity War. Then, when that’s over, we still have another 15-20 mins of tying up loose ends, and finally the film is over.

The film is too long. The issue is, I couldn’t tell what things could have been cut. The beginning set-up is slow, but it’s necessary to get us up to speed on where these characters are now, and if they have changed. While I found the battle needlessly long, it was cool to see the entire MCU come together, and every character  gets at least one little moment to shine, even if it’s just a few seconds long. There are dozens upon dozens of characters at the end, and the sheer enormity of the cast makes it impossible to have the battle be short, but I still think it could have been significantly truncated. After all we already saw a massive brawl in Infinity War; I don’t necessarily think we needed one here too, though I will admit that that’s probably an unpopular opinion.

The set-up at the start was imo, one of the better parts of the film. It’s incredibly depressing; the scene between Tony and Steve at Avengers HQ was harrowing; I liked the brief spike of energy when the Avengers go after Thanos, but it’s quickly deflated when he tells them the stones are gone. Then we get the ‘5 years later’ card, and it was like a blow to the face.

Having the bulk of the main plot set 5 years later was both a good and bad idea. On the one hand, 5 years is long enough for certain people to have moved on (some haven’t) and what little we get of what the world is like now was interesting. The best two story-lines for me were Thor Clint; I have been hoping we would get the Ronin story-line at some point in the MCU, and we get a glimpse of it here.

Thor was absolutely amazing; Hemsworth got his wish to have Thor be exactly like what he and Taika developed in Thor: Ragnarok.

The rest of this part was more than a little contrived. Scott getting released from the quantum realm by a rat, Tony figuring out the time travel in a single scene; it felt like the Russos just needed an excuse to get the characters from point A to point B, and went with the most uninteresting way to do it.

I had some issues with the main hook of this film, being time travel. First, I’m not a huge fan of time traveling stories; I tend to find their stakes are jumbled and rather low, they over-rely on common tropes, and almost never end in a satisfying way. I’d like to say that Endgame avoids this, but unfortunately it falls into some of the same traps, as all the films it tries to distance itself from.

There is a catch here in that the Avengers aren’t trying to prevent Thanos from snapping his fingers, but trying to collect the stones before he does. They even make a point of explaining why they can’t just travel back in time and steal the glove from Thanos before he snaps, in a pretty entertaining scene between Nebula, Rhodey, Scott and Hulk. I liked that they had to travel to a point in the past where at least one person had a direct contact with the stone, so they have a precise anchor in the time stream (and also it’s a clever way of going back to the battle of New York, Asgard, and Morag with the Guardians).

It was the part of the film I found most creative and had the most fun with. The team splits into 4 groups, and each group has to work around the obstacles of being in the past, with the group in New York being the funniest. Everything about the Battle of New York was great; the clever way in which they try and get the scepter and tesseract; trying to outwit Loki, Shield, Hydra and their own past selves. I can’t decide if I like the scene with Cap fighting himself more, or Scott giving Tony a heart attack; either way this was the most entertaining part of the film.

Hulk going to the Sorcerer Supreme and trying to convince her to give him the time stone was also good; I liked the reason why she didn’t want to give him the stone, and why she ultimately changes her mind. The idea that removing the stone would split an alternate reality where the Sanctuary failed at its job to keep Earth safe from dark magic was clever and we even see it in action, when Scott and Tony fail to get the tesseract, enabling Loki to escape, meaning in this new timeline, the Avengers failed to upper-hand Loki and lost the space stone.

Tony and Steve going back to the 70’s on Tony’s birthday to steal the tesseract from Shield/Hydra was also really fun. Hank Pym’s amazing 70’s hair was great, but the real standout was the scene between Tony and Howard; it was sad, funny and heart wrenching, and I’ll talk a bit more about it when we get to the characters.

Thor and Rocket go to Asgard to get the aether from Jane, which was likewise hilarious, both because Rocket and Thor as a tag team work really well, but also because it’s so clear that Natalie Portman refused to come back for Endgame, so they had to work around her, by reusing her scenes from Thor: the Dark World, and inserting Rocket. It was also really nice to see Asgard again, and like Tony, Thor too gets a really sweet and emotional scene with Frigga.

The third team is Nebula and Rhodey which was a fine pairing, but I feel that both characters were very underused. They bond a little over both having to rely on prosthetics to live, but most of this section is devoted to getting Thanos back into the film. Thanos being able to see what future Nebula could see through past Nebula’s cybernetic eye (something that maybe Nebula should have thought of before being the one to go to Morag, or at least warned the others about BEFOREHAND), was neat. However, another unpopular opinion of mine is that bringing Thanos back was unnecessary and only needlessly prolonged the film. We had too much Thanos in the last film, his story is over; I realize the Russos wanted him to have a rematch against all the Avengers combined when he’s not mortally wounded, but I would have gladly just watched the team traverse through the time-space continuum looking for the stones for 2 hours.

The final team was the one that actually made me mad. Clint and Natasha have to go to Vormir and get the soul gem. Okay… first off: why out of all the team members, do Clint and Natasha have to be the ones to go to Vormir? Wouldn’t it have made so much more sense for it to be Rocket? Nebula and Thor are indisposed, but they could have called Carol back, if nothing else than as back up, seeing as Vormir is in freaking space. Even without Carol, both Clint and Natasha could have easily done New York, considering they were there instead of Tony, Scott, Steve or Bruce.

Second, we are shown in the film, that the group is discussing what the best course of action would be, and they take notes on all the stones, and each person’s contact with the stones. When they were discussing Vormir, Nebula even says that that’s where Thanos killed her sister. So how come when they get there, Natasha and Clint are completely confused when Red Skull tells them one of them has to sacrifice so the other can get the stone?

Third, we have this ridiculous fight, between Clint and Nat about who will sacrifice themselves, and the Russos picked Nat? The ONLY female founding Avenger, the oldest member of the group along with Clint and Fury, and she does NOTHING this entire film, but throw herself in a pit to further Clint’s already massive man-pain over being a murderer and losing his family. This bit INFURIATED me; even if the reason Nat had to die was because Scarlet Johansson wanted to exit the MCU, there had to have been a better way to have her leave than killing her halfway through a 3 h movie, where her role up until that point had been sitting at a desk and crying.

Since I’m already talking about Natasha, let’s talk about the characters. In my review of Infinity War, I said that Nat, and Steve had such a small part, because the Russos were saving them for this film. For Steve that’s mostly true; his role is bigger, he gets some funny scenes, he gets some ‘character development’ (we’ll get to that). But Nat? What does she get? She’s overworking herself because she can’t move on, and is sad about Clint turning into a murderer. Then she sacrifices herself so Clint can get the soul stone and go back to his family, and it’s supposed to be a callback to when he didn’t kill her all those years ago, and had her join Shield. It was so reductive and uninteresting, and had nothing to do with her actual character. And don’t give me that ‘greater good’ bs; the Russos have been writing Nat for 4 films now, if they wanted her character arc to be about sacrificing for the greater good, they should have written it that way, dammit.

With Steve, like I said he gets a few touching moments, like running the support group, giving the rally speech before they go to the quantum realm, and getting up to fight Thanos after he has been beaten and his shield is broken.

But what was his character arc? Like Nat, the Russos have been writing Steven for 4 films now, and in every single one, they have failed to understand him as a character. They have had 4 films, and they still don’t know what to do with him. They seem to have this idea that Steve is just incapable of letting go: he can’t let go of the past, he can’t let go of the life he could’ve had with Peggy, he can’t let go of Bucky. He has spent 11 years out of the ice, has made a new close family with Tony, Nat, Sam, even Thor and Bruce, he’s even had a new love interest with Sharon, and he’s still completely stuck on the idea that his only chance at life was 80 years ago.

So here we have more of that: Steve can’t and won’t move on. He will risk his, and his friends’ lives for the slimmest of chances that things could go back to the way they were. That he can save everyone. It’s noble, but it’s not a character arc. Steve is exactly the same character he was in Captain America, and he has had no progress in 7 films.

He started out as someone who didn’t know his place in the world, and he ends this film by choosing to abandon his entire life and all his friends he worked so hard to bring back, in order to go back to Peggy. Everything he did in the present, all his friendships, memories, getting Bucky and Sam back, meeting Sharon, saving the world, none of it matters as much as being with Peggy. I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy it.

Moreover, this brings its own host of issues. If Steve went back in time, exactly when did he go? Before he crashed the plane? How did the bomb not detonate then? After he was frozen? Either way, in that timeline there are 2 Steve Rogerses. Did he just… convince Hydra not to dig him out? Did he kill his past self?

Was he still Captain America? If yes, then that should drastically change the timeline in the present day right? Things wouldn’t have happened the same way, so why would Hulk, Sam and Bucky be at that spot at that time? If the present timeline didn’t change, then how did Steve end up old and on the bench?

If he wasn’t Captain America in the past, how did he hide it? Did no one recognize him? Peggy did. Also, if Sharon exists in this timeline, then wouldn’t Steve have committed incest when he kissed her in Civil War?

I have the same timeline question for the rest of the cast. When Hulk snapped, he brought every person who disappeared, 5 years into the future, right? So is everyone 5 years older? If yes, then wouldn’t that make Peter Parker 19-20 years old? Why is he still in high school then?

If not, then how is Ned, and all of Peter’s other classmates exactly the same age? Did they all gets snapped? Every single person on that bus? That’s not random selection then now is it?

Clint, another character that the Russos don’t like or understand, didn’t fare much better. In the comics, he becomes the Ronin because Norman Osborn becomes President, and he creates a government sanctioned Avengers team full of criminals, where Bullseye is Hawkeye. He becomes Ronin to work illegally as an Avenger. Here it’s because his family got snapped, and because of that he is angry that some criminals remained alive, so now he’s killing them? What?

And then he just… gets his family back? And now everything is ok, and all those people he killed are completely forgotten?

Not to mention the absolutely infuriating scene, where Rhodey, Clint, Hulk, Thor and Steve, argue about whether Natasha is really dead or not. 5 men, argue about the ONE woman who had to sacrifice herself so they can all feel guilty and argue about it for 2 mins? This film really hates women, doesn’t it.

There’s a scene during the battle where Captain Marvel has to take the stones through Thanos’ army, and then all the female characters stand around her as back up, and it’s supposed to be this really empowering moment to see how far the MCU has come in representation.

Except it’s not, because having all the women fight CGI blobs for 1 min of a 3 h movie, while cool, doesn’t make up for the other 179 mins of shitty treatment of all your female characters.

Case in point: Gamora and Nebula. I really, really hated this plotline too. First, I hate that the Russos understanding of Peter Quill just seems to be that he’s an idiot. Great.

Second, since we can’t bring back Gamora from Vormir, we have Gamora from 9 years ago coming back to the present, so all the development James Gunn did with her character, he bonding with the Guardians, her relationship to Peter, he relationship with Nebula, all that is reconnected away. Thanks a lot guys! Way to completely negate years of development for the sake of your shitty plot twist!

Then we have Thor. I absolutely loved Thor in this film; he’s depressed, suffers from panic attacks, hides his pain with alcoholism, has put on weight, is very funny, and has the best interactions with all the cast. The scene in Asgard where he gets to talk to Frigga was beautiful; however, I wish he had gotten a scene with Loki or Jane, because that would have completed his arc. Like, it’s a bit strange that he seems to have forgotten that Loki died last film, and has no reaction when they sneak by his cell, but when he sees his mother he loses it?

While I do love Thor and Rocket, and I did think the final scene between Thor and Peter was funny, I just don’t want Thor in the Guardians films. Guardians already has a blonde, hot but dumb as bricks leading man, we don’t need two to compete for who gets to say the most dumb things this minute points.

Carol is barely in this film. She has 2 lines and 2 fight scenes, and I wonder why they even bothered. She is the strongest character in the MCU, and here she has a tug of war with Thanos for like 5 secs, before she gets swatted away, and isn’t in the rest of the film. They could have written her in if they wanted to, since she had contact with the tesseract in the 90’s, but nope. She’s off to space somewhere, because no girls allowed.

I don’t have much to say about Hulk. He’s in the movie. He says things. He has a single funny scene. He gets to do the snap. Yay.

Finally, we have Tony. The Russos love Tony Stark. I love Tony Stark. Tony Stark dies in this film. It’s made painfully obvious from the very first scene, and the film does everything it can to tug at your heart strings. And I still bought it.

First, we have him surviving a near death experience in space. Then when we cut to 5 years later, he has a daughter with Pepper, as well as a nice cabin in the woods. He doesn’t want any part in quantum traveling, because he got his second chance. He knows he won’t get a third.

I liked the scene where he and Pepper discuss what to do. It’s nice development for both of them; Tony has learned how to communicate with her, and tells her about the Avengers and the quantum travel. Pepper tells him that trying to get him to stop doing something is impossible for both of them. I also enjoyed all the scene between Tony and his daughter; they were sickeningly sweet.

Then we have the scene between him and Howard; I really loved that Tony still loves his dad, and doesn’t think he was a bad man even if they had a bad relationship. I also liked that Howard was worried about being a good father, since he knew he cared about work more than anything else in his world.

And then, to make things the worst, he gets a reunion with Peter, which was the final nail in the coffin. It was so emotional and seeing Peter say goodbye to Tony was even worse. He also gets the hero’s goodbye; he kills Thanos by snapping his finger and the gauntlet kills him. It’s the goodbye he deserves, and it’s the goodbye Nat deserved to have, but didn’t get.

So that’s it. Them’s my thoughts on this film. It was bittersweet, and it was mostly satisfying. I don’t expect that it could have possibly lived up to my expectations, but I am proven once again, that Marvel doesn’t really understand what I like about these movies.

It will be interesting to see how this changed universe will go on now: Thor’s in space, Sam is the new Cap, Tony and Nat are dead, and Clint is a murderer. I hope we get a lot more of Carol, T’challa, Hope, Steven, and Peter, but as for the OG Avengers, the ones that got me into this cinematic universe, this was a pretty decent, though not perfect send off.    

[undertheinfluencerd]

https://ift.tt/3DXcz7F #

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

While Marvel’s Phase 4 has been mostly backward-looking for its first outings, in terms of reusing character, Shang-Chi is finally here to change things up. The MCU’s first martial arts fantasy epic is certainly different and unquestionably bold, but does it work, and will Marvel fans take to it as one of the strongest origin stories so far? How does it stand as a new branch for the MCU to nurture in other words?

For the most part, Marvel’s MCU origin stories have been particularly strong. Even ignoring the usual issues with over-emphasis on exposition, comic book movie fans love to see new superheroes take up the mantle. It’s traditionally been in MCU sequels where struggles have been more obvious – apart from Captain America’s seemingly bullet-proof sub-franchise of course. In that respect, Shang-Chi had reason to be confident, even with a vastly different focus to the other MCU kickstarter projects. But at the same time, with the expectations of fans built on 24 movies and billions of dollars, aiming for something different was never going to be completely straightforward. Particularly with the issues presented by the industry at the moment.

Related: Why Shang-Chi’s Avengers Cameo Looks Different From Endgame

Early box office results suggest Shang-Chi is going incredibly well and a 90%+ Rotten Tomatoes review score into opening weekend is always a very good sign. That is a testament to what Simu Liu and director Destin Daniel Cretton have achieved. That said, though, Shang-Chi has some teething issues, even for a movie that is very good overall. In the interest of balance, here’s everything that worked incredibly well in Shang-Chi and the few areas where it perhaps missed the mark.

As with any MCU origin story, there’s a lot of necessary exposition in Shang-Chi. The majority of this is conveyed via flashback, which works, and could have been a little jarring was the narrative importance of the past not been handled well. That typically means there is less space for character, which is often particularly true of a movie with such major fantastical elements and action set-pieces, but not in Shang-Chi. Simu Liu positively radiates charisma, even as he guards his character (to protect his secrets), promising an awful lot more in the MCU’s future. Awkwafina’s Katy is not just the audience’s eyes in Shang-Chi’s world, but she’s also the breakout character (the same way Ratcatcher was in The Suicide Squad and Michael Pena’s Luis was in Ant-Man). The fact that she returns in future, as set up by the end, can only be a good thing. Add to that, the performances of legends like Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh – not just in combat, but in quieter moments – and it’s a truly great group.

Speaking of Tony Leung, his Wenwu – wrongly named The Mandarin or “The Real Mandarin” throughout the marketing – makes a strong claim to be one of the best human MCU villains alongside Michael B Jordan’s Killmonger. Even faced with being overshadowed by a colossal winged demon in the final act, Leung’s dramatic chops back up his stunning martial arts work to create a bad guy who is not only empathetic but compelling in his cause. He is in pain, haunted by his own part in his wife’s death, and corrupted by the power of the Ten Rings and what lies beyond Ta Lo’s portal. Though he also had a more traditional hunger for power before meeting Shang-Chi’s mother, he puts that one-dimensional motivation aside to be a man pushed to desperate, catastrophic measures by his grief. To contrast that with how Iron Man 3 originally portrayed the supposedly same character is night and day.

While the dynamic between Wenwu, Shang-Chi, and Xialing is great, Shang-Chi is best when it’s examining their personal story. Unfortunately, the shift in gears in the third act that sees them arrive in Ta Lo and face the impending arrival of the Dweller-in-Darkness feels like a similar situation that undermined how good The Avengers was. Suddenly adding the Dweller as the final act “big boss”, plus an army of otherwise unmentioned flying soul sucker drones is very much like Whedon’s use of the Chitauri army to escalate matters for the heroes in his final act back in 2012. That’s not to say there aren’t impressive moments in the battle – and who doesn’t want to see what amounts to the MCU’s first kaiju on kaiju battle? – but there’s not quite enough tension when the personal story is ripped away.

Related: Is Shang-Chi Officially An Avenger Now?

The benefit of adding a martial arts master to the MCU is immediately obvious as soon as Shang-Chi gets into its combat groove. The opening fight sequence on the bus careening down San Francisco’s famous hills is remarkable and it’s far from the best. Elsewhere, Tony Leung, Simu Liu, Andy Le, Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhan, and young Arnold Sun (a revelation as teen Shang-Chi in training flashbacks) all put together gravity-defying martial arts set-pieces that are unlike anything seen in the MCU. So far, the MCU brand of martial arts has looked more like the bruising style of Florian Munteanu’s Razor Fist, but here there’s balletic grace mashed up with the physical drunken boxer humor of Kung Fu Hustle (referenced lovingly not only in a poster in Shang-Chi’s wall, but also in the casting of Yuen Wah as Ta Lo Master Guang Bo. The slow-motion can get a little over-indulgent, but there’s no doubting the obscene skill involved.

Despite the mastery of the fight choreography and the incredible environmental designs that go into Ta Lo in particular, some of Shang-Chi‘s CGI is on a par with the worst moments of Black Panther‘s notorious early trailers. There’s more than one regrettable ragdoll sequence, including part of the otherwise excellent bus fight, and while the Great Protector battling the Dweller-in-Darkness is a fun spectacle, some of it is too muddied by an attempt to presumably hide the heavy effects work involved. The moment that sees Shang-Chi run up the otherworldly beast, in particular, is near-impossible to follow.

The MCU has been accused before of being too focused on shoe-horning humor in to meet the expectations of the lucrative family audience, and even some of the best Marvel movies too have clunking gags in them. Shang-Chi, though, brilliantly balances humor and heart and drama. Awkwafina’s Katy and Sir Ben Kingsley’s return as Trevor Slattery take care of much of the leg work, but Simu Liu’s comic background helps a great deal, though his jokes come less frequently than his “sidekicks”. There’s never any attempt to really undermine heavy, dramatic moments with humor, which is where Marvel stumbles a lot and crucially, Shang-Chi being an insider on his lore means there’s no reductive mockery of the mythology behind his powers and his family.

Shang-Chi is a stand-alone almost to the same degree as a Phase 1 movie, and that’s great, but there are obviously expectations to tie it back to the rest of the MCU, and – as ever – use its end as a stepping stone to what comes next. Had that ended with Wong’s recruitment of Shang-Chi and Katy and the impromptu, hilarious karaoke sessions, that would have been perfectly fine, but then Shang-Chi‘s mid-credits scene goes too far. Captain Marvel and Bruce Banner’s inclusions feel too much like big-name appearances for the sake of familiarity, particularly because both add very little to the discussion on the Ten Rings other than a bemused shrug. They’re there so that Marvel can remind the audience that there’s always something bigger coming, but it didn’t need to be done this way when Wong’s mysterious tease of what he needed Shang-Chi for was satisfying enough.

Related: How Marvel Retconned Its Iron Man 3 Mandarin Controversy

Now that there are 25 MCU movies and a number of Disney+ Marvel shows to throw into the mix, the requirement to do Marvel homework before each release is getting to the point where casual audiences simply will not do it. Luckily, Shang-Chi exists on its own merit strongly and without the crutch of the rest of the franchise, meaning any pre-watching is limited. Yes, there are nods to the post-Endgame world in posters about Snap Anxiety, and Wong and Tim Roth’s Abomination appear, but the only substantial link is to Trevor Slattery’s arc in Iron Man 3, and he is played in such a way that he’s no more than a jester brought along to help Morris become the next most memeable Marvel character. His arc is entirely explained within Shang-Chi anyway, so that serves as all the required reminder. The reason this is such a big plus for Shang-Chi is that it has to be how Marvel moves forward when establishing new MCU IPs, like X-Men, Fantastic Four, Blade, and whoever else comes along: not everything has to be tied to the nostalgia machine. Shang-Chi proves it’s still possible to strike out onto a new branch without everything being a set-up for when the next cameo will happen.

While Tony Leung’s Wenwu is great (particularly in how he retcons Iron Man 3‘s Mandarin mistake), and the fight sequences involving both are hugely entertaining, it’s difficult not to feel that both Razor Fist and – even more so – Death Dealer aren’t rather undernourished. The former’s complexity is as limited as you might expect from someone who drives around in an SUV with his own name spraypainted on the side (even when it’s achingly hinted for about two seconds that he fears for his master’s mental health), and the latter is a plot device killed off for effect. Neither is given anything like the charisma to hide their lack of development and backstory and it’s a real shame. At least Razor Fist’s likely return might afford more of an opportunity.

Not only is Shang-Chi a great stand-alone, but it is fundamentally different from what MCU fans have seen over the past decade. While it has the same hallmarks of familial conflict and daddy issues as lots of previous Marvel movies, it balances that with martial arts, new mysticism, a dragon, a giant kaiju-like demon, and the suggestion that more lands like Wakanda can exist beyond portals to other realms. There can be no accusations of deferring to type or Shang-Chi being somehow formulaic, and after 24 films, that is an impressive thing to be able to state. It also makes forthcoming new creative endeavors – like Eternals – that have a similar burden of expectation to be new and exciting a lot easier to back to succeed with the audience. The start of Phase 4 has looked backward a little more than some may like, but Shang-Chi is bold and unafraid to be wildly different to its stable-mates, and that should give future MCU creators cause for confidence.

Next: Every Upcoming Marvel Movie Release Date (2021 To 2023)

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[eugenehasntseen]

Boogeyman 3:

Unfortunately they went back to the supernatural (and CGI) well for this one and suffers for it.

There are two scenes in this movie involving rivers of blood. One is awesome and the other is ruined. That hallway scene with the walls bleeding was lights out amazing, then the CG spray mess of the laundry room ones just pisses away all good will built up.

And that is not the only crime in that scene! The Boogeyman's face shows up on all the doors of the dryers. In the 80s they would have had to superimpose it with trick camerawork and it would have been a sight to behold. This CG version is just lame.

I really don't like this Boogeyman design either. It looks like Tommy Wiseau in grey face paint.

Why not reuse that design for the supernatural version from number 2?

The girl doesn't even get a confrontation with the Boogeyman!

So many miscues ruin what could have been a promising film.

Skip It

[atamascolily]

(The) Trickster

In which Rumina returns, nothing goes according to plan, gods are jerkasses, and a LOT of footage from previous episodes is re-used.

Yes, I know these are hopelessly out of order but Nox and I re-watched this episode last night and I want to blog about the experience now instead of waiting a few weeks. So here we go.

(Photos from Far Far Away.)

We open with Maeve riding on the beach for no adequately explained reason, but hey, it looks cool!

Meanwhile, Rumina appears in the dunes, monologuing to a very large lizard that just conveniently happens to wander by. The reason why Rumina keeps losing, FYI, is because she likes to “have a little fun first” instead of outright destroying Our Heroes when she has the opportunity. Based on events that follow, I honestly wonder if this is an unconscious pretense to hide the fact that she enjoys their company and doesn’t know how to interact with them any other way except as an antagonist (think: bratty younger sibling with MAGICAL POWERS. Oy.) 

Maeve finds a random hand on the ground and realizes all is not well, but we never find out any more about this, so it feels kinda random in retrospect, though it seems urgent at the time.

Rumina zaps Maeve from a distance and knocks her off the horse, which we never see again. Maeve probably gets a concussion from this, something to keep in mind when judging her behavior for the rest of the episode. Rumina does this great fist pump to celebrate.

Meanwhile, everybody else is waiting for lunch to cook. It’s a fish roasting on a spit (no, really, look). Firouz is a technological genius, but cooking is not his strong suit. Even Rongar, who canonically has no problem eating food that Sinbad rejects, won’t touch this.

Meanwhile, the giant crab from Episode 8 shows up for no obvious reason, but Maeve doesn’t recognize it because she was tied up in a cave with an even worse CGI monster at the time. Happily, this is what fireballs are for.

Sinbad sees the giant explosion, and knows instinctively that Maeve is in trouble. They find her collapsed on the beach, and when they get her on her fet, she begins to stagger and mutter about how the island is evil and they need to leave.

But before they can make any decisions, a whirlwind shows up and Sinbad is genre-savvy enough to know this isn’t good and Rumina is involved. Maeve wants to stand her ground and fight, but Sinbad orders a retreat. Maeve doesn’t like this, so Sinbad has to pull rank on her - he’s captain - though he softens it a bit by adding he’s her friend as well.

So everybody runs inland. They stumble across a grove full of stones and statues scavenged from Episode 4, which is fronted by a stone tablet with a mysterious script that Maeve conveniently knows how to read. According to the stone, the grove belongs to the Old Ones and outside magic has no power there. Sounds like a great place to confront a sorceress, right? Maeve doesn’t think so, but she is overruled.

Sinbad then asks Maeve to throw a fireball at Rumina, and everyone is surprised when it doesn’t work and Firouz of all people thinks their situation is totally hopeless. Rumina’s whirlwind stops long enough to read the stone - apparently, it’s a magical thing? - and her magic stops working, too, once she enters and SHE is surprised. Oy.

Interestingly, the whirlwind is actually Rumina, spinning, as you can see when she enters the grove and sputters to a stop.

Maeve wants to settle their score the old-fashioned way: with swords. I’d like to point out here that Maeve probably could have run her through before anyone on the crew could stop her, and didn’t take the opportunity, and I’m not 100% sure why here.

Rumina is not pleased by the idea of life without magic:

Mysterious hooded figures show up and everyone is confused on how to respond. Rumina hides behind Sinbad, correctly assuming her is the only one who might actually defend her in a fight. Eventually, everyone retreats and squabbles, until they stumble across this guy, who thinks they are the best comedy series EVER:

He says his name is Reynard, and he’s a caretaker for the Old Ones, who are sort of like Titans, and dead-but-not-really-dead. Oh, and out to kill them all for trespassing in horrific ways. Maeve’s never heard of them, and neither has Rumina, who tries to pull rank on Maeve. Reynard’s not impressed by Rumina or the mention mention of her father, Turok: “He couldn’t be all that great [if he’s dead].” You can see Rumina pause and look very thoughtful.

Sinbad’s not so keen on death, obviously, and starts making plans and giving orders. He makes some assumptions about magic based on his experiences in previous episodes. Rumina calls him out for them, and is not pleased when he throws “the City of Mists” back in her face.

Poor Rumina. This is really not shaping up how she planned, and it’s only going to get worse.

Sinbad decides to split up the party into pairs. Firouz and Rongar obviously go together, and Maeve and Rumina can’t be trusted together, so Sinbad goes with Rumina and Maeve with Doubar.

Sinbad commandeers Rongar’s sword for Rumina - I really wish people would stop taking Rongar’s weapons off him! - and Rongar does not look pleased at the idea of giving Rumina a weapon. Nobody but Sinbad thinks this a good idea, really.

But even Sinbad can’t stand being with Rumina, so they split up too - although there’s some mumbo-jumbo about fruit trees and wild game that I don’t believe for a moment. I mean, really, Sinbad.

This is a terrible idea, because Sinbad immediately stumbles into... footage from Episode 3!

Meanwhile, Rumina stumbles across an older mirror version of herself with a serious attitude:

Old!Rumina is sassy and sarcastic and I love her. I don’t think she’s ugly, but Rumina is not amused. “See what a lifetime of hatred produces?” Old!Rumina asks rhetorically. She lays down the situation in an epic speech:

“Look at me, dear! Solitary. Unloved. Hated by all. I wake up every morning with a taste of business in my mouth. I spent a lifetime seeking vengeance. Accumulating power. To cut myself off from people, that I could care for, and who might care for me. Now I face death…alone.”

There’s a lot more psychology, and Rumina runs away screaming. Reynard, watching from the shadows, thinks this is hilarious.  Rumina stumbles across Sinbad who wakes up from his dream(?) of drowning and they both pretend (badly) that nothing has happened.

Meanwhile, Rongar gets attacked by the wind warriors from Episode 10. Ouch. 

There’s a lot of knife throwing, but when the warriors abruptly vanish, he finds his dirks stuck in the rocks. Weird, right?

Meanwhile, Firouz encounters a cord with the sign, “It is Forbidden to Touch,” has a moment of ‘logical deduction’ straight out of The Princess Bride, and tugs it. Surprise!

...and immediately catches fire. Ouch. Can’t say you weren’t warned!

Rongar has to rescue him, at which point it is revealed the flames were entirely illusory. “Fascinating,” says Firouz. “I’ve always been afraid of fire.”

Note that the cord is real and remains present after the flames have vanished. I expected Firouz to pull it again to se what happens - the mark of a true scientist! - but instead they just wander off. Too bad.

Meanwhile, Maeve and Doubar split up, and Doubar encounters someone he’s not pleased to see: Fortasa, a serial killer Doubar killed in Baghdad a decade earlier.

Meanwhile, Maeve encounters Rumina, and they start fighting.... but it’s really Doubar!

Sinbad, coming to the rescue of the two people he loves most in he world, vaults over Doubar and tackles him just as Doubar is strangling Maeve. Firouz restrains Maeve, but only because Maeve already had one concussion today and Doubar just gave her another one.

Rumina thinks they should question Reynard which everyone reluctantly agrees is a good idea. The Old Ones show up, and Reynard suggests that Maeve and Sinbad fight them. They do, until Firouz notices something odd:

The “Old Ones” are actually mirror versions of the crew! Reynard won’t stop laughing - and then Dermott swoops in and attacks!

Seriously, I’ve been waiting for so long for Dermott to remember he’s actually an aerial assassin and not a messenger boy with wings! Talk about a waste of potential!

When Dermott eases off, Reynard.... looks different.

Maeve recognizes him: “Coyote!”

Rumina recognizes him: “Ishu!”

I call bull on Maeve, because there is no way a Celt or anybody in that entire hemisphere would know a North American name, at least not in any time period this show might reasonably be assumed to take place in. “Reynard,” maybe, but not Coyote. Anyway, he goes by a lot of names, and he’s a Trickster by trade. Maeve’s got him figured out: “He’s part god, part mortal, and all trouble!”

So, to sum it up, the whole thing was just the Trickster playing around. There are no Old Ones and magic works just fine. “But you were so frightened of what they might do, that you imagined the worst. You all thought of what you feared and hated the most. Your deepest, darkest nightmares. You were all so scared, that even the witches lost their powers, all on their own. You know, you could have fought me with your magic. You’ve had it all along. You just frightened yourselves out of using it.”

I can kinda buy that, given that

He should have seen what was coming next: the ONE thing Maeve and Rumina can agree on.

Reynard flees, leaving Maeve and Rumina with no obstacles to settling their score... until Rumina vanishes. But she gives Rongar his sword back first, which is good.

Okay, she claims she’s going to be the one to choose the time and place, but she said that at the beginning of the episode, too... which I guess means that it only counts for Rumina if she’s guaranteed a win because Maeve’s not expecting an attack out of nowhere. Figures. As we know, Rumina doesn’t play by the rules.

Of course, Maeve still has no idea that Rumina is the one who knocked her off the horse to begin with. I think if she had, she would have been more proactive in stabbing her when she had the opportunity.

Maeve is upset about Reynard using their fears against them. “Sometimes, it’s the only way to make it through life. Just to face your fears, and move on,” Sinbad says only somewhat patronizingly, having confronted his childhood angst already in “The Bully”. Maeve is also upset about Rumina getting away. “I’m very worried about what happens when you run into her next,” Sinbad says diplomatically.

It’s been canonically shown that magical power is directly related to confidence and one’s psychological state, so I will buy that Maeve and Rumina psyched themselves out of using magic. Sinbad being afraid of drowning/Rumina makes sense, given his back story. Doubar’s greatest fear is the resurrection of somebody he killed already. Rumina is afraid of growing old and being alone. It’s unclear to me why Rongar is afraid of/hates the Wind Warriors - seems kinda random. Wouldn’t he hate the people who cut out his tongue more? Likewise, Firouz’s fear of fire is a little odd for a man who delights in explosions - and that pull rope was  definitely real! So I am not sure I believe Reynard - a liar by nature - that it was ALL the crew’s doing. I think he helped quite a bit, reflecting what he thought would freak them out the most.

Also, were the crab and the random hand also Reynard’s doing, or Rumina’s, or what? I’m so confused how that relates. Yes, it’s all cool, but some overall coherence would be nice, too...

Dermott is canonically shown to be able to see through illusions in “Conundrum,” so that makes sense, at least.

Mostly, I appreciate the insights into Rumina’s character, making her more than just a vampy villain. It’s clear that she was Daddy’s Little Girl, and Turok raised her with the idea that she was superior to everyone else, and other peoples’ needs and feelings were not important. Magic has enabled her to get her way nd get everything she wants on her own terms, and there’s some part of her that really is afraid that she’ll be ugly, old and alone that she’s fighting desperately to silence. Being without magic, and being around the crew, is actually a character-building experience for her.

There are so many interesting ways to go, and I’m pretty sure we will NOT get to it before the season ends. But that’s what fic is for, right?

[dramaclover]

Justice Bao: The First Year - A Rant

This drama was not a fun ride. AT ALL. I watched it for the cast and by the cast -specifically Nancy Wu & Raymond Cho, along with the case guests Zoie Tam, Roxanne Tong, Katy Kung. This drama took like 5 months to film, with them travelling to China to shoot outdoor scenes. It is by all means considered a big production.... so I was caught off guard by how badly it turned out.

The Bad

The cinematography was beautiful unfortunately, that seems to be the only thing done right. The sets that were filmed in the studio looked very fake. In fact some of the sets looks like they just reused from a 80s ancient drama. There were also times where you can tell they were standing in front of a green screen. CGI effect was waaaay off. The makeup on Justice Bao - the main character was so very blotchy. You could tell that wasn’t his natural colour. I don’t get how they managed to make that error? They should be able to tell just by looking at him, that’s how uneven the make up was. Angles and lighting has nothing to do with that. The clothing for the main characters were boring. Of course it’s not gonna be as pretty and elaborate of other dramas but it’s like they didn’t even try. Especially the case with Fuk Lan played by Grace Chan had the most cheap looking outfit. She literally looks like she’s wearing a dress bought from a Halloween store. It looks like the fabric could be ripped easily. I know she’s a guest star so maybe tvb just didn’t bother making her a good quality costume? I guess I can’t blame them on that end.

The Ugly

Actors & actresses are very crucial. Ranging from acting skills to straight out popularity and of course the dreaded favouritism. And because of TVB choosing who to push, some ended up getting miscast. I think we can all agree Owen Cheung as Chin Chiu was the ultimate miscast over here. His built was very small and that’s not his fault. Unfortunately when he stands or even sits next to Justice Bao played by Shaun Tam & Gong Sun Ce played by Raymond Cho, he just looks tiny. It doesn’t look like he is capable of protecting them. If anything it looks like they need to protect him back. Owen just does not have that ‘hero’ feel, he’s just small. He’s not bad looking, he’s acting isn’t bad but physically he doesn’t suit the role. And I’m pretty sure he garnered more haters due to this. Dumb part on TVBs end considering Matt Yeung was the first choice to play Chin Chiu before they decided to go with Owen instead. Elaine Yiu as Gei Nim Nim, now acting wise she’s good. Elaine has always been stable when it comes to acting, especially her crying scenes. What went wrong here, is that she portrays a young maid. A maid of a princess that is obviously years younger than her - by a lot. With Elaine’s age she should be a nanny to the princess or in charge of some department. It just felt awkward to have her portray someone that’s supposed to be that much younger. It’s even weirder cause she’s supposed to be the personal maid of the princess. (Personal maids tend to be younger or same age as them) I felt uncomfortable and it didn’t help the princess was so young looking.

The Terrible

I start thinking - okay maybe the cases will be so good you look past all the other bad stuff. Well I was wrong. The cases ranged from predictable to boring to straight up confusion. It’s like they thought hmmm “Let’s not make fantasy cases” to “never mind”. All the cases were by all means caused by other humans. Except Fuk Lans case went down the make belief road. Fuk Lan is a princess of a tribe and she can live forever. She also holds a flower that once is eaten, they can never die. She basically experiments with people and have them drink concoctions that turns them into zombies accidentally. This is the part I don’t get. Why all of a sudden add a fiction element to a straight laced drama? And honestly that arc was boring and I’m still hella confused on what happened to Fuk Lan in the end. Like did she see a mirage? Did she die in the end? But how can she die if she’s supposed to live forever? Was that village real? So she experimented on innocent people that caused deaths & she gets away scot free? Like what on earth is going on. I was pissed that its never talked about again. They literally moved onto a different case and pretended all this fantasy stuff never happened. What a waste of my time on that arc. Whatever moving on. Tam Wai Guk played by Susan Tse is a miracle doctor that saved countless lives with her medical skills. What did she do wrong? She helped someone die aka Euthanasia. The one who passed away was bind to a wheel chair and basically became ‘worthless’ & his father is basically torturing him by having him stay alive. The doctor understood and agreed to help him with death. In this case they went around in circles choosing between letting her live or having her die. In the end Justice Bao was fiercely against having her live - to him killing is killing doesn’t matter even if it’s what the other person wanted. So she gets killed off. Okay no problem. Euthanasia has always been a touchy subject and heavily debated upon even today. The problem is Justice Bao is an idiot. His wife Gei Nim Nim turns out to be an assassin sent to be by his side. Throughout the story she has killed countless of people even an innocent little boy. What does he do after he finds out his wife is a cold blooded murderer? He just accepts it. Like ladeedada my wife is a killer BUT she has her reasons. She was threatened. She didn’t mean to hurt those people. WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU. You literally just chopped the doctors head off cause she did a mercy killing. ONE mercy killing where the victim knew what he was getting into. Never mind the doctor has SAVED so many people. Never mind so many people were against the doctors death. She had to die. While your wife killed so many but let’s pretend that didn’t happen. Anyways Justice Bao tries to save her and protect her. Despite him going on a spiel about murder is murder in the previous case. So dumb. And I’m disgusted with Justice Baos actions. I know this was supposed to be a sentimental love story about his undying love for his wife. His wife that he thought was kind and caring. But actually is a ruthless killer. But I was not feeling it. Maybe if the doctor arc never happened I wouldn’t feel this way. Other cases I didn’t mention means it was too predictable or it was so boring I forgot what even happened. I only remembered these 2 so clearly cause it pissed me off and was so ridiculously written.

The Horrible

What kind of stupid ending was that? Pong Zik played by Lee Shing Cheong was a villain. He did a lot of evil deeds and was just not a nice person. He gets accused of killing his wife played by Strawberry Yeung, but that gets resolved. So what, cause he’s not the killer, he’s allowed to go back to being the great chancellor? He doesn’t even like his wife, so with her death - he’s literally roaming free. Like with Fuk Lan the bad person gets away free. He’s still a chancellor so he’s still rich and living a comfortable life in the palace. What happened to punishing those who do wrong? Because that’s not what happened here clearly in 2 DIFFERENT CASES. The Emperor is a literal piece of shit that should be dethroned. He’s a puppet to the Empress Dowager & all he cares about is being the Emperor. Like your consort that you basically begged to marry you, died along with your child. Not only do you not try to get revenge you try to play it out like everything is fine. You are just a horny good for nothing person that only became the Emperor cause of your stupidity. Ugh he’s literally the worst character in the drama. Tong Hui San played by Kelly Fu deserved better than this lustful Emperor. One minute he says he loves her & she’s her one and only, next thing she crowns another concubine behind her back. I know. I know he’s the Emperor. No way is he just gonna have have one wife. Well then don’t make empty promises & then go behind her back. She only entered the palace cause she believed you really loved her. Instead she just suffered there. The last 15 minutes of the last episode made ZERO SENSE. What were the writers smoking when they wrote that? I’m not even exaggerating. I can’t even explain the ending cause I don’t even know what happened. I know what they were trying to do. They were trying to aim for a sequel that will NEVER EVER HAPPEN cause this was a failure of a drama. I gotta give props to them though cause it got people talking. Cause people like us are trying to make sense of what happened. Ugh I don’t even know. I’m wasting my time being so frustrated with this crappy ending. Usually open endings makes me want a sequel just so it can resolve the questions... but for this NOPE. I DONT WANT IT. I’m just gonna pretend I’ve never watched that. I can live not knowing what the eff happened.

The Only Silver Lining

Only interesting case was about Wan Chin Yu played by Nancy Wu, her Father played by KK Cheung and her adopted sister Tong Hui San. But their case unfortunately plays out throughout the drama, so you cannot just skip episodes or you’ll be heavily confused or you just won’t be as invested. I do admit that the last few episodes featuring the 3 of them were very good. It was gripping. When you find out that the Father was evil all along and killed Hui San. It was shocking - I really believed he loved them both despite them being adopted. He was always so attentive and supportive. To find out he was using both of them the whole time and just discarded them when he no longer needed them shocked me. Hui Sans death was so sad. She was so innocent & didn’t even understand what was happening. This arc, the cinematography, stellar acting by KK Cheung & Raymond Cho were the only saving grace in this drama. But even with these good points it’s still a drama not worth watching.

Final Thoughts

DONT EVER WATCH THIS DRAMA. The writers literally stuck up the middle finger to the viewers hoping to see a NORMAL ending. SKIP THIS DRAMA. You are not missing out. Waste of the actresses & actors used in this. Waste of the viewers time. Also tarnished the Justice Bao name. Excuse me while I go bleach my brain.

[ramajmedia]

Act 2: Ranking The Sequences From Fantasia 2000 | ScreenRant

When Walt Disney put his plans for Fantasia into action, his original plan was to make Fantasia a regular event that was constantly changing and evolving. New pieces of music, new styles of animation, and new additions every time the film series evolved. It would be less of a film and more of an event.

RELATED: Disney Movies That Were Way Ahead Of Their Time

Unfortunately, Walt's vision never came to pass, but we did get a sequel to the original Fantasia in 1999. Fantasia 2000 is arguably a new and improved concert feature for a more contemporary audience. The film features a wider variety of music and even different styles of animation featuring CGI graphics. This was what Walt wanted, and we're here today to see how the different sequences of the film compare. This is Fantasia 2000 ranked.

8 Symphony No. 5

Similar to how "Toccata En Fuge" was an experimental abstract piece to open the original Fantasia, Beethoven's "Symphony Number 5" takes a similar route but incorporates a more tangible story. Known as "Bats and Butterflies," the first segment uses colors and fractal shapes depict the adventure of two butterflies as they flutter about in a geometric world. Though not as abstract as "Toccata En Fuge," the piece was still a little on the psychedelic side.

"Symphony Number 5" starts our list not because there's anything wrong with it, but because it appears to be an undecided creation. Does it want to be an abstract experiment like its predecessor, or does it want to tell a definite story? It tries to do both, but there are some who would argue that it doesn't need to. That being said, it's still an interesting way to open the film.

7 Carnival of the Animals

We will give this segment a little wiggle room, mainly because we love hearing James Earl Jones say "What would happen if you gave a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos?" Said flamingos are the stars of "Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint Saens, and though the sequence is entertaining and enjoyable, it's also incredibly silly for something like Fantasia. 

RELATED: 10 Disney Animated Movies That Have Not Aged Well

Don't get us wrong, the sequence is really well done, enjoyable, and fits the music absolutely perfectly. But when you pair a sequence like this against something like "Pastoral Symphony" or even the "Pines of Rome" sequence, it's a little kooky. It's a great way to introduce your kids to these pieces of music, but the adults might find it lacking.

6 Pines of Rome

Two words, space whales. This sequence set to Ottorino Respighi's "Pines of Rome" could have been Fantasia 2000's answer to Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" but thankfully the Disney animators thought differently and decided to give us this epic featuring flying humpback whales. We don't know why we've got humpback whales flying through space, but we don't really mind.

This is a near-perfect sequence for something like a Fantasia film. Though the graphics might be a little dated by today's standards, the scale of the animated world and the score that accompanies it is absolutely phenomenal. The story is minimal but understandable, the characters are lovable, and the overall effect is a blend of epic and dream-like fantasy. It's a beautiful sequence, but maybe not for everyone.

5 Rhapsody in Blue

With Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" we have the very first jazz piece to be incorporated into a Fantasia film. Using the stylistic sketches of cartoonist Al Hershfield, the sequence pays tribute to the musical and visual styles of old New York. For many viewers, this might be the first time hearing this piece of music, and we can think of no better way to introduce it than through this beautiful blue sequence.

RELATED: 10 Disney Characters You Didn’t Know Were Inspired By Real People

With a whimsical visual style, a roaring jazz backdrop, and a cast of colorful characters the audience can identify and adore, "Rhapsody in Blue" is an alternative piece to the Fantasia library we could honestly watch on its own. It's a touch of modern blended in with the classics, that we are 100% behind.

4 The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Is it cheating to reuse a previously featured sequence for a new film? Maybe, but because its stars our favorite mouse wizard, we'll let it slide. Since Mickey in his sorcerer gear is practically the face of Fantasia, there's no way Disney wouldn't include him in the newer film. Though it's a retread of what made the first film iconic, we'd be lying if we said we didn't love watching it.

There's nothing really new that can be said about this sequence. It's an adaptation of the Sorcerer's Apprentice story starring Mickey Mouse, enough said. We like the fantasy elements, the psychedelic uses of color, Mickey controlling the cosmos with a magic hat, it's all been done before. That being said, it was iconic then, it's iconic now, and no new sequence will ever take that away from the master mouse himself.

3 Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102

If that title's too much of a mouthful, just refer to it by it's Fantasia 2000 name, "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." This sequence is essentially the 2000 film's answer to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." It's a piece of music where the story came first, and the score wonderfully fits Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale like a glove.

RELATED: 10 Beloved Disney Characters Who Never Say A Word

This sequence can be summed up in one word, charming. We'd be lying if we said this wasn't one of our absolute favorite sequences in the Fantasia universe. From the blossoming romance between the toy soldier and the ballerina to the sheer insanity that is the wicked Jack-in-the-box, the piece is an enchanting musical fairytale we could watch on repeat.

2 The Firebird Suite

"The Firebird Suite" is a mythological epic with an animation style that's just as powerful as the music that it brings to life. As Angela Lansbury so wonderfully put it, it is a tale of birth, death, and renewal. The story involves a beautiful spring sprite, a noble stag, and an evil phoenix who bring forth the life and demise of a natural landscape. It's one of those sequences you just have to watch to understand.

This is Fantasia 2000's "Night on Bald Mountain". It's a pairing of polar opposites, life and death, to bring about something incredible and gigantic. The blending of artistic styles is also keenly felt in this sequence, we can't be the only ones picking up anime vibes from the sprite and early, darker Disney from the titular Firebird. Disney ends the film on this grand finale, but we can think of a better way to finish.

1 Pomp and Circumstance

Before you touch that keyboard, we really wanted "Firebird" to take the number one place.  But the thing about Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" is that it has more elements from Fantasia as a whole that make it great than "Firebird" does. In a style akin to "Sorcerer's Apprentice" Donald Duck takes the starring role as Noah's assistant in this adaptation of Noah's Ark. The results are both humorous and heartfelt.

This sequence is how the film should have ended, warm, fuzzy, and tied up in a neat little bow. It not only makes us want to see Disney do a biblical film but puts a different spin on what many consider an overused piece of music. When you think of "Pomp and Circumstance" you think of a graduation. Disney takes that music and jacks it up to twelve with how gorgeous it can be. Paired with a plot that's half biblical epic and half love story, it stands out as the sequence that says  Fantasia 2000. 

NEXT: Disney's Fantasia: 10 Facts Fans Didn't Know About The Musical Masterpiece

source https://screenrant.com/ranking-sequences-movies-fantasia-2000-disney/