#well flawed when Anya's written/acted by good people but STILL

[vampyrekat]

oh my god yes for glenya on that last post about good girl/bad guy ships????? bc anya totally makes gleb want to be better than the role he’s in. he never knew why his life didn’t quite fit right and anya comes along and just personifies what could change for the better. she’s an utter rejection of everything he’s been raised to think was good- she’s irreverent, brave, proud, and hot headed. not to mention a total snack. and anya herself, well, she just has a thing for a guy in uniform.

[in reference to this post by @qqueenofhades who’s opinions and fic-writing I admire greatly.]

The good girl/bad boy character dynamic is truly a tale as old as time, and like qqueenofhades said, it’s hard to get right, but when it’s right it’s very right. Gleb’s on the lighter end of the spectrum for these ships, but the elements show up anyway, and it’s so interesting. Though I disagree with the idea that Anya’s just into the uniform - in fact I’d say she’s very not into the uniform - but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Something mentioned that very much applies to glenya is that Anya never asks or tells Gleb to change; he does it all on his own. She’s his catalyst, true, and what pushes him from someone who’s questioning his place in the new order (the “sword and shield of the revolution”) to someone who completely rejects it (”not [his] father’s son after all”), but she doesn’t force him. She doesn’t try to. The closest she comes to actually telling him to change is challenging him to put himself in her shoes in the confrontation, when - as is obvious to the audience - he’s already unable to go through with hurting her. This final defiance is simply yet another nail in the coffin, but Gleb’s already changed by that point.

Another great point qqueenofhades brought up: that these ships can’t ever cross a boundary that has to be handwaved because ~Romance~, which a lot of these types of ship do. Gleb doesn’t cross those lines; he’s aware of their positions and never even tells her he cares about her, despite reworking his entire identity because of her. I love a subtle jealousy plot as much as the next woman but there is no “but she should be with me!” to any of Gleb’s lines. It’s all genuine concern for Anya’s well-being mixed in with a well-meaning crush, even if Gleb is truly crap at communicating that.

(One interesting thing to me is that Gleb is a lot more subtle in how he expresses things than Anya is. Max von Essen annotated his script on the line “They would kill you without hesitation” by underlining “they” and pointing out that Gleb doesn’t say “I” there; he’s not telling her what he’ll do, just what will naturally happen as a consequence of her actions. It’s an interesting nuance to have picked up on, and makes their interactions more interesting, because Anya wouldn’t know subtlety if it bought her dinner.)

And everything you said is correct, though I think something I adore about the dynamic that isn’t talked about enough is that Anya is not only the antithesis of his worldview but also the epitome of it. Gleb believes in a future for Russia that’s filled with people like this determined, hard-working street sweeper, and he’s absolutely not wrong about her having those traits, it’s just that she is also the symbol of the old Russia by birth and those two things can coexist, as he learns. Speaking of learning….

[The ship] has to stimulate real and compelling character growth on both their parts. The GG learns that the world is more complicated than simple Good and Evil and that people can do things for a variety of objectively noble reasons but with bad methods. The BB, of course, has to have a come to Jesus moment and substantially atone for his past shit.

Like, exactly. Just, exactly. This isn’t so much in canon but in the subtext and potential, but Anya’s a terribly naive character when it comes to consequences and big-picture thinking. Gleb pushes her to realize that her actions have consequences beyond herself and even for herself, and Anya pushes him to realize that not everything can be heroes triumphant and villains slaughtered. He has to realize that his father and, by extension, his entire worldview were incorrect, and he does. They both push each other to move beyond their old childhood selves and view the world as a messy, complex thing, and it’s so interesting to watch characters do that, and that’s why I think so many of us got attached. Like qqueenofhades said,

…most people don’t read/watch fiction for bleak, hopeless, cynical narratives where everyone dies and evil wins and nobody is possible/capable of change. We like fiction because it explores these ideas in encapsulated arcs with themes and tropes and recognizable points of development, and we like it to have a fulfilling or at least somewhat happy ending. We want to see characters move along a spectrum to become better people, and to feel represented in that struggle.

As for Anya, why wouldn’t she like someone who’s open and honest and changes his opinions based on her actions? Someone who tells her the simple truth and doesn’t play games or hold it over her head? Yes, the situation surrounding it all is complex, and that’s why she isn’t interested at first - but especially as she grows more confident in who she is and he grows more shaken, there’s a sense of mutual respect and almost kindred spirits there. Especially when they’re parting, because so much goes unsaid and yet understood. She’d be intrigued by it, at the very least.

[GG/BB ships] transfer the power and agency to the woman, enable substantial character development for the man in a way that real-life men are unfortunately almost never pushed to do, and are a subversion of the still-prevalent idea that controlling someone’s life is any kind of expression of real or functional adult love.Maybe the BB tries (characters are human and flawed, they should be allowed to make mistakes) and the GG shoots that shit down super quick…

I’m … not sure I need to say much more about that quote. I think it speaks for itself in regards to Anastasia. Gleb listens and knows he can’t control her, and for a character that’s playing into Galatea tropes as hard as Anya, that’s good and healthy for her. He tries to control her actions, and she proceeds to do exactly what she was planning anyway, and he finds himself unable to even carry out the consequences he warned her about. As qqueenofhades said, it’s a bit of a power-inversion too; a tiny street-sweeper-turned-princess completely undoes the officer and has him crying on his knees while she stands there, confident in her identity and self, completely flipped from their first meeting? It’s a powerful image and a powerful dynamic.

So, in summary, they’re both total snacks with emotional depth who push each other to develop and rethink their worldviews. They both make the other person reassess things they’ve always thought, and as Gleb revises his past and Anya realizes her simple dream to have a family is going to have collateral damage, there’s a lot of potential for them to connect and relate to each other while adding depth.

And that’s why we’re all in shipper hell.

[fallingtowers]

btvs season 6 episodes ranked

a lot of people don’t like season 6, but it occupies a special place in my heart. imo, even despite the fact that s6 is noticeably shakier than s5, together they represent btvs at its best. i totally understand why some people might not enjoy it, though. there are a few moments that cross a couple lines, and one of them—tara’s death—stands out as the biggest fumble in the history of the show. still, apart from those moments, i think the bleaker tone not only works, but also directly leads to a few of the most affecting beats in the series. it’s a good season with a couple of really glaring flaws! i’ve ranked its episodes! click through to check out the list!

21. episode 12, “doublemeat palace”: not only is this episode stupid, it’s also dumb.

20. episode 6, “all the way”: one of those episodes i found myself struggling to care about. nothing particularly riveting happens in it. sorry dawn for dunking on your big moment in the spotlight.

19. episode 4, “flooded”: my main issue with this episode is that the “buffy needs money” plot doesn’t make any sense. so the watchers’ council can pay its myriad employees livable wages but you’re telling me there’s not like, a stipend or something for The Actual Slayer? dumb. anyway shoutout to giles for being this episode’s saving grace. i think if giles called me a “rank, arrogant amateur” i’d die on the spot.

18. episode 5, “life serial”: the way the nerd trio is written is like, super grating. it gets a little better as the season goes on; it’s pretty bad here. a lot of the stuff they do in this episode also doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. the time loop is a ton of fun though, and the scene where buffy and spike hang out is great too.

17. episode 15, “as you were”: get out of here, riley!!! begone from me, vile man!!!

16. episode 19, “seeing red”: i debated where to rank this one. it’s not so much that it’s a bad episode—it’s well-written and everything—it’s just that the content is so uncomfortable. this is like THE episode that gives s6 a bad name i think.

15. episode 14, “older and far away”: in which xander and anya try to set buffy up with a slice of plain white bread with the crusts cut off. the best part is that buffy totally deserves it after setting the tone with riley.

14. episode 11, “gone”: a firmly middling episode. the invisible buffy stuff is a lot of fun, though.

13. episode 13, “dead things”: this is where the trio starts to get really interesting—although, to be fair, i GUESS all the goofy shit that came before this was necessary too in order to set the tone. buffy asking tara to confirm that she came back wrong is great; the ending scene is an all-time classic.

12. episode 16, “hell’s bells”: the whole wedding prep storyline is kind of a slog, but it kicks into gear and actually gets pretty fun in this episode, when all the relatives and demons start showing up. a lot of people don’t like the ending of this one, but imo it makes perfect sense for xander’s character. poor guy.

11. episode 9, “smashed”: there’s a lot of fun stuff in this one. willow slips further into her addiction, and buffy and spike finally fuck. the reveal that spike’s chip doesn’t work for buffy specifically is some big brain shit on the writers’ part.

10. episode 3, “after life”: the thing about this one is that the haunting stuff starts out so fucking baller and then it gets progressively lamer until, by the end of the episode, buffy is killing a ghost from a haunted house attraction with an axe. i gotta rate it pretty highly for a few scenes though: the apparition of buffy visiting willow and tara, spike seeing buffy again, and buffy’s reveal that she was in heaven.

9. episode 10, “wrecked”: poor willow :( the most heavy-handed of the heavy-handed metaphor episodes. still kinda hits though, mostly thanks to the strength of the acting.

8. episode 1, “bargaining (part 1)” & episode 2, “bargaining (part 2)”: poor buffy :( the ritual magic stuff is great. willow has never been sexier than when she’s vomiting up a snake while covered in blood. also, shoutout to the title of these episodes. episode? does this count as one episode or two? well, anyway, “bargaining” is a really good title.

7. episode 18, “entropy”: whoof!! rough stuff!! this one is really well-written. the way two plotlines collide and both come to a head because of it—that’s the good shit.

6. episode 17, “normal again”: whoof again!! what is up with the fuckin ending of this one??? it’s so scary. like ok maybe the plot of this one is a little dated, a little ableist, idk. i still think it’s a candidate for scariest episode of btvs.

5. episode 20, “villains”: god dark willow is fucking sexy.

4. episode 8, “tabula rasa”: this is such a classic. it’s like THE quintessential “spell gone awry” btvs episode. it also features what is probably the most memorable demon design in the entire series. the emotional beats hit so nice even though they are slightly undercut by tara’s absolute mess of a hairstyle in the final scene. what the fuck were we all thinking in 2001.

3. episode 21, “two to go”: GOD dark willow is fucking sexy.

2. episode 22, “grave”: god, what a fucking banger. this one’s got everything. giles coming back, xander saving willow… the scene where giles and buffy laugh about how much everything’s fucking sucked in his absence. a really excellent season finale. did i mentioned how fucking sexy dark willow is?

1. episode 7, “once more, with feeling”: okay, look, listen, i know i’m the most annoying person in the world for giving the musical episode the #1 spot, but i’m willing to die on this hill. this episode is so fucking good. it works on every level—the lyrics are clever, the music is good, the gimmick is a genius way to bring every plot thread to a head and put everybody’s secrets out in the open.

[thesffcorner]

Split

Split is a horror/thriller written and directed by M Night Shyamalan. It takes place in the same universe as Unbreakable, and follows Casey (Anya Taylor Joy), a teenage girl who gets kidnapped along with two other classmates. She wakes up in a room, and soon the girls find out that their captor might be even more dangerous and crazy than he first appeared.

I’m in a precarious position with this film; I hadn’t seen it when it came out, and now, years later, knowing what the main twist is, and having seen the trailer for the sequel Glass, many of the things in this film fell flat for me. Twists and turns that should’ve been shocking left no impact because I already knew exactly what was happening. This isn’t to say that I didn’t like anything about this film, or that my problems with it were only because I knew the premise and outcome, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that it significantly diminished my enjoyment.

So seeing as I’m about to see Glass in a few days, let’s go over some of the things that worked and didn’t about Split; warning, there will be SPOILERS.

Kevin (and the other 23):

The main drive to see this film from the very first trailers and marketing was James McAvoy, who plays Kevin, and 23 other personalities all trapped in his body. Now, what this film does, is it takes the idea of multiple personality disorder, and takes to a whole new level, where not only are all these different personalities completely unrelated to Kevin, but they are entirely different people. When someone ‘takes the light’ (controls Kevin’s body) their appearance doesn’t change, but their physical abilities do; some of them have diabetes, some have OCD, some are female, some are physically very strong, and some have the strength of a child.

This is all explained to us through the character of Dr Fletcher, Kevin’s psychiatrist who specializes in treating patients who have this disorder called DID.

Now, for the film, this is both a virtue, and a flaw. Because this McAvoy was the focus of the marketing, the scene where the girls realize Patricia and Dennis are not two different people, is meant to be terrifying and confusing; it’s shot and presented like a revelation, a shocking twist. But it isn’t; we already know Kevin has multiple personalities because the trailer and the marketing told us so!

Additionally, why does Kevin have 23 personalities? We never see more than 5 max, and even still we only really follow 4: Dennis, Patricia, Hedwig and the Beast. We get a glimpse here and there of  4 other personalities, but that’s about it. The film could have easily been about 5 personalities instead of 23, but I guess 23 sounds more impressive even if we never see the majority of them.

The 4 characters we do see were all interesting and engaging. I give major props to McAvoy; he nails this part. They all have distinct personalities, mannerisms patterns of speech and even move differently based on the character. I was afraid he would overreact a lot of the scenes, but he is surprisingly subdued, and is a major factor into the film’s creepiness and atmosphere.

Dennis is the ring leader and he has OCD, and is a germaphobe. It’s also implied that he may have pedophilic tendencies, though I wasn’t clear on whether those were his or Barry’s or even Kevin’s. He was by far the most proactive of the personalities and the creepiest; I liked that his germophobia and OCD were products of Kevin’s childhood trauma (since his mother used to beat him if he’d make a mess), and I really enjoyed his increasingly unhinged attempts to convince Dr Fletcher that he was Barry.

His interactions with the girls were also creepy, and there was a prevailing sexual threat in all of his scenes with them which was incredibly unsettling.

Patricia was who the film builds as the ringleader of the Horde, while Dennis was the muscle. She reigns Dennis in, and seems to be the one who came up with the story of the Beast. It’s difficult to tell if the Beast’s sick moral code and dogma come from her and Dennis twisting Dr Fletcher’s speeches on DID patients, or if she accepted them from the Beast himself. She too gets a standout scene where she makes sandwiches and it’s pretty effective. 

Hedwig was the character I liked most, and I can’t believe I’m saying that watching James McAvoy pretend he’s a 9 year old with a lisp was the best part of this film. Gain, McAvoy is rather convincing in the part of a 9 year old boy trapped in a grown adult’s body, coloring all the scenes between him and Cassey in a layer of yikes, especially the scene where he asks to kiss her. But he’s also genuinely funny and gets the best dialogue and scenes in the film, and I enjoyed every time he was on screen.

The Beast:

Now, the Beast is somewhat of a twist in the film, in that he’s not one of the 23 personalities, and many of them (including Dr Fletcher) don’t even believe he exists. Turns out he does exist and he was born on the train on which Kevin’s father escaped from Kevin. I found him being an amalgamation of a bunch of the animals from the zoo where Dennis works clever, like his powers being having skin like a rhino’s hide, strength of a lion, and the agility of a monkey. I liked that he goes after the two girls specifically because of an incident that happened to Dennis, where two teenage girls pranked him. I even liked again, how his philosophy about taking over the world and getting it rid of weak people, people who are not ‘broken’ was really a twisted version of Dr Fletcher’s speech about how through trauma DID patients become more than human.

What I didn’t like was, well… look his powers are fucking stupid alright? He eats people. He is a human man who eats raw flesh and hasn’t died yet. Like… maybe I can suspend my disbelief that one of the personalities has diabetes, and maybe even that the Beast can somehow survive getting shot point blank in the chest, but this whole eating people thing was just so dumb! And the whole debate of who is broken and worthy and who is weak and unworthy was also so dumb. He also doesn’t have any character arc or even a conclusion. It’s just the Beast wants to eat people, and in the end he eats people. The end. There is no climax to his story, no revelation or realization, it’s just he can eat more people now. Great.

Useless Characters With 0 Agency:

I will own up to the fact that I’m not a huge fan of kidnapping plots, and 90% of that is because I hate that no matter how many times the person who gets kidnapped tries to escape, they inevitably must fail, so that whoever does the rescuing can save them at the end. I thought this case might be different, since Casey is, at first, presented like a fairly competent character, and I thought, maybe, she could escape. But boy oh boy was Casey a plank of wood.

First, I understand why she would be having trouble at school and connecting to other peers because of he backstory, but why she was so needlessly rude, mean and uncooperative with the other two girls that are captured was beyond me. The girls are perfectly nice and kind to her, they want her to escape with them, and in a way they are right; three of them, vs one of Dennis is still better odds, no matter how ‘strong’ Dennis might be.

Then there is the fact that she does nothing for over 90% of the film. She attempts to escape once, and even then she doesn’t really; she steals Hedwig’s walkie talkie, and I can’t tell if it’s Joy’s acting or Shyamalan's direction, but he reaction at having her last hope of escape snatched away from her was nowhere near appropriate enough. She spends most of the film being extremely subdued and confused, and even in the very last section, where she does actually take the shotgun, nothing she does is even remotely effective against the Beast.

Also who TF decides running into a cage and locking themselves in, with only 2 rounds of a shotgun is A SMART IDEA? ESPECIALLY SOMEONE WHO’S BEEN HUNTING HER WHOLE LIFE?

Her backstory was genuinely upsetting and creepy and I hated all of those scenes, but they were effective and achieved exactly what they needed to to set up her character. What I didn’t like or get, was Cassey’s ending. She never confronts her uncle; we never even see him after the last flashback and I guess maybe you could argue that it’s implied that Cassey would tell the police officer what he’s been doing to her, but that’s such a stretch and unnecessarily vague ending that I don’t know why it was there.

Like Kevin and the Beast, Cassey has no character arc. She wasn’t vain or shallow or ‘had felt no pain’ like the other 2 girls; there was no character flaw she needed to overcome. If anything, her character flaw seemed to be that she was passive, but she doesn’t learn not to be by the end; she is exactly the same at the end as she was at the start, except slightly more traumatized.

The other two girls are non-entities. I don’t understand why the film bothers to introduce them only to have them disappear a third way in, I didn’t like that the film punished their attempts to escape and be proactive for no reason and I didn’t like the message. Neither one of those girls were mean or catty or vain; they were regular teenagers. Claire invites Cassey to the birthday party even though she shows no interest to be there, she tries to get her to join them against Dennis, they are never rude to her? If you wanted the audience to hate them, you need to actually give us reasons to hate them; like this it just seems like the film agrees with the Beast that teenage girls are really horrible, just for existing!

I also really hated the wasted time of showing Marcia trying to open the locker with the hanger. Why linger on that scene for so long if you won’t even show us the outcome? We just see she’s dead in the next scene and that’s it. That part genuinely made me angry, because the film had been so good at representing women up until that point, and it was such a disappointment.

Dr Fletcher was probably the worst part. She spends the movie telling us about Kevin’s condition, and talking to Dennis. She realizes quickly something is wrong, realizes that there is something dangerous about Dennis and the fact that he won’t let her talk to any of the other characters, realizes that the Beast is likewise a dangerous thought and does have the good sense to go to the Zoo and seek Dennis out. BUT she’s also dumb enough not to let anyone know she’s going, she doesn’t immediately call the police after Dennis gives her a speech every serial killer would think is a bit much, and doesn’t take any precautions to make sure she’s not followed when she finds Cassey and STILL TRIES TO REASON WITH DENNIS EVEN AFTER SHE SEES WHAT IS HAPPENING! She was a completely useless character; she’s only there for exposition and that’s entirely it.

Pacing:

The very last thing I want to touch on is the pacing. Shyamalan is known for very slow films; he likes lots of slow tracking shots, he lets the camera linger on scenes that could easily be cut, he likes his long establishing shot, awkward pauses in dialogue, etc. These are all stylistic choices; you can argue about their merit, but at the end of the day, if you’ve seen one of his films and didn’t like how slow it is, you won’t like any of them. My issue is that a lot of this film could have used some editing. I already mentioned how the entire subplot with Marcia and Claire is at once superfluous and doesn’t need to take up that much time considering its conclusion, as well ass Dr Fletcher having a lot of circular dialogue scenes in which she just explains DID over and over again. The pacing was glacial; I genuinely think that some quicker cuts and scenes would have benefited it so much, and maybe another draft of the screenplay, tightening up the story and giving the characters actual arcs and conclusions.

Conclusion:

It’s fine. Honestly, I didn’t care much for it, but it wasn't a bad film. There is a lot good in it, but the some of its parts isn’t stronger than some individual scenes and James McAvoy’s acting. I will still watch Glass and I do think you should check it out if it sounds at all interesting; just don’t expect a masterpiece.

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Jonita Davis on The Black Cape: Film Review: ‘New Mutants’ and Why Cheap Narrative Tricks Hit Different in Fall 2020

I get that New Mutants was under a lot of pressure to be great, to be cool, to be the hot summer blockbuster that its fellow Avengers films were. However, so much has changed in this nation since the COVID-19 lockdown in March that what was cool a year ago (or even in January 2020), may not crack a smile on an audience today. We are more aware, and more on edge, people who have been fighting an invisible virus and watching (and helping) our country fight for Black lives. Essential workers, mandatory masks, and social distancing define our lives now. We are hardened, so it takes a lot more to impress us. Unfortunately, New Mutants hits all the wrong notes with an audience who also had to decide if we wanted to risk infection just to see the film.

For many of you, the answer to that question may just be, “I should’ve stayed at home.”

It Starts Good

The base story has good intentions. Dani is a Native American girl whose reservation gets destroyed. She is told that it was a tornado, but Dani remembers it being a lot more than that. Her fears are confirmed when she wakes up handcuffed to a bed at a mental hospital. After a full scene of her dragging a bed around to check out the room, we get the story or part of it. Dr. Reyes (Alice Braga) is the doctor in charge of the hospital, which has others in it. They are there to gather information about Dani’s powers and to help her control them. Once she does that, Dani can go stay with the doctor’s friend, who we get every indication of as Professor X (unless you read the comics—then you know better).

  Dani meets the other apathetic teens who are really interesting at first. Sam (Charlie Heaton) is all busted up with his arm in a cast. He wears a cap and looks as though someone is beating him. We later find that he is beating himself, trying to harness his power to get out of the hospital. Magik (Anya-Taylor Joy) is a pale, blonde stereotypical mean girl who has a serious chip on her shoulder. We later find out why, and how she is the most powerful of the bunch—too powerful for this film too. Roberto (Henry Zaga) is a rich kid who is out of touch with just about everything. He throws away his clothes rather than wash them for re-wear. His power is hidden until too much later in the film based on a guilt complex that I am not sure a privileged kid like Roberto would even feel. Rahne (Maisie Williams) is the only chipper one. She shapeshifts into a wolf and gives a whole new understanding of the devastation of religious trauma.

We slowly find out Dani’s power as each of her hospital mates are plagued by real life and murderous figments of their memories and nightmares. The Demon Bear does make an explosive appearance as well. Everyone does figure out how the horrors and Dani are connected. It happens around the same time that they meet the real Dr. Reyes. She isn’t so motherly when her protection is smothering the breath out of each one of the teens.

These Cheap Tricks Hit Different Now

Together, these are the New Mutants, but not yet. They are meant to be horror’s answer to The Breakfast Club, but their chemistry falls flat, probably due to writing that is not up to the standards of the X-Men comics. New Mutants was written by Josh Boone, who is best known for the saccharine teen drama Fault in Our Stars. You can tell that he was trying oh so hard to make these kids feel as edgy and weird as possible. But he did so by relying on the same stereotypes and tropes that BIPOC and LGBTQ creators have been calling out for years. That strategy worked to get the kids to care about his past work.

Now, audiences have been held captive while social media has served up lessons in nuance, microaggression, anti-racism, and more. Now, your average white housewife is posting in her mommy groups about the oversexualization of girls of color in something she just saw. Boone should’ve read the room before release and brought in a sensitivity reader to at least rework some of the problems.

You will feel it. Magik’s attacks on Dani are so blatantly forced and racist that they will make audience members cringe. Repeat after me, people, “You CAN writer mean girls without being racist.” Just look at the source material. In the comics, Magik was all kinds of horrible, but she was also superficial and was not invested enough to care about another person’s race or otherwise. Racism is not an opportunist behavior. It’s intentional and comes from a different place than the typical mean girl attitude.

The relationship between Rahne and Dani also seemed like it should’ve just been girls being intimately close. Girl relationships are oversexualized by men who fail to understand how close girl relationships can get. Girls can care an awful lot about another girl and those feeling reciprocated without wanting sex. As much as I am a champion of LGBTQ representation onscreen, I have to say that their relationship felt like a trope—oversexualization of girls–and maybe even a last-minute add to the script.

And Other Problems…

Another flaw is Magik. She is the most controversial character because she replaced a Vietnamese member of the team, Kharma. Boone was quoted as saying that Kharma’s story was so big that it would’ve overpowered the narrative. Well, Magik’s actually did that, so why again did we not get Kharma? I think I know why. Magik is the only one with a larger than life power that is like a rock video, or video game when she fully unleashes it. I think she was thrown in to enhance the visuals. Her whole arch seems like it could’ve been dissected from the film and real horror elements stitched in to scare the popcorn out of the audience.

The scare factor is another issue. I watched the film alone in a theater and was not the least bit affected by any of the things I saw. The jumps were nonexistent because you could predict where they would occur. The scary faceless men that we saw in the trailers were scarier in the trailers. Even the Demon Bear, when we finally see it, strikes nothing. New Mutants feels like it had so much more to say, to give. But it had to stop because the bell rang, and its mommy was picking it up after school.

A Mixed Bag

The film is saved by the acting chops of the talent onscreen. They try their best with what they were given, and the effects are not bad either. They just needed some better storytelling and direction to guide them to greatness. There are still lessons here.  The next time a film is telling a story from the POV of an Indigenous character, maybe we should get an indigenous director to work this, instead of the guy I cannot end this without a word of caution. Seeing this film is not more important than your health. It is my prediction that Disney will have it available around the time Mulan is free. Decide for yourself, of course! Just keep in mind that this film may not be worth risking your life for. In 2016, yeah it would’ve been the film to see. Today, better wait for streaming.

Rating 2 of 5

The post Film Review: ‘New Mutants’ and Why Cheap Narrative Tricks Hit Different in Fall 2020 appeared first on The Black Cape Magazine.

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[thefilmsnob]

Glen Coco’s Top 10 Films of 2016

Another year has passed and although it wasn’t the greatest year for film, there were still several that stood out. Here are my picks for the top 10 films of 2016. But first, the runners up:

Runners Up

-10 Cloverfield Lane

-Fences

-Hell or High Water

-Loving

-Nocturnal Animals

-Sing Street

-Sully

And here’s the top 10!

#10b (Bonus Track): The Witch

Director: Robert Eggers

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie

The fact that a horror movie is anywhere near my top 10 list is astounding, but The Witch is a rare gem in a genre usually composed of cliches and cheap thrills. This is one of the most beautifully photographed movies of the year containing countless striking shots and director Robert Eggers creates a mood of almost unbearable tension. The film follows a family who’s been banished by their community to live in a remote part of the woods where strange things begin to happen and we’re never quite sure whether it’s mere paranoia or something supernatural. What’s so impressive is that we see very few little violence or traditionally scary images, yet Eggers always makes you feel like such elements are just around the corner. It’s been said before, but it’s what you don’t see that’s terrifying. The reason why this film isn’t in the top 10 is because of  audio problems and poor line delivery. The story is already ambivalent, but you’ll find yourself even more lost because you miss half the dialogue. That said, it’s still a pleasure to look at and definitely worth an honourable mention.   

#10: Silence

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson

No, it’s not Martin Scorsese’s best film, but even his lesser works are better than most movies out there. Silence is officially a box office flop and admittedly its pacing is frustrating at times, but its effect is undeniable and will leave you thinking about it well after the credits roll. The movie follows two Jesuit priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) as they search for their mentor (Liam Neeson) who’s apparently given up the faith in a 17th Japan that was ruthless toward Catholics. Though the sceenplay could’ve been a bit tighter, like The Witch the movie looks marvelous thanks to Scorsese and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto. Scenes of the priests sneaking through caves, Catholics crucified over the ocean or chilling events seen through the bars of a prison cell are all visually stunning if not disturbing. And the dilemma of whether it’s moral to allow others to die just to uphold one’s faith is an important question here and one that’s handled with care. 

#9: Moonlight

Director: Barry Jenkins

Starring: Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, Alex Hibbert, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Andre Holland

Moonlight tells the harrowing story of Chiron, a gay African American growing up in the projects of Miami. Unfortunately, in a place like this where machismo reigns supreme, Chiron seemingly has no chance; it’s a tragic situation. Impeccably acted by all three performers who play Chiron as well as the supporting cast, especially Naomie Harris as his drug-addicted mother, the story is told in three different time periods, enhancing the idea these problems can’t be solved overnight and that people from these neighborhoods do, in fact, grow, mature and have fascinating, complicated lives. Directed with poetry and grace, covering both the tenderness and darkness of this character’s life, Barry Jenkins brings everything together perfectly with a final, almost real time, sequence completely devoid of action, but rich in honesty, vulnerability and feeling with Trevante Rhodes and Andre Holland holding your unwavering attention. We’re entranced by the implications of their meeting and eagerly await the outcome.

#8: The Edge of Seventeen

Director: Kelly Fremon Craig

Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Haley Lu Richardson, Blake Jenner, Woody Harrelson

Although the problems Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) faces in The Edge of Seventeen pale in comparison to those of other characters in this list, they’re still realistic, identifiable and fitting for a 17-year-old high school student. Nadine’s already awkward, lonely and isolated from her classmates and she has to deal with her only friend dating her older, more popular brother. It sounds like a recipe for a paint-by-numbers teen comedy, but writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig provides one of the most honest and witty screenplays of the year. Steinfeld is quite possibly the best 20-and-under actor in Hollywood today and was completely snubbed for this complex role as a precocious young lady who’s too smart and witty for her own good. She’s hilarious in this role, but also naive and vulnerable and it’s these qualities under the surface that make her such a sympathetic character. Woody Harrelson is exceptional playing the hard-edged mentor teacher who cares about her deep down despite his tough love. The verbal sparring between the two is a delight to witness in an equally delightful film. 

#7: Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Director: Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone

Starring: Ander Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone

Considering the rest of this list, no, this isn’t a joke. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is the funniest movie of 2016 and one of the funniest movies in recent memory. Written and directed by Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, 2/3 of the Lonely Island comedy group, they’re joined by their partner Andy Samberg in acting and writing efforts to bring us this hilarious mockumentary and biting satire about the pop music industry. Producing countless belly laughs through priceless one-liners and some of the funniest sight gags you’ll see, Popstar focuses on the rise and fall and rise of The Style Boyz and all the infighting that comes with that. And I can’t forget to mention the outrageously funny original songs. Any movie whose song contains the lyrics “I wanna fuck you like we fucked up Bin Laden” has to be good.

#6: Manchester by the Sea

Director: Kenneth Lonergan

Starring: Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams

Manchester by the Sea is a minor miracle. Here’s a film whose protagonist has ruined his life through a horrifyingly plausible accident, abandoned his titular coastal hometown due to overwhelming grief and guilt and now must return to take care of his nephew following his brother’s death, yet somehow writer/director Kenneth Lonergan manages to avoid melodrama and manipulation. This is a film with emotional complexity and gorgeous naturalism in a story with no easy answers or moments of eye-opening catharsis. The whole cast is extraordinary, but Casey Affleck stands out playing Lee Chandler who displays flat, distant behavior on the outside, while simultaneously conveying the emotional turmoil going on within, trying to deal with one tragedy after another. It’s an impressively restrained performance for a character who we come to sympathize with more and more as the plot unfolds. The ending won’t please everyone, but it’s honest, human and entirely realistic just like the film.

#5: 20th Century Women

Director: Mike Mills

Starring: Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning, Billy Crudup

20th Century Women takes place in the late ‘70s when the cultural identity of America was in a state of flux. This feeling permeates the film and even though it concerns a small group of seemingly insignificant characters, the film is framed within a much larger history and this coupled with the revelation of the characters’ fates far down the road gives the proceedings a heightened sense of importance. Annette Bening, another Oscar snub, is perfect in this role as an aging mother trying to navigate such a strange world while attempting to reconcile her conservative tendencies and wariness of modern life with her liberal values and open-mindedness. This complicated, 3-dimensional character recruits some lodgers and neighbours to help raise her boy, but these people are just as complicated, flawed and, indeed, beautiful themselves, especially Abbie played by the magnetic Greta Gerwig. The movie has little plot, but you fall in love with the characters and their struggles and that’s really what’s important. 

#4: La La Land

Director: Damien Chazelle

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone

The people involved in making La La Land should just be thankful the film was produced. A completely original movie musical filled with jazz doesn’t sound like the most lucrative products for today’s audiences. But with the help of Damien Chazelle, who demonstrated his wizardry behind the camera and helped bring jazz to the forefront with his extraordinary Whiplash, and two of the biggest stars in Hollywood today, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, the movie has become a technical marvel and a smash hit. Bringing to mind the classic old Hollywood musicals, La La Land tells the story of two struggling artists with Gosling and Stone making us invested in these struggles every literal and figurative step of the way. Containing breathtaking dance numbers, infectious original songs and some truly show-stopping moments, the movie is fun and exhilarating from start to finish and the chemistry between Gosling and Stone is possibly the best you’ll see in 2016. It’s impossible to walk out of this movie without a smile on your face.

#3: Arrival

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker

Arrival is a realistic and logical take on the fascinating premise of first contact. Denis Villeneuve, one of the best directors in the business, is an expert at creating and maintaining an almost suffocating level of suspense with the help of his distinct camera work, steady pacing and nerve-wracking music. The snubbed Amy Adams is brilliant as Louise, mourning the loss of her daughter while facing the herculean challenge of communicating with aliens. Adams has a way of making Louise quiet, contemplative, even sad without exuding weakness. Unlike lesser films where a communication problem like this is solved in minutes, Arrival presents it as a grueling process involving linguistics and translation  that Louise and Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) must go through in order to make even the smallest breakthrough. This aspect of the film is entirely convincing and even educational. The ending is a real mind bender that’s executed elegantly and adds another thought-provoking layer to an already dense narrative. The best moment, though, is a scene where a helicopter’s approaching a spacecraft hovering in the distance. The view of the object in the background coupled with the unnerving music and lack of dialogue is hypnotizing and brings to mind imagery from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s a truly mesmerizing sequence.

#2: Lion

Director: Garth Davis

Starring: Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara

The most important thing about a story is that you’re invested in the characters and no other movie of 2016 makes you as invested in its lead as Lion. The thought of falling asleep on a random train and waking up hundreds of kilometers away from your home is terrifying, especially if you’re a young child in a densely populated country like India who doesn’t know where home is. But that’s the true story of Saroo, ably played by the young Sunny Pawar and the older Dev Patel. Remarkably, the adult Saroo manages to use Google Earth to find his home and long lost family. All aspects of the film work from the directing to the writing to the wonderful performances. It’s a pleasure going on this extraordinary journey with Saroo. It all culminates in the most satisfying ending of a film in 2016 that challenges you to keep a your eyes dry. You won’t be able to. This is the most inspirational film of the year.

#1: Everybody Wants Some!!

Director: Richard Linklater

Starring: Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, Glen Powell, Tyler Hoechlin

It wasn’t nominated for anything, it’s not groundbreaking and no one even saw it, but, dammit, Everybody Wants Some!! is the most satisfying movie experience of 2016. No, it’s not as good as Dazed and Confused, its spiritual prequel, but it’s pretty damn close. The film follows a group of university baseball players in the days leading up to the first day of school. That’s it. Writer/director Richard Linklater understands youth, knows how people talk and has a firm grasp of time and place and he combines all three of these qualities perfectly here. There’s no real plot to speak of but Linklater is that rare filmmaker whose dialogue is so engrossing and whose characters are so relatable that we can forgive him and just enjoy the ride. He also captures that unique time period of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, just like 20th Century Women, where cultural identity was so undefined. He showcases this with a great, eclectic soundtrack composed of rock, pop, rap, new wave and country tunes and even the players go from a disco to a country bar to a punk rock show all in one weekend. But what makes this movie work is the baseball players themselves. Sure, their goals are similar to most college-aged men: have sex, drink beer and compete with each other over everything. But there’s so much more to these characters who sound and act like real humans with varying traits, opinions and emotions. Their macho exteriors don’t drown out their insecurities and insight into their own lives and surroundings. Most importantly, though, you’ll have a blast watching this movie. There’s not a dull scene or exchange within and it’s often laugh-out-loud funny. Hell, it’s literally and figuratively one big party and it’ll make you want to jump through the screen and join in.