Jump to content

Ta-metru_defender

Premier Blog Assistants
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,462

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    30

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Ta-metru_defender

  1. Ta-metru_defender
    Essays, Not Rants! 030: The Consistency of Continuity
     
    The way reality (and by proxy, stories) works is that if one thing happens then something else does. Because of this, we have a natural sequence of events that happens. It’s a consistent sequence of events that have bearing on each other.
     
    Man, describing continuity is difficult.
     
    Basically, if something happened, it happened. Events that happen influence the next one. Yet how much this affects the story depends on, well, the story.
     
    Let’s take The Avengers, because I love that movie and it has an example. Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, and Thor all lead up to the movie. Events in The Avengers reference what happened in ‘prior’ movies and hew to characterization established thus far. Thor’s worried about Jane Foster and Tony Stark doesn’t really trust Natascha Romanov all that much. Loki’s also got some issues to work out with kingship, sonship, and all that.
     
    Thing is, it’s not so interwoven that you absolutely have to see all five movies to be able to ‘get’ The Avengers. It stands alone just as well as it stands as a part. Each character is still introduced and established. Watching the other movies adds to the experience, but you don’t have to. The continuity’s there, but it’s not restrictive.
     
    Examples of this loose sort of continuity (events don’t contradict each other, but you don’t need to be a guru on the work to know what’s going on) abound. During Firefly’s brief tenure it would introduce a character or place and bring it back later. Saffron was introduced, then we meet her later as Bridgett (and then Yolanda [or Yo-Saff-Bridge for short]). Malcolm Reynolds instantly recognizes her again, of course. That’s continuity!
    Or the Uncharted games. Each successive one builds on what’s been established earlier, but, again, one doesn’t have to play all of them to get the plot. Nathan, Sully, and Elena are introduced each time as is their standing with each other. They have a history (some of which we know about) that influences their actions. Playing the other games adds, certainly, but it’s not necessary. The plot doesn’t contradict itself but it’s still accessible no matter where you start.
     
    Then you’ve got the opposite end of the spectrum. Lost’s continuity is so deeply, heavily interwoven that missing an episode leaves you trying to figure out what you missed. This isn’t necessarily bad, just not the most viewer friendly way to do things. Just about every event in Lost has connection and meaning that will pay off later. A seemingly-trivial event that happened once actually has deep repercussions, something that wouldn’t work as well were it not so tight.
    
o if you don’t watch Lost since the first episode you’ll be lost. Great. We get that, so what else? The story seldom, if ever, contradicts itself. Events impact the next. Even when time travel gets introduced it’s done in such a way that doesn’t create gaping loopholes. Though time doesn’t always flow linearly in Lost, it doesn’t go back on itself. Storyline contradictions break the suspension of disbelief, leaving the audience thinking “wait, what?” instead of focusing on the plot. Lost does no such thing.
     
    Continuity, no matter the amount, is always important. In a sequel we want to see what happens next to the characters and events given to us in the original. Pulling a Revenge of the Fallen and deciding to undo a lot of what happened in the first leaves a very sour taste in the audience’s mouth. The Dark Knight brought Batman Begins to its logical next step without blocking out a new audience. Toy Story 3 acknowledged all prior events but told an independent story (that didn’t tread on the feet of the first two). Don’t undo what’s been done.
     
    Going all out
     
    Just don’t end up like Metal Gear Solid and reveal in the fourth game that half the exposition thus far has been lie after lie after lie. Sure, it works as a twist, but it’s kinda confusing. Tell a story, and tell it consistently.
    

  3. Ta-metru_defender

    Wakanda Forever

    By Ta-metru_defender,

    Essays, Not Rants! 308: Wakanda Forever
     
    So. Black Panther.
     
    Right now, I want nothing more than to geek the crud out about this movie. It’s, wow. Ryan Coogler’s quickly become one of my favorite directors (courtesy of Creed and Fruitvale Station), and this movie is the icing on the cake.
     
    There’s so much to love about it. The plot moves along at a clip pace, so much so that I found myself wanting more when it ended. Its supporting cast is as interesting as its leads, with everyone getting their due and characters like Okoye, Nakia, and Shuri stealing the show (and seriously, Okoye is the coolest). The conflict between T’challa and Killmonger is surprisingly nuanced, one where there is no real easy answer. Does a super advanced African nation have an obligation to other Africans, both those within the continent and part of the diaspora? Or should Wakanda remain isolationist, able to remain free of colonialist influence?
     
    And these are all well and good facets of the movie (Okoye is so stinking cool), but there is, of course, the obvious one: Black Panther is the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature not only a black protagonist, but a predominately black cast as well. On top of that, these characters are from Wakanda, a fictional, utopian country in Africa. They’re cool; they get to do the superhero schtick.
     
    That’s a big part of what makes the movie so interesting (on top of that it’s an excellently crafted film): its representation. This is a movie where a bunch of people who don’t usually get to be these sorts of heroes gets to be these sorts of heroes. Not only that, but Wakanda is a science-fiction style setting that doesn’t draw on Western influences, but rather celebrates Africa. Wakanda is Afrofuturism put up on the big screen, and believe you me, it’s refreshing. Characters wear traditional African outfits that, guess what, generate force fields and also look really cool.
     
    That Black Panther is succeeding is excellent news for genre fiction. It proves that blockbuster science fiction and action don’t have to be about white people with decidedly western influences. If we can get this Afrofuturistic fantasy, maybe now an East Asian inspired science fiction story is viable, and one outside of anime at that. Or an anime that’s been adapted and now stars a white actor in the lead. Now there’s room for a Mesoamerican-inspired fantasy world where Spanish conquistadors don’t even enter into the equation.
     
    For better or worse, media (that is, movies, television, books, games, etc) is predominately dominated by the West (and, in particular, the US). As such, most of the stories that Big Movies and blockbusters draw on are Americentric; we’re used to stories with characters who look like Tony Stark and Steve Rogers 'cuz those are the stories that get told. Black Panther is a shift, it’s a movie that says "Hey, you don’t have to look like Ryan Gosling to be the superhero." You can look like Chadwick Boseman.
     
    So does this mean there’s gonna be a scifi epic coming out soon starting a Chinese dude in a Changshan kicking butt but not in an orientalized kung fu way? God, I hope so. It’s hard for me to find words to describe exactly what it was like watching Black Panther, getting to see this dope futuristic world that celebrated a culture that wasn’t, well, white. It was different, it was cool; in Wakanda it showed a country that’s as much an ideal as it is a fantasy.
     
    And throughout it all, I couldn’t help but to ask when was my turn. When am I gonna get to see people who look like me in a big blockbuster, when am I gonna get to see the culture I’ve spent so much of my life a part of celebrated in a science fiction film featuring the people who actually live it? Sure, I’m only half-Asian, but that’s a half that doesn’t usually get seen.
     
    In the meantime, Black Panther’s freaking awesome, go watch it, and celebrate what it does.
     
    There’s gotta be more to come.
  4. Ta-metru_defender
    Two years ago yesterday I was told I had a very potentially fatal heat condition.
     
    Several doctors later and here I am. I’ve got a bar in my chest and my heart seems to be fine. Yes, like Iron Man.
     
    So here's to two years of amazing grace.
     

     
    Your move, heart disease.
  6. Ta-metru_defender

    Rogue One

    By Ta-metru_defender,

    Laptop is out of comission due to being unable to find its own harddrive (did you know that that's a thing that can happen?), but I'm logging on to BZP on a school computer because this is important.
     
    Rogue One.
     
    It's like a check boxes of things I'm into:
    Star Wars
    Women who kick butt
    Diversity
    AT-ATs
    Star Wars
    Ragtag Teams doing Cool Stuff

    I'm psyched, dude.
  7. Ta-metru_defender
    Essays, Not Rants! 218: Superhero Stardom (A Response)
     
    There’s a recent New York Times article I came across that laments how the rise of the superhero genre has conflated actor-stardom with character-stardom. The article itself doesn’t really chase down the points too well, but the central gist (as far as I can see) is that in the recent slate of films, characters have come to trump actors. As Wesley Morris suggests in the article, when you watch Oceans Eleven, it’s George Clooney doing all the cool stuff as Danny Ocean; but when you watch Rush, you don’t see Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt, you see Thor as James Hunt. And as more big name actors get roped into superhero films (Cate Blanchett’s gonna be in Thor: Ragnarok!), it’s more actors being roped in to playing a specific character.
     
    Which makes Morris’ point of view seem a little weird. He implies that the fun of Ocean’s Eleven is seeing the star-studded cast play off of each other, whereas Civil War is more about watching the characters interact; the former being better. Which begs the question of whether or not you’re supposed to forget that it’s an actor playing a character and not something happening before you.
     
    Now, the attitude here feels a lot like that kid who’s angry you got the same toys they did. For ages, the idea of a superhero has been derided. Like science fiction and fantasy it was that genre, one that no serious actor would get involved in. Heck, we even had a movie called Birdman which was all about how superhero films and all their sequels was where art went to die. Except now they are, and with it, taking on (and being known by) personae that they don’t get to create per se. Superheroes are a cultural mythology, why else are we able to discuss who’s the “better Batman?” Taking up the cowl means playing someone bigger than life. Kinda like being the next guy to play James Bond.
     
    Hang on.
     
    See, this is where things start to get a little weird (and Morris’ argument starts to fall down). Daniel Craig’s Bond is sharply different from Pierce Brosnan’s Bond. I mean, sure, they’re the same character, just done differently. Same with Clooney, Bale, and Affleck’s Batman. There’s still some wiggle room in really getting to build a character.
     
    But, all the same, the more recent superhero movies are very much adaptions of the comic books; someone like Batman’s very much in the public consciousness, more so than, say, Star Lord was in 2013. It would make sense, then, that casting Chris Pratt as Peter Quill would allow for a straight shot of an adaption.
     
    Except, again, it’s kinda not. Star Lord as he appeared in the comics was quite different from the one in Guardians of the Galaxy, more authoritative and less bumbling, though still prone to having everything blow up in his face. Much of Peter Quill in the film — and who he’s become in the comics these days — grew out of Chris Pratt’s performance and James Gunn’s script. So sure, it was based on something, but there was still a big room to build there. Heck, you can see it with all of the MCU characters.
     
    In spending a chunk of today trying to pry apart Wesley Morris’ article I kept losing track of his point (which may be because he doesn’t back it up much). In any case, based on the title, is about the changing role of celebrity that the uptick of superhero film franchises has brought about. Which, alright, sure; but we’ve also changed from the studio system of the ‘50s. Marvel with the MCU (and, Fox with X-Men and DC with their attempts at catchup) are working on a new form of storytelling, one that sits somewhere at the nexus of film, television, comics, and those old serials from forever ago. Maybe it’s time that the nature of stardom changes, what with the steady rise of nerd culture into the mainstream. After all, the geeks shall inherit the earth.
  8. Ta-metru_defender
    Saw a Sneak Peak tonight at a nearby IMAX theater.
     
    In a word: magnificent.
     
    Just, dang. I went with a friend of mine who's a huge Trekkie (she sat me down to watch Wrath of Khan a few months back) and she loved it too.
     
    Gotta say it's a toss up between it and Iron Man 3.
     
    But dang. Go watch it.
  9. Ta-metru_defender
    Essays, Not Rants! 070: Dialogue in Fight Choreography
     
    Did you see Man of Tai Chi? Don’t bother; the acting’s questionable, plot is tenuous at best, and the dialogue is stilted. And that’s just the surface. The one thing that makes the movie remotely remarkable is its choreography: more so than in many other movies, the fight scenes seem to convey not only the growth of the protagonist but a sort of dialogue between the characters as well.
     
    Let me explain (and I will spoil everything because there’s no need to see the movie besides this). Tiger (yes, that is the main character’s name) is a naive practitioner of Tai Chi. His first fight or two are in tournaments where he’s primarily defensive and uses his opponents’ strength against themselves. After he’s recruited as a prizefighter by Donaka and becomes more accustomed to it, his fighting style shifts to a more aggressive form. So great. There’s character development. Big deal.
     
    Where Man of Tai Chi gets really interesting is during the more important fights, that is Tiger versus his mentor and Tiger versus Donaka. The way each combatant fights speaks in lieu of meaningful conversation or much in the way of substance. In the former fight we see just how far Tiger has fallen: he’s gone over to the kung fu dark side and he attacks his mentor who deflects every blow as Tiger grows more and more frustrated. It’s this fight (especially in comparison to an earlier training scene) that informs us of their shifting relationship. Where before Tiger was content to be bested, now he vainly tries to overpower his master. When Tiger mirrors his master’s stance in the final showdown against Donaka, we see that he’s come back to the light side. That and the fact that he’s fighting the villain/his prior employer, obviously.
     
    This isn’t anything new. The exponentially better film The Princess Bride has the famous duel between Inigo Montoya and The Man In Black. Yes, they talk throughout the fight, but there’s no dissonance between their swordplay and intentions. Each has garnered a measure of respect from the other and, if anything, the fight seems friendly. Neither are employing dirty tricks to gain the upper hand (thereby showing that killing the other is his priority) nor is one taunting or baiting the other. In light of the duel is it any wonder we readily accept both of these seemingly villainous characters as heroes by the end?
     
    It’s this sort of communicative swordplay that made the duels in the original Star Wars films so captivating. Where the prequels had a lot of flash and epic scores, the classics had character. Look at the duel between Luke and Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Vader lets Luke take the offensive for much of it. Why? Because Vader’s plan rests on him imprisoning Luke rather than killing him. Like The Princess Bride, we’re told this beforehand but it’s reflected even stronger in the choreography. In The Phantom Menace, why do Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul end up in the exhaust shaft? Is Maul leading them there or is he being pushed back? Where’s the dialogue?
     
    Now, Neo fighting a seemingly endless number of Agent Smiths or Gipsy Danger brawling a Kaiju aren’t duels in the same way as the other examples. Sure, there’s an understood dialogue to those fights, but it tends to be limited to deciding who’s better. Duels like in The Empire Strikes Back or The Princess Bride have a conversation to them. In the case of Man of Tai Chi the fight choreography carries more than anything said verbally. Still doesn’t redeem that movie, though.
  10. Ta-metru_defender
    Essays, Not Rants! 136: Let’s Talk About My Movie
     
    In case you haven’t heard, I’m making a movie. Not just that, but I need your help to make it happen. Here’s why.
     
    “Ghosts That We Knew” is a story about not being alright. Becca, the protagonist, isn’t where she thought she’d be in her life Things haven’t been going the way she’d hoped they would and she’s stuck. With all that comes the nagging doubts in the back of her head, voices that remind her of how life’s not working out.
     
    I wanted to make a movie about that, about that insecurity and fear. With that, I wanted to keep it emotionally honest. There’s more to say about it, but I’d rather not give away plot points. Suffice to say, it’s not a story where life gets better overnight, but it’s also one about the beginning of a way out.
     
    I can say more about production. My crew was amazing. I simply can’t stress this enough. Everyone did their jobs and did them very well. I owe the film to them. I could tell my Director of Photography, McKenzie Zuleger, what I wanted and she’d set it up and go. I’d worked with Richard Kim before on a few shoots and this time as my Assistant Director he took care of my crew and as Gaffer he got some incredible light setups. Meanwhile, my Producer, Natalia Rivas, was wonderfully helpful during preproduction and was indispensable on set, ensuring that everything behindbehind the scenes went smoothly. I could go on and on about them and everyone else too (wait till you see the costuming and dressings the art department did), but there’s more to write about and only so much essay space.
     
    The cast made my script come to life. There’s this persistent fear I have as a writer that what I’m writing won’t quite work out. But hearing it said by these actors, wow, they nailed it. They dove right in and really took on the roles in a way I could only dream of. I owe an incredible wealth of gratitude to them, in no small part because four of them spent shooting in masks under hot lights and the other two had to carry some intensely emotional scenes. The results are stunning and I can’t wait to share it with you.
     
    So why am I asking you for money? Like I said in the Kickstarter, movies cost money; I’ve got to pay for food, costumes, transport, and the like. Things as obvious as a meal for Becca to eat or as tiny as fashion tape all costs money. NYU gives me a small budget to start off with, but I needed more to cover it all.
     
    An obvious point here is that I’ve already finished shooting; the movie’s in the can, why then do I still need money? I’ve put my own money to support the deficit, but I’m not in a financial position to pay for all of it myself. Furthermore, any additional funding will go to getting some professional post-production work, such as color correction and some visual effects touch ups. As a crew we’ve gone to lengths to keep the production’s budget as low as possible, making sure every dollar you give to us helps.
     
    Ghosts That We Know is a project I believe in. Not only that, but I intend to shop the finished project around to short film festivals. Since some of these festivals rule that you can’t submit a movie that’s been screened online, the only way to see the finished film before (which could be almost a year down the line) is to give $5 to my campaign. There’s also some other cool things in there, like a credit and even a copy of the script signed by me (with or without notes, your choice) as well as a mini-poster a friend of mine’s working on. I’m $90 away from my goal and funding ends in a few days; if I don’t reach $222 by then I don’t get any of it.
     
    Help me fund this project.
  11. Ta-metru_defender
    So this is my late post-Spring Break entry.
     
    For the first time in my college career(?) I left the City during Spring Break, this time to visit my girlfriend in Paris, where she's studying abroad (because she's super smart and writes essays in French when she's not sciencing in English).
     
    Now, despite the whole growing-up-on-a-ship thing, I'd never actually been to mainland France (Martinique, yes, but that's practically a different country sorta), so going to France made country 55 for me, awesome.
     
    Also awesome: seeing the girlfriend again. Didn't do much tourist stuff in Paris (though we did get a rowboat in Versailles). Lots of baguettes, lots of wine, I blanched at the plate of escargot she ate, a mild bar crawl, saw the Eiffel Tower (and the bridge from Inception!), ate Turkish food, went to a couple free museums, cooked, and so on.
     
    The adventure proper begun last weekend. She skipped a couple days of class and we flew out to Prague, Czech Republic (56 – also, my first landlocked country). Now, Prague, as I found out, is called The City of Spies. Which makes me really regret not bringing my trenchcoat (and talking her into bringing her red dress, which she thought would make us a little Burt Macklin). We did a lot in Prague, and not just taking advantage of $1.50 pints (THEY COME IN [cheap] PINTS). Hummed the Game of Thrones theme while walking through a castle, ate a lot of pub food, saw a lot of history, bought post cards. The tourist schtick.
     
    Only spent two nights in Prague, one being the night we flew in, Friday morning we caught a train to Vienna, Austria (57) where we met up with an old friend of mine. We got food (Vienna lager in Vienna, woo!) and saw the sights, the highlight for me is easily a statue of a man punching a horse.
     
    That evening saw us on a train to Budapest, Hungary (58!) where we spent the night and the next day before flying back to Paris. We did more touristing, drank more pints, ate more local food (dude, Eastern European food is so good), I sent a very immature postcard to my brother, crossed from Pest into Buda and back again, and saw a pretty grand hotel.
    In Paris I loaded up on Haribo and Mars Bars before flying back to New York.
     
    So there's my Spring Break, now it's back to classes in a land where there are no cheap pints.
  12. Ta-metru_defender

    Apartment

    By Ta-metru_defender,

    Brother and I signed a lease on an apartment today, as neither of us wanna live in dorms next year.
     
    It's very much a dinky New York apartment (sixth floor walkup, no sink in the bathroom), but we figure it's got character (also: actual two bedroom, a living room [!]) and it's near our usual haunts (few minutes from some decent bars, not far from my favorite dollar pizza place, near Trader Joe's, near campus), so, yeah, it's a win.
     
    Holy [censored] this is what growing up is. My name's on an apartment lease.
     
    Move in day is June 1st, but move out day of my current place is May 20th... Figure that means couchsurfing/sleeping in NYU buildings. Should be fun.
  13. Ta-metru_defender
    Essays, Not Rants! 344: First Man(liness)
     
    I’m a little tired of manly manliness in cinema. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always have a soft spot Predator, Die Hard, or a good Spaghetti Westerns. But it’s 2018 and I’m kinda tired of that being the MO for male characters, especially manliness for the sake of manliness, like that 50s stoic, silent masculinity. In short, I’m really tired of 'traditional' masculinity, especially when it’s idolized and unquestioned.
     
    Which leads me to First Man, the new movie by Damien Chazelle, director of Whiplash (excellent!) and La La Land (ehhhhh). First Man centers on one of my favorite topics: space exploration, particularly the effort to put a person on the moon, hence, y’know, the title. I like space. I think the Apollo Missions were terribly exciting, always have — I was one of those kids who absolutely consumed space stuff. That love of space was enough to beat out my trepidation about watching another Chazelle movie after La La Land.
     
    Now, First Man is a very well made movie. It makes space travel terrifying in the best way possible, it’s claustrophobic and there is so little under your control. The movie really makes you feel that terror, and oh, it’s such a thrill. It’s such a shame, then, that square in the middle of that is Ryan Gosling’s Neil Armstrong.
     
    I don’t know much about Armstrong as a person; I haven’t read biographies and I only know him for his role in space exploration. I don’t purport to really know what he’s like as a person. I do know, however, that I found Gosling’s portrayal to be very frustrating. See, in First Man Armstrong is a very stoic character. We see him crack once or twice — in the aftermath of his daughter’s death, for example — but beyond that he’s borderline emotionless. Maybe there’s a world of emotion going on behind his face, but we’re never afforded a glance inside.
     
    Throughout the film, Armstrong’s stoicism is portrayed to the point of blandness, he doesn’t really seem to feel much (which again, could be argued away as being due to his daughter’s death, but we’re never really allowed to know) and instead his main quality is that he is a driven, quiet man. While other astronauts are bantering about space he is silently committed to getting to the moon. He’ll take part in some family stuff, but at the end of the day, he is Quiet and Manly, focused on going to space. Other astronauts dying just makes him more committed, in addition to having Manly Fear so we know he’s scared (but not too scared). Gosling’s Armstrong is the epitome of that silent, stoic, 50s masculinity, and, as far as the movie is concerned, all the better for it.
     
    First Man doesn’t say much of anything about Gosling’s version of masculinity, aside from extolling it (the other astronauts don’t have the right attitude, his wife [like all of Chazelle’s female characters] just doesn’t understand). Because, as the movie implicitly argues, Armstrong did such great things, and because he embodied this brand of masculinity, clearly it’s great. Underlying the movie is an adoration of his stoicism and drive.
     
    And I am so sick of that brand of masculinity. I’d be fine with Armstrong in First Man being a selfish prick if he got called out on it and it was recognized as being a flaw; but instead the movie loves him for it. I’d be okay if we saw some more self-doubt behind that heroic facade, but he is constantly in the zone, never weak, never emotional, always masculine. There’s no real antagonist for that masculinity to butt heads with; no warring factions for Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name to outdo in A Fistful of Dollars, no equally over-the-top villains for John Matrix to vie against in Commando. Rather the doubts raised by his wife and friends fall like the words of a straw man on Armstrong’s manly, too-determined-to-listen ears. It’s frustrating, especially when recognized as the predecessor to the modern toxic masculinity that’s so problematic today.
     
    And it’s 2018, for crying out loud! Masculinity doesn’t have to be so narrowly defined! Consider Chris Evan’s Captain America/Steve Rogers. There’s no doubt that he’s a Manly Man; dude’s jacked, he fights for AMERICA! and is a superhero. He’s also the nicest, sweetest member of the Avengers, the one who sees the best in everyone and supports those around him. He has his doubts and questions; he’s weak at times, but he presses on. His strength isn’t so much his muscles and physicality, but his gentle heart and belief in others. Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed in Creed is a boxer and the inheritor to both his father and Rocky’s legacies. But for all the machismo you’d expect in a boxing movie, we also see him doubt ridden, trying to make relationships work, and being called out on his masculine nonsense. In my beloved Pacific Rim, is Raleigh, a male main character whose primary role is providing the emotional support so other characters (particularly the Japanese woman Mako) can reach their full potential. None of these characters are any less 'manly' for these traits, rather in them we see a more complex, fuller, and more welcoming depiction of masculinity.
     
    In the same way that a feminist approach to storytelling challenges the teller to create narratives where women are given agency and allowed to appear in a variety of roles, so too does it desire an allowance for male characters to take on more interesting dimensions. If Neil Armstrong was the embodiment of that style of stoic, selfish masculinity, couldn’t First Man have explored what was beneath that outer shell? Was he a husk of a man so bound by his need to be in control? Or was there genuine, painful emotion behind it? Could the narrative have questioned whether having all that to get to the Moon was worth it, rather than ending with him and his wife reconnecting? We’ve gotta get over this old-fashioned, idealized sort of manliness. It’s 2018, there’s more than one way to be a man.
  14. Ta-metru_defender
    Essays, Not Rants! 226: Excuse Me As I Geek Out About Rogue One
     
    A new teaser of sorts for Rogue One dropped and it’s the sort of behind-the-scenes sizzle reel that I go nuts for. You’ve got folks on sets, folks in costumes, folks with prop guns; all that good stuff. ‘cuz when you combine Star Wars with moviemaking stuff, you’re really going right up my alley.
     
    It also helps that I’m incredibly psyched for Rogue One.
     
    Right off the bat, there’s the obvious thing that I love the cast’s diversity. It fills my soul with glee to know that there are two Chinese actors in a new Star Wars movie, along with people from all over the place. Not just that, but that these characters aren’t just window dressing but people people. Who, based on what we’ve seen, get to do cool stuff.
     
    At the risk of sounding like a broken record (of which I have no guilt), diversity is friggin’ important, guys. This is Star Wars; it’s science fiction, not reality. I’ll hear you out if you complain about not being able to have a Japanese woman show up during the War of the Roses or a black man in a movie about the Incan Empire, but science fiction is, uh, science fiction. Especially when it’s in the vein of Star Wars; stories set a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. There’s no reason for the world to not be diverse. We’ve got aliens already, so why can’t the (presumable) leaders of the team that steals the plans to the Death Star be a woman and a Latino man?
     
    But beyond that (because there’s more to Rogue One than its wonderfully diverse cast that I will never shut up about), there’s the fact that Gareth Edwards is directing it. Which, as we see more of it and hear more about it, he seems like a great person for this movie.
     
    Which may sound a bit odd, given that his prior major filmography has been Monsters and Godzilla, neither of which are really war movies, a genre which Rogue One seems to be drawing a lot of influence from. But, what Edwards is bringing to Rogue One is a tremendous sense of scale.
     
    What both Monsters and Godzilla do incredibly well is contain an immense sense of scale. When you finally see the titular monsters at the very end they’re treated as being absolutely sublime. There’s a wonderful mixture of terror and awe that’s nothing short of memorable. Godzilla too gave the famous kaiju a special kind of awe, making him feel like an unstoppable force of nature.
     
    Star Wars has usually been about the heroes and the Jedi, the big players in the galaxy. Rogue One steps away from that and tackles more ordinary rebels (or at least the Rebellion-affiliated) in their fight against the Empire. These aren’t people who can cut a hole in an AT-AT with a lightsaber. For these heroes, an AT-AT is really bad news. This is where Edwards shines. Look at the way he portrays the AT-ATs in that first trailer, those machines are huge, destructive monstrosities. If the Empire is going to be this unstoppable military force, then this is the guy to be directing the movie.
     
    Especially since Darth Vader’s going to be showing up.
     
    If you haven’t gathered, I’m really excited for Rogue One. In part because, yes, it’s more cinematic Star Wars stories, but also because it’s a new and different sort of Star Wars story.
  16. Ta-metru_defender

    that thing

    By Ta-metru_defender,

    Y'know that thing where you're offered everything you wanted? Something you've wanted for a long long time that embodies just about all you hoped for? Know what I mean?
     
    But you know you can't take it? That as much as you wish you could you can't? That you have to do the right thing and say no?
     
    And step back out alone, without what you could have had? And even though you did the right thing you feel like #### and it haunts you?
     
    So you talk it out, you pray it out, you write it out, you get on your PS3 and you shoot it out. Hoping that somehow those exploding heads will clear yours. You wanna scream, you wanna yell, you wanna go back and take the other path.
     
    But you can't. You can't go back on it.
     
    And your Dad tells you that an ordinary man would have grabbed the opportunity without factoring in the consequences. That your action, he says, shows that you're an exceptional man and that he's proud of you.
     
    You take the solace you get from that, but still. It sucks, y'know?
  18. Ta-metru_defender
    Essays, Not Rants! 046: Why Abrams Is The Man For Star Wars
     
    A little more than a week ago it was officially announced that JJ Abrams would be directing the new Star Wars. Some people met this news with a measure of caution.
     
    Myself? I think Abrams is the person to direct it.
     
    L
ook at Mission: Impossible III. Abrams made his directorial debut with the sequel to this established series. He kept strongly to the themes and style of the original TV show (so I’m told). Not only was it considered the best Mission: Impossible film until Ghost Protocol came along, but it elevated the series from being simple action movies to intelligent, developed thrillers. JJ Abrams entered into a franchise, captured the themes, and made it better.
     
    
But let’s move on to his next film, shall we? 2009’s Star Trek made Star Trek cool. Really cool, lens flare cool. Sure, it felt different thematically from the TV series, but it kept the characters’ personalities and dynamics. It’s not just the old names applied to new people: they’re the same! More than that, he crafted a well made adventure that, like Mission: Impossible III, took an established franchise, made it his own, and made it good. We didn’t get a half-baked sorta-Trek, we got a movie that took the idea of a cool and wonderful future and made it work. It was a sheer wide-eyed adventure of a farmboy saving the world, like the original Star Wars.
     
    His most recent film is Super 8. If you wanted an 80’s adventure film in the spirit of E.T. or The Goonies, you loved this movie. You might be sensing a bit of a trend here: Abrams captured the spirit of movies from that decade but also infused it with a feeling of something new. He wasn’t just rehashing old stories, he told a new one. Furthermore, in Super 8 he balanced adventure and fun with some very quiet, very poignant scenes. As the world around them swirls in a mess and the film reaches its end, characters share these quiet beautiful moments. In the midst of action and visuals, Abrams still captures the emotion. Like in, y’know, Empire Strikes Back.
     
    And through it all, Abrams has this feeling of mythology. He helped lay the groundwork for Lost, he gave us the enigmatic Rabbit’s Foot in Mission: Impossible III and the alien in Super 8. Unlike George Lucas and the prequels, Abrams doesn’t feel the need to explain away every detail. He gives his work a feeling of mystery and myth. Again, this is something the Holy Trilogy was built on (the Force is a mystical energy field, not some, well, whatever midichlorians do).
     
    But the script must count too, yes? Doesn’t matter how good your director is if your script sucks. The writer for Episode VII is Michael Arndt. He’s the guy that did Little Miss Sunshine, a movie that balanced comedy with a lot of heart. A lot. He also did this little film called Toy Story 3 which you’ll probably recall as a sequel that effortlessly slipped into the established continuity and trumped all prior. What do we know from these two films? This man can give a screenplay heart without it feeling shoehorned in and capture the voices of characters who aren’t his own. Furthermore, the script is being supervised by Lawrence Kasdan (who wrote Empire Strikes Back).
     
    As it stands now, Star Wars Episode VII is shaping up to be the Star Wars movie we’ve wanted for a very long time. Did we need a new Star Wars? Not really, but now that we are getting one, and now that we know who’s behind it… We have the perfect storm for a new Star Wars. Yeah, I know, it’s at least two years away… but c’mon man, I’m excited.
  19. Ta-metru_defender
    Been listening to Relient K's new record more or less incessantly since yesterday.
    Gotta say, I really like it. No, not quite as good as Forget and Not Slow Down, but that's more because it's incredibly different (And FNSD is one of my favorite albums ever (up there with Vice Verses and How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and Scars and Stories).
     
    But I really like the differentiness. To that, "If I Could Take You Home" is an early favorite ("Don't Blink" and "When You Were My Baby" are other highlights [so are "Boomerang" and "PTL", actually]).
     
    So yeah. Different. But great.
  20. Ta-metru_defender
    Hey everyone!
     
    For the record, I know I am way overdue. I blame this on a mix of procrastination, waiting for movies to come out in Singapore, then waiting for movies to come out on Netflix, then just more procrastionating. In any case,
     
    Welcome To TMD's Fourth Annual Movie Awards Part One
     
    As usual I'm listing every movie I saw this year. You get the idea. Naturally these are all subjective and it has been a while since I've seen some of them.
     
    Enough of an opening, here it is:
     
    Legend:
    º means did not see it in cinemas
    Multiple * denotes number of times saw in cinema
    - — Eh. More or less sucked.
    -/+ — Meh. See it if you want.
    + — Fairly good film, worth a watch.
    ++ — One of the better films of the year. Definitely go see this.
    +++ — Amazing is not description enough. Go watch it.
     
    -The Green Hornet, -/+, it's... whatever
    -No Strings Attached, +, enjoyable enough, due in no small part to the leads. Also should be required watching after Black Swan.
    -The Mechanic, -/+, leaves no impression at the end.
    -Just Go With It, -, some humor but, well,
    -I Am Number Four, -, poor pacing and a plain shoddy plot,
    -Unknown, -/+, it had potential but never quite lives up to it
    -The Adjustment Bureau, ++, an engaging thriller that takes full advantage of its premise and succeeds
    -Rango, ++, a wonderfully dark film whose animation and dialogue help it stand out
    -Battle: Los Angeles, +, it was a monster movie from the pov of a squad, not unlike Cloverfield.
    -Limitless, +, Bradley Cooper helps the somewhat hollow plot stay interesting
    -Paul, +
    -Sucker Punch, +, beautifully shot and wonderfully edited, though the plot takes a while to settle in to your head
    -Source Code, ++, It's like Groundhog Day meets Assassin's Creed. Engaging and gripping that takes its premise and runs with it.
    -Arthur, -/+, Russel Brand's fun but it ends up being just another movie
    -Hanna, +, fantastic use of music and sound
    -Your Highness, -/+
    -Rio, +, Though nothing amazing, it's stellar animation and fun plot makes it a great family film
    -Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, +, while nothing amazing it's a fun film (mostly 'cuz of Brandon Routh). Deft storytelling also helps it not suck.
    -Fast Five, +, a high octane action heist film and not much more. But then, it doesn't need to be much more
    -Thor, ++, captures the humanity of its characters and delivers a fun adventure.
    -Bridesmaids, +, amusing, but not much else to say beyond that.
    -Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, +, best parts are whenever Jack and Barbossa are on screen together
    -Kung Fu Panda 2, +, beautifully animated but doesn't quite manage to that epic drama/comedy balance of the original.
    -X-Men: First Class, ++, beautiful cinematography and editing stand out the most, though the story is as good as the technicalities.
    -Super 8***, +++, it's a movie about kids making a movie and them growing up, The alien thing is just a plot device. It's well made, well told, and holy koi, I love this movie.
    -Green Lantern, -/+, it tried just... didn't land well.
    -Cars 2, +, another quality Pixar movie, just not quite in the same vein as the last few years
    -Transformers: Dark of the Moon, ++, best Transformers movie 'cuz it, well, focuses on giant robots beating the ever-loving everything out of other giant robots.
    -Horrible Bosses, +/-, funny, but doesn't stand out.
    -Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, +, books are still better, but, hey, it's a fitting end.
    -Captain America: The First Avenger**, ++, it's an earnest movie about a (super)hero in WWI. It works, and it's fantastic.
    -Friends with Benefits, +, fun enough, I suppose
    -Another Earthº, +/-
    -Cowboys & Aliens, +, fun, but could have been better.
    -Crazy, Stupid, Love, +
    -The Change-Upº, -, an absolute waste of your time. Such a shame.
    -The Help**, ++, a faithful adaption of an excellent book
    -30 Minutes or Lessº, +/-, it's fun, just, well, doesn't stick the landing
    -Colombiana, +
    -Drive, ++, it's an action movie done art house style.
    -Restless, ++, cute, fun, quirky, indie romance.
    -Killer Elite, +, a good enough action movie that just is
    -50/50, +/-, an inability to connect with the main character until the end hampers its potential
    -What's Your Number, -
    -The Ides of March, +, intriguing political drama that feels a little empty at the end
    -Real Steel, ++
    -In Time, +
    -Like Crazyº, +/-, an almost-decent deconstruction of long-distance relationships
    -Tower Heist, +
    -Arthur Christmas, +/-
    -The Muppets, ++, typical Muppety humor. Nothing wrong with that, at all.
    -New Year's Eve, +/-
    -Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, ++
    -Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, ++, excellent sequel with fantastic action sequences
    -The Adventures of Tintin, ++, wonderfully animated adaption that feels just like the comics
    -We Bought a Zoo, ++, I watched it for Scarlett Johansson and was presently surprised by the heartwarming story in it too.
    -War Horse, +, it's a good movie just, well, you'd expect more.
     
     
    ———————
    Disclaimer: Many of the movies on the list are rated 'R' and the majority are 'PG-13". I accept no responsibility for the content of the movies you watch at my recommendation.
  21. Ta-metru_defender
    My lease ends at the end of May and I'm moving. It's part price, part the mouse hunt of the past couple months, part the six floor walkup, part the uneven floors, part the lack of a sick in the kitchen, part the price, part the fact that my bedroom door doesn't really close properly anymore, and part the price. I'm gonna miss the fire escape and the roof and the location and the apartment, though.
     
    But Mata freaking Nui apartment hunting in New York is rough. I mean, probably not if you have a poopload of money, but I have no massive wealth, being an underemployed recent grad.
     
    Listings are a pain and NO ONE HAS ANY FREAKING FLOORPLANS so we've gotta hoof it out there to investigate.
     
    asdfghjkl;
  22. Ta-metru_defender
    Essays, Not Rants! 099: Heart of a Child
     
    I grew up in the 90’s with a steady diet of Lego, Jedi, superhero cartoons, mecha anime, Power Rangers, and Ninja Turtles. All this was peppered in with bedtime stories from my Dad, some of which were about the Chinese strategist Zhuge Liang, others were about Han Solo and Luke Skywalker going on adventures, and still others about Superman and Batman teaming up to fight bad guys.
     
    There are side effects that come with this; the firm belief that giant robots are awesome, for example. Others are the ingrained image of a
    , or memories of Captain America and Iron Man showing up on Spider Man’s cartoon. But then, those are all cartoons and stuff, puerile parts of childhood. 
    Only not.
     
    A lot of the stuff I grew up with is being tapped and turned into cinematic fare these days. Sure, there’ve been Batman and Superman movies since well before I was born, but a movie about Iron Man? And Captain America? And one where they team up with the Hulk and Thor? In a movie? Eight year old Josh would be giddy at the idea (as twenty-two year old Josh still is).
     
    Here’s the thing, I’m not eight anymore. How does a movie work to appeal to me now? Characters like Batman and Spider Man have had several incarnations in various media for various audiences. Adam West’s Batman differs sharply from the one in Justice League who in turn differs from Arkham Asylum’s. Sure, there’s the same character but differences in tone and style. There are many different ways to interpret characters and genres these days.
     
    Especially Batman. Christopher Nolan approached the Caped Crusader from a much more mature point of view than we’d really seen on screen at the point. He deconstructs the idea of a superhero throughout the Dark Knight Trilogy. This is how Batman would work in a ‘real’ world: masks bought in bulk to avoid suspicion, for example. Gone is the romanticism of being a superhero.
     
    Nolan’s Gotham is awash in a gray world of corrupt cops, sold-out lawyers, and mob rule. Batman himself is not entirely in the clear and, as he Commissioner Gordon puts it at the end of The Dark Knight, isn’t the hero Gotham needs. This is Batman for a more grown up, more adult world, a blurry world where right and wrong aren’t quite distinct.
     
    Then on the other end of the spectrum we have Pacific Rim. The movie has, as director Guillermo del Toro put it, the heart of a 12-year-old and the craft of a 48-year-old. The movie is brimming with the hope and excitement you had when you were 12. There’s little attempt to ‘grow up’ the mecha genre, at least as far as growing up means how everything must be brooding, dark, and deathly serious. Sure, characters die and sacrifices are made, but it’s a clear view of Good and Evil; it’s that idealistic dichotomy.
     
    Pacific Rim, like The Avengers, is a reconstruction of its genres. The Avengers acknowledges the problems of having a team of six superhero egos, but factors overcoming it into a plot. Pacific Rim makes Kaiju terrifying and Jaegers awesome, crafting a movie’s world where it not only works but is acceptable. These are movies that have grown up but remember the romanticism of being younger.
     
    There is, however, yet another point on the spectrum: The Lego Movie. This movie doesn’t give a rip about growing up. There’s no playing at re/deconstruction; instead it takes it’s idea — a movie about Legos — and runs with it. It’s a movie about being a kid, about those times when you built a spaceship and ran around your room making laser noises and chanting “spaceship!” over and over again. If anything, The Lego Movie is an ode to childhood in the purest sense. It doesn’t just have the heart of a child, it’s about being a child.
     
    Is one way of doing it better than the other? Nah. I love the grittiness of The Dark Knight as much as I love the colorful cacophony of The Lego Movie. I was ten once and these movies, with all their different interpretations, remind me of what it was like.
  24. Ta-metru_defender
    Essays, Not Rants! 266: Star Wars’ Newfound Dearth Of White Guys
     
    The Star Wars video game Battlefront 2, the follow-up to 2015’s Battlefront, was revealed a couple weeks ago, and the sequel seems to be righting a lot of the mistakes of the first game. It boasts more interesting combat, the return of classes, multiple eras in which you can play, and Jedi Rey as a playable character (which, right there makes me wanna preorder it). Unlike the first, which was basically online multiplayer only, there’s also going to be a proper narrative single-player mode, that follows an Imperial special forces commander from the destruction of the Second Death Star through the rise of the First Order – which sounds cool!
     
    What’s interesting both as a shooter game and as part of the Star Wars franchise is that the protagonist is a woman named Iden Versio, as was revealed in the trailer when the commander removes her helmet, thus continuing Lucasfilm’s new trend of creating a character who isn’t a white guy every time they need a new protagonist.
     
    We know this from the two new films that relaunched the series, with Rey, Finn, and Poe in The Force Awakens and Jyn and Cassian in Rogue One. But this new emphasis on diversity extends to a lot of the other Star Wars stories in the new canon. The first comic with a protagonist created for the new comics is this year’s Doctor Aphra, where the titular woman Indiana Jones-es around the galaxy. The tv show Rebels, which has been around since 2014, might star the vaguely-caucasian Ezra, but the other humans in the crew are the decidedly Asian-looking Mandalorian Sabine, and Kanan, whose ethnicity is open to interpretation but is played by part-hispanic actor Freddie Prinze, Jr. Point is, over the past couple years, Star Wars has been getting a lot less exclusively white and male.
     
    So now we have Iden Versio, commander of Inferno Squadron, the protagonist of the New Big Star Wars Game and a character voiced by – and resembling – an Indian woman. Iden marks the extension of the trend towards diversity from other areas of the franchise into video games. Throughout the dozens of Star Wars video games released throughout the years, the protagonist has, with a handful of exceptions, always been a white guy. Even games like KoToR and Jedi Academy where you can customize character’s gender and skin tone; later books would canonize the protagonist as being a white guy (KOTOR II’s Jedi Exile is the exception to this). So we see Iden as a shift away from this precedent. Furthermore, it’s not only her appearance which sets her apart, but also her role as a military commander, not a Jedi – Star Wars is taking what’s usually seen as a male role (commando) and giving it to a woman. It’s a subversion of expectations, one that also says "Hey, women can be military leaders too!"
     
    Like I said, Lucasfilm has clearly taken a really strong line on diversity, promoting women and people of color in just about everything they’ve put out over the past couple years. The trade off is that white guys are being put on the back burner.
     
    But if we want more representation in the Star Wars galaxy, that’s the way it has to be. Look, there are forty years of Star Wars stories, especially if you include the old Expanded Universe (I do), and for the vast majority of them, the central main character’s a white guy. Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Corran Horn, Kyle Katarn, the list goes on. The spotlight is now being shifted in another direction in what appears to be an attempt on the part of Lucasfilm to even the tally by mandating that all new protagonists not have to be white guys and insisting that other people get featured It means that Rey gets to be the chosen one now. It means that the Imperial commander’s an Indian woman. It means, that the people making Star Wars are looking at characters, asking why not, and putting minorities in the lead. It’s a drastic departure from most of the franchise’s history to be sure, but it’s a strong step forward to bridging the gap — and has clearly not hurt the quality of the stories.
     
    'cuz look, making room at the table sometimes means having to give up a chair. If we want to see a more diverse world in media, it means having to actively curate that world, it means having to have stories that aren’t about white guys for a bit. And at the end of the day those forty years of stories are still there. Making Iden Versio the protagonist of Battlefront II doesn’t undo all those Kyle Katarn stories, Rey doesn’t invalidate Luke. It’s a big, big galaxy a long time ago far far away; there’s room for stories about all sorts of people. Just means that white guys might not be the main characters for a while.
     
     
     
    Now, there is that Han Solo movie coming out next year. After that, though, I’m game for Star Wars not having a white guy in the lead for another thirty-six years.
  25. Ta-metru_defender
    Essays, Not Rants! 108: Interconnected
     
    I’ve been waiting for Agents of SHIELD to really get into its groove proper. It finally did last week, courtesy of some major plot points from Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
     
    Which is kinda odd, really. A feature film bearing a different name affecting a TV show that much. I mean, it makes sense within the universe they’re creating, but from a meta perspective, it’s terribly uncommon.
     
    And that’s one thing I love about the stories Marvel Studios’ been telling. They’re all connected. This was a gamble. Back in 2008 when Iron Man came out and Nick Fury mentioned the Avengers Initiative, Marvel was asking audiences to wait a few years and watch a few seeming unrelated movies in hope of a big team up coming out later. It could have failed, some of the movies could have sucked, but they took the risk to try and build their cinematic universe.
     
    Seeing as The Avengers made what businesspeople call a ‘crapload of money,’ it paid off. Not only that, but it was a legitimately awesome film. Best of all, it stood alone. You didn’t have to have seen any or all of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, or Captain America: The First Avenger to get it. Sure, watching those movies helped, but it was great on it’s own. Each Avenger was quickly and succinctly introduced enough for a new viewer to get what was happening.
     
    Every Marvel movie works that way. Someone can see The Winter Soldier on its own, or after having only also seen The First Avenger, or seen all the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe chronology as well as Agents of SHIELD and enjoy it. There’s a decided effort for each film to be able to stand on its own and yet play with the others around it. They compliment each other but are not dependent on the others. It’s a fun sort of storytelling; you follow a group of independent characters and then see them all in a big event, then see them apart again.
     
    Marvel’s asking viewers to embrace a sort of storytelling not really seen in film (or TV, really). Outside of the occasional Alien VS Predator, having independent franchises team up like what happened in The Avengers just doesn’t happen. Though it does in the comics. Their Guardians of the Galaxy title may intersect with the Avengers title, but you don't have to be following both to understand what's going on. Does it help? Sure, but it's not a requirement.
     
    Consider the last episode of Agents of SHIELD, "Turn, Turn, Turn." What happened in The Winter Soldier directly affects the show in a massive game changing sort of way. Like in the comics, they’re weaved together to stand alone but also enhance each other. “Turn, Turn, Turn” offers a different perspective on what happened in The Winter Soldier and the film shows the big picture of the events in the show.
     
    This also makes great business sense. See, Marvel’s smart; they know that not everyone will watch every one of their movies. It’s to their benefit for every film to be as stand alone as they are. It allows them to remain accessible to anyone. Winter Soldier deftly sets up Steve Rogers as being a man out of time who feels a bit lost in a way that doesn’t feel obtrusive to someone who’s seen the prior movies, yet so that someone new can follow what’s going on. It plain works. Add in the fun of getting more understanding the crossovers and Marvel’s market expands.
     
    I’m so glad Marvel managed to pull this off. Things like seeing Bruce Banner at the end of Iron Man 3, references to Stark tech in The Winter Soldier, and Sif showing up in Agents of SHIELD remind me of the Iron Man and Spider-Man cartoons I’d watch as a kid where anyone could and would show up. Somehow, Marvel did it: they made a cohesive cinematic universe. Now I really wanna see what happens next in that world.
×
×
  • Create New...