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letterboxd · 5 years

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“When something is cute, it puts the audience at ease, and that builds the horror more.”

We talk to the team behind a new reboot of the 80s horror classic Child’s Play.

The new Child’s Play reboot is unique among reboots in that the series it is rebooting remains an ongoing concern. The original Child’s Play came out in 1988 and spawned no fewer than six sequels. Although the last two skipped theaters to be released straight to home entertainment platforms, the series has maintained an admirable level of quality and consistency thanks to the continued presence of original screenwriter Don Mancini, who wrote all seven movies and directed the last three.

He’s currently putting together a Chucky television show that continues the often innovative mythology of the features. But in one of those only-in-Hollywood situations, two separate companies currently own the rights to make Child’s Play films, and Mancini has nothing to do with the new film, which puts a modern spin on the Chucky story.

When the reboot was announced, Mancini threw a little shade on the film, apparently (and understandably) concerned that it would muddy the waters around his upcoming TV show.

Jennifer Tilly, who voiced Chucky’s girlfriend Tiffany in the gonzo fourth movie, Bride of Chucky, and co-starred as herself in the meta fifth movie, Seed of Chucky, also expressed her displeasure with the remake.

Mancini appears to have declined an executive producer credit on the new film, which was shepherded into existence by the top studio horror producers of the moment: Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg, who were also behind the insanely successful It and its upcoming sequel.

You wouldn’t know it from the original film’s poster, which seems positively ashamed of the film it was selling, but the conceit at the heart of the 1988 film existed as a direct response to heavily marketed dolls of the era such as Teddy Ruxpin and the Cabbage Patch Kids. The new film updates Chucky’s origin so that it similarly reflects a heavily marketed contemporary product: smart toys.

While the original Brad Dourif-voiced Chucky was, sorry, is a talking doll who became possessed by the soul of a serial killer, the new Chucky is an artificially-intelligent robot friend who turns murderous when his programming is tampered with. And he’s voiced by Mark Hamill.

Aubrey Plaza (Ingrid Goes West) stars in the film as Karen, a single mom who takes home a returned Chucky from the big-box store where she works and gifts it to her son Andy, played by Gabriel Bateman (who previously encountered a sinister doll in Annabelle).

Norwegian filmmaker Lars Klevberg directed the new Child’s Play, which was written by Tyler Burton Smith. Klevberg’s American feature debut, Polaroid (an expansion of his own 2015 Norwegian short), has yet to be released in the States due to the Weinstein Company��s ongoing problems.

Letterboxd caught up with Plaza, Bateman, Klevberg and Smith at this year’s Wondercon.

Aubrey Plaza as Karen and Gabriel Bateman as Andy.

What was your reaction when you were offered this film? Aubrey Plaza (Karen): I was so honored that they thought I could pull that character off and took a chance on me and, I dunno… Chucky is an iconic character in the history of film so I feel really lucky to be a part of it. I’m really excited about that.

I play a woman named Karen Barclay who is a single mom. Her son is named Andy and she’s kind of a young mom doing the best she can and struggling a bit but trying to provide for her son. She ends up giving Andy a toy for his birthday that starts to try to kill everybody, so… but Karen thinks that her son is kind of losing his mind. So she’s going through a lot.

And Chucky was on set while you were filming? AP: Oh yes, we did a lot of things practically, so the doll was there at all times.

What do you think fans of the original should expect from the new Child’s Play? AP: I think they should expect a total re-imagining of this character. I think the whole idea behind it is: how could Chucky be relevant right now? And the idea of making Chucky a smart doll is kind of brilliant and it’s a cool way to bring Chucky back into the theaters, you know? And show a whole new generation of people how terrifying that doll can be.

Is it tough making something that is cute also scary? Tyler Burton Smith (screenwriter): I think in some ways when something is cute or funny, it puts the audience at ease in a way, because they feel like it’s safe and I think in some ways that builds the horror more. When you feel safe with a character or with a product or with a thing, seeing that transform into something dark is a lot easier. Because you’re put at ease and then you’re fighting against that. So I think that’s kind of a fun dynamic shift in a way.

‘Child’s Play’ director Lars Klevberg (left) with cinematographer Brendan Uegama.

This is an R-rated horror with kids in peril—is it tricky to know how far to go with that? Lars Klevberg (director): Well, there are different levels, when you’re making a movie, of how far you wanna push it. When you’re dealing with a Child’s Play movie, when you introduce Chucky as a toy, of course there will be kids involved. We bumped up the age a little bit on this one, which I think was a smart move. Andy’s no longer eight, he’s thirteen. But we’re dealing with a movie that takes an object that everybody loves—a doll, a toy—which is in many ways when you’re young, it’s kind of your safe spot. And you turn that around and what you love and trust in your fantasy world when you’re young turns against you, so suddenly your fantasy world becomes very very real and that’s interesting.

Screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith.

This is a separate project to the original Chucky franchise, which is still going. How did having the original creator of Chucky vocalize his opposition to this film affect you, if at all? TBS: We love the original Child’s Play. We love Don Mancini. I grew up on Child’s Play, it’s just an awesome movie and we wanna make the best version of that possible. It’s unfortunate that he’s not more involved in this movie. It would’ve been amazing to work with him on this, but we love Child’s Play as a whole, we love him and just wanna make the best version of a Child’s Play film possible.

LK: With something like this, it’s an iconic IP, of course you think about it, but you get the script and you read the script and you connect to the story and the characters and for me as a director that’s where it starts. And you have to be able to separate that and just focus on what’s there on the page, which we did. Tyler has a big brain, and he was able to get in a lot of those things that made the first one successful. I kind of jumped on and went back and watched all the movies and I was amazed by how the atmosphere was still there.

What do you think the key differences are in this version? TBS: A big part of it is the doll in the original film was just a stationary doll that you played with and it had these lines that it would say, but otherwise it was just a doll. The idea of updating that and asking what this toy would be now, or five years from now in the future, the idea of a different kind of product that is more technologically advanced was definitely kind of at the heart of it, but definitely keeping a lot of the elements that made the original great.

When I figured out the direction they wanted to go I thought it was a great balance of being a tribute to the original and doing something new with the franchise at the same time. It wasn’t just an excuse to remake a movie, it felt like a lot of people who loved the original who wanted to do an awesome reinvention of that concept. I was a bit nervous at first, but once we found the direction for it, I was really excited. I think we found a cool fresh take on that film.

Gabriel Bateman as Andy in ‘Child’s Play’ (2019).

You dealt with practical Chucky dolls on set—did you ever get concerned they might turn on you? Gabriel Bateman (Andy): No, not really. I don’t know how much I can say but the animatronic dolls don’t really have all that much motion. But I mean, when I’m actually filming and the cameras are rolling, I feel afraid, because I’m trying to be the character, but as soon as the cameras cut, it’s the same.

You’ve been in a lot of horror, but you’re totally a kid. Have you ever seen any of the horror stuff that you’ve been in? GB: I don’t think there’s ever been something that I didn’t watch that I was in. I think I’ve watched everything.

Were you excited about the idea of being in a remake of Child’s Play? GB: I kind of figured out that it was Child’s Play from the [audition] side, so I watched it pretty early on, but I was really excited. A lot of my family were fans of the original trilogy before, so I was always familiar with it. So yeah, I was definitely excited.

What do you think Child’s Play fans will make of the film? GB: We’re not trying to take away from the original in any way. It’s just a re-imagination of Chucky as a character, so I just hope people can enjoy it as its own film, without comparing to the original.

‘Child's Play’ will be in theaters on June 20.

#child's play #chucky #chucky doll #horror #don mancini #brad dourif #aubrey plaza #letterboxd

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years

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Skam España, S1 episode 1 reaction

Aka how to troll the part of your audience that’s seen this story seven times.

Sorry this is late, but it took me longer to write this because there were a lot of changes, and that means more to talk about! Skam España surprised me at how much it diverged from the source material. It’s hitting the same beats, of course, but it felt much more like a remix of the original than a remake, if you follow me.

Thanks to everyone who subs and uploads clips and other content for the non-Spanish audience! You are the best for taking the time to do that for the fandom.

Episode 1

Intro

So this wasn’t in a clip, but it was included at the beginning of the full episode. We get the iconic intro speech, except this time it’s from Eva. And not Eva reading Jonas’ words, it seems, but Eva herself talking about teenagers presenting a happy appearance that masks their insecurities and loneliness. It’s very fitting for her character and taps into some areas that directly affect her, such as wanting to be liked but not knowing how, struggling with her studies, and not knowing who she is. I’m glad she got to give this speech.

And actually, I think it’s important that she didn’t give this speech within a clip itself, to an audience of her boyfriend. It’s like she’s talking to us and only us, the audience, and no one in her life knows what she’s thinking or the full extent of her insecurities.

Clip 1 - And now for something completely different

Spanish Jonas (Jorge) doesn’t get his opening monologue but he does get the first words, though they’re very casual, about diving in the pool.

There’s some obvious framing here with Eva and Jorge sitting together on one side across from Lucas on his own, setting up their third wheel dynamic.

Jorge and Lucas tease Eva, like in the original, but it’s very much a good-natured thing, not something that makes her uncomfortable or feel bad. However, I do think you can read into the dialogue - Eva not knowing how to dive in head first is like her lacking confidence or not being able to take initiative.

We get a focus on Lucas’ uncomfortable face as loud smacking kissy sounds play. I’m always mixed on when the remakes focus a lot of the Isak’s discomfort with Eva/Jonas, because it seems to give too much away. A longing look is OK, maybe, but a moment that wouldn’t be noted from Eva’s POV seems too much. Still, that was a nice way to shoot it, and Lucas gets in some nice facial expressions. And at least there’s ambiguity as to why Lucas is not here for it. At this stage it doesn’t mean he likes Jorge; he could like Eva, or he could just feel bored with his friends making out or lonely that they’re paired off, without having romantic feelings for either of them.

Random detail but I love all the dirt and grass on Jorge’s pants when he gets up.

This is a cute bit of dialogue between Eva and Jorge with him predicting her future. I don’t think this is the case but I would loooove if Spanish P-Chris was Jorge’s height and had curly hair, just for his prediction to happen, just not in the way Jorge means.

I would also love if the money and house on the beach ended up being references to the school trip.

Eva’s future dog being named Nymeria is a reference to Arya’s direwolf from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire.

This closing image is VERY different. In the other versions of the opening clip Eva ends up alone, setting up her isolation and loneliness. In this one, we close on her and Jorge together, kissing and being intimate, after he’s told her that he’ll be there for her.

Actually, I want to talk about what all the changes in the opening could mean for the season. Hopefully the show takes these changes into account and goes somewhere with them, rather than developing relationships and clips differently but ending up in the same place just because, you know?

So here’s what’s different in the first clip:

Jorge doesn’t have any of that air of condescension that Jonas did, and he and Lucas banter with Eva in a friendly way without any serious insults. (I mean I guess she could be really bothered by them poking fun at her lack of diving ability but lmao, that’s not the same as poking fun at her grades or intelligence.)

We haven’t seen Ingrid or Sara yet and don’t get a hint as to the friction between Eva and them. We do learn that Eva worries about the first day of school but like … there could be literally any reason for that at this point.

We didn’t hear anything about Jorge hanging out or going to Elias’ and there’s no clip later that night where he’s being shady about his whereabouts.

Jorge is extremely kind and supportive, telling Eva that he’ll be with her if there are any problems. But we know that he won’t be able to fulfill this promise, so it’ll feel like an extra slap in the face when he disappoints.

Clip 2 - First day of school

Eva is alone this time… and a lot of people walking into the school are in pairs, including two girls swinging their hands together. Sure is a great reminder of how you lost your BFF.

We do get the Ingrid slow-mo death glare in this clip. “Jungle” by X Ambassadors and Jamie N Commons is a good song choice, on the nose, but Eva does feel like she’s heading into the jungle. High school as dangerous terrain is a common but well-deserved trope, like in Mean Girls with the wildlife comparisons played for humor.

Lol and Jorge notices Ingrid (Inés) and her pals, too, then goes back to kissing Eva.

So Lucas interrupts them making out, but he’s with some other boys! Are they setting up the boy squad this early? Is one of them supposed to be Elias? They seem like kind of a cute, doofy squad.

You can tell Eva feels increasingly left out as the boys are wrapped up in a discussion that doesn’t involve her, they’re talking more to Jorge than her and mostly not even looking at her when they tell the story. Although not gonna lie, the story the boys are telling seems kind of inoffensive, not isolating or uncomfortable in itself. I think it’s mostly that she doesn’t have a squad like this herself and has to hang around her boyfriend’s.

And Lucas goes over to her to talk and specifically asks her to the show on Friday, awwww. Unless you think he did it to stir up shit since Jorge forgot to tell her about the show.

Because Jorge forgot to tell her about it, Eva probably won’t be able to get a ticket. So it’s not that Eva invites him somewhere first (like in the original), it’s that he’s already got a thing and that she’s excluded from it. She says she’s cool with it but of course it’s just another small way she’s left out.

Eva ends up outside of the conversation, literally. The boys turn away from her and get engrossed in their own stuff. I was wondering how this was going to go because in the first clip, Jorge was so supportive and she and Lucas seemed tight, and it made a point of showing her together and not being alone. But lmao, teenage boys are maybe not great at living up to their promises.

There was another post about this, but there was a weird zoom on Eva at the end of this clip that felt like someone’s finger slipped on the camera or something. Felt like it needed another take. I hope it was a weird but intentional choice rather than sloppiness.

Clip 3 - Mystery girl

Eva is sitting alone and SHIT, we see the Sana character walk by! Hajar Brown, her actress, is awesome. She features in her own Skam homage, please watch (this version has English subtitles). I’m really happy that she can be part of this project.

It seems that Spanish Sana (Amira) is wearing hijab for the first time, which was mentioned in the show synopsis. The other girl says Amira didn’t wear it last year. It’ll be interesting if we hear more from Amira herself on this development.

Also, did we ever hear people openly talking badly like this about Sana so early in the show? Because obviously we had Vilde running her mouth, and similarly ignorant comments from people like the biology teacher, but until S4 I don’t think we ever witnessed random students gossiping about her like this. I might just be blanking on some of the OG moments, but here we get to see Amira react directly to random hurtful comments.

And of course there’s Lara.

I was really thrown by this clip because it seems very soon to introduce the Noora. As we all know, she makes a more dramatic entrance later on. And yet they have this character wearing Noora’s signature red lipstick, in an extremely Noora-ish outfit, come in and sit next to Eva in a scene very similar to Noora and Eva in episode 3 of OG S1 (and most of the remakes). Except … this character says she’s Lara. From the press release, Skam España’s Noora is supposed to be called, well … Nora. I was so confused. I clearly heard her introduce herself as “Lara” but I figured I was just hearing wrong and somehow she said Nora?

Anyway, Skam Spain fucked with everyone’s expectations by introducing a Noora expy, with the same personal style, with a scene similar to one of Noora’s first, only not to make her the Noora … just to throw everyone off? Because honestly, I applaud them if this is the case. Keeping everyone on their toes.

My guess so far is that she might be Sara, or a Sara equivalent. She might befriend Inés and end up shunning Eva because she hears all about what a bad friend Eva is.

Anyway, Lara makes an impression right away for Eva, talking a lot about herself. She’s certainly not shy, and she’s got an interest in theater and photography. She seems a bit humble-braggy, like her GPA is so good that she can do whatever she wants! She seems to have the confidence Eva lacks. If she’s unsure of herself, it’s because she wants too much.

And then Lucas comes in to talk about school elections, setting us up for the Vilde and the russ equivalent of this show. He doesn’t get her name right but he clearly means Viri. Viri is the only one running for president so better just hand off the position to the person who wants it.

Eva checks out Lara, like all Evas do with Nooras, but lmao, this ain’t Noora.

Clip 4 - Eva at home

Eva is doing homework when she gets the urge to check Instagram and ends up scrolling through Inés’ pics wistfully.

Eva’s mom says she’s going to the hospital so I assume she’s a doctor/nurse/medical professional? If she’s working shifts that conflict with Eva’s schedule, that makes sense as to how Eva could be left alone and have a distant relationship with her mom.

Eva gets a little smile on her face when she views Lara’s profile.

Did Eva actually hit the follow button for Lara or not? I couldn’t tell.

Tbh it’s pretty interesting to see the difference in the Evas’ rooms across remakes. For instance, Spanish Eva has pretty light and sparkles and the word LOVE suspended above her bed, whereas in the Dutch remake, Dutch Eva sleeps under the word FUCK.

So this is clearly taking on Eva’s friending Noora saga, but Lara ain’t Noora, so again, what’s going on? What if Lara’s IG reveals her as a huge weirdo and Eva realizes she doesn’t want to be friends with her?

Skam Spain is trolling everyone and I love it.

Clip 5 - Hello Viri and ALEJANDROOOOOO

Eva is sitting alone in front of the windowsill and skimming through Instagram when Lara shows up! She’s happy to see Eva because she doesn’t know where her next class is. Eva is obviously overjoyed to see her and volunteers to show her where the classroom is. Eva is positively beaming at her. Like she’s in loooooove. But Eva barely gets a second of Lara’s attention before Elvira, aka Viri, aka Spanish Vilde runs up and introduces herself as the class president.

Lara’s outfit seems noticeably less Noora-ish this time around.

Lara shoots Eva a look when Viri is talking, and I don’t know what to make of it. Annoyed at Viri’s attitude? Annoyed that Viri interrupted her moment with Eva? Not annoyed, just trying to check out Eva? IDK, man.

Viri is super grateful that she’s been elected (even though everyone just voted for her because she wanted the job) and is eager to get activities rolling and to get people involved. Lara semi-cuts Viri off from her excited ramble.

We pull back on Viri and get a wide shot … I don’t really know why.

Viri says she’s new, so I guess she doesn’t know Cris that well, which is a big change. Vilde and Chris have always been friends, Chris is the one who’s been her friend all along, but Cris isn’t tagging along with Viri on her quest to recruit more people as in the other versions of this scene. I wonder how they met?

Viri calls Cris “the pretty one” and while I think Ina/original Chris is beautiful, Chris has never been framed as an attractive character in canon so I’m wondering what they’re going to do with this. Cris is also surrounded by people so she seems like a popular, well-liked person. It makes you wonder how she got roped into hanging with the weird girls in school.

Lara says she’s in if Eva is, and Eva agrees. WHAT ARE YOU DOING SKAM SPAIN. You got your Noora in my Lara??? Except Noora only agreed to go to the russ meeting when Sana did. For Lara, it’s Eva she needs to also go. On that note, Lara sure seems into Eva. And Eva agrees because she wants to spend time with Lara...

Viri’s mom is having a meeting, or “meeting,” so maybe they’re going with the same backstory for her as Vilde.

She cuts herself off as she notices William - Alejandro - through the window, and like, if they had named this character Alejandro but not played Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” at some point, I would have felt cheated. I feel like they could have timed or edited the scene better to make it funnier, but I did still appreciate the effort.

I saw people upset that this William looks like an embryo but I’m fine with it. I can completely get why he would be considered a cute boy on campus among these 16/17-year-olds.

Please note Viri’s facial expressions as she takes him in. It looks like she’s glitching.

She’s so turned on by Alejandro that she’s grabbing Eva’s leg.

LOL at Alejandro looking straight at the camera just to smolder. Wow. I’m imagining that this is just a thing he does on purpose, walk around Blue Steeling into invisible cameras.

Is it just me or does he look a bit like Mikael from the original show? Just … floppier?

Clip 6 - Damn, Inés

I think that’s Amira walking across the screen out of focus at the start.

Eva walks up to see Inés hanging out with some girls, the reluctance on her face. And then she sees Lara with them, and the despair crosses her face. Fuuuuuck, this budding friendship is over before it really started. (WAS I RIGHT? I knewwwww it! Lara is going to get turned off by hearing Inés tell her side of the story, and she won’t want to be Eva’s friend. Then the girl squad will step up.)

Getting mild Darlene from Mr. Robot vibes from Inés. Except less unkempt.

Eva going up and talking to Inés in broad daylight, at school, totally sober? Brave, very brave.

We get a closeup of Inés’ face when Eva talks to her so it can sink in that whatever happened with them didn’t hurt only Eva - it’s Eva who seems to be at fault. It’s POV breakage that we maybe didn’t need consider the rest of the scene also establishes that Inés is really hurt by what Eva did, but it did help show Inés as more vulnerable.

Ouch. Inés is right to be pissed (as we know her reasons) but she’s ice cold to Eva, especially with making her repeat that Eva will never be around her again. That is really harsh, worse than any “your eye makeup makes you look like a slut” comments.

Clip 7 - Interrupted by dancing dudes

Cris is seen leaving the school ahead of Eva and Jorge. I like that they’re planting the major characters around the school, casually showing them going about their lives. I mean maybe they were just filming other scenes that day and used all of the actors they had on set, lmao, but it feels realistic.

Jorge meets Eva and seems supportive, she’s not alone walking out of school this time. But she spies Inés again outside, there’s eye contact, and Eva is clearly upset over what happened earlier. Even Jorge notices.

She doesn’t want to open up to him, he keeps asking her to open up, and just when it seems like she might tell him, he gets a notification of his friends being goofballs and watches them on his phone.

Jorge promises to be all Eva’s tomorrow, and lol somehow I think it’s a promise made to be broken.

Clip 8 - Sad blue-tinted lonely Friday clip

Eva is hanging out in her kitchen heating up food in her not-leaving-the-house attire, alone, not doing anything on Friday night. She gets a text from Jorge and looks at all the fun her boyfriend and his friends are having at their concert.

She watches it fondly and sends him some texts back, then goes back to that solitary microwave life.

Viri sends a message asking if someone can host the end of the year trip meeting. Eva goes back to munching. But we know what she’s really hungry for ... is friendship. 😎

Clip 9 - Goddammit Jorge

Eva is on the sidelines watching Jorge play football. You know, not that you can’t support your significant other, but being a teenage girl and watching your boyfriend be active while you sit there watching is maybe not the most fun activity? Let’s be honest, would a lot of these teenage boys sit and watch their girlfriends play a game together, one that wasn’t like an “official” game for school or anything, and cheer them on while not participating themselves? Girls are expected to support their boyfriends’ activities in a way that frankly is not reciprocal.

Lucas comes up behind the bleachers, wearing sunglasses and doing this face that would probably be meme-worthy if it were more in focus. Like he actually does that peer over the top of the sunglasses look. And I was like, lmao, why is the fuck is he doing that, but then I realized he was probably checking out Jorge.

Jorge comes up to Eva all drenched with water and sweat so you know Lucas is taking advantage of his sunglasses to peep that manly sight.

It sure didn’t take long for Jorge to go back on his promise. Jorge makes a comment about wanting to go home and sleep, Eva says they were supposed to hang out today, he’s like “well I’m going to play video games with the boys, but you can come if you want.” Lmao this is uncharitable but I’m imagining he means “you can come and watch” not “you can come and participate.”

She suggests they go out together and he’s like, nah, do that shit yourself. Wow, so supportive. And yet a realistic depiction of dating high school boys. He tells her she’ll make a bunch of friends soon and forget all about him, which is sweet, except if you think that later, in the tradition of past Jonases, he’s going to get all miffed about the school trip and be passive-aggressive to Eva about her activities and friends? Less sweet.

I just want to mention that Lucas is oh so casually lying there and soaking in all of this dialogue. Noticing that Jorge is ditching Eva. Not saying a word, but you know. Absorbing this information, in case it’s pertinent.

Jorge asks Lucas if Eva is a good catch, for reassurance, and he pauses before commenting on her hat. Well, he can’t exactly say he doesn’t know, can he?

Jorge and Eva kiss before Jorge gets called back to his game, and Lucas asks Eva what Jorge tastes like, L O L. She answers sweat. We see Eva, deflated now that Jorge has bailed (like “I came to watch you and put on this hat and now you don’t even want to hang out?”) while right beside her, Lucas has … a look. That sweat comment will fuel his fantasies, don’t lie.

I mean I’m going to be honest, my attention was focused on Lucas instead of Eva at the end, since I was trying to see if he had a ~meaningful look.

Clip 10 - Class trip meeting

This is pretty easily inferred since Eva is desperate to be social but she volunteered her house off screen via text message.

Viri is super hyped about this meeting even though it’s apparently only going to be her, Eva, Cris, and Cris’ friend. She thinks more people will want to come to their meetings once their project gets off the ground. I think she is concerned about popularity, but not gonna lie, I’m getting less “social climber” vibes from her and more “type-A overachiever.” But I guess she could be both!

Ding dong! Who’s at the door? Why it’s Cris, and she brought Amira! Good God, the way the smile drops off Viri’s face when she sees a Muslim is in her presence. She greets Amira and all, but Viri looks like she’s been told her puppy got run over.

She backtracks from Mallorca, and when Amira asks why, Viri’s like, well it’s all beach. Holy shit, Viri, have you never seen Muslims on a beach? Cris is “just like wear a burkini,” Amira says she’ll get one, and even Cris seems to have a moment where she has to backtrack. It’s like she mentioned the burkini as a joke but didn’t take it seriously. Amira clearly is a bit exasperated by this turn of conversation. Like it’s othering to her, she has to hold these people’s hands.

See I’m really curious about the nature of this trip, because when you say “school trip” I’m coming from my own experience, and I think of like a trip with adult chaperones, guided activities and tours, strict supervision. Partying and sex do happen, but it’s not a free-for-all where the students are running around on their own. What Viri is describing seems more like a casual beach trip? How much independence would the students have? Obviously this is a different culture than my own (and a lot of the strict chaperoning on US school trips comes from wanting to curb underage drinking, which wouldn’t be a problem here) and I’m not familiar with how Spanish schools operate these kinds of excursions, but I’m trying to figure out what are Viri’s plans for this trip.

@skammovistarplus explains some context behind the trip in this post.

Viri gets happy about her trip again and starts talking about it, and she very obviously looks back and forth from Cris to Eva as she talks about it, not making eye contact with Amira. The camera in this part of the scene is pulled back so we can see just how excluded and distant Amira is from this conversation, almost like we’re in her shoes.

Amira talks a lot of sense and says more people should get involved in trip planning. I mean, yeah, otherwise just plan a trip among yourselves and leave the school out of it? Seems easier.

The doorbell rings again, Eva thinks it’s Lara, but when she opens the door it’s …. Nora! Also wearing red lipstick.

Amira gave Nora the address so they’re already acquainted. That’s a change, Nora joining the group because of Amira. Noora said she wanted to get to know Sana better, but Eva was also the one who got her acquainted with the other girls.

This clip cuts off right at Nora’s introduction, and I can’t help but laugh at the context? It’s kind of dramatic, though less in the full episode. Like if I knew nothing about this show, I’d be like … is this supposed to be some twin shenanigans??? Is one of them the good twin and the other the bad twin? Lara and Nora? But I guess this moment is for the existing Skam fans. It’s …. Nora! The one you thought was Nora was emphatically not Nora! Plot twist!

This was the least gay Noora introduction, though.

Clip 11 - More meeting

There was a post about the clips and problems with the length and timing and I completely agree that posting multiple shorter clips is not good. If they keep doing this, it will minimize emotional investment - we won’t be able to sink into a scene without them cutting it off at a certain point. I guess Viri and Amira have been arguing for like an hour which I’m sure was enjoyable to witness for the other girls.

Viri is getting cringy, like I thought she did an OK job of Tracy Flicking it up but she’s getting OTT in a theater kid kind of way. Stress will do that to you.

So I guess a Mr Wonderful notebook is just a brand of notebook with cheesy motivational sayings, and Viri talks like that earnestly, lmao.

Amira thinks they need cool girls to be at the meeting, like Inés. Eva is affected by this. Nora seems to notice.

Nora is from Madison, Wisconsin, holy shit. As a Midwesterner I am rolling on the floor.

I have been to Madison, Wisconsin. It’s a very nice city! I love Wisconsin! I recommend visiting the cheese castle! But it’s just funny that Nora the cool girl is from a place that’s as mundane as Wisconsin. Like there’s that storyline from Love Actually where the awkward guy thinks he can get laid in America just by having a British accent, so he books a ticket to America, to a “fantastic place” called Wisconsin. That’s the joke. It’s supposed to be funny because it’s Wisconsin.

Hajar Brown does a good job as Amira, I like her. She points out that they’re all losers who have nothing better to do on Saturday so they’re at this meeting. Viri says they’re not weird, they’re unique, and Cris asks what about twins, and Nora seems to laugh at herself. SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT HER AND LARA BEING TWINS… the secret will come out.

Why is Cris here, anyway? I get why the other four would be weirdos and hanging out together - Eva has been shunned, Viri is a racist Hermione, Amira is Muslim, and Nora is the new girl in town - but Cris seems, frankly, not a lot like original Chris and appeared to have some other friends in our first glimpse of her. What’s her deal?

Nora asks why the cool girls would want to come to them and Amira’s like, well, you’re very pretty, Nora. Eva, you could be pretty if you wore some makeup. L M A O. I think Amira was saying that to fuck with Viri, since she gave her a considering look before moving on to Eva, and Viri looked offended, but lol, as if the four who are supposed to flirt aren’t all pretty, skinny, conventionally attractive girls. (I mean, I hate debates over which characters are the best looking, I just don’t give a shit, but if you ask me, Nora is not noticeably prettier than the other girls. Tbh I kinda didn’t like that they changed it to Nora from Eva since, if they follow the rest of the show, Noora was so singled out for being special and attractive among the girls anyway.)

Viri is beside herself with rage at how this meeting turned out.

Lara never showed so presumably she heard all about Eva’s history from Inés. She also leaves the trip group chat later.

Clip 12 - Eva spies Jorge

Eva is guiding Nora to her bus an hour later. Nora questions whether there will be another meeting and Eva says she supposes not because they don’t have anything in common. Nora says nay, they’re the weirdos at school. It’s cute.

I was about to ask what was the point of this scene since, other than a moment between Eva and Nora, it’s not adding much, but then “Jungle” kicks in again, a bus goes by, and Eva sees Jorge on that bus. Looking like he is talking to a girl. Who may be Inés. Eva realizes she’s been duped! Dramaaaaaa!

That does appear to be the same shiny backpack that Inés had earlier in the episode.

General Comments:

Regardless of execution, in a lot of ways this is what I want from a Skam remake? If I can’t have brand new stories and characters, I’d like to see remixes of the scenes with new dialogue and focus. Very little of the dialogue was taken straight from Skam, iconic moments were left out, new plot elements were introduced. So it makes me want to keep watching to see what else they do.

Unless Skam Spain has a different contract than the other remakes, so far it’s ripping holes in the idea that the remakes were required to be exactly the same as the original.

They sure crammed three episodes into one. I will give them credit, though, it didn’t feel rushed for the most part. I think the girls’ meeting suffered the most since we basically had to meet a bunch of characters at once (only Viri had really been introduced), whereas in the original we’d gotten a solid scene with all of the girls by the time of the meeting and had an inkling as to their personalities. However, the Jorge stuff and Inés and the other elements felt fine, pacing-wise. I love S1′s beginning episodes and things like the cabin episode, but they can easily be condensed if needed.

There was controversy over Chris being skinny in this version, and just to go over that - this isn’t the first version of Skam that’s had a thinner Chris, Druck and Skam Austin had Chrises who weren’t fat, Skam NL does too. I think Skam España got the most flack for this because the Chrises in Druck and Skam Austin were WOC, and while race and body size are two different areas of representation, those characters were still members of an underrepresented group. Skam NL has a thinner white Chris, but it also has the first Noora who’s a WOC so the girl squad has additional diversity besides the Sana character. So I think it’s a combo of everyone being thin + everyone other than Amira being white that made Skam España get criticism in particular.

I do think it is disappointing that all the main girls appear to be thin, because overall I think the various Skams have done a decent job of showing girls with a variety of shapes - not just in terms of skinny or fat, but even the “thin” characters often have different body types than are often seen on TV. And I hope there are more POC in the cast later. That’s all I really want to say about it at the time.

I mentioned this in my Skam NL recap, too, but I think so many characters are called Lucas because it’s a religious name that can be used for symbolism, like Isak.

I feel like some of the more technical aspects are off, like camerawork/editing, and the acting overall is mixed, but it does feel like a down-to-earth low-budget production that cast actual teenagers and that’s my jam, so I am very willing to cut it some slack in this regard.

Some highlights of social media: Lucas posting a shit-stirring #TBT post with him, Eva, and Inés, that’s pretty cold, dude. Eva and Lucas taking turns third wheeling in it group photos.

@skammovistarplus is writing some awesome posts detailing some of the cultural aspects in the clips, go check it out!

I’m not Spanish so if I misunderstand something, feel free to let me know!

Thank you for reading!

#skam españa reactions #skam spain reactions

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Shameless Season 11 Episode 10 Review: DNR

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This Shameless review contains spoilers.

Shameless Season 11 Episode 10

“Why is everybody running? Nobody is chasing you fuckers.”

Shameless was designed to reflect a more unpolished and realistic class of society that often gets overlooked or marginalized. It’s a show that sets out to humanize the alleged derelicts of society and showcase the grounded and prevalent difficulties that plague these types of people. Shameless has done an excellent job at representation towards lower class families and communities for over a decade, which makes it so thoroughly perplexing that as Shameless heads into its final episodes that a major plot revolves around the Gallaghers disposing of Edward Hopper’s iconic Nighthawks painting to avoid federal incarceration.

That’s a realistic, pulled from the headlines style problem that most of Chicago’s South Side loses sleep over, right? I’d honestly like to believe that the true reason that John Wells’ American remake of Shameless is set in Chicago isn’t because of the social disparity, violence, or poverty levels, but actually because the plan was always to rob the Art Institute of Chicago and end up in this gonzo situation.

To be fair, I don’t exactly hate this storyline and on some level I respect the sheer audacity of it, but it’s just such a strange, confusing direction for the series to take this late in the game. It’s something that works as a throwaway gag at the end of the previous episode, but it’s a different story when Shameless seriously dwells on the ramifications of this joke. An added element to this predicament is that Frank’s dementia leaves the Gallaghers uncertain if Frank did in fact steal this piece of art or if his oblivious disbelief should be taken at face value. Again, there are countless ways to explore Frank’s dementia and failing memory in a way that feels genuine, but to have the biggest complication that’s come from it being that he’s unsure if he’s pulled off the art heist of the century or being set up is a bonkers decision.

The reckless heist that Frank either did or didn’t pull off does speak to “DNR’s” larger message of living for nobody else but yourself, whether that means getting a new apartment, moving to a different state, rebelling against the establishment, or not being resuscitated when the lights finally go out. “DNR” is still too preoccupied with the past, but it’s the first time that these characters truly begin to look towards the future and it gives this episode of Shameless a powerful energy that’s been absent for much of this final season.

Shameless Season 11 Episode 9 Review: Survivors

By Daniel Kurland

Shameless Season 11 Episode 8 Review: Cancelled

By Daniel Kurland

In fact, a lot of “DNR” has the vibe of a series that’s rapidly trying to execute a bunch of backdoor pilots (get ready for ten seasons of Kev and Vee in Shameless: Louisville), even if that’s not actually the show’s intention. It’s entertaining to get tastes of all of these hypothetical Gallagher futures, but the episode does lose itself a little as everybody goes through a comparable experience. The most extreme case of this is certainly Shameless’ extended look at Vee and Kevin in Louisville, but it’s also arguably the most entertaining material that “DNR” considers.

The Gallaghers all look for new beginnings that are still within the familiar context of Chicago, but Kevin and Vee’s situation proposes that Chicago is actually holding them back and it’s become an outdated feature to their lives. Kevin’s excitement towards Louisville’s pecan waffles and baseball passion is also pretty adorable and the happiest that he’s looked in ages. It’s quite exciting to see Vee and Kevin open themselves up in this way and learn that Chicago is actually their appendix, not their heart; it’s unnecessary.

Lip is ready to move on with his life too, but his transition is considerably rockier than Kevin and Vee’s. The irony that Lip is having the hardest time with his future even though he’s the one that got what he wanted by selling the house isn’t lost. He’s become a bit of Shameless’ punching bag in the second half of this season and the impact is felt when he has to sell his bike for a fraction of the price because he’s hit such hard times.

He looks like he’s about to burst into tears and it’s the culmination of the broken veneer that’s formed over him this season. Lip’s decisions over the past few episodes have been incredibly frustrating, but the hollow version of himself that he’s been forced to become feels like an excessive punishment. It’s frightening to picture Lip’s family five or ten years down the road and the type of alcoholic he could revert to if he still harbors such hostile feelings.

Debbie also finds herself in a very vulnerable position, but for completely different reasons than her siblings. I’ve been incredibly ambivalent towards Debbie’s journey this season and likely a little too hard on her, but the anxiety that grips her when she begins to look at new apartments for her and Franny is actually really compelling. Debbie fundamentally doesn’t know how to deal with all of this extra space and living on her own in an environment that’s not littered with other people.

What’s supposed to be an inspiring and empowering new start for Debbie decays into a mild panic attack. Debbie voiced her concern to Lip over losing touch with everyone after the house gets sold, but it’s an effective contrast in an episode where everyone else is excited over where their freedom will take them. However, the repeating music cue that accentuates her loneliness like it’s “Song of Silence” from Arrested Development is a little much.

Debbie absorbs Liam’s feelings of abandonment from the previous episode and he instead finds himself in complicated territory with Frank. Ideally, Frank intends to coach Liam on how to get into a STEM school and prepare for his future, but the lines get blurred regarding who’s teaching whom. Pretty much all of Frank’s material this season has been a delight, but any time he’s paired up with Liam it’s even more electric. The protective relationship that the two have formed with each other is a dynamic that really works.

Liam has kept an eye out on Frank this season while others have been too preoccupied with their changing lives. He’s also the only member of the family that seems to be able to truly get through to Frank. It’s comforting that Liam is savvy enough to filter out the nonsense from Frank that he knows isn’t helpful, but still legitimately value and appreciate some of his sage advice, like to “act gay” at his STEM school interview.

Against all odds, Liam has evolved into the perfect Gallagher that’s adopted the best traits from each family member and he can even make Frank’s uncouth guidance seem sensible. I have no idea what Shameless’ final episode might look like, but I wouldn’t hate some flash-forward to an adult Liam who’s built his own extended family in Chicago–maybe even buying back the Gallagher house–and keeping this cycle going. That kind of conclusion is certainly overdone, but it’d feel appropriate considering this final season’s themes and the development that Liam has experienced since the show’s beginning.

“DNR” doesn’t lay a lot of groundwork for what’s to come in the series’ final two installments. It should be smoother sailing for the Gallaghers now that they’ve communicated and opened up to each other, but the problem now is that everyone’s spread too thin to have much of a conversation. There’s still a messy, chaotic energy that floats around these characters, but pieces of the future are beginning to come into focus and every time one of those pieces click into place it’s incredibly satisfying.

Here’s hoping that Mickey can get that bazooka.

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sc-reviews · 7 years

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King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) Review

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword joins the list of many filmed interpretations of King Arthur’s story that came before it. The source material for these films and television shows like the BBC’s Merlin are derived from collections of stories about Arthurian Legends. Arthurian Literature is full of a rich palette of characters from Merlin to Tristan to Morgan Le Fay, but I’ve never been very invested in the iconic character of King Arthur himself. He always seemed too noble, idealistic, and more vague than any of the minor characters that surrounded him. I could not, no matter how much I tried, find a way to relate to this guy no less actually see him as a realistic person. His character was simply overwhelmed by the scale of his mission, the power of his weapon Excalibur and the importance of his destiny and heritage.

So honestly, when I first saw a snippet of the trailer for this film, I did roll my eyes because here there would be another film version of a story that I felt had been told enough times already. How many times can Hollywood recycle ideas with all its remakes and sequels and generally the inability to let something original stay original? However, I did watch the trailer and what I saw was something vastly different from the King Arthur versions I had seen and read before. The tone of the movie was hardly dull or set up an ambiguous character. This Arthur had drive, had passion and humor and overall seemed like a realistic, complex character that I could believe in. So, I decided to go see the film despite all the horrible reviews that I had read because it seemed like something special or at the very least I knew I had to find out for myself what this movie felt like.

The opening sequence immediately inserts you into the film. It’s the middle of an intense battle with giant elephants and armies and dark magic. The King, Uther Pendragon, is hardly the type of guy who sits on his horse and gives commands to his soldiers. No, he’s heavily engaged in the action and in this visually stunning sequence, Excalibur makes its first appearance and Uther uses it to defeat his enemy. Therefore, magic and the crown (the Pendragon line) are tied together and fighting with that sword, believing in it, is what helps this king rule. However, the tension certainly does not end with that battle sequence. Danger lies not only in magic but in blood, which creates an interesting dynamic for the story as it proceeds into Arthur’s timeline as a young man growing up. The entire movie creates this very dangerous, yet realistic world for young Arthur to grow up in and makes the point that we are products of the world we live in and vice versa (the world is a product of the people in it).

Due to the betrayal toward his family and awful massacre, young Arthur becomes an orphan and barely manages to escape. He grows up in a brothel and is raised by the women that work there, which certainly shapes his views of women and the way he respects them later on in the film. This future king has nothing and from nothing he finds his strength. It turns him into this epic warrior who isn’t polished with graceful moves or formal manners or fine clothes and weapons. His fighting is rough like the life he grew up in and he becomes a sort of wise con man, navigating deals and earning money. It also seems a big reason for him learning to fight was to protect the women of the brothel that raised him, who were being beaten by their customers. In that respect, Arthur is noble and chivalrous in one of the best ways possible because he values women and does not appear to treat them as his inferiors at any point in the movie.

The way that this film is shot with the cutting back and forth is a signature thing for Guy Ritchie and he’s used it in many of his films before. I think it works really well in this film because Arthur is the same way. He’s very physical sure, but he’s also an intelligent, fast talking guy and it’s almost as if the way the movie is shot is representative of Arthur’s personality. His language is notably different from that of Vortigen and the people in the castle. I don’t see that as a clumsy mistake, but a careful detail included in order to ensure the separation of classes and emphasize Arthur’s place as an outsider.

Another element that I really want to focus on is the music in this film because it felt like a whole other brilliant character. The soundtrack was done by Daniel Pemberton, whose other credits include: Steve Jobs and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. I think his music was a beautiful addition to the film and that it has tremendous presence in scenes without dialogue. Particularly the scene where Arthur is riding into the castle after he is bitten by the snake, Pemberton’s song The Devil and the Huntsman featuring artist Sam Lee is playing and it transported me so vividly into that world with all its magical realism and brutality. A face moving in a tree and a giant snake could’ve easily become silly, but the film kept a nice tone of gravity in dealing with the magical elements of the Arthurian world. It set up the stage for something epic to occur. Even the shot with the famous Lady of the Lake was breathtaking and the shot right after with Arthur rising out of mud and holding up Excalibur was such a powerful image. I think it captivated the struggle of rising out of poverty and essentially thwarting all the dangerous obstacles his uncle put in his way. I suppose that’s also one of the reasons I love fantasy films because they key in on images and how powerful they can still be without words. Some people might see that as a weakness in saying that there isn’t enough dialogue in the film, but I disagree. I see it as a strength and there is certainly enough fast talking banter between Arthur and the other characters to add a wonderful layer of comedy to this film.

I also enjoyed Arthur’s teamwork with all his friends. It felt like a very different Knights of the Roundtable because it seemed like a bunch of good mates that were hardly knights. Yet, they had the qualities of knighthood and would each sacrifice their lives for each other. Also, the character of the mage was fantastic and my favorite thing was that she was not made into a love interest. She was an important part of the narrative and showed how magic helped Arthur regain his throne, but she didn’t have to become his Guinevere.

Overall, I was impressed over the attention to detail that this movie had and it really disappointed me that so many reviews were writing it off as unoriginal and accusing it of plagiarism. There was a mention of the elephant scene being too similar to Lord of The Rings. I’m a huge LOTR fan and the scene in Pelennor Fields where those massive creatures show up is totally different in my opinion to the scene in King Arthur. I just feel that scene in LOTR:ROTK is so iconic and the shots feel different, especially the way that the elephants become obstacles for people on the battlefield in LOTR is different. In King Arthur it’s really short and the elephants just don’t feel like they have as much presence. They’re just there being controlled by magic and represent the power and danger of magic in that world whereas in LOTR they were enslaved creatures trained for war. The scenes are different also because of the scale and the focus. In LOTR it’s much more of a collaboration of all these warriors and the focus is constantly switching from Eowyn and Peregrin to the other Rohirrim and then Aragorn and Legolas and Gimli. It’s the battle before the final battle. In King Arthur, this battle is just the beginning and it sets up the war setting that Arthur grows up into. The focus is on Uther solely and everything else around him is just there so he can prove himself as a capable king. Now, could other animals been used at the beginning so as not to cause such a controversy? Of course and I do see how people could easily call it plagiarism. Perhaps the director was paying tribute to other fantasy movies in his film by having creatures like the elephants, giant snakes, big rodents, bats…etc. However, I’m an English major and I want to point out that there is a serious difference between plagiarism and paying tribute to other films. Also, I’d like to point out that Arthurian Literature is much older than a lot of the fantasy stories we know well like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter…etc. All modern fantasy stories draw upon centuries of folklore and Arthurian literature is medieval. So, a lot of stories that include these strange beasts are actually not as original as we’d like to think. J.K Rowling did not create giant snakes (basilisk) just as Tolkien does not own the myth of dragons or elves. They did what great fantasy writers do and they did their research and brought new interpretations to old myths. I would say that King Arthur has also done that because it is relying upon characters that have been around for a very long time and it uses magical beasts, but why is that such a bad thing when it creates something pretty awesome and unique in the process? I recommend this movie for anyone that wants to go on an exciting, adrenaline pumping action ride and also feel like what they’re watching is witty and funny and worthy of their time. Feel free to ask me questions if you’ve seen the film ad want to discuss it!

#king arthur #king arthur legend of the sword #Charlie Hunnam #Arthurian legend #summer movies 2017 #movies i love #check out this film #good movies #fantasy #fantasy movies #katie mcgrath #jude law #aidan gillen #guy ritchie #daniel pemberton #fave movies #period pieces

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sharkchunks · 7 years

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Design Analysis: The Alien Films

Giger’s original alien design is fairly well recognized as the pinnacle of the art, so sequel decay was inevitable. Once you have something perfect, anything you add to that perfection will alter it and by definition make it imperfect. The further the Alien films diverge from the design above, the worse the designs get, sometimes by fractions, sometimes by great leaps. This is not a comprehensive list of all changes made to the design over the years, but a look at the directions other artists took. Essentially, a brief Fall of the Roman Empire for alien design.

Giger’s only “hands-on” involvement with the series to make the final cut was on the first film. His most impressive creation for that movie is, in my opinion, the Space Jockey, the truest fusion of flesh and machine, literally grown into the ship despite what unbelievably horrible ideas future movies would try to retcon into the series. But the alien itself is the most enduring work. The elongated head, the inner toothed tongue, the mechanical components within the meat of the creature, its ribs, its inexplicable back-pipes, it all manifests as a symphony of disturbing elements that, when combined into a humanoid figure, speak of pain, wounds, death, cruelty and danger. This is widely known.

What fewer people (including future creature designers) realize is that one of the most critical features of the alien is that it is aesthetically displeasing. It is not sleek. It is not cool. It is ugly. It doesn’t fit together right. It is not streamlined not conventional in color or form. Where Giger designed the Space Jockey to be oddly beautiful, he went for something in the alien itself that makes it hard to look at. Some consider this “cheap” or “incomplete.” I’d argue that it was not only intentional but one of the most critical features of the design.

The original alien was never meant to appeal to us. It was made to scare and disgust us. The original film is the only time it did so successfully. Commentaries on the series suggest that the repetition of the design in further movies made it less impressive, that it was done to death. This is not true because the original design only appeared in one film. Though that design too is demystified by now, the films did not need to suffer from any inevitable decrease in horror. That decrease is intentional.

James Cameron didn’t want to make a horror film, he wanted to make an action thriller with some horror elements. His alteration of Giger’s designs helps elucidate this. The design of the aliens from Aliens is close to Giger’s with three critical embellishments: The arms now have bony protrusions at the elbows, the dome has been removed revealing the ridged head, and the design has been normalized and streamlined. The alien is no longer grotesque, it is awesome.

The original alien looks dirty and ragged by comparison. This was not a mistake by any means. Aliens is not about hurting the audience like its predecessor, it’s an action movie and the turn from horror to action was extremely successful.

Cameron then took Giger’s aesthetic, more or less, and designed his own super-alien, the Queen. Little attempt at horror remains, if any. This is an epic beast made to appeal to the eye with smooth curved structures and spines that follow the form naturally and elegantly. It has less of a mechanical influence, and no sign at all of Giger’s ugliness. Its use in the film is similarly unhorrifying, it’s an intense escape followed by one of the greatest fight scenes in movie history. Cameron diverged from Giger and Scott, but what he made was a new expansion of the universe that was all his own, and in typical fashion for the director, it amazed audiences and proved highly influential ever after.

Giger was invited back to design a new iteration of the alien for the third film. He set out to perfect his original design, and did so artistically but not cinematically. His new design introduced an even more horrifying tongue that would enter the victim’s throat, and with shark-tooth-like barbs, come back out bringing their guts with it. It had a visible, moving brain under its dome, and it lost the back tubes in favor of a more animal-like structure. It also had new artsy elements that brought it further into Giger’s developing aesthetic. The filmmakers elected not to use it.

Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis took over. Students of Stan Winston who had implemented Cameron’s concepts, they redesigned the alien into a near-fully organic beast. The only remainder of its mechanical elements are the repeated flutes on the side of the head. The rest is all animal, with inhuman legs and feet. Its cheeks are no longer messes of visible mechanisms, but rumpled skin. And it is sleek. It’s streamlined. It is, in essence, what the alien would look like had it been originally designed by someone other than Giger.

Alien 3 attempted to bring the series back to horror. That might have been a mistake but we can give the creators the benefit of the doubt and instead of criticizing the aspects of the film that have already been criticized ad nauseam, focus only on the design. Basically, it’s meatier and meaner and although it has lost Giger’s surface, it does retain his basic concepts and yields an appropriate movie monster for a very dark film. It would be brilliant had it not followed such vastly superior works.

Gillis and Woodruff returned for the fourth film and further organicized the creature. They took the Alien 3 design and regained the tubes, and made the back of the head a little less round. While the alien from 3 was alternately red or black depending on the lighting, the Resurrection beasts were generally greenish-brown or grey depending on whether they were computer generated.

But look at its cheeks and neck. The region on the sides behind its mouth. The clumpy skin of the third alien is now a total ugly mess, and not ugly in Giger’s way. Just a mess of blotchy crud. Its arm has little trace of the underlying tubes and mechanics, it’s just a bumpy human arm. Alien 3 took the creature into animalistic design, but 4 began to turn it into a mess.

The newborn has no mechanical elements whatsoever, or even any trace of them. It bears only the slightest resemblance to Giger’s design and that’s okay. It had a new purpose- To be gross. Not grotesque, necessarily, but icky. There it succeeded. Its face was also more expressive, at times almost human. Its sunken eyes, its bat-nose, the bloated filigree on the sides of its head, all contribute to something appropriate to the film this creature was designed for.

Notably, the creature was designed with genitals, which were censored from the film for being too much, the director said, “even for a Frenchman.” The Newborn represents the end of the series. The alien has gone everywhere it can go, and retains nothing of what made the original what it was. Evolution is inevitable but I can’t help but wonder what might have happened had the ADI team that handled the latter two films honored Giger’s new designs, or kept his originals, or designed new works of their own along his guidelines instead of simply making the aliens closer and closer to blobby animals.

Prometheus provides another succinct view of what happened- Giger’s original derelict ship was a misshapen bony surrealist sculpture. It had no visible means of flight, it had nothing to even compare to any vehicle ever designed. It made no sense. It hurt the brain to think of as a spaceship. Prometheus featured a similar ship- But made it work. It was streamlined and curved naturally instead of bent and ugly, it was a mechanical ship and not something that might have been grown. That’s what happened to the alien over the years. It was cleaned up, made sense of, and turned into something normal. But the final insult was yet to come.

That’s the finale of Prometheus. Look at it.

Now look at the original:

Now back to deacon:

How did anyone, especially Ridley freaking Scott, think this was acceptable? It’s a god damn cartoon. I mean literally! It’s what Gary Larson spoofed the aliens into!

It has no surface detail, just some bumps like what a child might push into a lump of clay. Its pointy head is a joke. And its inner jaw is based on the goblin shark’s:

The goblin shark is notable in two ways- One, its jaws are horrifying. Good. Reason two- It looks like Jerry Lewis.

It’s goofy! It’s silly! The prominent upper maxilla looks absurd and funny despite its sharp spiny teeth. The goblin shark is certainly bizarre and bizarre is often good, but in this case it turned the iconic alien, the greatest design in the history of creature effects, into an absolute total JOKE.

Never mind the squid. Never mind the plain white tentacled blob that replaced the chestburster. Never mind the idea that the brilliant concept of a pilot grown into its ship was made into a white guy in a suit. Never mind the dull serpents or the atrocious uncreative bumpy makeup on Fifield. Ignore all the problems with Prometheus because this is about the design of the adult form alien. Look what they did to it.

Resurrection ended the alien’s tenure as the greatest monster. But it did not make it into a joke. The deacon is a poorly sculpted, plainly painted, uncreatively applied, horribly conceived, silly, pathetic, absolute low point of creature design in cinema. That’s where the alien ended up.

This is one of the greatest plummets in art. From the pinnacle to the nadir. So what comes next? Alien: Covenant, appears from its trailer, to be even more of a remake of the original than Prometheus. The same plot, slightly different specifics. Of its true story and creatures, only time will tell. But I have the lowest expectations. I expect the worst, for the alien to go from joke to insult. Or further insult, all things considered.

The trend in cinema (among other things) right now is to take whatever was good once and ram it into the ground as hard as possible. I don’t know what more they can do to the alien after the pointy headed atrocity above, but I have a feeling we’ll find out.

But I also have hope. Worst expectations but a glimmer of hope that we’ll see the redemption of this creature. Giger is dead, and the world is poorer for it. I hope Scott has found someone new, an unknown artist as Giger was in the 70s to come to fame as the next great surrealist. I hope we’ll see the birth of a new form of horror cinema. I hope a great many things every time an alien movie comes out.

My mother was pregnant with me when she saw Alien. I drew it over and over as a child. I studied it above all other films and designs as an adult. I grew up with the alien on every level. I don’t know what will come next, and I will go in with an open mind.

But I can’t help but feel that the iconic monster has hit rock bottom, and it’s about to crash through the stones down into hell.

#alien #hr giger #giger #prometheus #creature design #long post #spoilers

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clarenceomoore · 6 years

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Disruptive Technologies: In Conversation with Byron Reese & Lauren Sallata

Byron Reese: Many people are excited about possibilities that today’s new technologies offer. They see a world made better through technology. Another group of people view the technology landscape completely differently and are concerned about the impact of technology on privacy, community, employment. Why is there so much disagreement, and where do you come down in your view of the future.

Lauren Sallata: In the words of Mohandas Gandhi, “Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.” You could say the same about disagreement over technology. Panasonic is involved in engineering entirely new and better experiences, in cities and factories, in stores, offices, entertainment venues, and in automobiles, airports and on airplanes. Consultancy McKinsey identified 12 disruptive technologies that will account for trillions of dollars in economic value over the decade ahead. Panasonic is deeply engaged in 10 of those 12 technologies. And we see the positive impact of these technologies clearly already. For example, in renewable energy, our lithium-ion batteries are being used in the world’s leading electric vehicles to reduce pollution. Sensors embedded in road systems to send information to cars and road operators about hazardous conditions and traffic and use IoT to improve driving safety and reduce traffic jams. Other examples include wearable robotics designed to reduce injuries at work.

How do you think the widespread adoption of IoT devices will change our daily lives? What is Panasonic’s vision of a hyper-connected world look like?

We see the “things” that make up the “Internet of Things” bringing us unparalleled data, information and convenience to change our in-home and working experiences. Voice technology will enable each interaction to be more personalized and seamless. We believe that voice is the technology that moves all other technologies forward. Why? Voice takes away the learning curve and gives both businesses and consumers more control over the way they use and interact with technology. Using our voices frees up our hands and our brains. When we pry our eyes away from screens, and stop tapping on keypads, we can focus on what we’re doing right now. The factory worker is less likely to make errors …the car driver is less distracted…the ER nurse can focus more completely on his patients. Voice is already an auto sector mainstay. We’ve developed cutting-edge, voice-activated Infotainment systems for many of the world’s top automakers, like our new ELS system for Acura.We’re working with Amazon to help us take voice integration beyond just information and move toward fully-realized contextual understanding. These capabilities are giving auto drivers and passengers control over critical features such as heating and ventilation systems and audio and navigation functions. We’re also giving passengers the benefit of connecting to other smart devices to allow them to fully control their experience both in and out of the car. We’re also working with Google on similar projects in the voice space, to provide integration and information throughout their technology solutions.

Talk about driverless cars for a minute. When do you think we might see the end of the human driver? What is Panasonic’s role in building that world?

We’ve estimated by 2030, 15% of new cars sold could be fully autonomous. We work with almost all the major automakers around the world, have for almost 60 years, and are doubling down on our ADAS and automation technology investments with partners. Autonomous Vehicles are going to have a huge impact on our society. Vehicle Electrification is going to have a similar impact on our planet…The combination of the two technologies will create a multiplier effect that will remake transportation. This will happen in stages. Stage one is the emergence of the connected vehicle, which lays the foundation. With EVs, we’re still at a price premium to internal combustion. By around 2022, we’ll be at parity. During this time, we’ll see elements of autonomous driving, such as autonomous braking, and EV autonomous vehicles for commercial and fleet start to go mainstream. Next, we see trucking fleets start to make the transition. Then commercial ride sharing fleets come on-line, giving consumers the benefit of autonomous electric vehicle transportation. In the last stage, we’ll see the personal ownership market catch up with commercial.

Tell us about what’s going on at Highway I-70 in Colorado

As cars become more computer than machine, they are capable of communicating with one another in real time – saving time and lives. Panasonic has partnered with the Colorado Department of Transportation to create a connected vehicle ecosystem that promises to drive a revolution in roadway safety and efficiency. On a 90-mile commuter stretch of interstate 70 into Denver, this technology has been designed and will be deployed later this year to allow CDOT to share information on highway conditions, traffic alerts and other driving hazards. It’s the first production-grade, U.S. connected vehicle system in which real-time data would be shared across vehicles, infrastructure and people with a goal to improve safety, lower fuel consumption and reduce congestion. Estimates are that such a solution could reduce non-impaired traffic crashes by 80 percent and save drivers hours stuck in traffic each year.

What is Panasonic doing in the world of immersive entertainment?

At iconic stadiums, beloved theme parks, and worldwide special events like the Olympic Games, Panasonic technologies immerse fans in the action and create storytelling experiences that inspire and amaze with the world’s largest video displays, mesmerizingly sharp content, sophisticated projection mapping, seamless mobile integration, and innovations like an augmented reality skybox that gives fans control of stats and replays, projecting them right on to the glass inside stadium suites – all without obstructing their view of the field. From racing through Radiator Springs at Disney California Adventure Theme Park to embarking on a frozen voyage through Arendelle in the Frozen Ever After attraction at Orlando’s Epcot, Panasonic’s technology has enhanced the experience for millions. Recently Panasonic collaborated with Disney creative teams on an amazing experience inside Pandora – The World of Avatar, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Its projection technology helped Disney bring the Na’vi River Journey attraction to life. Guests take a boating expedition down a mysterious river hidden within a bioluminescent rainforest, through a darkened network of caves illuminated by exotic glowing plants and amazing creatures that call Pandora home. The journey culminates in an encounter with a Na’vi Shaman of Songs, who has a deep connection to Pandora’s life force and sends positive energy out into the forest through her music. Disney wanted the two worlds to work seamlessly with one another, and Panasonic’s projection system allowed the attraction to achieve that seamless connection through projection imaging that provided perfect color rendition, precise levels of brightness, and robust systems. Today fans who use Instagram and rideshare as verbs expect the same mobile connectivity and convenience from their ballpark as they do from their Lyft. The Atlanta Braves franchise understands this well, and with help from Panasonic technology welcomes fans way before the opening pitch. Panasonic technologies at SunTrust Park and its adjacent mixed-use site, the Atlanta Battery, are all digitally connected, with more than 18 LED displays, monitors, projectors, digital signage kiosks, and video security systems – all regulated from one central control room. We just conducted a study of CTOs and senior tech decision makers on how companies are using or want to use disruptive technologies in areas such as retail, sports, media and entertainment. Our new study reveals that four technologies are at the top of their innovation agendas – artificial intelligence, robotics, 3-D printing and energy storage. Four out of five respondents are poised to adopt AI to gain customer insights and predict behavior.

And talk a bit about your solar initiatives.

Panasonic has been a leader in the solar energy space for over 40 years. From electric vehicles to solar grids, Panasonic’s solutions are helping forward-thinking businesses and governments pursue a brighter, more eco-responsible future. To solve the world’s growing energy needs, Panasonic is developing high-efficiency solar panels that make eco more economical, planning entire eco-sustainable communities, using sensor technology to regulate energy usage in offices, and building energy storage systems that allow for more efficient energy consumption. When it comes to solar panel technology, revolutionary materials and system design have led Panasonic to record-setting efficiencies. Panasonic’s heterojunction (HIT®) technology has been designed with ultra-thin silicon layers that absorb and retain more sunlight, coupled with an ingenious bifacial cell design that captures light from both sides of the panel. By continuously innovating, we’re helping each generation of solar panel make better use of renewable resources, and offering the industry greater cost savings.

How do we make sure that the benefits of all these technologies extend to everyone on the planet?

Over the last 100 years Panasonic has taken pride in creating new and exciting solutions in many different realms. By having expertise in so many strong areas, especially those identified as disruptive technologies, we hope to enhance the lives of as many people as possible.

Lauren Sallata is Chief Marketing Officer at Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation and the hub of Panasonic’s U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. She leads the corporations digital, brand, content, and advertising efforts, as well as Corporate Communications.

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