#Did you really have to do that Zack Snyder | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

abnerkrill · 4 months

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Nik! Did you watch Rebel Moon? How was it?

Yes hello this is my 4 star review of rebel moon on letterboxd.

But first: a professional, somewhat critical review of rebel moon that engages with the film well, especially regarding anti-colonial themes, and isn't just knee-jerk regurgitated Snyder haterism:

And now more of my thoughts: [edit: Oh No, He Went And Talked For 3 Hours About It, Thanks For Coming To My TedTalk:)

No one has a better knack at putting together a cast list SO ATTRACTIVE TO THE BISEXUALS. read it and weep, boys. (Jena Malone is there too but really just for 1 set piece)

...Jena Malone's one (1) scene set piece features her as an alien spider woman with legitimate grievances against the Empire who now wants to kill kids because all her kids were killed. Like, so valid, girl. Also, did I say Jena Malone as an alien spider-woman? And this is just one scene.

Look, if that pitch doesn't hook you, this film may not be for you, and that's okay, but by GOD my people are the people who hear "Jena Malone alien spider woman" and perk up. I love you, freaks.

The cinematography is ace and always will be under Snyder's direction. music by Tom Holkenborg SLAPS. Costuming and design overall is super super strong. (People on this hellsite are always complaining about inadequate, boring as hell sci-fi design and you get RM and you don't appreciate it for what it is. WAKE UP.)

Costume showcase! Second from the right in this photo showing off those sweet sweet sci-fi costume designs is my beloved non-binary they/them revolutionary Milius. CANONICALLY non-binary, let me add. Imagine SW doing that lmaoooooooooooo D*ve Filoni would fuckin keel over and die

Kora! Our tragic female protagonist of color who's over 40, with a dark edgy sexy background. [KIDNAPPED AS A CHILD!! DEAD FAMILY!!! DEAD LOVER!!!!!!! SHE FAILED TO PROTECT HER WARD FROM ASSASSINATION!!!!! SHE IS THE MOST WANTED WOMAN IN THE UNIVERSE!!]

Bitches on tumblr LOVE taking failmen with sad backstories from media and blorbifying them, but the second it's a woman? please. If this was a man people would be writing the filthiest x reader smut you've seen since Mandalorian S1 came out. If this was a man you'd already have seen 20,000 fan drawings of her with her muscles and tits OUT. God where's my Kora fanart.

I personally have no problems with the plot of this movie (part 1 of 2) being "we must collect warriors to fight the evil empire." That's kinda fantasy story 101 and I still love new, varied interpretations of that plot.

If there's not much interconnecting plot because Kora's just gathering fighters, it's kinda like... that's the point, babes, they'll actually get to it in part 2. We're just at the "forming the team" stage. I revel in that part of a fantasy film and I always want it to be longer, so this film is like catnip to me.

Uh, yeah, this is getting long. More under the cut.

Entertainment professional nitpick time! I've seen someone say RM would be better as a TV show to introduce a new character each episode. And I truly don't think that fixes any of the problems this person has with the film, while introducing way more problems. (Who the fuck would go in on an original concept TV show where each episode introduces a new hero. You could not sell that pitch to a studio, ever, and viewers would instantly check out if they didn't like the introduced character of the week, and the same complaints would be made: it’s just a new character intro blah blah blah. This wouldn’t fix anything! It would very much make it worse!)

Me, like every day, through gritted teeth: that's... not... how... tv... works...

Like be realistic for a hot second with me. Television is not "long movie"—it is a different medium with different rules. Yes, the past decade has blurred many lines between TV and film, but they're still different mediums, and when people blur them ("it's a 10-hour movie!") the results often suck ass, because you either lack episodic structure or you lack feature structure. Snyder is a feature filmmaker who has never worked in TV. Whenever features people jump into TV, it's a whole other learning curve! They're usually terrible at it! You want Snyder to have to learn a new medium? You want him to learn 5/6-act TV structure from scratch? You want him to (horrified gasp) lead a writers room? Those are not his strengths, baby. Let him play in his space opera sandbox.

And I'm not done! You want the casting team to have to deal with the headache of getting feature film actors to star in a TV show? (Pay cuts! Longer commitments! TV production timelines!) You want to do that to me, personally, and fuck up the TV landscape some more by going, "Oh, we can basically just make a Longer Feature Film in TV"? Fuck off with that. TV has different production realities and different basic story structures. A [long] film [with two parts] is still a film, in structure and production practicalities.

Truly, Tumblr media studies brains (derogatory) at it again.

To each their own, but again, I think RM's structure is fun because it gives me more of the goodies (badass, varied character intros) for the price of one (2-hour film.) Like... that's the good stuff, that's often the most exhilarating part of a film for me. And contrary to popular belief, it's not intro to intro without rising tension or stakes. It builds tension as it goes because new facets of resistance against the Motherworld are explored in each character's intro scene. New ways they fight back, new worlds on which they fight back. And a ticking time bomb of the King's Gaze (king's gays lol) catching up.

Here, have a trailer bc Tumblr's mad at me for too much text in one block.

youtube

...I like the RM characters. I want to spend time with them and see what other zany shenanigans Snyder will have them do. (Alien bar fights! Taming a space gryphon! Lightsaber battle!) I like the side-quest-y, exploratory, space opera sandbox playground nature. It's fun, and like, again, if you don't perk up at the concept of collecting cool characters like action figures, this film may just not be for you.

To me it's a polycule. Like, the most messed up polycule in the whole galaxy, but it's a polycule.

Speaking of: THE CHARACTERS ROCK. Yeah, we're missing some significant character development because Netflix truncated Snyder's 4-hr, R-rated film into a 2-hr PG-13 version (likely to be able to release the 4-hr cut later, drum up new press, and get more eyeballs on the movie in total in a few months.) That's... not really Snyder's fault [even though he claims he's in on the plan... some part of me thinks it was Netflix's idea and not his. Stinks of studio meddling.] And it's not indicative of the quality of the actual film, which I currently see as more of an abridged version of the R-rated film that's gonna come out and fill up some of these story holes.

If people are judging the film for not being the 4-hour version, and then decide not to see the 4-hour version, that's their call, but it's kinda shitty to act like the 2-hr version is all there is. Like it probably wasn't Snyder's call to do a 2-hr cut! He's said that the 4-hr one is a whole different movie. I betcha the common criticisms (not enough character development, just jumps from character intro to character intro without interconnection, lack of structure) will be helped, if not outright solved, by the longer cut.

I think people are also happy to take a Part 1 of a movie if it's, say, Dune, and the source material has another part, so Part 1 is allowed to be fucking boring, whereas people don't give that kind of allowance to original sci-fi movies, WHICH IS A REASON WE DON'T GET ORIGINAL SCI-FI. If you're painting with as huge and cosmic a palette as space opera Rebel Moon, the 4-8 hours total across the 2 four-hour parts is kinda bare minimum for an epic. So... patience is a virtue? Let part 1 have elements of IT'S KIND OF A PROLOGUE?

What's that saying? If you want the rewards of space opera worldbuilding with an ensemble cast, you must submit to the mortifying ordeal of 2 hours of setup. Geez. Enjoy the wacky exposition or get out of the space opera genre.

Yeah, that leads me to the point of people who don't enjoy space opera are getting mad at RM for fulfilling the promises of the genre. You might truly be happier elsewhere. The whole thing is over-the-top, huge-scale MELODRAMA and I thrive on melodrama. If it's too cheesy for you, don't come to space operas!!!!!!!

On that note, people have said RM is too tropey and too Star Wars-y. But like I said. If you don't love the tropes get out of the genre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you aren't here for bloodier/hornier Star Wars get out of RM!!!!

Another big idea I would be remiss to skip over. RM is an explicitly, deliberately anti-colonial, anti-imperial text—far, far more so than any other mainstream sci-fi currently being released. Well-intentioned liberals love to tout Star Trek/Star Wars as progressive media but they really hedge and defang all their political commentary, especially in their 21st century franchise form—think the SW sequels/shows straight up woobifying K*lo Ren in realtime and the Trek shows that (while fun!) are really often just nostalgia bait.

RM is pretty fucking radical. Its theme basically is Kill Nazis—or in expanded form, something along the lines of "The empire will eat up everything of value in the universe unless it is met with unified armed resistance built on solidarity."

And just look at RM's casting. We're not colorblind here; we're very color-conscious. (That's a rant for another day, but I've really started to despise colorblind casting for its extremely well-intentioned-liberal "we're all the same" mentality. It just winds up erasing.) Anyway: RM features the explicitly American-English-Afrikaans empire vs. the Algerian Amazigh protagonist, Black freedom fighters, Japanese revolutionary... and like. Snyder's always gonna be into Vikings so obviously we have Space Vikings too, whatever. Look at me, I can criticize Snyder too! The Poor Sad Space Vikings are not the strongest part of the film!

...Anyway of course the empire vs. revolution is absolutely kind of Star Wars-y since RM is highkey Snyder's Star Wars, but it goes so much further than SW dreamed (or, perhaps, nightmared). SW's rebels/resistance continually get defanged because they're kind of foundationally space magic/singular hero's quest deals, and modern SW with the exception of Rogue One/Andor is just politically, socially stupid. In contrast, RM is about forming a coalition, without something like the Force to help you out. I could write an essay on the ways RM starts in the same place Star Wars starts but takes its politics so much more seriously, so much further.

While I'd argue "good politics" and "artistic quality" rarely correlate, RM is explicitly and doggedly a text about the colonial empire that exploits, enslaves, abuses, and seeks to utterly control marginalized people groups in its quest for domination—and god, I would LOVE to see a resurgence in very fanged, very angry political sci-fi.

One more aside. Snyder has been rightfully criticized for his earlier works basking in fascist-adjacent, hypermasculine aesthetics; 300 is notably super duper racist in how it depicts savage/monstrous Persians vs. Beautifully Good White Spartans Defending Their Culture. (more on "300 Bad" stored up in my brain if anyone wants THAT rant.) To Snyder's credit, none of his films since 300 have really done that—parts of Batman v Superman and his cut of Justice League purposefully poke fun at it. The hypermasculinity is kinda still there, but it's subsumed in the service of melodrama and mythic-flavored cinema, and it's kinda a staple of the action genre anyway, and if you're gonna criticize Snyder without criticizing EVERY ACTION MOVIE EVER, that's just more regurgitated Snyder haterism.

No one is doing mythic action like Snyder these days. No one has the balls and the command of melodrama & operatic visuals. And it comes clearly from Snyder's background in art & art history because all his shots are jam-packed with symbolism and meaning and allusion. So criticize the film for its weaknesses if you like but geez, if I see another post railing about the lack of CRAFT in RM, I will start biting. ALMOST NO BLOCKBUSTER HAS THIS LEVEL OF CRAFT. It's okay that you don't understand visual storytelling, babygirl, but please don't accuse Snyder of lacking craft.

Sorry, you've triggered Cinema Defense Mechanisms in me, I'm gonna have to sit down for a while after this.

I have more takes. Takes hot enough to fuel the King's Gaze (king's gays lol.) But I'll end with a funny observation: I transed my gender (cheers, shouts, hoorays) just about the time I was getting ready to watch Rebel Moon, and in one shocking, epiphanic moment I turned to my partner and went "Of COURSE I'm a man. I like Zack Snyder." So........... do with that what you will.

#rebel moon #dragoninthelibrary #rebel moon spoilers #long post

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wenellyb · 4 months

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I have the feeling that some people watched a different movie than I did because where is all this Rebel Moon hate coming from?

Or do you guys really hate Zack Snyder and can't stand anything he does? If so, what has he done to warrant the hate?

#Rebel Moon #the hate is even more suprising because it's a neflix movie and it's not even lut in movie theaters? what's there to complain about ?#you can stop watching in whenever you feel like it lll #I feel like I'm missing something

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powerfultenderness · 2 years

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An idea for a Halloween drabble with Adrian:

A lot of the staff at Fennel Fields dresses up for Halloween and so do you, but everyone mistakes your costume for something else. It really starts to annoy you and you’re actually on your way to the restroom to change when Adrian arrives for his shift and sees you look aggravated.

Babydoll

Rated: T+

Word Count: 1858

A/N: ty for the request, hope you enjoy! 🎃

[#Vigilante Halloween Masterlist]

[Masterlist]

[Dividers]

It wasn't that you hated the Fennel Fields uniform, but you were a little bored of it. So when your manager said those working on Halloween were allowed to wear costumes, you instantly started thinking about what kind of costume you wanted to wear.

There were a few restrictions, of course. Nothing that would get in the way, such as wire wings or tails that could potentially hit someone or knock something over. Similarly, nothing that dragged on the floor as that also presented a tripping hazard. Not that you had planned on anything with any of the restrictions, but now that you’d been told what you couldn’t wear, every idea you did come up with was restricted in some way!

By the time you figured something out, and collected everything you would need, there were just three weeks left until Halloween. It was somehow so close yet so far at the same time!

Initially you were quite excited about your costume. Despite having to leave the prop weapons at home, you thought it was a pretty spot on portrayal of an awesome movie character!

Come Halloween you’d taken extra time to get the blonde pigtails and sailor girl outfit just right. Maybe that’s where you went wrong…

The first person to greet you after you clocked in was a fellow server, Blake. She wasn’t in full costume, but had cute little devil horns peeking out from her curls.

“Don’t you look cute and hot!”

You grinned, “thanks!”

“Who are you supposed to be, though? Some cute little anime school girl?”

You expected that from her. You’d made countless movie and comic and video game references to her before and she never understood them.

“No. Babydoll from Sucker Punch.”

“Sucker Punch?”

“Yea. It was a movie that came out a while back.”

“Ooh! Gotcha! Well you look good!”

You thanked her again and the two of you started your shift.

Your first table pretty much said the same thing. “What anime are you from?”

You gave a generic answer and hurried onto their orders.

Taylor, one of the dishwashers, walked past you and smiled. “Sailor Moon?”

You wanted to sigh, he wasn’t the first person to make that call. But since he wasn’t a customer, for some reason you thought it was ok to correct him. “Eh, not quite. Sucker Punch.” He raised an eyebrow as if asking you to elaborate. “Came out in like 2011.” Still a blank look. “Zack Snyder?” He shook his head. “Babydoll,” you gestured to your costume, “was played by Emily Browning…Vanessa Hudgens? Oscar Isaac!” You listed off the more famous actors in the movie.

After a few seconds he nodded, “Oooh! Wow! I think I remember that one!”

You smiled with a strained chuckle before returning to your job.

Really! It wasn’t like Sucker Punch was some obscure indie!

Over the next few hours you put up with being called Sailor Moon. For the most part you just smiled and quickly moved onto doing your job and people forgot the costume. But, it was getting increasingly annoying.

By the time your break rolled around you practically ran straight to the parking lot. You had the foresight to bring your uniform and leave it in your car, just in case the boss thought your costume was inappropriate. You were not going to spend the rest of the night feeling moderately embarrassed about your costume!

You were too busy rummaging through your back seat and muttering a few annoyed phrases to notice someone walking by the car, until you heard a familiar voice call your name.

You turned, maroon uniform in hand, to see Adrian dressed in a black and red jumpsuit with a matching baseball cap that he wore backwards. The random, and mostly fake, sponsors on the suit and the big NASCAR printed on the cap made his costume clear. You had to admit, for a costume that covered him even more than the usual Fennel Fields uniform, he looked hot.

For a moment all of your earlier frustrations disappeared. “Wow! Looking good, Driver!”

Adrian stared at you for a beat too long and you worried that he too would not get your costume. Considering how everyone else mistook your costume, the fact that he hadn’t said anything sent another embarrassed rush of blood prickling at your face.

He was quiet, a little wide eyed, until you nervously wrung the uniform in your hands. He shook his head, blinking rapidly, as if he’d dazed off in the middle of talking to you.

“Me? You look fucking amazing, Babydoll!”

Even though he was just calling you by the name of the character, hearing him calling you Babydoll sent your heart racing and the blush on your face burned hotter. You let out a sheepish and nervous chuckle, "oh, thanks…wait! You know who I am?"

Adrian grinned, cute little dimples framing his cute little smile, "are you kidding? Sucker Punch is one of my favorite movies!"

"Really?" You excitedly asked, while internally you were doing back flips. Finally someone got it!

"Yea! It's so cool!" He started but blinked and tilted his head. "Did you just get here too?" He then pointed at the uniform in your hand.

"Oh. Uh. No. My shift started a couple hours ago. I was actually gonna change out of this, because people keep calling me Sailor Moon."

“What? That’s stupid!” He took a few steps so that he was close to you, and you winced slightly as you thought he was talking about your reaction. He just wanted to make a point though, because he brushed one of your blonde pigtails over your shoulder. “Sailor Moon’s hair is way longer!”

You blushed even more, if it were possible, as he continued. “And she doesn’t use guns, so she doesn’t have a holster!” He plucked at the brown faux leather straps at your shoulders. You stumbled forward a bit from the gentle force of the tug, your chest close to his now.

He slowly moved his hand from the leather strap to the rather flimsy material of your top, the back of his fingers softly tracing down your arm to the edge of your sleeve. “And she wears a totally different color.” He paused, his hand leaving you for a moment as he glanced up to his left, “unless you were wearing Babydoll’s white costume.” His eyes flicked back down to yours, “but you’re not.”

His hand returned to your shirt, his knuckles gently dragging across your exposed midriff as he lightly pinched the hem of your shirt. “And I’m pretty sure Sailor Moon wears a one piece.” He let go of the shirt and his hand slid across your bare skin to rest just above your hips. His hands were so large that thumb still played with the hem of your shirt, while his pinky slipped under the band of your skirt.

You shivered under his touch, but you were far from cold. Not even the low fall temperatures could cool your blood at this point, especially with the way he was leaning down slightly, his face so close to yours.

“Adrian,” you whispered, your eyes flitting back up to his eyes from his luscious pink lips.

“Yea?” His voice was low, gravely almost, and his breath tantalizingly danced across your lips.

As much as you wanted to shove him in the back seat of your car and climb on top of him, now was not the time. You licked your lips, he mirrored the action, “my break is almost over…”

“Oh!” He practically jumped back and away from you, and you already missed his warmth. “Y-yea! I need to clock in too!” He scratched the back of his neck and looked away from you.

You tossed your uniform into your car and slammed the door shut, locking it as the two of you awkwardly made your way into the restaurant.

You quickly got back to work, and tried not to think too much about Adrian, but every time someone called you Sailor Moon, you wanted to run to him and tell him. You weren’t sure why, or what he could even do, maybe he could say you looked “fucking amazing” again. That’d be nice.

“Hey, Babydoll.” Adrian caught your attention as your last table for the night left.

You smiled at him and tried not to be too obvious as you stared at his bare arms. Pretty early on in his shift he took off the top half of his suit and tied it around his waist, leaving his incredibly well defined muscular arms on display, as he’d only been wearing a muscle shirt underneath the suit.

It also didn’t help that throughout the night he called you “Babydoll” a few times and it sent an excited rush through you every time.

“Are you doing anything later?” He asked as he stacked the dishes in the gray tub.

You shook your head, “not really. Probably gonna eat a buncha candy and maybe see if there’s any good scary movies on.”

“Sweet!” He grinned, though it immediately faltered as he noticed your raised brow. “Uh, I mean, it’s great that you’re not doing anything!”

You tilted your head and pursed your lips together, even more confused.

“Not that I’m happy that you don’t have any plans! I mean, if you did have plans I’d understand!”

“Adrian?”

“Yea?”

“Are you trying to ask me something?”

“Yea.” He took a breath and spoke quickly. “My friend is throwing a Halloween party at his place, do you want to come with me?”

“Sure!” You smiled, “sounds fun. Much better than what I had planned.”

He smiled too, and he relaxed so visibly that you couldn’t help but act on the little mischievous thought that popped into your mind. You stepped in front of him, maybe a little closer than socially acceptable, but he either didn’t notice or mind. “Can I ask you a question, now?”

“Huh? Sure..?”

You had your hands behind your back, acting like you were hiding something from him, “trick-or-treat?”

He grinned and rocked back and forth on his feet. What an easy choice, a trick or a piece of candy from someone so pretty? “Treat!”

You pushed yourself up on your toes and kissed him. It was supposed to be a quick little peck, but once Adrian felt your lips on his, he acted quickly and grabbed your hips, pulling you flush against him, and deepened the kiss. Before things got too heated though, someone cleared their throat and the two of you pulled away from each other.

“We should finish cleaning up.”

He nodded and grabbed the tub of dishes, “yea.” He only got one table away before he turned back to you, “hey, Babydoll?”

It was official, this costume was your best idea ever. “Yea?”

“What would you have done if I picked ‘trick’?”

Honestly, your plan was to kiss him either way. But you just grinned at him, “I'll tell you later.”

Adrian pouted for a moment before smiling to himself and getting back to work. He liked the treat you had given him anyway.

Tag list:

@lululandd

#vigilante x reader #adrian chase x reader #Vigilante Halloween

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racefortheironthrone · 11 months

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Since we're on a Viking bent at the moment, how did they come to be badasses within popular culture?

This is an excellent question!

I think Western pop culture has a weakness for historical warrior cultures in general - there was a big fad for samurai starting in the 70s thanks to Kurosawa films becoming crossover hits, there was a big moment for Spartans after Zack Snyder's film in 2006, there was another one for Romans between the HBO show in 2005 and the Starz Spartacus shows in the early 2010s - for complicated cultural reasons that keep historians like Bret Devereaux busy.

Vikingers had been around as a thing in pop culture off and on for decades - there was The Vikings in 1958 with Kirk Douglas and or the 13th Warrior with Antonio Banderas in 1999 - but it tended to be hit-or-miss one-offs rather than a general pop cultural trend until relatively recently. Sustained interest in Vikingers really does kind of trace back to the huge success of the History Channel show which ran from 2013-2020 - which is funny, because originally it was a pretty naked attempt to find something that would tap into the Game of Thrones audience, for all that Hirst hates the comparison- which prompted others to tap into the same audience with Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and The Last Kingdom and God of War, and so on. It's rare that one show hits big enough to cause a trend, but I do think you have to hand it to them in this case.

So why did Vikingers hit so big?

Part of it is that they come pre-packaged with visual iconography (the dragon-ships, the distinctive helmets and shields and axes, the rather inaccurate hairstyles, etc.) and mythology (Norse mythology has the virtue of being decently well-known enough that people recognize who the gods are, but not well-known enough that people complain if you make shit up that wasn't in the Eddas), so a lot of the "branding" has already been done for the creators.

I think another big part of it is that Vikingers kind of act as a cultural Rorschach test that allows people to see what they want - you can go all the way along the spectrum from right-wing Neo-Nazis seeing them as Aryan supermen destroying Western decadence through the will to power to left-wingers thinking that the Vikingers were progressive because they were relatively gender-egalitarian and didn't like Christians very much.

And finally, I think that Vikingers have the benefit of being far enough back in history and niche enough a historical subject that it disarms a lot of people's critical faculties. Here's what I mean -thanks to decades of historical research and activism, more recent and prominent examples of slavery and/or colonialism no longer make for protagonist fodder in pop culture. There's a reason why Benioff and Weiss' "Confederates Win" tv show got canned before it started, and there's a reason why something like Zulu could not get made today (and that's a good thing). But just like the Spartans after 300, the Vikingers are seen as "ancient history" and because their oppression was visited on white people rather than POC, you can show them raiding Lindisfarne and colonizing a third of England (although you'll notice showrunners generally leave out the trans-continental slave trade) without anyone asking if this is problematic.

#history #pop culture #cultural history #vikings #vikingers

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catierambles · 2 months

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ya know

I think it's wild that I wouldn't be writing the stories I do, my blog wouldn't have the current focus it does, and I wouldn't be talking to the people I do, if it wasn't for the youtube short of Cavill talking about how he ignored the call from Zack Snyder saying he got the role of Superman....because he was playing WoW.

"Did you hear the phone ringing?"

"I did."

"And you chose to ignore it."

"Absolutely."

I was in a WoW kick (happens every six months or so) and I watched the short and went "fricken nerd" and looked him up

I've never seen the Zack Snyder Superman movies, or MI: Fallout, or Night Hunter, or Sand Castle, or anything he's been in really. I still haven't because the adhd makes sitting down and just watching something kind of impossible.

But I looked him up, found out he played Geralt and loved Witcher 3. He built his own computer, was a PC gamer, played Warhammer and World of Warcraft, would much rather stay in and play video games than go out (same).

Then I found Walter Marshall ("oh"), August Walker ("challenge accepted"), then Syverson ("ohhhhhhh I'm in trouble"), then Mike ("wait, that's him? no fucking way. omg it is")

all because of a youtube short

#henry cavill

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mrawkweird · 7 months

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In honor of Batman Day what are some of your favorite Batman moments🦇

Answering this belatedly but some of them for me are

World's Finest

Never did my little child brain ever stop to think "What if they crossed over?" because things like that just didn't seem like an option and now here we are in a world where people do nothing but crossover. One could argue perhaps a little too much in the genre these days but this moment is always going to be a special one.

The "Faith" scene from Zack Snyder's Justice League

I always loved how this moment was in a way the culmination of Batman's arc in regaining his hope for people and for the world after the events of Batman V Superman. Going from having no faith left of his own to believing Superman will show up for them in the world's time of need. A habitual cynic finally stopping to believe in something will always be beautiful to me. People were robbed of a true Batman/Bruce run with Affleck and there's a lot of them that will never know it. However, this also leads into a another favorite moment of mine.

Bruce realizing he could be more than just "Vengeance" in The Batman.

Part of me wants to refer to The Batman as a masterpiece in it's storytelling but I feel like in this day and age that word has been thrown around so much to the point where it undersells and simplifies what that movie did. I loved what this movie did with the character and as much as I wanted to forever stay mad that Affleck never got his fair shot Pattinson came in and played the hell out of the role. It was visceral and vulnerable which was exactly what this movie needed. You could feel and see this Batman growing before your very eyes and to see that growth leading all the way to this scene felt special.

Terry VS Joker

Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker really was one of those movies that felt like all roads always led to it. With the series Terry proved night in and night out that he more than earned the mantle of Batman but this film felt like the final graduation test. To say he passed that test would be an understatement. Terry had this man out here about to start rage crying. He Joker'd Joker and fucked up his whole night. I'm never going to stop saying that the world needs more Batman Beyond.

The whole I Can't Stop Laughing musical number from Batman: Arkham Knight.

Honestly it was kind of hard to not just say the entire game. I really liked the "Joker in Batman's head" aspect of it that made everything feel like a fucked up buddy cop adventure. As someone who played Arkahm Asylum and Arkham City I think this was my favorite play experience of the 3 personally. I was immersed and legit did not stop playing it until I finished the story.

Also, this.

No need to really elaborate on it much as it speaks for itself. Really enjoyed this movie.

#Batman: The Animated Series #Batman Beyond #Zack Snyder's Justice League #The Batman #Batman: Arkham Knight #Batman VS Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

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godsofhumanity · 4 months

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I like how the character Wonder Woman is a Embodiment of Feminism and she was created by A MAN!!!! Yet people said she presents some bigoted ideas

It's also interesting how she's inspired by Greek mythology and had heavy ties to Greek Gods,her mom was a daughter of Ares and I think the first time I saw her,she was given life by Zeus via his lightning bolt,hence he's technically her dad typical Zeus

I think she's a great character, it's just that many people don't really GET her character and ended up making her a man-hating sexist,a man-izer, basically a male version of womanizer, it's a huge misinterpretation

I'm sure you understand how misinterpretations feel,many mythologies were botched just for the sake of someone's ego and interests anyway

I shared the misinterpretation with my teacher and he said Zack Snyder's version is the best one yet,cuz in that iteration,she doesn't hate men or thinks men are pigs etc,no, she's simply interested with the ideas of men and she's totally fine with them,which makes sense

I mean the woman was raised by only Women and only lived around till she's an adult,so ofc she's interested or curious. I don't think the Amazons generally hate men, they're just aware of how terrible some men are cuz that their nature

Also my first movie of Wonder Woman where I first knew her,featured her love interest,the guy who got stranded on Paradise Island,where the Amazons reside and when he saw a bunch of Amazonian ladies bathing, I think he looked seduced and tidied himself to "look nice for the ladies", I remember he very clearly he didn't seem embarrassed when he saw a bunch of women bathing outdoors in a pretty discrete place

Okay I don't really blame him,the place was called Paradise Island becuz so many beauties live there, it's literally paradise on Earth, it's also my bisexual's ass dream world

No hate for him btw, he's cool ig. Also I think he pretty much explained why Paradise Island is a no-man area. Can't blame the ladies for not liking guys there,they have their reasons I won't comment

The Amazons even spared that guy for literally trespassing and if they really did hate men,they wouldn't let him go back to the mainland alive. One of the central points of that movie was Wonder Woman bringing him back home and therefore she got a chance of learning about the outside world

I'm gonna search for that movie one day

very interesting and valid points, Anon.

as a child, i never cared much for Wonder Woman because she always wore that skimpy skirt barely covering her ass and to me, a little girl, i just thought that was gross.

but now, as an older girl, i see Wonder Woman as hugely successful, hard-working, kind, strong both mentally and physically, and she still dresses up so gorgeous. i have huge respect for her now because she works hard to get it both ways; so now i really have no problems at all with Wonder Woman or her pretty, but short, clothes. i think she really is kinda wonderful tbh,, one of the better heroes.

tbh i haven’t seen the movie you discussed— i have only ever seen Gal Gadot’s WW, and i’ve seen the old comics i used to read as a kid. i do like the new WW. i hope you are able to find the film and watch it again!!

#anon #anonymous #asks

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sassylittlecanary · 1 year

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Ranking the Major Live-Action Superman Suits Since 1978

Because I have a lot of thoughts.

8. Superman & Lois (Tyler Hoechlin)

I adore this show, and I think Hoechlin does a fantastic job as both Superman and Clark Kent. However, I HATE this suit. SO MUCH. It just looks like a regular dude in a Halloween costume, and it keeps getting worse and worse with each season. I hate the muscle highlighting (it looks cheap and forced), the neckline needs to be lower and more square, the boots could be taller, the S shield is too small and way too dark, and the colors are too dark and faded. I genuinely cannot understand who thought this suit was ready for filming in any way. It is absolutely hideous, and I will die on that hill.

7. Superman Returns (Brandon Routh)

I like that this suit stays so close to the source material, but it’s just … off. It would be completely fine if it weren’t for several little things that combine to make it underwhelming. Firstly, the colors are off: On screen, the blue looks almost turquoise, and the red often looks brownish (just a few shades lighter and brighter would’ve been a huge improvement). The S shield is too small, and I personally don’t like how raised it is. The thing I hate the most is the neckline — it needs to be lower and more square. Show some collarbone and shoulders, you cowards.

6. Zack Snyder’s Justice League (Henry Cavill)

I know a lot of people really like this suit and its symbolism, but I have mixed feelings about Cavill’s suits in general. Personally, I prefer bright colors, and the fact that Cavill never got bright colors at all made the black suit just another dark outfit (and therefore less special, which harmed the intended symbolism). I appreciate the comic reference, but if the filmmakers really wanted to go for it, they should’ve traded the cape for a mullet (mostly kidding).

5. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Dean Cain)

I don’t really have feelings about this one. It’s the classic Superman look, and there’s nothing really special about it, but I don’t mind that. It’s cheesy, but I don’t mind that either. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously, and neither does the suit.

4. DCEU (Henry Cavill)

I was VERY torn about how to rank this one. The love-hate relationship is strong. Cavill looks good in it, but I honestly don’t like it that much. Even at the best of times, the blue is WAY too dark (I mean, sometimes it’s more black than blue). I resent Zack Snyder’s aversion to color. I understand they wanted to modernize the suit and get rid of the trunks, but it needs something red to break up the blue. Unpopular opinion, but I also don’t like the way all of Cavill’s muscles are highlighted. However, this is my all-time favorite Superman cape. It’s floor length and billowing and amazing, and for that reason this suit is ranked this high.

3. Supergirl (Tyler Hoechlin)

Now, if you want to ditch the red trunks, this is the right way to do it. The red belt breaks up the blue similar to how the old trunks did, the colors are just right, the cape looks good (although the material isn’t my favorite), and the size and design of the S shield are perfect. If the trunks have to go, this is my favorite suit.

2. Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover (Brandon Routh)

This is perhaps the best modern Superman suit. It’s a lovely blend of tradition and modernity, and of course the Kingdom Come reference is awesome. Everything about it is perfect. I love it. It looks great on Routh, and the style and colors suit the character and context. I desperately want Routh to have his own Superman show and wear this in it.

1. Superman I-IV (Christopher Reeve)

What can I say? I’m a sucker for nostalgia. This one is definitely dated, but despite that, it remains quintessentially Superman. When I picture Superman, this is the suit I see. It’s iconic, it’s a near-perfect recreation of the comics, and Reeve wears it in a way that makes it real and authentic.

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popculturebuffet · 8 months

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Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Review (Comission for Rewandemontay)

Hello all you happy owlet's and it's a happy day as I got another new comission person. Welcome Rewandemontay, sorry this took so long as a back injury, stomach issues and other things have taken a hammer to my productivity. Thankfully we're finally here for another look at a creator I think is talented with a fanbase I think is

It's Zack Snyder's Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hool

Guardians comes to us from Animal Logic, a studio I haven't talked about yet. Their a big time effects studio, first hitting it big with babe, who eventually branched into animation, mostly focusing on photorealistic stuff with the occasinal branch out like the lego movie (which still fit to a degree since they wanted it close to stop motion as possible). As you can see by the ENTIRELY ill fitting poster's tagline, this came on the heels of Happy Feet: that film had been a massive success for Warner Bros and they wanted more, aquiring the ya book series legend of the guardians.

Now picking these books.. wasn't a bad idea. I didn't get a chance to read them before this review, so sadly I can't fully evaluate how this works as an adaptation apart from what I could glean from tv tropes and wikipedia, but the basic concept, an epic fantasy story in an owlcentric world that has the owls still function like owls, use owl terms, and fight like them that dosen't sugarcoat the violence.. is an awesome concept. It was also a noble stab to try and make a film that was just straight up an epic fantasy in animation. There's comedy here and a few bits we'll get to that REALLY smack of 2000's animation, but as far as I can remember it'd been a while since someone had done a full on attempt at an epic fantasy story.

Even Zack Snyder was a good choice. As I said in my watchmen review last year he's not a bad director.. he was just a very bad fit for the DCEU, where he just flat out didn't give a shit about the source material. Here while he changed a lot of shit like dc, it's clear that he at least liked the core idea and really showed some reverance to it.

So why didn't we get an epic lord of the rings style trilogy but with owls? Well simple really: from what I can gleam just from an image search and my own memories.. the film was marketed terribly. Besides the very misleading posters for a film that's main plot kicks off with a child kidnapping and quickly gets into child slavery, facisim, race suprmacists, indocrination, the realities and cost of war and death. There are a lot of deaths.

Advertising wise I remember, as I watched all the cartoon channels back then, it being just kind vauge "It's magical, it has owls and some shit, it's from the people who made happy feet". And as someone who really never liked happy feet, I stayed far away.

So the film didn't do great and while a sequel was hinted at in the film and by Animal Logic, it never happened. What's left is a curious piece of a director's filmography and what might of been a hit with better marketing. So come fly with me under the cut as we swoop in and see what this film is.

The film STARTS well. In a land of owls, and a few other critters, a father tells his children Soren, a kind owl and your standard "hero who dreams of something grand" type, played by Jim Sturgess who also did well with a deconscrution of this sort of roll in across the universe, his jealous , bitter and angry brother Kludd played by Ryan Kwanten and his sweet baby sister Eglatine, of the guardians, great protectors who long ago fought a war against the "Ice Claws", who are never really elaborated on but who the guardians beat. But by this time the guardians are a myth: Soren and his dad (played by HUGO FREAKING WEAVING), believie as does his sister.. but Kludd is steadfast it's not true.

Really the family interplay in this first 15 minutes is well done: Noctus soren's dad is fair, kind and patient with soren and kludd. But we also see WHY Kludd is so resentful: Soren naturally takes to flight better and gets his dad's praise.. while Kludd gets gentle reremands for his overconfidence. His dad means well but in Kludd's eye's he's non supportive and his brother being a natural only widens the gap between the two brothers and sets the stage for the tragedy to come. It's also a nice deconstruction of our main hero having natural talent: ti's great and doe shappen and Soren's inexperince and navitie keep him from being TOO sueish, but to someone who struggles to do the same thing it's easy to resent them even if they did nothing wrong. Soren even tries to help Kludd by using a visulasation trick (I.e. thinking of where your going to land. )

The boys lives are changed forever when they acccidently fall out of their tree and nearly die at some wild animals before being saved/kidnapped by Jatt and Jutt, our standard comic relief villians.. who work a little for me. Their banter is fun, yet it dosen't undercut their menance: in fact the fact they are so goofy while being genuinely threatning and kidnapping children makes them more unsettling. The problem is they just don't really fit into the orginzation their in, the Pure Ones. The Pure Ones are our main antagonists, an owl supremacist group who seek to conquer the world and gladly kidnap children to either indocrinate into soldiers or brainwash into soldiers by "Moonblinking" them (forcing them to stare at the moon till their mind blanks out), which trust me is way more horrific than it sounds. The dead eyes it leaves.. truly haunting.

The Pure Ones were the main antagonists of the books, but are given elments of St Aurelious, another villian faction and the ones who kidnapped Soren and had the whole child kidnapping ring int he book. Honestly this change at least makes sense. If it's a good one I can't say but it seems like st auarelious eventually gets overtaken by the pure ones anyway and the children are never rescued. Combining them if your going to try and make three books into one narrative just makes sense.

IT also allows for them to do the other big change and the one I truly love. Again I can't PURLEY judge it as I haven't read the books but apparentlyt here while eventually the big bad, more on that later, Kludd is also just.. evil. He started evil, he sold soren out to the pure ones outright, he's just bad. THat's it. And that's.. boring. You CAN have a character whose just pure evil, but in this context it's just "okay this guy was just always an asshole. "

Here... we actually see Kludd transform from Raph from the tmnt, angry and feeling his father has favioritism but not being a bad sort, to a throughly loyal solider of a facist and racist movement. The film does a really good job showing HOW these movements slowly indoctrinate people: It starts slowly with them encouraging him to not throw his lot in with Soren with soren bravely defends a fellow prisoner.. and gets sent to pick pelets. They then pit the recurits for the pure ones against each other, both feeding into the pure one's apocalypse-esque survivial of the fittest philosphy and into how these sorts of movements breed obidence rather than unity. The focus is on impressing the leader rather than helping each other. The praise gives him what he wanted, while leaving him blind to the fact he's being brainwashed. It's far more compelling ot see clud slowly slide into an all too familiar sort of trap than just be bad

On the opposite ends the owls dig in pellet. Pellets are one of the few things the film goes out of it's way to explain about owls, the rest left to context clues which can be a touch disorenting at first but honestly the film does such a good job using those clues over time you get what this thing is. With pellet's it'd be a bit harder to do that but they simply had Soren and Klud's sister have her first. For the record their basically hard things owls cough up consiting of the exoskeltons and what have you of whatever they ate. It's as gross ass it sounds. And these pellets contain little magnetic bits, which are used for a giant magnet pit that's used for.. something. What that something is I either miss or simply isn't explained in the film version. It IS used for a trap later, but otherwise there's no clear reason for it. THey just have a spooky magical magnetic vortex.

They use moonblinking as mentioned before, but SOren is able to resist simply by closing his eyes when the guards aren't looking. He helps his new friend, the owl he stood up for, Gylfie (Emily Barclay) also avoid it and promises to break them out.

The two eventually get help from Grimble, one of the guards.. who turns out is working with the pure ones under duress. Their allegedly holding his family hostage but they subtly hint he knows by this point their likely dead or brainwashed, and the pure ones are lying to him. So he helps the two young owls learn to fly so they can escape.

This leads to the climax of our first act: Nyra the queen of the pure ones and their real leader (Her husband Metal Beak, while fierce and horrifying, comes off more as a figure head and battle commander while Nyra does all the actual day to day work), played by of all people HELEN FUCKING MEREN. Who does a phnemominal job, of course she does but in a cast that's mostly mid 2000's stars or unknowns, it's weird to see such a huge name plopped in their. Nyra catches them so Grimble bravely holds her and her soldiers off while the kids escape.. and in a heartbreaking momement Soren and Kludd come to a parting of ways as Kludd refuses to leave with him. It's a tense scene that really pays off all the expert build off: Soren is free and can go get help .. but has lost his brother while Kludd's actions prove him to Nyra.. and she manipulates him into falling futher, pointing out his sister to them. What I like though is while what Kludd's doing at this point is horrible.. in his mind.. he thinks it's a GOOD thing. That his sister will be able to grow stronger find the purpose he did... that he dosen't even realize he's handing his baby sister to a CULT.

So our heroes barely escape and soon meet your usual misfits TM , Digger and Twilight, two rapscalions. They also reunite soren with his nursemade whose also a snake, Mrs. Pthiler.. she sure is in this film. Seroiusly she has no real purpose in the plot after this. She facilitates a chase when some ravens snatch her and waste a good two minutes of film but otherwise she contributes not a lot. And that's a problem the film picks up in the middle stretch: it just starts adding characters. I mean the first act had PLENTY sure, but each had a good purpose and reason for existing. After this point they just keep piling characters in like a clowncar who have little to do but fight some bitches later. Digger himself is more there to play off twilgiht's constant love of making songs by dreading it every time. It works. Twilight gets a pass since he DOES contribute. Also he's awesome, adding a lot of fun and helping the heroes simply because he and his friend are lonely and figure why not come along on a grand adventure.

But after a neat sequence of our heroes actually getting to the great tree of Ga'houl and finding the guardians are entirely real, the film just kinda.. stutters It's pacing isn't bad and there's a really good scene with klud after he took his sister, with her wanting their brothe rback.. and klud later being revealed to have moonblinked her in revenge and as bait.

And that stuttering is due to introducing a LOT of characters at once who were likely either filtered in better in the book or simply got introduced in big scenes like this but got fleshed out. It's a problem with the last act of the film: it tries to cram three books woth of stories (going by the outline) into the film and make it one coherent narrative. It dosen't TOTALLY fail at that, the film is still fun to watch.. but it's biggest weakness is one many adaptations before and after it have: it tries to cram in TOO much into one movie. The film would've worked better had it either been JUST the slave camp, which I admit is a hard sell so I get why, or they'd just adapted two books, having it focus on our heroes trying to get to the guaridans. You coudl've even had kludd and some other goons sent after them, so you stil lget that final battle, just with less clutter. You have to pace yourself.

For a contrast I've been reading Pirates: An adventure with scientests, the book that lead to the movie. And while this book is rather short, the movie simply .. worked with what it had: it shuffles things around a bit to give it a more coherent narrative then ADDS some stuff to make it stronger. You can ADD shit. Or you can take shit from later books and put it front and center. Instead it just feels rushed. Like a complete film but still like a film trying to do too much. As such the guardians leaders feel REALLY underedevleoped> Their a king and queen.. for reasons we never get to. Why are they hiding? Why are they just a myth despite existing in large numbers? It's never actualyl explained. The guardians just.. still exist. We also get sam neil wasted as allomere, a traitirous owl whose sent ot investigate soren's claims. And the scene of Soren presenting his case is really well done, and I like how he makes a good case why this isn't a lie: the guardians were a myth. There's also the fact four owls flew all this way to something they didn't know existed. If soren just wanted to join.. that alone would've been enough to get him enrolled as a trainee. He has no reason to concoct an elaborate, easily disproven lie. I mean he's also supposed to be a kid but he sounds like he's 20.

What also drags it is we just get a LOT of compression: we get a montage set to an owl city song which.. just dosen't work. I do like what i've heard of the band, when can I see you again worked great in wreck it ralph. But a pop song. .just.. dosen't fit into this films world at all. IT'd be like if the battle of helms deep suddenly had the simpsons go calypso kick in

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They also introduce a love intrest for soren. She sure does exist.

What keeps the film from falling apart and makes the bits at g'ahoul itself work is one man. My faviorite part of the film and a truly awesome character, Lyze, played maginifacantly by geoffery rush. Lyze is a beat up barn owl, our heroes mentor. We get the only real training bit of the film, again it's mostly done in montage, and one I really like. Shonen Anime quailty training exercise. Lyze takes the cadets (our heroes plus love intrest) flying in the rain. Besides building stamina, a good reason in of itself, it's also to help the cadets trust their gut and get used to flying in conditions where they can't see. We get a beautiful sequence where he has soren fly in a current and soren really makes it work. I tonly fails when he can't figure out wether to trust his gizard, a part of bird anatomy tha tI assume helps with flight and navigation, the latter due to later events, and Lyze explains he needs to trust it. We also find out Lyze, who'd been using another name i'm. .just not bothering with, is Soren's hero.. and Soren finds out from his writings the wars his dad told him as fairy tails were bloodier, rougher and less glorious. Lyze himself gives the best line of the film on the subject as he berates the boy for thinking it was that black and white.

"Well fancy it must be hard meeting your hero and seeing he's real and not a myth. What did you expect, some tyto owl with gleaming armor and battle claws with the moon behind him? Well this is what it looks like when you've actually fought in battle. It's not glorious, it's not beautiful, it's not even heroic. It's merely doing what's right and doing it again and again, even if you someday end up looking like this. " That speech. .is so fucking awesome. It's Lyze making it clear what the reality of Soren's dream is, what fighting the Pure Ones, who turn out to have been one of the guardians enemies, REALLY costs... and making sure the boys knows he has that sacrifice in him. Lyze is harsh with the boy sure.. but it's a harshness that's clearly simply to prevent a young idealistic owl from dying needlessly in battle trying to live up to a person who never existed. He has faith in Soren, he belivies in him, as shown with the training.. he's simply being honest. I also like how they explain why lyze has a diffrent name and why no one else needed this told to them: for the former he simply got tired of his old reputation, and for the latter.. everyone at the tree KNOWS who he is, or like Soren find out eventually. The people who NEED to know so he can add in his expertise or fight when needed know. Lyze is a truly awesome character and a large part of why I want to now read the books to see more of him. It's a shame such a great mentor character is packed into such a dense film but he makes the most of it.

So right after Traitor Mc traitorpants returns with two owletts, including Soren's sister. With the threat now clear and totally not a bad guy leading them back the guardians all head back. Soren WANTS to go to free his brother and get revenge but I like how Lyze handles it: he throws soren a weapon, a claw clove that both sides use as their weapon of choice, and not only does the boy not really manage to lift it but Lyze makes a VERY valid if , unsuprisingly, curt point: Soren is better off here watching his sister than dying needlessly as canon fodder.

Of course as I haven't remotely attempted to hide this is all a trap: an earlier scene showed ja'cuse leading two other owls and the other two were implicitly died at the end of that scene. Nyra just has him killed and the guardians are trapped in the magnet thing Thankfully Eglatine comes out of her moonblink int ime to tell the others she wasn't rescued.. they gave her to him, and our heroes head out. It's here where Twilight shows how awesome he is as , being the older and more experinced oneof the group he holds the fucking line while soren risks life and limb to save the guardians. IT's a really awesome sequence. Soren barely manages to save them, their gizzards fucked up by the machine thing but soon fine enough and our epic final battle ensues. I REALLY love how combat is done in this film: tense, brutal and entirely how an owl presumibly WOULD fight.

So while Lyze and Metal Beak scrap we get the REAL main event, the fight this whole film has built toward: Soren, on his way back from the trap vs an intercepting Klud. Soren is horrified to see what his brother's become and tries in vain to talk some sense into him leading to a tense heartbreaking battle that ends with Soren trying to save Klud's life.. only for Klud to pull a frieza (or anakin given all the fire and the fact that if the series had continued he'd likely be the new metal beak as he picked up the mantle in the books) and try to attack his brother rather than accept help and possible redemption. Klud falls into the flames, though given no body is found he's likely still out there.

Soren then joins the final battle, defeating metal beak in one of the weaker parts of the film. I mean thea ctual defeat, impaling the guy, is fucking horrifying and mostly accidental, and Soren's horror after as Lyze tries to assure him, knowing the boys first kill likely weighs on the poor kid despite being self defense, is well done. I just feel metal beak is only here in this film at all because they felt we needed a final boss.. depsite the fact Klud.. REALLY fits the bill better. We see metal beak once or twice scowling and grimacing and what not , but Kludd is the real emotinal throughline and his tragic turn from gruff owl teen to child soldier is fucking horrifying, while it was never in doubt Nyra was the true force behind both. Not having hER die or be truly defeated, as she retreats after her husband metal beak's death,makes sense as they wanted sequels. But you still coudl've had a final fight with her. I guess it's a reason fo rher to retreat but it just dosen't quite land for me. The ending dosen't either as it's all happy and joyful and I like PARTS OF IT, I like sorent elling his tale to new owlets, just as his father had done for him.. but it feels a bit .. happy given Soren just had to kill for the first time and his brother is either dead or out for his blood. HORAY WE'RE ALL SAFE NO WORRIES EVEN THOUGH EVIL IS OUT THERE AND SOREN JUST KILLED AN OWL. YAYYY.

Overall Legend of the Guardians.. is good. It's not amazing, it has the bits I mentioned holding it back, trying to do way too much in one film instead of pacing itself, which CAN work (see scott pilgrim vs the world which while not a perfecta daptation is still pretty great), it just dosen't for an epic fantasy like this where details are important and build up is key. But there's enough great character stuff, breathtaking animation and top notch voice acting to make the film still a joy to watch and an underated classic. It's the best Zack Snyder film i've seen, and while granted that's a small pool (I've seen watchmen, man of steel , batman v superman and the theatrical cut of justice league) where two of them are infamously terrible and one is just.. eh, it's still a really fantastic film that shows off the man's talent. It makes me optimstic for his film Rebel Moon this year.

For now thought his was a treat. Thanks for reading.

#zack snyder #legend of the guardians the owls of ga'houl #legend of the guardians #jim sturgess #helen mirren #animal logic #Geoffrey rush #sam neil

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steampunkforever · 9 months

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I didn’t put this in my filmpost analysis of Barbie because my initial analysis of any film usually ignores the content of the political intent in favor of analyzing how well it pulls it off (top gun as a solid sequel but forgettable rather than “this movie calls for war with Iran”) and also because Barbie was already set to be a culture war subject and that’s not helpful to cinema analysis

Yet I was having a conversation on the reductive positions in Barbie and basically stated “this rhetoric is Ten years old Twitter discourse” to which it was argued that “we couldn’t have gotten such a message ten years ago. I’m glad we got this today” and I disagree because did get that message ten years ago, we can do better than the surface level criticism that Barbie offers, And we should expect better out of a writing team like Gerwig and Baumbach.

One thing that stuck out to me was Barbie’s portrayal of the Patriarchy and how it really didn’t suck, other than the Barbies somehow choosing servitude.

Outside of the implications that these previously strong independent Barbies have so few ideological convictions that the Ken servant class can just present the works of male thinkers to them and the Barbies will abdicate the throne, there’s the fact that there didn’t seem to be any coercion involved in the Kens seizing the means of production. There didn’t seem to be really that much oppression in the Ken patriarchy. It seems like more people were actively unhappy under the Barbie administration, which puts Kendom up there next to the USSR (and equates Kate McKinnon’s character to polish freedom fighters betrayed at every turn)

In fact, the movie presents patriarchy as pretty cool. Patriarchy is when The Godfather Movie. Patriarchy is when the homogenous pastel 60s neighborhood is subverted by alternative aesthetics. Patriarchy is when Zack Snyder’s artistic right to a directors cut is respected by the studios. Patriarchy is when men enjoy things? Patriarchy is when not pink.

I think this is partially why Barbie falls through at the end. The mom in the film gives the contractual “this is what it’s like to be a woman” speech (why do the Kens get their ideology from books while the Barbies get theirs from emotion? We don’t unpack that), and then the Barbies go about restoring the status quo, without exploiting anything wrong with the patriarchy. The end of the film is wholly unsatisfying because the Kens can’t be punished for any infractions because they didn’t commit the kind of violence needed to establish real patriarchy.

Ken doesn’t even say sorry, and while the film is probably making a point about how men don’t apologize (tired rhetoric), it’s worth pointing out that he doesn’t need to say sorry for proletarian ambition.

As I finished out the film I couldn’t help feel unsatisfied with the lack or redemption, punishment, or any sort of meaningful commentary on the greater events of a film that said a lot of stuff about feminism but didn’t finish its thoughts on the subject, like a call of duty game showing you war crimes but never following through with critique or analysis.

I enjoyed the film and it certainly met expectations, but an emotionally impactful end montage doesn’t erase what they did to magic earring Ken!

#barbie

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soyouareandrewdobson · 8 months

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Dawn of Justice: A pointless comic to a rather pointless movie

I really don’t have much of an idea for an introduction here, so let me just hand you the comic and then explain why it is rather dumb.

The comic in question came out sometime in late 2015 or early 2016, certainly BEFORE the movie “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” had come out in March of 2016.

Now let me just say this: I am not a fan of that movie really. Frankly, Warner’s approach of creating a cinematic universe/franchise for DC akin to the MCU, has in my opinion always been a bit of a tonal trainwreck, starting with Man of Steel itself. Mind you, I have nothing against the actors involved in it, but I thought for a first “outing” for Superman it was a bit too heavy on the last act level of destruction and trying to emulate overall a tone more akin to “Batman Begins”. As for “Dawn of Justice”, I hated the way Lex Luthor was portrayed in it more like a knock off ginger version of Joker and it was silly in my opinion, how they already, in their second major outing for the DCEU, made a vs crossover movie with Batman and Superman, even though not really anything was much established of the cinematic world it was set in. To me it was already just in concept the equivalent of jumping from “Iron Man” in 2008, to “Age of Ultron” without the movies inbetween narratively.

That said, I do not hate the movie and if you find enjoyment in it, fine with me. I am at best indifferent, at worst I think we should look at it, see what worked and what didn’t, and learn from it for a future take on the idea, once the superhero boom and fatigue has ceased.

Somehow, that makes me however already more stable in mind than others, who hate the movie with a passion that’s ridiculous. At least moviebob should reevaluate his life, when he thinks his greatest achievement (or one of them) is to talk for over 4 hours how much the movie sucks, believing by doing so he has shown Warner Bros how much of a smarty pants he is. Even though by doing so, he spend more time talking about it than the movie runs, even in the director's cut.

As for this comic… it is to me just reactional garbage like a lot of stuff Dobson did once he heard something “awful” in regard of entertainment he didn’t even care much for. Like how he thought the Mario movie will be a disaster, cause Illumination was animating it

Now to be fair, he wasn’t entirely wrong to react worried, as the movie was not that good. However, his very first reaction to the trailer alone (which he posted on twitter) is telling you already more about how he really feels and is just utterly dismissive of it, without outright saying it.

Yeah Dobson, Dark Knight Returns is not necessarily my favorite Batman comic of all time either, but even with Miller turning out not quite right in the last 15+ years, you have no right to really treat it like it has no value at all in the field of comics, as even your beloved Batman: The Animated Series took in part inspiration from it.

It is however his second tweet I could find about it, that kinda makes me chuckle

After all, it is essentially the very same thing/opinion he lets say the older man in the picture state about Superman and Batman, and how preposterous the idea of them fighting against each other would be, seeing how they are SUPERFRIENDS.

Which brings me back to the comic in itself and me actually wanting to explain, why it is kinda dumb in proper detail.

First, as stated before, it came out way before the movie even got released. So aside of some poster design that he could copy paste into it and some trailer material he had seen to make up his mind, Dobson had nothing to judge the product by. And I genuinely doubt he ever even bothered to look into it and judge it then based on the actual merit of quality or lack thereof. As long as he could rage about Zack Snyder and Snyderbros being neo nazis or whatever years later, why bother as a cartoonist and critic of nerd culture, to actually talk about a superhero movie. After all, he also never played a Metal Gear game, and that makes him still an expert on Kojima.

Second, the “generational gap” Dobson tries to show here is ridiculous. The “young” comic book fan -likely to be in his twenties, even though he looks older- actually being hyped for it, seemingly because he craves the violence of such a movie. As indicated by making a claw with his hand, having a facial expression that indicates less geek out and more “bloodthirst” as well as how he emphasizes the “Dawn of Justice” in a format that is normally saved for slasher movie titles like “Friday the 13: The Bloodbath at Menarche Lake”.

For fucks sake, Dobson comes off like some old geezer shouting at the clouds how the “younger” generation is craving for blood instead of a decent plot, even though many people younger than him at the time (quick reminder: Dobson was only around 33 to 34 years old when that comic came out) also had a problem with how that movie looked as well as its tone.

Also, the second person who is actually opposed of the idea of them fighting/ is confused about it, trying to portray the other age group, supposedly opposed to the concept of the movie? That character looks like he is in his late 50s. And I can tell you of actual experience, not many people in that age group would even care for superhero movies anyway. They have other things to worry about, like actually being responsible adults and getting their kids through college.

Okay, I apologize if that was rather insulting to some, but let us be real here: Most people at that age are not necessarily into comics anymore as an age group of 20-30 somethings in the 2010s would be And those that still are, would likely not act this confused at the idea, because with all the stuff that has been going on in DC comics within the last 30-40 years, this would likely just make them roll their eyes and think “aww shit, we go the vs route first” or be slightly intrigued if they can pull it off or not. After all, Superman and Batman/ Clark and Bruce may be friends, but that hasn't stopped people from writing stories where the two had to fight against each other. Just ask the people familiar with Injustice.

Really, the only reason we have that early retirement citizen look at the poster in confusion, is because Dobson needed someone to represent him and his opinion. And to be honest, the fact that Dobson, someone in his late 30s at this point identifies more with someone 15+ years his senior, is kinda weird. Like, is Dobson that old fashioned? Or did the years already have a bad effect at his looks and in real life he looked more to that, then he would ever admit?

Anyway, it just stinks of creating some sort of schism between generations, by insinuating that the younger generation is essentially bloodthirsty, while an older one would love something more positive. Which frankly, is dumb to assume, as age does not necessarily account for taste in some cases.

Honestly though, the funniest aspect of the comic for me however, is the way it is structured. Cause it reminds me of that pile of trash

And yeah, I know that Stan Kelly is meant to be a joke by the Onion about political comic artists in newspapers, but I honestly think those joke comics are to a degree so accurate to the mindset of some people on either side of the political spectrum, it hurts. And in regard of Dobson… well, Kelly is a joke. Dobson is the real deal.

Finally, like with many of his comics, Dobson likes to complain, but he does not really “offer” an alternative. Neither did he in comments or on twitter. And what alternative am I talking about?

Well, simple: If he thinks Dawn of Justice will suck cause he wants something more child friendly and comic like…

youtube

Why doesn’t he just recommend for others the animated movie “The Batman/Superman Movie: Worlds Finest” from 1997, based on the Superman and the Batman Animated Series of the 90s, on which later the JLA cartoon based its design and style?

Oh right! Because a Dobson only wants to complain but never help improve the status quo

#adobsonartwork #superman #batman #syac #so you are a cartoonist #tom preston #andrew dobson #review #dawn of justice #dceu #Youtube

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