#once upon a time review

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 4x06 "Family Business" Review

We learn a little more about the Snow Queen’s plans and about her past with Emma. And apparently Belle and Anna knew each other but Belle has kept it a secret from Elsa because she’s ashamed that she wanted her memories more than saving a girl she’d just met. So apparently shame is a big deterrent in not helping save Anna this time too. 

Summary: The Snow Queen leads our heroes on a chase so they can see that she actually cared for Emma at one point. In the past, Belle can’t remember how her mother died in an Ogre attack, so she goes to Arendelle to visit the Rock Trolls and meets Princess Anna who is looking for information on her Aunt Ingrid.

Opening: Ice Cream Truck

New Characters:

Belle’s Mother (Colette): First off, I really thought Belle’s mother would get more air time in this episode, considering she’s played by Frances O’Connor (known for Mansfield Park, AI, The Importance of Being Earnest), but alas, she’s killed off pretty quickly. We do see where Belle gets her love of reading from, as they both try to get priceless books out of the library before the Ogre attacks them. They end up hiding under a table, and I’m confused about how he finds them. Does he hear them, because it was established that Ogres were blind back in Lady of the Lake. However he figured out where they were, Colette does not end up making it through the attack.

Character Observations:

Belle: In the past, Belle and her mother are attacked in their library by an Ogre. I get that there are priceless books in there (or in Belle’s case, the book that she remembers her mother first reading to her), but Ogres are attacking. You can come back for the books once they leave! Belle and her mother get trapped under a table and the last thing Belle remembers is the Ogre lifting the table off them and yelling in their faces. Belle awakens to find her mother is dead and she can’t remember how she died (I’m guessing an Ogre killed her). Belle is insistent in trying to recover her memories, but her father doesn’t think that’s a good idea. She tells him about magical beings who can restore memories, but he brings up the whole ‘All magic comes with a price’ line and tells her she is not to leave. Belle makes up her mind to go to Arendelle anyway, where she meets Anna at Oaken’s. Anna also happens to be going to see the Rock Trolls, so they decide to go together. They discuss the fact that they both lost their mothers, and when Anna slips trying to get up the mountain, Belle discovers the hat box (that she stole from Rumple in The Apprentice). Anna won’t give much away to Belle about the evil wizard she stole it from, just tells her she hopes she never meets him. Well, Anna, maybe if you’d given Belle a hint, she wouldn’t be married to him now! Somehow, despite the fact that they could barely make it up the first rock, they get to the top to the Rock Trolls. Grand Pabbie pulls the memory from Belle’s consciousness and puts it in a stone which he tells her to brew in tea at the place where she lost her memory (nice plot point so she can’t brew it right away), and when she drinks the tea she’ll remember what happened to her mother. On the way back down the mountain they get caught up in a storm. Anna is convinced it’s her Aunt Ingrid. When Belle asks what she’s going to do about it, Anna pulls out the hat box again and says she’s going to take her aunt’s magic. And that’s when a big gust of wind comes, knocking the memory stone out of Belle’s hand, and knocking Anna off the trail so she’s hanging off the edge of the mountain. Belle tries to go for the stone first, but it’s knocked off the edge and shatters. Then she tries to get Anna, but Anna falls. Belle witnesses the Snow Queen poof Anna away. Belle returns home and tells her father she didn’t find what she was looking for and her trip was a huge mistake. Maurice finally tells Belle what happened. That her mother stood in the path of the Ogre while the guards pulled Belle to safety, and her mother was killed before the guards could get back. Maurice tells her the war isn’t going well, and Belle suggests calling upon a powerful wizard she read about (not putting together that this might be the same wizard Anna was warning her about). Maurice knows who she is talking about and doesn’t want to call him, but Belle thinks it’s their only choice so they can win the war and so she can be a hero like her mother.

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, Belle is keeping a secret that she knew Anna back in their realm. Elsa wants to research Arendelle in the library with Belle, which is making her very uncomfortable. Elsa starts having a crisis of faith about finding Anna, but Belle tells her she will find Anna, but she looks very guilty about the whole thing. Belle decides the best thing to do is go to the Snow Queen’s hideout, and ‘commands’ Rumple to take her to her lair using the dagger. When they get there, Rumple tells Belle that the Snow Queen isn’t there, but she’s okay with that. She’s looking for the hat to strip someone of their powers! Too bad she doesn’t know Rumple hid it away at the shop, would’ve saved her a trip. Rumple wonders why Belle is helping a stranger. She gives him the excuse that a hero always helps people. She makes Rumple keep watch while she goes inside to look for the hat box. Instead, she hears someone calling for her from behind a covered mirror. When she takes the sheet off, it’s her reflection, but it tells her things she doesn’t want to hear. Basically, all her insecurities, like that Rumple doesn’t really trust her and he didn’t give her the real dagger (listen to the mirror, Belle). Rumple comes in, warning Bell they have to leave since the Snow Queen is coming. She lashes out and cuts him with the dagger before he poofs them back to the shop. Belle starts to believe what mirror Belle said about the dagger, since she had commanded Rumple to stay outside. He gets around that by saying she said to keep watch, and since the Snow Queen was coming back, he was allowed to go in and get her. Belle breaks down when she sees she has cut him and tells him all the awful things the mirror told her. Rumple assures her none of it is true. Belle confesses that Anna is missing because of her and feels guilty for using the dagger on Rumple. She doesn’t think she’s worthy of his love. Oh, lord, if only Belle knew how it’s Rumple who isn’t worthy of her love with all of his lies, manipulation, and deceit. She then spreads on the guilt even thicker by apologizing for keeping this secret, since she knows Rumple would never keep a secret from her. UGH! Belle finally confesses to Elsa about knowing Anna and how the Snow Queen captured her. Belle tells Emma, Elsa, and Killian about the mirror. Rumple has told her that it will be used for the Spell of Shattered Sight, turning the whole town on one another.

Emma: She shows everyone the video of the Snow Queen as her foster mother. Henry suggests looking for her ice cream truck to either find her or find clues. They end up finding it out by the Merry Men’s camp. Robin wants to talk to Regina, but she rebuffs him. Emma tells her she could have been nicer, but Regina tells her to stay out of it and is upset she has to deal with her and Killian making eyes at each other. Emma protests this, but then Killian definitely makes eyes at her. Once inside the truck, neither Regina nor Killian notice the lock on the freezer (how did these two last so long as villains when they don’t even notice details?). Killian uses his hook to break the lock and they find a file on Emma inside, starting from the article on how she was found on the side of the road. Emma looks through the file and discovers she stayed with the Snow Queen for six months, the longest she’d ever stayed anywhere. Killian asks if she’s okay, but she just tells him it was a long time ago, prompting a conversation about the fact that Killian was once a child about 200 years ago. Emma realizes that the Snow Queen has kept old art projects and essays and a card Emma wrote to her, and that someone doesn’t do that unless they care about you. They also discover a scroll with Arendelle writing on it. Back at the sheriff’s station, Elsa has discovered that the Snow Queen is her aunt. She and Emma look at the family tree and discover another sister that Killian thinks looks just like Emma (I really don’t see that except for the fact that she is blonde). Elsa sees the scroll and translates it. It basically says that Emma is the Savior and will become Ingrid’s (the Snow Queen) sister. Belle comes in letting them know about the mirror and the Shattered Sight spell, and Emma and Elsa figure out that they’ll be the only two left that aren’t affected so the Snow Queen can have her family.

Ingrid/The Snow Queen: Anna is introduced to Ingrid who let’s Anna know that the reason she doesn’t know her is because she was put in an urn by people who didn’t understand her. She shows Anna that she also has the same powers as Elsa and that it runs in the family. We don’t see Ingrid again until Anna is on her way back from the Rock Trolls. Ingrid creates a storm that results in Anna falling off a mountain. Ingrid steals the hat box from Anna before poofing them back to the castle. Ingrid has Anna locked in a cell in the dungeons of the castle. She accuses Anna of wanting to strip Elsa of her powers with the hat. Anna claims she wasn’t going to use it on Elsa, but that their parents were. Anna then reveals that the Rock Trolls told her she had another sister and Ingrid gets very angry. Anna asks what Ingrid wants. Ingrid says she wanted a family that would embrace her for who she was, but she doesn’t think Anna can be part of that family since she has nothing in common with her and Elsa. She will have to find someone else to take Anna’s place.

Rumple seeks out the Snow Queen and lets her know Emma is on to her. The Snow Queen tells him that Emma didn’t discover anything she didn’t want her to discover. She goes head to head with Rumple which is pretty fantastic. He doesn’t scare her like he does most others. She tells him to stay out of her way, Later, after Belle has glimpsed the mirror, Rumple comes back to confront the Snow Queen about it. They posture and threaten each other again: Rumple telling her she better now hurt anyone he loves with her plans and the Snow Queen claiming she can’t make any guarantees. Rumple shows her that he has the hat and the Snow Queen shows fear for the first time.

Anna: She comes back from Misthaven and lies to Elsa about what she’s found out. She notices there are no flurries or any of Elsa’s normal icy behaviors happening. Elsa excitedly introduces Anna to their Aunt Ingrid and Anna immediately goes into disbelieving mode. She immediately goes to Kristoff and tells him that she doesn’t trust Ingrid. She claims to be a good judge of character, but Kristoff calls her out on that as she almost married Hans after 10 minutes. Anna doesn’t understand why there isn’t any record of Ingrid anywhere, so she wants to visit the Rock Trolls to find out about her. She also tells Kristoff that she didn’t tell Elsa what she found out on her trip. Unfortunately, Ingrid has been listening to their conversation. Anna runs into Belle at Oaken’s and since they are going to the same place, invites her to come with her to visit the Rock Trolls. Anna asks Grand Pabbie about Ingrid and he tells her that her mother actually had two sisters, and they were quite close. But then one day Ingrid and their other sister, Helga, vanished, so the royal family asked the Rock Trolls to make everyone forget them. This makes Anna think Ingrid is a liar because she didn’t tell them about this (um, wasn’t she trapped in an urn until recently), and needs to get back to the castle fast. Ingrid causes a storm and imprisons Anna, telling her she can’t be part of their family because she is the outsider.

Questions:

Why are they wondering how the Snow Queen got to our world? My first thought would be a magic bean since we’ve seen them several times at this point. I know they were supposed to be gone, but that obviously wasn’t true.

What is up with Belle’s traveling outfit? It’s a short skirt that has that caveman-like cut and knee-high stockings! And it’s white! Plus she’s in full make up. 

Can someone please explain why Emma was moved around in foster care so much that six months was the longest she was anywhere? Isn’t the point of foster care to find a family to take them in so their life isn’t disrupted so much? No wonder Emma is the way she is if she was moved from family to family so much she couldn’t ever form any bonds.

Once again, what is up with Belle’s Storybrooke outfit? She’s going to infiltrate the Snow Queen’s lair in a short skirt and knee high boots (I mean, they are fur lined, but still)?

Ingrid told Anna she’d been trapped in an urn, so why would Anna think she knew anything about her family erasing everyone’s memories?

Who’s voice is coming from the mirror before Belle takes the cover off. It’s not speaking in Belle’s normal accent.

So, did Colette and Belle somehow get up when the Ogre pulled the table off of them? Maurice says her mother stood up to the Ogre, but they’d been lying under a table. 

Why was Belle so worried about the Ogres reaching the road? They’d already been to the castle.

Where did this prophecy come from? Most prophecies aren’t so literal.

Observations:

The first book Belle’s mother ever read to her was called Her Handsome Hero.

Belle is wearing her blue movie dress. We saw her wear this in Rumple’s castle in Skin Deep. I had assumed that it had been something Rumple had given her since she didn’t bring anything with her, but maybe Rumple magicked her belongings to the castle at some point.

If this were real life, Anna would be so dead, or at least have multiple broken bones after falling off the mountain.

Rumple looks into the Snow Queen’s mirror and nothing happens.

The Snow Queen’s plan to use a mirror for the Spell of Shattered Sight comes directly from the Hans Christian Anderson story The Snow Queen. Although it is not her mirror that shatters, but the devil’s mirror. Read the tale here.

The false eyelashes on Belle are over the top this episode.

Timeline Issues:

Emma says she’s 13, maybe 14 in the video, but it’s supposed to be 1998, and in the fall. Emma was born in 1983, so that would make her 15, maybe 14 if it’s still the beginning of October.

If Anna met Belle before Belle met Rumple, then how old must she be now? Belle lived with Rumple, probably for at least a year (despite the short time we saw in Skin Deep and Lacey), and then she went on the adventure with Mulan to find the Yaoguai in The Outsider, and then she was captured by the Evil Queen and imprisoned for about 2 ½ years according to the hash marks in her cell in that we saw in Queen of Hearts. We know Elsa was trapped in the urn (although we don’t know how), but it had to have happened before Snow and Charming met, as it came through the time portal with Emma and Killian during There’s No Place Like Home, and as we saw, Belle was still Rumplestiltskin’s maid at this time. Assuming Arendelle wasn’t part of the curse (which, it shouldn’t be since it wasn’t part of the Enchanted Forest), at least 35 years must have passed from what we just saw.

So the Snow Queen apparently cared about Emma, but what happened for Emma to leave and the Snow Queen make her forget? How did she get to our land if not by my theory of a magic bean? The Snow Queen is planning to tear the town apart just so she can get Emma and Elsa to become her sisters, and Rumple is being a conniving ass as usual.

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#once upon a time #once upon a time rewatch #once upon a time review #once upon a time 4x06 #once upon a time family business

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael After Midnight: The Films of Quentin Tarantino

There are few directors out there as ridiculously praised and extremely controversial as Quentin Tarantino. He’s done nothing his whole career but release films that garner critical acclaim and massive fanbases due to the stellar acting and writing within his films, but at the same time he’s been relentlessly criticized for his excessive use of racial slurs, his excessive homages to the point of plagiarism, and his habit of inserting his fetishes into every single one of his movies. What fetishes do I mean? Let’s just say his films have a lot of sole, and it would be no easy feet to go toe-to-toe with how in your face he is about what he likes.

While the man does have his problems (don’t get me started, I’m here to review movies, not gossip) and his style certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I’ve found myself enjoying his work a lot ever since I was a teenager, and his films are what pushed me into checking out a lot of more obscure films in the exploitation genre; in particular, I’m a pretty big fan of blaxploitation thanks to Tarantino’s work, and I doubt I would’ve ever checked it out if not for his constant homages. I can’t really hate a guy who helped make me aware of Pam Grier, can I?

What’s most impressive is that out of his ten films there’s not one I would say is genuinely “bad.” Sure, there’s at least one I think is a boring, middling affair, and there are a couple of heavily flawed but still solid films, but there isn’t a single awful movie in his filmography. That’s honestly pretty impressive, especially considering the sort of weird throwback films he makes. After finally sitting down and watching Once Upon a Time in Hollywood recently, I decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and do what was a long time coming on this blog: Review Tarantino’s movies. And then I just decided, hey, why not review them all at once, as an homage to Schafrillas Productions and his director rankings? Oho, see, I can homage things too!

To be clear here, I’m only reviewing the films Quentined and Tarantined by the man himself; the “Tarantinoverse” is a bit more expansive than his own filmography, as True Romance (which he wrote) is canon and Machete, Machete Kills, From Dusk Til Dawn, Hobo with a Shotgun, Planet Terror, Thanksgiving, and the Spy Kids movies are all part of the “show within a show” side of his world, but those are all topics for another time. Right now, it’s all Tarantino baby! Now let’s get on to the actual ranking, and pray that I don’t put a foot in my mouth with these opinions.

10. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

I feel pretty safe in calling this Tarantino’s worst film. It’s not necessarily awful or anything, it has good qualities to it, but it takes every problem Tarantino’s style has and cranks it up to 11.

The film is long and dialogue-heavy, with lots of that classic Tarantino writing, but while individual scenes are good such as when Leonardo DiCaprio’s character is filming a scene with a little girl or Brad Pitt’s character goes to the ranch the Manson Family are holed up at they never really feel like they congeal into a cohesive narrative, instead feeling more like a long string of vignettes. This is especially bad in regards to Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate, whose numerous scenes really add nothing to the movie but constant looming reminders that Helter Skelter is going to happen and lots of shots of Robbie’s feet. The excessively padded runtime is so bad that when you finally get to the part where the tables are turned on the Manson Family, a historical twist that should feel fun and cathartic, it comes off as too little, too late instead.

It’s really a shame the film is so meandering, because in almost every other aspect it really shines. Every actor is giving it their all; Pitt and DiCaprio are absolutely fantastic, Robbie brings charm even to her filler role, and every single bit part actor is fully committed and leaves a mark. Standouts include Dakota Fanning as the de facto head honcho of the Family when Manson is out and Mike Moh as Bruce Lee in a scene that is at once deeply disrespectful to one of history’s greatest action stars and also very funny. This is a film you can tell everyone involved gave a shit about.

But for me, it’s not enough for me to really love the film. I like a lot about the movie for sure, but I just hate how nothing ever really comes together in a satisfying way. Maybe if a bit of the fat was trimmed I would have a higher opinion of the movie, but as it is three hours of vignettes (even well-acted ones) is truly excessive. It’s mid at worst, but for Tarantino that’s still pretty shocking when everything else he’s done is above average at worst.

9. Death Proof

This is a truly underrated film, but frankly, it’s easy to see why it is that way. This half of the double feature that was Grindhouse is a throwback to films that were actually two movies spliced together, and it has all the issues that entails. The first half of the film is a more grounded, dialogue-heavy buildup to a terrifying conclusion, while the second half is a wild and crazy action and stunt showcase, and the two halves feel at odds with each other…which is by design, but still.

This might be a hot take, but I find the slow burning first half to be the superior part of the film. As much as I love Tarantino’s insane action films, Kurt Russell’s portrayal of the sinister Stuntman Mike is just just utterly gripping; he is easily one of the best villains in Tarantino’s filmography. The whole first half establishes him really well, building up the anxiety until he finally gets to show the girl he leaves with just how well he death proofed his car. He’s just so damn cool.

And then comes the second half where he’s reduced to a bit of a chump. And this probably wouldn’t be nearly as bad if the protagonists up against him were compelling, but they’re not. They’re a bunch of girls who are boring at best and relentlessly unpleasant at worst; the fact they leave behind one of their friends to an uncertain (but likely unpleasant) fate at the hands of a creepy redneck is especially appalling. Beatrix Kiddo they ain’t.

This is a wildly uneven film, so I can see why it didn’t find its audience right away, but I think these days it had garnered a minor cult following. If you can handle the flawed second half, this is still a really good movie with a captivating villain performance that more than makes up for its shortcomings, but I definitely can’t justify putting it any higher on this list.

8. Inglourious Basterds

Oh, this might be a controversial one. This movie is the same sort of beast as OUATIH, which is why I have it so low, but with one crucial difference: It does everything better. Yes, this movie is long and a bit meandering, but it always feels like it’s moving towards a final goal. Yes, it ends with a history-altering plot twist, but this one might be the most cathartic one of all time. And yes, there’s gratuitous feet shots, but at least they’re in plot-relevant scenes.

Of course, the best thing about the movie is the villain, Hans Landa. Christoph Waltz’s big American breakout is one of the most compelling villains of the 2010s, a charismatic, cunning, self-serving Nazi bastard who you really want to see get what’s coming to him. I might be inclined to call him the best Tarantino villain of all time.

I think what weirdly brings the film down is the titular Basterds themselves, and not because they ultimately feel superfluous to the plot; it’s the same sort of thing as Raiders of the Lost Ark, them being absent wouldn’t have changed much but we also wouldn’t have much of an exciting adventure. My issue is that Brad Pitt aside they are just not interesting or compelling at all. You really need to work hard to sell attempted filmmaker Eli Roth as the ultimate Jewish badass, and the film doesn’t really deliver. If only Adam Sandler took the role as was the original vision; we really were robbed. It’s all the worse because it cuts away from the actual compelling plot with Shosanna for these schmucks.

To be clear, I don’t think this is a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, but I find it falls short of the hype around it. I’ve seen it described as movie with a lot of great scenes that never really comes together to be a great movie, and I mostly agree with that assessment; there’s so much to love here, but also so much I don’t care about. It’s definitely worth watching but it’s also where you can see the seeds for the problems with OUATIH planted.

7. The Hateful Eight

This isn’t a Tarantino film held in a particularly high regard; it’s not exactly hated, but it’s not what anyone would call their favorite either. Its contentious nature boils down to something apparent right in the title: Every character in this movie is a fucking asshole. It can be genuinely hard to get invested in these people when they’re a big collection of liars, killers, sadists, criminals, racists, and rapists.

Now, if you can stomach these nasty characters, what you’re left with is “John Carpenter’s The Thing… but a Western!” And I have to admit as a huge fan of The Thing, this is a very solid reimagining of the concept in a grounded setting. I do wish there was any character to root for here, but watching a group of people slowly tearing each other apart in a claustrophobic, isolated setting is still fun to watch. I don’t think it’s nearly as good or insightful as Carpenter’s movie, but very few movies are.

This is definitely a movie I can see people hating more than the previous two films, but I feel like this movie is more consistent than Basterds or Death Proof. Those movies have higher highs, but this movie never hits the lows they do, and even if his character is a massive asshole Samuel L. Jackson is always great to see in a Tarantino flick. Plus that brief appearance from Channing Tatum is great, especially with how it ends. This is a very solid film, but “very solid” is about as high as the praise I’ll give it will get.

6. Reservoir Dogs

Tarantino’s directorial debut, and boy is that readily apparent. It does a good job at establishing hallmarks of his style, like the sorts of conversations his characters have, their love of racial slurs, non-linear storytelling, and his trend of casting himself as a douchey minor character. It does everything fairly well, and I’d go as far as to call it one of the best directorial debuts ever… and that’s about it, really.

Like this is a very good film with strong performances—Michael Madsen and Steve Buscemi being the standouts—but it definitely feels less refined than his later works with the same style. His sophomore film just completely blows this one out of the water, to the point it’s hard to muster up the interest to revisit this as opposed to watching Pulp Fiction for the hundredth time. It’s not that this film is bad; it’s just that Tarantino’s later films do what this one does better.

It’s definitely a good film, maybe even great, but there’s clear room to improve. Hell, there wasn’t a single shot of a woman’s feet in the whole movie! Tarantino was slacking.

5. Kill Bill: Vol. 2

Now we’re in to the really great movies. And yes, while it doesn’t keep up the energy of the first film, I would definitely call this a great movie.

Where the first volume was driven by action, this one is more driven by talking, and thankfully the characters are saying a lot of interesting things here (the standout being Bill’s media illiteracy in regards to Superman, which reveals a lot about his character). There’s also the reveal of Beatrix Kiddo’s name as well as her backstory, and there are some standout moments like Beatrix escaping from being buried alive and the tense final conversation with Bill. Overall, the film does a fantastic job at fleshing the story out and expanding our understanding of the characters.

Like I said, though, it just doesn’t keep up the energy of the first film. Budd is great and serves as a more psychological opponent, burying Beatrix alive as a way to test if she has the resolve to finish her quest for revenge, but both Elle and Bill himself are dealt with in a rather anti-climactic manner. It says a lot that O-Ren, one of Bill’s former lackeys, put up a grander and more impressive fight than her boss did. While I do appreciate the more philosophical approach, it’s hard not to be miffed when a duology called “Kill Bill” doesn’t kill Bill in a more grandiose way befitting the character.

Obviously, I don’t think it brings the film down much, and this is still a good conclusion to the story. I just can’t help but feel it could’ve amped things up just a bit, y’know?

4. Jackie Brown

This is probably the weirdest film in Tarantino’s filmography, being an adaptation of a book that lacks a lot of his usual style and features a lot of people he didn’t work with afterwards (like Robert De Niro and Pam Grier). This has led to a lot of people praising it as one of Tarantino’s best works for being unique among his oeuvre… and also a lot of people deriding it for how different it is from his usual style.

I definitely think it’s up there with his best works, but I don’t think it’s the absolute best. It’s sort of like how I see Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies; they’re great films (well, the first two anyway) but I can’t in good conscience hold them up as the best Batman media because they ultimately lack a lot of what makes me love Batman as a character. And this film lacks a lot of what makes me love a Tarantino movie; it’s a fantastic, realistic crime drama, but that’s not really what I’m watching Tarantino for, you know?

Still, its placement on this list should tell you I still see this as a must-watch. Starring Grier alone makes it worth checking out, and it definitely showcases Tarantino has far more range as a filmmaker than you’d expect.

3. Django Unchained

Right from the opening song, you can tell this is going to be an epic movie. Tarantino truly nailed the Western on his first go around, adding his own spin to the genre and making a truly stellar film. However, it’s not without a few issues.

The main cast is fantastic. We have Christoph Waltz as a noble and heroic abolitionist, an atypical role he pulls off flawlessly; Samuel L. Jackson as a sinister house slave who is all about licking the boot that treads on him; and of course Leonardo DiCaprio as a hammy, egotistical slave owner, a stellar villain role that should have nabbed him an Oscar. Even minor roles are great, with Don Johnson appearing as a plantation owner early on and Jonah Hill of all people popping up as a proto-Klansman.

You might notice I didn’t mention Jamie Foxx as the titular Django. That’s because, unfortunately, he’s a bit of an issue with the film. It’s not Foxx’s performance; he makes Django cool and likable, and his awesome trademark Tarantino roaring rampage of revenge in the third act sells him as a truly badass character. No, the issue is the narrative seems to seriously sideline him in favor of Waltz’s character, to the point for large swaths of the film he feels a bit like a side character in his own story. I don’t find it to be a huge issue, but it can be frustrating, especially since this is a very long movie and a few scenes drag on a bit longer than necessary. You really couldn’t give the title character a bit more to do until the last half hour, Quentin?

Still, I don’t think its issues hold it back all that much. This is an incredibly fantastic film whose highs easily overshadow its frustrating lows. Frankly, if any Tarantino movie deserves a sequel, it would be this one; I think Django has a lot of interesting stories in him, and a film where he actually gets to be the central character the whole time would be great.

2. Kill Bill: Vol. 1

This right here is pretty damn close to being my absolute favorite Tarantino film. Where something like OUATIH is all of Tarantino’s flaws compounded into one film, this is all of his strengths together in one film. Fantastically violent action, stellar casting with not a single weak performance, an awesome soundtrack, tons of great homages to the works that inspired it, non-linear storytelling used effectively, and more style in a single frame than some movies have in their entire runtime.

Frankly, I don’t have a lot of issues with the movie, though I kind of don’t like how all the action is front loaded while all the character insight and dialogue gets shoved into the second part. It’s nothing that makes me think less of either film, but I think maybe sprinkling more insight into who the Bride is in this movie and putting some more action in the second part would keep the sequel from feeling a bit anti-climactic. I also wish we got more of Vernita Green, the first assassin we see dispatched onscreen and the one who gets the least characterization; with a third film increasingly unlikely at this point, meaning we won’t ever see her daughter seek her vengeance, it’s a shame we don’t get at least a little more of a look into who she is as a person like we did with Budd and especially O-Ren.

Aside from that, though? This is Tarantino at his best, and Uma Thurman’s crowning achievement as an actress, one that cements her as action royalty alongside the greats like Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Weaver. There’s just one film Tarantino did that, objectively, is a much better film, and I’m sure as soon as you saw this ranking you knew exactly what it’d be...

1. Pulp Fiction

Of course this takes the top spot. Was there ever any doubt? This movie is everything Tarantino is about rolled into one supremely satisfying package.

The cast is nothing short of phenomenal. We have Bruce Willis in his prime, we’ve got John Travolta pulling out of a career slump, we’ve got Uma Thurman and Ving Rhames in roles that put them on the map, and we have a veritable buffet of talent in minor roles, the most memorable of which is Christopher Walken telling a child the delightful story of a pocket watch’s journey home from war. There’s not a bad performance here. But of course the real superstar is Samuel L. Jackson, who gave a career-defining performance as Jules, the baddest motherfucker around (it says so on his wallet).

The great performances wouldn’t matter much if not for the great script, though. The dialogue in this film is unreal with how good it is, with characters having very odd yet also very realistic and natural conversations. Jules and Vince discussing burgers, for instance, is one of the most memorable sequences in the film… and it’s just them driving! Some of the writing is a little contentious (did you really need to have your character say the N-word fifty times, Quentin?), but none of it is really bad.

I will say Tarantino as Jimmy is one of my few issues with the film, but also an issue I kind of like anyway. His acting is a wonky and there is genuinely no reason why he should be spouting off all these racial slurs (even in-universe, since his buddy Jules and his wife are black), but the sheer audacity of the whole thing saves it. Still, I can’t help but feel the scene hasn’t aged as gracefully as a lot of the film, and the amateur performance from Tarantino sticks out all the more because he is standing right next to two of the most talented actors ever.

Another aspect of the film I think has aged pretty poorly is the gay hillbilly rapists, but I don’t think this aspect is as cut and dry as “hey maybe the white director who has little acting training shouldn’t play the guy who says the N-word.” On the one hand, having the only queer characters in your movie being depraved rapists is not a good look, though this was par for the course for the 90s. On the other hand, the movie treats Marsellus getting raped with the same level of deadly seriousness that a woman in that position would receive in a film. That’s a pretty bold, progressive plot point, especially since men getting raped (especially male-on-male) was and still is used as a joke. And watching the movie in a day and age with tons of queer characters in media does soften the blow a bit, because these aren’t the only gay characters you’ll see in fiction anymore. I think it’s important to have discussions about these sorts of archaic portrayals of queers in film, but I don’t think this breaks the movie.

In modern times the film has gotten a reputation as a “red flag” film loved by toxic guys, and I think that’s unfair; is it the movie’s fault dudebros fail to see the movie is a refutation of crime and violence? Think about it: The only person in the film who gets an unambiguously happy ending is the one who has a spiritual awakening and abandons his criminal ways to walk the Earth. Every other major character pays in some way for their continued violent ways: Butch goes through Hell and ends up in exile, Marsellus Wallace gets raped, Mia overdoses and nearly dies, and Vince does die. Hell, there’s an entire segment where Jules and Vince are repeatedly chastised for careless violence causing a huge mess; as you may recall, Jules’ pal Jimmy was not too keen to find Phil LaMarr dead in his garage, and had some choice words to say about it. Stupid people see the blood and slurs and take it at face value, but the narrative itself tells these sorts they’re well and truly fucked because when you live by the sword, you die by the sword.

Of course, my favorite interpretation of the film is that it is espousing the belief that Beatles fans are superior to Elvis ones, as an extension of Mia’s comment in a deleted scene that you’re either an Elvis person or a Beatles person. Vince is clearly an Elvis guy, and he is presented as an unprofessional, careless buffoon who causes numerous issues and ends up dying due to his own inattentiveness; meanwhile, Jules is vaguely implied to be the proverbial “Beatles guy” (he calls the robber in the diner “Ringo”) and escapes the film unscathed. This is even funnier when you consider that one of Tarantino’s first onscreen roles was as an Elvis impersonator in Golden Girls, something that implies he might be an Elvis guy himself, which would make the film the most epic act of self-deprecation ever.

This is one of the greatest sophomore releases from a director ever, and one of the greatest films of the 90s. This film frequently finds its way to the top of “best films of all time” lists, and with good reason; it is, to this day, just that good. I think there’s a temptation to call any of his other films his magnum opus due to just how acclaimed and pervasive in pop culture this film is, but it got that way for a reason. It is a damn good crime story with all sorts of twists and turns and plenty of stuff for viewers to ruminate on and interpret as they please. Hell, I thought I liked Kill Bill more than it until I rewatched it, but boy does this just blow even that masterpiece out of the water.

If nothing else, the film is incredible for one simple reason: Tarantino managed to insert his foot fetish into the film without it feeling as needlessly gratuitous as it is in some later films! Bravo, Tarantino!

#Michael After Midnight #Review #movie review #Quentin Tarantino #Reservoir Dogs #Pulp Fiction #Jackie Brown #Kill Bill #Death Proof #The Hateful Eight #inglourious basterds #once upon a time... in hollywood #django unchained #action #crime #drama #exploitation #grindhouse #feet

[thethirdamell]

i just saw you updated accursed ones so im catching up and i just wanted to say i love how you write sign language

Thank you! I am glad it reads well. The signs used are ASL.

#ao reviews #ao review #vik answers things #i am not at all fluent #but I did use basic signs for work once upon a time

[smugraccoon137]

Okay but S2 Ep17 “Welcome to Storybrooke” is so fucking funny. Just Regina playing the same day over and over again for like a week. Until she’s like “This curse fuckin succkkksss”

Someone please introduce her to some antidepressants 

And then a real ass child shows up, sits in her favorite seat and won’t move. Insults her lasagna. And shes like “What is this beast? I want one”

She straight up sabotages their car repairs. And then tries to arrest the dad for drunk driving. And then issues a high speed chase after man dad and his son.

Before letting said child run free. Traumatized and alone into the wilderness cus “oh well I’ll just get the next one”

#Girl what did you do to dad guy? #did you just dissapear his ass? #Gotta love Regina 'I accidentally traumatize children in my sleep' Mills #Also this whole show wouldn't have any plot if storybrooke had just one real liscensed therapist #holy fuck #once upon a time #ouat #ouat rewatch #regina mills #text #textpost #episode review #thoughts

[pricelesscinemas]

#letterboxd #movie #movie review #movie reviews #movies #movie recommendation #movie recommendations #review #reviews #quentin tarantino #death proof #once upon a time in hollywood #ouatih #pulp fiction #inglourious basterds #kill bill #django unchained

[berlinbabylon]

i’m two thirds through s4 (finished ep 8 tonight, didn’t have time to watch when it was airing live) and... it’s kinda not very good :( there are some things that i love (abraham and his whole storyline, litten who i already loved in s3, some scenes here and there) but overall i’m not feeling it. i have a lot more thoughts but i’m just wondering what the consensus in the fandom is?

#babylon berlin #babylon berlin spoilers #s4 #i know i should finish the season before asking but i couldn't resist anymore #why are there so many uhm cringy scenes and dialogue #what's happening #all my conspiracy theories are coming true one by one but i can't be happy about it bc the writing is so lacklustre #once upon a time i thought this show would break the mold of german tv but it's been sliding right back into the fold #where the scripts are the weakest point of the whole production #some eps are better than others and it's not a total dud #but i'm so disappointed #esp since every review was hyping up the season as the best yet #and i'm someone who liked s3 just as much as s1/2 so i didn't expect the show to fall behind that? #they also got me all hyped up with the lubitsch and wilder inspo talk and it's been a massive overselling of what they're doing #like some of the whacky situations and charades are amusing but they have none of the refinement or wit of lubitsch and wilder #almost insulting to invoke them if this is what you're talking about #k that's my mini rant over :(

[criticalfilms]

Film Review: Why Millenials Didn't Like 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'

RATING: ★★★

As one of Tarantino’s last films before signing off for retirement, Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood should have been more well-received than it was. Trotting Quentin’s usual arrangement of cowboys, Nazis, and flamethrowers, for a 3-hour movie, it was pretty much completely devoid of a story. For instance, if you didn’t know who Sharon Tate was or the Manson Family, or about the Spahn Ranch, then this may have been the most nonsensical movie Quentin ever made. Alas, QT’s foot fetish is alive and well in this 2019 “classic,” bordering on making fun of himself and his older movies, as it tells the story of life in the 60s, Old Hollywood, and a sweet tale of friendship between characters Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth.

As others have already noted, this is a Nostalgia movie. Some would say you would have had to have lived in the 60s to really “get it,” but Quentin Tarantino has done a fantastic job of capturing the period for the ones who didn’t. From the bus stop ads to the music, sentimental shots of Cliff driving down Forest Lawn Drive, QT has captured the flavor of Los Angeles in its time. Unfortunately, apart from the scenic portrait and the odd joke here and there, this screenplay was bland and slightly boring throughout. Whatever happened to the enigmatic dialogue that Quentin used to write? You’ll have to hit pause an hour in just to stop and ask yourself, “Is anything going to happen?” And something does happen, it’s just a slow drive getting there.

One “Boomer” wrote:

“Really frustrating on Twitter reading a lot of the young people’s views on this movie. Most of them don’t get this movie because they are uninformed about history. They don’t know the background and story of the Charles Manson Family, Spahn Ranch, their connection to Sharon Tate and the location of where Sharon Tate lived which was the home of Terry Melcher prior to Sharon Tate living there. Terry Melcher was Doris Day’s son and he was a record producer who rejected Charles Manson’s music career aspirations. Charles Manson was looking for revenge and even though Melcher moved, Manson still hated the rich Hollywood elite and so he sent his family member’s there to kill everyone there anyhow. In this movie, Leo changed their target after he walked outside and confronted them while drunk and holding a blender!”

READ MORE...

#once upon a time in hollywood #margot robbie #charles manson #quentin tarantino #brad pitt #leonardo dicaprio #film review #comedy #action #thriller #2010s #oscars

[goawaywithjae]

This Sunday, “Past Lives” is up against films like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” at the Academy Awards. While I don’t think Celine Song’s extraordinary movie will win for Best Picture, I do think she has a great shot at earning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Of course, “Past Lives” is an American film set partially in South Korea and with half the dialogue in Korean.

But this got me thinking about some of my favorite Korean films (plus the superb U.S. film "Minari") that I wanted to share with you. (The anchor links will take you to each review if you don’t want to read them all. As always each film is rated on a scale of ☆ to ☆☆☆☆.)

° “Miss Granny” (수상한 그녀) ☆☆☆☆ ° “My Love, Don’t Cross That River” (님아, 그 강을 건너지 마오) ☆☆☆ ° “Once Upon a Time in High School” (말죽거리 잔혹사) ☆☆☆☆ ° “Parasite” (기생충) ☆☆☆☆ ° “Train to Busan” (부산행) ☆☆☆½ ° “The Way Home” (집으로) ☆☆☆ ° “Minari” ☆☆☆☆

#Past Lives #Minari #My Love Don't Cross That River #Once Upon A Time In High School #Parasite #Train to Busan #The Way Home #Korean films #Korean film reviews #I wrote this #Substack #Substack writer #Substack Newsletter #Miss Granny

[queenvreads]

REVIEW: Assistant To The Villain By Hannah Nicole Maehrer

4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

REALLY FUN!!

Evie is her family's breadwinner. Her father is ill with an untreatable illness plaguing her village, and its up to her to take care of him and her younger sister. One day after losing her job, she has an unexpected run in with the man who they call The Villain. He offers her a job as his assistant, and she accepts.

I had a really fun time reading this one. It was actually really funny and had a great cast of characters. The blurb wasn't lying when it said "Once Upon A Time meets The Office". I loved Kingsley the frog with the crown, his signs were HILARIOUS. "HALP" I loved it. The way they just casually spoke of severed heads hanging from the ceiling added to the humor.

Evie and The Villain had the BEST banter ever. She was absolutely hilarious. "Good morning sir. Would you like me to work around this gentleman? Or is this your subtle way of telling me you'd like this body moved to a more appropriate location?" LOL genius!

The romance was a very.. very.. slow burn.. But you could feel the tension between them. I loved everything about them together. I didnt realize that this was a 3 book series, so when the story ended on a cliffhanger I was relieved. I cant wait to read the next one!!

I guess the reason this was not a complete 5 stars was the twist & The Villain's origin story. Why he became who he is.. it just fell a little flat for me. I didnt see the twist coming, and I was thought it was an interesting turn of events. 😅

All in all, YES loved it. No regrets, I cant wait for the next one.

#assistant to the villain #villain #romance #once upon a time #the office #bookstagram #bookish #booktok #booklr #tiktok #books #book review #rom com #viral book #fairytale

[thatgeekwiththeclipons]

Happy 61st Birthday to Academy Award Winning writer, multi award winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino! ^__^

#geek #film #blog #happy birthday #filmmaker #pop culture icon #academy award winner #quentin tarantino #pulp fiction #reservoir dogs #jackie brown #kill bill #death proof #inglourious basterds #django unchained #the hateful eight #once upon a time in hollywood #true romance #natural born killers #from dusk till dawn #four rooms #geek with clip ons #i review stuff #irs

[azazel-dreams]

Doctor Who: Once upon a Time Lord (graphic novel)

Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤

#Doctor Who #Dr Who #Once upon a Time Lord #graphic novel #books #book reviews #book recommendations

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 4x05 "Breaking Glass" Review

I know, it’s been 84 years since my last review. I am hoping to get back on a schedule and get moving on season 4. This one introduces us to a friend Emma had for a hot second when she was about 15, and there’s no way this person could be of any importance in the future. Right?

Summary: Emma meets a fellow orphan as a kid and bonds with her. In Storybrooke, Emma keeps trying to repair her friendship with Regina, and Mary Margaret and David go out for the first time without baby Neal.

Opening: Ice Bridge

New Characters: 

Lily: We meet Lily in a grocery store where Emma is attempting to shoplift some PopTarts. Lily helps her out when she’s caught by the store manager by paying for them with a supposedly pilfered credit card. Once they’ve made their purchases, Lily has them outrun someone in a car who is after her, which becomes a kind of bonding experience between her and Emma. They have a picnic and Emma explains how she ran away after seeing a little girl in her group home get adopted (which we saw in Snow Drifts), and how she felt invisible. Lily sympathizes with her and Emma assumes she’s in a group home too and the man chasing her was from Social Services. Lily agrees that’s what’s going on, but you can tell that she’s lying by her hesitation. Lily points out that the houses across from the lake are empty now that summer is over, and suggests hanging out in one of them. They break in and play video games and then Emma notices a star-shaped birthmark on Lily’s wrist. Lily says she likes to pretend it makes her special like Harry Potter and Emma says it makes her one of a kind. Lily decides that Emma needs to be special too by putting a marker version of her birthmark on Emma’s wrist. Then Emma discovers a video camera and she and Lily make a little video of themselves. Lily then makes Emma promise they will stay friends no matter what, obviously thinking about when the truth comes out.

Later on, a man comes into the house after the girls have fallen asleep. Emma tells Lily to run and tells the man they won’t go back into the system, but it turns out he’s Lily’s father. Lily is crying, knowing that her lies have caught up with her. Once police have been called and Lily is in her father’s car, she tries to give Emma her information and explain herself. She is an orphan, she was just adopted, and she doesn't feel like it’s her home. She wants to run away with Emma. She reminds Emma she promised to be her friend no matter what. Emma refuses to take her info and Lily screams in betrayal as Emma walks off to social services and rubs the marker star birthmark off her wrist.

Character Observations:

Emma:

Past Emma feels she has found a kindred spirit in Lily, only to be betrayed by her lies when she finds out Lily has a family and is not a runaway orphan like she is.

In Storybrooke, Emma and Elsa are looking through files to see if there’s anything about Anna in them. Elsa wants to confront the Snow Queen head on, but Emma says they have to be careful as it’s obvious she took their memories and they don’t know why. Elsa comes across photo’s Sidney had taken of Emma from when she first came to town, and they discover photos of Emma and the Snow Queen in the ice cream shop. Emma decides she needs to find Sidney to ask him about the pictures and goes to Regina’s vault to do so. Emma tells Elsa how she and Regina hated each other when she first came, then amends it to them not mixing (no Emma, you were right the first time, she was trying to kill you, that’s hate), and Elsa points out they’ve come a long way, but Emma feels they’re right back where they started (well, Regina’s not trying to kill you this time, so it’s an improvement). Elsa thinks they can mend their friendship, but Emma says that once you screw someone over there’s no coming back (I think Regina would disagree as Mary Margaret and David seem to have forgiven her for the whole trying to kill them, cursing the whole town, and making their daughter grow up without them). Emma asks Regina about the pictures, but she just makes catty remarks. When Emma asks her about Sidney, she says she’s too busy trying to save Marian to help her find him. Emma then offers to help Regina with extra magic juice, say she has Regina’s back, but Regina makes it very clear that she doesn’t think Emma has ever had her back (and again, why should she? But apparently Emma thinks she did at some point).

Emma finds Elsa missing from her car and goes searching for her. She ends up meeting up with Regina who is looking for the Snow Queen’s lair. Regina makes more catty remarks, and they go off together (much to Regina’s chagrin) to find the Snow Queen. Regina keeps making remarks about Emma’s lack of magic knowledge and Emma says she learned better when Regina helped her, but Regina says she’s too busy right now to help her with her magic. Emma tries to appease Regina by complimenting her on helping to reverse Marian’s spell, but Regina just takes it as another ploy to try and win her over again. She tells Emma she won’t assuage her guilt and accuses Emma of ruining her life (even if it wasn’t intentional) and tells her to live with it. Biggest eye roll ever at Regina. And I don’t understand why Emma just stands there and takes this tongue lashing from Regina. Emma ruined Regina’s life? Well if she did, maybe it’s payback for Regina ruining hers. Regina has no right to complain to Emma about ruined lives (rant over)They find the ice bridge Elsa made earlier, but the Snow Queen attempts to stop them with very heavy winds. Emma realizes Regina lied to her about not knowing where Sidney was, and then the bridge begins to break. Emma and Regina run for it and make it to the other side just in time.

They then come upon an Ice Viking. They each try to kill it with magic, but it only works when they use their magic together. Then the Snow Queen appears, steals Regina’s compact mirror, and then starts magic choking both Regina and Emma. Luckily, Elsa has escaped the chains the Snow Queen put her in and saves them. The Snow Queen poofs away. Regina and Emma argue about Sidney being held captive in Regina’s mirror. Elsa tries to be the referee, but eventually Regina says she doesn’t want to make up with Emma and poofs away. Elsa once again reminds Emma that if you care for someone, you try to make things work.

This whole Emma and Regina forced friendship is really grating on me. There has really not been anything up to this point about them being friends. Regina helped Emma learn magic, they’ve worked together to be good moms to Henry, but it’s not like they were hanging out and having girl talk. They were never friends. Reluctant co-parents at the least, but not friends. Emma tracks Regina down in her vault and tells her the story of Lily and how she regretted not forgiving Lily and how she and Regina are the only ones who understand each other (why?). She just wanted Regina to be her friend. Even Regina is shocked at this (as is everyone else watching). Back at the Sheriff’s Station, Killian comes in while Emma is looking at a box of childhood memories. They find the video camera from Lily’s summer house (Lily’s dad let her keep that?), so they sit down to watch it. It’s a very cute moment where Emma puts Killian’s arm around her. They are so couply here. We see the video of her and Lily, but then the tape shows her at a foster home that Emma doesn’t remember, and her foster mother happens to be the Snow Queen!!

Regina: Ugh! I don’t even know where to start with Regina. She’s a raging bitch in this episode. She chides Sidney for his attitude towards her (well deserved) and then tasks him with finding the Snow Queen. Emma confronts her about the photos that Sidney took and Regina is as delightful as ever with her. Emma asks Regina if she knows where Sidney is, and she sidesteps the question by reminding her that she’s working on saving Marian and blames Emma for it, again. Emma offers to help Regina, but Regina rebuffs her. Sidney appears in the mirror, telling Regina he found the Snow Queen, but he won’t tell her where until she releases him from the mirror. Regina basically tells him that if he doesn’t help her, she’ll put him back in the cell at the hospital, so he decides his best option is to guide her to the Snow Queen’s lair.

Regina runs into Emma in the woods and is a bitch to her the whole time when Emma is explaining that Elsa ran off. Regina reluctantly lets Emma tag along. Emma starts asking Regina questions pertaining to the magic she is doing to find the Snow Queen, but Regina again rebuffs her and answers her with catty comments. Then Emma tries to be nice, telling Regina how admirable it is what she’s doing for Marian, but Regina isn’t having it. She keeps cutting Emma down and going off on her, and I get that Regina is angry. She is entitled to her feelings, but she’s making the situation out to be like Emma purposefully brought back Marian to hurt Regina, and that’s not what happened at all. Not to mention that Regina doesn’t even feel that this might be karma for all the terrible things she’s done to everyone else. But no, to Regina it’s all about her. For all the ‘growth’ that she’s had, she’s still exactly the same, just without the killing of everyone when she doesn’t get her way.

Regina and Emma end up on Elsa’s ice bridge when a fierce wind comes at them. Regina finally figures out that Sidney double crossed her and is working with the Snow Queen. Emma is pissed that Regina lied to her about knowing where Sidney was. And Sidney finally calls out Regina for the bitch that she is. Then they come upon the Ice Viking that the Snow Queen sent for them, and Regina is not too happy that it takes both her and Emma’s magic to defeat it. But before they can bask in their defeat of it, the Snow Queen arrives and takes Regina’s compact mirror. She also starts to choke them both when they start to argue with her, but Elsa saves them. The Snow Queen poofs off and Emma lays into Regina about the whole Sidney thing. Regina tells her why she put Sidney back in the mirror (originally to somehow kill Marian in the past) and then tells Emma that she doesn’t want to forgive her and poofs off as well. Regina is feeling sorry for herself back in her vault when Emma comes back, again. Emma tells her the story of Lily and says that Regina’s the only one who can understand her, and Regina starts looking sad or guilty, I don’t know, but eventually Emma says she thought they were friends, and Regina is surprised by this revelation (so are the rest of us).

Elsa: She is a world class idiot in this episode. While waiting in Emma’s car, she starts hearing Anna call to her, and why that isn’t suspicious right off the bat to her is baffling to me. I get that she’s desperate to find Anna, but does she really think Anna is just going to appear, calling her name and for help? And then Anna just turns and walks off in the opposite direction and Elsa doesn’t think this is odd in the slightest? Then Elsa sees Anna across a ravine calling for help, and instead of wondering how she got across the ravine, she creates an ice bridge so she can cross it. Elsa finally finds ‘Anna’, but it turns out it’s just an icey illusion that the Snow Queen built to lure Elsa to her (well, who didn’t see that coming, Elsa, that’s who). The Snow Queen conjures chains to tie Elsa to the ground, letting her know the more frightened she is the tighter they will get. After the Snow Queen leaves, Elsa struggles to get out of the chains, and luckily, she’s actually smart and calms herself down enough that she’s able to break the chains by letting go of her fear. Elsa then become quite confident when she blasts down the Snow Queen, saving Regina and Emma from being magically choked. The Snow Queen congratulates her on conquering her fear and poofs off. Elsa tries playing referee between Regina and Emma, but Regina’s not having it. Elsa later reminds Emma that if someone is important to you, you don’t give up on them. Blech.

Mary Margaret and David: Mary Margaret is nervous about leaving baby Neal alone, even if Belle is his babysitter. David tells Mary Margaret they need this time away. It’s just for an evening stroll, but that’s progress for Mary Margaret who doesn’t want to let baby Neal out of her sight. They head over to the sheriff’s station to grab some walkie talkies so Belle can communicate with them (they’re apparently hiking to an area with no cell reception), when David notices Will Scarlet is no longer locked in his cell. He decides he and Mary Margaret should have an adventure tracking down Will, just like old times (but without the Evil Queen on their trail). Mary Margaret does not seem thrilled about this. An hour later, Mary Margaret wants to go home. David decides to continue looking for Will, and apparently he is blind, because Mary Margaret spots him immediately, digging on the beach, right in the direction they were heading. She and Will have a hilarious conversation about how the map he needs to find his traveling sack happens to be in the traveling sack that he buried because he buried it when he was drunk. Mary Margaret convinces herself that David let Will go so she could track him down and feel more like herself. Will tries to convince her that’s not the case until she reveals she is the Mayor and pardons him. When David comes home, Mary Margaret commends him on the whole Will Scarlet plot, and tells him she feels more like herself again. David is happy for her, but tells her he had nothing to do with it. They don’t seem that worried about the whole affair, considering he was in jail for breaking into a library and passing out.

The Snow Queen: We see her raising something from ice with glowing eyes. We next see her when she has lured Elsa to her with the Anna ice illusion (the thing with glowing eyes at the beginning). She chains Elsa up and tells her the more frightened she is, the tighter the chains will be. Why do the villains always give away the secret to getting free? If Elsa hadn't known that, she might not have escaped. She goes on about how much fear Elsa has, how she had the chance to get rid of that fear once, but she squandered it (reference to their past?). She tells Elsa she just needs her out of the way for now, and then tells her she won’t tell her she’ll be okay, because she needs her to be frightened for the time being. She leaves, telling Elsa she’s going to build a snowman. Regina and Emma defeat her ‘snowman’. The Snow Queen steals Regina’s compact mirror (what she was apparently after the whole time), and then Elsa comes and saves them by blasting the Snow Queen. Instead of being angry, she applauds Elsa for getting over her fears and then poofs away.

Back at her lair, the Snow Queen frees Sidney from the mirror. Apparently, their deal was that he would serve her if she freed him, but she doesn’t need him, she just wanted the mirror because it is imbued with dark magic. Sidney asks what she’s planning, and she tells him to get what’s always been denied to her. Sidney asks what that is, but she won’t tell him. He is free to go. She does give him the advice to get a warm coat as it’s going to be getting cooler in Storybrooke. She then cracks the compact mirror and places the piece into her own cracked mirror, which then becomes whole and uncracked. She then reveals to the mirror that what she wants is a family that loves her. I think there may be an easier way to go about that Snow Queen.

Questions:

Wouldn’t it have been easier for Emma to try and hide the PopTarts in her backpack rather than in her jacket?

Why is the store manager so surprised that two teenage girls are in a grocery store without adults? It’s 1998, they’re both around 14/15 years old. This shouldn’t be such a weird thing.

So, knowing the man in the car is Lily’s dad later on, are we assuming she stole her dad’s credit card and he figured she’d be at the grocery store? Or had he given her his credit card to buy groceries and when he went to pick her up she started running and he went after her?

How is Elsa running through Storybrooke Wilderness Park in that dress, cape and heels with nary a tear or broken heel in sight?

Was Emma planning on erasing the video or taking the video camera with her? Because otherwise, there is video evidence of who broke into the house.

Had Emma’s superpower of detecting lies not kicked in at this point? How old was she when it did?

Why doesn’t Lily’s dad turn on the lights when he enters the house looking for Lily? Why is he using a flashlight?

Observations:

Emma looks pretty good for being a runaway. Clean clothes, hair styled. Unless she’s only been on the run for a day or two, she should be much more dirty looking.

Emma meets Lily in 1998. Lily points out it is fall when talking about the lake houses being empty, which would make Emma 15 or close to it (depending on when in the fall it is).

Lily mentions her birthmark making her feel like Harry Potter. Only Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets had been released by the fall of 1998.

David mentions falling through a portal to Asgard. He played one of Thor’s friends in the first MCU Thor movie, which takes place in Asgard.

Considering Mary Margaret and David were supposed to be going hiking, Mary Margaret is not wearing hiking boots or any type of shoe conducive to hiking.

Mary Margaret’s pattern on her shirt looks very similar to the pattern on Emma’s shirt that she wore in New York Serenade.

Regina is still calling Emma, Swan, instead of Miss Swan.

It looks like they filmed the Snow Queen getting up off the ground in reverse. It’s very stilted and just looks weird.

Things we see in Emma’s memory box: Emma’s black glasses, mood ring, Polaroid of Emma and Neal, Emma’s baby blanket, the video camera.

Names:

Lilith: Means of the night. Lilith is also considered either a villain or a heroine in Jewish lore, depending on which myth you look at. She is the first woman before Eve, made from the ground instead of from Adam’s rib, and thrown out of Eden for not submitting to Adam (heroine). In some lore she becomes a demon and was blamed for making babies die (villain).

This is not one of the better episodes this season. Regina is too bitchy, Emma is too needy, Elsa is too stupid, and the Snow Queen’s grand plan is to give her the family she deserves (whatever that means). At least Sidney is now free of Regina (let’s hope he stays far away from her so that she doesn’t put him back in the mirror), and Mary Margaret is feeling less postpartum depression and more like her old self. And the discovery that the Snow Queen was once Emma’s foster mother was a huge surprise.

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Please leave comments and reblog! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future reviews.

@searchingwardrobes @thisonesatellite @justbecauseyoubelievesomething @laschatzi @wistfulcynic​ @mariakov81 @lfh1226-linda

#once upon a time rewatch #once upon a time review #once upon a time #Once upon a time 4x05 #Once upon a time breaking glass

[vasfasan]

fuck it, i'm in my season 5 era *stops going to the barber*

#last time the barber gave me a prison cut #WHICH WASNT WHAT I ASKED FOR #so i think I am a little bit afraid of old men with clippers now #not to be ageist or anything #but his hands were literally trembling #i showed him a picture OF A FRENCH CROP #AND HE BUZZED MY FUCKING FRINGE #It's been a month and I'm still angry #I'm never going back there obvsly #even left a bad google review and everything which I never do #anyway ima keep growing them out until the fall term starts #and after that we'll see #once upon a time #ouat #ouat season 5 #ouat s5

[dragonflyable]

Is this a fairytale worth watching?

"The School for Good and Evil" battles itself.

Now I didn’t read the books, so I don’t know how faithful they were while making this. I understand that books and films are different mediums so I’m not one to say which is better too often. But I do have a general idea of what the books are about and the spirit behind them.

That said, when I watched this movie I wasn’t always sure what they were going for when it comes to the story. Like, they wanted to do their own thing, but they also wanted to do what is popular at the time.

This is one of those movies that I think would have worked better as a tv series. There are plot elements and themes that aren’t fully explored and sometimes things are just “explained” to move the story forward. I think this would have worked better if they had more time.

This movie does have a great atmosphere. The designs of schools, costumes and magic effects… You really feel like you’re watching a fairytale.

The actors also do a great job. While most characters aren’t all as fleshed out as they could be, they are still memorable because of the actors. I especially love the Deans Lesso and Dovey and their moments together.

In conclusion, It’s a fun flick if you’re a fan of fantasy and fairytales who’s looking for something to pass the time, just don’t expect anything too grand or groundbreaking.

If they make a sequel, I will watch it but I don’t think this will be another “Once Upon a Time” series. Maybe I should just read the books...

#the school for good and evil #netflix #review #fantasy #fairytale #lady lesso #professor devoy #devoy #Kerry Washington #Charlize Theron #Sophia Anne Caruso #Sofia Wylie #once upon a time #sge #sge movie #agatha of woods beyond #sophie of woods beyond

[unnecessarilygrandiose]

randomly remembered the fandom wide disappointment after mister impossible came out and started laughing bc what was that even about. every single post i saw from somebody who didn't like the book was like 'but what about adam' and don't get me wrong i love adam he's my favourite but also why did people expect him to be there? he is not the main character of the trilogy. ronan and hennessy are. but then again there were also some people on the other end of the spectrum who were like 'oh but the book totally sufered middle book syndrome and the plot didn't progress at all in a meaningful way, adam's two minute appearance was the only saving grace' and my dudes. my guys. what

#it's genuinely wild to think that once upon a time adam was a hated enough character #that mstief saw opinions like 'ronan deserved better' when trk came out #and now he's become The Blorbo™. yknow. he's become That character #the most popular one who gets mischaracterised to the point of being unrecognisable #and luckily the parts of the fandom i engage with don't do that which is fun for me #but when books came out i inevitably ended up engaging with the not-so-great parts of fandom and uh. it's amazing how a series #where adam Wasn't the main character somehow ended up being about him. at least acc to some parts of the fandom lol #honestly i only realise the extent to which people were disapopointed with mi in retrospect #i had seen unfavourable posts and reviews but i loved it and everyone i followed loved it #and i assumed it was mostly a success #which it Was but apparently not As much as i thought #because apparently the wider fandom like greywaren more??? wild to me

[invisiblegarters]

So my inexplicably intense adoration for Between Us combined with not really feeling too many other dramas at the moment the same way means I’m going through withdrawals, and I figured what better way to mitigate the problem then search out the other things that I know that Boun and Prem have done together so that at least I can see if their chemistry was something I’m really into or just a fluke of circumstance (hey, that happens. Sometimes you just get hit with something at the exact right time and then later you watch something else with the same people and you’re like, huh. Okay, those are definitely two people aren’t they).

So there were two things on my radar, because I just won’t watch UWMA. And with my usual ability for restraint, I barreled through both in about...a day? A day and a half? ish. Don’t be too impressed. They were both fairly short and I had time on my hands; it wasn’t a feat. 

Anyway, without further ado, thoughts:

7 Project - Once Upon a Time

I quite liked it, actually. They did what they could with the time constraints, and though I wish that the reunion had been more than what it was it still worked. And I thought that Prem especially shined in this. He was given the real meat of the story, actually, and he did very well with it. From the first moment that you learn what the main conflict is between Mek and Balloon you know exactly where it’s heading, and you can only watch them head towards the inevitable crash with sympathy. Relationships that you can’t be open about are hard regardless, but when one of you wants to be they tend to breed resentment. 

I actually kind of wish that the reveal that Mek had seen Balloon struggling and presumably decided to end it after that hadn’t happened, though. I’m sure I wasn’t getting all of the nuance here but it felt a little too good, like he was sacrificing his happiness to make things easier on Balloon, and I’ll be honest, I’d have preferred a more selfish reason. I don’t know, I guess I just wanted more, but as I said it did okay with the time they had. 

Even Sun

This one. What a mess of a drama. 

I didn’t dislike it as much as some - in the end I think I gave it a rating of 7, and that was because I had fun in spite of the mess (not a good mess) and laughed a bit, and also because I actually really enjoyed the antagonistic thing that Arthit and Sun had going on. The romance was rushed though. They could have cut out most of the dad stuff and taken a little more time with it. Or have the whole servant thing start even an episode or two earlier, with all the forced proximity (and the handcuffs). 

There was so much wasted potential here, and that annoys me. I can see the bones of what could have actually been a good show, and it frustrates me because all they really had to do was start the forced cohabitation and debt repayment shenanigans early and let Boun and Prem’s chemistry do the rest. As it was I’m not entirely sure why Sun even liked Arthit, except that he is very pretty.  As for Arthit’s interest in Sun, well, even ignoring the knew each other as kids bit (which they really should have dropped if they weren’t going to do anything with it, like so much of this drama), if Arthit was stalking Sun around the island whenever he wasn’t telling him to gtfo it makes a weird sort of sense to me, because somehow I came out of this smitten with the day glo haired dumbass too. 

No really I adore him. 

I don’t even think that they needed to have more episodes. I just think that they needed to cut out some of the filler. 

The second couple actually worked for me better. They had a coherent arc that wasn’t too bogged down by all the extras the same way the main plot was, and while they didn’t get a lot of screentime you could follow the trajectory of their relationship easily. 

Mouthy Lawyer Friend was cute. Baby Bro was adorable. Scammer friend was there. And they should have cut out Cutest Baby Bro’s whole boyfriend drama, because it added literally nothing to the plot in the end, and also the gag at the end was stupid. 

Not!Bee kept making me laugh. I’m sorry I don’t know what it is but I just couldn’t take him seriously as a hard ass debt collector. He looks 12 and actually less intimidating than the actual 12-year-olds I know. I liked him a lot better when he softened up. 

Things I liked: Sun, the BFF back home, every time Sun and Arthit interacted, the handcuffs and bed sharing. Episode 6 almost in its entirety, although it felt like the end to a better show. The island. That place was gorgeous. I would gladly be some random set person on that drama just to get a chance to be on that island. Sun asking Arthit how much he’d have to borrow from him so that he would never have to leave (yes that’s ep 6 but it was a good little scene). 

It also introduced me to my new favorite song:

The version in the drama is slower, but I think I like this one better. 

I can’t say that either of these filled the hole Between Us left (probably I’ll just cave and rewatch it, then probably do the same again until the fixation lands somewhere else), but at least now I know that I do like this pair, and if they do something else together I will definitely check it out. Hopefully they’ll get something good, I feel like they’ve been let down by bad writing more often than not.

#between us #7 project once upon a time #even sun #drama reviews #adventures in pair branding