ranjit's actor's monologue about the war was incredible tbh
an expected ending given the (very, very loosely followed) source material, but good. i get why this role messed with tom holland so much and that's the main reason i don't mind how much they changed for the series; i don't think the reality would've been easier on an actor. he also brought a believability to the diagnosis which is still disputed to this day. (i do think it's a valid disorder in rare cases of severe childhood abuse given its history, but boy is there also some bullshit out there.)
i also really appreciate the ending for how they had rya talk about the balance of the closeness of the therapist–patient relationship and the importance of not holding onto it when it's reached an end, for either side. this was a pretty good representation of therapy, and i've seen some shitty and irresponsible characterizations of it, so that matters to me.
for being a directorial debut (on the part of an incredibly talented woman to be fair) this was really solid. i think a lot of people might be unhappy with the unanswered aspects of it, or the lack of clarity or even the decision to film it in black and white and its aspect ratio. however, all of these work together to emphasize the nebulous gray area that being white-passing puts you in. it makes sense given hall's own experiences with racial identity.
(if you're like me and didn't know much about her beyond being a great but very british actor: her mother is originally from michigan and her grandfather was a man of color passing as white during his own time, presumed to be african-american and of native american descent.)
i think this was written well, directed well, and acted well. the source material is also worth a read. however, i'm white-passing myself (south asian, not bipoc) and i do think that my own experiences are part of why i found the lack of clarity and how much of this movie is open to interpretation to be part of what worked for it.
gonna watch this just to spite the angry white man in the comments who's upset about black people and gay shit being on tv
my opinions of candy are complicated and conflicting so instead i just want to say tom holland didn't have a word of dialogue in this episode and he still devastated me in that courtroom
LMAO WAIT IM SORRY, DETECTIVE MUSTARD SAID WHAT ABOUT WOMEN???????
still havent read the books but tbh jason mantzoukas as a cranky sober dionysus is inspired either way
every episode's cliffhanger makes me suffer more than the last one what the HELL
the '94 animated classic was the first movie i ever saw in theaters, so i went in with an open mind and open heart; nostalgia was on my side but i knew nothing would replace the lion king that i grew up with. i was so excited for this movie, but not nearly as much for the fact that it's the lion king as the fact that it's a complete masterpiece that showcases how far we've come with digital effects and animation. i spent the entire movie constantly amazed by how real everything felt; i mean there were talking animals and the movement of the mouths felt as convincing as the rendering of waterfalls and the sand dunes under simba's feet.
did i miss the full be prepared song? sure. was i disappointed that the hyenas didn't giggle and stage whisper 'mufasa' to each other before the song hit? duh. but there were things in this movie that the original didn't have, and they worked. donald glover and beyonce duetting together was as bizarrely perfect as you could imagine it to be. seeing the aftermath of simba running away after the stampede is heartbreaking on a whole different level when you're an adult, and not a little kid. this scar is genuinely upsetting on a level that the original never quite was, most likely because he was less stylized and more gritty. the hyenas weren't quite as much a source of comedic relief but i definitely lost it when azizi called the cubs "a midnight snack". also, keegan michael key as a neurotic hyena who just wants his personal space? nothing has ever been more perfectly cast in the history of disney.
everyone cast in this version did the characters justice, and then some. but i think the accolades for this movie should absolutely go to the animators and effects artists; they brought real, genuine emotion and life to the eyes of completely digital animals, ones who weren't meant to be seen as cartoons or parodies of the real things. they made this movie feel so natural and authentic that you could start to believe you were watching a nature documentary - at least until zazu or timon come screaming across the screen anyway.
watch this first and foremost for the incredible graphics, and then for the cast that stayed faithful to the original while bringing new and memorable moments all the same. it does the remake thing the right way.
rahul is generally incredible, but the monologue he gives in this is just next level.
tbh this show made me invested in an extended scene about fixing a generator so i'm here for it
natalie holt's scores give me SO many goosebumps
god i love how awful the cgi in this show can be
when she started laughing hysterically at herself having a panic attack, i Felt That.
ming-na wen is so wonderful :sob:
oh man directors are so slick i've never known anything about this situation so the twist in this was like "EXCUSE ME IS THIS ALLOWED?"
i know we have to have lawyers but i think buchanan is the only one on svu that is an irredeemable piece of garbage.
DAVID HARBOUR I NEVER KNEW U WERE ON SVU
most of what i want to say about this would count as a spoiler so instead what i'll say is, this movie (and its source material) is unsettling and ominous in a number of ways but once the movie is over and you sit with it for a minute, you'll realize that what felt like twists and unseen motives were all served up to you on a silver platter—which is perhaps the most important theme and what makes it so effective.
also—bunnies do not have a good time in this film. the dog doesn't die though.
with that last scene i 100% understand why tom holland said this role fucked him up
i like the commitment to maroun's character. she's terrifying when it comes to her personal set of morals.
carpenter score is good, zac efron's always a good actor so i liked him, but in general just. so boring.
a cat dies and it's pretty graphic, someone else here gave a time stamp and that sounds about right. idk charlie just felt a little too old for her behavior to be rationalized away, even if she never learned how to deal with her powers.
just go check the google news results for boeing after watching this for maximum discomfort and disappointment
emily van camp i wonder if she affected that higher pitched voice since she was 20 in this episode and definitely has a lower pitch in like every other thing i've watched her in.
this episode is literally 16 years old who would've thought it would just get a million times worse :sob:
solid and enjoyable for the excellent cast, but it isn't the sort of movie with a very clear or gripping storyline. i think a lot of books with very meandering plots end up being adapted into films when their themes just work better on paper.
the intensity and brutality of the first act of the film makes the rest of it drag on, but it's still a very good movie. definitely worth watching. daniel gillies and miriama mcdonald were amazing in particular as other comments have said.
having watched the original before this -- sequel's better, man. i don't know what the outrage over product placement is, unless product placement = all the intellectual property that wb owns? which again, capitalism. but they advertised nike about as much as the original did, and aside from something like e3 game camp being given lip service and the occasional electronics, the product placement was just acknowledgement of other wb owned franchises. and that's CUTE, not annoying. i love that they visited mad max world and lebron being a hufflepuff for a hot second was really endearing.
and is he the greatest actor? absolutely not. he's an incredible basketball player though so who cares? plus the other acting is solid, and i think both space jams highlight a big thing about acting: it's easier when you're working with other tangible people. when there's a lot of special effects to interact with, it takes a specific kind of person to make that believable. good actors aren't necessarily going to be just as good when everything is a green screen. michael jordan and lebron james both were a lot more convincing in their roles when they were interacting with other human beings -- and lebron also did better voice acting than a hell of a lot of other athletes have for video games, for that matter.
this was true feel good nostalgia for a kid who grew up with the original space jam. and it had a more cohesive story, more complete follow through on its jokes, and it was such a colorful delight to experience. if you were wowed by into the spiderverse, this gets kind of close (but obviously nowhere near) to that feeling.
excellent acting and beautiful cinematography. not necessarily a happy ending, but a good one.
as someone whose experience with fighting games extends only to button mashing on soul calibur on a ps2, i found this pretty charming. it's not going to win any awards, but it's full of gore (a relief after a decade of mcu films honestly) and hits the same way a fun video game does. i wouldn't recommend it for anything other than mindless action, unless you're a fan of the game franchise itself, then i'm sure the plot has some value.
from what i know of mileena though i wanted way more teeth time, god.
