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Sep. 27th, 2022 01:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyKinda sleepy, kinda headache-y so this is going to be a quick flyby update on stuff I've watched in the last, oh, 24 hours.
Finally got off my ass and watched Thor: Love and Thunder and I get why people don't like it. For me it was very much a rollercoaster of liking some things, finding others to be less than I'd hoped, and maybe, just maybe Taika needs someone to help him focus or rein him in a little at times?
I think the biggest issue, for me, is that there was too much time to build expectations. I'm not even counting the additional time it took me to watch the movie after it came out. I'm talking just the time it took to film/release/you get the idea. Even KNOWING the Guardians section was going to be small, it felt like such a fucking waste of everyone's time and all that potential. Like dude, we were READY for Thor and Guardians team up and instead we get "yeah, here's how that ended, lol" annnnnnnnd that's just disappointing. I want that movie or limited series, dammit.
I get that people wouldn't like Mighty Thor but I'm not going to justify them because uh, no. I'm hit or miss with Natalie Portman and the MCU Jane in general but this time? Yeah. If you're mad we didn't get more of her, me too! If you're mad she exists, not interested. I want the Mighty Thor/Val teamup and I want it NOW. GIMME.
The whatever city with Zeus was shot gorgeously and it was nice to see Russell Crowe having some fun.
MCU Villains continue to be a painfully mixed bag, huh? This is one where it felt very much like I'd enjoy the comic version of the tale, even the novelization form more than the movie and it's weird because I don't dislike Christian Bale or think he was bad in the part. It was just...odd. Also, this was very much a two hour way to get Thor to fatherhood.
Annnnnnnnd that is also a mixed bag. Like as soon as Korg says something about Thor being a good dad, you know that's the endgame and yet I'd probably have absolutely traded Love there for more Mighty Thor. But the couple of minutes with Dad!Thor were adorable and I don't care if that's like 98% because it was his actual kid in the role.
It's weird, but I think I don't love Taika's take on Thor the character. Or not his take as told by Korg? Or maybe he just needed more moments where he didn't seem too dumb to function and more of his heart being absolutely in the right place. Hemsworth sells it no matter what.
I need more Valkyrie in general, really.
Soooo basically: I liked the ideas presented but needed them to be their own things. I need Thor with the Guardians, particularly Rocket and Groot, though Nebula's annoyance was also great. I need Mighty Thor/Valkyrie being awesome and bonding and in general being better than they had a right to be. I need more Love and Thunder.
I only caved on Love and Thunder because Cass mentioned she was finally going to watch it and she's notorious for spoiling things while pretending she hasn't. I am fairly certain that was a false alarm as I don't think she watched it, btw.
My original plan was to watch Devil in Ohio last weekend and that got shifted to this weekend. Watched almost all of it in one go and only didn't finish it because my internet went out with five minutes to go. Dead serious on that, btw. All I knew was everyone was screaming about the ending and it cut out on the ending. :P
Overall, I enjoyed it. I think each episode apart from the finale managed to be just the right length and it wasn't gory or gross but did manage to work the cult angle nicely. I'll get to my big issue in a moment but first, random thoughts:
- I need Cristin Milioti and Xaria Dotson to play family ASAP.
- Was I supposed to care about Helen because I did not care about Helen. She was a shitty sister, a shitty friend, and I'm not sure she wasn't a shitty relationship partner.
- Dani was adorable but she was failed miserably by her family at various points. Seriously, why did none of her family notice her friends were being shitty at her birthday party and then still thought pawning her off on Halloween would be a good idea? Ugh, I know the story had to happen but dude.
Okay. Now let's talk about Mae since that's my biggest issue here. I can buy Peter, Dani, and Helen not being there for Mae. Helen because she literally was not there for anyone in her family while she was dating Teddy, Dani for that one scene, and Peter because of his scene and in general being able to tell Mae's a serious distraction for his wife/family.
Actually, no. I take back that Helen thing and only give her a halfhearted pass because at the point Jules learns about Mae's past and the realization there's a serious cult being all this shit, Helen should also have been cutting Mae a little slack, which she never does. It's not even a case of her taking Jules's side at that point, because she's still busy being a shitty sister to Jules (and Dani) at that point.
If you ignore the last five minutes or so of the show, there's not a lot that we see Mae do that justifies the whole family apart from Suzanne treating her like she's a villain. Dani, yes. But even at that point in the story and in Mae's timeline it's wrong but not inexcusable. The girl was raised in a cult and chosen to be a goddamn (heh) human sacrifice because these fools couldn't keep their crops from going to shit. OF COURSE SHE'S WEIRD. Of course she's self absorbed to a degree, and of course she's making things about her. A lot of the stuff we're shown IS ABOUT HER. Seriously, Jules freaking out about Noah being Mae's brother is just fucking stupid. It works as an initial "wtf, is the universe kidding me right now?" moment but not something you hold onto.
Jules saw for herself how easily triggered Mae could be and how she didn't want to go back and yet suddenly that's unimportant until it's time for a flashback at the end? She and Helen are openly rude to Mae and it's presented like "yeah, Mae deserves this!" but like... Mae's awkward and desperate to stay in the first place that isn't crazy pants city.
And aside from her SWFing Jules with the Halloween costume, she is a good friend to Jules, or at least as good as she can be. She's no worse than Jules agreeing to take photos for her best friend's nemesis or wanting to hang out with her. She protects Jules from Noah, risking being caught by him in the process, she seems to genuinely not understand people saying one thing but meaning another (Jules pretending she doesn't care about the Harvest dance but actually wanting to go with Sebastian), drops Sebastian as soon as Jules says something (yeah, agreeing in the first place was shitty), and does hype Jules up when the spotlight is turned her way.
So yeah, I get that Mae's copying of Jules's costume and then very much being interested in riding shotgun is not a good look for her but may I remind people: RAISED IN A SATANIC CULT and HUMAN SACRIFICE. Oi.
Her going to the Harvest Dance with Teddy though, well. At that point we're dealing with a cornered Mae and that's a different beast entirely.
It was just weird that from a character's perspective, given what we've seen/heard, Mae's still very much the product of a very, very broken family and obviously fucked up because of that, but her friend/foster sisters won't give her the benefit of the doubt is an odd choice. From a viewer's perspective it's different because we saw what happened with Dani, we know about her altar in the woods, we know she'd probably be a million times better off far, far away but Jules and Helen don't. So having them being shown as being in the right for being cruel to Mae is just... odd.
But totally tracks when you realize Kathleen Hale had a hand in this because she's fucking psychotic and had I not had a coworker basically beg me to watch this so I could talk about it with her, I'd have fucked right out as soon as I recognized the name. And I mean only for this specific coworker at this point in time would I have made this exception because fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck Kathleen Hale.
I loved Dani and Jules (for the most part), was quite fond of Suzanne though the moment she scoffed at needed therapy was uh, a choice at that moment in time, and Mae managed to be fascinating. Helen, you are the wooooooooooorst and Peter was an interesting mixed bag. Dude married up but I love that in their relationship, Suzanne's definitely the one falling into the traditionally male 'doctor thinks their career is more important and is more likely to NOT be as supportive' role when Peter points out that no, actually, he didn't want to do the job he ultimately left. He did it because he was supporting their family and her at that time and it was a necessity and not love. And it hurt when he had to go crawling back at the end, though I'm not sure whether the show actually thought it was him realizing no, actually, contracting was fine or if Suzanne just didn't follow that line of reasoning from earlier through. *shrug*
The music on this is, btw, amazing and I loved the opening credits and only skipped them once because I was curious to see where it dropped you off if you did. FOR SCIENCE.
Finally got off my ass and watched Thor: Love and Thunder and I get why people don't like it. For me it was very much a rollercoaster of liking some things, finding others to be less than I'd hoped, and maybe, just maybe Taika needs someone to help him focus or rein him in a little at times?
I think the biggest issue, for me, is that there was too much time to build expectations. I'm not even counting the additional time it took me to watch the movie after it came out. I'm talking just the time it took to film/release/you get the idea. Even KNOWING the Guardians section was going to be small, it felt like such a fucking waste of everyone's time and all that potential. Like dude, we were READY for Thor and Guardians team up and instead we get "yeah, here's how that ended, lol" annnnnnnnd that's just disappointing. I want that movie or limited series, dammit.
I get that people wouldn't like Mighty Thor but I'm not going to justify them because uh, no. I'm hit or miss with Natalie Portman and the MCU Jane in general but this time? Yeah. If you're mad we didn't get more of her, me too! If you're mad she exists, not interested. I want the Mighty Thor/Val teamup and I want it NOW. GIMME.
The whatever city with Zeus was shot gorgeously and it was nice to see Russell Crowe having some fun.
MCU Villains continue to be a painfully mixed bag, huh? This is one where it felt very much like I'd enjoy the comic version of the tale, even the novelization form more than the movie and it's weird because I don't dislike Christian Bale or think he was bad in the part. It was just...odd. Also, this was very much a two hour way to get Thor to fatherhood.
Annnnnnnnd that is also a mixed bag. Like as soon as Korg says something about Thor being a good dad, you know that's the endgame and yet I'd probably have absolutely traded Love there for more Mighty Thor. But the couple of minutes with Dad!Thor were adorable and I don't care if that's like 98% because it was his actual kid in the role.
It's weird, but I think I don't love Taika's take on Thor the character. Or not his take as told by Korg? Or maybe he just needed more moments where he didn't seem too dumb to function and more of his heart being absolutely in the right place. Hemsworth sells it no matter what.
I need more Valkyrie in general, really.
Soooo basically: I liked the ideas presented but needed them to be their own things. I need Thor with the Guardians, particularly Rocket and Groot, though Nebula's annoyance was also great. I need Mighty Thor/Valkyrie being awesome and bonding and in general being better than they had a right to be. I need more Love and Thunder.
I only caved on Love and Thunder because Cass mentioned she was finally going to watch it and she's notorious for spoiling things while pretending she hasn't. I am fairly certain that was a false alarm as I don't think she watched it, btw.
My original plan was to watch Devil in Ohio last weekend and that got shifted to this weekend. Watched almost all of it in one go and only didn't finish it because my internet went out with five minutes to go. Dead serious on that, btw. All I knew was everyone was screaming about the ending and it cut out on the ending. :P
Overall, I enjoyed it. I think each episode apart from the finale managed to be just the right length and it wasn't gory or gross but did manage to work the cult angle nicely. I'll get to my big issue in a moment but first, random thoughts:
- I need Cristin Milioti and Xaria Dotson to play family ASAP.
- Was I supposed to care about Helen because I did not care about Helen. She was a shitty sister, a shitty friend, and I'm not sure she wasn't a shitty relationship partner.
- Dani was adorable but she was failed miserably by her family at various points. Seriously, why did none of her family notice her friends were being shitty at her birthday party and then still thought pawning her off on Halloween would be a good idea? Ugh, I know the story had to happen but dude.
Okay. Now let's talk about Mae since that's my biggest issue here. I can buy Peter, Dani, and Helen not being there for Mae. Helen because she literally was not there for anyone in her family while she was dating Teddy, Dani for that one scene, and Peter because of his scene and in general being able to tell Mae's a serious distraction for his wife/family.
Actually, no. I take back that Helen thing and only give her a halfhearted pass because at the point Jules learns about Mae's past and the realization there's a serious cult being all this shit, Helen should also have been cutting Mae a little slack, which she never does. It's not even a case of her taking Jules's side at that point, because she's still busy being a shitty sister to Jules (and Dani) at that point.
If you ignore the last five minutes or so of the show, there's not a lot that we see Mae do that justifies the whole family apart from Suzanne treating her like she's a villain. Dani, yes. But even at that point in the story and in Mae's timeline it's wrong but not inexcusable. The girl was raised in a cult and chosen to be a goddamn (heh) human sacrifice because these fools couldn't keep their crops from going to shit. OF COURSE SHE'S WEIRD. Of course she's self absorbed to a degree, and of course she's making things about her. A lot of the stuff we're shown IS ABOUT HER. Seriously, Jules freaking out about Noah being Mae's brother is just fucking stupid. It works as an initial "wtf, is the universe kidding me right now?" moment but not something you hold onto.
Jules saw for herself how easily triggered Mae could be and how she didn't want to go back and yet suddenly that's unimportant until it's time for a flashback at the end? She and Helen are openly rude to Mae and it's presented like "yeah, Mae deserves this!" but like... Mae's awkward and desperate to stay in the first place that isn't crazy pants city.
And aside from her SWFing Jules with the Halloween costume, she is a good friend to Jules, or at least as good as she can be. She's no worse than Jules agreeing to take photos for her best friend's nemesis or wanting to hang out with her. She protects Jules from Noah, risking being caught by him in the process, she seems to genuinely not understand people saying one thing but meaning another (Jules pretending she doesn't care about the Harvest dance but actually wanting to go with Sebastian), drops Sebastian as soon as Jules says something (yeah, agreeing in the first place was shitty), and does hype Jules up when the spotlight is turned her way.
So yeah, I get that Mae's copying of Jules's costume and then very much being interested in riding shotgun is not a good look for her but may I remind people: RAISED IN A SATANIC CULT and HUMAN SACRIFICE. Oi.
Her going to the Harvest Dance with Teddy though, well. At that point we're dealing with a cornered Mae and that's a different beast entirely.
It was just weird that from a character's perspective, given what we've seen/heard, Mae's still very much the product of a very, very broken family and obviously fucked up because of that, but her friend/foster sisters won't give her the benefit of the doubt is an odd choice. From a viewer's perspective it's different because we saw what happened with Dani, we know about her altar in the woods, we know she'd probably be a million times better off far, far away but Jules and Helen don't. So having them being shown as being in the right for being cruel to Mae is just... odd.
But totally tracks when you realize Kathleen Hale had a hand in this because she's fucking psychotic and had I not had a coworker basically beg me to watch this so I could talk about it with her, I'd have fucked right out as soon as I recognized the name. And I mean only for this specific coworker at this point in time would I have made this exception because fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck Kathleen Hale.
I loved Dani and Jules (for the most part), was quite fond of Suzanne though the moment she scoffed at needed therapy was uh, a choice at that moment in time, and Mae managed to be fascinating. Helen, you are the wooooooooooorst and Peter was an interesting mixed bag. Dude married up but I love that in their relationship, Suzanne's definitely the one falling into the traditionally male 'doctor thinks their career is more important and is more likely to NOT be as supportive' role when Peter points out that no, actually, he didn't want to do the job he ultimately left. He did it because he was supporting their family and her at that time and it was a necessity and not love. And it hurt when he had to go crawling back at the end, though I'm not sure whether the show actually thought it was him realizing no, actually, contracting was fine or if Suzanne just didn't follow that line of reasoning from earlier through. *shrug*
The music on this is, btw, amazing and I loved the opening credits and only skipped them once because I was curious to see where it dropped you off if you did. FOR SCIENCE.