Venom and Aquaman

When it's okay to be bad

Now, I don’t really do what you’d call reviews, it’s more of what captures the popular imagination and what I’d recommend but movie reviews are often based on the visual language of a film ( the director ), the screenplay ( the writers ) and the performances of the cast ( the actors ). Now, Aquaman succeeds in the visual department and a lot of praise has been garnered towards Director James Wan. Some of the action set pieces in this movie are incredible and how he manages to track them without cuts is quite an achievement.

With Venom on the other hand, I can state that if a movie is measured based on these 3 factors, it is objectively a bad movie but I’ve to be honest I thoroughly enjoyed both of these movies and they’ve both gone on to become box office juggernauts. Now, Venom was sold as this anti-hero movie but it’s more akin to Jim Carrey’s Mask than it is to any Superhero/ Anti hero movie. It’s a comedy actually and I don’t know if this was intentional but it works in a weird way. If it wasn’t a blockbuster already it’d probably have a cult following anyway. No scene captures this better than when the symbiote Venom reveals to Eddie Brock that he’s a loser in his own planet much like Eddie which was a very tender moment.
 
In the case of Aquaman, it’s being touted as a masterpiece but it’s really not despite DCEU’s best efforts. It’s Jason Momoa being Jason Momoa while doing Aquaman things and it works. It’s an extremely cheesy movie at times and has a terrible soundtrack. Whose idea was it to have a Pitbull version of Toto’s Africa ? And the song was not in sync with the mood of the scene at all. It was just thrown in there but that’s Aquaman. An Octopus banging the drum for the final battle in Atlantis is also Aquaman. 

These are two movies that are so ridiculous but they embrace their ridiculous nature and it actually makes for a very fun watch and I’d take that everyday for edgy and very cringey Batman v Superman or last year’s Ant Man and the Wasp which was extremely bland. Let’s hope the sequels are just as fun.

Rewriting Spider-Man with the Spider-verse.

A Super hero dream

A few minutes into this movie, you have Miles plugging his headphones on with ‘Sunflower’ playing and it just sets the tone and this movie in motion. Just a few months prior to the release the much awaited Spider-man game released with great acclaim and it took some risks but not quite like Into the Spider-verse.

There’s been a recent trend with movies like Logan, The Last Jedi and Ralph breaks the internet where they’re self aware of what their franchises have been for the last 50 odd years and they’re trying to pass the baton to a new generation of heroes and heroines. They often do this by killing the characters that set these sagas in motion like the Titular ‘Logan’ and Luke Skywalker. By doing this they’re not just trying to kill the characters but trying to remind the audience that it’s time for new stories and with the Last Jedi many felt it was a little rushed but in Logan’s case, it was received very well. Even other stories like George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series is a change from the The Lord of the Rings saga and its many imitators. Martin has gone on record and said that Tolkien’s work was a massive influence on him despite the two stories moving in opposite directions. 

I’d go as far as saying that in this passing of the baton, ‘Into the Spider-verse’ has been the most successful in making this transition from Peter Parker to Miles Morales. We’re so familiar with the 90s Spider man cartoons, the ultimate Spider man comics and the Sam Raimi movies but they all tell the same story with a few variations. Into the Spider Verse excels in so many ways with of course the animation taking most of the credit but it’s the narrative that really stuck out for me. The comedy holds this movie together represented by the other characters from the Spider-verse but unlike a lot of other Marvel movies it does not kill the tension. I mentioned the other day how I didn’t have a stand out movie in 2018. That was the case until I watched Into the Spider-verse. It’s my favorite super hero movie to date. Comic book come alive, I wish I was 9-10 again. 

Bandersnatch and the Future of Interactive film.

Not Black Mirror's finest 

So let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Bantam Books didn’t revolutionise the ‘Choose your own adventure’ genre cause you’ve probably never heard of it till I mentioned it here and maybe a few of you did read Goosebumps’ take on the concept but that’s about it. 

Now, if you meet me and happen to talk about the world of entertainment I’m bound to tell you that I’ve enjoyed video game narratives a lot more than narratives in other mediums recently and that has a lot to do with the fact that it’s an interactive medium. 

So, on Bandersnatch itself. I love the idea but the execution maybe less so cause this is again coming from my video game bias but a million people play the same video game yet if I were to talk to you about Nathan Drake ( the protagonist from the Uncharted series ). He’s the same Nathan Drake but Nathan Drake feels personal to the one who controls him. And I use this particular example cause the Uncharted series is a very linear series as opposed to say The Witcher series where we make choices every 3 minutes that can shift the tide of the narrative completely. 

As Bandersnatch moved on you see yourself drifted further apart from Stefan but I guess that was done intentionally. He was a bit like me when I watched ‘Waking Life’ for the first time. I loved the idea though much like I liked the idea of augmented reality in Pokémon Go , it’s the execution which left a lot to be desired but in time will definitely be a lot better.
 
Anyway, as someone who’s aware that video games are not accessible to everyone cause they’re so expensive I’ll be curious to know what you thought of interactive film. 

Stars Wars : The Last Jedi and why it has polarized fans.

A time for a new hero

So I know it’s a little late but it’s been a year now since this extremely divisive movie came out in cinemas. It was well received by critics but the internet had people throwing death threats and abuse at some of the cast members and director Rian Johnson. 
I think it’s fair to say that Star Wars has the biggest fandom of all fandoms and it’s always going to have a massive section of fans unhappy regardless of what movie or series comes out. Anyway, why so polarizing ? 

Well, we have to start with ‘The Monomyth’ aka ‘The Hero’s Journey’. So Joseph Campbell’s ‘A Hero with a thousand faces’ ( you must read this book ) can be regarded as one of the most influential pieces of writing in the 20th century cause of the effect it has had on nearly every successful artist, writer, filmmaker and pop culture blogger ( 😬 ) today. 

George Lucas was no different and when he was getting ideas across for a galaxy far far away, ‘The Monomyth’ ( swipe left ) was a seminal influence on him and since 1977 Star Wars itself has been held to a mythical standard on everything since (The Legend of Zelda : A link to the past’s first scene is literally the same. Go save the hostage princess) My point is we’re so used to a certain type of story that if anything subverts that expectation our immediate reaction is ‘wait what that’s not supposed to happen’. 


Now, the Marvel movies have popularized ‘Bathos’. Well, for those unfamiliar with this term it’s when every sincere moment with a little tension is cut off with some quip for comic relief. Now, quite early on in the exchange between Hux and Poe you see this use of Bathos which if you’ve followed this saga religiously feels a little out of place. Not saying Star Wars is this brooding story with no place for comic relief cause that’s why we have Chewbacca but it was pretty clear to see this ‘Disneyfication’ of Star Wars. I actually enjoyed this movie when I it was out and I still do but I did notice these changes and figured out that it was inevitable but for a lot of people, this change has rubbed them them wrong way. 
What do you think ?

Thanos and superheroes.

The Mad Titan 

So you’ve probably watched the Endgame trailer by now. It’s broken all sorts of viewing records and no one’s really that shocked. Now, a lot of people are 50/50 ( we know someone else who loves this split) on superhero movies. What I must say is that super heroes dominating popular culture isn’t a surprise. In the 50s and 60s it used to be Westerns and this was followed by Gangster and Crime dramas and we now have super heroes. 

Now, shifting the focus to Thanos : The Mad Titan. The character dominated internet discussions in the summer. Was this his movie, is he the antagonist, maybe he did the right thing, is he the best villain since Heath Ledger’s Joker, is he the Darth Vader for this generation and a lot more. He even found himself in 2018 sensation Fortnite. Now I’ve praised the performance of Josh Brolin in a previous post but what I didn’t mention was that I’m a little bored of the messianic villain.

The Watchmen, The Legend of Korra, Naruto, Raas al Ghul, Dan Brown’s Inferno the list goes on. If you consumed enough content, this would be a little predictable. The turn of the century has seen a shift towards nuanced characters but I believe even this has reached a saturation point. That doesn’t mean we shift to guys dressed as Nazis or everything foreign being a Russian spy. Some of my favorite villains of all time have been animals like the Shark from Jaws, T Rex from Jurassic Park and Alien. No shades of grey just pure dread. And in recent times it has been the nihilistic variants in The Joker and Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh. Other great examples include the sadistic Joffrey Baratheon and Ramsay Bolton . I believe it’s only a matter of time before the messianic villain will die. Creators will have to look to their imagination for a new type of antagonist or revert to an old one. 
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If you liked Infinity War you should check out :
1) Anything by Jonathan Hickman 
2) The Infinity Gauntlet 

Atlanta

The Best Show on TV

So by now even those of you who hadn’t heard of Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino before , probably would’ve taken notice of him this year. His music video ‘This is America’ was quite the storm this summer but his other big project hasn’t quite got the same attention. Well, for my money this is the best show that I’ve watched all year. 
So Atlanta does something very special. If The Wire is the standard for Realism and Twin Peaks the same for Surrealism, Atlanta you could say is the first show that I’ve watched that combines the two perfectly. And that is quite an extraordinary thing to do ( polar opposites ) and I’ll make an effort here to explain how this is achieved with the example of an episode. No big spoilers.

So Season 1 has this episode where we meet Black Justin Bieber. Now without going into any more details on the plot. Just think about that for a minute. Black Justin Bieber ? What ? No really, he’s the Justin Bieber we all know but he’s black that’s all. Well, so you now have Justin Bieber who is a larger than life figure today but a very ‘real’ person right ? He’s now black and that is quite a surreal thing. As the episode unfolds, you can imagine this to be quite funny. Your surprise and your amusement to this fact tells you a lot about how people see race. You’ve now achieved racial social commentary simultaneously just cause of this one character. This is what Glover and his frequent collaborator Hiro Murai are trying to achieve. It’s so beautifully layered not some preachy sermon (looking at you J Cole). 



You ever had this moment where you’re narrating a story to your friend about what happened earlier in the day which was quite surreal to you but to the one you’re conversing with it was just a very normal incident. Well, Atlanta is a bit like that. Season 2 quite incredibly was an improvement on Season 1 and boy was it haunting (very much in the same vein as 2017’s ‘Get Out’). The team behind Atlanta was at the peak of its powers. It’s probably the most important show post Obama.

Daredevil

The Devil of Hell's Kitchen

Well, for starters it just got cancelled this week. So that’s not great news for fans of this series which was one of the success stories of serialized comic book adaptations. Now Daredevil is interesting cause is he a super hero at all ? No super powers to speak of. He doesn’t have a lot of money either.

Is he relatable ? If his New York counter part is friendly and from the neighbourhood, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is more like your angsty estranged cousin who also happens to be blind. 

Empathy goes out of the window in a matter of seconds. What you’re now feeling is sympathy. And you feel that throughout the series cause many episodes deal with his wounds being tended to after quite a pummeling. He’s not very super and this show has been praised for its dark and gritty realism. Now wait a minute I’m not saying that makes for a good show. Look how dark and gritty has worked out for the DCEU. I almost forgot to mention how there’s no shaky cam. This is something that was being abused for far too long as is why people get turned off by action movies (In the same vein as the John Wick series) Shaky cam has been abused for far too long after its success in the Bourne trilogy. 

Now I've really enjoyed Season 3, Vincent D’Onofrio is once again very terrifying as Wilson Fisk. Guy has acting chops. Haven’t really seen a lot of his work since Full Metal Jacket. Yes, Jurassic World came after Daredevil. I’ve not forgotten that. 

We also had another favorite from the comics introduced as a villain. He was well, he was okay. He wouldn’t feel out of place in the final seasons of Dexter ( not great those final seasons ). All in all Daredevil stood out among those it was constantly being compared to and I for one wouldn’t go so far as recommending it to those who don’t enjoy comic book stories but this is one of the better ones. If you want to forget about comics completely I’d suggest you give ‘Legion’ a look. What a surreal journey that show is. Also do check out Frank Miller’s Born Again issues which is the inspiration behind the series. 

Frozen

Elsa and Anna's enduring popularity. 

Just last week, a friend at work broke into Idina Menzel’s now iconic, ‘Let it Go’ song and naturally I started to hum along with him and like I always do I asked him why the song is still so popular ? To put it into perspective the work mate is a body builder/gym instructor around 6ft 5 with 10k Instagram followers. His answer was simple. My daughters love it and now I love it. No fragile masculinity here.

Well, the timing couldn’t be better and Frozen now celebrates its 5 year anniversary as the highest grossing animated film of all time. So to the drawing board, why is it so popular ? 
Two protagonists? Well, it worked for Pixar’s Toy Story that started it all so that could always work. ( Frozen was developed by Walt Disney Animation Studious not Pixar - they’re both owned by Disney though ). 

Social media at its very heights in 2013 with Memes. All right fair enough. 

What about having a iconic song a bit like your ‘bare necessities’ , ‘whole new world’ and ‘circle of life’. Check.

Breaking traditional tropes like love at first sight. I hear ya.

Beloved side kicks like Olaf ? Well most movies have that but sure.

Don’t get me wrong, in this last decade I could name you Disney animated movies at the top of my head that I enjoyed more than Frozen ( big hero 6, incredible 2, zootoopia and Coco - absolute favorites , list goes on ....inside out). Ever since the turn of the century there has been a need for nuanced characters. We want sympathetic villains. We want people who we thought were good ‘breaking bad’ (literally in the case of Walter White). We want characters who we thought were evil having redemptive arcs. Things have changed, we don’t want black and white anymore ( Ben Solo is working tirelessly as we speak to create ‘shades of gray side’) and Elsa who is the focus of ‘Frozen’ fits this mould.


 It’s great that little girls and boys of course are empowered to embrace their imperfections. ‘Let it go’. I believe it’s a combination of all these things that have helped ‘Frozen’ endure a lasting legacy since its release in 2013. 

Cowboy Bebop

See you Space Cowboy

It’s been a little over a week now since the Netflix live action remake of this legendary anime was announced. Yes, I used to L word. I tend to usually ignore plot details in these pieces and focus more on themes and I’ll try doing the same here. 
So why has this remake been making noise and why is the original so beloved ? Well, for starts if I were to recommend anime to someone who might be a little prejudiced to this medium, I think Cowboy Bebop would be right at the very top of that list. One of the major themes in this show is ‘existential ennui’. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term, a simple definition would be boredom but it’s more than just typical boredom. It’s a sort of indifference to one’s surroundings. A sort of dissatisfaction with everything . A feeling of listlessness. Spike, Jet, Faye and Ed are characters without any real purpose in this world. 


In the anime this is a consequence of loss. At times we all put so much of ourselves into one thing that once it’s gone we are left feeling very empty. Well, this show handles that expertly. It also deals with surrogate families that we adopt on the way, this is unintentionally of course , which provide for some of the most tender moments in this series. Now, there was another show which was a space western and had its characters adopting each other called Firefly starring Nathan Fillion. They definitely share a few similarities in a generic sense but they're very different shows.  Now, the creator of this series Shinichirō Watanabe is a master at this.

 Another very distinct aspect of his creations is the music in these animes, Bebop was a style of Jazz developed in 40s America. If you remember Charlie Parker in whiplash being constantly used as a reference point , well he was a pioneer of this style. His series Samurai Champloo set in the Edo period in Japan also has these characteristics. Instead fusing that period with jazzy hip hop sounds. As bizarre as that sounds, this juxtaposition of sounds works and must be credited to the now deceased musician, Nujabes. 

Another trademark of Watanabe's creations is that despite these worlds being set in a different era of history, the worlds these characters inhabit are not so different from the world we inhabit. Shichciro Watanabe is now being tasked with making an anime adaptation of Blade Runner as well and it really feels like a match made in heaven. So my recommendation to you this week would be to maybe give these shows a chance as a gateway to this beautiful medium

Bojack Horseman

Why you need to show BoJack Horseman some love.

Fans of this animated tragicomedy would have been very pleased with the news that a 6th season was picked up last month. Now after 5 very strong seasons there should never have been in question about a new season but I get why it's not everyone's cup of tea. BoJack Horseman is one of Netflix's outstanding original series but it deals with very difficult subject matter.

On the face of it, it is a satire on Hollywood/ show business but the meat of the episodes deal with self destructive tendencies. These self destructive tendencies are a consequence of various factors from trauma, anxiety/depression and addiction but what I've really come to like about this show is how it does not treat these conditions in isolation. A person could be going through these many conditions at varying degrees. I believe that the art style fits in perfectly with this tone and it has been known to turn people of from the show but I think there is an intention behind it. It's what you'd maybe see if you were handing a kid a few crayons. A kid with a talent for art of course. Kids see things like it's a blur and the same applies to people who suffering from the conditions I mentioned earlier.

Now, I'd like to highlight an episode in particular that is probably my favourite in the series so far. Season 3 as a whole in my opinion was probably the strongest so far but  Season 3 Epiosde 4 : Fish out of Water really stood out for me. It was BoJack's version of 'Lost in Translation', maybe throwing it back to old 'Buster Keaton' a little as well. While you could watch this episode in isolation even if you haven't watched any of the episodes before, I
believe it's important to know the context. It's a silent episode, which naturally shifts the viewers attention to the sound ( or lack of it in this case ) and visuals ; and for large parts it is absolutely mesmerising. It also deals with one of BoJack's most important themes of childhood trauma due to an upbringing in a dysfunctional family.

BoJack is at his worst when he's depending on
others to fill the void of a family and surprisingly at his best when he takes responsibility. This is a theme we see in later seasons but I believe this episode showcased the first signs of this void and his efforts to fill it. It also has a very poignant moment at the end of episode but just when you think BoJack has redeemed himself to an extent with his little adventure under water, the viewer is reminded that BoJack is his own worst enemy ( in line with the self destructive theme. mentioned earlier ).

The bits that really carry this show are the conversations between BoJack and Diane, the ghost writer of his autobiography. It's interesting that she's the only main character who's actually human. She is a Vietnamese-American intellectual and feminist. She holds this show together a bit like she does BoJack ( well there's only so much anyone can do with Bojack). I think it's a little unfair to call her the Asian Daria, but even Creator : Raphael Bob-Waksberg hasn't hidden the fact that Daria was one of his many influences when developing the show. I've failed to mention the bits of comedy in tragicomedy but the visual animal puns always get me ( penguin publsihers/the birth of venus portrait at the restaurant etc). They're just so so clever.


I find it quite interesting that Dan Harmon's 'Rick and Morty' has become extremely popular while BoJack hasn't received the same love from the masses. I'll be the first one to state how much I adore Rick and Morty but that series deals difficult subject matter. Everyone episode leaves you wondering about the futility of your existence yet there would've been riots had the rumours about it's cancellation been true. Anyway, I hope I've made a case for this gem of a series hiding in plain sight.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Believe the hype. 

When you look at the history of video games you have to rewind back to 2001, when Rockstar Games brought the open world genre into the mainstream with Grand Theft Auto III. Liberty City, a fictional city based on New York City gave players the opportunity to roam and navigate the city in a manner which was unprecedented at the time. You could move from linear story driven missions to side activities that had nothing to do with the main story line. 

3 years prior to this Hideo Kojima and Konami gave us Metal Gear Solid. Another game that was revolutionary for the medium. Those who played it at the time felt like they were in a playable movie. Kojima himself a movie buff saw potential for video games to be a medium for story telling with cinematic cut scenes and incredible voice acting. People often tend to forget how good the music was in this game. It rivals some of the games that are out even now.

This leads me to the last video game generation and the current one. We now have games like Rockstar's very own Grand Theft Auto 5, Bethesda's Elder Scrolls 5 : Skyrim and Polish developer CD PROJECT RED's Witcher 3 that have set the standard for open world games (Fuck off Ubisoft, you don't belong here anymore).They are massive in length  with loads of  great side activities and those who have had the pleasure of experiencing them feel like they are living breathing worlds. The Witcher 3 until a few days back was in my opinion the best game of this generation, it's a game very popular within the gaming community but doesn't get the attention that a new Rockstar Game or Naughty Dog game will get by those outside it ( maybe a fromsoftware game).  That sounds like a stupid thing to say  of course those outside the gaming community won't care about your stupid Witch game. But what I mean is that the occasional gamer might buy a Last of Us 2 or Grand Theft Auto VI when they eventually release and even a non gamer will probably have heard of those games. Maybe the Netflix series scheduled in the coming years will change that a little but we've seen how games have crashed on the big screen before and that might actually do games a disservice. So let games be games ?

I believe that Red Dead Redemption 2 is a landmark title for video games not because it's one the best games of all time, which it definitely is in my opinion but because it's the most important video game of this generation. It is a realisation of the potential of games like Grant Theft Auto III and Metal Gear Solid that came  some 15- 20 years before it. Rockstar is currently dealing with allegations of poor working conditions for its employees and I can see why. This game is Rockstar's magnum opus. A story script that is 2,000 pages long tells you everything. Bloodborne, God of War and The Witcher 3 are still fresh in my memory but Red Dead Redemption 2 maybe just trumps these other exceptional games because it excels in so many departments that we rate a video game by. And no, I don't think any game is perfect or without flaws but they've made the most ambitious game to date and been successful at it. It's a western simulator cum epic western television show/movie trilogy cum actual shooting game. It's important that Rockstar were the guys who developed this cause no other studio has the power to market it quite like they do. They only just have the highest selling entertainment product of all time in Grand Theft Auto V.

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Now, I know that it came out not too long ago and not many have completed the game but I heard that the original game was only completed by 10% of the audience that bought it and I can see why. I think it's widely accepted among the television community that The Wire and Breaking Bad are two of the greatest television shows that we have had the pleasure of viewing but I've met so many people who couldn't get past the initial seasons. It was just far too slow for some but for those who actually went ahead haven't stopped eulogising about them even after all these years and rightly so and don't just appreciate them but believe it to be their very favourite. The Wire even had the HBO label backing it but that wasn't enough. It didn't even get the recognition by the awarding community like Breaking Bad did and The Americans has today. Reminds me that I have to watch The Americans. The narratives with slower story lines are  often like a qualifying tournament to check if you're worthy. If you're not patient, they weed you out and everyone else who stays gets to enjoy the actual tournament. And the best part is once you're in the tournament, you're already a winner ( prize money and everything and no stupid consolation prize ). My counter argument to the intentionally slow build up would be that smash hits like HBO'S Game of Thrones and Sony Santa Monica's God of War are instantly gratifying no doubt but they are slow for large parts later. They have a an immediate impact somewhere in the first act and earn your trust for the foreseeable future. Walking Dead fans look away now, your trust like mine was misplaced.

Anyway, Red Dead Redemption is a bit like that.You might have to grind a little in the beginning but what you get later is one of the best stories in any medium ever. I'd go as far as saying in this Golden Age of Television, the writing is  far better than most Television shows and movies today. I'll argue on another day why a lot of content doesn't necessarily mean a lot of good content. I watch Riverdale and CW shows as well.  The voice acting I think is better than most as well and maybe deserves  recognition in awards shows but you don't need to take me seriously. I believe Andy Serkis (motion capture) as Caesar should have got a nomination at the very least for the Planet of the Apes series sooo, ( he absolutely does) specially the final instalment which is criminally under rated.

With games like the Uncharted Series, Last of Us, God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2; I believe video games are probably the best medium of story telling now,  besides books. Go read. Video games aren't as accessible as watching a movie and that's always going to cast them in the shadows but they're the only one of these mediums that are interactive.  Also, every game isn't FIFA/Fortnite ( the eventual cause of many break ups in meme culture) . It's crazy that over the course of 80-100 hours I had myself tearing up over pixelated fictional characters. Arthur Morgan and Dutch Van Der Linde will go down as two of the most iconic characters in video game history. Games today also look better than ever with 4K TV's while simultaneously running at 60 frames per second. I'll write something bout Indie games another time and how that's a great start for your video game 'JOURNEY' ( see what I did there) . I think video games as a story telling medium will be the future and I love it. About time I hunted that Bullgator now. Just really grateful to Rockstar for believing in games with a narrative and creating an exceptional one at that. Happy gaming. I don't celebrate thanksgiving in this part of the world but I have something to be very thankful for here and I hope you do to.