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agentem · 2 years

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Emily watches "Inhumans"

Awhile ago I made a post if I should watch and recap the terrible Marvel series "Inhumans" and absolutely no one encouraged me, so I only have myself to blame for this.

My only defense is that I saw someone saying you had to watch this before Ms. Marvel. And I want everyone to know that you do not. They have changed the origin story of Kamala Khan. I've heard three reasons for this.

They didn't want her to have the same powers as Reed Richards (doubtful, his movie isn't in production yet).

They want her to tie into the story of The Marvels better (most plausible).

This is my own pet theory, and I have no proof of it. But I think Kevin Feige hates this show. Not the actors (since we've seen Anson Mount return) or the characters, but the production.

See, in the short history of Marvel Studios there has been but one movie officially announced that never made it to the big screen. That is the Inhumans movie. The release date was set for November 2018. It was supposed to be part of phase 3. But it never came.

Rumor has it that Marvel big wig Ike Perlmutter (known for hits like "no one will know the difference between Terrence Howard and Don Cheadle; Black people all look alike" and "the woman can't be the villain in Iron Man 3 because no one buys girl toys" and "a Black Panther movie is a bad idea") really wanted another superhero team to be the MCU's X-Men, and he was determined for it to be the Inhumans.

Admittedly, they are a team with powers so I can see where that idea would come from. Joe Robert Cole supposedly wrote a screenplay, but he was then moved onto Black Panther.

This was all happening during the Kevin Feige-Ike Perlmutter "turf war", which insiders have reported was because Kevin Feige wanted to make a movie about (gasp) a female superhero, and Perlmutter and his team opposed it.

In 2015, Feige won and got Marvel Studios split from Marvel Entertainment, so he reported only to Bob Iger (then the CEO of Disney) directly while the Marvel Television president, Jeph Loeb, still had to report to Perlmutter et al.

Long story short, I think this production was a point of contention. Because it was Perlmutter's baby and Feige was challenging his authority. Thus, if Feige wouldn't make the movie, it was shunted to TV since Loeb still reported to Perlmutter.

The Inhumans were also inserted into Agents of SHIELD another Marvel TV production, presumably in an attempt at brand synergy.

But some rich guy really wanting a cool superhero team doesn't mean it will happen. You need the right script and this... wasn't it. They hired Scott Buck, who did the first season of Iron Fist as the showrunner. Because that was such a resounding success? So it was probably doomed from the start.

Perhaps murdering Anson Mount's Black Bolt in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was cathartic for some folks at Marvel Studios. I certainly don't think he's bad in the role (except for the sign language stuff which I talk about under the cut). So I'd be okay with him coming back if Feige ever does decide he wants to produce an Inhumans project.

But this is the project Marvel Studios wants you to forget about. It's literally not on the Marvel page in Disney+. You have to search for it specifically and even then it's like "Are you sure you didn't mean Inside Out?" (And "The Defenders Saga" as it's now known is featured on the Disney+ Marvel page.)

I watched the first episode so you don't have to. You're welcome.

"Behold... the Inhumans"!

I should say most of what I know about the Inhumans comes from Ms Marvel comics and dumb computer games. (Gorgon was cool in Avengers Alliance and Karnak absolutely wrecks people in Marvel Puzzle Quest.)

If you can make their powers cool in games, you should be able to make them cool on TV.

That is... not what happens here.

We open in Hawai'i and my first note is "damn, hasn't Hawaii suffered enough?" A young Inhuman woman is running from masked people with guns. She is rescued(?) by Triton whose prosthetics look very uncomfortable. In Hawaii too? Seems sweaty. I hope that actor got hazard pay. Also because he is almost immediately shot and falls off a cliff into the ocean.

An alert that something is amiss goes to the Inhuman king, Black Bolt (Handsome Mount). But he's busy fucking his wife, Queen Medusa, and she doesn't let him answer it. I would hope that there would be some kind of hierarchy to the alert system so he doesn't just treat "this guy might be dead" like some random text. This advanced civilization has not thought of that.

Meanwhile a Lunar Rover is exploring the moon but it gets too close to the city of Attilan (currently located on Earth's moon). On Earth, the rover operator is surprised to see a hoof in its final video. It's Gorgon!

We are introduced to most of the group. Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon and also Karnack (who is played by the same actor who played Quill aka Three Inch Spike Guy in X-Men: the Last Stand so he knows of shitty Marvel projects) and Black Bolt's brother Maximus, played by Iwan Rheon of Misfits and Game of Thrones. Rheon is trying a lot harder than the script deserves.

From the jump, Maximus is like "we should invade Earth and stop hiding. My brother's plan is dumb." Everyone is like "Oh you. How silly."

Then we have a Terrigenesis ceremony which is to explain a little more about how the Inhumans get their powers. It's also important because Anson Mount wears a headband that is supposed to be a crown, I think, but it looks more like he's in a kids' karate tournament.

A girl and a boy enter the terrigen mist chambers. The girl comes out with butterfly wings and everyone is so happy for her. The boy has some kind of fit when Maximus touches him and tells him he saw Maximus with "snakes" all around.

He clearly has some kind of vision power, but everyone is like "oh he sucks send him to the mines."

That's right, the mines. The "Lower Caste Facility" is where the people with boring powers go. They have to mine for terrigen crystals, I think? While the Higher Caste people just fuck and don't answer their phones.

Maximus tells the Lower Caste Facility that he thinks they should invade Earth. They are literally standing in a ditch and can't even defeat the six or so Royal Family members so they don't seem into it.

At this point I pause it to see if this is almost over because it seems like I've been watching forever but I am only halfway through.

Karnak is very creepy to a server at dinner. I immediately want to stop using him in Marvel Puzzle Quest.

Maximus comes in to announce that Triton is dead which we would have known at the beginning if Black Bolt had answered his communicator. But also, this presumes that he NEVER looked at it since then which is just bad kinging, in my opinion.

We get some exposition that Earth's water is contaminated and it's causing the descents of those left behind (???) to transform. Black Bolt thinks they should go get them and bring them to Attilan. Maximus wants to--you'll never guess this--invade Earth.

Gorgon is sent to try to find Triton.

Black Bolt conveys to Medusa that he needs to go think, which he does in a weird concrete circular chamber, which I assume allows him to make noise without killing people? But why does he have to think there. Do his thoughts make sound?

Also, it really bothers me that they have Black Bolt using hand gestures to "speak" to Medusa but it's not ASL even though they speak English, it's just him doing nonsense hand gestures and she always says aloud what he is supposed to be signing. This would've been a cool opportunity for representation. FAIL.

Maximus creepily approaches Medusa. All the Inhumans be creepin'. She strangles him with her hair and he is like "snakes!" Get it? Because she's Medusa. He realizes the kid from the ceremony has visions of the future, which I would have guessed when he had a fucking seizure because you touched him. But the Inhumans are slow (probably because they so busy creepin').

He goes to the leader of the "Genetic Counsel" about the kid. This guy says the kid just has hallucinations. Maximus goes on his tirade about how they should invade Earth again and the Counsel member is like "Gasp! I am going to tell the king!" So Maximus has him murdered.

... which ???? He literally said he wanted to invade Earth in front of the King earlier. He also gave a speech to the Lower Caste about it. It's a secret???

Gorgon discovers that Maximus sent the people with guns to attack Triton at the same time Karnak is attacked by some guards.

Karnak's powers are so cool and they make them look so slow and lame. It's a real bummer. Grogon also kicks a guy with his boot, and shouldn't he have hooves? Clearly no one was paying attention.

Karnak sends an alert to Crystal, who I haven't talked about yet. She's Medusa's sister and she literally looks like someone spray painted her hair. It should've been a hair clip or a headdress, anyone would tell you that. And was it permanent? Did the actress have to walk around like that? If so, she should also get hazard pay.

Crystal is listening to headphones and also doesn't answer her alert bracelet!! What is it with the royal family and not paying attention during a crisis! I'm starting to think they shouldn't be in charge.

But Crystal is lucky because she is with the GREATEST of the Inhumans--the dog Lockjaw, who is really the brains of the outfit. Lockjaw teleports Karnak to Earth while Crystal goes to get her sister, Medusa.

Maximus and his guards come for Medusa and they give maybe a minute of terrible CGI hair fighting, before Maximus shaves off her hair with an hair clipper. They put this in slow motion with ~DRAMATIC~ music. And I get that her hair is power... and maybe it hurts to have it shorn but. They didn't kill her.

In fact, they just leave her weeping on the ground and go look for Black Bolt in his "thinking" room.

And I'm like, "Hey, Medusa, get a gun and shoot them." (They do have guns, the guards had them.) So like, find a weapon. Or call for help. They told you they are going to kill your husband and then left you without a guard. That's terrible coup-ing.

But Crystal and Lockjaw show up and teleport Medusa out of there.

Maximus confronts Black Bolt and we get the hilarious flashback of Black Bolt killing their parents by saying "WHY?" Then they are just splatter on the wall. But black splatter. Shouldn't there be blood? Were his parents spiders?

But before the brothers can have a show-down, Lockjaw appears and teleports Black Bolt to Hawaii.

See? Lockjaw is the best one!

Who's the goodest Inhuman? YOU ARE!

End of episode. And people watched this and were like, “yeah nailed it. The guy who wrote this should do IRON FIST next”

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thedeaditeslayer · 4 years

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Running Time Restored Interview: 1997 Josh Becker and Bruce Campbell Indie Gets a New Life in 2K.

You can read the full interview on the upcoming release With Josh Becker, Bruce Campbell, and Don May Jr. from Diabolik Magazine below.

In 1995 on New Year’s Eve, Josh Becker had an idea. Born out of a session pondering Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary, true crime classic, Rope, he decided that he was going to improve upon the master of suspense’s legendary concept of shooting a film in real time. A daunting task but Becker was up to the challenge.

What resulted was perhaps one of the most ambitious efforts to ever grace the silver screen, Running Time. This neo-noir thriller about a heist gone wrong and a small-time criminal who rekindles his love affair with his high-school sweetheart was a hidden gem that didn’t get the recognition that it deserved. Written expressly for Becker’s childhood friend and Super 8 cohort, Bruce Campbell, the pair were once again, doing gonzo-style filmmaking just like when they were growing up in Michigan with the likes of Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert.

Josh Becker was and is an adventurous soul who does things his way, just like the director gods of old. When I think of his work, the names of John Ford, William Wyler and John Huston readily spring to mind. There is something admirable about his driven determination that was the heart and soul of this black and white throwback to another era which is ultimately endearing. Yes, I have a special place in my heart for Running Time because it is honest and not filled with “tentpole” tendencies. At the core of it is the written word. The end result is one of the most overlooked masterpieces of both Becker’s and Campbell’s careers.

What is truly amazing is that this flick was shot in two weeks and that everyone went home early. It was like having a 9 to 5 job. No 18-hour-days, just fast, efficient, run and gun style filmmaking that resulted in a production that could stand toe to toe with noir classics from a bygone era like The Petrified Forest and Desperate Hours.

Prior to Running Time, Bruce was known predominantly for his work in the horror and science fiction genres which can sometimes be limiting for an actor. Becker gave him an incredible script to work with that really showcased his range as a thespian. Behind the smart-ass quips and bravado lies a talented individual who takes his craft seriously. He is capable of creating complex characters and he is most assuredly fit to be a romantic lead.

I had the chance to sit down with the major players in the restoration of Running Time (Josh Becker, Bruce Campbell, Don May, Jr. and Gerry Kissell) to reminisce about the journey of this film from its humble beginnings to preserving this indie classic for future generations.

The Director and His Muse

Diabolique: Bruce, I have to start off by telling you that Running Time is my favorite out of all of your films.

Bruce Campbell: It’s a cool, little flick. Too bad it sort of escaped, it wasn’t released as the old joke goes.

Diabolique: What I like so much about it is the neo-noir aspect. It’s a throwback to the 40’s and 50’s. In Josh’s book, Rushes, he talks about how he convinced you to be in the film. You weren’t getting paid and you invested in it. What was his pitch, how did he sell the concept to you?

BC: The pitch was that it was NOT McHale’s Navy. I just spent 11 weeks in Mexico just sort of bullshitting our way through that film where we would make up our lines of dialogue because there was nothing written for us. In the script it would say things like, “McHale and his guys get off the boat,” “McHale and his men go to Cuba.” Which means they hadn’t thought anything up for you. I did it because I liked the show as a kid. It was a very popular thing; it was from Universal. It made sense at the time. It was just a case of when something is underwritten, the problem that it causes actors. I had just come off of that, and Running Time was very ambitious, low budget it was meant to be this conceit of being done in one shot so it was cinematic. So, I was like, okay, yeah. It was like the anti-studio movie, small crew, fast moving and yet no money. Basically, I invested the money that I was paid back into the movie in order for them to make it. It was definitely for a love of the movie type deal.

Josh Becker: I’ve known Bruce since we were twelve and I’d seen him in a number of plays. I knew that he had a much bigger range as an actor than he’d had a chance to show at that point. Plus, he’s a pleasure to work with. Once I pitched him the idea, he was all for it, partially because the long takes are a way for an actor to really show their ability.

Diabolique: Thinking about your filmography, Bruce, you haven’t played a traditional romantic lead. Do you see Running Time as a love story of sorts?

BC: What’s funny is Josh had Carl come back. In a proper film noir, he would have gone, you would have heard the tires squeal and she would be sitting there crying and the credits would roll and that would be it. It would be bleak, but Josh deep down is a sentimentalist and I think I am too. We had no issue with the happy ending. We wanted to make the audiences think for quite a long period of time that it’s going to be a sad ending. She packs her bag and then she unpacks it. The whole thing is quite an extended piece but I thought it was well worth playing just to kind of throw a little wrinkle in it. Maybe even in a criminal story you can have a happy ending.

Diabolique: In terms of the storyline, Josh, we all know that Rope was the blueprint for Running Time. You hadn’t made a film in 7 years. What was it about that production that captured your imagination besides the challenge of the “long take”?

JB: Part of my inspiration was simply getting another feature film made after seven years of working in television, which was never my goal. But as I thought about Rope, I wondered why the continuous, real-time concept didn’t really have any impact on the story. Then it occurred to me that there was no time element involved. Two young men—ostensibly Leopold and Loeb—have killed another young man for the fun of it, put the body in a chest, then invited people over for a party, including a cop. Well, if the chest was spring loaded and had a timer on it so that at some point it would pop open and reveal the corpse, that would be a time element. So, I thought, how do you use the real time technique and add a ticking clock? The first story that came to mind was a heist which generally has a time element—we’ve got to get the money and get out of here before we’re caught.

Diabolique: Running Time was shot in sequence like a play. Did it pose any challenges for you as an actor?

BC: I liked what Josh was trying to do. These long uninterrupted takes from an actor’s point of view, you know stuff can get really choppy these days. My complaint from Burn Notice is they wouldn’t let a full sentence stay on camera; they would have to cut away to somebody else. It felt like they had to keep cutting, cutting and cutting. This movie was no cutting for like ten minutes at a time. It’s great from an actor’s perspective because you can feel the juices flowing. It’s like a play. You can work on the pacing; you can have something build over a period of time and minutes to play out in literally real time. It’s a real time crime drama. I liked it conceptually and it was challenging. There was a fair amount of dialogue because my guy, Carl is calling the shots. I thought it was a good premise. Guy gets out of prison turns right around and robs the prison because he knows how the prison laundry system works. I thought that was pretty sound. I am always sympathetic for the low budget independent movie. I always will be.

Diabolique: Were there any other films that influenced you and your writing partner, Peter Choi? The entire concept is very noir and the desperate situation that Carl finds himself in is reminiscent of any number of films from the 1940s.

JB: My main inspiration was Straight Time with Dustin Hoffman, an overlooked movie from 1978. And though I didn’t think of it at the time, several folks brought up Joseph Lewis’s Gun Crazy after it came out, and I do see that. The film has one long take in it during a bank robbery, and even though the camera stays in the backseat of a car, it has that same feeling of a real time event.

Diabolique: I know you are a fan of classic movies, Bruce and in a sense Running Time reminds me of Desperate Hours or The Petrified Forest especially when the robbery is botched and the situation is escalating in the enclosed office. Did you find any inspiration from the noir genre for your portrayal of Carl?

BC: No, but the classic tough guys were always awesome. We loved them all, Bogart and Robert Mitchum…the fact that Josh shot the film in black and white was perfect. Because it really helped lend itself to a look of that time period when Jack Palance was a leading man.

Diabolique: In your book Rushes, you talked about your decision to shoot in 16 mm Kodak ASA 64 black and white stock. You get sharper images due to the finer grain of the film, but did that pose any problems in terms of showcasing your work at that time since most people weren’t shooting in black and white?

JB: I didn’t think of it regarding showcasing my work. I thought it was appropriate for the subject matter and that it would be visually striking. Also, moving the camera from inside to outside in color posed the problem of adding or removing filters which would not be an issue with black and white.

Diabolique: You shot over a period of 10 days which was unheard of even back in the 90’s. How were you able to keep things moving along?

JB: It was based on pre-planning. I knew exactly what I wanted. We rehearsed the film and the actors were all very comfortable with the dialogue. Then it was just an issue of getting the complicated camera moves in regard to the actor’s blocking to work right, and that didn’t turn out to be all that difficult.

Diabolique: As an actor, did you enjoy working on an accelerated timetable?

BC: It was exciting to do and so different. The toughest thing was the technical demands. It wasn’t like there were explosions and stuff like that. But in order to do blocking inside of an apartment, the camera is moving in circles, well, the crew had to move every object behind the camera before it got there and then had to put it back before the camera saw it again. So, there was a lot of voodoo, a lot of magic. We would rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and we could never get it right. Finally, we were like fuck it. Let’s just start shooting because everyone gets a little more alert when you shoot. That did it. That allowed us to conquer the impossible. After 3 or 4 takes if we got it, we were done even if it was 10:30 in the morning. I don’t think we spent more than two thirds of a day getting that particular shot. The end result is cool. I’ve seen the cleaned-up version without all the scratches and the dust marks. You can’t even tell what year it is. It almost seems like its videotape transferred like those teledramas of the 60’s that were done on TV. There were moments in the film that weren’t perfect, and that’s okay.

Diabolique: When I revisited Running Time recently, I was impressed with how well it holds up because some efforts don’t. With the 2K restoration, Bruce, this will give your fans a chance to see it. For some, it might be their first time. Do you have a scene that you are particularly fond of?

BC: There��s some scenes that are fun to do. After I get shot, I am in Janie’s apartment and she’s trying to put me together, that fainting on the toilet while she’s trying to patch me together it felt kind of real, playing shot and being delirious. Stuff like that. Just fun to be able to take the moment to do it.

Diabolique: Josh, do you feel shooting in black and white made the 2K restoration more challenging?

JB: Slow speed black and white film stock has a lot of silver in it which creates an inordinate amount of static electricity. When I did the initial film transfer back in 1997, the negative kept getting covered with dust, causing us to have to stop and clean the film every 30-60 minutes. Since the transfer was $375 an hour—in 1997 dollars—I could only stop so many times before it became financially prohibitive. Dust on a black and white negative shows up as white dots. Using the newest technology, Don May was able to remove all of the dust digitally. Therefore, the film has never looked as good as it does now.

Diabolique: What excites you the most about Running Time getting restored, Bruce?

BC: I am always happy when something gets re-released which means in this case, it gets preserved. It will look fantastic in 2K. That’s why with all these reissues fans are like, “Why should we care?” Like well, if you care about preservation, this means it will be the latest version of a movie that is fairly obscure. Sometimes a movie can die on the vine because no one will pay the money to keep it current. Now, we can show the sucker, hopefully, anywhere.

Diabolique: Josh, do you have any plans to showcase Running Time once the restoration is completed? This is a great film that fans should definitely see.

JB: We have no plans at the moment, but then the film isn’t out yet. When it’s done, we’ll see what happens.

Breathing New Life into Running Time: The Art of Restoration

Don May, Jr. along with Jerry Chandler and Charles Fiedler created Synapse Films in 1997. Known for their work in preserving unique genre classics, May had previously collaborated with Josh Becker when his company restored the director’s 1985 production, Thou Shalt Not Kill…Except.

Gerry Kissell was the official artist on Running Time and will be reprising his role for the 2K restoration. He has been friends with Josh since the Freaky Film Festival where he and Bruce premiered the film on the University of Illinois campus.

Both gentlemen were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedules to talk to us.

Diabolique: Were you able to obtain the original negative for Running Time?

Don May, Jr: Yes, thankfully. Josh Becker is a true movie fan and loves the filmmaking process, so we were fortunate to work with him. He kept everything stored properly in a climate-controlled vault, as a man who cares about his movies should.

Diabolique: Can you talk about the scanning process for 2K?

DMJ: The 16mm negative was separated into A/B rolls, so we had to scan a lot of reels separately at Prasad in Burbank, CA. Luckily, because of the actual nature of the “one-take” aesthetic Josh utilized, there were only a total of about 30 cuts in the entire film… hidden in editing, of course. So, we basically scanned the 30 separate shots, and then assembled them digitally using DaVinci Resolve. We had to be VERY careful the way we put the 30 cuts back together, making sure the shots were frame accurate and of the proper length. Unlike a film that has a conformed negative separated into 10- or 20-minute reels, Running Time was all in separate pieces, with each shot edited on separate reels. It was a challenge, but we were able to use a previous master as a reference and most of it went together without a hitch. Being shot in B&W also helped in color correction to hide the edits properly to make the real-time aspect as seamless as possible. Once the film was properly assembled, we were able to ship everything off to India for restoration. Because Josh had everything stored properly for decades, the negative itself was fairly free of a lot of dirt and scratches, but we did carefully sonically clean all the pieces before scanning commenced.

Diabolique: How long does it take the digital artists to fix debris or scratches on the original negatives?

DMJ: There’s a lot of data wrangling involved. Copying data for safety. Making backups, etc. But we have a great working relationship with Prasad. They have worked on such classics as Lawrence of Arabia, How the West Was Won, A Fistful of Dollars, Gandhi, The Red Shoes, etc. They do the lion’s share of my output, and I put a lot of trust in them. They’ve never failed me. We do ship the film scans to India and that takes time. I think Running Time took about 4-5 months. I let them take their time, though, because I don’t want to have to keep sending things back for fixes. With Running Time, they did an excellent job, right from my first restoration test reels. But, again, Josh had taken very good care of his materials, so it wasn’t much of a challenge.

Diabolique: Gerry, what artwork did you originally provide for Running Time and what can we expect from you for the 2K restoration?

Gerry Kissell: I did promotional art that ended up on tee-shirts. It included the shot of the three main characters, which I called Tres Hombres, on one, Jeremy Roberts aiming the pistol at the camera on another, and the last, which you’ve seen of Bruce’s mug all heroic and chinny. All of the art was done on Bristol cold press illustration board. The new painting for the Synapse release is me, 20+ years later, a tad bit better at drawing and painting, lol.

Diabolique: Besides the idea of preserving Running Time, Don, what attracted you to the project?

DMJ: We had worked previously with Josh on Thou Shalt Not Kill…Except, and we had a lot of fun with that one. I like working with Josh. He’s a great guy, and I love that he’s so passionate about film. He loves movies, and he loves MAKING movies. It’s so great to see people like Josh doing things like Running Time, back when using computers to do a “one take” approach was non-existent. You see things today like the film 1917, which is a fine film in its own right, but they cheated a lot of its “one take” aspect using computers. Josh did Running Time, but used his brain, and actual organic film splicing and editing to achieve the same result. He’s smart, funny, talented and I love working with people like him. It also doesn’t hurt that Running Time stars Bruce Campbell, so… yeah… of course, we jumped at the chance to do it.

Diabolique: When can fans expect to see the Running Time 2K restoration?

DMJ: I would imagine late summer/early fall 2020. We’re wrapping up extras and artwork now.

#Running Time #Bruce Campbell #Josh Becker

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ununniliad · 4 years

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Burst Beetle Tweseveny #6: “2007: The Mother of Necessity and a Short Backstory of Time!“

Content warning: suicide, toxic relationships, murder, and just a bunch of depressing stuff! Also, unreality.

<<<*>>>

Tweseveny smiles, watching Time-Waster Lad and Mother Time head down to the LNHQ's cafeteria, and turns to the Time Crapper, rubbing her hands. Time to friendship this motherfucker!

"So," she says, sitting down on the comfy couch next to Time Crapper I - but for now, he's the only Time Crapper she's got, so she'll just call him that! "Can I ask you a few questions, time-travelling net.villain to time-travelling net.villain?" Her disguise is perfect!

"Certainly, but... I figured you'd know all about me, having met me in your past - so you said." The Time Crapper seems just a touch skeptical! Oh shoot! Time to prevaricate!

"Well, uh, it was clear that we'd talked a lot in your past, so I decided to avoid a time paradox by waiting until I met past-you!" Her logic is flawless!!

"...yeah, that's the kind of nonsense I've been running into." The Time Crapper sighs, leaning back, putting his feet up on the coffee table before them. Ooooh, what a villain move! "Ask away, please."

Yesssss. Let's take it back to where this relationship must've started... "How did you get started off as a net.villain? Did it have anything to do with getting the Ring of Retcon?"

"The what, now?" says the Time Crapper, tilting his head a bit. "Uh, no. I..." He taps his arm. "A lot of my past isn't there anymore. When I used the Rung of Revamp... well, anyway. I still remember why I did this. Still remember... her." He looks longingly off towards the doorway Mother Time walked down, and slips into a gentle monologue.

"We met at a physics lecture. Time travel, of course. She was wearing..." His shadowed face seems to show a soft smile. "This mismatched outfit that didn't make any sense, and these glasses that would have looked dowdy on anyone but her... and Lisa Loeb." He chuckles. "And she was even more beautiful than Lisa Loeb."

"Awwww!" Tweseveny claps her hands! Yes good, cute backstory, excellent place to start!

The Time Capper smiles and nods. "Yes... there was a Q&A at the end, and she asked a couple of amazing questions about what was possible. Things I'd never thought of before. And after the lecture was over, I found her, just wanting to mention how good those questions were... And, well, we fell to talking."

"She was so into the idea of time travel. I was into physics because I was good at it, but she talked about all the things she'd do with it, all the things she'd get. And she seemed like the kind of person... the kind of person who deserved them, because she was forward, and powerful, and beautiful."

"Gosh," says Tweseveny, admiringly. Okay, she thinks, that “deserve" thing sounds like it might go in a bit of a Bad direction, but that's exactly what she's here to help with!

"We started talking a lot... I guess I didn't have a whole lot of other people to talk to, it's... hard to remember, really. And I got... enchanted with the idea of making time travel real. She made the idea feel so alive."

"Awwww." This is super swee--

"So I ended up stealing an experimental pinpoint wormhole generator, and the campus's sample of the Sands of the Ancient Days, and using my experimental physics theories, combined them into the Hourglass of wReamThermodynamics."

...okay, so, that's less sweet, thinks Tweseveny. And stealing is bad. But a lot of net.villain backstories are like this, so let's see where this is going.

"And I came to her and offered to show her all of time. And we had a good time, for a while, but..."

"But?" says Tweseveny, folding her hands on her knee in a 'listening' pose. Okay, getting to the meat of the problem!

"She didn't really want to see things, she wanted to have things." He shrugs, putting his hand on the back of his neck. "I loved seeing the pyramids being built, Florence at the height of the Renaissance, Woodstock from the front row. But she's not like me. She doesn't care about the past. She wants tomorrow." He reaches out, into space, closing his fingers. "In her hands."

"So we started doing some crimes, freezing time, stealing stuff, bringing it back to the hotel. Playing tricks on people. Messing with time, even. But..." He shakes his head. "It wasn't enough for her. And we had a fight, and we broke up, and..." He pulls in a huge breath, sighs. "I realized, or felt like I realized, that I'd been wrong. That she deserved all of the things she was asking for, of course."

"Ah, I don't..." That definitely doesn't sound true - but how to say it without sounding like a jerk? Oh lord, thinks Tweseveny, friendshipping villains is harder than I thought!

And it seems that the Time Crapper hasn't noticed the interruption! "I wished I could just go back and undo what I'd said, the mistakes I'd made. Do it right this time. And then, I realized... I could."

"Ah," says Tweseveny. Oh boy, thinks Tweseveny.

"I went back to shortly after we first met, and found myself, and, well..." He sighs. "I absorbed that timeline. And ended up feeling all those painfully strong emotions again, all the desire and need and hope from when we first met."

"Sounds hard," says Tweseveny, hoping that, at the very least, commiseration will help.

"Yeah. It was." His voice is harsh, thick, but he clears his throat and continues. "Anyway, I found her and introduced myself as the Time Taker, and said I wanted her to be my partner in crime. She laughed, looked me over, took a sniff, and said, 'More like the Time Crapper'. And I said, 'Okay, the Time Crapper then.' And, I don't know, she seemed... impressed by how willing I was to go along with what she said?"

"And we started stealing things, and making plans to steal bigger things, and I just kept following her lead. And it was good for a while, and then she was like... hey, I'm in charge here, the Hourglass should be mine." He shrugs. "And, well, I was trying to give her what she wanted, so I gave it to her. She started calling herself Mother Time, and used the Hourglass to get even more powerful temporal devices. And went up against the LNH, and, well, lost." He shakes his head, lost in his thoughts. "And you know, it happens. We'd been keeping under the LNH's radar before, but her new plans were bigger than that, and she wouldn't just take the loss and keep going. She broke into the Brenton Island Nuclear Power Plant, trying to make the Hourglass more powerful... and she took a lethal dose of radiation and died."

Tweseveny grimaced. "Oh, I'm... so sorry."

"Yeah. And..." The Time Crapper's voice wavered, turned husky. "I knew it was my fault. If I hadn't let her charge off alone like that, she wouldn't... she would still have..."

At least Tweseveny knew what to do here - moving over, and wrapping the Time Crapper in a tight hug, ignoring the screams of protest from her nose.

"..." The Time Crapper seems to waver on the edge of some kind of defensive anger, some net.villainous outburst... but instead, releases it, and relaxes into the hug. After a few moments, Tweseveny lets go, and the Crapper sits up. "I was at my worst moment, and contemplated... well. Dark things. I couldn't see a path forward..." He sighs, that deep husky pain flowing out of him. "But, in the end, I managed to pull myself out of it."

"Ohhhh?" queries Tweseveny, hoping...

"Literally. I-- that is, the Time Crapper-- came to me, to whoever I'd been when I wasn't him, and without speaking, gave me the Hourglass, and vanished." The Time Crapper leaned back, contemplatively. "If not for that... I might not have continued."

...oh. Oh no. It's all coming together now in Tweseveny's head; to avoid the pain of loss, he had sucked himself back into this cycle, again and again.

"So I decided to... well, try and help her with those problems," says the Time Crapper. "Proactively."

To fix her, thinks Tweseveny, watching as the narrative took its terrible shape.

"I got some self-help books, read through them, and realized that, you know, of course I'd been enabling her. I figured she needed someone who would push back on her bad habits instead of enabling them."

"Right, and that's a great idea..." says Tweseveny, voice rising cheerfully... and then faltering into, "...and I'm guessing you're gonna tell me how it went wrong."

The Time Crapper chuckles self-deprecatingly. "You're getting it. I showed up, all dramatic, and introduced myself as the Time Crapper. I told her she was destined to be a powerful force in the universe, and that I would be her mentor. I played up the powerful cosmic wisdom thing." He shrugs. "She didn't really buy it, but she went along with it for the power, you know."

"And, well, it worked for a while, we stole a lot of stuff, fought the LNH a few times, I managed to hold her in check... aaaaand..." He lets out a long breath. "And she tried to take the Hourglass and I killed her."

"...I'm so sorry." Tweseveny squeezes his shoulder.

"Yeah, so was I... that was the first time I tried to commit suicide."

Tweseveny winced. "Ah."

"I decided to do the traditional thing and jump off a bridge. The LNH showed up to stop me, of course. All of you..." He breathes harshly, rasping against his lips. "Fucking do-gooders..." He shakes his head, a wave of bitterness passing, and looks at Tweseveny. "Present company excepted, of course."

"Er... of course," says Tweseveny, wishing there was some kind of rock she could crawl under right about now.

"They talked me back from the brink, and I had... some new, stupid idea about how to fix things. And I went back, and did it again, and it failed again. I decided I had been right the first time, decided to jump from something higher. The LNH came in again and I got grief counseling from a kiwi. Got a new idea. Fucked it up again. The LNH came in again, over and over..." He sighs. "I've killed myself so many times. So many selves, and I just kept taking my own place."

Tweseveny stays silent, pinned under the thick layer of pain streaming off the Time Crapper, unable to do anything except Be There and let him vent his trauma.

"Finally, I came up with some kind of ridiculous plan about rebooting the universe and waited for the LNH to get to me again, just so I could have someone to talk to about it. Thankfully, the LNHer who came to talk to me was Cynical Lass."

"Thankfully?" says Tweseveny, grasping at the slender straw of positivity.

"Oh yes. She cut right thru my bullshit, and made me realize - the things wrong with our relationship were things I just couldn't change. They were fundamental things about myself and about Tamela that would make us end in tragedy no matter what parts of the situation I tweaked."

"Ah!" Tweseveny perked up. "That sounds like a very wise thing that's extremely worth listening to. Uh, for a net.hero."

The Time Crapper nods. "Right. That's when I gave up."

Tweseveny smiles! Yes, he'd finally made a breakthru that-- wait. She glances off in the direction Mother Time went. She turns to the Time Crapper. "And then?"

"..well." He rubs the back of his head. "Dismal-Hope Kid was putting me in the holding cells here, and then I appeared to myself again."

Shit.

"I offered myself a source of enormous power. Enough power to change those fundamental things, about myself and about her."

Shit shit shit. "The Rung of Revamp," says Tweseveny.

"Right." The Time Crapper takes a deep breath, and sits up. The weariness and depression seem to fall off of him. Something bigger, older, fills his form. "I took it, and it..." He lets out his breath. "It took away my past. Replaced it. With a connection to entropy. The waste disposal system of the universe."

Holy shit. Cosmic shit. Tweseveny sits up, remembers that she's not just a sympathetic ear, she's a net.hero on a mission. Shiiiiit.

"That's where the smell comes from. It started showing up whenever I used the Hourglass, but now it's become part of who I am. I didn't need the Hourglass anymore - the power was internalized." The Time Crapper looks off again, but not into his own past; into deep space, the fabric of the universe. "I realized how fragile the universe is. That's why I hadn't managed to fix things. Everything is so delicate. People are so delicate. This universe..." He shakes his head. "I don't know how it still exists. How it holds itself together."

"Somehow it does, tho," murmurs Tweseveny. Probably a bad thing for someone who can smash spacetime to be talking about how fragile it is.

"Somehow it does. Maybe it's because of the net.heroes." He shakes his head. "Still... I tried to warn Fourth Wall Lass about all I could see, with my new awareness. She took me seriously, at least. Then I decided to leave the universe to its own devices and focus on Tamela."

"Of course," says Tweseveny. Maybe she can find a new place to help these two from that angle, but God, how's she even supposed to start? "What did you do?"

"I went and I found... the best bits and pieces I could find, from all of the times I've been with her, made an amalgam of those. The Hourglass is holding it together, but it's not stable." He clenches his fist. "If she thought about her memories, she'd realize they don't make sense. But she doesn't care about the past." He looks at Tweseveny, and his gaze is focused, somewhere beneath the shadows. "She wants tomorrow."

Tweseveny swallows. Great, swinging back to megalomania! "And what's tomorrow?"

"...well." The Time Crapper sits back, placing one hand over the other. "Once we get the Rung of Revamp, it will stabilize her timeline, like it did to me - collect her into a new, coherent self."

Oh-- of course. That was the plan all along - use the Rung to "fix" things. Another plan, like the ones he'd already failed with... and he could probably see that, but...

Ugh, thinks Tweseveny. Yes, friendshipping villains is definitely harder than she'd thought. If he's failed so badly at fixing himself, how can she possibly hope to do it?

"Then..." The Time Crapper ponders, gaze still on the superstructure of the universe. "I don't know. Maybe we can evolve past our human flaws, into cosmic entities." He shrugs! "But at least I'll have a version of her that... wants to be around me."

Tweseveny licks her lips. Maybe... maybe she needs to be more blunt! "Time Crapper... may I be blunt?" Okay, a little more.

He snaps out of his reverie, looks at her with that unseen gaze... gives a firm nod. "Absolutely. Seems to be what I need, anyway."

God, what should she say, how should she say it-- just be honest, just open up and say what comes to mind! "Even if you make a verson of her that wants to be with you..." Tweseveny draws a deep breath thru her nose and squares up! "Are you sure you should be with her? Are you sure that-- with everything you could do with this new cosmic power-- that that's what you want!?" She coughs slightly as she gets the earnest plea out.

The Time Crapper looks at her wordlessly for a moment; she can almost feel thick waves of emotion wafting off of him, anger, regret, genuine thought. Then he turns away, his shoulders lowering, his hands on his knees. "I'm not sure, really. You're right. But... after all I've done on this path..." He shakes his head. "Without her, I'm a monster. With her, I'm something. Even if that something is still a monster, for what I make her into."

Hoo boy. Well. That was Tweseveny's last shot. What now?

She wishes she had some way to see what Mother Time was saying. Maybe there's some kind of miscommunication here. Something she needed that he wasn't fulfilling - maybe the reason she wanted to commit crimes in the first place? Maybe. If only...

She feels a little tingle at her belt, and looks down. The little yellow gem on her belt is flashing, and she reaches down and, quietly, presses it...

And suddenly, she isn't in the story anymore. She's reading it - so

rt of. She can see-- feel?-- smell???-- threads of narrative, like

individual pages ripped from a book and taped back together into a

film strip, rolling by the light of her viewpoint and projected ont

o the screen of reality.

Tweseveny reaches out to one of the narrative threads, the one that

tastes like Time-Waster Lad, and starts reading...

<<<*>>>

Author's Note: The versions of the Time Crapper and Mother Time that show up in the Infinite Leadership Crisis and 58.5 are kind of all over the place, often implying mutually exclusive backstories. And honestly? It's more interesting that way - those stories do a lot of fascinating things that don't need to be held back by tying them to a strict canon. But this is my attempt at stitching together Arthur, Rob, and Lalo's interpretations into something coherent. And we're not done stitching yet...

#Original Fiction #Superheroes #Adventure #Drama #Legion of Net.Heroes #Classic LNH #Burst Beetle Tweseveny

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 7 years

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Gameplan to renovate the ABC Marvel TV side

1) Considering how bad the reviews are for Inhumans and how ABC seems to want to burn off the episodes and head straight to AOS, I think it’s likely that Inhumans won’t be back for season two. That’s fine. Let the property die quietly and bring it back years from now as a movie series (like around 2024 or 2025).

2) Also, it pains me to say this but AOS season 5 may be the final season. Considering that the show’s renewal was already a miracle, the budget’s been lowered, and that it was placed in another time death slot, I don’t think it’s likely AOS will be renewed for season 6. The only way is if season 5 is so mind-numbingly awesome that it starts pulling in bigger numbers and if ABC literally has no other shows to replace it. So for the sake of this gameplan, I’m considering season 5 as the final season.

3) Now that we’re starting fresh, I’d say the best plan for ABC Marvel TV is to start small by focusing on a solo series, like what the CW is doing with the Arrowverse and Netflix is doing with the Defenders. They’re gonna have to start slow but they need to earn the audience’s trust.

4) Continuing from the previous point, start off with a major character. Obviously, there are some characters that are off-limits like Iron Man and Captain America. But thankfully, Marvel is huge. Top of my head, we still have Ghost Rider, Wonder Man, Black Knight, Ms. Marvel, Blade, Hercules, She-Hulk, Doctor Druid, Mockingbird (not likely), Kate Bishop Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Shang-Chi, Firebird, U.S. Agent, Deathlok, Nova, Machine Man, Darkhawk, Captain Britain, Sharon Carter (if the movie side is nice), Irredeemable Ant-Man, White Tiger, Jennifer Kale, Thor Girl, Rick Jones, Amadeus Cho, Carmilla Black/Scorpion, Yelena Belova Black Widow, and Quake on her own.

Just to name a few.

Literally, pick from any of those heroes and make a show about them. That said, Ghost Rider has an edge since Robbie Reyes already shown up on AOS. Just saying Marvel, I’m waiting for his spinoff show.

5) KEEP SCOTT BUCK AWAY FROM ANY OF THESE PROJECTS. For fuck’s sake Jeph Loeb, the man has failed Marvel TV twice. Enough is enough. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

6) On the chance that the spin-off show has a great season 1, work on another hero. Give them the same time and effort as the other show and focus on making this new show great on its own. Maybe throw in one crossover or two but don’t overwhelm the audience.

7) To keep the AOS team alive, at least consider adding the main characters to these other shows. Daisy Johnson would be a great deuteragonist in the Ghost Rider show (or, as stated before, she could be on her own), Fitz and Simmons could be the main support to Dane Whitman / Black Knight, Coulson and May could be old friends with John Walker / U.S. Agent, and there could be a shared past with Mack and Amadeus Cho through Helen Cho. This way, AOS’ impact can still be felt without overshadowing the main protagonists, whoever they are.

8) Work on better marketing and follow through with strong pay-offs. I feel like that’s where AOS failed. They teased great things but the results were okay at best. Season 3 tried to hype up Most Wanted and the Secret Warriors and both projects failed. Secret Warriors wasn’t even given a chance to succeed while Most Wanted had obvious red flags from the start (lack of significant audience interest and failed to impress the execs the first time it was proposed).

Meanwhile, season 4 hyped up Ghost Rider and achieved moderate success but didn’t go anywhere with it. Don’t read me wrong, I loved the Ghost Rider arc. However, Robbie was written off one-third of the way into season 4 and the rest of the season focused on other arcs, which probably drove off new people who were interested in GR. Yeah, I know there were budgetary reasons and different arcs to focus on but still, considering how much of the marketing was geared towards Ghost Rider, it sucks that he only appears in 9 of the 22 episodes.

So as part of starting smaller, don’t hype up large projects that will have lackluster results. Just focus on making great individual shows at the start and then build to something big. It’s fine to have the occasional crossover but don’t introduce anything too crazy. Arrowverse and the Defenders earned their right to do crazy-as-fuck crossover/universe-affecting storylines, ABC needs to earn their stripes.

A possible thing to work towards: The Champions. Like how the Netflix shows built up to the Defenders, the ABC shows can build up the Champions. Obviously, it won’t be the same line-up as the comics but that’s fine.

9) Move away from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Inhumans. We have five seasons of AOS. While it’s been great following the adventures of S.H.I.E.L.D., maybe it’s time to move on to something different. And considering the reception that Inhumans received, maybe it’s a good idea for ABC to distance themselves from that property for a while. Or at the very least, focus on different Inhuman characters.

Focus on something else, there’s room enough in the MCU. Ghost Rider is a good gateway to the supernatural side of Marvel. U.S. Agent could provide a darker, grittier look at mercenaries and world governments, Moon Knight has a weird as fuck backstory that’d be fun to watch, Miss Marvel is a fan favorite who could redeem the Inhuman concept, Black Knight opens the doors to the British/European side of Marvel, the same with Shang-Chi and Asia, and so on. To reinvigorate people’s interest in Marvel TV, maybe it’s a good idea to focus on something...all-new, all-different.

Sorry, I saw my opportunity and I took it.

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samdukewieland · 4 years

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Stuck Inside Media Diary Week 2

New week. New movies I had never seen before. Only one was on the DVR so now it’s just like a glorified streaming guide and for that I apologize. There were three movies this week that I had seen before, but I’ve decided, because rules are important, that I won’t re-watch a movie until I watch a new one. Does this matter? No. But it has made me realize that I might be exposing my ass in the upcoming weeks, because we all lie about saying we’ve seen some movies when we actually haven’t. Not the case for this week, but it’s impending.

Sunday, March 29

Warrior, O’Conner 2011 [as of now this is available on Amazon Prime]

As a person who doesn’t really care about MMA or UFC or boxing or bum fights or bare knuckle brawls I went in under the impression that there’d probably be some kind of barrier in my way of enjoying it, despite knowing its esteemed reputation for being man-weep canon. Any movie that opens and closes with a song by The National is fairly transparent about the type of movie its going to be, despite having an extremely yolked Tom Hardy as one of the main characters. My first cry came at a very unexpected moment, especially because Frank Grillo had a significant role in making that happen (though I will say, I had no idea Frank Grillo was in this movie and about midway through I thought “man, that guy kinda looks like Grillo, but he’s kinda small and has a fashion mullet”). However, I’m a cryer, so I don’t want to set the expectation of you will cry at this you piece of shit! but you might and it’ll come out of a good place, because this movie doesn’t trick you into crying by manipulating you into it (okay, it does at one point, but it involves Moby Dick, so again, it’s kinda unexpected). It opens with “Start A War” and ends with “About Today,” a top 5 sad boy song by The National and I’ll be damned if I didn’t listen to it once a day all last week.

Better Call Saul

“Sunk Costs”, “Sabrosito”, “Chicanery”, “Off Brand”, “Expanses”

John Getz hive, assemble.

Monday, March 30

Working Girl, Nichols 1988 [as of now this is available on HBO]

Sometime in college, I think in a detective fiction class I took, we talked about knowing a reference to something before knowing what it’s either paying homage to or directly referencing. For example: the first time I read The Long Halloween (which is a Batman comic by Jeph Loeb) I had no idea that basically everything involving Falcone is just ripped from The Godfather, because I had never seen The Godfather at that time in my life; literally the first page of the book is “I believe in Gotham City.” Or in Django Unchained when they go to Mississippi and the title card moves across the screen just like it does in Gone With The Wind (Tarantino movies are generally just long homages and references to other things, so if you need another example, just look to really anything he’s ever worked on). There’s probably a German word for this feeling of recognition and I just don’t have the energy to look to see what it would be, but I felt it while watching Working Girl in two regards.

The first was that I didn’t realize that School Of Rock is essentially just Working Girl and when you have a realization like this, you feel kinda dumb, because you just assume everyone figured this out before you did. The second was that Joe Swanberg has tried to model his movies after Mike Nichols ones like his life depended on it and he just can’t or rather hasn’t. Also I’m not a person who was alive in the 80s and I’m sure there’s some modern day equivalent (potentially her daughter) who I defend out of some weird sense of contrarian obligation, but what’s uh, what’s going on with Melanie Griffith and her as actor?

Better Call Saul

“Slip”, “Fall”, “Lantern” [Season 3 finale]

BCS season 3 really stepped up to the heights of Breaking Bad and I think I might like it just a little bit better than it? I haven’t watched Breaking Bad in long time, I find it pretty difficult to re-watch (it’s very fire works factory for me) so I’m sure there are some BB highs that I just don’t remember fully, but that BCS can juggle being three different shows all at the same time and do it excellently really has me taken aback. It’s like watching the Coen Brothers jump from genre to genre and not be worried about the end result.

Tuesday, March 31

Say Anything..., Crowe 1989 [as of now this is available on Hulu]

I’m unabashedly in the can for Cameron Crowe, which is a semi-embarrassing thing to admit, but whatever. I saw Aloha in theatres and watched We Bought A Zoo when it was on FX once (in real time too, so that means with commercials-this was also the only time I’ve seen We Bought A Zoo, but I think I’d do it again); you can’t hurt me. I think I kept my distance from Say Anything... for so long, because it was one of those things that I’d be annoyed at because it’d resonate with me too much, because feeling that is kinda hacky and embarrassing, but if there’s one thing that Cameron Crowe movies put an emphasis on of importance on, it’s being sincere. And I sincerely loved it (hot, HOT take). Thanks to Russillo for recommending it on Simmons’ podcast last week.

Better Call Saul

“Smoke” [Season 4 premiere]

Wednesday, April 1

The Graduate, Nichols 1967 [as of now this is available on Amazon Prime]

Sucks that this movie has been used by a certain type of dude who use it as a blueprint for their life and how they view relationships. Other than that, good job everyone. [I definitely thought it would be clever to watch this after watching Say Anything... because I just assumed Ben Braddock walked so Lloyd Dobbler could run-I was kinda right, whatever]

Hot Rod, Schaffer 2007

While April Fools Day means nothing to me I do try to watch a comedy on the day, because...eh, why not. Hot Rod is maybe a perfect comedy and I think I could spend hours talking about it. I don’t know how there hasn’t been some kind of programming that’s been done around The Lonely Island and their catalog, because it seems very obvious.

Hot Rod with Digital Shorts played before and after and then Wayne’s World

MacGruber and you play MacGruber shorts before and after and then whatever grotesque 80′s action movie you’d want, maybe Commando

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping with Lonely Island music videos before and after and then This Is Spinal Tap

The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience sing-a-long followed by The Lonely Island pilot and either a collection or the entirety of I Think You Should Leave

maybe this is all a lead-up to Palm Springs, a movie I have’t seen and know very little about other than they produced it and Samberg is in it

Thursday, April 2

The In-Laws, Hiller 1979

I wrote it as my letterboxd. “review” , but this thing’s 1979 funny until they go to South America and then it is actually funny. Falk is just gangbusters.

Better Call Saul

“Breathe”, “Something Beautiful”

Friday, April 3

You Can Count On Me, Lonergan 2000 [as of now this is available on Amazon Prime]

I say this as a very big fan of his, but! Timothée Chalamet, consider yerself on notice for borrowing heavily from the Mark Ruffalo school of acting. Also, I get it now with Laura Linney, who I’ve liked before, but thought she might kind of be overrated by some people. Also, Matthew Broderick made this after Election (and also Inspector Gadget), so quite the infidelity streak for Brody, probably not a double feature.

Better Call Saul

“Talk”, “Quite A Ride”, “Piñata”

Saturday, April 4

De Palma, Baumbach & Paltrow, 2015 [as of now this is available on Netflix]

The definitive documentaries for the directors of this friend group are basically perfect in their own ways. That this is just De Palma talking about himself and his career and movies, sometimes being incredibly critical of his own work and others. He seems pretty self-aware, probably the most of that group of directors, while still coming across as incredibly cocky. De Palma is perfect for Brian De Palma. However, if anyone wanted to make a 10 hour documentary on Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola, De Palma and Lucas in this style or it’s just the 5 of them interviewing each other moderated by like Fincher or someone, man....I could really go for that. (I mean if Michael Jordan can get one, why not these guys?)

The Other Director Documentaries

Spielberg, 2017 (HBO) [Interviews and retrospectives about Spielberg’s career, with personal highlights. It’s essentially Spielberg in a nutshell: big, flashy with a lot of time on particular moments that are more important to him than they are to you]

Empire Of Dreams, 2004 (Disney+) [Ostensively this is about Star Wars, and it’s made by a company-man, it says so much about Lucas, a man who hated how institutions told him what he could do so he unintentionally created one that has copied what he hates]

Heart Of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, 1991 [A truly wild ride, tells you everything you need to know about Coppola]

Italianamerican, 1974 [While a new documentary about Scorsese is probably what I covet most, he’s a pretty open book about his controversies and he’d probably enjoy talking about other people’s work more than his own-catholicism’s a helluva thing]

The Godfather Pt. I & The Godfather Pt. II, Coppola 1972 & 1974

I don’t know if I necessarily endorse watching both of these back-to-back; I guess I’m glad I did it, even if the motivation was mainly to just see if I could. Obviously these movies are important and good and are about so much more than just gangsters and thugs, but a lot of the time it just feels like eating vegetables for me. I did not grow up in a household that emphasized the importance of The Godfather so maybe that’s part of it, but I’m definitely not as dismissive of these as I used to be (though part of that could be the mental Stockholm Syndrome Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan and Sean Fennessey have given me). Once I finished Pt. I, I felt like I could re-watch it; once I finished Pt. II I felt like my eyes were melting out of my head and onto my hands (this could be because I had just watched 377 minutes of a story). I will probably never do it again, unless it’s the weekend after Christmas and AMC is just going for it-at least then I’ll have intermissions every 20 or so minutes telling me to go shop at Target.

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agl03 · 7 years

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Okay I'm totally going to need you to convince me how this is going to be okay because right now I actually feel pretty sick. I don't see how they have enough time once they leave the framework for Fitz to deal with this trauma. Fitz has killed a woman now, even if he wasn't aware he was doing it. And if he tortures Daisy, I just don't think I can watch that. To come out and have their happy engagement would be wrong and rushed. When do they get to heal? Where is the payoff???

Hi Anon! And anyone else who needs this…

Its Going to be Okay!

This story isn’t supposed to be happy or fun, we are in a reality built by a crazy, evil book influenced, programmed by the questionable Dr. Radcliffe, and obsessed with becoming a real girl AIDA here. She has twisted each and every single character. Fitz and May more than anyone else.

I’m just going to run down my major points here. I hope it helps. Again I am not ashamed to say that I am still enjoying this arc. Its uncomfortable and frustrating as all get out. But it has me rooting SO HARD for Fitzsimmons right now. For the entire team right now.

Fitz partly a distraction:

We all know that something the writers do is the fake out. They have us looking at and focused on one thing so we literally don’t see the truck that is coming at us from left field. Season 2 for example. When Real Shield made their move it looked like they were our big bad of the season, that would be the arc. When in fact it was Jaiying and the Inhumans that were the bigger threat. So right now they have the fandom so wrapped up in Fitz….that we are ‘missing’ that thing over in left field about to hit us. A betrayal is coming guys and its going to hurt.

Fitz has been brainwashed:

This is not our Fitz. Period. Iain said at Wondercon that they were two different people. Two different characters. Radcliffe said when talking to him, he talked about our Fitz as a different person, because he was. We saw over and over throughout the episode AIDA manipulate him. I see things like taking his hand, asking for him to protect her, of vocalizing they are trying to take him from her as the triggers. You know how we know he’s been brainwashed…how down right TERRIFIED AIDA was of Radcliffe talking to him. That Jemma was taken out of the picture even before she could be a factor in his life. That AIDA boasted that she had manipulated this world and those in it to meet her needs and wants. Yes, she fixed a regret but each regret built on her fantasy.

With Fitz this goes well beyond fixing a regret. I still believe that initially making him the son his father wanted was just step one in AIDA’s process. AIDA took him as her own.

Everyone is Dark:

We’re not done yet here guys. We have more oh please no moment coming with everyone coming. And yes, Fitz is one of the most drastically different and one they are making sure to highlight but I am uncomfortable with everyone.

Coulson: Yes he’s breaking thanks to Tahiti but he still let Hydra take off with one of his own students. The big reason I think we have Coulson back is he is getting that “you did make a difference/Shield needs you arc here”. Mace is not the leader that Shield needs…he wasn’t in the real world and he won’t be here.

Mace: I am really worried about this version of Mace. While he is doing the right thing I’m afraid he’s going to do some things in that quest that aren’t good. Not to mention that he is a massive threat to the lives of May and Fitz. He will kill either one of them given a chance. He almost reminds me of Jaiying a little here with the “One of us” comment from the promo especially makes me thing of this.

Mack: He will do ANYTHING to protect his daughter (and low key worried how he found the Resistance so easily here guys). He sold out Daisy. But what was very interesting was his view on Inhumans. When we first met Mack he was ‘against’ them for lack of a better word. It was work with Daisy, Coulson, and Shield that helped him change his mind and become one of their greatest protectors.

May: Has been twisted as much as Fitz has. She has been in there the longest. Gone through the most ‘reboots’ of the Framework. It was her team that beat up Daisy. It was her that manipulated Mack using Hope. She is number 3 in Hydra and is a huge threat to her own team as well as a target.

Ward: So leery of Ward. I really fear Jemma will be who he betrays again. And its also interesting he could have gotten a shot on Madame Hydra there…#1….instead aimed for Fitz Hydras #2. Just saying guys…our master manipulators might be at work again here. For him if it comes down to giving up Jemma to save Skye…he’s going to give up Jemma to save Skye. Just as Mack gave up Daisy to save Hope.

They are their own worst enemies:

AIDA is likely the worst villain they have gone up against, a horrid culmination of everyone they have faced before. She isn’t dumb she built this world for HER. She is using loopholes to her advantage. Otherwise I firmly feel that everyone but Fitz would already be dead. So since she had to keep them alive she manipulated (even bragged to Radcliffe that she’d done it) those regrets for her gain.

She also has been in everyone’s heads. She’s been around the team before. She knows they are the biggest threat to her when they are working together as a team. So she either split them up or turned them on each other.

She has also made them each others dragons. It is clear now AIDA is in Madame Hydra. She knows right where Mace and the Playground is but allows the Resistance to continue because it feeds into the manipulation. Especially with Fitz, its another thing he has to protect her from.

I discussed in my meta last night that AIDA seems to be trying to make it so the team won’t ‘want’ to save Fitz (more lies, more manipulation). Here he’s The Doctor, Mace won’t bat and eye if he can kill him Isn’t going to give Jemma the resources she needs to get him alive. AIDA has painted Jemma as the villain. Leaving Jemma pretty much alone now in trying to save him (oh look another parallel). She has Coulson for now but I’m betting he will be pulled away too soon by saving Daisy or getting to May.

She took Fitz as her own:

A lot of what AIDA has done was to build this world how she wanted. To get who and what she wanted, and she wanted Fitz. Someone who would love and protect her. Made her happy. Her interaction with Radcliffe very telling. We said that Fitz treating her like a person would come back…and boy has it ever. She also wanted someone that loved and protected her like Fitz did with Jemma…so she took Jemma’s place. May too, she’s ‘rewarded’ May with a high position because I believe May respected her, liked her, called her brave.

But in taking Fitz in so many ways we really do have an epic love story set up here. Jemma is going to have to fight to get him back. I feel like part of that whole spectacle on the island with Agnes was for show. That AIDA knew Jemma was there set up that whole thing with Agnes so Fitz would see it. Try to shake Jemma, make her think that he was too far gone,. It also took away the little support Jemma had found. Leaving her alone in trying to save him. AIDA is scared as heck of Jemma and her saving him.

AIDA also doesn’t have him fully yet. Fitz says he would cross the universe for her but he HAS done it for Jemma.

Fitz is in there:

In the horror of feels that was last night we saw Fitz peeking through more than once. And every single time we saw it it was because Jemma was in the mix either in person or in a picture. And only with Jemma, May, Daisy, and Radcliffe had no effect (though Radcliffe planted seeds, very important seeds).

Aside for Coulson who is aided by Tahiti we haven’t seen anyone else ‘break through” at all.

May: Came into contact with Fitz, Daisy, and Mack…nothing.

Mace: Came into contact with Jemma, Mack, and Coulson…nothing.

Mack: Came into contact with Daisy, May, Mace, and Coulson…nothing.

Engagement is Endgame:

When we look back at interviews from Loeb, Jed, and Mo they have been hinting at this arc all season. And they have been setting up an engagement for Fitzsimmons all season too.

“This young man as you have never seen him before” that was what Leob said at SDCC and also where we first heard the ‘reward’ talk. And we have seen them pay off everything so far. And coupled with the timing of Jed’s quote in EW, engagement coming up in 15, hints all season, and getting their middle names. I think once they are out they aren’t going to risk it again.

“It could happen. If they ever get back together, that’s something that could happen in their future.”

And I’m sorry to say this but this is TV, A drama at that, we have to jump through all sorts of hoops to get this kind of pay off. That is part of why we are now tearing our hair out and crying until Jemma gets him back. And when she does the pay off will be worth it. Look at what we got after Hogface.

The Fallout:

AOS has never ‘dealt’ with trauma and recovery very well. Even Daisy’s recovery a victim of the Ghost Rider Arc. It is often done over hiatus or “off camera. Now we have a situation where its the whole cast that will have things to deal with. So yes, we will miss seeing it but because we don’t see it doesn’t mean it won’t happen.

We can also have the healing ‘begin’ in the Framework, especially for Fitz as he helps get everyone out or plays a part in stopping AIDA once as for all.

Sorry that was a lot but I hope it helps. Just remember its always Darkest before the Dawn and our Sunrise is coming guys.

#aos spoilers #aos meta #fitzsimmons #leo fitz #Jemma simmons #hang in there guys

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consoledacup · 7 years

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1/2 Hi. I hope this ask is ok. I read your post examining the doctor and i wanted to ask you a question. You make a very good point about the social commentary aspect of the doctor believing what he's doing is right. I'm one of the people who is finding this pod really really difficult to watch, mainly due to concern over the effect of will have on Fitz's Psyche post framework. Much of the worry stems from the fact the writer's won't fully address the effects this will have on him,

2/2: as they have a poor track record in addressing the recovery from trauma. My feeling is if they are going to do social commentary through art then they have a responsibility to address the aftermath of their chosen storyline (in this case manipulation, violation and violence). And i was curious what your opinion is on this? As I’ve said before i love your writing, so many thanks if you do feel able to respond :) [from @popsicle86! :)]

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Hi, dear! This ask is definitely okay!

Umm… so I feel like I’ve become an AOS writer cheerleader as of late, so take that into consideration as I share my opinion. :)

I personally don’t think they have a poor track record in addressing trauma recovery. Season 1 and 2 May was essentially a product from her trauma in Bah’rain. They didn’t gloss over that at all. The events there completely formed her character.

I thought they did an absolutely splendid job with Fitz in season 2: the writers and Iain alike. They made his recovery super gradual, and then had Fitz not only learn to accept himself for what he had become but to whole-heartedly embrace it. And he didn’t need Jemma to do it. I thought it was a really well-done arc.

Jemma’s was shown really well in “A Wanted (Inhu)Man”. And I think it gave us a taste of what she was continuing to go through and recover from after that episode. And then, rightfully so (again, in my opinion), the drama switched to the Will of it all and turned into what I thought was the most heart-breaking, beautiful love triangle. I know I’m very much in the minority in this, but it’s how I feel, okay? :)

And then when they were both tortured, and then Fitz had his journey to Maveth, I fully believe they healed off screen. Which… I know isn’t… idk. I’m okay with that because they gave them three months to slowly heal.

And then Daisy was very fucked-up but then left for six months. Those six months she went through a lot of trauma. Again, we didn’t see all of it. I’m okay with it.

I think if it were a show solely about FitzSimmons or solely about Daisy or solely about Coulson or solely about May, the trauma and recovery would be written in with lots of detail and authenticity. But they simply can’t do that in an ensemble show. And I’m very okay with that. I understand where they’re coming from. And I do believe they address trauma the best way they can. I don’t think it ever gets glossed over personally.

All of that being said, I have no idea how they’ll handle Fitz’s and May’s grief over their actions or Jemma and Daisy’s trauma experiencing the Framework fully awake after the team escapes.

I think they’re off to a good start by showing Jemma’s trembling and shock after witnessing what she did.

And Jeff Loeb has said that these guys are literally experiencing this, and I’m pretty sure he said they’ll remember it afterward. So I know there will be fallout.

And I’m in the minority in this as well, but I won’t be shocked if Fitz decides to break things off with Jemma (”for her own good”). I also won’t be shocked if they decide to cling to each other all the more and get married. As you can see, I’m horrible with speculation.

I’m more of the mind frame that you can introduce questions and ideas and hard truths in a show without having to answer the questions right away or at all even.

For example, I think it’s crazy how I have so much sympathy for the Doctor and yet, virtually none for Grant Ward (even though I like him as a good guy in the Framework, I’m still like… “okay. But you’re bad in real life. And now you’re just code.”). When, looking at things objectively, in the Framework, I should be rooting for Ward to off Fitz then and there. So what does that say about me? I know what it says about me because most of us don’t want to see that happen because it’s Fitz. But this juxtaposition with Evil The Doctor and Good Grant Ward is just such a great move on the writers’ part. Because I find myself rooting for the villain. Because it’s Fitz, God damn it.

Okay, this answer got away from me, but I think, for their part, these writers have been doing the best they can to address these real life issues on a superhero show with an ensemble cast. I think it will be addressed. And I think I personally will be satisfied with the extent that it will be addressed.

#Leopold Fitz #The Doctor #Identity and Change #Jemma Simmons #Melinda May #Daisy Johnson

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