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daresplaining · 5 years

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Hi, long time lurker, first time asker here. What are your thoughts on Trish's arc in Jessica Jones S3, and where do you think it would go if this wasn't the final season? Would she find a way to appeal her case or break out of prison?

Hi!

I’m really torn on Trish’s Season 3 arc, and I’m not sure if that’s because it was horribly upsetting or because I had trouble making sense of it. I am also trying my best to look at it without the bitterness of it being the last season, because I doubt they knew it would be the last season when it was being written/filmed, and so saying that it was an unsatisfying way to end her character arc isn’t a fair criticism.

Jessica Jones has always been a show that takes its characters uncomfortable, morally iffy places. It leans into the fact that sometimes people are just terrible– and sometimes they grow and improve and sometimes they don’t. As Jessica comments in her narration in the very first episode of Season 1, this is a story about seeing the worst in people– the uncomfortable and messy aspects of just being human and handling the cruelties of the world in whatever way works. And that’s something I really like and respect about this show. It never backs down from its darkest themes, and all of its characters are unapologetically flawed. One of my favorites, Jeryn Hogarth, is a terrible person in this universe (her comics counterpart isn’t a paragon of virtue either, but he’s better). She starts out awful, she goes through some horrific experiences, and she clings to her awfulness as a survival tactic. She isn’t given a redemption arc or a neat, satisfying happy ending in any season, and that’s a gutsy storytelling choice that I absolutely respect.

On a certain level, I feel the same way about Trish’s arc. She has always been an imperfect person– not to the degree of many of the characters around her, but still. In Season 1 and The Defenders she was a hopeful figure– a success story of someone who had escaped an abusive situation and managed to rebuild her life on her own terms. She believed in the superheroic ideal– the image of a strong and noble individual protecting the weak and saving the world– to a degree that Jessica, thanks to her own traumas, no longer could. Trish served as a light in Jessica’s darkness, to put it sappily, and pushed Jessica along one of her (Jessica’s) main character journeys: that of seeing herself as a good person and a hero again. And that was very powerful and wonderful, and aligned with the themes of the Kilgrave plot. This part of Trish’s characterization was also further boosted by the complicated nature of own desire to be heroic. After spending her life as a victim who had no say in her own life or identity, she wanted the kind of power Jessica had to protect others from that type of situation and to also feel empowered herself. Trish’s desperate desire to be a superhero cannot be separated from her childhood as “Patsy”– an adored public figure who she had no say in becoming. Building herself a new public persona, gaining both literal and metaphorical power… it’s all about “killing” Patsy and recreating that same sense of positive influence on her own terms.

With this in mind, it has been horrifying (by design, to be clear) to watch this justified and understandable desire turn desperate and corrupted, and to see Trish transform into an antihero in the last two seasons of the show. As Trish, despite her better judgment, starts rebuilding her relationship with her mother, all of that past trauma comes back to the surface. She loses her grip on her life. And this comes out in her fervent desire to gain powers at any cost, thus warping her concept of heroism. Trish does what, in fact, many of the characters in the show do when their lives fall apart– she copes poorly. Her plans go awry, she makes mistakes, then she tries to justify them, and on and on, digging herself deeper and deeper until the idea of becoming a hero by murdering “bad” people seems like a logical and reasonable solution– the only way to feel like she is actually doing something “good” that makes a difference. This season emphasized the fact that, despite the illusion created in Season 1, Trish never actually escaped from her mother’s influence, she never actually moved on from that trauma, and those lingering ties end up destroying her.

Again, on a surface level, I don’t have a problem with this. I actually love dark stories with hopeless endings, and it is in conversation with Jessica’s journey of escape and personal reinvention. But Trish’s arc felt wrong to me, and beyond the anticlimax of the show’s cancellation, I felt it lacked nuance. If I think about it really hard, I can justify Trish going full-on Punisher. But in the moment, on an emotional level, it felt like a forced leap in her characterization. We weren’t deep enough in her head to fully understand how she ended up going so far off the rails. There’s also the problem of Trish not being the main character. In some ways, her story felt more like angst fodder for Jessica than anything else. As a Jessica fan, I love the final moment of the season, when she decides to stay in New York in spite of everything. But as a Trish fan, it felt unfair for Trish’s pain to just be treated as one more thing Jessica has to endure. There’s also the fact that Trish– Patsy Walker– is a long-established and beloved Marvel character. Her life has been dysfunctional, of course, but she is a superhero. She is Hellcat. And currently, she is a fairly positive, upbeat, and heroic figure within the Marvel Universe. I know it’s not fair or constructive to compare the shows/movies with the comics in this way. The MCU is its own universe, and Jessica Jones in particular has made many, many deviations from the source material. These are essentially new characters in new stories, and that’s fine. But I am always a little grumpy when adaptations blatantly disrespect their source material, and the plain fact is that the many Hellcat fans who waited and waited for Trish to get her superhero origin were given the middle finger this season.

I have to assume that following seasons would have continued her journey. She is a major secondary protagonist, and with her mother dead and the very real consequences of Doing Heroing Wrong staring her in the face, her story would invite all kinds of further development and, hopefully, an actual, successful origin story. Jessica and Trish need each other, and I feel like that would remain true even now. I could see Jessica agonizing over what to do about Trish, considering breaking her out, deciding against it, drinking a bit… and then maybe Trish would get herself out. Or outside forces would intervene. Either way, I can’t imagine Trish would have spent the entirety of a hypothetical Season 4 locked up– and I suppose one upside of the cancellation is that we can imagine all kinds of scenarios from here to make ourselves feel better about the whole thing.

#Jessica Jones spoilers #breckstonevailskier #Netflix Jessica Jones #Trish Walker #Asks #Commentary

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weekendwarriorblog · 4 years

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The Weekend Warrior Home Edition June 12, 2020 – THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND, DA 5 BLOODS, ARTEMIS FOWL, YOU DON’T NOMI and more!

Sorry about the delay in this week’s column. Some stuff came up that was out of my control… like the actual summer.

If this were a normal weekend, I’d be writing about the box office prospects about a few movies, including Judd Apatow’s new comedy THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND (Universal), which teams him with “Saturday Night Live’s” enfant terrible, Pete Davidson. Instead, I’m once again writing about movies mostly not playing in theaters except for a few sporadic drive-ins across the country.

I already reviewed The King of Staten Island earlier this week – you can read that here – and though I know it will be playing in some regional drive-ins, I have no idea how many nor do I think Universal will report any box office if it does make decent bank. I think there will be general interest among younger people who like Pete Davidson on SNL but I’m not sure anyone over a certain age, say 30 or 40, will have much interest in what Davidson and Apatow can do together. The general gist of the movie is that Davidson plays Scott, a Staten Island slacker whose widowed mother (Marisa Tomei) starts dating a fireman, much to the chagrin of Scott, who lost his fireman father at an early age. You can read my review to see what I think, but it’s relatively tame for Apatow compared to his earlier films. I’m not sure that makes it necessarily better but people seem to be digging it.

One of my favorite movies from last year’s Tribeca and what is essentially this week’s “Featured Film” is Jeffrey McHale’s YOU DON’T NOMI (RLJE Films), which takes an in-depth look at Paul Verhoeven’s 1995 movie Showgirls, thought to be one of the worst movies and biggest bombs in its day but also a movie that has grown a built-in cult audience that adores it. It’s a pretty straight-ahead doc that relies on a number of experts to discuss the problems and virtues of Verhoeven’s film, including David Schmader, who did the DVD commentary for Showgirls, and author Adam Nayman, who is responsible for the book, “It Doesn’t Suck: Showgirls.” While I never fell into either the love it or hate it camp for Showgirls, I love how McHale’s doc acts as a thesis piece to explain exactly why so many critics took issue with Verhoeven’s much-maligned follow-up to hits Basic Instinct and Total Recall.

I won’t spoil the movie’s climax showing Showgirls finally achieving redemption, but it’s a pretty amazing event from 2015 that shows that maybe Showgirls has gotten past the hatred and ridicule that followed it around for decades. If nothing else, You Don’t Nomi will make you want to rent and watch (or rewatch) Showgirls almost immediately after seeing it. You might even agree with this film that it’s a misunderstood masterpiece on second viewing.

I’ve also decided to scrap the sections in this column, since two of the other big movie releases this week are going straight to streaming services, although both would probably have gotten some sort of theatrical release if not for COVID.

One of the other major releases of the weekend is Netflix’s streaming of Spike Lee’s DA FIVE BLOODS, his look at the Vietnam War through the eyes of four black Army vets who return to the country to retrieve the body of their fallen comrade… as well as a cache of gold bullion they found and hid during their previous tour.

I’ll be the first to admit that the quality of Spike Lee’s filmmaking over the past couple of decades has been somewhat spotty at best, although BlacckKKlansman was probably one of his better films over the past couple decades. Da Five Bloods reunites Lee with his BlackkKlansman co-writer, Kevin Willmot, and though it’s a fictitious tale, there are a few themes and elements in common.

Delroy Lindo and Lee regular Isiah Whitlock Jr. star as two of the Bloods, Paul and Melvin (along with Clarke Peters’ Otis and Norm Lewis’ Eddie). We meet them as they’re reunited in Vietnam, soon joined by Paul’s son David (Jonathan Majors) along to keep an eye on his father’s health. Chadwick Boseman plays the group’s leader, “Stormin’ Norman,” in the flashback sequence to the war era showing what happened to the Bloods on the fateful day their chopper went down behind enemy lines. There are a few satellite characters, played by Mélanie Thierry and Paul Walter Hauser (making a return from BlackKklansman), as well as Jean Reno, Jasper Pääkkönen and Johnny Trí Nguyễn, who all become involved in the Bloods’ search for gold

When you think of Vietnam War movies, it’s impossible not to think of Apocalypse Now, and Lee throws in a few obvious nods, whether it’s using “Flight of the Valkyrie” or the Chamber Brothers’ “Time Has Come to Day” but in general, the musical choices are solid. I wouldn’t say that the screenplay is particularly enlightening, the story being far more simple than

Just when you have settled into what you think is a fairly laid-back pace, Lee throws a “Holy shit!” moment at you that completely changes the complexion of what you’ve been watching, and that’s when the movie starts breaking into a few more action setpieces, some better than others.

Honestly, it’s a little strange seeing all these old black guys running around and shooting guns without Samuel Jackson being among them. Make no mistake that this is first and foremost Delroy Lindo’s film, as he gives a strong if not somewhat erratic performance, and he’s the crux of the story, but Whitlock and the other actors have some nice moments, as well. The bonding between the four guys is pervasive, to the point where it almost feels like the other characters are interfering, maybe because they are.

It’s a great time to release Da 5 Bloods, due to what is going on in this country, and like with BlackKklansman, Lee throws in a few shots at Trump, the guys referring to him as “President Fake Bone Spurs.” At least in this case, it’s incorporated into the story, but I hope Lee realizes that these Trump references will ensure these movies will feel dated if watched ten or twelve years from now.

That all said, Da 5 Bloods is a decent Spike Lee Joint, maybe not quite on par with BlackkKlansman but better than his last attempt at a war movie, 2008’s Miracle at St. Anna.

Rating: 7/10

As expected by quite a few people earlier during this pandemic, Walt Disney Pictures decided to send the Kenneth Branagh-directed ARTEMIS FOWL movie directly to their Disney+ streaming service, despite the movie having been in various stages of development for a decade or more. Unlike Da 5 Bloods and The King of New York, this movie based on Eoin Colfer’s book series, is far more streamlined with a kid-friendly running time of 95 minutes. Phew!

It centers around 12-year-old super-genius Artemis Fowl (Ferdia Shaw) whose father (also named Artemis Fowl and played by Colin Farrell) goes missing, forcing the young “Artie” to look for a powerful mystical device called the Aculos. Joining him on this quest are his non-butler Domovoi (Nonzo Anonsie), Dom’s daughter Juliet (Tamara Smart), an elven police officer named Holly Short (Lara McDonnell) and an oversized dwarf played by a bearded Josh Gad. Oh, yeah, and in this world, fairies, trolls and dwarves are real, but most humans don’t know about their existence due to their secrecy as well as having a way to erase humans’ memories ala Men in Black.

I’m quite sure the latter will be a qualifying benchmark for those who review the movie without having read any of Colfer’s fantasy series – like myself -- but it takes similar ideas as David Ayer’s Bright and the Amazon series Carnival Row and transforms them into something that attempts to be in the vein of Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts but maybe comes across more like Percy Jackson. The irony is that Chris Columbus directed the initial chapters of both Potter and Jackson, but Artemis Fowl benefits from having Branagh at the helm.

I will freely admit that I’m very much a bonafide Branagh stan, and much of that is due to the way he’s handled bringing fantasy worlds to life in movies like Thor and Cinderella. Artemis Fowl is right up his alley, and he does an exemplary job even if most of his cast other than Gad… oh, yeah, and Dame Judi Dench, who plays the head of the “fairy police” – are fairly inexperienced. You can kind of tell that’s the case with first-timer Shaw, and his inexperience might be one of the tougher things for which older viewers might have to contend. Younger viewers won’t take issue with any of the problems that might throw off those expecting more from Artemis Fowl, because the storytelling is kept at a fairly brisk pace with a few decent action setpieces.

Artemis Fowl could have been released theatrically and been one of the summer’s sadly forgotten films. It finds a fun way of setting up the characters and ideas – presumably most of them taken directly from Colfer’s book – plus it sets up the possibility for even more fun family-friendly fantasy storytelling.

Rating: 7.5/10

There are a few other movies below I was hoping to get to, but see my note at the top of this column about why it was delayed by a day. If I get to any of the ones below, I’ll update and mention on social media.

One of the movies delayed from March but now getting a digital release is Carl Hunter’s drama SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER (Blue Fox Entertainment) -- not to be confused with Never Rarely Sometimes Always with the two movies at one point in danger of coming out on the same weekend! It stars Bill Nighy as tailor Alan, who has been searching for years for his missing son Michael, who stormed out after a Scrabble Game. When a body turns up, Alan must try to work things out with his younger son Peter, played by Sam Riley, and an online player they think could be Michael.

Jonas Alexander Arnby’s Danish film EXIT PLAN (Screen Media) stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau from Game of Thrones playing insurance claims investigator Max, who follows the clues of a death to the remote Hotel Aurora, a facility that specializes in assisted suicide, uncovering some disturbing revelations in the bargain.

Joshua Caldwell’s INFAMOUS (Vertical Entertainment), which will be available via VOD and in select Virtual Cinemas, stars Bella Thorne as Arielle, a down-on-her-luck dreamer seeking popularity who runs into Jake Manley’s Dean, an ex-con working for his abusive father who dies in an accident sending the two of them on the run.

The dance drama, Aviva (Outsider Pictures/Strand Releasing), directed by Boaz Yakin (Remember the Titans, Max), was supposed to premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in March, but it will instead get its premiere through Virtual Cinema this Friday. It’s a love story that explores gender dynamics with dance sequences choreographed by Bobbi Jene Smith of the Batsheva Dance Company. Aviva is a young Parisian who gets into an online romance with a New Yorker named Eden, eventually meeting and getting married with the story told by four different dancers/actors simultaneously.

I haven’t had a chance to watch Flavio Alves’ The Garden Left Behind, starring Michael Madsen and Ed Asner, but it was a winner of the Audience Award at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival, so I’m definitely interested in learning more about its story of a young trans woman from Mexico who lives with her grandmother as undocumented immigrants in New York City.

Released in a union between Shudder and RLJE Films, The Dead Lands (Shudder/RLJE Films) hit Digital HD yesterday. The supernatural fantasy set in New Zealand is co-directed by Peter Meteherangi Tikao Burger and Michael Hurst, and it stars Te Kohe Tuhaka as Waka, a murdered Maori warrior who has returned from the Afterlife who goes on a quest with with a young woman named Mehe (Darneen Christian) to discover who broke the world. Not quite sure why didn’t get to this one, as I’m usually interested in New Zealand-based films as well as supernatural fantasy.

Daniel (For the Bible Tells Me So) Karslake’s new doc For They Know Not What They Do (First Run Features), which will hit virtual cinemas this Friday, which looks at the intersection between religion, sexual orientation and gender identity in America through a number of families of faith learning to accept their LGBTQ children. It has pretty much run the festival circuit through most of last year, winning a number of audience awards.

Coming to the Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema this Friday is Bill Duke’s 1985 directorial debut The Killing Floor and Alastair Sim’s 1954 schoolgirl romp, The Belles of St. Trinian’s. Uptown at Film at Lincoln Center, besides the Human Rights Watch Film Festival (see below), they’ll be debuting Hong Sangsoo’s 2014 film Hill of Freedom (Grasshopper Films) in their already quite robust Virtual Cinema.

A few other films I wasn’t able to get to this week, include Return to Hardwick (Gravitas Ventures) and The Departure (October Coast), so I guess I did better than last week?

A few film festivals taking place mostly virtually this week include the annual New York edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, running from June 11 through 20, and the Fine Arts Film Festival in Venice, California (June 8 to 14). The latter is offering 92 films from 27 countries with different packages including the entire festival for $20 or individual series for $10. Also, the Oxford Film Festival continues its virtual festival with two music docs, Dillon Hayes’ short All I Have to Offer You is Me about country-Western singer Larry Callies, as he tries to get his voice back after a degenerative disorder, and Dennis Cahlo’s feature In Flowers Through Space, in which the filmmaker tries to use the Fibonacci Sequence to try to create a unique music album. You can also check out Ben & Bo Powell’s Mississippi doc Nothin’ No Better about Rosedale, Mississippi, and more short blocks, all available on Oxford’s Virtual Site.

Also, the June episode of Hulu’s horror series “Into the Dark” is Good Boy, a movie directed by Tyler MacIntyre, starring Judy Greer, Steve Guttenberg and Ellen Wong (from Scott Pilgrim!) that has Greer adopting an emotional support dog that kills anyone who causes her anxiety. Just in time for Pet Appreciation Week! Yeah, I’m gonna have to see this one.

Next week, more movies (mostly) not in theaters!

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honestly, I do!

#TheWeekendWarrior #ArtemisFowl #DaFiveBloods #SpikeLee #Movies #Reviews #YouDontNomi #Streaming #thekingofstatenisland

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