The biggest mistake The Midnight Sky made was in underestimating the audience. It was immediately obvious what the relationships between the characters would be so all attempts to elide that during the progression of the film stuck out like a sore thumb. It tried to be cleverer than it was and landed with a dull thud.
Most comments about WandaVision after the trailer seemed to reference the Vision miniseries, so I'm glad you also mentioned House of M. Other than that it was set in suburbia, the King & Walta series never seemed like the right reference point. Wanda & Vision moved to the suburbs in some miniseries in the 80s and tried to live a normal life, have kids, etc. and that seems so much closer to the core of the show. That, mixed with West Coast Avengers in the 90s when Wanda went crazy after Vision "died" by being lobotomized as well as the already-mentioned House of M where she remade reality. Using tv sitcoms of times past to represent the fake plastic reality Wanda's brain is creating to process her grief from having to kill Vision in Infinity War is perfect. They've executed the homages brilliantly so far.
a. One mistake of Midnight Sky was even bothering with the little girl character. A book could get away with it maybe but the kid’s presence is so ridiculous in the setting that the audience is bound to feel insulted by how obvious the so-called “twist” is.
b. I was a big fan of the 80s Vision and Scarlet Witch mini that you mention (it was my first favorite comic as a kid) and there are definitely elements in the show from that series. I have rarely liked the directions Marvel took the duo in afterwards. I am fervently hoping this show won’t end with Wanda being a crazy villain but show her working on her issues.
So glad to hear that you liked Wayne I really enjoyed it about as much as you did for the same reasons and it is kind of sad that it probably will die on the vine but at least we got what we got
Very excited to see your thoughts on Eve's Bayou - an underrated masterpiece in my mind. Kasi Lemmons really nails this film and the actors/script/setting are all superb. What a look at memory, dreams, magic etc. Looking forward to it!
Really excited to hear your thoughts on A Shot In The Dark. For years I have been trying to figure out who created all the Clouseau tropes that magically appear in that film after being completely absent in the original Pink Panther. William Peter Blatty certainly has the dark sense of humor to create Kato or The Great Balls, but he was adapting a stage play so maybe they came from that? I've done light internet research over the years and never found a satisfactory answer.
I'm glad Greengrass toned down his caffeine-induced shaky-cam directing as it really got in the way with Supremacy and Ultimatum, doing it during action-scenes is one thing but shaking the camera like a junkie even during dialogue scenes is just plain nuts. I missed Doug Liman so badly after seeing those two films, and i'm glad Jason Bourne looked more "normal"(though I still say Bourne Legacy was the best directed film in the series, the freeway chase was just pure perfection).
Hmm. Strong disagree here. I think Supremacy is the best of the Bourne flicks. I thought Bourne Legacy was pretty forgettable. Apparently Gilroy loathed what Greengrass did to his scripts so it was always surprising to me that they had him direct Legacy. I’d imagine that freeway chase you enjoyed was probably a 2nd Unit job given Gilroys lack of action chops.
I found Supremacy forgettable myself aside from how Franka Potente's character got needlessly fridged(and of Jason Bourne had to do that same trope again)that just felt like bad writing and the final chase nearly gave me a migraine from all the over-editing, seriously was there any cut that lasted a full second?
Surprised to see Tenet and WW1984 in bold, especially the former. Tenet hadn't seemed to have worked for you on any level. If you have radically new thoughts on either film, I'd love to hear them.
The biggest mistake The Midnight Sky made was in underestimating the audience. It was immediately obvious what the relationships between the characters would be so all attempts to elide that during the progression of the film stuck out like a sore thumb. It tried to be cleverer than it was and landed with a dull thud.
Most comments about WandaVision after the trailer seemed to reference the Vision miniseries, so I'm glad you also mentioned House of M. Other than that it was set in suburbia, the King & Walta series never seemed like the right reference point. Wanda & Vision moved to the suburbs in some miniseries in the 80s and tried to live a normal life, have kids, etc. and that seems so much closer to the core of the show. That, mixed with West Coast Avengers in the 90s when Wanda went crazy after Vision "died" by being lobotomized as well as the already-mentioned House of M where she remade reality. Using tv sitcoms of times past to represent the fake plastic reality Wanda's brain is creating to process her grief from having to kill Vision in Infinity War is perfect. They've executed the homages brilliantly so far.
a. One mistake of Midnight Sky was even bothering with the little girl character. A book could get away with it maybe but the kid’s presence is so ridiculous in the setting that the audience is bound to feel insulted by how obvious the so-called “twist” is.
b. I was a big fan of the 80s Vision and Scarlet Witch mini that you mention (it was my first favorite comic as a kid) and there are definitely elements in the show from that series. I have rarely liked the directions Marvel took the duo in afterwards. I am fervently hoping this show won’t end with Wanda being a crazy villain but show her working on her issues.
So glad to hear that you liked Wayne I really enjoyed it about as much as you did for the same reasons and it is kind of sad that it probably will die on the vine but at least we got what we got
Wayne is outstanding and I’ve tried to get everyone I know to watch it now that it’s on Prime. I just wish it’d get more attention.
Very excited to see your thoughts on Eve's Bayou - an underrated masterpiece in my mind. Kasi Lemmons really nails this film and the actors/script/setting are all superb. What a look at memory, dreams, magic etc. Looking forward to it!
Really excited to hear your thoughts on A Shot In The Dark. For years I have been trying to figure out who created all the Clouseau tropes that magically appear in that film after being completely absent in the original Pink Panther. William Peter Blatty certainly has the dark sense of humor to create Kato or The Great Balls, but he was adapting a stage play so maybe they came from that? I've done light internet research over the years and never found a satisfactory answer.
I'm glad Greengrass toned down his caffeine-induced shaky-cam directing as it really got in the way with Supremacy and Ultimatum, doing it during action-scenes is one thing but shaking the camera like a junkie even during dialogue scenes is just plain nuts. I missed Doug Liman so badly after seeing those two films, and i'm glad Jason Bourne looked more "normal"(though I still say Bourne Legacy was the best directed film in the series, the freeway chase was just pure perfection).
Hmm. Strong disagree here. I think Supremacy is the best of the Bourne flicks. I thought Bourne Legacy was pretty forgettable. Apparently Gilroy loathed what Greengrass did to his scripts so it was always surprising to me that they had him direct Legacy. I’d imagine that freeway chase you enjoyed was probably a 2nd Unit job given Gilroys lack of action chops.
I found Supremacy forgettable myself aside from how Franka Potente's character got needlessly fridged(and of Jason Bourne had to do that same trope again)that just felt like bad writing and the final chase nearly gave me a migraine from all the over-editing, seriously was there any cut that lasted a full second?
Surprised to see Tenet and WW1984 in bold, especially the former. Tenet hadn't seemed to have worked for you on any level. If you have radically new thoughts on either film, I'd love to hear them.