My review of The Book of Boba Fett eps 1-2.

Like The Mandalorian, this show benefits from high production values and capitalizes on fandom nostalgia... with virtually no interest in writing or characterization. dailydot.com/unclick/book-o… The Star Wars franchise is keen to expand Boba Fett's backstory & frontstory, implicitly aimed at fans of 1980s/'90s EU spinoff material. Fine! But this show is mostly filler, failing to illustrate who Boba Fett is and why we should care about him. dailydot.com/unclick/book-o…

Fashion-as-self-expression is a central theme in The Matrix. A rarity in a blockbuster action movie.

The more I think about it, the more I love how New Morpheus continues this theme in The Matrix Resurrections. (thread!) The original Matrix draws heavily from fetishwear & cyberpunk influences, envisioning Neo, Trinity and their crew as sexy counterculture rebels against the suit-wearing Agents.

We know they *choose* these looks because they control their self-image within the matrix.

netflix's Midnight Mass has such a chaotic range of good & bad acting. some ppl are out there giving weird, interesting performances while others are like teenagers wearing a Party City wig to play ~doddering grandma~ in the school play. also, a wildly uneven balance of interesting themes (the way these people rationalize religious abuse!) versus laborious pacing where they could easily cut 10 mins of monologues from each ep.

Watched Far From Heaven for an upcoming ep of @OverinvestedPod. What a gorgeous, intelligent film.

Julianne Moore stars as a 1950s housewife who learns that her husband (Dennis Quaid) is gay. Can't recommend it highly enough!! The conceit of Far From Heaven is that it was filmed from a truly 1950s point of view, both aesthetically and emotionlly.

Director Todd Haynes (Carol; Velvet Goldmine) copied the techniques of 1950s filmmaker Douglas Sirk, who specialized in technicolor melodramas:

After peering through the murky gloom of the #Loki finale, I had to write about this: The MCU's lighting is *so* bad! dailydot.com/unclick/bad-mc…

(Spoiler-free, BTW!) The MCU is obsessed with flat, low-contrast lighting: dailydot.com/unclick/bad-mc…

It makes things easier for CGI & digital color-correction, but creates a murky aesthetic where you can barely see what's happening.

These are all official promo screenshots!

the big reveal is that Dee is the only one who watched Tenet all the way through. she forced herself to do it, in order to win an argument against the boys.

https://twitter.com/soniasaraiya/status/1360346466716426243

Dennis is trawling Reddit for theories to outwit the others, but he can't be bothered watching the actual film.

Mac immediately and unconvincingly lies & says he's already seen it, hoping to impress Dennis.

I wrote about how Disney erased Scarlet Witch's Romani backstory, and why details like WandaVision's "Sokovian fortune teller" joke aren't a neutral choice: dailydot.com/unclick/wandav… Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch were originally the Jewish/Romani children of Magneto & his wife Magda.

In some storylines, they have different parents. But they're consistently portrayed as Romani... except for in the MCU, where Joss Whedon rewrote them as white "Sokovians."

caught up with star trek: disco, and making Tilly the new XO is a hilariously on-brand move for this show & its crew. it's DSC's equivalent of Harry Kim not getting a promotion in 7 years. Tilly: but captain, i'm basically an intern! i don't have the experience or qualifications to be second in command!
me: correct.
Saru: Tilly, you underestimate yourself. you survived a one-way trio through a wormhole!
me: SO DID EVERYONE ELSE.

starting a Hannibal rewatch, and while ep 1 is a lot more ~typical crime procedural~ than the luminous heights of later eps, the performances are SO on point from the get-go. love this invasive body language from lawrence fishburne. we all talk about how Hannibal doesn't get into full stylistic swing for a few eps, but i'd forgotten they just casually have a scene IN THE BATHROOM FROM "THE SHINING" in ep 1 lmao.

JIN ZIXUAN??????? when the episode began with an idyllic scene of wei ying picking lotus pods with an adorable child, i just KNEW we were in trouble.

I keep thinking about how the John Wick franchise uses spirituality & religion in a completely different way from typical US action cinema. John Wick even uses the dead wife trope in a more spiritual way than most movies. Instead of flying into a rage because his wife was taken from him, John seeks revenge because someone interrupted his path to serenity/closure.

I've been enjoying the range of makeup choices in #StarTrekDiscovery, suggesting characters doing their own makeup.

Michael: Neat smoky eye (Vulcan!)
Tilly: Just mascara & TV foundation.
Jett Reno: Zilch.
Number One: 1950s liquid eyeliner, foundation, coral lip & styled hair. A lot of TV shows use subtle-but-flawless makeup & long wavy hair for most female characters, implying that every woman follows the same expert routine. I like that Discovery has a real range of looks, showcasing individual styles.