Article: The Marvellous Number Game

The discourse is dead. Long live THE DISCOURSE. Only a day after a rather needless spat allegedly on the idea of film critics and class, we are slapped in the face by the new Captain Marvel trailer and the unbelievably "spicy takes" which come with it. Below is the trailer and the very strange reaction that’s been gained by one person:

In the first Captain Marvel trailer, Samuel L. Jackson's character has 67 words. Brie Larson's character, i.e. Captain Marvel, has 33.

Come on, Marvel. https://t.co/vsqZlvv9Z8

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) September 18, 2018

We're really down to counting words in a trailer?
C'mon... She's badass.
If the trailer was images of him TALKING about her I'd agree. Instead it shows her as a badass superhero. I'm good with that. It's gonna show another powerful woman that people already love from the comics!

— Jann Gobble (@jgobble) September 18, 2018

So you don't think that the presence or absence woman's voice matters in a trailer about a woman superhero. Okay. Noted. Congrats on your completely appalling take.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) September 18, 2018

I get it, I really do...and we don't agree - and for that I am sorry that "my take" offends you.

I just am glad the movie was FINALLY made! I'm glad so many superhero women movies are being made now - and/or being remade. It's a needed change and one long overdue!

— Jann Gobble (@jgobble) September 18, 2018

Melissa McEwan, editor in chief of Shakesville.com, a progressive feminist blog decided that after counting the amount of dialogue uttered by characters within the trailer, the fact that Samual L Jackson's Nick Fury had more lines than Brie Larson's title character was a clear reason to call shenanigans. Never mind that the trailer is clearly set up in a way to provide the character an air of mystery by one of the characters which helped formed the glue of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The sheer fact that a man had more lines than a woman in her own trailer was contemptuous. When the tweet was queried by a fan, their well meaning arguments were dismissed as appalling. Because even though the film may not even have its runtime figured out yet, Marvel must do better because sexism.

To question the methods of populist films is something that pop culture writers should critique and provide insight. Screen time and the vocal representation of gender and minority characters should most definitely be notified. Captain Marvel comes in after the Warner Bros hugely successful Wonder Women and as Marvel Studios’ first female-led superhero feature, it’s a film with very high, very particular expectations.

However, the age of twitter takes, instaopinion and microanalysis has created a platform of dubious, broken narratives that look to derail movies before they even get a chance to be watched. This quick take tweet comes across as one example. I have no doubt that Captain Marvel's movie will have Brie Larson's Carol Danvers character front and centre, yet McEwan hot take is so obnoxious that a person like myself is more switched off by her than an apparent meagre word count. Melissa's fans have highlighted her as a smart and insightful writer, whose writing on feminism is worth reading. However, it only takes one thing to switch someone off. For McEwan, it’s the bizarre idea that Captain Marvel will be about Nick Fury after counting the words to a two-minute trailer. For me, it’s the idea that something so myopic is worth being outraged about. Especially if the writer is unapologetically doubling down. 

At the same time, another Twitter member, whose name isn’t really worth mentioning decided to partake in some dubious trolling purposely designed to “trigger to snowflakes”. The “gag” involved some quick photo editing to change images of non-smiling Larson to display a cheesy grin. The idea? Female heroes should “smile more”. Despite the fact that male heroes are not asked the same thing. 

The problem is, both tweets land themselves in the same wheelhouse. Deliberating about the vocal representation of the main title character in a promotional advertisement designed not only to provide a broad description of the overall movie but to also proposes that we will need to actually see the movie to obtain the full picture, comes across as outrage for the permanently outraged. Good critiquing can be an entertaining as well as a thoughtful process, whereas ignorant hot takes such as these can suck the very joy out of those caught in the vortex. Just because we are progressive does not mean we aren't also ignorant at times. We must also think what chance does a film have if these are the battles we're looking to fight for?

I do not condone the vile insults which flowed from the thread soon after the tweet was sent, but I do find it eye-rollingly irritating to see a progressive feminist writer go down the route more used by the same faceless trolls who would be all too quick to lambast her. We all watch movie trailers. Characters you expect to have larger roles have significantly less to do. Scenes are rearranged and chopped, and in a situation like Captain Marvel, it’s no surprise that a character of the universe who is familiar to the audience would “take centre stage” in order to introduce a character.  

An interesting opinion that came up (that I'm not sure I would ascribe to) is that the thought is yet another example of "white feminism" in which the idea of Jackson’s Nick Fury, despite being a Marvel character with the most number of info-dumps, should be subdued so the pretty white girl should have more lines than the POC character no matter the situation. Once again highlighting the problematic issues that have dogged the current generations debates of Intersectionality and whether people really care about minorities. For the most part, I think most people do.  

So you’re implying that the Caucasian character should have more dialogues than the African American one? Sounds oppressing to me 🤔

— Stencho Poncho (@StenchoPoncho) September 20, 2018

Comments such as McEwan’s feels less like a sharp insight and more like snide comments in an out-of-place framework. Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa has no words in the first Black Panther trailer. Most of which is of two white characters talking about where the character is from as opposed to the character himself. The original spider-man trailer (pulled for its use of the Twin Towers) not only has a wordless Spider-Man but a Spider-Man who doesn’t turn up until late on into it’s very short run time. Due to the nature of the 1989 Batman film, Jack Nickleson has far more play than Michael Keaton. Such examples make McEwan’s comments feel more like the so-called manufactured outrage, that certain groups love to claim progressive indulge in.

As the online culture wars rage on we see more tools and projects which help us engage with the media around us. Methods such as The Bechdel Test as well as Every Single Word Spoken project (which deal with tally lines of dialogue spoke by minorities) for example are particularly helpful with emphasising marginalisation. However, they rightly can come under criticism of being utilised as complete cultural barometers for films. Amusingly, the Captain Marvel trailer is of course great news for black African American’s as Jackson occupies so much of its word count. Of course, these methods of evaluating those who are maligned are effective when used correctly and in the right context. Like within a whole feature for instance. 

Knee-jerk reactions like McEwan’s only muddy waters. Going through the thread, the tweets did nothing to engage any real debate or concern. It did, however, do lots to agitate those with cartoon faced avatars as well as many black and white feminists who seemed pissed that a female writer with a large following is needlessly dumping on Marvel’s first female feature for no other reason than the word count. Speaking of which. This post has gone on way too long. So how about some trailers to finish?   

The Road Trailer is FINALLY up!

Yes it's been delayed, but the film adaptation Cormac McCathy's The Road finally has it's trailer up! Directed by John Hillcoat (maker of the SUPERB film The Proposition), The Road is a apocalyptic, eco, road western involving a father (played by Viggo Mortensen) and his son surviving in a world that has been savaged by an unknown environmental disaster.



Now while the marketers have gone and displayed the film has an "I am Legend" end of the world movie. Reports say much different, any anyone whose seen/read The Road or No Country for Old Men will know what they're into. For me I can't wait to see if it's as brutally honest as the book.

So while the trailer looks conventional....the material is anything but.

POTTER RETURNS

So I've been extremely lazy with my blog and because of it I STILL have placed my dammed utd review up yet! So for now. Lets just say it's good and move on.


So the biggest thing to hit the net in the movie world lately is of course the final trailer of the new Harry Potter movie. Not my favorite franchise (work at a cinema and try interacting with those asshole parents and you'll see) but I understand it's value to it's fans.

So even though I gave up watching the movies at film 4 and gave up reading the books at novel 1, I feel that I'll take a look at this final trailer because hey it's "darker" (darker being the most overused word for this franchise).



To be honest (sorry fans) I really can't see what all the fuss is about. Maybe because the Potter films have been going on for what seems like forever, or maybe it's just that I felt some of the trailers for the earlier films were put together a little better than this one, but I can see myself avoiding this film due to lack of interest and the vast over hyped crowds that WB bros have craftily kept tightly wound for almost a year. It's bad enough that there's a 70% chance I may not like this due to my experiences with the other films but the idea of sitting in a full cinema full of ADD affected kids, miserable parents and blinkered fanboys (read: fangirls) may not be a good thing either. But to all those who will go out this summer to see it. Have a good one! (Note for once I'm not being a sarcy bastard as these films are good for the Brit film industry)

WE LUV TRAILERS!

So the "Where the wild things are" trailer has finally been released and it's looking sweet. I don't review kids films for a few reasons but here are the main ones:

• Childrens films are review proof: Say anything bad about a kids film and adults don't care....that poor bastard is gonna watch the secret of creampie or whatever....no matter how boring it is.

• Pixar are the only person who seem to give a damn: Although Dreamworks are doing ok, they still believe getting stars in for the voice overs is the right way to go....and thats why Finding Nemo is beautiful movie that panders to childs sense of adventure and keep adults interested and A shark's tale is....well bollocks.

• Kids don't know what's fucking good for them: Your kids are fat for a reason and that reason is sweets and television. Period.
  

Then something like this comes along and I shut my mouth. The choice of music, the visuals, the themes...yes all that in two and a bit minutes:




Spike Jonez imagination + best selling children's book = film worth seeing.

Inglourious Basterds: A Quick Glance

So BANG! QT's new trailer's out and I'm surprisingly underwhelmed. The film doesn't look boring but I'm not extremely excited by what I saw. This however may stem from my disappointment from Deathproof and Benjamin Button. But this is can only be a good thing because now my expectations are low and I should be able to switch my brain off and enjoy Basterds come August 21.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li: Quick Glance

As Street Fighter 4 is on the verge of being released on home consoles everywhere very soon, I've decided to have a second look at the horrendous Street Fighter movie due out near the end of the month in the U.S.



After checking out the movie blog i found myself even more disappointed. As "camp" as Bison's (or Vega depending on area) uniform is or as ridiculous as Balrog's (or Bison)boxing costume is...i want to see it. As a fan of the video game, I'm not there for realism (a such) I want to see M Bison with no pupils and Chun Li turn UPSIDE DOWN, DO THE SPLITS, HOVER IN MID AIR AND KICK PEOPLE!



For me and many fans I don't think it's too much to ask. Reason why? Comic Books are beginning to be taken seriously. Although the market is being saturated with graphic novel after graphic novel, 2008 was pretty much own by one film: The Dark Knight. A film which managed to keep the tone and spirit of the comics, have a hero doing outrageous things without looking stupid as well as break box office records and garner a shed load of critical and commercial acclaim.

I still believe this can be done for the video game film, with adaptations such as Hitman and Silent Hill displaying that the cross over could happen but at a snails pace. But not when the filmmakers show so much disregard for the fans they say the make the film for. True I have only seen the Trailer and read the blog (with it's feeble excuse of why your favorite characters are missing) and there's still the matter of me actually seeing the whole movie.

But a trailer is supposed to draw you into putting your hard earned cash down into watching a movie and by creating a film that has no feel of a street fighter game in any sense of the word (oh there's a hint of a fireball near the end of the trailer) will only cause those in two minds to most probably steal the film illegally.

Reading an issue Sight and Sound today had a review for Transporter 3, the magazine stated that with all the Bournes, Bonds and Batman striving for realism, Transporter becomes strangely endearing. I found myself thinking about Transformers and realizing that Micheal Bay's toy movie manage to do a similar thing with a lot of people. Although I hated it, I still respected Bay's cynically clever abuse of childhood nostalgia which gave the movie alot of it's praise. Maybe if the filmmakers looked more towards the absurd and the loony aspect of a Fighting Tournament people would warm towards it a lot more.*

* After more research I found out that the filmmakers are basing the film on the street fight alpha series. If your scratching your head and asking yourself "wha?" It's a series of SF games which came out after SF2 but is based on events which happened before it. While this may explain away some of my incessant moaning, it doesn't give good reason to why the drastic change of tone.

Don't care for superbowl....care for film ad spots though

While there's nothing I'd like to see less than a bunch of testosterone filled jocks hugging each other, Superbowl did not disappoint when it came to upcoming movies. Yes most were jumped up toy movies but that didn't take away the fact that most of them looked fun on the bun.

Lets start with the bad though...



Angels and Demons looks to be as long and boring as The Da Vinchi Code. I hope the film isn't too bad as it would cap off a great year for Ron Howard whose Frost/Nixon was pretty damn good.




Fast and Furious looks like it has a lot of teen masturbation imagery going for it (hot girls, Vin Diesel, fast motors) but now the franchise seems to have gone so far over the top that it misses the cheesy point break charm that made the original memorable (to me at least).


But the good....



Transformers: Revenge of the fallen looks set to be the robot movie to see. It's 30 sec T.V spot makes the film far more interesting to see than the whole trailer of T4. For me the first movie seemed to be a uneven mixture of fanboy nostalgia, story elements ripped off from Independence Day and action which varied from brilliant to blocky. ROTF however looks set to sort some of that shit out. Just one thing Mr Bay....please can we have a story this time? I'm sick of Micheal Bay movies that have 30 mins of story and plot within a 2 hour plus movie.




G.I. Joe: Rise of the cobra I was never a G.I Joe fan although I did have one 1985 manual once. The action in the T.V spot....looks pretty slick in my view although the film looks very likely to suck balls in the plot and acting department (looks like well known actors sleepwalking though lines again.




I'm now really looking forward to Star Trek. I've never given a shit about the program or films before until now. It looks like it could be a blast. (fuck the fanboys)




My favorite however will have to be UP by Disney Pixer....I have never seen a Pixer film that disappoints me and this looks to be business as usual.


Plus can someone tell me whats going on with Simon Pegg on the Star Trek trailer web page? seriously.....he looks fucking weird.

Crank 2 Trailer released

So I checked out the Crank 2 red band trailer....after the long (for a trailer) montage of swearing....what we get is more of the same crazy shite that was seen in the original movie. However the two directors have decided to go even more over the top than before and it doesn't look too bad. I did have my doubts about the second film after how the first film ended (quite a perfect closed ending to be honest).

The link for the trailer is here.

So while I took the first film far too seriously the first time I watched it, after a DVD rewatch I enjoyed it a lot more. The second film ups the stakes in bat shit insanity and I reckon I'll find this sequel will be far more enjoyable than some of the other larger budgeted follow ups released this year (I am talking about Transformers 2 here).

BUT! I just checked out the Crank 2 blog website and for some reason the filmmakers decided to place Geri Halliwell in the movie....So with this said Micheal Bay will probably win again in the hot woman in action film casting.

Terminator 4 Trailer....

The good people at JoBlo have got the international trailer for Terminator 4: Salvation up (it has Japanese subtitles...I think). After watching the trailer...I still have my reservations on the movie:




My reasons:

1. Everything in the Terminator universe was covered by James Cameron.
Yeah it's a fanboy reason I know, but in all honesty, what else was there to say after the second film? T.V series included. I didn't mean the third film if I'm completely honest but seriously watch Arnies face through that film. Even he knew how unnecessary the movie was in that movie. Everything else after James Cameron left the movie feels awfuly stale and forced.

2. No Arnie
It just feels wrong doesn't it? For me Arnie was the engine of the films. Say what you want about his (very) limited acting ability. Arnie made the terminator role iconic (Robert patrick also paid his dues). Anyone remember Kristanna Loken? Thought not.

3. McG

Word has it that McG got the actors to read Cormac McCathy's The Road before hand to absorb the bleakness of the world in the novel. I've only just finished reading the book and that is a good idea. However I did watch Charlies angels 2: Full Throttle and I absorbed the badness of that film. It's hard to work up how excitement when you know the films director was signed on to make a film based on tiny toy cars.

4. Nothing Special in the trailer
Sorry. I found the trailer quite boring to be honest. Nothing elevated my emotions more than....meh. It really doesn't look out of the ordinary. In fact rehashing Cameron's imagery (the tank crushing human skulls) displays a lack of imagination somewhat. At times you can get away with homages but when your trailer shows nothing new and then has a retread some of a better director's shot...says alot doesn't it.

But I haven't seen the movie yet so what the fuck do I know? Lets hope it rocks.

Unborn Trailer

This trailer has already told me that the end of this film will be hidiously excessive and ruin what might be an ok horror film. However, that old man with the twisted body......WTF?!!! Could have it's moments.

W. Second Trailer

New trailer for W. can't wait to see it:

As someone who doesn't really love or hate George Bush, Stone's portrayal isn't likely to make me think any differen.t However, it looks like it gives him a fairer shot then what people thought they'd get from the outspoken director. Good times!

Interesting trailers of note

After watching the breezy Brothers Bloom Trailer, I felt it was about time that I found some other trailers of films I'd like to see.

First up is Clint "shut the fuck up Spike" Eastwoods Changeling:



Next is the film that looks set for everyone to call "the next juno"...Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist



Fingers crossed that these films kick ass.

W.

Didn't say too much when it first popped up on the internets. However after watching it again I am intrigued with what Stone is going to the material. I believe Stone will make it more balanced than we think, and i reckon Brolin will be excellent in the role. Gruffudd as Blair? I'm not sure about that one. Lets hope this one doesn't end up like Stone's recent misfires eh?

One Question....Will Dubya watch it?

Max Payne trailer

Sorry to sound like a you tube comment here but "meh".