Cinema Issues: Florence Pugh, Tatiana Maslany and The Fall of Performative Activists

Where to begin perhaps with Maslany’s recent comments that all cinema is inherently political and so for an actor to not scream their politics at you is cowardice. Paw Patrol isn’t a political Tatiana.

The fact is for some actors they realise that they have hit a ceiling in their career they realise they aren’t ever going to be in the big leagues they will be stuck in supporting roles forever. So they open their mouth and try the activist game, this happened to Emma Watson and it’s happening to Maslany. After how Maslany behaved during the Hollywood strike she is not ever going to get leading roles outside of an indie film ever again, she knows this hence the activism. It’s like a chapter 2 for failed actors.

Then you have the other side of the coin the delusion. Florence Pugh is likely at the top of her career, she can see the same ceiling as Maslany but she isn’t too bothered. Right now due to her being one of the main phase 4+5 characters of the MCU she feels untouchable so she thinks she can get away with grandstanding. These sort of actors think they have a right or a need to educate and re-educate audiences to their way of thinking, they also seem to think they could make a difference.

The fact is it’s all performance whether it is a need to be seen as holler than thou, to try and start a second chapter when your career is going badly, or whether it is a misguided messiah complex it goes nowhere. If Pugh really cared about Gaza she could give her entire check for Doomsday to the people there, she won’t. People like Pugh and Maslany can scream about their causes all they want it won’t change a thing, the fact is with the cultural shift and the turn against being an SJW people like this are simply being added to lists to better avoid.

In ten years when people say what happened to Florence Pugh her stupid activism is what happened. As for Maslany well she was hardly relevant to begin with.

With her recent rants about being an onset enforcer she is showing she is hard to work with and also setting herself as the bastion of standards which is the rumours around Don’t Worry Darling is true would be a mistake.

Pugh’s career is facing an inflection point in her career, her time as Yelena may soon be over and her role in the Dune franchise seems to be at and and with Messiah unless they do Children.

Her activist turn is a cynical ploy for relevance beyond that.

If you enjoyed this Cinema Issues article, then please head over to Patreon to support the blog. All reviews, articles and interviews are free, with no early access, sponsorships, or content locked behind paywalls. If you value independent coverage of the entertainment industry, your support over there helps to keep it going. Become a member on Patreon below

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to the Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Dracula (1958): The One And Only

Summary: Hammer adapts Stoker’s classic novel.

This film stands above a lot of other Dracula adaptations by simply telling the story of the book, yes there are details changed and characters like Quincy Morris aren’t really in it but still it remains remarkably faithful.

There was also a lot less of the lecherous nature that the later Dracula films under Hammer would become known for, which was better as you don’t feel like you need a shower after watching them.

If you enjoy the story of Dracula you will enjoy it, if you don’t like Stoker’s original or think it’s boring and stuffy you will likely feel the same about this.

Overall, a faithful and mostly strong adaptation.

3/5

Pros.

It mostly sticks to the source material

It is well done

The ending

Cons.

The pacing

The first act is a little slow

If you enjoyed this film review, then please head over to Patreon to support the blog. All reviews, articles and interviews are free, with no early access, sponsorships, or content locked behind paywalls. If you value independent coverage of the entertainment industry, your support over there helps to keep it going. Become a member on Patreon below

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to the Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Cinema Issues: Greta Gerwig, Modern Updates and Narnia

Riding high off the success of Barbie Greta Gerwig the supposed life long Narnia fan has decided to strip out the very fundamental core of what Narnia is and make it a rock opera.

Why?

Well your answer is as good as ours, being high on her own supply, thinking she knows better, thinking the source material needs to be changed for the mythical modern audience, who knows. However, one thing is for sure this is an incredibly expensive film for Netflix and one that has a lot riding on it.

Narnia is at its core a deeply British and deeply religious text it is not really funny, silly or good grounds to force in some dance numbers but no doubt they’ll try.

The question has to be asked why are these IP holders so ready to allow these people to come in and take a large bowl movement all over the IP they are supposed to be managing. Do they not care about the IP, do they not understand the idea of brand damage.

If you look at how the Broccoli’s were with Bond for a long time they protected the IP they said what a Bond film could and couldn’t be they maintained it’s identity, this is not happening here.

Who is Gerwig to think audiences want her Narnia film rather than an actual proper adaptation. She has only made one commercially successful film.

The culling at Netflix has already begun with a lot of people involved with it being let go.

If you enjoyed this Cinema Issues article, then please head over to Patreon to support the blog. All articles , review sand interviews are free, with no early access, sponsorships, or content locked behind paywalls. If you value independent coverage of the entertainment industry, your support over there helps to keep it going. Become a member on Patreon below

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to the Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Uprising: Gay Spider-Man

Summary: the peasants rise up, this is clearly a metaphor for the modern left.

So when he’s not busy pushing for his gay Spider-Man fan fiction, Andrew Garfield decides to attack billionaires, saying this film will scare them. Remember Andrew isn’t a man of the people he’s a millionaire too.

It has to be asked what would scare them about this film, the amount of money it lost, the desperate attempt to try and tie it to Robin Hood in order to try and sell tickets, Garfield’s single handed destruction of the film?

The film itself is a fairly generic period piece that doesn’t ever hit the level of epic it wants to. The film is also brutally paced so in that respect it hits epic level but where they can justify it this film really can’t.

Overall, just terrible.

1/5.

Pros.

It is so bad it’s funny at times

Cons.

The pacing

Garfield

It feels so generic

It’s dull

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to the Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Lanterns Season Overview: Sack James Gunn Now!

Summary: a bunch of hacks who haven’t made anything mainstream audiences watched and liked since Lost, meet up with a group of race-baiters and this is their shared union.

This show hates white people, if you’re white know that the writers room hates you and thinks you’re the issue with society. You cannot seemingly have a line of dialogue without someone bringing up racism and how bad white people are and how they are the root of society’s evils.

Even when you have characters like John’s parents who are warped and evil, and seriously abuse him as a child this is not couched through the lens of they are bad, but rather how the white man has made them so. It is victim compex 101.

Nowhere is this hated more clear than in the character assassination of Hal Jordan, whom they have admitted to making display racist tendencies and who they make into the biggest scum bag in the galaxy, doesn’t matter if he’s a beloved DC hero. One minute he’s incompetent and the next he’s outright evil, but hey they right the wrong by killing him off. The shock death in the first episode is so obvious and so obviously done to get attention the events of the series don’t change this.

There is also a question about why all the female characters are old and oftentimes ugly, most likely this was a choice as well. Why would the Lanterns have a woman of Laura Linny’s age as a member surely she would be retired. It’s ridiculous.

The show is doing so well there has not been a season 2 announcement yet other than to say they have formed a writers room in advance of a renewal. That renewal will not be coming.

0/5

Pros.

None

Cons.

It’s hateful and probably should be removed from streaming services as it incites hatred against white people.

It destroys Hal as a character

The padding

The series barely spends any time in space or with the characters in costume

Its loathsome

If you enjoyed this TV review, then please head over to Patreon to support the blog. All reviews, articles and interviews are free, with no early access, sponsorships, or content locked behind paywalls. If you value independent coverage of the entertainment industry, your support over there helps to keep it going. Become a member on Patreon below

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to the Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Clayface: DC’s Venom

Summary: Clayface is given the hero treatment

So this film isn’t bad it’s solid, but it suffers from the same problem as a lot of these villain centric superhero films, they take a villain and make them into an anti hero in order to make them the protagonist.

Yes yes, he kills his love interest’s boyfriend but before that he’s taking down gangsters so you see the point.

At times in the film the body horror is quite visceral this is good if you like that sort of thing but if you struggle with gore then maybe give the film a miss.

There is a feel throughout the film that this takes place in a different universe to Batman, it is not just that his absence is felt but almost like it is not even a DC film.

Overall a mid tier anti hero film.

3/5

Pros.

The action

The ending

The effects

Cons.

The lack of Batman

Turning a villain into an anti hero

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to the Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Forgotten Island: LGBTQ+ Themes In Kids Films

Summary: two friends cross over into a fantasy land based on the mythology of the Philippines.

So the character designs, really that is all I need to say, whilst some claims of oh Hollywood is trying to force LGBTQ+ themes and characters into kids films might be a bit dicey, here it is the real deal. The more mythical characters are clear examples of this not so much the main girls.

Of course the characters are girl bosses what else would you expect from modern studio animation, they are both fairly irritating in different ways. The issue with this film is whilst the idea seems novel the execution really isn’t.

By making the characters unlikeable you don’t care what happens to them.

There is also some oddly anti Christian stuff in the film, with her praying to Jesus at one point and that does nothing, yet the folklore of the film is all very real. It is also strange that you have characters that are called demons within a kids film.

Overall, don’t waste your kids time taking them to this.

1/5.

Pros.

It’s short

Cons.

The forced themes

The ending

The dual leads

It tries to do too many different types of animation

Sense and Sensibility: Slay Queen

Summary: Austen is updated for the age of girl dinner.

Why the makers of this film felt the need to update it is beyond us, having the little girl saying things like I’ll only date a man who’s rich, how long have long distance relationships ever lasted and other such modern day bits of “wisdom”, is jarring and out of place.

The film seems to want to have that Poor Things vibe of taking an older stuffier film and trying to add in some bite but the film just feels a bit awkward at times.

Then there’s the pacing the film has no business being on for as long as it is and could be around the hour and a half mark, the length of the film feels more suited to a TV series.

Overall, an awkward adaptation.

2/5.

Pros.

The characters are mostly likeable

It doesn’t do the whole race swap thing a lot of modern adaptions do

Cons.

The pacing

The modern day vague misandry

The awkward jokes

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to the Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

The Social Reckoning: Stating The Obvious

Summary: Mark Zuckerberg has lived another decade and a half of life since The Social Network came out.

You shouldn’t need a film to tell you that tech CEOs are bad. The events that happen in this film are a rehash of a news cycle from a decade ago, the fact is this film feels incredibly dated for a few reasons.

Firstly it feels like a sequel that should have come out a long time ago, rather than this late after the original. Secondly, it is covering things we already know about, when in reality things have gotten much worse since.

Finally the lead tries his best but he doesn’t have a patch of Jessie Eisenberg not a patch.

Overall, needless

2/5.

Pros.

The writing is good for the most part

The pacing works

Cons.

It is dated

It doesn’t hold up when compared to the first film

It states the obvious

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to the Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Streetfighter: Hollywood Ruins Everything

Summary: Ken’s gay now

So let’s address it head on, Ken is spooning men, is the subject of a number of jokes implying he’s gay, and is shown to be hung up on Ryu. In the games Ken is straight, why was this needed to be done? Was it to destroy a strong male character? Vandalisation of the franchise? Or simply the broader woke that has consumed Hollywood? This is mirrored in Bison and Vega as well.

Why was this done, you already know, to subvert the audience and to shock them, playing in to the camp nature of the games. The issue is that the games whilst camp weren’t overly homoerotic as this film tries to be at times.

The director wanted to stand up action cinema of the 90s by having lots of heavily implied gay characters for shock value, because that’s what sells tickets.

Even the female characters get a taste of the LGBTQ+ treatment to.

Overall, if you enjoyed the games ever then this isn’t for you.

0.5/5

Pros.

It is unintentionally funny sometimes

Cons.

It destroys a lot of legacy characters

Its dumb and makes no sense

It’s badly paced

The ending

It’s oddly pervy

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer