I have a folder in my notes app called \u201creviews\u201d, where I throw in notes that I\u2019ve put together about stuff I\u2019ve watched, played, etc. I figured it might be fun to turn this folder into a substack essay, or series of essays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Greatest Showman (2017 film)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStart big and show possibility. What is your dream? Who believes in you? How do you betray them?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This was on my list for a long time, because I\u2019ve always been curious about PT Barnum. Also I\u2019ve really liked Hugh Jackman in several movies \u2013 Logan (also 2017!), Real Steel (2011). I might say \u201cYou know, I\u2019m a bit of a showman myself.\u201d I don\u2019t know what exactly I was expecting, but turns out this is a musical theatre sort of movie, maybe kind of like Hamilton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I can imagine some people finding this movie cringe for being really heavy-handed and on-the-nose with what you might call \u201ctheatre tropes\u201d \u2013 our boy PT has a dream, is inspired, faces setbacks, persists through it, succeeds, suffers from success. If the on-the-noseness bothers you, don\u2019t watch it. Personally I enjoyed it. I cried. I\u2019m a sucker for classics tropes. It\u2019s probably not actually a useful movie to study and learn from Barnum. (Storytelling notes: we get a glimpse of Barnum\u2019s circus right at the start. This is very effective storytelling, because it gives the viewer a sense of what the rest of it is going to build up to.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cyberpunk Edgerunner (2022 anime).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMom dies. Everything gets worse. Pay to live, yet no law-and-order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I played Cyberpunk 2077 and really enjoyed it despite all the initial hiccups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Legally Blonde<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCashier thinks she\u2019s dumb, tries to sell her crap, she sees through it. The skill of seeing, knowing what you\u2019re looking at \u2013 very compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA rejection\/heartbreak is a strong opener. Now we\u2019re invested: how will she handle it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mass Effect: Legendary Edition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n replaying Mass Effect really makes it click why ME: Andromeda was so underwhelming. Some individual side-quests in ME1 have better writing than the entire main story of ME:A. Major Kyle, who cares for his people. The soldier that got experimented on, who is tormented. The slave girl on the citadel, who barely feels human anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In The Office, a part of why Jim and Pam\u2019s chemistry seems so compelling might be that it\u2019s a \u201cforbidden romance\u201d \u2013 she starts out engaged to Roy, and so it seems like a no-go, particularly since it seems like neither of them are the kind to be okay with infidelity. Jim notices that Pam likes mixed berries \u2013 and it makes me think about Legally Blonde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hunchback of Notre Dame<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy is the captain a good man?\u201d He\u2019s a hero who returned from war. Some parallels with Michael Corleone in The Goodfather. He\u2019s untainted by the muck of business-as-usual.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Godfather 2<\/strong> opens with a funeral. Funerals are times of change. Drunken disorderly men are an embarrassment to behold. Fredo yelling \u201cI\u2019m smart and I want respect!\u201d \u2013 bro, if you\u2019re actually smart, you\u2019ll figure out how to get the respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Futurama <\/strong>has one of the best opening scenes I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have a one-sentence note for Endgame: \u201cDarker than I expected\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was very disappointed with Borderlands 3<\/strong> during my playthrough. I wondered if it was colored by my frustration with the poor performance on split-screen co-op play, so I rewatched someone else playing the story on YouTube, and I found myself disappointed all over again. The early game is needlessly slow and tedious. I actually believe BL3 could\u2019ve been a lot better story-wise with some minor tweaks. And no I don\u2019t think \u201cnobody could\u2019ve followed Handsome Jack\u201d (the villain of BL2 that made it really good.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Antman \u2013 \u201cI was trying to protect you. I lost your mother, I didn\u2019t mean to lose you too.\u201d Hmm, things often point to family drama because family is the most universal experience, the parent\/child relationship is the most universal relationship. Reminded of Campbell<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lion King: It\u2019s very neatly broken into 3 acts. The first act ends with Mufasa\u2019s death. Act 2 is Simba learning to be independent \u2013 no rules, no responsibilities, no worries \u2013 hakuna matata. But he can\u2019t be a layabout forever, he ultimately must return to his responsibilities. \u201cScar was killed by hyenas, disloyal mercenary types.\u201d This is the eternal cost of \u201cthe dark side\u201d, transactional relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moana: Your father couldn\u2019t save him (his childhood friend), he\u2019s hoping he can save you. Maui: \u201cI am nothing without my hook\u201d \u2013 very moving<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arcane: \u201cI\u2019ll show you who you really are\u201d \u2013 Villain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have a folder in my notes app called \u201creviews\u201d, where I throw in notes that I\u2019ve put together about stuff I\u2019ve watched, played, etc. I figured it might be fun to turn this folder into a substack essay, or series of essays. The Greatest Showman (2017 film). \u201cStart big… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[727],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drafts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5gxNz-3vZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13516,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13515\/revisions\/13516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}