The Last Jedi: A year in reflection

After the original Star Wars - trilogy came out, I have not been interested in any of the sequel/prequels that have come out since. To be fair, I don't really see these movies as anything related to Star Wars, since Lucas pretty much cut the thread permanently for me between the originals and anything that came after them with his abominable prequels. The prequels that Lucas created feel more like bad fanfiction than actual, real movies (not to mention the special edition cuts which are basically fan edits of his original trilogy) and Disney's Force Awakens was basically a rehash of the first Star Wars film, only longer. And then we come to The Last Jedi, which I saw around this time last year. Critics loved it, audiences were highly polarized on it. There have been hundreds, if not thousands of film reviews of this movie, mostly either praising it or completely denouncing it. I thought I'd give my two cents on this largely bad, but so far the only Star Wars - film, outside the original three, that has in any way, shape or form interested me. Disclaimer: it's only Jenni writing this. After having watched and read a million Last Jedi reviews which pissed me off to no end, I decided to vent my frustration here.

The funny thing is, even though this is the only one that has piqued my interest since the originals, it also annoys me way more than any of the previous sequel/prequels, even the Lucas prequels. It has the longest run time of any Star Wars film and for me, definitely feels the most frustrating to get through, since there was the one aspect that engaged me, but the rest of it felt like total filler. The separate stories seem rather artificially connected and my god, the amount of pointless scenes that don't really lead anywhere. I grant you, Return of the Jedi's beginning doesn't really connect with the rest of the film in any way either, but in this one it takes up like half the movie. The whole "subversion for subversion's sake" made it hard for me to really care what happened in the story or with the characters and in the end, it didn't even go all the way with its subversion goal, thus ruining the only thing that did interest me. Also, not a single woman getting a character arc, while all the dudes got one (even if it is partly recycled from the previous outing), is something I've noticed in a lot of these films that claim to be "feminist" or "empowering to women". I can take one movie where the main character doesn't really change or learn anything, but when you have more than one in a series of films, it is unacceptable that the main player does not get a character arc and it is even more painful to me when that character is a woman.

What does make me kinda laugh, is the fact that exactly the part that some feminist critics denounced as toxic or problematic is the one thing I felt was genuine in the whole movie. That's right, the relationship between the hero and the villain was, for the 2/3rds of the film actually kind of intriguing. Knowing my fondness for fucked up things and relationships though, it shouldn't really be a surprise that I liked it. Mind you, I ain't talking about romance here. I am adamantly of the opinion that since Luke didn't need a love interest, why the hell would Rey need one? Feeling sympathy for an enemy who is not related to you is something I really haven't seen in any of the previous films, so it was at the very least a captivating thing to witness. Unfortunately for Rey, it was also the only thing that made her for the first time for me, a character. She has been dangerously thin on character since the first movie and this one only improved her a little, and only for 2/3rds of the film and really just when she was interacting with the villain. It is alarming to me that in the Last Jedi, the villain was truly the one character that elicited any sympathetic feelings from me. And not just sympathetic but relatable. I understand why he is the way he is and why he does horrible things. The point of no return for me was when Kylo tells Rey how Luke tried to kill him and Luke later confirms it. The fact that Kylo hadn't yet committed any sins apparently didn't matter. Plus you never see fucking anyone making amends to this guy. The context that the movie has given to Kylo Ren is that of an abused child, not a villain. No wonder Rey's connection to him is believable, since Rey is also an abandoned child. Preferring the villain is another trend I have noticed in many modern mainstream films or tv-series.  

Many critics, especially many who identified as feminists, hailed the Force Awakens as a good film and Rey a great character. I liked her the 1st third of the movie, when we actually saw a little of her yearning for her family, her loneliness and her fear of the power inside her. And then bam! Suddenly she's invincible. Now I ain't gonna pretend that Luke was the greatest character in the originals. He wasn't. But he at the very least had to train to learn to use the Force and he fails at points and quite spectacularly so in the movies. That adds a little more personality to him. Though, if I did care enough about these new movies (which I don't), I would have been furious about the changes they made to the original characters. Especially Leia. Leia was always supposed to be a jedi (according to the originals and even according to the expanded universe) and learn the ways of the Force like Luke did. Instead they gave her an empty title and took away her power. Her anger seems to have evaporated as well. After all, Carrie Fisher herself said that making Leia angry was the only way she knew to make her strong. There is an angry woman living inside me too, so I understand that reasoning very well. Leia barely does anything in both of these new films, whereas Han and Luke get stuff to do and character arcs to boot. Though, Han and Luke weren't well treated either in these new ones (Han bailing the minute shit got hard and Luke planning cold-blooded murder of his sleeping nephew). But since Leia was one of the most pivotal characters of my childhood, it did pain me to see her get the Éowyn treatment. So, if I cared, yeah, I would probably hate the Force Awakens as much as I do the Two Towers film version. 

But what really pisses me off is what they kept from the originals was the one thing I always held against them - not giving women character arcs. Your main character is supposedly a woman, so where the hell's her character arc? I also find it bizarre that although you can't call the originals feminist by any means from story perspective, Leia is a pretty decent feminist character. It has been hilarious though, to read some reviews that condemn The Last Jedi for "feminist propaganda" and on the other hand as "great feminist film", since my opinion is that past the surface the film is actually kind of sexist. As most people who know us, know that I was raised in quite a strict religion. The sexism that often took form there was benevolent sexism, ie. women are so much better than men, hence we can guard men's purity, inspire them to be better, be their moral guidance and just in general be perfect. And whaddya know, I find exactly these elements in the Last Jedi's female characters and its story. Women are the ones who are always right, know everything, are always justified in their behaviour and actions and learn nothing. It is actually baffling to me how this film can have so many women yet be so completely devoid of women's stories. All the stories in the movie are men's. Finn, Poe, Luke and Kylo are the ones with character arcs. They make mistakes, fail, change and learn something. Rey, Leia, Rose and Holdo have to content with being the moral centre for the men surrounding them. And they aren't really given space to develop their own character. Say what you will about Leia not having a character arc in the originals but at the very least she wasn't made to be the moral leader for the men. She did things according to her own judgement and followed her heart, just like the men around her did. And she had personality - she was serious, dutiful, witty, little sardonic and incredibly reserved. I cannot for the life of me list any defining personality traits of the women in the Last Jedi - all I can say is that they are powerful and morally quite absolute. So the women have power but no character while the men have both power and character. Where exactly is the feminism in this film?   

What annoys me in this movie is that it could have actually been good. The conflict and connection that was created between the main hero and villain was quite engaging. Rey was actually challenged in her beliefs and the villain turned out to be not so black-and-white. That is, until the last 3rd, but I'll get to that. Rey showed some actual human emotion when she interacted with Kylo - she got angry, had doubts and felt despair. She felt sympathy towards the villain and optimistically believed Kylo would turn, much like Luke in the originals. Her yearning for her family and belonging returned from the first movie. So did her fear of her power. But then by the end, the fact that she failed to turn Kylo and finding out her parents abandoned her doesn't seem to affect her all that much. She's the same hero she was by the end of the Force Awakens, nothing changed. Kylo, I'm sure, was meant to be some whiny entitled man-baby, but as it is, he is literally the only character that in any way interested me in the film. He has some anarchist ideas with the whole "let's tear all the old things down and forget the past". Pretty much all the adults in his life either abandoned him, lied to him, manipulated him or worse, thought to kill him and completely lost any hope of his redemption. So it is no wonder that he doesn't trust any of them or their ideas. He had to train to learn to use the Force, whereas his counterpart Rey could use it without any training at all. The explanation we are given for this is that Rey and Kylo are ying/yang - type of balance in the Force. But if they are equal in power, then why the fuck did one of them have to train and the other didn't? Some internal logic would be nice here. God, I really hate putting women on these pedestals; watching this movie felt like I was back in my church. Lazy writing justifying why a character is so powerful makes the character boring (same problem plagues the prequels with the whole "prophecy" thing). 

The story takes a complete nosedive in the 3rd act. The stuff between the hero and the villain has led to this ambiguity of light and dark side of the Force and realization that maybe the two sides need each other and do not necessarily have to be in conflict. Now that would have been something that I haven't seen in any Star Wars film, but for all the Last Jedi's subversiveness, in the end that is the one thing they didn't have the guts to subvert (granted, that whole 'the villain might have a point' is totally stolen from anime). By the 3rd act, the villain who they were making into a more of an anti-hero turns back into a cardboard evil guy and all the complexity they built collapses. It is amazing that the originals, which are very simplistic in the whole good and evil aspect, manage to be more subversive. All the old fogeys in the original trilogy turn out to be wrong, both the good guys and the bad. It is Vader who kills the Emperor, not Luke (who abandons violence as a way to win in the end). In the Last Jedi, it turns out that the old people are right - Luke and Leia are right in giving up on Kylo, Luke and Yoda are right in believing that Rey is the saviour of Resistance and Holdo is right in not telling Poe their plan. Rey also fails to get Kylo on her side, which proves Luke right. So basically the film implies to respect authority figures, 'cause they are in the right. That's a pretty conservative message considering that so many people on the internet lambasted the Last Jedi for being "liberal propaganda". Even the whole Finn and Rose segment that attempted to criticise the immoral third parties that only look for profit is something we've already seen. Jabba and his crew were, after all, gangsters who sold their goods to anyone who offered money. The whining about this film criticising capitalism is pretty ridiculous, though. There are other blockbuster films that have managed to criticise capitalism better. Aliens is one example - an evil corporation wants to get these creatures even if it means sacrificing all the humans on the planet, all to gain a profit. Ripley even comments to Burke that " I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage". And Aliens was made during the heyday of the Reagan/Thatcher - era. In Aliens though, the corporation is directly tied into the plot - all of the characters are going to the planet because of what the corporation started. In the Last Jedi, the whole casino sequence doesn't tie into the story, except as some overarching teaching about failure, I guess. Films that come from billion dollar corporations and criticise capitalism could be considered as some form of irony, though. Plus it is weird to see a Star Wars film making overt commentary to modern social and economic systems. 

All in all, the film's visuals do look amazing and the one aspect between the hero and villain was interesting. I do not hate and despise this film like I do the prequels. But both the originals and the prequels did have something the Force Awakens and the Last Jedi do not - coherence. The originals were about Luke's journey to adulthood, becoming a Jedi master and saving his father. One could also argue they depict guerrilla warfare against a dictatorship. The first Star Wars could be retconned to fit the second's and the third's story line. The prequels are about Anakin's fall from grace and how a democracy turns into a dictatorship (viable ideas, horrible execution). Whose story do the Force Awakens and The Last Jedi tell? Rey's? But Rey is not the one with a character arc in these movies, so they don't tell her story. Han has the character arc in the Force Awakens -  he confronts his son after running away from his responsibilities. In the Last Jedi, it's Finn, who basically repeats his character arc from the first movie and Poe, who is suddenly a dick (he was a decent guy in the first movie) who have character arcs here. Other two who have some kind of arcs are Kylo, who lets go of all his past but also regresses back into a villain, while Luke gets the redemption arc in this one. All dudes, who change and learn something. It would've been fairly effortless to write some growth for the women as well - for example, Rose could've learned that moral absolutism isn't necessarily always good, Holdo that sharing information could actually lessen the burden of being a leader and Rey could have carved her own path, realizing that both Kylo and Luke might be wrong and the two sides of the Force could work together. Isn't there some kind of middle ground between women being so goddamn perfect that they are practically devoid of personality and men being assholes in order for them to grow? Lastly, I think the Last Jedi tried to be too ambitious - it really wanted to be a movie in the A - class, not realizing that the originals have always been B-movies. Great B-movies, but B-movies nonetheless. Thus the fun, adventurous and even campy spirit of the originals is very much dampened in this film that takes itself a tad too seriously, even when it tries to jarringly stuff humour in places where it shouldn't (much like a Marvel superhero movie would). Rant over.  

The Return of the Forced Conflict

We'll still be discussing the extended cuts. It was probably pretty apparent that we hate the second one. This one we hate less. In some respect this has less problems than the second but on the other hand, some of the previous issues are made even worse.

Pros: Same as with the second movie. All the external aspects - such as music, set design, most actor choices, etc. The song for Houses of Healing is great and Lighting of the Beacons is a kickass theme. That's literally all we got.

Cons: Also as with the second one, the two main issues we have lie with the story and characters. So we have divided this once again into two parts. Thus, story first. Where the second film didn't have enough material and it dragged on, this one is cluttered and feels rushed, apart from the end(s). This is why linear storytelling does not work here; The Two Towers is empty while Return of the King has most of the action. The writers should have realized that if Shelob is cut and moved to the 3rd movie, then the beginning of Return is too full. Not to mention that they robbed the second one of a fabulous cliffhanger. And don't give us that "but then it doesn't have a proper ending hence isn't a competent film"-crap, the book did it, why couldn't the movie follow? If it was absolutely necessary, then why not end Towers in Cirith Ungol's stairs? That would've at least improved the pacing a little in both movies. Also, remove all the shit that wasn't in the book and stuff that wasn't needed. For example, Arwen's pointless visions (for shit that isn't in the book) and the million different endings (where deviation from the book would have been welcomed). 

On to the characters. Since we mentioned Arwen, let's continue with her. In Towers, she was a lovelorn teenager, here they've made her into some goddamn virginal purity figure. Yeah, there's magic and shit in this world but the whole shtick about evil killing Arwen because she's sooooo good and pure is beyond ridiculous. Also, kind of insulting. It's just really stupid writing. Arwen unfortunately got caught in the crossfire of "upping the ante". And she ain't the only victim of this fabricated superdrama.

We have to offer our commiserations to anyone who likes Gimli in the book here. He was allocated as a sidekick in Towers, but here he is utterly foolish. Thank God they kept his character arc, but that's about it. He's only a comedy sidekick here. Aragorn is better here than in the second movie. He's not quite as much of an asshole. Faramir was also surprisingly okay in this one. Apart from the remark that as a youth he was more into imagining slaying dragons than acquiring knowledge. As we've established, that ain't Faramir from the book.

And now to by far our biggest beefs with this film.  So this is where they really fucked up Èowyn's character. In Towers she was only a lovesick teenager, here she's also a frightened little child. Her defiance and cold-blooded warrior spirit is completely gone. Instead of giving an awesome and impassioned lecture to Aragorn about his benevolent sexism when he refuses to take her with them, we get "but I luuuuv youuu". Cringe. Plus, did the filmmakers really have to insult us further by making her all weepy-faced over some dude? Get the fuck outta here with that shit.

There are literally too many offences to choose from here. Probably the most egregious to us is the change in her motives. Partially because that eradicates her amazing character arc from the book. But also because it fundamentally alters her personality. She was cold and hard as steel and she went to fucking die in the war. She wanted the stuff that men were allowed and encouraged to seek - like ambition, power and glory. We'd say those are pretty extraordinary motives for a sympathetic female character, especially considering the book was published in the 50's. In the film all we get is "for our friends, Merry!" Kill us now. Now the dialogue they took from the book is in contradiction with her soft character in the movie (the whole speech she gives to Aragorn in the second movie about warrior's glory and dying on a sword). Reading the book for the first time as teenage girls the scene that was most impactful for us was made completely flat and meaningless in the film. Why reveal she's a woman BEFORE she faces the Witch King!?!?!??! That scene is one of the greatest twists of all time. It's even better than Vader's "no. I am your father". For fuck's sake, how incompetent are these writers?

To be honest, we actually disagree with the interpretation that Èowyn is domesticated in the novel. Read it closely. She only talks about peacemaking and turning from violence into making things grow. Not a mention about homemaking or raising kids or anything like that.  And she's quite bitter about the fact that her turning from war to diplomacy will be seen as a man taming her, simply because she gets married. Whereas in the movie Faramir is literally a consolation price for Éowyn, so turns out all she needed was a guy. We think it's awesome that in the book she redirects her ambition from warfare and violence towards diplomacy and peacemaking. That is very important for everyone, particularly young girls, to see, since in reality women in power seem to get there by being as shitty as the men before them. Éowyn shows that there's a better way to interact with the world than destroying it. Does it bleed through that we're humanists/pacifists? All of the complexity of Éowyn is non-existent in the film. They gave all the dudes character arcs (even Faramir who didn't have one in the book) and took away the arc of the ONLY significant woman in the whole story. Not chill at all.  

Moving on to the aspect that we hate most in all of media: the forced conflict. You didn't think it could get worse for Frodo and Sam from Towers, but Jesus Christ this was intolerable. Frodo is the heart and soul of the books and it is unforgivable where they went with his character, and Sam isn't far behind. Watch the documentaries, even the creators have trouble justifying the changes they made in Mount Doom. Mount Doom is the crown jewel of the shitturd that is Frodo's and Sam's story in the movie. Every single instance had to be laden with forced conflict simply to create drama. The writers have this misapprehension (which they even come clean about in the documentaries) that audiences won't be entertained without constant conflict onscreen. As with Éowyn, there are too many examples to choose from. 

This is where Sam's actions go from "huh?" to "what the fuck?!" He's outright violent to Gollum. They made both Frodo and Sam so unlikable here. Sam is a violent brute and Frodo is just there completely passive and easily manipulated by Gollum. The little personality Frodo had in the first movie has been eradicated here. The Ring porn finally reaches its climax when Frodo goes back for the Ring at Mount Doom. They took the rather sombre and tender moment from the book and americanized it into a "don't you die on me!" - cliche. We could spend days on end bitching about Towers and Return movie versions but we'll leave it here for the sake of our own sanity. 

  

Disney, retrospectively

Mulan (1998)

Right off the bat, this is Jonna's favourite Disney film so don't expect us to judge it too harshly. Both of us do think that this is amongst the best three movies of the renaissance period (obviously the other two are Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame). In addition, Disney's tone deafness about non-Western cultures is surprisingly subdued here.

Characters

Mulan: She's almost pig-headedly determined when it comes to things she cares about. She's clumsy in all the good ways, not the annoying "adorkable" stereotype way. She's not good at the girly shit 'cause she's just not into it and doesn't feel comfortable in that atmosphere. She was, after all, raised on a farm. Probably the best thing about her is that outside of Meg she's pretty much the only classic Disney female character with an arc. And her character arc is so much more rewarding than Meg's. Some feminists have taken issue with her lack of ambition. We, on the other hand, love that about her (Jonna in particular since that's her).
Mushu: Makes an amazing runner-up to Genie. Not even Timon&Pumba elicit as much love from us. He's hilarious, loyal and reckless, what else do you need from a sidekick? Again, the Finnish dub is just better. We get it, Eddie Murphy's great and all, but no. 
Fa Zhou: Mulan's father is definitely the most important male character in this one, because she literally goes to war to save him. Also, these are the three main characters because they all have character arcs. His love and acceptance are the most important things for Mulan and part of the film is about him learning to give those freely to her as she is. 
Shang: The saving grace for him, is that he has a little more personality than Eric. What brings a bit more depth to him is his storyline with his dad. There's not much of it though. He's literally Mulan's reward. Hey, for once it was the other way around! 
Minor characters: The gang is all great, Mulan's buds, the granny, the adviser, the cricket and horse and hell, even the fucking emperor. Everyone is brilliant.  Apart from the villain(s). They're depicted quite inhumanely as barbaric mongrels. We guess that's the racism part of the film. Nothing less from Disney. The leader at least has a quite intimidating design. Otherwise they're pretty forgettable.

















Story

Very simple and effective. Just as we like 'em. The themes of self-acceptance and family approval of you as a human being are universal and will never stop being relevant. Again, it's pointless to contend plotholes with us, like how the size of the army keeps changing. As our love of Star Wars shows, we actually think those gaffes and goofs are part of the enjoyment. There is nothing unnecessary here, all scenes exist for some purpose. It never drags and keeps you engaged throughout. 
The emotional thread that holds the whole film together is the relationship between Mulan and her father. The culmination of the film is not, as many would have it, the scene where Mulan saves the emperor and the whole of Beijing bowing down to her (that's fucking awesome too though), but the ending where her father kneels next to her to apologise and express full acceptance of her without conditions. Accolades and political power mean nothing to Mulan. Personal fulfilment and empowerment is what she's after. 
We don't really care for the politicising of this film. The Mike Pence stance is utterly ridiculous. However, we're not on the side of some feminist critique about how Mulan is domesticized because she doesn't take on the emperor's offer. We don't like the implication that women without ambition or desire for power let down the whole of womankind. Furthermore, it's probably already known how much we love our dad. Like he's the best fucking human being in existence. So it's not really inconceivable that we relate to a story about a daughter who would do anything for their father.

Miscellaneous

Jerry-fuckin'-Goldsmith, people! This is some of his best work in history and one of the most impressive film scores in any Disney animation. The man was a genius. The songs are "meh" but rather entertaining. And they're easy to listen, plus they don't occur every ten minutes. The animation isn't traditional Disney but that's what makes it original and distinctive.

Boys do cry

In the past we have naturally focused a lot on women. We figured it was time to write a feminist post about men. (Sorry, we ain't dropping the feminism any time soon.) So this is a list of our favourite male characters who subvert some masculine expectations (sometimes described as toxic masculinity). We decided not to include sexual minorities, since masculine expectations are heteronormative. So by being not straight, one has already bucked the major masculine norms entirely. We're not big fans of such terms as masculine and feminine traits because that is basically assigning personality based on someone's physiology. We think that the line that has been created between what is masculine and what is feminine is rather arbitrary. We await for the day when men are no longer from Mars and women no longer from Venus. Where our characteristics are under the blanket of "humanity" and where we see each other as fellow human beings. And no, none of the aforementioned means erasing biological gender. So, chill.

1. Vash from Trigun. D-uh! He might not give the best first impression, but just stay with it. He is the most gentle, caring and compassionate person. Vash subverts almost all masculine expectations. He cries at everything. It's not Hollywood tears, it's weeping. We're talking waterfalls. Yes, the picture we have is funny, but most of it is played very seriously. He's forced to wear this mask of a clown and an idiot but is actually incredibly open with his feelings and basically wears his heart on his sleeve. Heard of the expression "would not hurt a fly"? Yeah, it's this guy right here. Whether friend or foe he refuses to seriously injure anyone and eschews violence. Plus he has like, zero ambition. Literally none whatsoever. Superheroes usually have these very lofty and ambitious goals. All he wants is to live in peace as a nameless nobody in some crummy little village helping people for the rest of his life. Also, he loves kids - as in he'd be exactly the type to be a stay-at-home dad. And last but definitely not least, he learned all his values and beliefs from a woman. As we all know, "real men" never take advice from women - only a bro is allowed to teach another bro. There are a thousand other things we could list about this guy and that's exactly why he's #1 here. It is no wonder that he shares the top spot as our favourite male character ever.

  












2. Billy Elliot from Billy Elliot.  The boy who likes ballet - of course he's included! This is really the only boy character we have here, since boys are not yet men and can be often given more leeway than full-grown male characters. But Billy is such a seminal character subverting not only of what is expected of men but of boys, so we had to have him here. We especially love the fact that the story takes place in a working class environment, with a single father whose ideas of manhood are harmful to both him and his sons. It is a wonderful and heartwarming story, since the father and Billy's brother both learn to express their tender side to Billy and accept Billy for who he is. 

3. Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. He's on this list because Faramir of the book does not exist on film. Ashitaka has quite similar attitude to conflict and war that Faramir has. He would much rather live in peace and harmony with all his surroundings and only fights out of necessity. You knew that at least one Miyazaki would make it here. 

4. Mr. Baxter from The Apartment. This guy is incredibly nurturing. Here is a movie where you see a man being a woman's emotional support. And there is nothing that we love more about him than that he is never that guy who guilt-trips the woman (like saying I'm so much better than him or why are you with that guy) that you have in every other romantic movie. He makes no demands whatsoever on her and expects nothing.

5. Willow from Willow. Willow's the first one we have where nurturing is the main reason we picked him. Especially nurture towards children. You don't see men doing the domestic side of nurture - like feeding, changing nappies or carrying a baby constantly. And showing that the man would actually enjoy taking care of a child. Willow exceeds in all.

6. Michael from The Deer Hunter. First, think of all the 70's and early 80's roles De Niro has done. They're all pretty hypermasculine - he's aggressive, violent and often lacking in general humanity. They're interesting roles but fit a certain stereotype of men. Michael as a character is actually quite a departure for De Niro's usual roles. It might not seem that way looking at the film's premise, but the character is surprisingly deeply compassionate. Our favourite moment where his compassion shines is when he's talking Steven through their torture - he never tells him to man up or not to cry, instead he says it's okay and to let it out and tries to comfort him and be there for him. Another one is when Michael goes to see Angela - she is in a state of shock and is unable to communicate, and of course you'd at least expect him to get frustrated, because in many films where women are in shock men usually lose their nerve and either shout or shake them or tell them to snap out of it. None of that here. He is nothing but kind, gentle and patient to the very end.

7. Holland March from The Nice Guys. This guy is so damn effeminate and we absolutely love it! It's kind of played for laughs, but then again it's not. It's much more physical comedy rather than the viewer laughing at the character failing in some "masculine act". Part of the subversion here is to do with the actor - Gosling's roles tend to be on the stereotypical sphere, so it was nice to see a role where he got to play on a different spectrum. And we're always happy to see caring fathers onscreen.

8. Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He's a sweetheart. Even though he has been raised by the cruelest person, Quasimodo is astoundingly kind and gentle. Since he is a Disney character, the range isn't that wide, but especially when you compare him to other Disney men, he has far less toxic elements in his behaviour.

9. Lenny from Strange Days. Ok, he has some of the toxic aspects of "masculine behaviour" - like being hung up on his ex, but he does eventually learn out of them. The reason we have him here, is because when we (still 100% Mormon then) watched this the first time we deemed him a coward. Because he evades conflict and is afraid of pain. He uses every verbal method possible to avoid getting beat up. And he's always saved by a woman.

10. Ed Wood from Ed Wood. He's a cross-dressing straight dude. How much more norm- breaking can you get? And he's pretty much the only one on this list who's based on a real person, played with Depp's and Burton's weirdness, of course. We love it.

11. Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts. Here's another one who is a very nurturing character. The movie we don't much care about and have never liked Harry Potter, but this man was a pretty good main character. He focuses saving the animals without harming them and instead of violence opts for dialogue. It doesn't surprise us that some film critics took issue with Newt as a main character - for movies that are supposed to sell it is expected that the lead is your regular hero who punches first and thinks later (or never).

12. Ichabod Crane from Sleepy Hollow. This is another dainty male character with some very effeminate traits. He's physically incompetent, afraid of spiders and faints at the sight of blood. Here you have the classic man of action versus man of intellect division, but unlike in most Hollywood films where the man of action is the one to save the day, here it's the other way around. 

13. Shinji from Evangelion. The series, NOT the movie (which was basically the equivalent of the creator saying: oh, you like these characters? Well, fuck you!) Shinji is pretty much an antithesis to most animeboy teen heroes. He's a coward, indecisive and really really passive. Shinji is actually quite an accurate depiction of depression (the whole show kinda is). Point is, these kind of boy characters rarely show up anywhere mainstream and definitely feel more like actual teenagers than most we see in popular media.

 

The Good, the Better and the Best

It's strange that we have managed to get this far without making a list of our favourite films. There's a reason for that. We have so many movies that would deserve to be on this list, so in order to cut it down to a reasonable amount for a blog, we have picked our favourites according to genre. Some of the films' genres overlap, because obviously they do. We had to pick genres, otherwise this list would be over a 100 titles. 

A few genres are missing, like western. Because they aren't our thing. If we had to pick, we'd take a western in a modern setting (The Way of the Gun). We actually have one western that we absolutely love, but it's a TV series. Film noirs are also something we're not drawn to. Again, if we had to pick a film noir, it would be a modern one (L.A. Confidential). We've dropped the genre 'thriller' as we don't think it's a separate genre because it's always paired with something else, eg. mystery, horror or action. In addition, it's nearly indistinguishable from horror or mystery. Animated movies are just movies, you can have an animated anything. As you'll be able to see by the end of this list, we're ridiculously mainstream.

1. The Deer Hunter (war)

Anyone who knows us or has followed our blog, probably already knew that this is our other favourite film of all time. We assigned the war genre (it could have been drama as well) to this because we don't generally like war films. War films seem to take place only during the war and focus more on the military and army perspective. And a war is so much more than that. The Deer Hunter is not about the action or heroism in war but about war as a construct and its effect on one's psyche. Since it is Hollywood there's a serious problem with racism when depicting the Vietnamese. Everything else about this movie is on a different plane entirely. It has some of the best acting in film history. What we especially love about this movie is that you have to pay attention during the whole film. Everything is meaningful, no matter how insignificant it seems. This is what we compare other films to. This is the golden standard of film making for us.

1. It's a Wonderful Life (family)

Also, might not be a big surprise this shares the top place. This film is just so life-affirming. If you ever feel like you need to restore your faith in humanity, this is the one to watch. We're pretty sure that we're preaching to the choir here. Who hasn't seen this movie? 

3. The original Star Wars trilogy (adventure)

This might be cheating for some, but c'mon! The one does not exist without the other two. If we were held at gunpoint and forced to choose, it would be The Empire Strikes Back. But we're not. We love all three equally. These have stayed with us since we can't even remember. We love everything about these, even the silly, stupid and dated aspects. They are the perfect adventure films. Unlike most other adventure films these have more than one level. Plus Princess Leia is our first feminist icon.

4. The Apartment (romance)

Oh, the time when romance offered as deep and intricate insights into society, relationships and the human condition as the best of dramas did. When romance hadn't been degraded into something purely frivolous and superficial. We love good romance and we hate it when it's shoved into this narrow box that film executives have created. This is what great romance movies can be. It's so funny but so sad at the same time. The main characters are simply lovable. It's Billy Wilder at his absolute best. Though we like Psycho it does not compare, this definitely deserved the Oscar. We particularly appreciate the subtle anti-corporate message.

5. Princess Mononoke (fantasy)

Another case of sharing because we can't make a decision. We love all of Miyazaki's works but this is hands down our favourite. We love his humanist ideals that are reflected in his films. And Mononoke is no exception. Fantasy has probably always been our most favourite genre, so when you combine Miyazaki's humanism with fantasy, it's inevitable that film should end up on this list. This was something that transferred us to a completely different world. We don't like anime, but this is what it could be at its best. 

5. Beauty and the Beast (musical)

Obviously the animation. The best that Disney has ever produced. Indisputably. Menken's best music, best animation, best story and best characters. The visuals are far and above any other Disney film. This is not a Disney movie, this is A Movie.  This is the only one, THE ONLY ONE, that rivals Miyazaki. Is there anything more to say about it?

7. Eastern Promises (crime)

We felt guilty about liking this film for the longest time (chalk it up to trying to be good Mormons). But goddamn if this movie isn't impressive. This is one of those that we return to time and time again and we like it more each time we watch it. It's dark and twisty, just as we like 'em.  This film is brutal and unforgettable. The Russian melancholy really gets us every time. 

8. Arrival (science fiction)

We never thought we would have a favourite sci-fi movie until we saw this. It's definitely the best film we have seen in the cinema. The science aspect in it is linguistics, a humanist science. Of course we loved it. It's incredibly well-constructed. This is the only movie where we love the plot twist, we normally either dislike them or are indifferent to them. The twist makes the film bittersweet and we love it.

9. The Lady Vanishes (mystery)

Obviously we had to have a Hitchcock on this list. It would've been invalid otherwise. We loved it immediately after seeing it. We really like Agatha Christie's mystery novels and she might as well have written this movie. 

10. On the Waterfront (drama)

It was a tough choice between this and East of Eden. This took the edge by the difference of a hair. This is a classic so it's no surprise that this is on the list. The reason this film touched us is because it's a story of redemption.  We love that it's a working-class story from a working-class perspective.

11. Bringing Up Baby (comedy)

This on the other hand was such an easy choice. The minute we saw it we knew it would remain as our favourite comedy. The slapstick, the verbal quips and the wacky characters! It's a never-ending gagfest where all the gags work. We quote this movie a lot.

 












12. 28 Days Later (horror)

For quite a while this was the only horror film we did like (we have since discovered a few more). This was the first and it hit the hardest. This isn't about how frightening the monsters are but about how scary we as humans could be in this situation. 

13. Aliens (action)

Yes, we think that The Terminator is the best action film, but this is our favourite. Another film that we can't remember not having seen. Awesome and kick-ass female character, terrific action and surprisingly genuine human interaction. What's not to like?

 










The thread connecting most of these films is a character-driven story, often with a humanist undertone. Music is pretty damn important to us as well. Film language and visual storytelling are also things we pay a lot of attention to.