Movies, Plays and Shorts

General Discussion
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I was going to suggest Arcane. Now I’m not so sure.

Season one was fantastic except for some immersion killing world breaking contemporary music (lyrics mention America and green paper as currency etc, these songs are played over jukeboxes by characters in the show or sometimes just over action scenes.) but I moved passed that because the setting and characters were interesting and the animation was astounding.

After season two I can no longer recommend it. It was a train wreck with characters growth,motives and intent sacrificed in service of drama.

I don’t enjoy MOBA games, they’re stress incarnate from my perspective, so I would have avoided the show as it’s connected to one (League of Legends).

They took artistic license with the games characters from what I’m told, and wove a very intriguing story with it’s first season.

Season two suffered the same faith of a lot of second seasons. Changes in the writers room or something like that led to the source not understanding it’s own characters or the rules set down in the first season, everything got diluted and all weight was diminished.

Give it a whirl, season one is definitely worth dipping your toes into the world.

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I tentatively disagree. True, there were a lot of moments when I was wondering “what the hell are they doing?”. But while there was definitely too little time spent many things , in the end everything mostly made sense, but did feel somewhat rushed.

Vi and Jinx getting together over the possibility of getting their father back does make sense, but it’s doesn’t have enough time to feel organic. Jinx’s voices disappearing seems like an oversight, but psychologically is not that far out as for the first time she has a friend that isn’t at the same time a threat to her, though here, too, a bit more struggle would could have layed things out more clearly. Jayce’s actions make perfect sense after the revelation at the end.

Cupcake (yes, I can’t remember her actual name, sorry…) is a mess of conflicting emotions and makes some very bad choices all over the place. She’s not very consistent because I honestly think she’s not supposed to be consistent in her state of mind, but we get to see too little of that except for the decisions she made for it to really feel the way it should.

I think the biggest problem is Viktor. He’s essentially taken over by the Arcane and seizes to be Viktor, but we never learn what the Arcane wants, apart from the quick trip to Jayce’s alternate reality. Even so, we don’t know why, so Viktors actions seem, for a large part, non-seqiturs.

The black buff amazon leader who’se name I can’t remember is another problem. Her motivations of protecting her family at any price are relatable, but then in the end she somewhat pivots from that, and that’s another character move I didn’t really understand the reason for. And of course the whole which subplot of her daughter gets way too little time to really make heads or tails of what’s going on there.

All in all, I think the second season mostly had problems with readability rather than with plot. The plot is fine, but it reads a lot worse than the first season. I think they would have needed two seasons, with one ending with Jayce’s attack on victor, taking the time to focus a lot on Vi and Jinx, and the third season being all about the struggles of trying to get a coordinated defense together with the squabbling factions and taking time to explore the nature of the Arcane, reconciling Vi and Cupcake, and focusing on what exactly went down in the buff black amazon leader’s mind and what the hell is up with those whiches.

But all in all, I enjoyed the second season quite a bit. It’s an artistic firework to say the least. It’s a long time since we had animation of this quality, and with that kind of composition.

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I probably came in a little strong with saying I can’t reccomend. I actually absolutely reccomend it because the animation alone is worth the trip, it’s incredible, and season one is nothing short of perfect.

I guess I just found the second season a bit too predictable. I sent my friend a message after the first episode and everything I called out came to be. Even the red haired Scottish girl I immediately called out as being working for the underground and Mel’s mom (black Amazon lady) being a puppet master for most of the events happening.

I thought the Scottish girl looked exactly like the son of the underground leader (who I began calling mourning mother bane saw after the attack in season two) that died at end of season one, same haircut and facial features etc, I don’t think they even touch on that she just kinda turns on Cupcake (Kate :wink: )at the end but Im absolutely certain this was supposed to be her motivation.

Speaking of cup cake can we talk about the most ill timed sex scene in animation history? Dont worry guys, take your time, no rushing matters to attend to or anything :stuck_out_tongue:

Plot wise, season two was good but I feel they sacrificed character in service of the plot/drama and I find this can happen a lot of the time with a shows second season, hence season Two-itis. It usually stems from a shorter time to hone the story due to a shorter pre-production cycle. A lot of season ones have more time to gestate in a creators mind, then comes deadlines with the order of a second season. Its also kind of a curse of writers room where you might have new people on board who haven’t had the time to get a feel for the characters but still have an obligation to contribute.

All that aside, I loved it and my biggest gripe, creatively, is still with the music which, bar the odd standout track, didnt really sit well in the universe.

As someone who has no interest in League of legends, the fact it pulled me in and kept me entranced speaks volumes to what was achieved.

Still not enough to make me wanna play a MOBA though. I’d be a weeping wreck by the end of the week :joy:

My friend who is big into League was telling me a bit about what he hopes the next series will do, and the places he hopes it will explore.

I also heard the Arcane series was intended to be spread over three seasons and so that might explain why a lot of it felt like it was missing important subtext and character growth.

Some mysteries remain too. Mel mentions she sees the true face of the deciever at the end, the black rose witch. The Black Rose Witches response to this made it seem like it was a character we are already familiar with in the show.

My money was on the Bunny Eared lady that was painting the crippled guy who looks like, and disappointingly wasn’t, Tilda Swinton :stuck_out_tongue:

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Over the years I’ve found this to often be true of musicians / bands, too. You get a group of musicians, and they write stuff at leisure. They perform small local gigs, they get to know what works, and they get a lot of rehearsal. They can chug along doing this for years. Then one day, they get a break, and they become famous - and they have enough material to make a good album.

Then they spend the next twelve months on the road. They’re not writing or rehearsing any new stuff - they’re just cranking out the material from the album. Then the record company says to them “We need a new album - NOW”. So they rush something together, often including the second-rate stuff that wasn’t good enough for the first record.

I have a shelf full of second albums that are decidedly “Meh”.

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This is why independent acts self publishing and DIY groups are taking the music world by storm, no studio pressure and no back breaking arena tours. Just not getting the airplay because the schedule is all taken up by big label endorsements etc.

Just watched this, pilot that never got picked up for air. Chris Flemings comedy is so specific I’m surprised they even attempted a TV show but I’m all for it. This is one of those loathe it or marry it type things.

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On the other hand, I’ve known bands that went into the studio with nothing but a few ideas, and essentially composed the whole thing on the fly, and totally kicked ass. I have no idea how they do that (and I’m a fairly decent drummer with studio experience myself), but apparently some musicians are just that good… :person_shrugging:

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I totally agree. Which is why I said “often true of musicians / bands”. It’s also true that the trappings of success - money, drugs, alcohol, excessive partying - can have a massively detrimental effect. And if the second album is as good as the first (or even better) then you’re clearly dealing with major talent.

Nevertheless, I still have this shelf full of crappy second albums…

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