If It Wasn't For That One Thing: How Movies Could've Been Better

[tearknee]

 

[proserpina65]

9 hours ago, tearknee said:

Promoting the false notion of a 'default' mother-daughter bond is not feminist and it is dangerous (as Jeanette McCurdy, Cheryl and Christie Downs, Riley Ann Sawyers and so many other tragic-horrible examples self-provably demonstrate.

I don't think Brave promoted it as a 'default' mother-daughter bond, nor do I believe the original poster did either.  But yes, actually featuring such a bond in a Disney movie, rather than their typical missing mother backstory, is at least somewhat feminist in nature, imo.

[tearknee]

3 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I don't think Brave promoted it as a 'default' mother-daughter bond, nor do I believe the original poster did either.  But yes, actually featuring such a bond in a Disney movie, rather than their typical missing mother backstory, is at least somewhat feminist in nature, imo.

My apologies. I'm affected by my own mom's behavior. I think that promoting it -- rather than reinforcing that mothers can also be abusive and even murderous towards a daughter --is ultimately not good.

[proserpina65]

On 12/13/2024 at 5:11 PM, tearknee said:

My apologies. I'm affected by my own mom's behavior. I think that promoting it -- rather than reinforcing that mothers can also be abusive and even murderous towards a daughter --is ultimately not good.

Mothers and daughters can have all sorts of bonds and relationships, and I don't think it should be emphasized that any particular sort, good or bad or in-between, is always the case.  I think we can definitely agree on that.

[methodwriter85]

I love Michelle Yeoh, but they needed to have either cast someone who can actually sing for Wicked, or they needed to dub her.  Supposedly her character has more complicated songs and I don't see how that's going to work when she could barely talk sing.

[Spartan Girl]

4 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I love Michelle Yeoh, but they needed to have either cast someone who can actually sing for Wicked, or they needed to dub her.  Supposedly her character has more complicated songs and I don't see how that's going to work when she could barely talk sing.

Morrible really isn’t much of a singing part on the stage show either. She’s got a bit part and a couple of songs.

[Fool to cry]

Myrna Loy's great but if anyone should have played Shirley Temple's older sister in The Bachelor and The Bobbysoxer it should have been Susan Hayward!

[Blergh]

Dame Joan Plowright's passing got me to think of one of IMO her best roles as Mary Wallace, the middle aged British  secretary of this Italian aristocrat who enlists a group of her British and US American  friends living in Italy to help raise the aristocrat's nonmarital young boy after his mother's death in Tea with Mussolini (1999). 

Anyway, while I was perfectly willing to suspend belief re historic realities for the storyline of these eccentric ladies trying to hold onto their freedom despite the impending war and hostility towards them as 'enemy aliens' as World War II escalates, there was one subplot that just I just couldn't overlook.

Namely, the self-proclaimed leader of these ladies Lady Hester Random (Dame Maggie Smith) the widow of a British ambassador is desperate to protect her last surviving family member from being taken away to an unknown fate  and- her grandson Wilfred [Paul Chequer] so she has him dress up as her granddaughter 'Lucy' -for years. OK, I understand and sympathize with her motivation (and it's for the right reasons) and  perhaps having him disguise himself in skirts and wigs as her 'granddaughter Lucy'  might have worked for a single time in a pinch before he could escape to safety. However (speaking of pinch) it strains even this somewhat already incredulous movie's credulity to have had him stay in skirts in such close quarters for YEARS with none of the guards ever seeing him relieve himself. ..or attempt to take advantage of a 'girl prisoner' by (at the very least) pinching! At least he was finally able to talk his grandmother into letting him take the risks and join the Italian resistance instead of staying in this  very awkward figurative  and literal limbo.

OK, the storyline which shows the power of art and history is intriguing (and nothing can take away from the climatic scene in which the most impassioned art afficionada Arabella [Dame Judi Densch]literally  barricading irreplaceable cultural artifacts with her own body against the invading NAZI troops) -and I liked how Mary Wallace spurred/guilted the boy to do the right thing instead of letting their fates be doomed due to his own feelings for Elsa [Cher]. And, yes, I liked seeing how the British ladies  snobbish disdain over the US Americans Elsa and her friend Georgie [Lily Tomlin] evaporated as they discovered their true value.

However, all the above said, I still think the movie could have done without the ongoing subplot of Lady Hester's grandson disguising himself in drag for X in prison for X number of years.

[Spartan Girl]

I know I’ve already mentioned Raya and the Last Dragon and how much I despise Namaari, but someone on YouTube had a good idea of fixing that final confrontation:

When Raya storms the Fang palace to find Namaari standing in front her stone mother, instead of fighting back, Namaari just stands there. And after a very, very cathartic sequence of Raya beating the ever living shit out of Namaari, it isn’t until Raya is about to strike her down with her sword and Namaari looks up at her with a broken expression that it sinks in: Namaari wants to die. 

Raya stares down at the girl who ruined her life. Who betrayed her twice. Who killed her friend. And it is sinking in that everything she did was for nothing, because now Fang is about to be destroyed too. All because of her. And she has nothing left to live for.

And then she sees her friends who are trying to help the people of Fang to safety. Takes one more look at Namaari, who is wordlessly begging her to just do it already. And upon seeing her own reflection in her sword, Raya tosses it away and runs to help her friends, because she is done letting Namaari and her betrayal define who she is.

That would have been a much more effective scene than Namaari’s “you’re just as responsible as I am!” bullshit.

Edited Saturday at 01:32 PM by Spartan Girl

[Wiendish Fitch]

15 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I know I’ve already mentioned Raya and the Last Dragon and how much I despise Namaari, but someone on YouTube had a good idea of fixing that final confrontation:

When Raya storms the Fang palace to find Namaari standing in front her stone mother, instead of fighting back, Namaari just stands there. And after a very, very cathartic sequence of Raya beating the ever living shit out of Namaari, it isn’t until Raya is about to strike her down with her sword and Namaari looks up at her with a broken expression that it sinks in: Namaari wants to die. 

Raya stares down at the girl who ruined her life. Who betrayed her twice. Who killed her friend. And it is sinking in that everything she did was for nothing, because now Fang is about to be destroyed too. All because of her. And she has nothing left to live for.

And then she sees her friends who are trying to help the people of Fang to safety. Takes one more look at Namaari, who is wordlessly begging her to just do it already. And upon seeing her own reflection in her sword, Raya tosses it away and runs to help her friends, because she is done letting Namaari and her betrayal define who she is.

That would have been a much more effective scene than Namaari’s “you’re just as responsible as I am!” bullshit.

Dammit, Disney, this would have been so easy to fix!

Have you watched Arcane on Netflix? Without getting too specific, Jinx's arc is basically what Namaari's should have been, and I fucking loved it. 

On 1/22/2025 at 12:06 PM, Fool to cry said:

Myrna Loy's great but if anyone should have played Shirley Temple's older sister in The Bachelor and The Bobbysoxer it should have been Susan Hayward!

Not to mention that, as much as I practically worship Myrna Loy, she seemed too old* to play Shirley Temple's sister! I agree that Temple and Susan Hayward looked eerily alike.

*Yes, there are siblings who have 20+ year age gaps, but they're the exception, not the rule, and it doesn't always translate well to screen.

Edited Saturday at 01:48 PM by Wiendish Fitch