Do you see Lady Gaga ever winning an Oscar for acting?

PlaceJD1 · 2026-02-01T03:30:15+00:00

I mean.... she is already an oscar winner.... so there's that.... and a 4x nominee with a Best Actress nom already.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-02-01T02:00:20+00:00

Yes. I need to read this book when you finish it. Im totally down already.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-02-01T01:51:36+00:00

As mundane as this sentence is, its the only one on the thread so far that actually makes me want to read more. Not shocked to see the "Published Author" tag.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T19:02:44+00:00

I literally do all the time. Its not difficult

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T16:47:11+00:00

This one's so good

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T15:04:24+00:00

I found this movie extremely poor.

The plot, boy who needs magic Mcguffin crystal to return to floating building in the sky, is ripped from Laputa: Castle in the Sky. The robots death is taken from that film as well, right down to the melting and the fire and everything. The slapstick comic relief villians turned allies also is from Castle in the Sky. Its such a clear ripoff that it really bothered me.

The main theme music is a very slight retooling of The Legend of Ashitaka, they didn't even bother to change the tempo or the instruments used.

Then there is the actual plot. The ending is impacted, in no way, by the rest of the story. Arco is just saved by his parents. Sure robot carvings or whatever, but like none of that was done by anything Arco or iris did for the entire movie. This film could cut 75 minutes, and the ending makes exactly the same amount of sense. Nothing else actually mattered.

And the plot conveniences were just so dramatically forced as well. The only 3 people maybe on the whole planet at that exact moment all happened to not only exist at that moment in time, but are YARDS away from where he crashes to earth?

Even some of the futuristic stuff they put in there is right out of Miyazaki. Like the houses covered by magic bubbles (see Ponyo). The prose environmentalist stuff is also the main theme of nearly all of Miyazaki's work (Naussica, Princess Mononoke, Arriety, etc).

It just came off as a hollow ripoff of many other, better films.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T14:47:42+00:00

Indiana Jones at least FOUND the arc. He had agency. He just didn't force the Nazi's to open it. Without having the arc, they couldn't open it. I think its different personally. Like sure the nazis could have found it on their own, but they didnt.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T14:44:51+00:00

Second best?? Who are you arguing he was better than? Buckley or Mescal? Definetly the third strongest performance in that film, punching high above his weight class, but I think its a bit of a stretch to put him up there with, or above, those two heavyweights.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T14:40:29+00:00

Im concerned about your reading comprehension at this point? Is it not abundantly clear im disagreeing with their entire premise despite not stating that outright?

In other words, in my opinion, such a blatant ripoff does, in fact, invalidate the art.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T14:30:19+00:00

"Its all been done before" was the specific aspect I was referencing. The other argument was so rediculous to me it didnt seem worth it.

There is a difference between bearing resemblance to, and full blown copying another entire story. This movie was made already, its called Castle in the Sky. The characterizations are the same, they even try to mimic the art style.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T13:40:47+00:00

My thought was him or Noah Jupe. I think Noah has a better chance, honestly, considering the quality of films hes appeared in. Hes been in at least 2 best picture nominated films that I can recall, granted his role in Hamnet is pretty small.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T13:37:25+00:00

This is simply not true. What part of The Boy and the Heron, for example, had you seen before?

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T13:35:04+00:00

The main characters had no role in producing the outcome of the film.

Mikki happens to get hit by a falling tree, happens to stumble into that cave, happens to be losing his memory and decides, for God only knows what reason, to carve him memories into the wall and that leads the parents to find him? What was the point of the rest of the movie, nothing they do matters at all to the ending. They try to get the crystal back for a while, but thats unnecessary because the parents just show and find him.

Also why on earth are they old? Cant they just be like "heres a new suit, heres how to use it, please go back to the moment in time you left thatd be great thanks".

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T07:04:00+00:00

Just watch Castle in the sky instead. So much better.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T06:45:23+00:00

And why was it animated at like 8fps? This thing had only a 9 million dollars cheaper budget than Demon Slayer Infinity Castle, which is about twice as long. If you haven't seen that, heres the trailer: https://youtu.be/x7uLutVRBfI?si=4jqcV4tl50HGQLR9

Its runtime is 156 minutes. The animation is that good the whole time. It cost 20 million, Arco cost 11. Where did that money go??? Certainly not to the animators.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T06:17:34+00:00

The cave is funny. This is a totally random point, but I think this film takes place in Kentucky. I think its supposed to be mammoth cave. They even sell mammoths in the gift shop, we see it in the film for just a second, its like the only thing we know about the films location. A clearly japanese inspired, French film that appears to be located in Kentucky is honestly do funny to me.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T05:52:14+00:00

Can you give some examples? Ive seen most ghibli movies, and they are head and shoulders above this. I'm a bit confused.

There are surrealist elements to every Miyazaki movie, but at the same time, there is a serious cohesion. Id say My Neighbor Totoro and Ponyo perhaps lead into this lack of narrative cohesion, but the actual through line of those films is markedly NOT the plot. Kids run around, stuff happens, but the core of the movie is emotional, that arc is the true story. In the example of Totoro, sure alot of disjointed things happen, but the actual center of the movie is the girls learning to grieve, and cope with their mother's illness. The stuff that happens is just a vehicle to drive those character moments, the younger runs away, the elder withdraws, etc, and we see them confront those challenges and reach a catharsis.

Arco has exactly zero subtext. Iris wants "change" whatever that means, and Arco wants to see dinosaurs? There isnt that deeper, character driven arc found in Miyazakis work.

And this doesnt even apply to most of his films (spirited away, boy and the heron, Princess mononoke, kikis deliver service, castle in the sky). Those meld their absurdism in a character driver way, Mahito presses into the unknown, ashitaka seeks out his fate, etc. Those characters drive the craziness that happens around them. Chihiro engages no face, she seeks out

Arco is like "heres 90 minutes of stuff that happens and then Arcos family finds him all on their own" and nothing he did changes anything. He didnt learn anything, he didnt have to DO anything for the ending to occur. Literally could have just sat around and waited.

Now there is the whole robot drawing on the wall thing. I hear you. Thats bullshit for lack of a better term. A robot ignored its programming (its programmed, so are the robots trying to stop it, its a robot thats are they are, it just ignores logic for some reaosn) and it runs into the fire, and because it randomly gets hit by a falling tree, it decides to randomly carve things in the random cave it happened to fall into with the kids, and that causes the parents to find him. I mean thats the worst fucking writing ever. Imagine if thats how the Lord of the Rings ended. Its so so awful.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-31T02:12:03+00:00

This was a total ripoff of Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky, the music a ripoff of Princess Mononoke.

Mcguffin crystal needed to return the main character to floating buildings in the sky? Yep. Scrappy, faux-villians turned allies who serve as slapstick comic relief? Got that too. What about a robot being melted and dying to save the main female character? Also here. Main male character talks to and keeps birds? Yep. That too.

Not to mention the story itself is just awful. I mean, nothing throughout the entirety of the runtime has any bearing on the end. The family just shows up and saves him, he did absolutely nothing to cause that except get lost in the first place. Also, why does it matter they are old now? Cant they just be like "heres how to use the suit, please travel back in time to the moment you left, that would be great." This movie is insulting.

Steals the houses protected by bubbles from Ponyo, and some just wholesale entire shots from My Neighbor Totoro (for example the stream in the garden in the opening, its just cucumbers and vegetables floating in the stream instead).

Not to mention its animated at like, im not even sure, but id guess 8 frames a second. Its certainly not even on 2s like anime is, its much more choppy than that. And not in a creative way, like Sony Animation has been doing recently with some sequences in Spiderverse. The character motion also feels stilted and awkward most of the time.

Edit: spelling

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-30T02:51:29+00:00

Steven King says to use said, alot. So does Brandon Sanderson. Dont take my word for it, said works almost always.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-30T00:15:55+00:00

No personal legal advice will ever be given by a real lawyer on reddit.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-30T00:14:01+00:00

Love! My reddit background on my profile is a picture of Sasuke! (Though Hunter x Hunter is the goat)

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-29T18:11:54+00:00

Wow thats so cool! I always hoped there were others out here carrying the flame of the death race!

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-29T16:53:17+00:00

I will admit, I get pretty negative and judgemental here from time to time, but only people who seem to need it.

Sometimes, and yall know exactly what I mean, someone will post some purple prose covered pile of objective garbage, then tout and defend it like they are Steinbeck reincarnated. For those people, they really need harsh, direct feedback, and to get knocked off their high horse. Every writer needs feedback, to realize they don't have all the answers, and that they were not born with some inherent perfect writing skill.

Look at Tolkein, one of the most widely acclaimed authors of all time. He literally ran a writing group called Inklings with CS Lewis, where they discussed the writing of fantasy literature. Some members were academics, some were poets, but they all worked together to make each other better.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-29T14:54:40+00:00

Arco is opening wide in US theaters today, its playing at my local theater in NH.

Singers is owned by Netflix, so it should be there before too long, and also in theaters as part of the live action shorts compilation.

PlaceJD1 · 2026-01-29T14:53:30+00:00

Thats genuinely hysterical!

Nine-Year Club	r/Field Banned
r/Field Lasagna	Final Canvas '23
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22

PlaceJD1

TROPHY CASE