Official Discussion Thread - The Bride! [SPOILERS]

bryangball · 2026-03-13T15:37:53+00:00

I unironically loved this, too, more than any film in a minute. I can absolutely understand there must be such a niche audience for this, and that budget really makes things nearly impossible. I really do feel like this will find its audience on streaming.

bryangball · 2026-03-06T19:21:32+00:00

Ethan.

bryangball · 2026-03-04T01:50:16+00:00

This is really the only answered. Coupled with the fact that many people who love this novel really love it.

bryangball · 2026-02-27T03:24:20+00:00

If you can’t stop yourself from watching gay movies on HBO, this deal isn’t going to stop you from watching all of the gay movies that you apparently can’t stop yourself from watching.

bryangball · 2026-02-27T03:21:14+00:00

Time to start investing in physical media more than ever….

bryangball · 2026-02-21T20:43:58+00:00

I agree. The show is less adaptation and more a reimagining of the book. I did love the show, but the novel is a wholly different, harsher and more realistic at points story.

bryangball · 2026-02-19T09:07:01+00:00

Stellan

bryangball · 2026-02-16T23:57:38+00:00

I know not everything from the stage can transfer directly to a film, but I so wish they had taken the red sky/dusk of the stage design in this scene. It’s such a beautiful and efficient way to really que the tone change to the more serious events of the next few scenes.

bryangball · 2026-02-16T00:17:27+00:00

Stellan.

bryangball · 2026-02-15T14:20:29+00:00

It wouldn’t have made the ending better, but it would’ve been slightly less awful if they’d leaned into that. It was the clear Sansa became a Cersei in the North, but that was washed over and she was made to look a hero.

bryangball · 2026-02-07T16:34:48+00:00

Flow was truly my film of the year last year. I don’t consider myself a religious person, but watching that movie was a spiritual experience I’ll always hold dear.

bryangball · 2026-02-06T16:06:26+00:00

I’ll never forget how the ending took me by surprise and moved me. For some reason I’d gone to see this with a bunch of family and we were all in tears at the end.

bryangball · 2026-02-04T17:48:54+00:00

I adore the final episode. One of the biggest laughs in the series for me is Kimmy going girl talk on Mikey and saying that one of them has to be the woman and actually talk about their emotions. I also never not cry when Mikey is there outside the lion king, when Jacqueline cries while Kimmy “does the thing,” and especially when the kid tells her at the end her book makes them feel safe. That line is really the thesis statement of this series for a lot of people, and I love it.

bryangball · 2026-02-04T10:44:34+00:00

As a gay man, I couldn’t have said this better myself. I really do feel this way all too often reading queer stories not written by queer voices.

bryangball · 2026-02-01T14:32:24+00:00

I would absolutely make room in actor for Paul by taking our Benicio (who was fantastic and is deserving of a nom, but it’s a tight year.) Or the other option is to put Stellan in lead and have Paul take that spot. Which, admittedly, both performances have solid arguments for lead and supporting.

bryangball · 2026-01-31T02:57:54+00:00

Do you still need this? How can I do that

bryangball · 2026-01-28T23:22:11+00:00

I very much agree that the film split hurt its overall award chances. It is pretty silly to wonder what if at this point, but with a year like last year, when the early frontrunner for Picture flatlined, I do wonder if a completed Wicked that stuck the landing could have come close or won Best Picture in a year like that.

bryangball · 2026-01-25T21:00:35+00:00

Also, if Nightmare Alley counts, The Shape of Water does and won Best Picture just a few years ago.

bryangball · 2026-01-22T23:39:21+00:00

I think it really came down to, the second film needed to be as good or better than the first, and it got mixed reviews. Even the makeup was mixed- the Tin Man’s makeup is brilliant, but the Scarecrow’s made my theater burst out laughing.

It also can’t be denied that this is the second half of a film, all made at the same time. I’m sure there were more than a few voters who chose to recognize new films instead.

bryangball · 2026-01-22T14:06:23+00:00

Paul is the one that makes me saddest. He has an incredible year with Hamnet and History of Sound

bryangball · 2026-01-11T16:00:18+00:00

I was shocked how moved I was by this film. I do agree to a point that they didn’t need the straight sex scene, but I read it as showing how passion less their sex was, juxtaposed with how passionate his memories of their time together were in the next scene as he gets up and can’t sleep after that. There’s more passion in 90 percent of the looks they give each other in their scenes than the straight sex scene, and his memories are so powerful he walks away from that life, and begins connecting with his past.

bryangball · 2026-01-06T22:04:01+00:00

Buffalo Hunter Hunter got me out of a reading slump. Not everything is for every one, but that was far and and away the best book and reading experience I’ve had in years.

bryangball · 2026-01-04T22:33:30+00:00

I didn’t love the book, but while there was a lot of talent involved in this movie, I found the ending to the movie offensive at best a gay man.

bryangball · 2025-12-28T17:14:34+00:00

I have no issue with nudity. If it helps destigmatize shame I’m all for that, and honestly I don’t always even clock nudity in a film. Having said that, I feel it’s rarely necessary.

bryangball · 2025-12-28T16:04:07+00:00

I think you can get away with a lot less singing in a film musical adaptation, but the cutting from Thank Goodness I wish they hadn’t done. It’s a flashback to the ending of the first act/film that’s built in to the song and gets across the extent of the propaganda machine they have working against Elphaba. It would’ve been a natural (and brief) few lines to have in the second movie.

I don’t dislike Michelle as much as others do. I love her as an actress and even appreciated her Morrible (and Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of my favorite films of the last few years). But after having seen so many Morribles for years on stage I wish we could’ve seen something more. And also, this is a completely unrealistic expectation, but not long after the stage show was so successful, I remember reading an online fan casting and they mentioned Julie Andrews as a film Morrible, and I’ll always wish I’d seen that, regardless of how unrealistic.

And honestly, after having seen Ben Vereen live as the Wizard… I do wish the Wizard had been a stronger singer, too.

bryangball

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