Modern Mars Hill

Every time I see anything about Avengers: Infinity War , I feel bogged down, even though I should be really excited for it. I finally realized the reason: No Chloe Bennet. At this point, all I care about with the MCU is what the official title of Spider-Man: The Winter Formal will be (because what else do you call the sequel to Homecoming ?), what new genres they'll explore, and how they'll have the TV shows will affect the movies. Chloe Bennet's character from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be a fantastic addition to Avengers: Infinity  War . Her character is powerful enough to be helpful to the team, is from a show people already like, and is extremely easy to introduce to an audience that has never seen Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D . I would love to see Chloe Bennet in a Marvel movie. (The fact that she's extremely attractive doesn't hurt.)

"How can you not like Star Wars ?" Do you know how often I get that question? About as often as I say that I don't like Star Wars  (which isn't often). I didn't grow up with Star Wars . I didn't watch any of the movies until I was 14. So I don't have the emotional connection to Star Wars that everyone else does. Which leads me to want the same thing from a Star Wars movie as I do from any other movie: To enjoy myself I don't care about a Star Wars movie being good. I care about a Star Wars movie entertaining me personally. So what does  entertain me personally? What would I want from a Star Wars movie that would make it my favorite movie ever? Cleverness I want to shake my head in disbelief during a movie and think "How did you even think of that?": "How did that writer think of this?", "How did this character think to do that thing at that moment?" I will never see a cleverer fight scene than the Wheel of F...

Over the last few years, my brother and I have been brainstorming about how to make an epic movie (or series of movies) out of The Book of Mormon. We didn't want something simple. We want something epic - a grand adventure for the ages, like we sometimes say the Book of Mormon itself is. I've heard a lot of people love the idea, and I've heard a lot of concerns. I'd like to address some of the concerns and see if I can help. Perhaps you could help me address my major concern with making the Book of Mormon into a movie. If you have any more concerns, let me know. I'd love to discuss them. Concern #1: "It would be rated R." This is the single most frequent concern I hear. I even heard this from someone who played in the Bible videos. To be fair, it's a legitimate concern. There are plenty of lots of R-rated ancient war movies - from Gladiator  (2000), to 300  (2006) to the extended edition of The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies  (2014/2015). Th...

Rule #1 : Use your characters for their character traits. a) What can each character do? If there’s a lock to be picked, give it to the lockpick. b) What will and won’t the character choose to do, given that character’s personality? If you need someone to take out the guards, don’t give that job to the pacifist. Corollary: A heist can be used so the audience can understand a character. In these cases, demonstrate character the way you would demonstrate character in any other scene. Don’t let the heisting get in the way of demonstrating character, but don’t let demonstrating character get in the way of the heist. Above all else, never let anything get in the way of story. -- Rule #2 : If the heist is not in-and-of-itself the plot, make sure the heist affects the plot in some way. a) Just like in any other sequence, the more ways a heist sequence affects the plot, the better. A heist could simply help the characters get the MacGuffin (the interchangeable thing...

Have you ever seen a movie made by a Mormon and thought "I'm glad that movie was so clean and inspirational. It's a refreshing change of pace from Hollywood". Have you ever got home from that movie and realized "Wait a minute. The only thing that movie had going for it was that it was clean and inspirational. I guess that's all I was looking for, but if it were a normal Hollywood movie I forked out $10 to see, I would have thought it was awful." That's the case with basically every Mormon movie I watch. It's clean and inspirational, but it's really missing the quality I expect out of a normal movie. In my experience, Mormon movies are generally worse movies than movies made by someone who isn't Mormon. Now,  I'm not talking about a clean movie, or an entertaining movie, or an uplifting movie. I'm talking about a movie that uses the tools of storytelling and the tools of filmmaking to present a good story, well told. I'm talk...

Am I the only person who thinks Cap shouldn't have dropped his shield at the end of Captain America: Civil War ? Here's how I always picture the conversation going: Tony: "That shield doesn't belong to you." [me: "Uh... yes it does. It was given to him. That's how exchange of property works."] Tony: "You don't deserve it." [me: "Uh... yes, he does. He uses his shield to fight terrorists and protect his best friend from being murdered by Starks for crimes he didn't commit of his own free will."] Tony: "My father made that shield." [me: "He made it specifically for Cap."] Tony: "You've been a jerk to me!" [me: "That's rich, coming from you. Now Cap should go home WITH his shield and his best friend, then write you a reverse-break-up letter. Hope you get a best friend soon... or at least a surrogate son. Wait... Cap? Why are you dropping the shield! Pick up that shield! We all know y...

I'm genuinely disappointed that the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is officially titled Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald . JKR had already established a wonderful pattern: that each prequel movie set in the Wizarding World could be named after a textbook. Instead, the name of the franchise is now Fantastic Beasts , leaving us with 2 problems: 1) " Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"  is simply too long (it's so long that I copied and pasted it that time). We usually abbreviate it Fantastic Beasts , but that doesn't mean  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (copied and pasted again) anymore. That name refers to the franchise as a whole. It's a similar problem to when Star Wars  got retitled Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope . Years later, people still hear Star Wars  and don't know if it's talking about the franchise or the film. Hopefully, people will start calling  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (co...

Some people may be wondering about the more intricate parts of the rules of Toy Story . Here's what I can gather. This is not canon, this is just what I can logically deduce. Please do not take this as official or as the actual rules of Toy Story . How do toys become sentient? How do they leave their delusions? In TS1, see only 1 fully-delusional toy: Buzz. In TS3, we only see one character experience Buzz's delusional state: Buzz, but only because he gets turned to Demo mode (that will become important). TS2 gives us plenty of material to learn about delusional toys: All of the new toys - Zurg, New Buzz, even Tour Guide Barbie - are completely "in character". We can assume that New Buzz and Zurg are still on Demo mode since they just got out of their boxes. With that fact and the fact that Buzz completely forgot about his Demo Mode time and his Spanish Mode time once he got set back to Play (TS3), we can assume that all toys that have a Demo mode are del...

I remember watching Star Wars with my friends for the first time. I’d watched it years earlier by myself and... didn’t actually like it. But when I watched it with other people, I was genuinely confused. How did I not like it when they all thought it was so good? The plot was great, the characters were likable, the soundtrack was… well… it’s Star Wars . How did I not like it? You’re probably wondering the same thing: “How did this guy not like Star Wars ?” But let’s be honest. I’m sure we’ve all had that experience, where we finish a movie, hear about how great it was, and wonder how we didn’t like it. Years after watching Star Wars , I gained an appreciation for movies I didn’t like, to the point that after my last movie night, I could say “I didn’t like it. I know what I like, and this didn’t have it. But it was a pretty good movie.” Yes, there’s a difference. The difference is that taste is subjective, but quality is objective. That perspective prevents arguments, breeds a...

For months, I've wondered "What's the best way to pick whether a character should be male or female?" This started partially because I knew some feminist writers who wanted more female characters, so it made me wonder what justification I had for making a character male or female. It started partially when people kept asking for superhero movies with female main characters. It started partially because I had a character who was male in the initial idea, but as the character changed more and more, the character eventually turned into a female, but the fact that the character was male or female had nothing to do with the plot, so it made me wonder "How should I decide whether I should make this character male or female?" After looking at various strong female characters and asking various writers their opinions, here are the answers I've formulated so far. How to write a character's gender: 1) Check to see if any part ...