Captain Marvel: Where's the Love:

[MCP]

This is a really interesting project. To paraphrase, Tremault's thesis for the project was to make Carol a more likable character, and to remove what she considered "anti-male" scenes and moments. I would characterize the original movie's take on feminism is the typical mainstream dumbing down; encouraging the oppressed to take on the role of the oppressor. To me, truly meaningful feminism rethinks gender roles and power structures altogether. To do that, it's important to remember to love and care for our fellow human beings. (And other alien life forms haha) A take on this material that centers that is a great idea, and I appreciate all the work that Tremault put in. When I watched Tremault's edit of Captain Marvel, I hadn't seen the original version in a little while. My experience was just enjoying it as a movie, rather than looking for changes. It was really great! Overall, as just a viewing experience it was really positive. Tremault's changes were seamless, and nothing jumped out at me as awkward, missing, or superfluous. She even added some visual effects when Carol's implant was subduing her powers. Again, seamless, and very impressive. The scenes were color graded entire movie to reflect Carol's emotional state. This is the one thing I wish I had been watching for, and I might give it another spin just to have a look at this. Towards the beginning of the movie, Tremault re-inserted some deleted scenes (either replacing scenes from the original movie, or sometimes just adding them in), and this is mostly effective. There were a few moments that may tip audience off to the villain reveal later in the movie, but the reconfiguration of these early scenes is a net positive, as it establishes a more believable bond that Carol has with her fellow Kree soldiers, including Yon Rogg. Throughout the movie Tremault makes snips a lot of ham-fisted "girl boss" characterization. This serves to make Carol a more competent character who is not defined by her "failure" to live up to the expectations of men. Instead, Carol's relationship to her collogues and loved ones is is emphasized, without taking anything away from her arc of self-discovery. Tremault also did several small but cool cuts that give the movie more even pacing and suspense. I was very impressed by that and I definitely noticed it even though I hadn't seen the original in a long time. Most importantly, Tremault replaced "Just a Girl" by No Doubt with "Violet" by Hole. Hell yes. The song is much more appropriate vibe-wise, and so much less on the nose lyrically. I'm kind of joking, but a big part of me walked away from the original movie feeling like it was corny because that dopey song plays at such a pivotal moment. It's a shame that the filmmakers put dialogue in this scene because I would have preferred a musical montage with nothing but Carol kicking ass. But what can you do? There's only so much footage to work with on a project like this. I might have a few quibbles with some cut lines here and there, but I respect Tremault's vision for this project and that's all down to personal taste. Plus, I might not even like those moments anymore if I saw them put back in. So... super well done! I thank Tremault for her hard work and dedication. I don't take for granted the work that all the editors out there put in to enhance and expand our enjoyment of these movies, and this is a good example of someone putting in a ton of work to pull off what seems like a magic trick to me.

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