50fiftillidideeBrain

Principal - Noun. Chief of import; important; chosen or assumed among a branch of possible values. Primary; first level. The primary participant.

PP is a 2017 release, rated 7.69 on MAL, that is 1 season consisting of 12 25-minute English dubbed episodes without CC available. In lieu of a S2 there are a series of "Crown Handler" films. It takes place in a future past - Edwardian London is divided by civil war, and it's chock full of cool contraptions. These girls will need all of those gadgets because they go from one dangerous mission to another. They are girls. They're in High School. And they're spies.

This is a snappy, witty, efficient spy-thriller. It's jam-packed with action, intrigue and plenty of fun, in between tea times. Each episode is a tasty little snack like an after dinner chocolate. For me, 1-per-night was perfect in order to savor it. Let's meet our girl spy band: le Carré Ange - an alien from the black lizard planet, so she claims. She will quickly follow up with the fact that she "always lies." Then there's Dorothy - a femme fatale spy who is somehow passing for a HS student. Toudou Chise is the Japanese spy. Beatrice - her voice is heard, and she's a woman of countless voices. Let's not forget Charlotte the Princess. Though she can't make it "official" she is also working besides these girls. The viewer has no doubt what the Princess's principals are.

They took pains of love with the art of the series. The opening song is solid while the closing credit music is even better. There's plenty of jazzy saxophone to complement the downright slinkiness of our leads. The voice acting is lovely (and bang-on proper Mayfair). The art is fresh and beautiful with a watercolor style in some places and gorgeous steampunk⚙glam in others - there's even gears on the Christmas tree. The girls are bright, but the air is dark. All the chimneys are swept so this world is coal-dusted-dingy. The reality scale is more focused on hyper-fantasy Go BIG: big buxom figures in buxom dresses, big hats and jewelry, big hairdos, big eyes, big round faces. The backgrounds are minimized stylized realism. Every frame is art.

It starts as a bit of lite fun. Here's a fun episode, and there's one, too. They pile up separately, but as the 2nd half of the show unfolds, the plot takes some surprising turns as it ratchets up and solidifies. The writing is tres bien, l'extraordinaire câpre. (If I break into French, it means I really REALLY liked it😘).

The dialogue and characters are a constant source of amusement, though the laugh lines are few and it's no comedy. Doing what's good, right, and best isn't so difficult in the beginning of the show, but it gets progressively harder, more dangerous, more problematic, and dang near impossible until: The only way to do what's right is to become a traitor. Sadly, this is a common human generational cycle and we seem to be fast approaching such conundrums IRL. These girls stare down all sorts of peril but they never lose their cool. They are the kind of women that all women should want to emulate.

QUOTE📢

Who says I'm joking; I just like to lie.

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬83 📝84 🎭83 🌞58 🎨91 ⚡87 🎵/🔊79 😅30 😭41 😱57 😯54 😖38 🤔50 💤0 🔚?

Final content follows the first round of final credits at the c,one of episode 12.

Offshoot productions: Princess Principal Picture Drama 6 3-min episodes Princess Principal: Ange Report; 1 24-minute episode.

Crown Handler films: Princess Principal: Crown Handler - Chapter 1: February 11, 2021 Princess Principal: Crown Handler - Chapter 2: September 23, 2021 Princess Principal: Crown Handler - Chapter 3: April 7, 2023 Princess Principal: Crown Handler - Chapter 4: May 23, 2025

My Age 14+ Violence 65/100 + The occasional lewd talker. Rated TV-MA: Mature Audience Only.

Re-📺? Without a doubt

From lite&trite to heavy&serious, here's some recs ~

~⚡Chkick@$$~ Akiba Maid War-7.5, The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies-8.2, Girls und Panzer-8, The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor-7.7, Arcane, Howl's Moving Castle, Chaika The Coffin Princess 8.4, BELLE-8.5, Here Comes Miss Modern-8, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End-8.8, Neon Genesis Evangelion,Girls' Last Tour-8.5.

Moribito Guardian of the Spirit-8.6, Land Of The Lustrous-8.1, Blade Runner: Black Lotus-8.6, Akame ga Kill! 8.6, Violet Evergarden-9.5

💘 Ouran High School Host Club-8,, Ao-chan Can't Study-7.8, Special A Class 💓8.2, Maid Sama-10, Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion-8.6, Mischievous Kiss, The Too-Perfect Saint-7.9, True Beauty-7.5, Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun-7.7, Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady With the Lamp-6.5 (tweens), Colourcloud Palace-7.5, Hakkenden, 7th Time Loop-7.9, Honey & Clover, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale-7.5 Real Girl-7.5, Emma-7.8, Toradora-8.5, My Happy Marriage-8.3, Nina the Starry Bride-8.4, Your Lie In April-9, Violet Evergarden-9.5.

"Did I ever tell you about the car and the maple syrup? The car backed into the tree, the syrup poured out and got all over it, which attracted the flies. Then the flies flew off with the car!"

William Bloom (Will) is so sick of his pathetic father's nonsensical tall tales. He thinks that dad is just a chronic liar. He's been swimming up-current against his father's nonsense most of his life. He thinks he needs his father like a fish needs a bicycle. Will is all alone in his consternation, however. Everybody else just loves his father. Edward Bloom is a social person, and people everywhere take a liking to him.

Some people are born with half a brain in reality and half of it in a fantasy world. Edward Bloom is such. He's never caught a small fish. His fish stories are legendary. "By the time I was young, The Beast was already a legend." Ed tried to catch that monster of a fish most of his life. He finally caught it on the day his son, William, was born. So he claims. Will, however, is so tired of that story. So DANG tired. Neither father nor son sees anything familiar in the other. They are like strangers.

Does the plot even matter? Nope. We meet Edward in the present day at the end of his life as the father of a grown up man. The movie mostly follows Ed's past with occasional stops in the current day. Dad falls sick and Will must come home. He brings his pregnant wife, who doesn't know his parents at all. Will hasn't talked about his father much, because Will can't even separate fact from fiction when telling his dad's story. (Like /that/ matters! One can feel dad rolling his eyes!) Per dad, Will can't tell a story properly, anyway. Will just recites "All of the facts, and none of the flavor."

Will's wife Josephine (played by the exceptionally lovely Marion Cotillard from Inception & The Dark Knight Rises) has never heard any of Ed's stories. He's in HEAVEN. He first tells her about how he came to leave his small town and venture out into the world. You see, the town was being terrorized by a giant. Ed offered himself to save the town from the monster. He approached the Goliath and suggested that the giant eat him on the condition that he forever leave the town alone. But Mr. Giant didn't want to eat Edward. When Ed found out that the giant didn't want to eat /anyone/ (it's just that he's always so hungry), he talks him into a trip to the city. The BIG city. A small town is just too small for either one of them, so they'll go together.

One of their first stops is the circus. They both end up hired, as Ed's giant puts the circus giant to shame. Ed fell in love with a girl in the crowd, but she ends up being the one that got away. (Not for long, Ed determines!). The ringmaster (Devito) tricks Ed into working for information on "The one that got away". It takes 3 years, but he finally meets her.

Dad described buying his wife a proper house with a pickett fence. "It was all the riches a man could want." Amen to that! Before they can really get their life going together, he's shipped off to war! He only takes dangerous assignments hoping they'll lead to an early discharge. We'll get a tantalizing look at his skills in munitions and demolition as well as his flourish when it comes to international relations.

Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge, Star Wars) is the more fancy-than-fact, young Ed Bloom.

Helena Bonham Carter (A Room with a View, Fight Club-10, The King's Speech, Harry Potter films) portrays Jenny / "The Witch". Albert Finney (Annie, The Bourne films) plays old Ed, sick in bed. He's cheerful even when he's ill. Jessica Lange (Tootsie, Titus-10, Frances) portrays Will's mom and Ed's adoring wife, Sandy. The full-faced Alison Lohman (Beowulf, White Oleander) is young Sandy whom Ed saw at the circus and ended up smitten for life. Robert Guillaume (Benson, Lean on Me) plays Dr. Bennett ('between the actual story of your birth and how your dad tells it, I prefer your dad's version'). Steve Buscemi (Slaves of New York, The Big Lebowski, Fargo-9) is Norther Winslow. Buscemi's always delightful and Norther doesn't forget what Ed's done for him. Danny DeVito (Death to Smoochy-8.8, Ruthless People, Romancing the Stone, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) portrays ringmaster Amos Calloway. He looks right at home. Billy Crudup (Almost Famous, Alien: Covenant-5.9) is William Bloom, all grown-up with none of his father's cheer. Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands-9.5, Big Eyes-7.8, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice) is the Director, and John August of Aladdin & Titan A. E. is the Screenwriter. The movie is based on the novel "Big Fish, A Story of Mythic Proportions," by Daniel Wallace.

One of the themes is the personality clash between literal and imaginative thinkers. Tim Burton would feel that gap acutely. We need both types in our culture. Practical minds get the practical and everyday needed things done, but society would never move forward without dreamers. Will is angry because he believed all his dad's Big Fish Tales, and when he finally realized his father's penchant for exaggeration, he felt betrayed. Mocked. Stuupid? Dad wasn't going to get the best of him ever again! Dad, a traveling salesman, was never home. Will resented that, too. Will was angry at his dad for his own mistakes and his own naivety. Will is taking himself too seriously.

This movie is pure delight from start to finish. We'll see that mermaids are big fish. Tales can be big fish. Even cars can be big fish. So many kitties! We'll see it all. Ed might have his head in the clouds, but he had his feet on the ground and his hands working to touch the lives of many people. That turned out to be a TRUTH Will couldn't deny. WIll gets to meet several people whose lives were changed by his father and he hears about even more. Dad was a big fish in a little pond. That's the way he lived his life. He is an inspiration for us all.

IMHO〰🖍

📣8.8 📝8 🎭8.5 💓7 🦋4 🎨8 🎵/🔊7 🔚10 🤗8 ▪ 🌞8⚡5 😅4.5 😭2.5 😱3.5 😯2 🤢3 🤔6.5 💤0

Age 11+ for language and some scary elements. Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned

Re-📺? I need to watch it more often

BF is a 2003 123-minute release that is rated 76/89 on RT & 8 on IMDB.

(To the Brady Bunch theme music)

🎶Here's the story ⛴ of a lovely lady ⛴ who is tirelessly working at her job ⛴ At the office they don't bother much with Thank-yous ⛴ they only holler more ⛴ Until one day the bespectacled young lady ⛴ She decided to sail out on her first cruise ⛴ So did our young handsome bossman Mr. Wang.

But out at sea, they both lost their only la-oves ⛴ (and in misery they partied and married)

Twas a mistake. (Just look at those awful specs!) ⛴ Twas a mistake (Divorce will set this straight!) ⛴ O, the big mistake is sudden pregnancy. ⛴

And that's the way they became the Wa-ang Bunch!🎶

Xin is a plain, subservient girl in big ugly round glasses that she's always pushing up when she's not putting a sticky note on something. Her employer is a high level law firm with high level corporate clients. She's given the run-around at work and constantly barked at, yelled at, and abused when she makes a mistake. She's never thanked when she does things right - which is most of the time. She's thoroughly and completely unappreciated. YAMD is the story of how she earns the appreciation and respect of her boss. She earns his love, too. Despite the ugly work situation, Xin works hard and never complains. She also says "sorry" way too often and never stands up for herself.

Xin doesn't know that destiny is marching towards her... eh, 🚢 sailing for her, that is.

Those who don't consider themselves at least 7/10 on the romance scale, shouldn't expect to like this. Don't expect to even finish it. YAMD is a sweet, but melodramatic romance in 36 eps of 45 minutes each. (It's more like one long movie with the episodes drifting away, sometimes in the middle of a scene, and then the next one drifts back into the frame at the same point. It's typical of Cdramas. Just coast with it.) They manage to float as many good elements as poor ones, so in that way, YAMD manages to be good. Maybe it's on the "good" list by way of a sticky note, but it made it.

There's lots of bad elements to dissect, but first the better half. As a romance, YAMD has plenty of positives. Xin treats herself to a cruise. Yi is planning on becoming engaged to Anna on that same cruise. Skipping from A to D, a mix of misunderstandings and alcohol leads to a one night stand, pregnancy, and the family forcing these 2 into marriage. They, the family, all fall in love with Xin, she's so darling. It takes Yi more time and a trip across the globe, but he'll come around too. They both actually have lots of growing up to do. All Xin's subservience, apologies, and sacrifice were a misguided attempt to use weakness to get people to like her. {Forget that! It doesn't work. Apologizing for everything, particularly things one didn't have a hand in or situations one isn't responsible for, is a weird backdoor way of arrogantly injecting ourselves into situations. It's self absorption. The worst thing about it is that it doesn't work. It never brings a person respect, dignity, or true friends.} Yi will eventually see that he didn't have real love with Anna. He was there to fill the gaps for her, but they were never going to be a team. She was just a pretty possession that he would never truly possess. Yi realized he needed true warmth and an equal teammate.

Xing Zhao Lin (The Eternal Love series, Lucky's First Love) portrays Wang Xi "Yi", the rich kid who's working hard and doesn't have a head for nonsense. Liang Jie (The Day of Becoming You, and also The Eternal Love series) is Chen Jia *Xin". She's authoritative, pre-possed, and coy in Handsome Siblings-8.7. Here she's sweet, shy, awkward and endearing. This gurl has range. Jinna Fu (Shining for One Thing) is Yi's ex, Shi Anna. {She's the beautiful bad girl in Dance of the Phoenix, a show that I watched a while back and rated a 6.3. About Dance of the Phoenix: I got behind on reviews and pulled up my notes to complete writing about it and got sucked back into watching it again. I think I may have underrated it. It's one of those shows where the beginning is great and then it loses its way. Now, I'm trying to pin down when it loses its way. I'm currently on episode 27 out of 40 and it's still really good.} Li Jiu Lin (Decreed by Fate) rounds out the leads as Dylan / Di Lun. Director Ding Ying Zhou also brought us The Autumn Ballad & The Love You Give Me.

YAMD mostly takes place in gorgeous Shanghai, and is Chinese in origin. 🇨🇳 produces elevated and stunning programming, and also kicks out shows that are less polished, a little klunky, and of lower budgets. This was particularly true of their modern-day romances produced prior to 2018, though YAMDis a 2020 production. They've come a long way since then. Even some of these weaker shows are worth the effort, as they are relaxing and have a prozac effect. This keeps fans watching despite shortcomings that appear to arise from, at times, near elementary school level filmmaking, or a lack of authenticity regarding what is being portrayed. The hospital scene would be a good example: Medical emergency! A protag gets hit by a car and sustains widespread internal bleeding! They must rush to save her life! We cut to the hospital - the patient is lying on a stretcher with no IVs or telemetry; nobody's in a rush, nobody's working on her, the doc is calm, the surroundings are everyday business as usual... It's hopelessly bizarre. Yet one actor did a great job sobbing while crying for help, like a jewel in a mud puddle.

As cute as the story is at times, one can't help but notice that many scenes aren't fluid. The actors may seem a little stiff or detached, as if they didn't practice the scene enough. Perhaps it's the director's failure to draw human feeling out of the actors, as at other times, they do a great job. So, it's off and on again. Many 🇨🇳 sets are sterile, though in YAMD they did a much better job with contemporary sets. The backgrounds and settings in YAMD are quite pleasant. Much of the filming is pretty. Most of the interiors are also attractive, though some have that model-home feel. The editing is dull; the furthest thing from crisp. It creates a choppy feel at times, like a tiny electric jolt that interrupts the flow. Modern day 🇨🇳 features that take place in the city feel slightly off due to over-staging: There's hardly a speck of dust anywhere, and while Shanghai's cityscape is stunning, there's hardly any traffic - human or automotive - going on. They go to an amusement park. Everything is pretty quiet: Nobody's there! We get no explanation.

YAMD is overly sentimental. That's also common for 🇨🇳modern-day offerings, but the trade off is nuggets of elevated dialogue and words of wisdom that, if heeded, we Westerners would find beneficial. The biggest drag on YAMD is the last 10 or so episodes that aimlessly drift with no purpose, containing too much back-&-forth along with wearisome melodrama. If they didn't have enough content, they should have made the show 10 episodes shorter. YAMD is sloppy. Logic took some long coffee breaks in the show's run. There's some real head scratches. There's scads of missed opportunities. Some scenes were set up to be brilliant, but they never crossed the finish line, letting things fade away instead of delivering a KO punch. Finally, Anna gets pretty annoying.

The makeover? We will get it. When Xin finally ditches the specs, she's amazing. In all, YAMD will pass the time warmly for romance junkies who aren't in the mood to overthink anything. There are better romances out there if your time is limited and, Xin, you don't get out for many breaks or vacations.

QUOTE🗣

There is no "if" in this world.

Age 13+ (unintended 1 night stand that leads to pregnancy. )

👁📺again? Not likely.