The Morning Watch: Reviewing More Movie Explosions, The Manic Pixie Dream Girl & More
The Morning Watchis a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.
In this edition, an explosives engineer and special effects supervisor fact-check movie explosions fromMission: Impossible, The Hurt Locker, and more. Plus, if you’ve heard of the “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” trope in movies, but you don’t quite understand it, a video essay explains it thoroughly. And finally, watch aSaturday Night Live At Homesketch that didn’t make the show last weekend.
First up, Vanity Fair had explosives engineer/professor Paul Worsey and special effects supervisor Tassilo Baur fact check explosions in the originalMission Impossible,Drive Angrywith Nicolas Cage,The Hurt Locker, andNo Country for Old Men. Listen as they analyze each film from both an engineering and a filmmaking perspective, discussing how realistic the explosion is and how it’s achieved on camera safely.
Next up,The Takeexamines the trope of the “Manic Pixie Dream Girl,” that quirky, special woman who helps men come out of their shell by living life to the fullest, being a little weird, and extremely desirable. You can see evidence of this character trope in the likes ofGarden State, Elizabethtown, and many more, but are there instances where the trope doesn’t entirely hold true? Find out by watching the video above.
Finally, Beck Bennett gives a tour of his home forArchitectural Digestin a sketch that was made for last weekend’sSaturday Night Live At Home, but didn’t end up airing during the show. See the glamorous home full of dirty clothes, exposed charging cables, piles of papers, and much more.
