#ALSO IS THAT VIOLA DAVIS?

[vlindervin7]

young snow is NOT hot enough for people to be doing all that over a blood-coughing murderer

#that’s what i took away from that movie #also that i would do anything for lucy grey and tigris #and also that that last scene with the mockingjays in the first was cool as hell #also that viola davis is a superstar #and that olivia rodrigo went OFF with that song #jasmine has thoughts #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games

[felixravinstills]

Actors Being Interviewed (1/4)

—Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes 8-Part Documentary

#they're all gushing about viola davis (honestly same) also yeah i started with them not the leads or anything sfdh #me wondering what demon explains the shadow by the pillar behind ashley moving only to realize its prob a banner #fun fact: Zoe/Lyssie's shirt always came out as blue so i had to manually make it grey like everyone else's #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #abyssal stuff #abyssal gifs #gifset #clemensia dovecote #festus creed #lysistrata vickers #arachne crane #tbosasedit #hgedit #ashley liao #max raphael #zoe renee #lilly cooper #tbosas #thg #the hunger games #hunger games #ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosbas #actors being interviewed

[hyacinth-sims]

random assorted screenshots from my personal game while i set up my simblr game :D

#also that boy w the curly brown hair is benvolio! #i love him hes my baby he's just a fun lil guy #ts2 #the sims 2 #ts2 premades #veronaville #tybalt capp #mercutio monty #sims 2 #strangetown #aldric davis #stella terrano #almeric davis #tank grunt #isabella monty #viola monty

[morgan-the-lonely-brick]

Me, cluless about the cruelty of this world: *googles "men with wrinkles", giggling, kicking my feet, thinking about beautiful old men*

"make your face baby smooth. buy product"

Me: no wait what are you doing

"top 5 most ugly types of wrinkles and why they are disgusting"

Me: what do you mean, what-

"how to get rid of wrinkles forever and ever"

Me: what is wrong with you

"if you have a single wrinkle you're fucking ugly you old piece of shit you fucking abomination you horrible creature"

Me: WHY

anyway, if you have wrinkles hiiii i love you, you are so beautiful <3333 im so sorry this world is so cruel, you don't deserve that

#wrinkles are fucking beautiful okay? #con o'neill #tobias menzies #hugh laurie #tobin bell #mads mikkelsen #sean bean #BEAUTIFUL!! #oke? #but also women!!! #judi dench #maggie smith #viola davis #jennifer aniston #catherine tate #!!! #i could go on #beauty all around

[crashdown]

concerning the muderbot tv adaptation:

i’m glad that martha’s going to be consulting, however i’m a little skeptical at murderbot’s casting. i’d personally rather it be played by someone genderqueer and/or autistic but im willing to have my mind changed. i’d also rather it be played by a poc but that’s just my hc i guess. i’m ready to be proven wrong though. i think that if it’s handled correctly it could work out and i’m willing to accept this casting if he really puts in the work to be authentic to the character

for the time being, if (when) i draw mb, it will be in the style i usually draw it in. because that’s my muderbot

(also unrelated to the casting, if they cut even a bit of polyamory or queerness i don’t even care, i’ll stop watching the show. they’d better not dare. martha won’t let them)

#also if they can cast viola davis as mensah i will cry tears of joy #tbh i’m excited for the fandom to grow however if they do it wrong and ppl only watch the show. bad news #i am going in with skeptical optimism #murderbot #the murderbot diaries #tmd #the murderbot diaries tv show

[zacksnydered]

Air (2023) Dir. Ben Affleck 

#air #airfilm #airfilmedit #filmedit #filmsource #cinemapix #cinemasource #filmtvedit #jason bateman #matt damon #viola davis #mattdamonedit #violadavisedit #jasonbatemandedit #mine. #edit: gifs. #film: air. #insane how this line is really amazing actually #but also truly enjoyed this movie

[madlilsongbird]

It was fine, the pacing felt a little weird.

The cut characters weren’t a huge deal cos they weren’t super central to the plot (I do wish we got pluribus though) but some of the cut moments were a bit odd like I feel like there wasn’t enough moments between Lucy Gray and Snow. One minute they were meeting at the train then the next they were almost kissing through the bars at the zoo. Without at least a little of the build up from the book it kinda comes out of nowhere.

Same with Sejanus there were some throwaway comments from the classmates about how he hates the games then the chair scene happened. It just felt very rushed, I understand not every little thing can make it into the film…but can some of them??

I also don’t love some of the line switches like Snow got a lot of lines that weren’t initially his, they were Lucy Grays and they were lines that showed her charm and that she could stand on her own. Giving them to him made her seem like a damsel in distress.

I wish we got a little more of the covey.

I wish the water scene with Lis and jessop was as impactful in the film as it is in the book but again it was probably a time thing.

Clemmie.

Now for what I DID like:

I think the Reaper scene was really beautiful.

I like that we had cameras in the tunnels so that they weren’t just blank spots.

I do like the moment Lucy Gray catches Snow out in the lie my only wish is that she’d been a little more casual/subtle about confronting him like she was in the book…her aggression made me nervous for her.

I like that the film bridged the gap the books made when it came to Tigris. At the end of Songbirds and Snakes my impression was that Snow and Tigris were still on good terms (but I guess that does make sense since it’s his pov) but then of course when we see her again in the main trilogy (really just mockingjay) she’s ready and willing to help katniss. Whereas in the film you can see the moment she realises who he is and her feelings toward him change.

Viola Davis.

Theories I agree with:

Lucy Gray lived, I don’t know if she’d still be alive in Katniss’ time but she did not die in those woods.

I like the snake bite made him hallucinate theory but the book made a point of letting us know the snake wasn’t venomous so…I don’t know.

Definitely think Katniss is connected to the covey somehow. I don’t think she’s a descendant of Lucy Gray but I don’t know if I believe she’s descended from Maude Ivory either. Edit: wait I was only thinking about Swamp Potato and not the fact Prim is basically Maude Ivory in a less musical font…I’m officially at a maybe on this one.

Not a theory but I have seen discourse over whether or not snow and sejanus were friends, I think they were. I think whether Snow liked it or not Sejanus grew on him and they became true genuine friends.

That’s all I got for now, got the book for Christmas and finished it this morning (3rd January) and finished the film about a half hour ago.

#the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #spoilers #tbosas #tbosas spoilers #lucy gray baird #coriolanus snow #sejanus plinth #tigris snow #viola davis #reapers scene was beautiful but also deeply sad

[nocomforthere]

It might have been the hair (which isn’t really all that similar, but I JUST rewatched mphfpc a few days ago) or the fact that one of her eyes was a really bright color, but when I saw The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes today and saw Volumnia I immediately thought of Mr. Barron from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

#also her actor ATE #AND LUCKY FLICKERMAN??? #MFGGGG BRO #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #volumnia gaul #viola davis #miss peregrines home for peculiar children #mphfpc #mr barron #samuel l jackson

[tonymarias]

The cast of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes" and Olivia Rodrigo at the Los Angeles Premiere

#Rachel is so me for this #also Peter and Viola 🩷 #olivia rodrigo #jason schwartzman #rachel zegler #hunter schafer #mine #tom blyth #peter dinklage #viola davis #josh andres rivera #the hunger games the ballad of songbirds & snakes #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #actorsdaily #actressdaily #celebdaily

[ladysophiebeckett]

the joke regarding amy adams is 'ugh amy fire ur agent' and not acknowledging that she's 49 and not being offered good parts bc of that. it's not a 'flop era' bc she's picking incorrectly. it's just bad for women when they get past 40. that's why bridgerton s1 female lead saying that thing about more better parts for older women is such a joke. that's not true. especially not when dunst recently said that she was only being offered mom roles as a result of 'power of the dog'. and these are just the white women. im not even getting into how much harder it is for black women.

#viola davis should consistently have the meryl streep type parts #and also not every white woman can be meryl streep #like why do u think platrow moved on to goop? or made marvel movies? the money was good. and no way she could sustain herself as an actress #forever--not when you have your anya taylor-joys #the other day someone said hathaway was in her flop era--she's 41. #you only have so many ingenue years (hence lawrence and stone early oscars)

[dykeseinfeld]

*wakes up in a cold sweat* the tbosas movie is going to completely butcher the obvious symbolism of the book by making the hunger games seem flashy and entertaining and laden with personal intrigue instead of cold and boring and brutal

#also. i'm not really one to speak on these issues and ik casting issues are also so much more complicated #i know viola davis is going to kill it bc she is her #but. casting a woc as the eugenicist and brutal hobbesian dr gaul is a choice #and casting hunter schafer as tigris is another. #like casting a trans woman as a character tht later becomes the symbol of insane disgusting body modification #is a decision idk

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

My Thoughts: Wakanda Forever and The Woman King

I finished Wakanda Forever last night and watched the Woman King this morning, and while it certainly is not a competition between the two, I have to say I love The Woman King more. It was heavier in terms of content, yes, but ultimately was a more fulfilling story.

Before I continue, I want to preface that I am a white woman, and will be examining both movies through the lens of such and as a storyteller, focusing on content and style. I cannot speak for black or indigenous viewers, and do not intend to. These are simply my observations through my own eyes.

For me, Wakanda Forever suffered because of how good its predecessor was. The care that was taken to portray African culture and address the trauma of the forced diaspora and give identity and ethos to the people of Wakanda and African people as a whole was palpable throughout Black Panther. You could see it in the costumes, the language, the fight and dance choreography. It was a love story to the culture of Africa.

In Wakanda Forever, all of that felt flattened. I could tell that they were trying to focus on the relationships between Shuri and the people around her, but with so much attention focused on the loss of T'Challa, even she got overwhelmed by his shadow, and everything else seemed to fall by the wayside. As a result, the whole movie feels more like just another Marvel installment, whereas Black Panther stood on its own.

Not only that, but where Black Panther was able to truly showcase the bright majesty of African culture, Wakanda Forever failed to do the same for Talokan. The meso-american people who became Talokan seemed to get lost behind the blue paint and the shadows of their underwater city. Literally, in the case of the latter-- I could hardly see a thing in the underwater scenes.

While the creative team does get kudos for including such an overlooked population and trying to give them their own identity within the scope of the film, I personally think they made the wrong decision to cast Talokan and Namor as the antagonistic force of the story. As Shuri eventually realizes, the parallels between them make them much better allies than foes.

Meanwhile in The Woman King, we get the same vibe from the creative team that we got in Black Panther-- a desire to represent and do justice to the culture and identity of an African nation. In this, The Woman King succeeded better than Wakanda forever.

Furthermore, the story was tighter and the characters more full-bodied. They each had rich stories, motivations and personalities, and were given the room to showcase them. I also appreciated that The Woman King didn't shy away from the white characters all being monsters (the business with Agent Ross in Wakanda Forever felt suspiciously like a 'not all white people'). The one good character associated with the colonizers/slavers is in fact half-Dahomey, which also enriched his backstory while also making him sympathetic without teetering into the trap of, again, not all white people.

That said, one thing I appreciated about both is that there was no romance in either. The Woman King had a somewhat romantic connection between the protag and the half-Dahomey gentleman, but it was never acted upon and ultimately resolved into an alliance. That in itself seems rare in this day and age of Hollywood.

Ultimately, regardless of my disappointment with Wakanda Forever, I look forward to continuing to watch and hear stories from black/brown/nonwhite creators. They are still vastly outnumbered, and any contribution that makes it to the big screen only enriches us for the better. I hope Ryan Coogler, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and others like them continue to tell stories and produce projects, so that more people than just white folks can see themselves and their stories be represented onscreen.

#my thoughts #film review #the woman king #wakanda forever #also viola davis has my vote any day

[ayoedebiris]

am i finally gonna get a new jenna and z interacyion

#cryinf at the thought 🥹 #also ANGEILA BASSEETT DID THE THING VIOLA DAVIS MY WOMAN KING!

[hobbitunderthemountain]

i did darts at a bar for the first time ever last night and actually won a few rounds !!!!

#got to catch up w some friends and they told me some insane shit #thats prob under nda's bc they both work in LA/film industry #tho fave was when one of them was telling us abt how she'd been to the emmys or w/e one time #and got an invite to a party #and she was one of the only people eating and felt awkward abt it #until she saw viola davis sitting in her corner chowin down #and the entire cast of schitts creek walked by and said hi to her #so so sweet #but one of the things she told me i was like 'hold up. you're literally pulling my leg.' #but also this friend does not know me well enough yet to know specifically what to say to get me excited xDD #the other friend was the one who told her to tell me bc it was very real and she was like 'i want to see kat's reaction' jfeoiajfoeijf #real life adventures

[kohinoor4u]

Rec: The Woman King (2022)

If you love movies like Braveheart, The Gladiator, The 13th Warrior, Troy etc, you will LOVE The Woman King.  It’s got all that feel-good badassery you like from those movies:

Great swelling soundtrack/music designed to inspire and uplift

Historical fiction.  Is it accurate?  WHO CARES?! It’s EPIC AS HELL, JUST ENJOY THE DARN FILM and then you can internet history later

A lovable ensemble cast of characters you want to cheer for!  The cool happy drunk, the cool mystic, the cool young upstart, the cool imperious King, you got it all here dude

Can’t forget the stoic, broken leader character bound by duty and honour that’ll make you puff out your chest and tear up (but don’t actually cry) and be like ‘YES I want to be her when I grow up’

Montage and/or training scenes where the protag Learns Stuff™

Surprise twist, almost Dickensian so you know it’s joy when it happens

Mythological callbacks to legends and myths about gods, it’s really cool and makes it feel larger than life

Comedy bits, awww omg lol they have fun sometimes amidst the battles! That’s cute.

Fortune-telling.  It’s necessary and real in history ok.

BATTLES!! DID I MENTION BATTLES??  AMAZING BATTLES that leave you satisfied and cheering on the underdogs in the end

(no spoilers but) tragic, brave, strong conflict for a beloved character that makes you like nO? NO! NOOOO MY FEELINGS

The enemy is very evident, so there’s a lot of that yummy good vs bad schadenfreude that historical fiction movies require

White men die.  Literally all these movies I’ve listed, white men die ok, so that’s not political it’s just a fact :)

Gorgeous vistas and loving details of complex and sophisticated cultural stuff that makes you feel really cool and majestic watching it. like oh hell yes, I’m immersed af and this is REAL and I want to be there

But wait, there’s more!  

Maybe you’re like “but Gigi, I’ve seen enuf historical fiction movies about ‘exciting’ battles and ‘lovable’ underdogs, I want something new and different.  Maybe something that subverts that trope without compromising the cool-factor of kickassery.  Something to recapture my nostalgia for pseudo-historical cinematic sagas without pandering to me like I’m a basic child’.

Have I got news for you!  Here’s the kicker, the bonus, the cherry on top.   The main cast:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And in case you’re worried, this movie is as thematically violent as Braveheart or Gladiator, treated with that lens of heroic strength, rather than graphic victimhood.   The tragedies in the plotline spur the story forward rather than mire you in titillating abject, disturbed despair. If you’ve watched enough shows/films about black/African history, you’ll know what I mean. It all comes down to the perspective the story is told from and this story is about being REALLY COOL AND AWESOME EVEN IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY.

So if you’re into this genre but tired of the same-old, same-old ( if you know what I mean, then you know what I mean) this movie will breathe fresh, clean air into the genre!

I want more historical fiction movies like this! Bring back this era but make it better and updated and 2020s cool!

#the woman king #viola davis #john boyega #lashana lynch #thuso mbedu #sheila atim #jayne lawson #I love this genre and it's been a long time #closest I've felt this was for #Zatoichi The Blind Swordsman (2003) #so geez it's really been a while #ALSO I'm in love with Amenza there I said it

[allpromarlo]

viola davis is physically unable to not slay. she just does it whenever the camera is on her

#hi i watched a movie can you tell #what can i say? it was biblical #acting 10/10 story 10/10 casting 10/10 costume design 10/10 music 10/10 setting 10/10. movie 10/10 #there's colonizers and they all get killed at the end? TEN OUTTA MOTHAFUCKIN TEN #no like maximum satisfaction when that enslaver was drowned #had me in the theater PRAYING for his death #again. viola davis just does not know how to NOT serve. #she chowed DOWN i fear #movies #the woman king #also...malik (or whatever his name was)? i'm free on a satu— *GUNSHOTS*