Jennifer Lawrence Unleashed: Embracing the Raunchy Side of Comedy
The trailer for No Hard Feelings reminded me of comedies from the early 2000s. The ones were nothing was held back and laughs were plentiful.
While the trailer may set it up to be a movie of this nature, No Hard Feelings has way more heart at the center of the story than I was expecting. That is thanks in large part to the movie, not just continuously trying to go bigger with the comedy but actually using the comedy for character development.
Jennifer Lawrence leads the way here, and in my opinion, this is a better showcase of her talents than any movie she has done previously. That is not to say her prior work as an actress is bad, just that this movie really allowed her to shine. She was genuinely funny alongside Andrew Barth Feldman, and we also got to see her dramatic chops shine as well. She was both believable as the pretty girl responding to the silly advertisement and talented enough to bring Maddie's insecurities to life as well. That is why this movie worked so well. At first, Maddie is presented as a one-dimensional do anything to get the car type. However throughout the movie she lets Percy in and begins to tell him secrets and it begins to be more than just the objective.
The second and third acts rely less on the debauchery and more on storytelling. While I am a fan of off the rails comedy, the older I get, the more I appreciate a film like No Hard Feelings. It is harder to do both, and from a writing perspective, it is more challenging to have both. More movies need to do what No Hard Feelings was brave enough to do. While it may not be a perfect film, it was the most genuine comedy I have seen in a long time. Solid 8.5. I had a good time with this movie.
CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON part 4 - death of a blackmailer
(part 1) (part 2) (part 3)
content warnings for: guns, blood, death. which you are *probably* expecting if you know how this story goes in canon, although this version is...not exactly how Watson told it to the Strand.
I read Fat Face by Michael Shea last month and it was. Fine? It was a Cthulhu Mythos story written in the 80s, it was very edgy and it had a lot of tropes I’m not a fan of, I don’t really recommend it, but I have to talk about one detail I have not stopped thinking about since I read it.
So. I knew Fat Face through reputation because it was the story that inspired Shoggoth Lords from the Call of Cthulhu TTRPG, shoggoths that can control their cellular makeup to look like humans. And the twist in Fat Face is that shoggoths have been hiding amongst humans in Los Angeles, and at the end of the story one of them eats the protagonist.
The tone of the story is grit. It’s grime. It’s sleaze and sexual violence and drug abuse on top of cosmic horror. It wants to be taken seriously so bad.
But here’s the thing about the shoggoths: they have a business.
They have two businesses they run out of an office building in downtown Los Angeles. A shoggoth is a primordial blob of eyes and mouths and flesh and hunger, and the idea of one of them at the LA Office of Finance registering an LLC is already. Great. Perfect. No notes.
The business is a front — and again, that’s great, a shoggoth went, “I want to do some nefarious deeds and not get caught by humans; I know, I’ll register a fake business that’ll be a front, and no human will ever suspect” — because the actual interior of this office is a room of pools of water made from black and ancient Antarctic rocks so that shoggoths can relax in their original blobby forms and eat stray animals that they’ve caught.
So it’s basically just. A place for shoggoths to unwind after a long day of pretending to be human. It’s portrayed as cosmic horror, but it’s shoggoth Cheers. Sometimes you wanna go where nobody knows your shape.
Here’s the kicker. The front of the business is a hydrotherapy clinic and stray pet rescue.
When they decided to make a front for their secret lair in an LA office building where they hang out in pools of water and eat stray animals — the front they prominently display and advertise — they decided to go with a hydrotherapy clinic and stray pet rescue.
That is Goosebumps shit. The rest of the story reads like a tone poem about the sleaze and violence of Los Angeles, and the main twist of the story reads like R.L. Stine.
But that’s not even the detail I can’t stop thinking about. Because the story reveals that this business — which again, is a front made by alien blobs to eat stray animals like an ALF-themed buffet and hang out in jacuzzi tubs of Antarctic rocks in an LA office — has a flyer.
Which means there’s a shoggoth with a passion for graphic design
Hey Tumblr, there's a new historical/period comedy series on Netflix which you will love! It's called 1670! It's about Polish nobility and their peasant-thralls. However, Netflix is not promoting it to international audiences, bc it's Polish, even though there are subtitles available in so many languages!
It has:
Great Humour
Amazing Polish Folk Music
Historical Costumes that are not Western!
CANON LESBIANS
One of the said lesbians is a repressed lesbian w religious trauma & the subplot lasts longer than one episode
Priest Jakub
A really good combination of making historical and ahistorical jokes
And much more!
Seriously, give it a watch bc I'd hate to see only my Polish mutuals watch it, it's new, it's fresh, it's witty, not another remake, and it shows another culture & history! (aren't you tired of watching yet another show on the English monarchy, then 1670 is there for ya)
Marriage. Holy, pure, life-long, consuming-- or, so people think. It sure was, that last part, when it came to you, at least. But, that for you, was six years ago.
Now, you're pushing thirties, flirty and quirky-- no, you aren't. Stuck in a monotonous job with zero entertainment, and taking care of your son has become your full-time job. Or, at least, it feels that way.
But, one fateful Tuesday night, you find a ticket to Hawaii, under your bed and things take a turn for the comedic worse. Calm down, calm down. After all, what's wrong with a little trip to the soothing beaches with your ex-partner and your son, right?
You just know his antics too well by now.
Crazy little punk.
FEATURES:
Fully customizable MC with traits and features of choice(going for extensive customization).
Uh.. exclusive personality following the Myers-Briggs? Excuse me, what more can you ask for?
Choose the genders of your ROs.
Fall in love and enjoy the sunny beaches of Hawaii, girlies, guylies, and.. uh, non-binar-ies?
I'm gonna shut up now.
ROMANTIC INTERESTS:
Ellie/Elliot Williams
Yeah, exactly who you thought it would be. Your ex-partner, your ex-lover, blah. Once upon a time, you had loved them. Dearly so. It's been six-years since your terrible, messy divorce and, arguements between you two, are almost never ending. Will their lingering feelings for you be enough to pull you back into their love on this trip, or has their boat fully sailed?
Manjari/Manoj Patel
A blast from the past. If it weren't for E, you'd have almost dated them, instead. They were your best-friend and closest confidant back in the day. Now that, the lines between love and hate have blurred, will you still be able to find a common ground to love?
Bella/Beckett James
The sexy bartender and resident charmer that has you feeling all young and wanted. If it wasn't for your trip, you probably wouldn't have even thought that someone could want you so much. Will their crush on you magnify into true love or, will it wilt with the test of time?