#animated movies also try so hard to do it with both the characters themselves or at the least the textured

[mbat]

having good graphics is literally the bare minimum btw. also the graphics look the same to me as the graphics in the polar express 2004 and i like those better than this actually

#hogwarts legacy #my post #im looking at someones gameplay on youtube cause im curious about what its like so i can shit on it more accurately #everyone keeps saying 'oh but the graphics are good!' thats LITERALLY THE BARE MINIMUM #not to mention i personally AM SO BORED OF GRAPHICS ALWAYS BEING 'REALISTIC'. GIVE ME CARTOONY GRAPHICS DAMNIT #this doesnt even just go for video games but theyre the biggest offender #animated movies also try so hard to do it with both the characters themselves or at the least the textured #textures. textures i fucking meant #but its like. oh my goshhhhh no one CARES ABOUT TINY FIBER HAIR THINGS ON A SHIRT!!!!!! #i wish i could make 3D models so i could show what i mean but i havent learned how to yet aaaaaaa #its not fucking hard to have good graphics when your game is made for one of the biggest franchises ever having a budget that costs more #costs more than my entire neighborhood makes in all our lives total

[artist-issues]

I Saw Wish

And it was the worst animated Disney movie I’ve ever seen. I have to watch it again before I can get into the nitty gritty details. But I don’t need details to sum it up, because my dad actually said it perfectly as we left the theater:

“It was like someone who didn’t really understand Disney movies tried to make a Disney movie.”

Both the form (the technical arts of filmmaking) and the content (the morals, values, and themes of the movie) were totally horrible.

I don’t know who’s fault it was. Jeremy Spears was in the storyboard room and Mark Henn and Eric Goldberg did some 2D animation. But they must have gotten outvoted, or they must not care anymore.

Because holy cow. Here’s some stuff that’s just off the top of my head.

SPOILERS. Not that it matters, because nothing interesting happens in this movie.

The writing? Terrible. Ninety percent of it feels like the characters are filling time with quirky one-liners that are trying too hard to be appealing, then failing, then taking you out of the movie. The jokes aren’t funny. The characters just respond to each other in conversation to check a one-liner box. The other twenty percent is whole conversations repeating tell-don’t-show exposition that has already been covered, usually twice, in previous scenes. Like if in Tangled, every scene had included some variation of Rapunzel saying to friends and enemies alike, “I have to see the floating lights so I’m sneaking to the castle with this thief who wants a mysterious tiara I hid from him. Don’t tell my mother, she’s a bit overprotective!” Over. And over. And over.

The character motivations are way too broad. Asha? Her dream is just “that everybody around me gets to be happy.” That’s it, in a nutshell. No deeper exploration of that. Nobody asks, “why do you care so much?” Nobody tries to convince her she should look out for herself, and then she proves she was right all along. The King? We are told (not shown) that he doesn’t want anyone else’s dreams to be “destroyed.” But he in no believable way expresses that that motivation is still what’s driving him during the movie—what’s driving him is just a plain old lust for power, no nuance.

By the way, the whole premise of the movie? Undercooked. Half-baked concepts strung together with no definitive meaning. Therefore, it’s not believable. Example: The characters act like the wishes are beautiful—well, actually, no, this movie doesn’t know how to show, so there’s not a lot of meaningful acting—the characters just tell us that wishes are “the most beautiful part of someone,” and that’s why it’s worth going through this adventure to give their wishes back to them. But there’s no proof of that in the movie. In fact, it directly kicks it’s own legs out from under that idea, because it has every character who gives up their wish forget that part of themselves. Asha’s grandfather has forgotten his wish, but that doesn’t make him any less “beautiful.” She, and everyone, still treats him like he’s this wonderful old man who deserves the world, who everyone loves…but why is he so appealing? If he “gave up the most beautiful part of him?” The only character who is changed by their lack-of-wish is the Sleepy-analogue character…who is just sleepy, which is described as “boring.” But nobody else who’s given up their wish in the whole kingdom acts like that. It’s just him. Also, the King acts like it’s so important to protect the wishes from destruction. But what does destroying a wish look like? That actually happens to Asha’s mom. Her wish-bubble is broken, literally, and she just says she feels grief. But like. Why? She never remembered it in the first place; it had been missing from her life for years. Also, what the heck is a wish?! It seems to range from broad concepts like “inspire people” to “fly.” Just “fly,” like a bird. The desire to levitate off the ground is the most important, beautiful essence of one background character. Like, what?! But no character ever has the why behind their wish to make us care.

I could go on and on about that point. Like, think about Disney movies that wrote the book on how to make movies about characters with wishes. If Ariel were in Wish, her bubble would look like “dancing and learning and exploring on the Surface with someone who understands her.” But we believe that that is her real, genuine wish, and that it matters to her, because we are shown why being understood is so important to her. Because it’s missing from her life. There’s a scene where she explores a boat alone, and even her best friend doesn’t get excited about it with her. Her dad won’t listen to her point of view. Her siblings don’t ask her about her life even when they think she’s in love. She wants what she wants because of pieces of her life that we are shown.

We are never shown why Asha’s grandfather is obsessed with inspiring people, so we have no reason to believe it, or care whether he gets it or not. We can’t feel disappointed when his wish is said to “never come true,” like we did when Quasimodo was abused by the people he wished to join. We can’t feel elated when he finally “gets” his wish, like we did when Simba smiles on Pride Rock remembering the same way he used to as a cub and claims the crown with a roar. We don’t have anything to hang on to, nothing to relate to, nothing to grasp and feel with the characters. So we don’t feel, because they didn’t put the work in to help us feel. They just say, “the mom’s feeling grief. Feel grief.” And expect us to do the work ourselves. I have to stop harping on this point and move on.

But The main point of the movie is very broad because of that lazy premise, and it’s barely reinforced by any kind of appealing storytelling. If I had to guess, the point would be “Keep wishing for more even when it’s hard.” But the story they told to communicate that meaning was so unimpactful. Asha doesn’t have a dream of her own that’s such hard work to accomplish! (Neither does her grandfather; his wish is “to inspire people.” And at the end, we’re supposed to see him strumming a guitar and believe it’s inspiring? We were never shown how he worked hard to learn how to play the instrument. Or that he carved it with his own hands, or anything like that. So there’s no meaningful demonstration of working hard for it or achieving your wish even if it’s far out of reach.) And nobody except the king is trying to take wishes away from anyone, and he just does it literally, after they voluntarily give them to him, so there’s not even any impactful demonstration of “don’t let anyone tell you your wishes are dumb or unachievable, or stop you from reaching them.” Even when he takes them away, it’s just because they…could, someday, be used to threaten his kingdom in a vague, really unlikely way. There are so many things you could do with “keep wishing for more even when it’s hard.” For instance; you could say the main character has always been afraid to dream (wish for more), because maybe when she was a kid something wonderful almost happened but ended in tragedy, so she keeps her head down and doesn’t want much because if you don’t dream you’ll never be disappointed. She takes no risks, and has to learn that sometimes trying and failing is worth more than slogging through life all self-protective. I mean, the pieces were right there. She has this line about her dad, and how she wished he would get better but then he died. She has lines about how nobody should have to live with grief?? Then that’s never addressed again! It’s just a throwaway emotion-moment with no buildup or follow-through to tie it to and support that main theme.

The compositions of too many shots were so terrible. Characters got cut off in weird places. One shot has Asha dead center, with her grandfather on the left side of the table and her mother on the right, having a family dinner with a super exposition-heavy conversation that is meant to be emotionally charged. But despite everything else being perfectly centered, half of her mother’s body is chopped off. The movie’s shot like someone’s mom who doesn’t understand technology tried to take a video with her phone.

The charm of the art “style” wears off basically immediately. I know what they were going for. I see the sketch lines and watercolor textures. This is maybe the first time Disney ever failed to accomplish a visual “look” that turned out good. Everything looks dull. Muted. De-saturated. Slightly out of focus, but not in a cool Spider-Verse way. The sets or backgrounds are lazy; at no point does the scenery look complete; big, empty, boring spaces that do not create any kind of “stage” for impactful moments. The rendering looks unfinished. When Asha’s hair moves during her belting of the “I Make This Wish” song, it’s bad. It’s unnatural. It flops in a way that doesn’t make sense for the weight of her hair. The most impactful visual moments come from the villain, and they’re moments when he looks way too unhinged for the kind of line he’s saying.

There is no interesting character development. Asha goes from believing everyone is basically good and their wishes deserve the chance to come true , to….that, again. That would be fine, she could be a static character, if she proved contrast-characters wrong, in a believable way. But she never does. Because no other characters argue with her except the King. And it goes no deeper than “everyone’s wishes are basically good and they deserve the chance to make them true” vs. “nuh-uh, because I get to decide what makes them deserving.” The King doesn’t have any kind of interesting development, either. They don’t expand on his tragic backstory—it consists of one drawing of him near a broken boat, and a few images of the corner burned off of his family taoestry. They never say “King Magnifico wished for _____ and it was taken away!” They literally never tell you what his wish or dreams were, or what motivated him to create the whole kingdom that the movie’s premise sits on. So there’s no convincing sense of progression, how he got this way, why he’ll keep going “so far.”

The pacing is weird. It undercuts every moment that could have any kind of emotion behind it. One minute Valentino is suavely bouncing around, then he’s given a two-second beat to blubber with badly-animated tears that he’ll miss Star—then he instantly gets to have another funny one-liner so we forget he might’ve been sad a second ago. We’re clearly supposed to believe that the King and his wife are devoted to each other, and his turning evil was such a big betrayal, but there’s no time and no impactful evidence for us to believe either of those things. And even if we did, the moment he’s defeated and trapped in a mirror, and begs to be let free, the Queen kind of shrugs it off, makes a forgettable one-liner, and tells them to throw him in the dungeon. And he doesn’t look remorseful. And we don’t even get to assume he’s embarrassed or emotionally devastated that he’s come to this—because the last thing he says is “nooo, the dungeon is so smellyyy!” Like this is a half-baked LEGO short that can’t get emotionally deeper than what an actual 3 year-old’s parents might be okay with.

And that’s the worst offense: The movie is not genuine. It works hard for nothing, and it has no vulnerability. It just uses old Disney standbys to pretend to be vulnerable. Have the music swell and the characters gasp and the songs drip emotion when characters are meant to be saying or doing something emotional.

But truthfully, think of all the Disney movies you’ve ever seen with the hardest emotional moments. The sheer joy of Genie when he realizes he’s free. The anguish when Elsa thinks Anna’s been frozen forever, or when Anna thinks she’s dead. The trauma when Simba loses Mufasa. The longing and dreaming of Ariel when she reaches up out of her grotto. The sense of foreboding when Mother Gothel says “fine, now I’m the bad guy” or the heartbreak in Rapunzel’s eyes when she thinks Flynn has abandoned her, or the shame on Aladdin’s face when Jafar reveals he’s a street-rat, or the horror of cruelty when the stepsisters rip up Cinderella’s dress, or Kala’s tears when Tarzan leaves her in the treehouse, or Sarabi’s tears when Simba comes back, or Mulan’s father tossing aside the sword and token of the Emperor to embrace Mulan, or heck, even just Lilo pushing Stitch in the woods and telling him “get out of here.” This movie has no moments like that. It has moments you can tell that the filmmakers wanted to hit like that—but they don’t.

Because no work is put into building them up. You know how much Simba loves Mufasa, because you’ve been watching their chemistry more than any other character all the way up till he dies. You know how much Mulan wants to please her family because she spends all of Act I desperately attempting to do that. You know Quasimodo believes the world below is beautiful and wants them to accept him because he has interesting things like—talking to gargoyles, convincing us that he’s lonely; building a scale model of the townspeople, convincing us that he sees them in a beautiful way and wishes he were beautiful in more ways than one like them, too.

Right down to the facial expressions, none of them are as anguished, happy, sad, excited, silly, in any convincing way like all of Disney’s other movies. Asha’s “low moment” when she’s afraid her “wish” hurt everyone else (still vague on what that wish ever was) lasts two seconds, she’s not crying, she’s barely sitting with slumped shoulders, and her family barely spend two seconds comforting her. They basically just say, “aw, no, it’s not y fault, it’s the king’s.” And she’s like, “yeah okay” and that’s that. It’s like the animators we’re afraid to animate really intimate emotions on the characters’ faces. The voice actors, too.

And the whole movie is peppered with Easter eggs to past Disney movies. But all that does, if you really know Disney beyond the visuals, is make you think of how hollow this movie is in comparison. How much you wish you were watching Cinderella or The Little Mermaid or something with depth and vulnerability instead of Wish.

#I’ll talk more in an organized fashion later #wish #disney’s wish #wish Disney #wish 2023 #critique #spoilers

[pippin-katz]

Is anyone else getting slightly annoyed by the continuous questions about the sequel directed at the boys, as if they both haven't given us very clear answers multiple times already? Like geez, stop asking "is there gonna be a sequel? or "would you do a sequel?". They have already answered that a billion times! Are you not keeping up with what they've already said in the media? It's just annoying to keep asking them.

Here's some fun questions that interviewers could be asking: 1) Say you could choose one thing that happens to your character in the sequel, what would you pick? (can be small scale, like ride a horse, or big scale, like abdication from the crown) 2) What's a line from the book that didn't make it into the movie that you would love to say in the sequel? 3) If you got to style one of your costumes for your character, what would it look like? 4) Taylor suggested Bad Reputation for the opening credits, and it ended up being used! If you could pick a song for the sequel's opening credits, what would you pick? 5) If you got to be friends with your character for a day, what do you think you would do for fun? 6) Follow up, what would you do if you were friends with the others' character for a day? 7) What's one thing about your personality that you think your character has in common? 8) One of Henry and Alex's date locations is obviously Paris; if you got to pick a foreign destination for them to go to in the sequel, where would you like to see them to go? 9) If Henry and Alex did karaoke again, what's the song you would pick for them, and what song do you think they would pick for themselves? 10) Henry says In The Mood For Love is his favorite movie; what do you think their favorite animated movie would be?

Bam! There's ten fun questions that both relate to the sequel without badgering them about if they know about it, and allow them to be creative with their responses.

Also to clarify, these aren't questions you would ask on a carpet event or whatever, they would be good questions for a sit-down interview of some kind, so there is no sense of urgency to not take too long the way they might feel at an event.

But tell me you wouldn't love to hear their answers to some of these questions! I think they're fun without overcompensating for it, you know what I mean? Some of the silly questions they get asked feel like they're trying too hard. Like Nicholas getting asked "how would you seduce the king?"; not George, Nick. And then the interviewer didn't even play along with the question when he tossed it back to her.

These feel like these give them the chance to be silly with their answers as well as introspective with them. Yet, whenever I read these interviews it feels like they're asked the same damn questions every time. Wasted opportunity dude. 😒

#red white & royal blue #rwrb #rwrb movie #taylor zakhar perez #nicholas galitzine

[galaxygolfergirl]

Some of my favorite Helsa fan arts I’ve done throughout the years (dates are in the alt text).

I’ve been thinking about this ship recently, especially its place in the fandom, and I have some thoughts (read below)

Ever since I was roped into this franchise 10 years ago, I think I’ve almost always drawn Hans with a beard. Primarily, it was because I felt that if he ever did show up again in Frozen media, he would be more weathered and unpretentious about his appearance since dropping his facade in the first film. Also because I just thought he would look better with more facial hair (it’s a me thing).

As for Elsa, I’ve never been consistent in drawing her, as it was hard for me to read her animated model, what with her huge eyes and baby nose, as normal, so that’s evolved over the years to a happy medium where it still reads as Elsa, but also reads as human with normal face proportions.

As to why I’ve shipped helsa all these years? Hans and Elsa are two sides of the same coin to me, the main difference being that one of them succumbed to their worst intentions and desires, while the other freed themselves and learned to embrace love and peace in their life. Both were isolated during their childhoods, resulting in years of loneliness, misery, and bitterness; both try to appear poised and reserved, hiding their inner self-loathing; both are intelligent and cunning, both have a definite aggressive streak, and both have interesting chemistry in their very few scenes together. Hans seems to be the only one on equal footing with Elsa who can get through to her throughout the film, mainly for his own ambition, of course, but it intrigued me to see even all these years later how compelling their interactions are.

Why would he sympathetically plead, “don’t be the monster they fear you are,” and stop her from killing those two guards? If he was planning on killing her, why would he go to her and ask if she could stop the winter? Why does he look shocked, almost sad when she tells him that she can’t, like he’s regretting having to kill her? It’s moments like these that paint these characters with more nuance than meets the eye.

I’ve always thought after the first movie, there was definitely potential for a more nuanced and interesting story if Hans were to return. Not simply for revenge, but rather an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” situation, where Frohana would have to work with Hans somehow to fend off an invading force or adversary, like the Southern Isles, to stick it to his family. He and Elsa would be adversarial, for sure, but through forced cooperation, they could open up and become more vulnerable with one another. The amount of angst and turmoil over their feelings for one another would be doubly engrossing. The drama would be incredible.

Now listen: I don’t really expect any of that to happen. I got off the Helsa or die party bus years ago and I’m just mainly enjoying it as it’s own non-canon concept. Believe me, I would love it if it did happen, god willing and the creek don’t rise. But really, when you get down to it, these are movies marketed at little girls, and I don’t think it would really go that far. It’s not easy to come back from holding a sword over a girl’s head, as quoted by Santino Fontana himself.

I grew up with this fandom, I started all the way back in middle school 10 years ago, and this has been a definite learning experience for me in separating the extrapolated world of fan-fiction and the reality of a pg animated musical. I’ve grown up and my expectations are different, and now I understand that canon doesn’t mean shit. I beg, do not take any of this seriously. Just because it has the Disney trademark slapped on it does not mean it’s the end all be all of a story. Stories are fluid things that adapt and evolve in each of the hands they pass through. No one interpretation of a story or a character or a relationship has to be “the right one,” and not every character has to sit on a black and white scale of moral dichotomy, there are always shades of gray.

I’m not saying all of this to be deep about a ship between a Disney princess and a Disney villain that I got into when I was 13, believe I know it’s not that deep. I’m saying this because I’ve lived through fandom and set myself up with false expectations, only to be disappointed. Hell, I took a break from helsa for a solid 3 years because of how burnt out I was. It’s far too easy to dissociate from the text and treat fanon as canon; you’re just setting yourself up to be disappointed. Just let it be its own thing! Like I said, canon does not mean shit! Don’t take things so seriously! Feel free to tell your own stories!

Anyways, I still love this ship, or at least the version I came up with in my head, because I am a storyteller, and I saw potential in these two that could be realized through other means. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s canon or not. Just enjoy it as it is.

#helsa #disney #artists on tumblr #important #illustration #fan art #hans x elsa #queen elsa #prince hans #frozen #frozen 2 #frozen 3 #fandom #disney frozen

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale reviews: Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Alright so I FINALLY saw the movie and after an ordeal with the AMC

I can finally give my thoughts on this movie.

So in order to properly rank this. I will put the following Categories.

Animation

Plot

Characters

Music

Fanservice

Lesson

And I will give my final score at the bottom. I will try not to get too spoiler heavy but spoilers below

And for those that dont want ANY spoilers. I will say it is a great kids movie go watch it

______________________________________________________________

Animation:

This movie is Absolutely Gorgeous. Every mushroom, every brick has been lovingly crafted. I LOVE the attention to details, I love how hard each hit feels in this movie. The Choreography in this and flow is incredible. Illumination's eye for visual slapstick is still on a league of its own and it fits very well with the movie.

The character expressions all flowed great and you felt sucked in by the expression. It was like watching a Mario game. Brooklyn, The Mushroom kingdom, The Dark Lands, The Ice Kingdom, The Kong kingdom and Rainbow road ALL felt distinct and flowed. I am IN LOVE with this movies asthetic. The action was perfectly paced, I would even say it matched and surpassed the flowing animation of Puss in boots Last wish.

10/10

____________________________________________________________

Plot

So its pretty straight forward, Bowser tries to take over the kingdom, and he needs to be stopped. Mario and Luigi end up sucked into the mushroom kingdom trying to make a name for themselves as plumbers and get separated.

Mario ends up meeting Toad, Peach and Donkey Kong and the crew end up fighting Bowser and Saving Luigi. It starts as a trip to get reinforcements to fight the koopa army, turns into a race on rainbow road, then turns into a fight at a wedding and then finally a showdown in Brooklyn.

Mario and Luigi save the day and end up finding a connecting route to the the Mushroom kingdom and Brooklyn.

Now there is a LOT that happens in between these plot points and I will say it does feel a bit fast at times. But It is entertaining, Mario and Peach bond. And the scale and excitement never decreases. It is solid.

7.5/10

I wish more time could be spent in some places but thats mainly a pacing thing. and its the only real gripe I have.

___________________________________________________________

Characters

I think I will break this up into multiple sections.

Mario: I will say it, the previews took all the worst bits of Chris Pratt's VA work. Because he actually did a bang up job, I didnt hear Chris Pratt, I heard Brooklyn Mario (And the Accents are explained to be part of the commercial which has Charles cameo AMAZINGLY done)

I liked Mario's character, he was a guy that wanted to prove himself and doesnt know when to quit. Mario also doesnt like mushrooms, it was funny. He can get down on himself, but push comes to shove he is Mario and will do anything for those he loves. He has some cute bonding moments with Peach and they have a good chemistry, which I can say could be romantic or not, both are fine ways of interpretation. His goal and lengths he is willing to go to save his brother are great and I love it. Mario is great in the movie.

Peach: I will admit, I was worried on how they handled peach here. I knew they were going to make her a girl boss. And I do think that she is not as Feminine or Charming as what one would expect from Peach... BUT she has the good heart and cares for her subjects. Which Peach will be self sacrificing to help her people, but also will do what she can to mess with Bowser. As shown in her fight at the wedding. She and Mario got a good dynamic and I enjoy the roll. Though I do like that she isnt invincible, she can be outmatched and there are things even she thinks are too risky.

Luigi: I feel robbed. Not because Luigi's performance was bad, FAR FROM IT. I wanted MORE Luigi. Luigi was captured for most of the movie and had the funniest bits. He also had his big hero moment and really helped drive home one of the big lessons. I am glad that he is supportive of brother and he thinks he is the coolest guy. The characterization of Luigi was PERFECT. But as mentioned before, I wanted more of him

Toad: He was a delight. I think he has great comedic moments and I love how he just claims Mario as his BFF. He gets really funny jokes and the bits are usually out of left field. My favorite has to be how he distracted the guards, I wont dare spoil it, but it involves a Frying pan.

Donkey Kong: I thought I would hate DK. I still am not sold on the voice... THAT BEING SAID. Donkey Kong being the show off big shot that cant see past his own ego and just wants his dad to be proud of him was not what I expected but enjoyed. He also has some good moments. One moment you think he is gonna bond with Mario over Dad issues but then left turn, he goes "Well your dad's right, you suck"

It just sort of works for them, they have this frenemies vibe that I love.

Bowser:

Bowser steals the movie. He is the funniest character. He is the best character. HE WROTE A LOVE BALLAD FOR PEACH called "Peaches". He is goofy yet Intimidating. Jack Black's voice for him was perfect and the Character acting was on point. Jack Black NAILED BOWSER. He is DEFACTO Bowser. I cant say enough of how amazing his bowser was. It was just so perfect.

The others: From Mario's extended family, The Koopas, Kamek, kranky, the Luma, The Penguins. I LOVED all the side characters. I cant name one I didnt enjoy. Shout out to the Blond Kong in a sports Blazer who casually caused a kart crash of a By-stander

Now Aside from Bowser I cant say the characters are deep, but they were not meant to be. They were what they needed to be. I enjoyed all the characters on screen and never felt myself loathing not seeing a certain character for longer.

solid 8/10 (Jack black and bowser are 10/10 tho)

______________________________________________________________ Music

So I wanted to give this a 10/10, but I cant.

I found some of the random 80's rock songs a bit out of place. It is Illumination.

But outside of those songs, when they are doing the mario music and themes they ARE GLORIOUS. Bowser's fury theme and the Remixed Star theme were my personal favorites

All of the mario music is beautifully crafted. You know papa nintendo made sure they did it justice.

Overall, 8/10

The 80's songs werent the worst pick but they werent needed. Should have just stuck with the mario stuff.

But... it is illumination.

______________________________________________________________

Fanservice

ALL OF THE REFERENCES,

FOREMAN SPIKE

Pauline

CHARLES Martinet AS MARIO'S FATHER AND GIUSEPPE

PUNCH OUT PIZZARIA

the musical references,

The princess is in another castle joke.

The sound effects.

The entire movie is CRAMMED FULL of references and jokes that I am sure I didnt get all of them.

This movie was CRAFTED from Fanservice.

Is the Sonic 2 movie is a love letter to the fans,

The Super Mario Bros Movie is a full on Love Biography to them.

I am so full of the fanservice I was squealing

10/10

___________________________________________________________

Lesson

I wasnt expecting the Super mario bros Movie to have a lesson, and to my surprise it had 2 lessons.

Never give up. Mario shows throughout the entire movie his grit and determination no matter how much people look down on him or underestimate him. He got back up and kept fighting.

The power of Brotherly love. Luigi had faith in his brother who was always there for him. And he knew that things will be alright as long as they were together. And Luigi took it to heart, learning that what his brother said was true. Brotherly love made them invincible (well actually it was the power star, but it was because of that love they were able to get it.)

I am not gonna put it at the level of Puss in Boots the last wish. But its some good lessons

7/10

_____________________________________________________________

Overall, this movie, if you arent a Super Mario super fan, Is a solid 8/10

It has good characters, funny/hilarious slapstick and moments, fun action, and great for kids with a good lesson.

If you are a mario super fan (Like me)

Solid 9.5/10

I would watch it again no questions. I do wish it had more Mareach and Yoshi

#super mario movie #super mario bros #mario #super mario bros movie #gale reviews #LETS A GO

[twistedtummies2]

Year of the Bat - Number 10

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’ve been counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January. Today, we’ve officially reached the Top 10! TODAY’S EPISODE QUOTE: “Change is everything.” Number 10 is…Two-Face.

How fitting is it we’re covering this villain’s origins on the 22nd? XD Anyway, I had a hard time choosing between this and “Feat of Clay.” Both are actually extremely similar in a lot of ways: both are two-part story arcs, both feature the origins of great villains in Batman’s Rogues Gallery – great villains whose appearances were teased in earlier stories, no less – and both feature great animation and an exceptionally dark, at times almost horror-movie-esque, tone. Not only that, but even the plots of these episodes bear some noticeable similarities! With that said, the animated series definitely provided the best take on Harvey Dent we’ve ever gotten, at least outside of comics themselves. In previous episodes – specifically the series pilot, “On Leather Wings,” and Poison Ivy’s debut, “Pretty Poison” – we’d already met Harvey Dent and gotten to know him a bit. We knew he was Gotham’s rather well-liked district attorney, we knew he and Batman had a sort of rivalry going on, and we also knew that he and Bruce Wayne were best friends. All these facts made the events of this two-parter all the more disturbing, because we had gotten to know Harvey pretty well. In this two-parter, it’s revealed that Harvey secretly suffers from some mental issues, and has a second personality inside him, referred to as “Big Bad Harv.” This second personality is all of Harvey’s repressed anger and bitterness, refined into one diabolical, snarly, cruel beast. When the DA gets too close to the schemes of crime boss Rupert Thorne, Thorne’s minions capture Harvey, and in the chaos that ensues, the DA’s face and body are horrifically disfigured. This causes Harvey to snap and become the supervillain Two-Face: a deranged gangster who vows to get revenge on Thorne, and make Gotham his own stomping ground in the process. Harvey/Two-Face was voiced by the late Richard Moll, who – like many actors in later years – would reprise the role many times in other takes on the character. Like Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy, Moll cemented the character and became the definitive interpretation. He is so wonderful as the vulnerable, tragic Harvey Dent, while his gravelly, gruff, snarly voice for Two-Face has become the gold standard which all other versions (at least in animation) seem to try and live by. Two-Face, himself, has always been one of Batman’s most tragic and personal enemies, and the Animated Series didn’t hold back on that front. Not only do the events of this story scar Harvey for life – both physically and mentally – but they also take a heavy toll on Bruce himself. This two-parter is magnificent not only because of how well it handles a great villain, but because of Batman’s role in the story, as well. In a lot of the villain introductions of the show, Batman is sort of a secondary player, in a way: the focus is either just on him trying to stop the villain in question, or on the villain’s descent into darkness. This episode not only gives us both those elements, but it also gives us great character moments for Batman himself, as he has to struggle with the guilt and sorrow that comes with seeing one of his best friends become one of his most formidable opponents. We got bits and pieces of this kind of thing in other stories, of course, but “Two-Face” – perhaps because it has more time to manage things – really goes all out. This isn’t just a great episode for Two-Face himself, but a great episode for Batman as well. It’s for this reason, I think that I decided to rank this higher than “Feat of Clay.” There’s no doubt in my mind that it belongs in my Top 10.

Tomorrow we move on with Number 9! Hint: “So, it wasn’t all for nothing.”

#list #countdown #best #favorites #new year's special #year of the bat #top 31 btas episodes #btas #batman: the animated series #dcau #dc #batman #animation #tv #number 10 #two-face #harvey dent #rupert thorne

[wallpaper-inside-my-heart]

💛Smoshblr December Asks Day 21💙

Top 3 tropes in media/fanfic

So in terms of general concepts/tropes I enjoy in all media, there def any iteration of (Enemies/Rivals to) Friends to Lovers; then Found Family <3 and hurt/comfort -> especially in combo with one of the other two tropes!

When in comes to which types of fanfics I specifically seek out most of the time:

(putting these answers and the fanfic recs under the cut, cause this is once again getting way longer than I intended)

I know this is super unpopular, but I love well done miscommunication in fanfics! Hate it in most movies tho!!

-> also what I think constitutes “good” miscommunication basically boils down to “ is the miscommunication plot or character motivated?” cause in a lot of media the miscommunication feels forced and only meant to prolong or escalate the story

-> but if the miscommunication happens bc the characters are, for example, insecure about sharing certain info/feelings it is way more captivating and relatable (to me)

-> so this is ofc directly related to (Mutual) Pining <3 (plus also connected to another fave of mine: Memory Loss/Amnesia & also secret identity)

2. Forced proximity!!

-> I’m counting both sharing a bed and stuff like fake relationship under this umbrella

-> I just love when characters are forced to interact with each other in a different and typically more intimate way than they usually do! (and what it reveals about themselves and their relationship to eachother!)

3. Fix-it fanfics

-> I actually love original stories that have tragic endings! But there are many ways a story can end in a disappointing way and make me immeditaly turn to what all the wonderful fanfic authors have come up with in order to clean up the mess!

I have way too many favourite fanfics tbh... SO I'm actually gonna do both general and smosh ones I enjoyed a lot recently!

Multifandom (I am a huge podfic girlie, so I'm gonna give them a shoutout here!)

Harry Hart and the Honey Pot: An Indiana Jones Adventure - reena_jenkins, samanthahirr - Kingsman (Movies) [Archive of Our Own] -> I love me a good movie based AU from time to time and the kingsman fandom has so many great writers!

2. [podfic] tomorrow will always and forever now be today (tomorrow is our always and forever) - Matriaya - 9-1-1 (TV) [Archive of Our Own] -> this fic changed me as a person istg; like it is such an incredibly well done take on the timeloop trope, I'm-

3. Be My Savior - Chapter 1 - jessebee - Supernatural [Archive of Our Own] -> this is me coming out as lowkey more of a Sabriel than Destiel fan 🙈 Like ofc Destiel have the better canon story, and I do love them very much; However Sabriel fanfics captured my heart when I was a teenager and are still hanging on by a thread! (also I can still make myself cry instantly via a headcanon I created for them ages ago and that's gotta count for smth 😹)

Smosh Fanfics &lt;3

In general of course any and all fics by Katie @jovenshires 🩷🩵 (love you and your writing to death istg🫶) but having to choose one for this, I'm gonna go with right where you left me - jovenshires (imdeansgirl) - Smosh [Archive of Our Own]

2. doing something like this right on the first try - halfwheeze - Smosh [Archive of Our Own] my most recent bookmark and 100% my fave fic I've read these past few weeks! But Mer 🖤💜@tommybowefuneralattendee has so many banger fanfics, it was super hard to choose! <3 But this fic made me truly ship nintendogs, so it deserves this mention

3. I abstained from choosing any of the amazing spommy fics by the lovely ppl I mentioned above, bc I might have spommy brainworms 24/7, but I cannot lose my multishipper rep! 😹🙈 But here is one of my other fave spommy fics from a different author! maybe my animals live in your zoo - creepysounds - Smosh [Archive of Our Own] edit: by the lovely @tommybones 🫶

#smoshblr december asks #am I once again sorta late to posting my own answer to these? maybe 😹🙈 but tbf...uni & christmas hell rn... #are these answers way too elaborate despite me having really urgent responsibilities? ofc! As always I am bad at prioritising tasks! 🥰

[reviewinghiccup]

RIDERS OF BERK | HTTYD SERIES | HICCUP X ASTRID

Blog Post Series : HICCUP X ASTRID

Title : Animal House

Ep/Season : Episode 3, Season 1 (Riders of Berk)

Premise:

The animals on Berk, the sheep, yak & chickens have yet to accustom themselves to the new occupants… dragons. As such, they’re not producing enough produce in retaliation to the fact. Hiccup is charged w the arduous job to synergise the situation before a horrible storms arrives. Yet a second plot-line catches my eye instead…

Romantic Development :

While it isn’t explicitly out there, and when push comes to shove, we know Hiccup & Astrid like each other. Though they are pretty low-key / inexpressive about their feelings it’s clear somethings brewing beneath the surface. Hiccup will become chief & there is no better chieftess to choose from their tribe and age-group than Astrid. Though neither of them were ever forced to choose each other by virtue of the facts.

Apart from some fraction-of-a-second glances, mostly by Hiccup, their relationship doesn’t fully bloom until much later on, but episodes like these just show you what these two were made of and why their destinies were perfect to begin with.

The episode opens w the two of them racing down a snow peaked mountain. Both equally competitive and playful. This is a side you don’t often see of Astrid. She’s mostly serious, strong and defensive. She’s obviously relaxed around Hiccup, which is why she smiles more, feels free to be herself and even dares to plays loose w the rules when they’re alone.

An accident causes an avalanche to hurl at them. Though they could’ve easily flown away, Toothless’s tail gets stuck and so, Hiccup is stuck. [Side note: I really appreciate how the technology of Toothless’s tail & Hiccup’s inventions develop as their characters do. And you even watch Hiccup tinker around and build a rep w his creations. It’s nice to watch hard work pay off, which you won’t get to see unfold just by watching the films].

Astrid swoop down to try and save them, but they fall into a ravine and while snow pours in to bury them, they seem to have entered a cavity and are quite untouched. Astrid calls out for Hiccup, who immediately holds her. This is where I melt. Though small, considered “unmanly” and even a runt in Viking culture, Hiccup is more man than many romantic leads written. It isn’t the size of his person that makes him big, but the size of his heart.

He immediately takes Astrid into his arms when she’s cold and afraid, though he must equally be. And this tender affection and compassion he has towards people, particularly her, draws her towards him more than any “pseudo-macho” facade could. He always puts the needs of others before his own.

They soon discover that it is because of their dragons that they’re safe, understanding now the ingrained loyalty instilled within the two-way dragon-Viking companionship.

This kinda proves that the timeline of this series kindles quickly after the 1st movie, because it is clear they’re not completely familiar w their dragons yet.

Excited, they convey their new discovery to their friends.

Astrid & Hiccup both love dragons. They have a passion for their pets and an unmistakable love for the beast. The only thing they aren’t sure about yet, are their feelings for each other. And are awkward about them if ever brought up.

My favourite part about the episode and why it is one of my early favourites is because this is the first time you see both Hiccup and Astrid play pivotal roles in dealing w Berk’s affairs. We know they’ll grow into the roles one day, but this is sorta where it all starts.

While it is Hiccups charge to get the animals to work together, Astrid, unlike the other teens is more proactive in helping him. She even tries to allay his concerns, and from hereon you will see that her support and presence brings a lot of encouragement and strength to Hiccup as the series progresses.

She is also always seen by his side, which is a sign of support for him and a sign of safety for her. We know she is a fearless warrior, but what I love about her is that she has a feminine side that only Hiccup gets to see. She trusts him.

This episode was lovely. Not only because of Hicstrid, but also because of how Stoic handles Hiccup’s first failure. He doesn’t berate him about it. He lets it slide knowing that his son tried his best. He encourages him. He is still there for him.

It was also great to see Toothless solve the issue by saving the sheep and then taking the initiative to nudge the sheep towards the warm circle causing all the other animals to do likewise. This display Toothless’s intelligence which is what differentiates him from many other dragons.

HTTYD is essentially a movie about Hiccup and Toothless, and a great deal about their friendship and shared characteristics. Toothless is clearly suited to being a leader like Hiccup is.

The circle of warmth they created to protect their humans was an initiative Toothless started and just like Hiccup and Astrid, every decision they make is for the betterment of others.

I’m pretty impressed w how the creators of HTTYD managed to play w the nuances of each of these strong character traits and make them as refined as they are. Beneath this franchise is a whole lot of good character building and character mirroring which is fantastic for fans like me who love dissecting these little details.

Hicstrid is an unmatched couple in the DreamWorks Universe for me.

#httyd #toothless the dragon #hiccup haddock #vikings #astrid hofferson #hiccup x astrid #hiccstrid

[jinxthejubilee]

My Thoughts on Obey Me: Season 2, Episode 1

Wow. Where do I even start with this one?Welcome back to the anime, everyone! Where nonsensical plots are abound. Let's take a look and analyze this episode!

Warning: Spoilers for this episode!

Right off the bat, I knew what kind of madness I was in for.

First off, nice callback to Episode 1 of the first season with the name boxes. It completely took me aback for a second.

I wonder how long they were stuck like that. Considering that they were standing in one place, I assume that they were in a somewhat brainless state for a while. But they recognized themselves that they were transformed, so we know that they were aware of it.

I love how done Satan looks in this shot. It just brings me so much joy.

It was a bit cruel of a punishment, I'm not gonna lie. You're body and mind are stuck in a rectangular body, and you could only communicate in a few words related to school and test work. An utter nightmare!

Leave it to Mammon to make money out of anything.

I can't tell if he was actually trying to help, or he was just trying to make easy cash. Probably both?

Honestly, the boys didn't need to do this. They could've just walked away, but they just stood there and played along.

I'm more surprised that Lucifer thought that plan was solid. Like, dude, no. What kind of idea was that?!

Apparently, the joke we English speakers missed when Belphie was saying "I mith them," was that in Japanese, he was actually saying "It hurts."

I saw that from the comments, so I might be wrong, but the person explained that "ita"i (ee-tie) and "aitai" (ai-tie) are two very different things.

"Aitai" is "I miss them."

"Itai" is "It hurts."

The more you know!

I love this shot! It's so cute! 💗

Again, they really didn't need to subject themselves to this. Look at them! They're hurting themselves because of us!

Beel looks like a sad chipmunk. Why are his cheeks puffier than the others?

Okay, so a couple of things.

First of all, when did Mammon have time to make these? He obviously had planned to sell these and used his bros as guinea pigs to see how others would react. So how did he get these made?

Second, how did Mammon know his brothers would want these? Was he just waiting for the right time to bring these out?

The name "Miss 'em," too. Did he make up that name on the fly, or did he actually think on it?

Third, Satan's plush has cat ears on it. Adorable.

Fourth, what is that price?!

I know that Grimm is just gold coins, but how does that translate to real life currency?

I looked into what 10,000 Grimm in Japanese currency is, and apparently 10,000 yen is $74. 42 in American currency.

I mean, that's better, but still! Almost $75 for a plush? As someone who makes plushies herself, that better be some pillow sized, high quality plushies, Mammon!

Fifth, did Mammon know that Lucifer wasn't gonna fall for it? There's no colorized version for him.

And finally, if I had to pick one plush, I'd probably go for the pink one. That, or the gold one.

It always astonishes me that these guys are the rulers of Hell. Let's just let that sink in for a minute.

Also, yay! The next shot is of the side characters, the first time we see the side characters together! They all look great!

Another image that I never knew I needed.

Ah! There's Lucifer and Belphie's plush! The purple and light blue ones are super cute.

So Mammon purposefully designed Satan's with cat ears. Maybe I'm reading to much into details, but if he did, that's really sweet!

Solomon, I had no idea that you such glorious eyelashes! Asmo's taught you well.

Also, don't call Luke out for this. You would do the same thing!

Although, again I ask, why are Luke and Simeon exempt from wearing the school uniform?

The almost evil laugh Mammon has in the background, he's gone mad with power!

All of the promotional material for the Miss em's made me laugh so hard. The romance movie, why?

You know, I'm not surprised at all that Mammon bought this gold mansion, I'm more surprised that he hasn't tried to get one before.

The fact that he did all of this, just to distract himself from missing us. That's just, so...Mammon! He went above and beyond for this one.

He's so extra! I love it! I love him!

Lastly, we need to talk about the end theme. It's so catchy! I wonder when the full version will come out.

I love the end theme art as well. The screen with Beel and Belphie splashing around in the water is my favorite. They just look so happy!

Anyway! That's all from me! I know that it's been a while since I've done one of these, so I thought that this would be a good way to get back into it. I hope you all enjoyed it nonetheless. With that being said, I hope you all have a wonderful day, and I'll see you later! Byeee! 💗

#my thoughts #obey me season 2 #obey me anime #obey me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me levi #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmo #obey me asmodeus #obey me beel #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphie #obey me belphegor #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me luke #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #obey me shall we date #obey me! shall we date? #obey me one master to rule them all #obey me! one master to rule them all #obey me! #obey me song #obey me angels #obey me brothers #obey me demons

[sakebytheriver]

Disenchanted should have been completely 2D animated after the wand wish and that's a hill I will die on

The original inverted expectations by turning live action after a catalystic event and the sequel should have inverted that by turning 2D animated and working within that new medium to subvert the genre once again the opposite direction this time Robert and Morgan are the fish out of water and they're the ones (along with Nancy) who are changing the 2D animated world around them the way Giselle changed the live action world in the original, not to mention the magical changing of Giselle into an evil stepmother would feel more real, more like the magic doing it to her rather than a betrayal of the character by writers who don't understand her, plus a lot of the more goofy parts of this sequel would feel less egregious in the 2D animation, not to mention the visuals would just feel way less cheap, they really gave this one the Disney+ budget and it takes you out of it when the movie is primarily live action, but in the 2D animation? This movie could play so much more with the magical aspects and the visuals and the musical numbers, not to mention this cast are actually fairly well trained voice actors along with live action, so I have no doubt they could pull it off, I also feel like the 2D animation would give them all more freedom to play around and get goofier with it while still also feeling more grounded than this weird facsimile of live action fantasy that just doesn't quite work as an Enchanted sequel, it's trying so hard to be the original, but it just does not have what the original had and everytime a scene is too goofy and just doesn't click in this sequel I imagine it in 2D animation and it's like instantly ten times better. The original was self aware in a way that bent the cartoon musical genre in a way that fit seamlessly into the live action musical genre subverting both and making a commentary on the genres while also adding a splendid new edition to the genres themselves, this sequel could have done the same thing but in the opposite direction injecting that self aware realism of New York City to the cheesy Disney cartoon world of Andalasia the way they injected that cheesy cartoon world of Andalasia into the self aware realism of New York City, becoming a movie motivated by an actual plot and purpose that did a fun little play on the original conceit of the first movie truly earning it's place as a sequel for the cult classic Enchanted became rather than what it actually is, which is a cashgrab released straight to a streaming service truly only motivated by money rather than art

#ignore me #enchanted #disenchanted

[hot-take-tournament]

Thank you so much for putting this together, it was really fun to do. These are the best answers I could come up with:

1. In ‘what the hair’ I believe it’s Gothel in the dream sequence right? Thats such a cool way to open a show I think, it really draws to you. But it is incredibly confusing if you didn’t watch ‘before ever after’ first

2. I think in the first opening it’s 3, I’m not sure about the other two. If I’m being honest the first season is my favourite.

3. A music box is laid out and when rapunzel plays it it activates the atomatons hidden in the gift boxes.

4. Okay that’s one’s really hard, I know for a fact Varian has blue eyes and I’m pretty sure Monty does, but I really can’t hunk of anyone else. Rapunzels are Green, Eugene and Lance’s are both brown. I don’t know, Faith? Maybe Frederick but I think his are green.

5. The one in the right I think

6. If I remember correctly, which is highly unlikely, Rapunzel starts the song so I’m going to guess Eugene finishes it as a part of the little back and forth they have. I’m more of a ‘nothing less to loose guy myself’, so I don’t actually remember that song much.

7. I think it’s in ‘Once a handmaiden’, but I could be wrong. That episode is really good for a number or reasons, but there’s something really funny about Varian canonically inventing a gun, good for him.

8. The left one?

9. Happily ever after, I know it’s a reprise of the first song in the ‘Before ever after& short movie but I’m not sure if it’s called something slightly different

I really struggled with most of these, clearly I’m a fake fan </3 it’s fine I tried my best, at least this makes good practice for when I do eventually have to go up against the devil to avoid eternal damnation.

It was really fun though :D thank you for putting this together it was super cool. (Not to be that really annoying guy but I do highly recommend TTS it is a very fun watch)

Also slightly related fun face Zachary Levi plays Rocky in the the new chicken run movie and you can really tell. He uses the same line deliver as he does with Eugene it’s pretty funny to compare the two characters.

it's no problem at all, one of the best parts of this blog for me is being able to learn about everyone's special interests!

besides, considering how much experience i have in combing the internet to research fandoms i'm unfamiliar with (mostly so i can make bad puns), it was kinda fun for me to try and put that ridiculously niche skill to the test under time pressure

though... in retrospect i maaaay have accidentally made some of the questions completely impossible

(also, i know i answered your asks out of order, it sounds weird but the genuine reason is that because of the times you sent asks i was worried you were losing sleep over the stress of not knowing whether your asks were anonymous or not)

anyway, here are the answers:

1. you're totally right, it's Gothel who speaks first - no one else has a line until the 2-minute mark, they just kind of make noises at each other. i know they did it because it's a dream sequence, but it's still inexplicably funny if you pay attention to it, it reminds me of final fantasy

i did watch the first episode in full to get an idea of what this show was about, and i do have a lot of questions - tangled was one of the only two disney princess films i watched when i was a kid and i still don't really understand how her hair has grown back or who cassandra is (she seems nice though)

2. yeah in hindsight this one is basically impossible to get from memory, and when i wrote it i didn't even realise that there were different animations for the later seasons

the first one has 7, the second has 4 (i think?), and the third has 3, though it's really hard to tell

3. i actually got that wrong, i thought the music box turned into the robot, but you're right, it activates the parts hidden in the presents that then assemble themselves

4. people make fun of disney for their disdain for green eyes, rapunzel is the only disney princess who has them

excluding tangled, i can't even think of two human disney characters with green eyes period

well apparently they decided to overcompensate by making it so that almost no tangled characters have blue eyes, and honestly it's kind of hilarious

even characters who had blue eyes in the movie had their eye colour switched to green for the series

i was only able to pick out five because i noticed the trend and started actively looking for it - and even then, it was like finding a shiny pokemon anytime someone with blue eyes appeared on screen

so the fact that you were able to think of five off the top of your head is crazy impressive

he does - so do varian, frederic, faith and monty, so that's five

5. the mirror is the one on the left

the one on the right is actually based on the broken plate from breaking bad

6. eugene sings last, i have no idea what the context of the song is though

i actually was originally going to use 'nothing left to lose' but i changed it like five minutes before the timer ran out because i realised there were a lot of questions about cassandra, she's just in every clip

7. yeah, it's 'once a handmaiden', i think once her imaginary british friend pulls the cloak off it never comes back

i may have got this one from the wiki

8. the yellow eye is her(?) right eye

9. you're right, it is just a reprise of the first song from before ever after

(though i found out just now that disney's official songlist technically calls it 'life after happily ever after', which is dumb, so i'm going to ignore it)

so, overall i don't think anyone can accuse you of being a fake fan, you definitely got most of them

still, i'm glad you enjoyed it <3

#asks #not a poll

[redlerred7]

Something you find appealling in an unconventional or atypical way?

I'm not abreast of all the different ways one may find appeal in a thing. It's very hard for me to gauge whether or not the way I like or enjoy something is conventional or typical.

Anyway, Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai is probably my favorite anime. The characters are entertaining, the romance is cute, and it has a pretty poignant message about normative behaviors, the joys and follies of youth, and people's relationship with their hobbies, interests, and escapism in general.

But for the purposes of this ask, that's not the important part. No, the important part is that I consider the significantly less popular second season to be better than both season 1 and the sequel movie.

Let me explain:

Season 1 had the task of introducing characters, setting up the plot, and making you care that these characters actually go through all of said plot. To that end, I think season 1 did an good job of hitting all the story beats in moments where it resonated.

Unfortunately, I am a weirdo and the story beat that is considered by most people to be one of the most impactful parts of the story instead completely failed to resonate with me at all. Intellectually, I understand what makes it so powerful to others, but being unable to feel it myself made half of the whole point of season 1 fall a little flat for me.

Season 2 goes in a different direction, one where I can actually relate to the plot being depicted, on top of doubling down on the parts of season 1 I already liked.

That is to say, majority of the season is the characters acting like dumbass cringy teenagers who are part of a LARP group. AND there isn't some air of normative moral judgment over the fact that they're LARPing. They're allowed to actually enjoy themselves.

And as we find out as the seasons goes, the main cast's LARP group isn't the only group of weirdos in the school they go to.

Their school isn't even the only one! At some point they encounter a rival club that's tangentially related to their own that has their own unique brand of weirdness.

Normality is an illusion. Everyone is at least a little bit weird. I think this season communicates that theme much better than season 1 did.

Any issues that arise regarding their fun is a wholly internal problem within the characters themselves rather than a product of their environment.

Also I liked the love-triangle, though it's not really a love-triangle in the way most people think of them. It still has the jealousy, possessiveness, and two characters in love with the same person, but it was refreshing how blatant season 2 was about the fact that the other character has no chance.

Often I see shows try to at least be a little coy about it. They'd be like "sure, they do not and will not have a chance, but we're gonna try and make you believe that they do anyway."

None of that. Just a good, straight forward story about a new character who's about to have her heart broken.

And then learn how to move forward from that.

That last thing I mentioned is probably the best part of the love triangle subplot, to be honest. Possibly even the best part of the season if I'm being particularly generous to it.

To be clear, I like traditional love-triangles too—I like love-triangles in general. It just so happens that this particular love-triangle hits my buttons in such a specific way that I can't help but love it.

As for the sequel movie...

The reason I think season 2 is better than the movie is because the movie performs a little bit of character development backsliding (similar to how the K-on Movie reset the characters' relationships from the end of K-on Season 2 back to what they were like at the beginning of K-on Season 2). And after that backsliding, the main leads end up having same character development they had in season 2, except in a shorter amount of time and in a manner less open to interpretation.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a good movie. I loved that the movie is about the cast having a wild road trip all across Japan. The art and animation was amazing, too. But the things I loved the most about the series—the characters' adventures in LARP and how it affects their daily lives—just isn't as present. That automatically puts it at the bottom of my tierlist of animated Chu2 works.

#chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai! #love chunibyo & other delusions #replies #animeomelette #redlerred7 writes

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Trolls Band Together

At long, long last. After 45 fucking movies of insanely varying quality, I've reached the end of the Dreamworks watch. So, what kind of a note did we go out on here on the third installment of the Trolls franchise? Well...

Back in the day, Branch and his older brothers, John Dory, Spruce, Clay, and Floyd, made up the popular boy band BroZone, until a tension-driven split up. In the present, Floyd has been captured by pop star wannabes Velvet and Vaneer, who are using his essance to make themselves more talented. So it's up to the other brothers to "band together" to save him, and while along for the ride, Poppy happens to reunite with her long lost older sister, Viva. So yeah, lots of shit going on. And that's... kind of the problem.

The first two Trolls movies were relatively simple and pretty focused for what they are. But Band Together just has... way too much happening in it. Namely, way to many damn family reunions happening in it. I've joked before about how Dreamworks only knows how to tell a handful of stories, and the family reunion plot is one they always seem to come back to. This movie is a huge testament to that, with both Branch and Poppy reuniting with estranged/lost familiy members. And it's... a tad forced, not gonna lie.

The overall theme of family is absolutely heavy handed in this, from Branch and his bros having to learn to be both a band and brothers again, to Poppy and Viva reconnecting and learning how different they actually are, to even some sibling drama between Velvet and Vaneer. And its... a lot. It's just too much going on all at once and it feels... overwhelming, especially since they're also trying to throw non stop jokes and pop songs at you. As a result, you get a movie that's just... way too busy for its own damn good.

As for our characters, well our returning cast is still pretty fun, and I was really happy to see the Bergans return (Gristle and Bridget's honeymoon subplot was the best part of the movie by far). Our new characters are kind of hollow, none of them getting too terribly much focus. Like Branch's brothers are fine, I didn't hate any of them, but I felt like I wasn't too compelled to care about them either. Same for Viva who... did kind of grate the nerves a bit, she's basically just Poppy 2.0 and I can only handle so much of Poppy anyway.

As for our villains, Velvet and Vaneer are... ok. They're the usual fame-obssessed diva trope, and I do appreciate how they do give Vaneer a bit of an arc and a concious, but idk... I wanted more of them? Their designs are fun and they do have some really funny moments, but because there was so much else going on, I feel like we really just didn't see as much from them as we should have.

I had no complaints from the animation, though I do appreciate them continuing to push the arts and crafts vibes of the world (the water is literally orbeez i love that). The music is, well, its Trolls. Ya'll know what to expect form Trolls. Pop songs until the cows come home. And they're... fine. I kinda tend to space out whenever one of them starts, but they're fine.

Overall, this movie as a whole is... fine. Exceptionally mid, and I'd absolutely say its the weakest out of the Trolls trilogy. It just lacks... something that the first two had, some sort of charm or thought or pacing or... control even. Idk how to properly explain what's wrong with this movie, man, something just feels off. Which is why it's such a shame to end the Dreamworks marathon off on a mid note like this, but hey, at least I'm not ending it off on the same shit tier note I started it off with Antz. That's gotta count for something right?

But until next time (or whenever there are more Dreamworks movies to review idk), (*blows kiss to the sky*) for Dreamworks. You fucking wonderful, terrible, baffling, beautiful studio you.

Overall Rating: 5/10

Verdict: Trip so hard you wind up in another animation style entirely

Previous Review (Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken)

#jen watches #dreamworks watch #dreamworks #trolls #trolls band together #jen tortures herself with every dreamworks animated movie ever

[anthrotographer]

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Set in the modern day, the film follows the Sandfords. A family that takes a spontaneous trip from the city to upstate New York. They soon realize, that rash decision might’ve saved their lives. The U.S. is soon to be in the throes of a cyber attack from foreign adversaries. Drones are dropping leaflets on both seaboards that read “death to America”. Planes are falling out of the sky. Wild animals are congregating together to send a message to humanity about impending doom. With all that happening why does ‘Leave the World Behind’ feel so flat?

Most of this two hour + movie feels like we are watching these people on a lavish vacation instead of dealing with their country being attacked. The family rents a mansion for the weekend but the first night there is a knock at the door. Because of the blackouts in the city, George (Mahershala Ali) and Ruth Scott decide to come back home. This leads to a lot of animus from Amanda directed at the Scotts, which considering the circumstances really shouldn’t have been a big deal. They mostly sit and talk trying to piece together what might be causing all the service outages, for example. Lounging and waiting around when what’s happening in the world would seem to inspire more action to occur. Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) especially, but the film in general, is a lot of talk and little show. Her lines are full of exposition telling us what is going to happen, what she and they are about to do and it feels like Roberts is just reading lines. Mahershala Ali’s character was similar with the exposition but his character felt like a more real personality. The fault was mostly in the writing but the acting performances all fell somewhere on a scale from mediocre to great. 

Amanda is a very confusing character and hard to like. She says she “fucking hates people” but also says she feels lucky to be part of the world where so many are out there making something of themselves. She constantly states her disdain and distrust in others, but contradicts herself at points in the film where she says she misses people. I know people are hypocritical and can change their minds but she comes off as an inconsistent character. For the majority of the film she is combative, unreasonable and on the back foot wanting desperately that others solve problems for her. And then in the third act Amanda delivers this monologue; “We fuck each other over all the time, without even realizing it. We fuck every living thing on this planet over and think it’ll be fine because we use paper straws and order the free range chicken. I think deep down we know we are not fooling anyone. I think we know we are living a lie. An agreed upon mass delusion to help us ignore and keep ignoring how awful we really are.” A description of humanity this discerning feels really out of place coming from her. This line and many others like it feel too scripted. 

Ruth says Friends is a show “nostalgic for a time that never existed”. This is a scripted line that rolls off her tongue better seeing as Ruth is setup as a character that is socially and culturally conscious. She mentions this about Friends because Rose, Amanda’s daughter, is obsessed with the show. Rose finally gets to watch the series finale of her favorite sitcom when in the movie’s closing scenes she finds a fallout bunker with a grand collection of DVDs. I sort of found this ending to have a nice symbolism with Ruth’s context because as the bombs are falling outside, signifying the dark reality, Rose has one last chance to fall into that ideal, fictional world.

The Friends music, juxtaposed to the previous chilling scenes of NYC getting bombed, felt off. The soundtrack in total did not flow or sound like they were the right songs for the film. The choice of using up-beat hits clash with most of the imagery of a boring high end AirBnb get away. 

The camera work is technically impressive at points where the camera traverses cars or rooms in acrobatic tracking maneuvers. The technique does get overused though. Are the multiple upside down shots supposed to signify how the world is being turned upside down? I suppose. Like the music I didn’t find these choices to fit well. Maybe they are both in effort to enliven the scenes introducing the film’s unstimulating setting. If so, either a change of setting or a change of style might’ve worked better. 

It seems like the movie is trying to point out many different things about society without totally dissecting any of them. A few themes you notice while watching are; can we live without the internet, blissful ignorance of the decline of the empire, humanity’s cause of environmental collapse, selfishness vs selflessness. I agree with many of the ideas the film is alluding to, yet like many Hollywood movies today I don’t think it explores the ideas deeply or effectively enough. One of the more provocative things the film brings up is the idea that we are in part responsible for any attacks thrown our way.

Our government and military claims that all of its excursions around the world are defensive, but these things that they do in our name more than likely are at our expense. The U.S. empire leaves us less safe. “We’ve made a lot of enemies around the world. Maybe all this means is that a few of them teamed up.” This is the most interesting quote in the film where Danny (Kevin Bacon), the rural survivalist, points out different cues he’s picked up examining national affairs that led him to think we were susceptible to attack. The empire’s hubris allows it to believe it’s untouchable. We think we are safe, even George/G.H. (Mahershala Ali) mentions that he never thought ‘we’ could let this happen. As if multiple world powers have never allied together to stop a blood hungry empire an ocean away (and the U.S. is blood hungry, just look at our pursuits in Palestine, Yemen, Ukraine, Iraq, Vietnam, etc etc etc). I respect that the movie brings this up for American viewers to contemplate the vulnerable position we can be put in. Now, the harder pill to swallow that naturally should follow is the fact that as citizens we are not all just innocent bystanders. We have culpability for the machinations of the United States. We have agency to speak up in mass and change the actions our country takes, and still the majority of us haven’t. I suppose the Sandfords and Scotts are meant to represent the passive, oblivious, well-to-do, American family existing in an imaginary bubble of safety. Is everyone equally vulnerable though?

One among the many things that bugged me watching this was how it characterized the elite of the world. George repeatedly references one of his investor clients who is part of the “evil cabal that runs the world” /s. It is meant to be sarcastic but the client works in defense contracting so it’s not really. Because of his existence in the upper strata of society he was privy to the fact that shit was about to go down. So its inferred that the client was able to get away to safety. And G.H. says, in a weighty moment in the plot, “No one is in control, no one is pulling the strings. Sure there are those like my friend who might have the right kind of access to the right kind of information. But when events like this happen in the world, the best even the most powerful people can hope for is a heads up.” First, as if these powerful people aren’t the one’s creating the international disasters (ex; fossil fuel execs in the case of climate change or defense contractors in the case of Middle East invasions). And second, this paints the elite just as blue as everyone else. We know there are different rules for the rich and powerful in this world, so to pretend that they only have marginal advantages is laughable. Yes it’s hard to escape a country wide assault but some people can afford to be in a second home abroad or an underground bunker as we saw in the closing scenes. 

Rating: 6/10

#movie review #movies #film photography #film #leave the world behind #2023 #mahershala ali #julia roberts #ethan hawke #kevin bacon #myha'la herrold #empire #us empire #us imperialism #barbosafilm #movie poster #sam esmail #societal collapse

[systemadministratorclu]

Ask for the mun (blog owner), what do you like the most about Atlantis? (The movie)

That is not a simple question, my dear anon, because this is not a simple matter of 'like'. This absolutely batshit, balls-to-the-walls, crazy-ass thing literally changed my fandom path by being my first encounter with sci-fi.

It was also the first movie I really related to at all. I was six when it came out and I saw it in theaters. I originally didn't want to see this movie, but I came out loving what I had just seen. And just like that, I really didn't care about the normal princess movies anymore, because suddenly, there was a movie character, who was the hero of the story, like me out there.

I was a six-year-old girl, but I was also considered highly intelligent. I also wore glasses at the time because of a visual impairment I was born with. Both of these of course led to me feeling a bit....weird, and I did get shut out a lot, especially when I wanted to join established friend groups in play. So I usually turned to books (a teacher was mad one time because I was reading while she was teaching, despite the fact I was able to repeat the whole lesson back to her, proving I had still heard and learned the material even while reading)

See the parallels? Imagine being me watching this in theaters and suddenly, the main character WEARS GLASSES. And.....wait, he's also HIGHLY INTELLIGENT. A little further in and oh no, he's GETTING SHUT OUT BY AN ESTABLISHED FRIEND GROUP and PEOPLE THINK HE'S WEIRD. So while they all sit together, he's off by himself READING STACKS OF BOOKS. It was the first time I saw myself in a character. And so I wanted to be him whenever I got to actually play pretend (we really did that when I was a kid.). It may not have always been my main fandom, but Atlantis has been with me a long time (pretty much its entire existence)

But even outside the impact it had on me, the film still looks beautiful, even 22 years later. The 2D and 3D animation still blend seamlessly together, the scenery is gorgeous, the character designs are unique and fit each person so well. And then of course the music is wonderful ("Secret Swim" and "Crystal Chamber" are right up there with Daft Punk's Tron Legacy soundtrack).

The characters themselves are all memorable and have great chemistry, they don't try too hard for the jokes, so the humor doesn't feel forced at all. The emotions are all there and you feel them all.

Some parts of the story could be better (Rourke's motive, and a few plot holes), but nothing is perfect and it's still a good story (NERDS WIN!! NERDS WIN!! well, technically it's just one nerd, but a win is still a win). And besides, those errors are easily rectified through the magic of fanfic.

Sorry if you were hoping for just a simple answer, anon, but this matter is far from simple for me.

#atlantis: the lost empire #thanks for the ask!

[spider-jaysart]

Parker family headcanons that I made since I was bored (with young May and Annie Parker):

When Annie was 7 years old and was having a hard time trying to pull out one of her very first, soon to come out baby tooth, Peter one day placed a thin web on it and successfully pulled it out for her without any pain in the process. Little May also took a video of it. Once MJ had found out about this, she was concerned about if Annie had felt any pain, but she let her Mother know that she was fine and felt happy about finally getting it out of her mouth.

As she was finally ready to head to bed later that day, she had placed the tooth under her pillow for the Tooth fairy that night and had later found a 20 dollar bill under it the next morning, which had caused great confusion and concern for both MJ and Peter since they weren't the one's who had put the 20 dollar under there last night at all.

When they had both saw it that night under her pillow while she was asleep, they both began to ask eachother if they were the one who had put it there before the other even could, but it wasn't either of them.

Annie, while her parents were still discussing about it in the morning, both still feeling very confused about what had happened, just hopped out of her bed in her pj's and just explained to them "Well it was the tooth fairy of course!" Which caused both of her parents to nervously pretend to agree with her, in order to not ruin her idea of the Tooth fairy being real. So now they both just wonder if the Tooth fairy was actually real and was maybe the one who had put the money there or maybe one of them had actually put the money under her pillow themselves while "possibly sleep walking that night" (Peter's words).

May's favorite DC character is Beast boy because she thinks that he's cool, especially because of the fact that he can turn into animals of any kind. Annie's is Starfire because of her bright personality

Annie likes the color pink and May loves green

Annie loves to brush MJ's hair and loves styling it sometimes for her too

May likes to learn science from Peter since she thinks it's a cool subject and because she loves spending time with him

May and Annie both one time made handmade bracelets for Peter, MJ, and themselves

May once painted a portrait of her family (herself also being included in the painting), Peter and MJ both loved it and hanged it up on the living room wall

Annie likes to always sneak in candy and snacks into the classroom with her in her backpack (she never gets caught by the teachers and the students never snitch on her since she'll share some if her stashed snacks with them)

May and Annie both tried to make cookies for Peter and MJ in the kitchen one time together, since they wanted to do something sweet for them, cause they felt that their parents both work very hard everyday. Though, during their cookie baking in the kitchen, they both made a MESS. The young two quickly tried to clean it up before their parents could see it when they got home. They both almost succeeded in getting it cleaned up but they both got caught with the last bits of the mess still sitting in the kitchen, which was an accidental spill of chocolate chips and a sprinkle mess on the counters and some accidentally poured flour on the floor. MJ and Peter, without knowing what the kitchen had actually looked like earlier while they were gone (especially since Annie and May ain't planning to ever tell them about that part), just chuckled to themselves about the situation and helped their little girls clean up the last of the mess that was left. The four of them later all finally went to go rest on the couch together and eat their homemade baked cookies together while watching one of their favorite movies. Later that night, after a hard day's work for all, the four of them had later peacefully passed out on the couch, leaning onto eachother with a blanket that reached the whole tired family.

Hope these were good lol cause I was just bored and wanted to write some fun and (hopefully) fluffy headcanons about the Parker family :) (I'll probably do a part 2 next time)

And maybe I'll do a funny fic about the Tooth fairy one....

I'm gonna do a fic about it

#Peter parker #Annie parker #Anna may parker #Annie may parker #May parker #Mary jane watson #Peter benjamin parker #Michelle jones #Michelle jones watson #Spider man #Spiderman #Spider-man #Spidergirl #Marvel #spider-jaysart headcanons