#i loved this installment in the cars franchise

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Me: I need to hyperfixate on a non-niche or neglected character in a franchise........ No I must! I will not let myself feel this pain ever again! (ง •̀_•́)ง I will fixate on a popular and well known char with a wealth of love and content from fans and the franchise! Rangi: Hey. Me: Well that resolve lasted for a whole second.

#silly talks #a whole franchise and I'mma hyperfixate on a secondary character in a dual novel installment this is great #i'm totally not in for a world of hurt nope no sir #i binged a 14 hour novel bc i needed to CONSUME so freaking fast TT0TT #rangi is THAT BITCH she's just THAT #*slaps the hood of a car* the about of facets that this thing can carry! #best Avatar love interest hands down! the absolute gall on her! #fav firebender too laksjfdklfsjf #ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHh why did avatar generations have to shut down???? *sobs* #I made this like last week but I'm posting it now cause yeah this miiiiight not be stopping any time soon #rangi's the best the fans who love her love her and I don't think she has any haters #but god the well is not a deep well TT0TT #i need more content *sobs* #yeah the Atla thing is gonna stay for a bit sorry not that sorry TT0TT

[hiwelcometothemonstersancturary]

What are the gangs favorite type of video games to play? Weather it’s Mario, Pokémon, sports, rhythm games, horror games, etc etc.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. YOU ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD!!!! Now...

Poppy prefers tabletop games more, but she can be often caught playing or seeing someone else playing The Sims. She LOVES that game - Angel has The Sims 2 installed on their computer, and when they all move to a bigger house Poppy gets her own PC so she can play TS2 as much as she wants.

Kissy doesn't play much on her own, but she really loves 3D platformers and adventure games. Her favorites are the og Spyro the Dragon trilogy! I think she loves watching others play pokémon as well.

Huggy loves racing games. Get anything with a car and he's instantly in love with it.

I can Mommy Long Legs making super over-the-top stories on The Sims 2 as well, so she and Poppy often share news of what their sims are doing. They are both active in forums and are trying to make their own custom content for the game!

Bunzo is a pokémon guy.

PJ Pug-a-Pillar doesn't like playing games in general but he LOVES watching others play, esp if there's lots of cutscenes. It's like watching a movie!

Miss Delight falls in love with Portal 2 when it's released, but I think she's really picky with her puzzle games. She likes being a bit creative on her solutions! She's also really into RPGs. I think the Fallout franchise is her comfort game.

Catnap and Craftycorn are walking Silent Hill encyclopedias, but they LOOOOVE survival horror. Catnap's fav is the original SH1, while Craftycorn loves Haunting Ground (PS2) and SH3.

Bobby on the other hand prefers Resident Evil and Clock Tower 3, but when it's not horror it's definitely a more experimental game. She cries everytime she plays Shadow of the Colossus but she loves it.

Bubba, much like Miss Delight, is SUPER into RPGs and puzzle games, but pokémon and Ace Attorney have conquered his heart. He LOOOVES gushing about it!

Picky's favorite is Animal Crossing! It makes her feel safe and she loves just walking around her town. She made a really impressive one and everyone wants updates from her villagers, Picky loves giving them.

Kickin can't get enough of any FPS or action-adventure game, and he can and WILL ragequit if he's playing online and his teammates start being rude to him or each other. Thankfully he learned really quick how to deal with the more toxic players so now he can truly relax. Unfortunately doomed to become a League of Legends player when it comes out.

Hoppy also loves FPS, but 3D platformers and open-world games are her favorites. Anything that gives her plenty of freedom to move around or just be silly immediately catches her attention! I think she becomes a Team Fortress 2 player.

Dogday prefers to watch rather than play and he gets SO invested. I think Miss Delight likes playing puzzle games with him because they figure out solutions together, but if Dogday were to chose a game for himself to play it would probably be a rythimn game. It gives him the zoomies.

The other smaller toys all have their own individual preferences, so talking about them is more complicated!

Everyone becomes obsessed with Minecraft when it's released. Catch Catnap pranking everyone on their shared beta server by pretending to be Herobrine.

When Angel gets them an Xbox 360 they have many game nights where they play on the Kinect.

Speaking of which, Angel is down to play literally everything, but all the toys know they aren't very keen on anything horror-related. Not because it's scary, it's just that Angel finds them boring after surviving Playtime Co. They probably have an encyclopedia-level knowledge of pokémon, tho.

Prototype doesn't play videogames, but enjoyes watching the others play. Just don't put ANY war games in front of him and we're all good, otherwise he stops watching.

#thanks for the ask! #poppy playtime #poppy worldwide #save everyone au #smiling critters #i'm not tagging everyone rip i'm lazy - sorry! #ask tag

[shewholovestoread]

Mission Impossible 7: Dead Reckoning Impressions

I’ve been a fan of the Mission Impossible franchise, especially fourth film onwards. This is not a review per se, it’s more a list of what was okay in the film, what was great and what was downright awful. So let’s get into it.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

THE MEH:

- The villain - on the surface, having an AI entity called The Entity sounds like a good idea. Especially given the current climate, the discourse surrounding AI and the way it’s being used. The problem is that, it lacks the human component that makes a villain engaging. One of the most fascinating aspects of a villain done right is their motivation and their drive. Aspects that perhaps the audience can relate to. All of that is missing with a digital villain.

- Gabriel - Again, the fact that he’s following orders from an AI just seems dumb and takes away from his being an engaging villain in his own right. Yes, he’s menacing and clearly dangerous but all of that is undercut because he’s not the big bad, a machine is. His history with Ethan is rife with untapped potential and I hope that the eighth film digs deeper into that.

- Alana Mitsopolis - So much potential and she does next to nothing in the film.

Also, this was mind-boggling, when Grace is pretending to be Alana, her eye colour is so obviously different from the real Alana that I’m kinda shocked that the brother didn’t pick that up. It was so glaring that it immediately took me out of the film. It made no sense.

THE GOOD:

- Paris - Pom Klementieff stole the show. She was so good and I’m so excited to see her in the next installment. Also, the scene of her chasing Ethan and Grace in the huge-ass military truck... pure chef’s kiss. You know that scene in the animated 101 Dalmations when Cruella is driving her car like a lunatic, Paris had that energy down pat.

- Grace - I liked her character though there are some problems that I’ll get to later. But well written and another character who doesn’t immediately fall head over heels in love with Ethan. I liked that she was smart and didn’t trust people just because they asked her to. She had reason to be wary and I appreciated that.

- The stunts - This is a given. The stunts get bigger and more outrageous with every progressing Mission Impossible film and this one was no different. The bike-jumping-off-the-cliff is the one that they’ve pushed the most in their marketing, but there’s one more near the end that’s probably way more stressful.

THE BAD:

- The stunts - The stunts in the film overpowered the plot. There is such a thing as 'too much of a good thing’ and the stunts in this film definitely fall into that category. There was something new happening every few scenes and some of the stunts scenes also just went on for a little too long.

- The Death of Ilsa Faust - This one just drove me mad with rage. She is canonically as good as Ethan, his equal in every way and was set-up as a foil to him, often a little more ruthless than him and willing to make tough decisions even if that meant going against Ethan and his team, people she clearly cares about.

It’s not just that she died, but the way she died. She gets stabbed by Gabriel and actually died alone, by the time Ethan finds her, she’s already gone. She died alone on a fucking bridge and that’s just a damn shame.

To add insult to injury, the way they’ve set-up Grace as an immediate replacement for Ilsa, to the extent that in the very next scene, she’s part of the team as if she had always been there. It’s like the film is telling you that female characters are of little consequence and replaceable. This was also so damn blatant that yet again, it pulled me out of the film. I couldn’t believe that it was handled in such ham-handed way. It also made me dislike Grace on principle.

Her death also stings because Benji and Luther were right there and they’ve been there since the third (fourth?) film and are still alive and kicking. If we were meant to have a meaningful loss for Ethan, why couldn’t it either of the 2 dudes? Also, it is possible to have more than 1 woman on the team. There’s no rule that states that the addition of the new female character must be facilitated by the death of the previous woman on the team. There are SOOOO many films guilty of this (looking at you Pacific Rim 2, which killed off Mako Mori and then replaced her with Liwen Shao)

THE THING THAT GIVES ME PAUSE:

The only thing that gives me pause is the way Ilsa’s death was handled. It’s so badly done that it almost feels like a different film. My theory is that Ilsa is actually alive and will return in the next film. The whole thing was badly handled on purpose.

Now hear me out, early on in the film, Ethan and Ilsa fake her death to get the American intelligence agencies off her back. From the way it’s shot, it’s immediately apparent that she’s not dead. And they reveal very quickly that she’s still alive.

When she reunites with the team, the whole lot of them get into an argument about acceptable losses and that the mission is more important than any member of the team (very subtle-R-us) and then to no one’s surprise, it is Ilsa who goes and talks to Ethan and they have a very awkward hug. Ilsa and Ethan’s romance, thus far, was played with great subtlety. they’re not very touchy-feely with each other. They show their love in how far they’re willing to go for each other. It’s the sexual tension that is the real draw for these two. It’s a strange kind of intimacy which is very different from all of his previous romantic partners.

So we got that awkward scene and by then it is glaringly obvious who’s gonna die. Ilsa has a sword fight with Gabriel, she gets stabbed and then dies. But here’s the thing, every thing I said earlier about how it was handled just doesn’t feel right. McQuarrie is a better writer and director and I expect him do better because he has consistently done better in the last two films.

We are constantly told that The Entity can already see ALL of the possible approaches that Ethan can think of. It can see 10 steps ahead of everyone on the team. So how do you beat a machine that has already seen all of your upcoming moves and put in counter-attacks? You do something it can’t predict. If both Gabriel, Grace and pretty much everyone concerned thinks Ilsa is dead, it gives her the perfect opportunity to blindside The Entity. She’s the piece of the puzzle that The Entity can’t see coming.

Repetition: Gabriel already killed Ethan’s past love interest, it is so damn lazy of the filmmakers to make him kill the current love interest (although Ilsa is so much more than a mere love interest) Not to mention, Gabriel stabs Paris in almost the exact same place as he did Ilsa and she managed to live and even saved Ethan and Grace’s lives.

If however, this is the end of the road for Ilsa Faust, it was a damn shame for such an amazing character to get such an anti-climactic end. It was a disappointing end for a character that had very quickly become one of the best parts of the series.

#mission impossible #mission impossible dead reckoning #mission impossible dead reckoning spoilers #mission impossible 7 spoilers #mission impossible 7 #ethan hunt #ilsa faust #tom cruise #rebecca ferguson #pom klementieff #hayley atwell #vanessa kirby #benji dunn #luther stickell #simon pegg #ving rhames #esai morales

[demifiendrsa]

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | Gameplay Reveal

Introducing Kraven the Hunter

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will launch for PlayStation 5 in Fall 2023.

Screenshots

Latest details via PlayStation Blog

It’s a banner day for Spidey fans! We’re delighted to finally show you the first-ever gameplay of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, the next installment in our original Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise, which will launch in Fall 2023. There’s a lot to unpack about today’s gameplay reveal, so let’s highlight some of the big stuff…

The Great Hunt begins

As many sharp-eared Spidey fans noticed in our announcement trailer in 2021, Kraven the Hunter. This version makes his debut appearance in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and he’s in search of an equal. That spells bad news for the inhabitants of Marvel’s New York including a rogue’s gallery of villains and the Spider-Men, Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Between the start of Kraven’s Great Hunt and an all-new Symbiote threat to Earth-1048, our heroes have their work cut out for them.  

Setting the stage for our gameplay reveal: Kraven’s Hunters, a new enemy faction, are in pursuit of Dr. Curt Connors, AKA The Lizard, and Peter needs to stop him. We kick things off at Connors’ home across the East River in Queens, one of the all-new playable and explorable boroughs we’re introducing in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

Let’s get Symbiotic 

We don’t waste any time: bursting through basement doors is Peter Parker, our original Spider-Man in this story, who needs no introduction. But what he’s wearing perhaps deserves one: he’s donning the highly coveted, iconic, and beloved Black Suit and he’s more than ready for a fight.

Beyond serving looks, our Symbiote-bound hero has some new tricks up his sleeve. We’re no stranger to Spider-Man knocking heads, but never like this: he’s much more aggressive and punches certainly aren’t being pulled. Symbiote tendrils aggrandize Spider-Man’s silhouette, slamming foes against hard surfaces, dealing no mercy to Kraven’s Hunters.  

My advice: get cozy with the L1 button because you’re gonna love it.

The super-popular suit can strike fear in almost anyone who comes face-to-face with it, but Kraven isn’t just anyone and his highly trained Hunters aren’t afraid of a brawl. Fret not! New combat abilities can neutralize our new headstrong opponents with a little finesse. Strike back with aggressive parries to gain the upper-hand, or cast a web to shunt enemies between a hard place and a harder place. You can also activate a classic dodge to get out of danger – but don’t get too comfortable; some attacks can’t simply be dodged and will require a parry to properly evade them!  

Our animators put the work in to deliver a much more impulsive Peter Parker, fitting for the symbiote bonded to his person, without sacrificing his combative finesse. New takedowns humble even the most rugged enemies, and new combat animations push Spider-Man’s limits. I mean, did you see what Spider-Man did to this guy? 

In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, we’re putting respect on the Black Suit and giving it the story it deserves. In this installment, we’re really delving into Peter’s personal relationship with the Symbiote and how it affects those closest to him…

More Miles per hour

Speaking of which, this sequel features not one but TWO playable Spider-Heroes, as Miles Morales returns in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and is a key player in our story. In this demo, Miles is in Harlem hot on Lizard’s tail. Speed is of the essence in many ways than one.

First, get a glimpse at the near-instant switching between both our playable Spider-Men. And if that wasn’t enough, traversal gets a significant speed boost in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2! Cue the Web Wings, which can be deployed by either Spider-Man to move about the city swiftly and urgently. Use wind tunnels between skylines to move with haste and behold the capabilities of the PS5 console’s SSD as you soar above the concrete jungle, zipping past all manner of cars, buildings, and people (and pigeons). If you thought traversal in our first two games was exhilarating, just wait until you experience it firsthand in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

Bringing down the warehouse

After a brief flight across town, Miles has tracked Connors inside the Harlem Fish Market. By the looks of it, Kraven’s hunters are making a move on him, so it’s time to clear them out.

In Marvel’s Spider-Man fashion, players can approach encounters with stealth or fists of fury, or both. Regardless of your approach, there are new gadgets and abilities that complement different playstyles. One of the new gadgets we’re excited about is the Web Line, a new way to sneak around the environment to get the drop on enemies. Cast a line over a couple of Hunters and watch as Spider-Man performs a dual takedown… a Marvel’s Spider-Man first!

Like his mentor before him, Miles Morales also has some new abilities and gadgets at his disposal. On the gadget front, we showed off the Web Grabber, a new gadget that pulls enemies together to an isolated spot. This allows Miles to chain one of his new abilities, the Thunder Burst, unleashing an electrifying ground-pound against a group of foes. You also saw a glimpse of the Chain Lightning ability, which has a shocking radius of effect on any nearby enemies.

Between Peter’s new Symbiote abilities and Miles’ newfound blue bioelectric powers, each Spider-Man has their own unique set of skills that can be upgraded via all-new individual skills tree. Our heroes share technology and train together, too, so we also included a shared Skill Tree that offers parallel upgrades for both.

The Lizard’s in the details

As Miles tracks Lizard through the Fish Market, our environments are sure to activate your Spidey senses: our world is richer, denser and packed with details from particles to improved textures. Lighting also gets an upgrade, casting more dramatic shadows and reflections along walls and pipes; meanwhile spatial 3D audio creates unique soundscapes all around you. Further, we’re upping the immersion in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 with our signature use of the DualSense wireless controller, including a range of haptics and spectacular use of the adaptive triggers.

Whether you’re sneaking through interiors or exploring our city streets, Marvel’s New York is brought to life in ways only possible on PlayStation 5 console.

Be greater together

Working together, the Spider-Men must pursue Lizard and fight the Hunters who seek his capture. Unfortunately for them, Kraven is well-equipped: boats, aerial transports, and weapons are all-eyes on Lizard. The Great Hunt continues along the East River, one of the new areas you can traverse in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and the action is tight: Miles dismantles vehicles in his wake while Peter Parker leads the chase from afar.  

You’ll seamlessly switch between both Spider-Men across a variety of story moments in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. We want players to bask in iconic team-ups elevated by our signature set piece moments, and experience the story from the perspective of each Spider-Man.

Give me what I desire….

There’s no combination of words that can wholly convey how excited we are to finally show you Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 after all this time. We’re excited to give you this first-ever glimpse at what we’ve been working on all these years, and we hope you’re as thrilled as we are.

We know you have been patiently awaiting more information about the game, including when you will be playing it at home. While we can’t confirm a date today, we are on track for Fall 2023, and hope to be able to share a final release date soon. Stay tuned for future updates on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, including edition information and pre-orders.

#Marvel's Spider Man 2 #Marvel's Spider Man #Spider Man PS5 #Spider Man #Marvel #Insomniac Games #Sony Interactive Entertainment #PlayStation Showcase #PlayStation Showcase 2023 #video game #long post

[terrence-silver]

As a lover of the darker Terry Silver vibes myself, do you have any headcanons that you don't often see in the fandom? Do you think he will get any love in the new season? And as a lurker follower, I love your blog and I hope you're doing well!

Sidenote sometimes I like to think of trophys he collects of his 'fallen enemies'. I was thinking it could be business cards of people whose careers he's ruined or something like that.

I don't think there's a point without Terry Silver (and John Kreese). 🤷‍♀️

I mean, the show is literally called Cobra Kai. They're its founders. It's right there, in the title. The series is not called Miyagi-Do, Eagle Fang, The Adventures of Auto Larusso, The Anoush Spinoff Show or The Sordid Teenage Love Polycule. It's Cobra Kai, primarily and everything else second. Terry and John are the entire reason everything in this whole saga came to be in the first place. I think Terry Silver not being showed love or even appearing in Season 6 is literally the biggest blunder the show creators could possibly make and I'll feel very sorry for them if they do.

---

Now, unto those headcanons!

I think Terry Silver collects trophies from fallen enemies too; sure.

Their business cards --- why not.

Lets open our minds though and think of the bigger picture, though:

Maybe even taking it a step further, and it's their actual businesses he collects. Their life's work. The corporations he's tanked are corporations he buys out now that they're bankrupt (thanks to his covert sabotaging) at half price, no less, because the owners are desperate to sell their shares by any means and he's a benefactor here to rid them of their own property (how kind), so Terry Silver owns a whole bunch of franchises he never needed, but ones he feels he's earned nonetheless through his cunning and ingenuity because, to vaguely quote him, in war, in business, in life --- all's fair. That is, when he ain't out there setting them on fire like he did with Mike's furniture store. But, extreme situations require extreme measures and that was indeed an extreme measure, according to Terry, anyway. It's competitive sport and he's winning. He collects rare antiques, weapons, the occasionally gruesome historical artifact, avant garde installations, social points, vintages, old wines, jewelry, cars, mansions, suits, expensive revenue.

Revenue someone else was desperate to buy but he got there first.

He's the man smiling at you at an auction as he willfully outbids you.

Might even come to shake your hands afterwards and wish you better luck next time.

Anything someone else wanted, he has. Anything an enemy used to possess? He will surely acquire and take that too, with double and triple the tenacity, until the enemy has nothing left. Be it an enemy's livelihood. Their business. Their real estate. Their cards. Their money. Their freedom. The respect they garner in society, if any. The teeth from their mouth to embed into a pinkie ring on his finger. Their children. Their husbands. Their wives. Terry Silver's like a great, big hunter and ultimately, it'll all end up displayed on a figurative wall of his achievements and war trophies. Oh, look; he even canonically intended to do something similar with Daniel's own children:

Who's to say Auto Larusso, Miyagi Do, Daniel's own marriage, his social standing, each and every one of his students, every friendship and connection Daniel ever had and his very own sanity wouldn't be next up for the grabs? Who's to say Daniel wouldn't just encounter Terry Silver chatting it up with Lucille Larusso who finds him awfully swell next? Move in to befriend the man own's mother? Why not? What could be lower and more humiliating then one's own parent turning against them? Undoubtedly, from personal experience, Terry can't think of anything else and he relishes in the idea.

It'll look great on Terry's list of collected accolades.

Terry Silver's gonna collect an enemy's very life until there's only ashes left.

Then, he's gonna collect the ashes too.

#terry silver #kk3 #cobra kai #tw; trophy collecting #character analysis #hello beloved lurker! #thank you for coming out of lurking and sending me a wonderful ask! #hope you are doing well too!

[1neverendingstories1]

Doctor Strange 2 Spoilers

Can I just say how much I love the frustratingly static humanity of Stephen Strange and the sheer relatability of his films?

Yeah I know I know they’re actually very complicated films packed with totally new concepts and artistry and reality. But Stephen is so human. He is an arrogant man, built upon a throne of validation and sorrow that he refuses to yield. He’s brilliant, he’s lonely, he’s stubborn, he doesn’t actually change. I haven’t seen him change. “Oh but ‘Stories he abandons the path to healing his hands and becoming a surgeon again! He sacrifices (what’s speculated to be) years of his life dying at the repetitive hands of Dormammu!” Yes that most certainly is a change in lanes but he’s still in the same car; the world around him changed but he didn’t. He’s still arrogant, and stubborn, and lonely, and gentle. He’s shockingly gentle.

I have heard a lot of people use this as a criticism on Stephen’s development. To be fair of course, he is in a superhero movie he should change mid movie into a man people could look up to in order to be rightfully seen as a hero, right? I don’t know. I find his lack of “practical” betterment as it should be. Doctor Strange 1, in my opinion as someone who has no life experience that can be likened to Stephen’s, wasn’t about Stephen becoming a hero, it was about a person letting the escutcheon of vanity bleed and become vulnerable. Preferably for niceness in this case. Because Stephen was already kind, he didn’t need to learn that. He was a surgeon who held peoples lives on the line and refused—refused—to be the one responsible for their detriment. “You want me to screw up my perfect record?” “When I became a doctor, I swore an oath to do no harm. And I have just killed a man! I am not doing that again.”

And after seeing MOM, this really drives the point that he has always shielded people from truly “seeing through him” as The Ancient One would say, and therefore hasn’t actually changed just that much further. He let himself be consumed with the god complex of a rich-successful-surgeon because if he was a god then he wouldn’t fail to save anyone, no one including himself could be unlucky. Like his sister, his sister who died when they were just kids playing on a lake. Who he doesn’t talk about. Who he “failed to save.” “You want to go back to the delusion that you can control anything. Even death.”

At the end of the film, he doesn’t go back. Obviously, it’s a first installment of the new marvel hero franchise. But then we see him in Ragnorkak, and could have, let’s face it, easily “killed” Loki by making him fall into giant monster’s stomach, but instead he talks it out with Thor and helps them find Odin and leaves them be. He only wanted to make sure there wasn’t a threat. Such a simple goal, find the threat (Loki, Thanos, a bullet in a man’s brain) and eliminate it (help Thor and Loki, give up the time stone and die again, rush into emergency surgery). And I don’t have the time to get into him in IW and Endgame, and the affects on his sense of authority and ego shown in the chapel in MOM, and quite frankly I don’t think I’d do it any justice. He held the fate of half the universe with his shaking hands and with the questions of “what if I just looked at one more reality, one more outcome, what would I have found? What if it didn’t have to be that way and I stopped too soon? I caused so much suffering, I know it was worth the survival but should I be forgiven?” I’m still trying to figure out how that would be for him.

Though, maybe it’s comparable to how he was before. Questions he might’ve had before we met him. “If I had just said no to the lake would Donna be alive? Should I be forgiven for failing to save her? If I save other’s lives, would I still have to feel guilty? Would I feel better? Would they be better if I helped?”

And then we see him in NWH. He sees Peter hurting, in need of help, this kid has his future threatened and needs it fixed, and there’s no one else to do that than Stephen. His goal was so simple. Help Peter. Fix it, for the kid, because he’s good and he deserves it. Stephen was prepared to forget Peter, that means Stephen wouldn’t get praise or gratitude he could appreciate from Peter. He was trying to be kind, and he was gentle. But then the spell messes up, and he’s stern and stubborn, and acting all knowing like a god scoffing at a mortals pleadings for a different judgement. And then Stephen has to help Peter, the only way he knows how, destruction. He’s the same as he’s always been.

And now MOM, where his only goal, the entire movie, was to help America Chavez. To protect this kid, not to fail her when she needed help, when she had no other options than to ask him. “Well I could help but so could 50 other people.” “Come on Wong. Hasn’t he been through enough?” Stephen did everything he could think of to protect her, even messing with pizza poppa because he harassed her about the food. He was increasingly gentle with her. She was scared, Stephen could definitely understand the feeling and Wong telling Stephen that America reminds him of a younger Stephen, kind of makes her feel like family. Something Stephen has been afraid of from the beginning with Christine, and after his sister, being vulnerable, taking care and being taken care of. The most dangerous thing Stephen can imagine; happiness.

Stephen doesn’t really change all that much to me. To me he’s the same man from the moment we met him, until perhaps when he fixes his watch with his hands. Not his magic tying a tie for a wedding that is self induced torture because he failed to be the man Christine needed. His hands, his scarred, still shaking hands, fixing a watch he chose to keep broken so he never forgot his shortcomings. Put it in a box: the threat of tempting what ifs. “What if I had opened up more? What if I had really went back to my old life? What if I missed the reality where I didn’t have to leave for five years and could’ve been with Christine?”

I love Stephen, he’s so human that he’s annoying. I am aware he has many faults, and I’m not saying anyone has to like him or agree with me. I just happen to think he’s neat. Or maybe I’m just a marvel narcissist apologist.

#if this makes no sense I’m sorry I just wanted to write down my jumble of thoughts because no one else I know has watched MOM #I would like to say for the record I have head cannoned him having a sister for y e a r s and I felt like a prophet when he mentioned her #doctor strange #stephen strange #character analysis #doctor strange 2 #doctor stephen strange #doctor strange multiverse of madness #doctor strange multiverse of madness spoilers #dsmom #dsmom spoilers #doctor strange 2 spoilers #america chavez #peter parker #loki layfeson #christine palmer #thor odinson #spider man no way home #smnwh #marvel #mcu #marvel thoughts #marvel rant #thanks my loves #marvel wong #wong marvel #dr strange #dr strange multiverse of madness #dr strange mom #dr strange mom spoilers

[thealmightyemprex]

Disney Month:The Love Bug 1997

For the 17th installment in Disney month we shall look at the TV movie reboot/sequel to the classic Herbie franchise ,The Love Bug

In this 1997 TV movie Herbie,a living Volkswagon Beetle finds himself with Hank Cooper(Bruce Campbell ) a mechanic and former race driver with his own insecrurities and a bit of jealously over all the attention the car gets,ignoring is oddball artist friend Roddy Martel(Kevin J O Connor) telling him the car is alive ,meanwhile a former owner of Herbie,the pompus race car driver Simon Moore III (John Hannah ) makes contact with Herbies creator  Dr. Gustav Stumpfel (Harold Gould ) to make his own living car ,the feral Horace

The Herbie series,which follows the adventures of this living car ,was iconic back in the day,one of Disneys few big franchises (Which I know sounds insane now ,considering the MCU...Which this has a connection to.....I'll get to that ),though now is seen as a curiosity ,a forgotten relic of a bygone time,or just dismissed as stupid.I will confess I am not a Herbie expert ,I have only seen three films (This one,the original Love Bug ,and Herbie Fully Loaded ) but I am a Herbie defender,I actually think the premise is cute despite having a disdain for cars . I think the original Love Bug is a classic and while my memories are hazy ,I enjoyed Fully Loaded as a kid .But What are my thoughts on this film.....Honestly I really enjoyed it

Now I have seen some lukewarm thoughts on this film dismissing it as only noteworthy cause the lead is Bruce Campbell and if you know me well you might be scoffing and saying "Oh they only like it cause they like Bruce Campbell"....I cant lie and say thats NOT a factor,because it is.I am a Bruce Campbell fanatic ,I adore Evil Dead, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr ,Bubba Ho Tep ,Man With The Screaming Brain ,My Name is Bruce ,his performances in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ,Maniac Cop ,Black Friday ,Lois and Clark ,his cameos in Sam Raimis Spiderman franchise ,I could keep going .Point is he is one of my favorite actors,having old school movie star charisma /good looks, a character actors sensibilities and expert comedic slapstick timing on par with the old masters like Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd .I am a fan and as a fan it is fun to see him get to be in a goofy Disney comedy as opposed to usual horror fare he is well known ,but not just in a "Tee hee aint it wacky to see Ash talk to Herbie " way,I think he is a legit good choice for the lead,cause he is charmy,got his trademark snark ,but can do the vulnerability and make you believe that he cares for this car ,cause of course he can , this guy fought his HAND in a movie ,he can definately make me belive he has a friendship with a living car .So yeah it is a factor ,but its because he is such a good actor I think he is an asset......But I dont think he is the only asset

So I kind of find it baffeling people looked at this and dismissed it because it has so many THINGS that make it stand out....Including the fact the director is Peyton Reed,who has gone on to direct THE ANT MAN trilogy ,and he kind of brings the same sensibility he brought to Ant Man to this ,which I can only describe as lovingly silly. Like the movie knows its audience will find it silly ,and while it acknowledges it ,it loves it and embraces it .It pokes fun at some cliches but it also embraces some,and because some things are played sincere,they also are really funny

The cast is great ,not just Campbell ,as the film is full of character actors .We get some fun small parts from Burton Gilliam and Jeff Garlin ,and highly enjoyable supporting performances by Clerance Williams III ,Harolg Gould ,Dana Gould , and Micky Dolenz .Alexandra Wentworth is a good love tinterest,playing with some tropes ,and John Hannah is a very entertaining weasily pompous villain .My favorite character is Roddy played by Kevin J O Connor who is this artist who is able to communicate with Herbie ,being very lovable as wel as very funny .Also Dean Jones,star of the original film reprises his role of Jim Douglas ,and even though he isnt in the film alot its fun to see him here

I adore Horace the evil car ,I like that he is an extention of Simons evil and is a feral monster ,but has a connection with Simon .I think the production team did a really good job giving menace to this car

My only complaint is it feels like Herbie himself gets sidelined ,but the film still works.

Overall,this is such a fun underrated gem and not a bad intro to Herbie,though personally I think ones should watch the original film first

@ariel-seagull-wings @goodanswerfoxmonster @the-blue-fairie @angelixgutz @princesssarisa @themousefromfantasyland @amalthea9 @filmcityworld1 @marquisedemasque

[bedlamsbard]

Choose violence ask game: 12, 19

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

okay, I said Howard Stark the last time I did this, so lemme think for a moment about who counts as an unpopular character (in a fandom this big, everyone's an unpopular character in some corner of it) --

I actually do quite like Odin; I think he's a very complex character who makes a lot of mistakes, which in the very black-and-white realm of fandom can be hard to cope with, especially because a lot of those mistakes are in his parenting practices. And that's fine if that's something you (general you, not you specifically) can't get over, but it's really interesting to look at in context now that we've been dealing with these characters and this universe for the past thirteen years (since Thor). At this point, I think it's a mistake to look at Odin in context of his behavior in any single film -- from a post-Ragnarok perspective, his overreaction to Thor's behavior on Jotunheim in Thor really seems like it's his Hela issues coming up again, for example, and what seems unhinged out of context suddenly makes sense. The Thor films (and to some extent the Loki series, as an extension of those, and the appearance of Thor characters elsewhere, like Sif in AOS) really suffer from the fact that they're the most inconsistent across the entire saga; Marvel has never been able to figure out how to deal with Asgard or Asgardians and it shows. People's POVs not only on the films, but the characters, are also more polarized here than anywhere else in the fandom, which I think really shows with Odin. But I like complexity and I like the puzzle piece aspect of the MCU.

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

I try not to get ashamed about anything in fandom, I'm already in fandom. I do admit to some "wait...MARVEL?" about it all, especially because Marvel's the franchise that gets most often dunked on elsewhere in fandom and it can get really frustrating to be on the other end of. in terms of individual installments -- y'all, I have SUCH mixed feelings about Natasha in IM2, because on the one hand, boobs, and on the other hand, also boobs. there were Choices made, I do think they make sense in context of the film, but on the other hand those choices aren't made in a vacuum (did we need the Happy ogling Natasha while she changes in the car scene? no.). but also ScarJo is very pretty and I am very shallow. (don't come at me about the hair, I love the IM2 hair.)

#typeoneninja #meme response #bedlam watches the mcu

[rookie-critic]

Fast X (2023, dir. Louis Leterrier) - review by Rookie-Critic

Here we are... at the beginning of the end of the road. This, for better and for worse, might be the fastest and most furious of the films to date in the sense that you are being constantly bombarded with cameos, callbacks, crazy action, and cars for the entire 2-1/2 hour runtime. This means that anyone who isn't already familiar with the intricacies of the character relations of the franchise at this point will most assuredly be lost during a good portion of the film. Which isn't necessarily a knock against it, what do you expect from the tenth (eleventh if you count Hobbs & Shaw, which you should) installment in a franchise. We're neck deep and sinking at this point. Chances are if you're still with it this deep into the story, you know what you're getting yourself into and you're in it for the long haul, and I most certainly am. As a new convert into the Fast & Furious cult, I love these things. They're dumb, largely nonsensical, and overly sentimental to a fault, but those are all pieces of this messy web of a puzzle that endear the fans to it, myself included. Fast X is no different, it gives you everything you've come to love about and expect from the franchise, but as far as where it ranks amongst everything, I'd put it more towards the middle of the pack. Yes, it is very fun and I will talk about the things that I liked in a bit, but it also has a lot of issues that are impossible to ignore.

The first, and biggest, detriment to the film is the Justin Lin-shaped hole in the director's chair. Longtime Fast & Furious director Justin Lin (who directed Tokyo Drift, 4, 5, 6, and 9) takes a backseat in this one, opting to just be a co-writer on the film, and the style of the film suffers greatly as a result. This film just looks strange. Obvious and poorly constructed green screen backgrounds are used in places they have no business being in, lines of dialogue have been noticeably dubbed in during post-production, and the entire vibe of the visual style feels very non-Fast & Furious. It just doesn't mesh visually with any of the previous films. Also, and this is a problem I had with the eighth film, too, they never really give a good reason as to why Brian (Paul Walker's character) isn't there. Yes, I understand that Paul Walker is dead in real life, but Brian is 100% still very much alive in-universe, and everything the fans know about who he is as a character knows that he wouldn't be sitting by and allowing this to happen to the people that he loves. In F9, the story of the film allowed a pathway for a very reasonable and believable excuse for his absence, and this film just didn't have it. Fast X also continues the time-honored tradition of this franchise having next to no clue about how to use Mia (Jordana Brewster's character) effectively. She's almost always a part of the top-billed cast, and she's almost always relegated to a glorified cameo appearance. Outside of the first film, 4, 5, and 9 are the only ones that have been able to use Mia effectively (I would like to point out that those are all Lin-directed entries). She's an interesting character, and I'm tired of seeing her get sidelined. All of this on top of the fact the the story of this movie feels a lot like setup for the actual endgame that will happen in the next two films and not like an actual film story in its own right.

However, even with all of that, the movie is still insanely fun, and a lot of this is due to Jason Momoa. The villains in this franchise haven't ever been the strong points of each installment. Most of the time, they're are a template of a stereotypical, hyperbolic bad guy archetype with little personality and next to no motive. Momoa's character, on the other hand, has a motive and more personality than this movie even knows what to do with. He's Marvel's Kingpin mixed with Heath Ledger's Joker à la Fast & Furious and it's a pretty marvelous sight to behold. He injects so much fun and humor into the film that we might have lost otherwise as a result of the central family being split up for the entire film. We get Tyrese's Roman Pierce bringing the comedic relief to his sequences, and in the scenes that focus more on what Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto is up to, Momoa steps in to pick up the slack (not to mention the pieces of the film following John Cena's Jakob Toretto, who fits like a glove into this franchise). On that note, the segmented nature of this film is handled way better than any time this kind of thing has happened in previous installments. We're following three or four storylines at any given moment in the film, and, for me, it never once felt disjointed. We also get some classic Fast & Furious car-action setpieces (including one truly inspired sequence involving a gigantic bomb rolling its way towards the Vatican) that fully deliver on the promise these movies have set up for the fans. It's not without some heavy issues, but I gotta say, there's something about these movies that is just infectious, and even the worst installments have redeeming qualities that keep me coming back for more.

Score: 7/10

Only in theaters.

#Fast X #Fast & Furious #F&F #Fast and Furious #Louis Leterrier #Vin Diesel #Michelle Rodriguez #Jason Momoa #Tyrese Gibson #Tyrese #Chris “Ludacris” Bridges #Chris Bridges #Ludacris #John Cena #Nathalie Emmanuel #Sung Kang #Jordana Brewster #Scott Eastwood #Daniela Melchior #Alan Ritchson #Brie Larson #Helen Mirren #Jason Statham #Charlize Theron #Rita Moreno #Joaquim de Almeida #Luis Da Silva #film review #movie review #2023 films

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

2023 Movie Journey #6: Ant-Man And The Wasp

ant-man and the wasp. if you read my previous review, you know that i saw this nearly a year ago, and am therefore working off really old notes to review it now, because i didn’t fill in my thoughts at the time. i took less notes for this one, and i’m not really sure why, other than maybe my need to rush right from watching it to the theater to see quantumania?

so, i had literally nothing to say about the core characters who returned during most of the movie, except to note that the story is a ‘classic Part Two disaffected group’ but weirder since it happened offscreen. and what i meant by that is that i don’t know if it’s an actual trope, with a name, but i certainly feel like it’s a trope to establish a group--in a movie, or tv show, or book, whatever--and then in a future installment create major division between them, so that the drama is about how they’ll repair the damage and come back together. 

tv shows do this a lot, presumably because the benefit of successfully building a found family for viewers to love is that when they then shatter, viewers are invested and care about the plot that follows. the problem i had with this movie doing it is that the rift happened offscreen, between movies!! i watched the first one, then this one the next day, and had no fucking idea what the characters were talking about even when they did discuss what had happened. 

that, of course, is why i’m not a marvel fan and never could be, because even when they do make movies and shows i like...even when they make the rare movie like black panther that i love and could watch over and over...their core principle of trying to FORCE me to care about other parts of their ‘universe’ and punishing me if i don’t, by withholding pieces of stories about characters i like, grates against my stubborn nature and makes me even more certain i want nothing to do with whatever it is they’re trying to push on me. 

so i had to google stuff in order to even be able to follow along with the gap between ant-man and this movie, and @actuallylukedanes​ very helpfully explained stuff to me, since they are familiar with more of the mcu than i am. setting the in-group conflict up the way this movie did meant that they were able to sort of reset scott and hope back to a place that was similar to their dynamic in the first movie: resentment on her side and justifications and trying to be a team on his. but i can’t say i enjoyed it as much or felt it worked as well this time, with the inciting incidents happening offscreen (for me). you can’t expect me to be emotionally invested in your characters if you’re leaping right to estrangement without showing me the conflict...cuz that’s where the emotion is!

anyway. lol. we meet a new character in this movie, and it felt to me while watching it like she was meant to be set up for future appearances, the same way they insist on establishing new characters now by first inserting them into existing franchises. but in her case, we never see her again--i just checked and she’s meant to be part of a ‘team’ movie eventually. which is something, i guess, but so many of those get made now as a way to randomly throw characters together (and not just in marvel world!) that i definitely don’t assume they’ll be as interesting as movies that center on a single character. plus her centrality to this movie just made me expect that she was now part of ant-man’s world and it was weird when she wasn’t referenced in the next one.

however, i did at least find her interesting! my immediately-after-watching notes on her were: ah, ava. what is it about british women that makes them so perfect for unsettling, eerie characters? all i could think when we meet her is Big Drusilla Energy, and i feel like it’s not a coincidence that media going for ‘spooky unbalanced antagonist’ so often chooses ‘young waif-thin british woman with dark hair’ as their goal. i don’t know what it means, but it works.

there were too many car chases for me in this one. i am notoriously not a fan of car chases in general, and i don’t actually remember them from this movie now--but since literally my entire note about it was ‘too many car chases.’ as its own little paragraph, clearly it stood out to me at the time. i think my problem is that i want the action in action movies to make sense in a basic, ‘fitting the world’ kind of way. so, for example, it makes sense to me for the ant-man movies to have action scenes about heists, and size-shifting, and insects. 

it doesn’t make sense to me for them to have car chases. the fast and the furious makes sense for car chases! they can have as many as they want and i support it! but instead, since movies about car chases are popular, every other movie now has to have car chases, and it’s dumb. indiana jones is an archaeologist! unless he’s literally finding an ancient car, he doesn’t need a car chase scene! gah.

speaking of irrelevant things, it felt like there was really nothing for bobby cannavale to do in this movie, now that he and scott weren’t in opposition. like, i loved the end of ant-man with them awkwardly getting along and uniting behind cassie, but if he’s not getting in scott’s way and as an average cop he also doesn’t possess specialized skills to help him...he’s just a guy barging in on hugs, which seems like a weird reason to keep him involved in the story. i may not have cared about him in the first movie, but at least he existed for reasons. 

i only had one more note from this movie, and it was the following:

michelle pfeiffer!! in my world, michelle pfeiffer is a bright light that makes all things better, because despite there being no social media in the early ‘90s, i definitely developed a parasocial relationship with her as a tiny child.

and that is true. so she was easily one of my favorite parts of this movie. she and michael douglas work together well, which is great, and tbh it’s also great that as hope’s previously-missing mom, she’s only about a decade younger than her costar, so once they’re reunited we get to watch them be a mature couple. i’ll never get tired of that in media cuz it’s still really rare, and i enjoy it way more than, say, giving an older actor a ‘still in her prime’ love interest. 

despite the complaining notes i took, i did like this one, but it’s hard to say if i liked it more or less than the original. i’m not sure i could pick a favorite. on the one hand, the original has a simpler story and is easy to love; on the other, this one has MICHELLE PFEIFFER. but it also focuses so much on ava when her arc never reappears after this, and that kind of makes it feel like a waste of time pulling focus from my faves here. very much a trade-off because sadly i can’t just insert michelle pfeiffer into the first one and have everything i want. 

even if it wasn’t better than the original, though, (and realistically, how many sequels are?) i enjoyed watching it. this movie’s heart did stick close to where the first one was coming from, so it feels the same, which is cool to get in a series. 

more than any marvel franchise i’ve seen thus far, the ant-man movies seem to understand that underneath their plot choices and cgi and crossovers, what can make them beloved is the ability to make characters feel very specific, and then keep those characters familiar every time they bring them back. that’s why i was  happy to see them again.

#ant-man and the wasp #2023 movie journey #michelle pfeiffer #michael douglas

[femtober]

FEMTOBER BLOG: Centennials & Strikes

What do Sherlock Holmes fighting dinosaurs and French women having sex with cars have in common?

And what is Freddy Krueger's connection to Halloweentown?

Every Femtober, I try to include a category or two that's relevant to the events of the year so far. The double WGA/SAG-AFTRA Strike is already unprecedented, but for it to happen on the centennial of two much-maligned studios is deeply ironic.

This year, I watched two movies from non-AMPTP studios, and two movies from Disney and Warner Brothers. Unfortunately due to the inherent lack of women directing for studios, finding a good match for Disney and WB was difficult, but the indie studio films also presented an interesting challenge.

Though women-directed films at Disney and WB are among the highest grossing of all time, the number of films women are directing for these studios is very limited. And on top of that, horror is an even smaller number, particularly in Disney’s family-friendly catalog.

I wrote previously about my Warner Brothers pick Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, which I had already seen. While the title of the film is pretty telling, it does ultimately feel like a bit of a franchise killer. Rachel Talalay really wanted to make something different, and she sure as hell did it, but at the cost of lessening some of the horror of the franchise. It feels very meta, but it's really not until New Nightmare that meta horror really takes shape. The overall story is lackluster, but it's a worthy experiment into a new approach to the genre that's largely unappreciated.

My Disney pick, Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, was also a rewatch but one I had not seen in quite some time. I can't say I really have fond memories of Halloweentown II specifically, but I do remember Disney Channel playing the commercial for it constantly.

What was most surprising to me about this DCOM was how scary it actually was. I initially struggled between choosing this movie, Hocus Pocus 2, and Ravenous. They all would be rewatches, but Hocus Pocus 2 is just bad, and as much as I love Ravenous it's already been in 2 previous Femtobers. I was worried listing Halloweentown II as a horror was a bit of a copout, but it's definitely horror by way of kid camp. There's something Tim Burton-esque about the first and second installments, and in general the Halloween DCOMs always tended to give me the creeps. It wasn't until I was in high school that I rewatched Don't Look Under the Bed, which scared the crap out of me as a kid.

For having such a tame reputation, Disney has some surprisingly effective scares. On top of that, the thing that really struck me about Halloweentown II is how uncomfortable the movie is. Kids are familiar with the joy and colors of the first movie, and in this one they've been replaced by bleak gray and monotone. It's definitely unsettling.

I have to admit, for my non-struck studio picks I wanted to be as meme-y as possible. The idea of putting an Asylum film in the same category as a Palme D'Or winner from Neon was hilarious to me.

Unfortunately for me, the meme wasn't really worth it. Asylum's take on Sherlock Holmes from Rachel Lee Goldenberg is simply dreadful (so much so that I turned it off after 30 minutes - OOPS!). Which really makes me scratch my head, because while Goldenberg has directed the Asylum films Sherlock Holmes and Sunday School Musical, she's also directed the very charming HBO Max film Unpregnant. Hopefully that means she's broken out of the Asylum, so to speak, because it was a really great film! (Incidentally, she also directed one of my all time favorite Lifetime Christmas Movies, Love at the Christmas Table - also a very good movie!)

Titane is a whole different beast. I wasn't sure what to expect; everything I had seen and everyone I had talked to warned me that Titane was not for the weak of heart - or stomach. But, I heard similar things about Raw, which I didn't find unpalatable at all.

If I may go on a bit of a tangent, I feel like with horror, oftentimes there's kind of an all-or-nothing stance on what we can watch. If you've seen one you've seen them all. Well in any film, but I think in particular horror, there are things that some people just don't want to see, for one reason or another. Maybe this isn't "normal" behavior, but I'm not really that concerned about spoilers a lot of the time, so I tend to seek out the content of a movie before watching. Too many times I've been triggered by something I just didn't want to see. So maybe it's okay to normalize that idea a little bit. Horror is visceral and scary, but it's also fun, you know?

That being said, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on what to expect from Titane. The plot, however, threw me for a bit of a loop. Everything I had seen about it really only focused on the first 20 minutes, when the real story unfolds after that. Titane isn't the best film I've ever watched, but how exhilarating is it to find a movie that goes in a direction you never thought possible?

I also find it interesting that because Titane is regarded as being so transgressive, none of the plot really ended up getting spoiled for me, because I never really saw anybody talking about it. Titane is distributed by Neon, and along with A24, those were the indie studios I sought out to complete this category. And you would think that indie studios would have a few more titles to choose from directed by women. Of course, this is just a sampling of two studios, but I did feel a bit wanting by the selection, particularly with A24. I can't help but feel a little discouraged that even the indie studios are becoming "mainstream" in their demographics.

There are plenty of indie horror films directed by women, but quality and availability tend to make these films suffer. I'm not so sure there's an easy fix besides: let women make more movies. Hopefully the success of Barbie, and the potential success of Wish and The Marvels will move the needle a bit.

Other Disney female-directed horror films: • Clock, directed by Alexis Jacknow • Ravenous, directed by Antonia Bird • Hocus Pocus 2, directed by Anne Fletcher

Other Warner Brothers female-directed horror/horror-adjacent films: • Red Riding Hood, directed by Catherine Hardwicke • Embrace of the Vampire, directed by Anne Goursaud • The Banana Splits Movie, directed by Danishka Esterhazy • Daphne & Velma, directed by Suzi Yoonessi

#femtober #femtober 2023 #femtober 6 #femtober6 #female directed films #female filmmakers #film blog #movie trivia #titane #nightmare on elm street #halloweentown 2 #female filmmaker friday #tw // flashing #women in film #women in horror

[panosatthemovies]

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One continues the string of successful entries in the franchise, which started with the 4th sequel, Ghost Protocol, more than a decade ago. It's as if Tom Cruise never stopped running throughout these years, and somehow these films have managed to fill the gap left by the Bond franchise after the 007 films stopped being the entertaining, over-the-top, crowd-pleasing adventures they used to be in the 80s. I mean, half of the chase scenes in M:I7 are lifted from the Bond films, including the For Your Eyes Only inspired yellow Citroen-Fiat car chase in Rome or the diving off a cliff with a parachute that borrows from both The Spy Who Loved Me and GoldenEye. Add to that the train scenes from Octopussy (and later Skyfall), and you basically have a love letter to the Bond pictures. But isn't that what the original "Mission: Impossible" TV show in the 60s was anyway? But, even if this film continues to provide thrills with its set pieces, the plotting and the need for long exposition scenes are dragging it down a bit this time around. The film is needlessly over two and a half hours long and leaves audiences exhausted when they should be "hanging" excited from the edge of their seats at the final scenes, which are some of the best. But I shouldn't really complain about Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie wanting to give us such a good time at the movies. They succeed in doing so, and we should all be grateful that they keep on giving us these pure adrenaline doses for the masses and I'm personally looking forward to the final instalment next year.

B+

Trailer: https://youtu.be/avz06PDqDbM

#mission: impossible #dead reckoning part 1 #MI7 #M:I7 #tom cruise #james bond #for your eyes only #Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One #film review #movie review #review #movie #film #christopher mcquarrie

[lauralot89]

so I saw Halloween Ends and what absolute shit

spoilers of course

so you’d think the final installment of the Halloween franchise would be about Laurie and Michael squaring off, right?  like that would make sense and be the driving force of the plot and not the last ten minutes of the movie?

if I were John Carpenter, I simply would not waste ninety percent of my screen time on Wannabe Michael Myers, who doesn’t even become the new Michael Myers to tease a new franchise with him and Allison or some shit, he just kills himself to fuck with Laurie in the most pointless way

so for some reason in this movie, everyone blames Laurie for the people Michael has killed, saying she “taunted” him or some shit, when a) she was a teenager doing absolutely nothing in Halloween 1978 and b) Halloween Kills established that Michael wasn’t even after her in the 2018 continuity, he only came near her because the doctor DROVE HIM THERE TO PROVOKE A CONFRONTATION

like, maybe if this were right after the events of Halloween Ends and Allison was still coping with her parents’ deaths having just happened, her being such a bitch to Laurie might have worked, but here it’s completely ridiculous.  like Allison has a scene where she screams at Laurie about being obsessed with death, when in the years since Halloween Kills, Laurie has moved out of her fortress house into a suburb and STARTED FUCKING CELEBRATING HALLOWEEN, SHE’S MOVED ON SO MUCH, WHAT THE FUCK

also Halloween Kills was completely pointless to this whole trilogy, the only thing it did that matters is kill Judy Greer, all that Evil Dies Tonight bullshit had no impact on anything and neither did the shit about Michael’s sister’s window, because the Myers house has been demolished offscreen between movies

so this guy accidentally kills a child he’s babysitting the year after Halloween Kills and becomes an outcast and Allison falls in love with him for some reason but then he, a grown adult man, gets beat up and pushed off a bridge by MARCHING BAND HIGH SCHOOLERS, THE LEAST THREATENING GROUP KNOWN TO HUMANITY, and ends up in a storm drain where Michael lives now I guess and Michael looks into his eyes and that transfers the Murderousness to him but I guess not the invulnerability, it’s so bad.  It’s SO BAD.

so then he somehow overpowers MICHAEL FUCKING MYERS and takes his mask and murders some people and it’s stupid and I don’t care, I came here for Michael, what is this shit

and Allison, who has been through numerous traumas, sees nothing at all off-putting about this guy who jumps to violence at the drop of a hat and keeps saying ominous shit, and plans to run away with him, and he shows up at Laurie’s house to kill Laurie because Jamie Lee Curtis has EVIL DETECTION POWERS, and then Allison is about to come in so he slits his own throat so Allison will think Laurie murdered him and hate her except that plot lasts for half a second and then Allison just gets over it and is like “you were right about him” with absolutely no proof

and like, Laurie slits Michael’s throat?  and then he starts to choke her while he’s bleeding out, and it’s played like they’re both going to die even though once he passes out/dies, he’d just let go, but no, Allison has to save her

and then they fucking STRAP MICHAEL’S CORPSE TO THE ROOF OF THEIR CAR AND LEAD A FUCKING PROCESSION THROUGH TOWN UNTIL THEY SHRED HIS BODY IN A JUNKYARD’S GIANT INDUSTRIAL GRINDER THING

IT’S SO BAD

IT’S SO BAD

also stop giving Jamie Lee Curtis atrocious fucking wigs, just let her have short hair like H20 did, I beg you

also also they didn’t even bother to give the lady playing the dead kid’s mom a new outfit for her scene that’s supposed to be years later, she still had finger waves in her hair and was clearly wearing her Halloween costume with a jacket over it, or are we supposed to believe she did a Miss Havisham and never took the costume off

#Laura watches Halloween Ends #Halloween Ends spoilers #save your money kids

[the-cat-chat]

September 16, 2023

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

With the price on his head ever increasing, legendary hit man John Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Japan to Berlin.

JayBell: John Wick is back!!! Everyone knows it. I've said it a thousand times, I love a good action movie. I love long, complicated, extended fight choreography. I love a hidden underworld, secret society. So of course I love the John Wick movies.

Even though this movie makes four, I honestly don't think they decrease in quality at all like so many franchises suffer with. The time, care, and attention to detail surrounding the fight choreography is so easily noticeable as a viewer. It never feels like a simple replication of the previous installments, even though they bring back some of the John Wick staples (a fight in a crowded club/party, fights that utilize stairs, fights with cars and motorcycles, the use of dogs in fights, and of course, the use of stationary products to maim opponents). Even bringing back themes people loved in the last movies, they still find ways to bring them back in creative and new ways.

Compared to the first movie, I can see how much their budget has increased. The quality of the shots, the cinematography, the locations (we're going to Japan, the desert, to France), and even just the level of stunts they can do--all of these little things work to make the movie a step up.

It's not a perfect movie of course. As much as I love Keanu Reeves, I still get caught up on his sometimes stilted delivery of John Wick's lines. But no one else could have made John Wick the character he is other than Keanu, so I can forgive him. I also don't care much for the Bowary King's character. He's just kind of there in a way. I have to admit I was also slightly disappointed that we had another dog as an assistant to an assassin since I felt we already got that with Halle Berry. But some other cool characters like Caine and the Japanese father and daughter made up for it.

My favorite scenes: the Japanese Continental fight, the overhead shot in that one building (really unique), and playing Frogger around the Arc de Triomphe

Hopefully we'll get another John Wick movie in the future. I'm still hoping for a John Wick Goes to the Beach movie (John Wick in Space? jk jk...unless?)

Rating: 7.5/10 cats 🐈

Anzie: Not to be a loser. But even though any John Wick starts at least 6 Cats, I do have to be a loser and say this one might not be my absolute favorite. But it’s hard to beat the first one bc that one was just soo cool and awesome that it’s hard to top that in follow up.

That being said- as usual the lighting and color of scenes and actual set off of the scenes were very cool. The Japanese Continental almost gave like chill rave vibes??? Don’t ask me I don’t know how my brain works either.

And letssss pllssssss talk about Bill Skarsguard. He’s Boss Baby. I said it. And his outfits. Need I say more. No. But the accent. Ugggg. Ya know not like I could do better but it hurt. Like Pepe Le Pew. He just wasn’t giving French boy vibes other than his outfits and his ponies. But I love that he just walks around places all day scheming in between outfit changes.

The tracker guy thooo, too much. A bit of a freak-azoid. But whatever. Like I get why he’s there and he’s got a dog. And a moral??? (Even tho he’s an assassin) bc he needs a specific amount of money blah blah blah. But guy’s a weird one.

The duel was realllly cool and dramatic and it was my favorite of this whole movie. Especially the arrival to the duel. I felt it in my soul and body. I really think it would’ve been a move to have like Tylenol or Advil be a sponsor for this movie.

My biggest peeve- and why I kinda disliked this movie the most from them all- not onlllllly bc of Charon’s fate- but I really feel like I only remember John Wick saying like 2 words. And I get it’s his thing, he’s so quiet and inward and stuff. But like for reals it didn’t feel like he said anything at all in a 3 hour movie. So it just feels like he was less of the main character then in the other movies. But whateverssss. What do I know??

Rating: 7/10 Cats 🐈

#movie #movie review #film #film review #john wick chapter 4 #keanu reeves #john wick

[fuckyeahvanhalen86-95]

"Bill & Ted Face the Music" was one of my favorite movies that I saw during lockdown. I saw many better films too, but there was something about the eternal optimism and good nature of William S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) that made them feel like the kind of heroes we needed during a pandemic, one of the weirdest and most uncertain situations many of us have ever experienced.

Stuck at home for far longer than natural, it was comforting to hang out with old screen pals in lieu of our real-life friends. This may be why the era of COVID-19 also saw the unlikely phenomenon of people binge-watching old episodes of "Columbo." Perhaps there isn't too much difference between Bill and Ted and Peter Falk's shambling detective. The movies and the show are set in sunny California; the stakes are low; and the protagonists are unassuming, friendly, and most importantly of all, kind. 

Aside from the cozy factor, the third installment of the "Bill & Ted" franchise also came as a surprise because it wasn't sh**e. Released almost 30 years after "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey," it was remarkably consistent in tone and spirit to the original movies, obviously a labor of love for everyone involved. Unlike the embarrassing spectacle of watching Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in their mid-50s reprising their roles as Lloyd and Harry in "Dumb and Dumber To," Winter and Reeves slipped back into their old characters with ease, making it seem totally believable that these were the same dudes who once rocked out in their garage as Wyld Stallyns and dreamed of jamming with Eddie Van Halen. If only they could have persuaded the legendary guitar hero to appear in the movie...

EDDIE VAN HALEN'S INFLUENCE ON BILL & TED

A few years before everyone was rocking out to "Bohemian Rhapsody" in their cars and shouting things like "Schwing!" and "Party on!" you had the air guitar from "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." Unlike the ironic knowingness of "Wayne's World," there was an innocent exuberance to the gesture, which Bill and Ted used as an expression of happiness, agreement, or triumph.

While Bill and Ted may have been the ones who helped spread the air guitar into popular culture beyond rock music, they were by no means the inventors. The history of the air guitar can be traced as far back as the 1860s when pretending to play an invisible instrument was regarded as a sign of mental illness, while Joe Cocker miming the opening notes of a tune onstage at Woodstock in 1969 is regarded as the "formative moment" of the gesture.

Skip forward another 20 years and the boys' use of the air guitar is clearly inspired by their taste in music. As Southern Californian lads growing up in the '80s, we're talking AC/DC, ZZ Top, Kiss, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Frank Zappa, and, of course, Van Halen. Alex Winter explained (via Rolling Stone):

"The image that Eddie had runs through all of our movies. Bill and Ted are supposed to be into hard rock. But were these sunny, optimistic California guys. And that's really embodied by Eddie Van Halen. We talk about Iron Maiden a lot, but I think we would have come up listening to Van Halen and the positivity that was infused in the music. [...] ​​And I always thought of Eddie's incredible physicality with the air guitar stuff, and just the way these guys would have seen him and how that would have impacted them."

EDDIE VAN HALEN WAS APPROACHED FOR ALL THREE BILL & TED MOVIES

It's always a thing of pure joy watching a musician with absolute mastery of their instrument, both fully in command while also completely surrendering themselves to it. If you watch a video of Eddie Van Halen performing his epic solo of "Eruption," you'll see the motion that Bill and Ted mimic so often in the movies: Yanking the fret skywards, fingers flying along the fret as if wrangling a powerful beast, perhaps a Wyld Stallyn. Yet for all his virtuosity, Eddie Van Halen was a modest, laidback character in contrast to David Lee Roth, the extroverted, pouting, poodle-permed frontman of the band.

Van Halen was so important to the vibe of the "Bill & Ted" trilogy that attempts were made to cast him in all three films, most notably as Rufus, the duo's time-traveling guide. Unfortunately, the sleeper hit original didn't have the budget for a rock star of Van Halen's status at the time. Alex Winter remembered (via Rolling Stone):

"We tried to get Van Halen into each one of the movies. [Laughs]. We asked him, but he said no. A very 'Spinal Tap' moment. [Laughs]. He was a famously private person and he wasn't, you know, the front man. He was extremely charismatic and he was always very genteel, but he always turned us down."

After Van Halen's death in 2020, screenwriter Ed Solomon revealed that the guitarist had once again been approached to play a part in "Bill & Ted Face the Music," but his representatives turned them down without revealing why. Solomon surmised that Van Halen's battle with throat cancer may have been the reason. It is sad that Bill and Ted never got to play alongside their hero; but with Van Halen's influence on the three movies, they still pay a fitting tribute to the legend.

#van halen #2023 #post van halen #Bill & Ted Face the Music #bill & ted #Alex Winter #keanu reeves #William S. Preston #Theodore Logan #rip eddie #eddie van halen #rip eddie van halen #Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey #air guitar #Wyld Stallyns #Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure #rolling stone magazine #rolling stone #Rufus #Ed Solomon

[mesozoic-hunting-club]

Something that has bothered me about the two Jurassic World films thus far is that they feel incredibly cheap compared to the Jurassic Park films. Lacking unique artistic style, and in the way danger is presented or portrayed, etc. I was content to chalk this up to lazy film making even though that felt odd considering the amount of effort put into the rest of the films. But I'm beginning to think it was intentional to leave a dissatisfied audience wanting bigger and better from future installments that they undoubtedly will make and are confident people will go see even if a previous film wasn't that good. And while it might seem odd for a major film studio to intentionally make a mediocre trilogy it makes some sense if you look at Universal/NBC vs Disney/Marvel. I'll get into why I think that in a moment but first, why would they do it?

In short, Disney is a juggernaut milking Star Wars and Marvel for literal billions. Universal isn't NBC's only entertainment company but they need to start putting real money on the table to compete. JW was planned as a trilogy from day one and Universal was bringing back the Universal Monsters as well. But why make a few sequels when you can make a trilogy that starts weak and builds back towards the original JP film and leaves the audience hungry for more media and content? The Mummy (2017) failed for several reasons and the Universal Monsters plan is shelved for now. This makes the Jurassic franchise much more important in NBCUniversal Media's planning.

Now, why do I feel this is the case in JW?

Jurassic World vs Jurassic Park:

This guy makes a comment early in JW1 saying "That first park was legit" and he isn't wrong. John Hammond's vision for the first park and it's planned future expansions was that of a resort in the middle of a zoo. We see more of that in the book but it still shows in the artwork and design of JP1. The whole aesthetic (which I love) is like a safari camp built on the heavy industrial bones needed for safety. Everything about JW1 is cold and corporate approved. It is the same as every other theme park in the world, it just happens to have dinosaurs. Claire and Owen have to go outside the main park to start getting that wild vibe. I will say the Gyrospheres and the glimpse of the kayaks in the river suggests that the park has more to offer but we don't get to see it. We spend too much time with corporate goons and InGen's weird Blackwater'esque division. The control room staff also feels incredibly different which is partially due to JW featuring an operational park and JP featuring a park still in shakedown testing. John, Robert, Ray, and Dennis arguing and the subsequent trouble shooting feels like a real workplace, the control room in JW is just a place where Claire yells and buttons are pushed by minons.

Fallen Kingdom vs The Lost World:

Both films are very adventure oriented and feature hunting parties that can be a lot of fun. But once again the characters and vehicles from the JP trilogy feel much more authentic than the JW trilogy. I think the only guy in Fallen Kingdom's hunting party that stands out is this guy:

Who's name is apparently Ken Wheatley which I don't remember being said and he's played by Ted Levine but you'd never guess because he has zero material to work with. He's just the weird tooth collecting goon. Meanwhile The Lost World's hunting party had Roland, Ajay, Dieter, Carter, and Dr. Burke. Most of whom aren't even villains, they just have a jerk boss. Similar to the new control room staff in JW1 being forgettable, the new sidekicks for Owen and Claire are easily forgotten, there's Zoe the veterinarian or biologist, and screaming guy. Nothing in Fallen Kingdom has the suspense of the cliff scene in Lost World. That truck jump at the dock? Of course they will make it, literally all of the protags are on board. It's not like three are hanging off a cliff, another is in a tree top, and one is in a car while a T-Rex family separates them all.

But back to my point of starting weak and getting better towards the end. The final act of Fallen Kingdom is set in a mansion that's half a natural history museum. Essentially a sinister dark stained wood counterpart to the plaster and concrete visitor center in JP1. This is also where many more characters are in real peril. The trailer for JW: Dominion shows a massive return of original characters and lots of JP trilogy visuals. The marketing is based around a franchise conclusion that Universal can't afford. They have hyped this for years and remodeled their theme park sections to match. They will probably wrap the InGen based storyline and a main character or two might die, but this is not the end of their cash cow. I predict an intentional unsatisfactory "ending" that leaves the fandom screaming for more, which NBCUniversal will deliver in some way or another.

#jurassic park #jurassic world #film making #long post #really long post