#idk i just think the cinematography was neat

[thereigning-lorelai]

ANDOR season 1 (2022-)

#swedit #andoredit #strwrsdaily #starwarsblr #thestarwarsdaily #theforcenetwork #userrobin #userbbelcher #chewieblog #cinematv #cinemapix #smallscreensource #tvarchive #andor #*mine #*andor #*cassian andor #*gif #idk i just think the cinematography was neat

[unproduciblesmackdown]

behind the scenes shots ft. akd as the adjudicator, from this article about the cinematography

“In Hollywood, action filmmaking was kind of looked down upon until The Matrix, and then people realized that action could also be part of the story,” [director] Stahelski notes. “I come from a place of loving dance and theater and fine art — action can be all of those things — and one of my favorite painters is Caravaggio.” When he was looking for a cinematographer for John Wick: Chapter 2, Stahelski recalls, “I asked myself, ‘Who paints with light?’ The answer is Dan Laustsen.” In strictly cinematographic terms, Parabellum functions less like an action movie and more like a Hollywood studio musical. The film’s first battle is a close-quarters knife fight in an antique weapons shop, where the camera cuts from wide shot to wide shot, sustaining the action in long takes so that the audience can better appreciate the physical prowess of Reeves’ performance — an elaborate fighting style that combines Japanese judo and jujitsu, Brazilian jujitsu, Russian sambo, Filipino kali, and Muay Thai, more for the benefit of show than for self-defense.  “Ninety-nine percent of high-level stunt work is dance — not pirouettes, but how you move your body,” asserts Stahelski, who continues to train stuntpeople with Leitch through their company 87eleven. “I love the aesthetic of motion. A lot of our shots [in Parabellum] are lifted straight from Singin’ in the Rain and West Side Story. We’re mixing Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin with Hong Kong cinema from John Woo, Jackie Chan and the Shaw Brothers.” “We wanted to go wider than Hollywood action films normally do and really show off the choreography,” Laustsen agrees. “When the camera, lighting and actors are all moving together, it really is a dance.”

“After we made Chapter 2,” Laustsen notes, “we discussed how we could make 3 even more visually powerful. The main setting was still New York, but we wanted to bring out the city even more forcefully. We decided to shoot all at night, with rain as much as possible. Rain is fantastic because it gives a third dimension to the picture, but it is a challenge to do it, especially in a city like New York.”

The Master Anamorphics’ low-distortion design also prevents dramatic, streaking lens flares, and so the technicians at Arri Rental in Secaucus, N.J., fashioned a flare filter — comprising three strands of nylon fishing line stretched across an empty filter frame — for the XT’s and Mini’s Internal Filter Modules. When a front-of-lens filter produces a flare, Laustsen observes, it “just looks like the light is catching on a piece of flat glass in front of the lens. It’s more beautiful when the flare comes from the lens itself” — and that’s the effect that was replicated with the behind-the-lens nylon lines. “With the filters inside the camera,” the cinematographer adds, “it was also easier for first assistant Craig Pressgrove to do the lens changes.”

The exterior of the Continental was shot in lower Manhattan, but the hotel’s interiors were filmed in downtown Brooklyn, in the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower — which now serves as an event space —whose glass-and-wrought-iron front doors open to a 128'-long vaulted banking hall with limestone facing, marble floors, carved teller stations, and a 63'-high ceiling supported by Romanesque columns. For its role as the Continental’s lobby, the hall was furnished by Kavanaugh with two round settees crowned with statues of the Roman war gods Bellona and Mars, a fully-stocked bar, and a lounge on the mezzanine. 

Parabellum’s stages were located at Gold Coast Studios in Long Island, N.Y. The first of the production’s two notable stage-bound sets is the Continental’s terrace, for which the Rockefeller Center rooftop garden was used in Chapter 2. The schedule didn’t allow for much time to shoot Parabellum’s scene, which takes place at sunrise. “You cannot make the sun rise [for] a movie,” Laustsen notes wryly. “It’s one or two shots, and then you have daylight, and then you’re fighting to control the light.”  So, for more control, the scene was moved onstage, where the set was surrounded with a sectional 45'x350' bluescreen lit with SkyPanel S120s; a 120' black velour curtain was used to control blue spill coming from off-camera. Early-morning ambience was provided by 176 overhead SkyPanel S60s, and the light of the rising sun was simulated by a 20K tungsten Fresnel and a 24K Dino light with medium bulbs, both gelled with 1⁄2 CTS. The other key set built at Gold Coast was the “manager’s office,” a labyrinthine two-story glass-and-steel structure meant to represent the top floors of the Continental, with a 270-degree view of the adjacent skyscrapers. It’s in this space that Wick and Zero ultimately face off mano a mano. “The concept was to create a space where everything is exposed, a place where there are no secrets,” Kavanaugh explains.  To help him integrate the lighting into the design of the set itself, Laustsen worked with a virtual-reality computer model based on Kavanaugh’s design. “Chad, Kevin and I had discussions about color — cool lights inside, warm light outside,” says the cinematographer, who wanted what he describes as an “organic” light element for both spaces. The art department therefore added a 35'x14' LED wall to the set’s second floor and a 28'x12' LED billboard to the rooftop; the latter was positioned between the glass structure and a 40'x440' Rosco SoftDrop that was backlit by 150 SkyPanel S60s through Magic Cloth sourced from The Rag Place.  Almeida and his rigging crew installed more than a mile of LiteGear Chroma-Correct RGB-Daylite LED LiteRibbon into the glass and steel set, using aluminum profile and plastic diffusers provided by Kavanaugh’s art department. Cues were orchestrated from an ETC Ion Xe console operated by Kent Arneson; Laustsen took advantage of that control to increase the intensity of the light over time — until the very end of the fight, when the two combatants are photographed primarily in silhouette against the LED walls. 

Wick literally fights his way through the set — alternately smashing his opponents and being smashed through glass pedestals, walls and floors — until he comes face to face with his nemesis. “We filmed this sequence with a [Chapman/Leonard Hustler IV] dolly and a Libra head, a Steadicam, and a couple of crane shots [with a MovieBird 45 and Aerocrane jib],” Laustsen details. “We didn’t want to go handheld because of all the straight lines. It would be a much more powerful look for the film if the frame was always parallel to the set.” “When we did bring in lights for the close-ups, we used Arri SkyPanel S60s and Astera AX1 LED tubes that we could attach virtually anywhere using magnets and clips,” Almeida adds. “The Astera tubes worked out great because they’re easy to hide, and if you saw a reflection, it just looked like the lighting that was built-in already.”

#all the pictures and quotes are neat & interesting....check out that article #further talk about color choices & tools & techniques....idk too much about film production stuff but i always think it's interesting #and like cinematography being pointed out & discussed in general lol as the end result & the process behind it #only one quote in there specifically mentions the adjudicator (not ft. here b/c it's just a quick plot point mention) #but others are included here b/c it's relevant. homemade lens flare? happens when their ride first swings up like Their iconique flair #didn't include quotes about the theater set used for when they show up walking down the aisle like augh!! anyways check out the article fr #asia kate dillon #the adjudicator

[skitskatdacat63]

hi catie u can write as many paragraphs on any film that u watch!!! i think that would be neat :)

also DISCLAIMER i havent watched killers of the flower moon, nor have i fully researched the real life event, but i feel like one of the reasons that people think it’s peak cinema is that it’s really really long and (i am assuming) that it has some interesting cinematography?

idk it reminds me of oppenheimer (film i actually watched). like its good-ish, super lengthy, and portray historical events. the visuals were fantastic but i don’t think it was absolutely perfect and the best film of the century, etc etc…

i honestly dont know where i was going with this so sorry for the super lengthy ask 😭

OKAY THEO THANK YOU FOR FREEING ME FROM THE SHACKLES OF MY INSECURITY

Okay as a preface. Watched this with my mom who read the book it's based off of, so that's an additional perspective I'm gonna touch on, and also was very glad to have. And also YES I HAVE SEEN OPPENHEIMER!!!! Seriously my ultimate film of 2023, probably one of my favorite movies I've ever watched. And I guess I thought that, because I enjoyed that, I would enjoy Killers of the Flower Moon(KotFM from now on), for the exact reasons you stated! Also I'm trying to watch all the oscar nominated best pictures before the event lol!

I will rant now, thank you :)

I'm sorry but like I genuinely don't understand how it's so highly acclaimed???? Like how are all the popular/majority of reviews positive?? Did we watch the same film????? Have I somehow lost my taste for cinema???? It's just like, any argument I've seen about why it's actually amazing is so easy to dispute??

"It's about how evil can be done by normal people and that's why it's from the perspective of the perpetrators blah blah" Well, I just watched The Zone of Interest, and I think it portrayed that concept wayyyyy better. Everything was so off-putting and disturbing, and it was from the perspective of the perpetrators, just like KotFM! And you literally never see those getting murdered, because it's all off screen and yet you still feel disgusted and feel terrible about what's happening, even though you didn't techinally see anything that happened. Meanwhile in KOTFM, the Osage are there on screen, actively being exploited and murdered, and I just don't feel attached to any of it, because it wasn't fleshed out well. And to add on, my mom said so much of the stuff involving Leo's character, yknow the character they picked as the main character instead of the actual Native Americans, was just completely made-up! Wasn't in the book at all!!! Martin Scorcese said that he read the book, and immediately thought that it was a book that needed to be adapted to film. And then just fucking makes up shit???? Yes certainly you have to add narrative stuff into a movie when adapting from a book, but to just make so much shit up just so you can portray it from a different angle is so bullshit to me.

"Every minute in the almost 3½ hour runtime is justified" I am convinced people are straight up lying, I'm sorry. It's not like I don't enjoy long movies! Loved Lawrence of Arabia, that's literally almost 4 hours long. Loved Oppenheimer, that's 3 hours long. I like long movies but oh my god, this was just a complete slog. And I kept seeing people say that the last hour was the best, well I'm sorry but after having to sit through 2½ torturous hours, I just have no mental energy left for what's apparently called the best part. I hate that people always start calling movies with long runtime cinema. Yes there are movies I definitely think are worth the long runtime; this one was not one of them.

"The main heart of the movie is the romance" Oh my god, this bugs me so much. I was so happy about Lily Gladstone winning and being in teh running for awards....until I watched the actual movie. Her romance with Leo's character literally makes no sense, and I felt just so ???? about it. The movie wants you to think they're so compelling and that it's so unfortunate that Leo's character is doing these terrible things to this woman he loves and her family, but they literally spent zero time fleshing the relationship out???? It was literally like, oh hey they're in a relationship now, don't really get why, but okay. There's actual reasons about why she would marry him(she literally needs a white man's permission to get access to her own money), but no nooooo they're so in love. There is zero build up. She knows he wants her money, he has literally zero charm, and yet she marries him and says "yeah I know he wants my money, but he's handsome!!" In what world!?!?!?? And a lot of the last section is like, awww they're hugging...even tho he murdered her whole family. And its just you get zero sense of any love between them, because they failed to build it in the first place, and certainly you could make this plot compelling but it's just not!!! It's not!!!!!

Another thing is that for basically all of the movie, I really couldn't get a grasp of anything that was going on. It didn't feel like a connected narrative for me, it felt like vignettes. Like, oh hey we're in this scene now I guess, I don't really know how this connects, or whats going on, or where we are in the story! It just felt very discombobulating for me, maybe I'm stupid, but I couldn't get a grasp on it. And I basically knew the plot, and so did my mom of course, but neither of us could really follow it so, maybe that's not a me problem, but a problem with the film! And I think vignettes can be used well, I thought The Zone of Interest did it really well, where you're just voyeuristiclly watching the family, and there's really no narrative, bur it was really effective. KofFM was more like, oh they're trying to tell a story here, but just not ...well. it's even worse when it's so long, because you're just feeling constantly unconnected from the story and its a slog and it's terrible, etc etc. You're just watching the characters fucking meander around, and you're like, man, would love it if it felt like the plot was actually progressing. And so much of it felt like the big events happened off screen, and you're kinda just told that they happened.

Also okay so the book itself is framed somewhat as a murder mystery. It's very well researched, and it slowly gives you the truth, as if you're learning it alongside the actual people involved. In the film, it's literally so obvious within the first 15 mins who the bad guys are. So you're just spending the whole film, watching all these characters(who you really have no reason to care about imo) die, and they all come off as so naive, and you're just furiously gesturing like "does no one notice these cartoonishly bad guys!?!?!?!?!" Yes, you can do a film where you know the truth from the beginning and watch the cast find out, that's a great concept! But this just made the native American characters come off as stupid and naive, and you're supposed to feel bad for them, and I do, but because I know the actial history, not because anything the film is showing me. Again, they don't flesh out the characters well at all imo, so you watch then die, and you're like, okay this person died, this is a depressing situation, but god, can they figure it out already. Again, the narrative with Lily Gladstone's character is that she loves her husband, so she can't really see what's going on. But. That love is not believable. And before they're in love, she's very suspicious of him, and yet now somehow when he's killing off her whole family, it's fine?????

Ugh okay yeah I don't know what else to say, except thst I just feel like I wasted so much of my time, and it really sucked out my energy. I'd like to be more concise, and I probably have more complaints but again, it really just killed my brain. And also that's its very frustrating and isolating when you hated a film, and then all the reviews are extremely positive and you can't see where any of them are coming from. The funniest part is that my mom and I are like wow this movie feels like it's been going on a while, let's check how much is left! Literally only halfway through. I really could not fully focus after that because I was like, I cannot do almost 2 more hours of this shit. I wanted to finish it because i was really hoping it would pick up, and I would realize why everyone likes it so much, but that never happened, I just felt increasingly bored and done with it. I think with Oppenheimer, a film I love, I was originally kinda unsure but as it kept going, I fell in love with it and didn't want it to end; so I guess I was hoping that would happen with this and it never did. It just got increasingly more boring for me, and I just got more aggravated about it. Also cannot believe I saw reviews saying of Scorcese's films, this one was better than The Departed. Absolutely no way.

Anyways this was extremely salty, oops. Wish I could get those 3 hours back, and watch some other movie instead. I wanted to watch Dallas Buyers Club or Tár, but I just feel like I've wasted enough mental energy tonight. Also lol, kept meaning to post this but it's deranged, but I'm talking about movies already and my brain is all over the place so might as well! I really want to rewatch Interstellar, but I feel like it'll completely emotionally destroy me again so I can't. Y'know when you just like a movie so much and ir means so much to you that it's just way too emotionally investing to rewatch!?!??! But I keep thinking about it, bcs im super into matthew mcconaughey rn, but god I really can't or I'll just be sobbing and hurting.

* oh also. My original complaint abt this was that they used a historically inaccurate word. They used the word "genocide" which certainly describes the situation they're in, BUT THAT WORD WAS NOT INVENTED YET!!!!! It's so easy to check that??? Like we know when and who coined it???? Little things like that really bug me, sorry LOL. Its like man, you can't check that one little thing??

#catie is: extremely salty #oh my god im so sorry for this its so fucking long #but thank you theo truly for getting rid of my inhibitions #so hahaha here you guys go. i guess. #oh wait forgot to mention smth funny #when talking about oscars with my mom #she said that martin Scorcese should win Best Director bcs its a shame hes never won it #anf then midway thru this shes like nah he doesnt deserve it for this LOL #catie.asks.

[allaboutbyler]

so I wasn’t kidding about the split lighting on byler (basically when each half of the face is lit up differently—one side could be shadowed and the other lit up, or it could be half-and-half differences in temperature if that makes sense)

SEASON ONE

SEASON TWO

SEASON THREE

SEASON FOUR

so yeah idk if this was intentional, but lighting is a very good way to showcase emotion in photography/cinematography so I just think it’s really neat!!

even if it’s a coincidence, which it likely is, it’s cool to see so many of their scenes together having similar formats/positioning! :D

#byler #stranger things #st4 spoilers #mike and will #stranger things spoilers #byler canon #mike wheeler #will byers #i love cinematography so much you don’t understand

[elliethesuperfruitlover]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by: @merrilark

how many works do you have on ao3? None. but i do a large percentage of my fic reading on ao3. my acc is ells_bells

what's your total ao3 word count? uhhh also none

what fandoms do you write for? uhh ive written for my hero academia, a good amount of robert sheehan's cinematography, corpse bride, heaven's design team, dream daddy, and uhhh nijisanji en but finna drop a fuu-chan fic soon

what are your top 5 fics by kudos? uhhhhhhhh idk

do you respond to comments? why or why not? yes, i respond to comments when i get them. they make me giggle and kick my feet and i gobble them up.

what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? none of my fics have an angsty ending, besides the shitty two-shot i did of robert RPF where they never saw each other again after hooking up

what is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? i like the lucien one bc i was feenin for a relationship at the time and just needed it. but any of the nsfw fics where any character has any satisfaction is a good ending to me

do you get hate on any fics? no

do you write smut? if so, what kind? egregious, down bad, horrifically horny smut

do you write crossovers? whats the craziest one you've written? the only crossover i think i wrote was klaus x luba x reader (sensual soliloquies), and that one wasn't even crazy. thats 100% a possibility to happen

have you ever had a fic stolen? no, i have not. im happy i havent. bc the thought makes me go????

have you ever had a fic translated? no, not that i know of.

have you ever co-written a fic before? no.

what's your all-time favorite ship? i have So Many. just ask me and i will scream.

what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? ummm the desire fic i started writing. when the sandman comes back, i may find the hyperfixation energy to finish it, but im not finishing it rn.

what are your writing strengths? um. idk. i know my writing is considered good....but idk why. mutuals pls inform me as to why. maybe my detailing?? idk

what are your writing weaknesses? dialogue description

thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? i think its neat. but sometimes im like "ok this could be better" (see some of the miguel o' hara fics written with fuckshit spanglish)

first fandom you wrote for? i think it either the flash or harry potter.

favorite fic you've written? the one im about to post.

tagging with no obligation: @seancekitsch, @super-unpredictable98

#wheeeeee #i love ask games

[mossrotts]

thoughts on some recent horrors i've watched (some with friends and some alone), each one will have the title bolded if you want to skip to any you're interested in/want opinions on. Includes The Deep House, Marrowbone, Spell, Candyman, They/Them, and X:

The Deep House (2021): Overall, lackluster in a lot of areas, particularly the writing. I don't feel like every plot has to be or have something never seen before to be interesting, but something about The Deep House's plot was so bland and reused. Acting and cinematography itself, though not phenomenal, were forgettable. Characters, eh. All pretty milquetoast, with the exception of the setting. The setting was something I don't think I've seen before (to the point that I had to look up how it was filmed) and had a lot of innate potential of horror and I admire the attempt to blend survival tension with supernatural horror!

You have your usual self focused male partner who can't put down a camera for some reason and his more sensitive female partner, who is the main character. He likes urban exploring and even though he doesn't believe in the supernatural, likes that the creepy ups his viewership. He's heard of a super secluded ghost town in France that was flooded and is now at the bottom of a lake which he's going to explore, despite the fact that our MC doesn't seem as comfortable or experienced with scuba diving. They get there, find out that the lake is now a tourist spot and everything below is basically rubble, but of course a creepy guide says oh i know of a place that's super secluded and with a perfectly preserved house at another part of the lake. so the guide takes them there and the rest and majority of the movie then takes place underwater, inside a house where everything is lit by eerie lighting and floats as though each object were a ghost in itself.

Even though the plot's meh from that point, it's neat to know that a lot of the movie was filmed in a studio in Belgium that specializes in underwater scenes (it's been a bit since i read about this now, but i think i saw that it's the largest water set in the world?) and that they couldn't just leave the house underwater or it'd be ruined so they'd have to painstakingly lower rooms of the house underwater then remove it. There was also a lot of technical issues with the equipment to the point that one of the directors noted that it felt like learning how to film for the first time again. Also, to achieve some of the greenish tinge to the water they'd do things like mix mashed brussel sprouts up in it. I just liked that tidbit.

Would I recommend watching it? I don't know. I watched this one alone and would love to talk about it with someone, especially to see if they have same or differing opinions about the plot. But I really do think it was bland there. Visually though? Very interesting. Loved the setting a lot and would love to see something more done with it. I think I could only recommend it on that; that the setting is unique and it's fascinating to watch and try to figure out how they set it up.

--

Marrowbone (2017): I really liked this one, but also it has a lot of things that I personally enjoy that have nothing to do with like, technical skill or conception or anything like that. It's also a movie pretty short on scary moments (though the few moments it has them it builds the tension beautifully!) which I feel like some horror fans might not enjoy, but i feel like that fits the very gothic theme of it. It brings to mind American gothics like Nathaniel Hawthorne's work or We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, or similarities to more modern gothics like The Orphanage (2007) (which I just found out this moment, apparently the screenwriter for the Orphanage wrote and directed Marrowbone, so that makes sense!). And idk, there's a different vibe to me of these examples than like, other types of horror, cause it feels like they showcase that Tragedy and Sorrow can be a type of horror just as much as the more physical things that scare us. And maybe...the ghost haunting the house was just us and our expectations that we drag behind us like a corpse.

Anyway, it's about a family that runs away from what is a presumably an awful and abusive father and begin living in the mother's now rundown childhood home. Unfortunately, she gets sick and she dies she asks the eldest child to keep him and his siblings together and to stay hidden until he comes of age so that way they're not separated (or, though not stated, forced to confront their father). Easier said than done, of course, as after their mother's death they become accosted by a lawyer, haunted by a ghost, haunted by something their abusive father did (and perhaps something they did to get away from him), and isolated from their family's one friend as they try to stay secret.

I feel like I'm a little tired of 'twists' in movies done in a way where the movie is trying so hard to keep it a secret from the audience, and this has some of those, but this focuses a lot on empathy (between the family and their friend in the movie, but between us and the family externally) and other themes and such that it doesn't feel like all their eggs were put in the basket of 'oooh there's a twist!', so it doesn't bug me as much.

And overall, it's just a sad sad film. like, beautiful! and i really liked the ending! and oh my god there was actual sympathy towards a marginalized group that is usually demonized in horror films!!!! but oh god it's sad as a heads up.

Would I recommend it? I would! But even if it's one of my favs and I'm looking forward to watching it again, I don't think think it'll be everyone's favorite. Still a great watch though. Wonderful pacing, fantastic acting, visually appealing (if you're into those 'core' aesthetic things, it's like a cottagecore horror, it's fun), and definitely worth at least one viewing. Also, if you are one of the people who have enjoyed one of the medias I brought up before (i.e. We Have Always Lived in the Castle [i haven't watched the movie yet, so I'm comparing this to the short story] or the Orphanage) you'll probably like this one.

--

Spell (2020): Interesting movie! This one I feel was very similar to Stephen King's Misery in that it focuses on someone trapped by someone else and the extents someone might go to to keep someone captive. (Though I remember disliking the protag of Misery and I liked Spell's protag quite a bit.) Also I found out after thinking of this comparison that there's a prop in Spell that's a direct reference to Misery. That's fun. There were some things that I really enjoyed (some gore scenes that made me actively gasp, there's an asshole father that even if the protag notes taught him some things is not forgiven) and some things I didn't (other characters feel like they had a strong fleshed out start, but then were later pushed aside and made into 2D cutouts in favor of being what's at stake rather than characters that could make their own decisions. they got very damsel-in-distressed.) Would I recommend it? Yeah, I think! Might have a few cliches and might not be the most deep plot, but it's got great tension throughout and makes for a great popcorn movie. Also has a wide cast of color which is refreshing to see.

-- Candyman (2021): So I have not seen the original Candyman (or sequels before this one). Those I was watching with haven't seen those. I'm familiar with a good portion of Clive Barker's writing, but that's about it. This was kind of a 'movie roulette' and we just ended up playing it, but oh my god? It was a visually beautiful movie that felt like a love letter to Barker and presumably the old Candyman and has directly made me want to check out the older films. Really cool use of visual effects, great pacing and acting, and again just a visual delight. Also, I felt like did a great balance of like... not entirely blaming the slasher for being a slasher (especially if part of a minority group) but still having the slasher be scary. I've been playing a lot of Dead by Daylight and it's something I feel like they try to do in their killer backstories and just... fall short on it pretty often (as well as other horror movies, original Carrie comes to mind where she's both victim and killer but it feels like the balance isn't kept between the two), so it's nice to see how well it was done here.

Movie focuses a lot on the main character, an artist, who starts investigating the Candyman for an art installation but gets pulled in too deep. There were so many poignant themes inter-playing with each other, but I especially liked the ideas of viewpoints (particularly that of a consumer, and how the consumer's viewpoint can change with things outside the thing they're consuming [like finding a piece of art more valuable if they think the artist was suffering outside of it])/if and how tragedy or sensational violence affects that. Would I recommend it? Yes! Absolutely! Particularly if you have an appreciation for slasher films or have enjoyed Jordan Peele's writing elsewhere, but I think there's something for any horror fan. Probably the highest general recommendation I have on here (though that would possibly change if I knew a person's specific interests in horror/what they're looking for). So much going on, but still a tight film with that.

-- They/Them: Hoo boy. We looked up reviews of this film after watching out of curiosity and it was bizarre what straight people thought or expected out of it. I don't know if there was a trailer somewhere that made it seem like this would be more 'comedic', but it seemed like a lot of people thought these gay kids were not funny enough. Which is a bizarre review to constantly see on a horror film. But anyway, follows a few main characters as they are sent to a Christian conversion camp (a legal thing still in many states here✌️) but particularly Jordan, a nonbinary young adult (also a nice thing about this movie: a lot of the 'kids' are college age and it doesn't focus on like sexy or particularly horrific scenes or anything on the younger characters who are there but in the background!) who is immediately faced with the decision to go to the girls' cabin or the boys'. The main counselor tells them to go to the boys' and if it doesn't feel right they'll try something new from there (though this shows the counselor's assumptions that they're ftm and his attempts to misgender them later). The movie then goes on through horrific tactics of conversion (to the point that I was often reminded of Midsommar due to those tactics often being shared with cults) of love bombing, isolation, confusion, control, etc. (There's also possibly the most terrifying scene I've seen in awhile which mimics movies like Friday the 13th and Psycho but in a direct contrast of those, it's of the horror of being outed without your permission.) And it's kind of a wild mix of the horrors bigotry and conversion practices that are real... and the sudden appearance of a not realistic slasher killer who seems to be picking off the counselors. But is that coincidence? Are the kids next? Is the killer one of them? Is it an avenging angel?? I do have some complaints; one is something I mentioned with Marrowbone. I don't particularly like when a movie goes too far to keep a twist secret from its audience. There's a couple of 'red herring' moments that feel like they don't make sense when the killer is revealed. Like it's not implausible, it's just like... why would that person say that? And even though I liked the pacing, writing, and acting for the most part, visually there was nothing particularly of note. Not bad! Just... also not memorable. And lastly, even though we have a cast of characters who are mostly queer, there's some things in representation that I would have liked differently. All the characters are extremely thin/muscular and the one fat character is a background character; complex cause I appreciate younger characters weren't in sexual scenes as mentioned before... but also she doesn't even have a line. Not a single one. Also there's a character who has some things that might be coded as neurodivergent and it's... not in a good way. Would I recommend it? Even despite my complaints, yes! It's the first time I've seen a non-indie film with not only a nonbinary character, but they are the lead. And a really cool character in general! And even though the outing scene I mentioned is horrific, it was amazing to have the trope of someone hiding something (often being queer in some way) being absolutely flipped. There's ways it could be improved, but I hope that supporting this movie gives more movies like it an opportunity to do so in the future. --

X: Another... interesting film? I think I liked it? The plot is that a group of folks go to make a pornographic film in the late 70s in Texas. Due to the taboo nature of this, they rent out a boarding house from an older couple isolated out in the country. (The old couple being in a main house the group going to a guest house nearby on the property)There's tension in the group as sexuality is discussed and explored while they film and try to keep it secret from the old couple (the man seeing firearm happy and his wife senile), but also with the strangeness building until a bloodbath happens. Lots of really unique shots that are both retro and new and even if i'm still trying to figure out if I LIKED it, it was still very interesting to see! It was also a very self-prophesying film in which one of them would explain the porno they were filming in the movie and it would also refer to the horror we were watching. And oh my god, so much foreshadowing. I think there was foreshadowing for each character that died and in really fun not-over-the-top ways. Things I didn't like: There was some racism that felt unnecessary from one dude we already knew was bad and racist towards the only black character of the main group. And I feel like there's a trend that isn't a new thing whatsoever, but it seems like it's happened more often lately where people are like 'oh, it's not cool to have the horror be someone with a mental illness? that's fine. we'll use old people. old people are creepy and scary.' and it's like!! that's still not ok, especially when it feels so prevalent. i feel like this movie isn't as bad as others in that there was more examination of like, the changing of time and 'i was you and you will be me' rather than just young vs. old, but it still wasn't great.

Would I recommend it? A hard.... maybe. I think it depends on how into horror you are. Really interesting to watch and examine if you're very into it. It has a lot of gorey gore if that's something you like in horror! Very unique shots and scenes that are interesting to contemplate and compare to other horrors. I think overall it's a pretty clever movie! But if you aren't looking for those things I don't know if you'd find it enjoyable. (Also, the history of X rated films is pretty interesting! From the trivia section for X on imdb: "The title of the films refers to the X rating used by the MPAA from 1968 to 1990, which indicated that a film was only suitable for an audience aged 16 or older. The idea behind the rating was that, unlike the other certificates, X would not be trademarked, and would allow filmmakers to release their film in theaters without needing to submit it to the MPAA for an age certificate. Notable films that were originally released with an X rating include A Clockwork Orange (1971), Fritz the Cat (1972), Last Tango in Paris (1972), Midnight Cowboy (1969), and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971). In the '70s, the porn industry would end up exploiting the X rating's lack of a trademark by releasing pornos in theaters with that same rating. Eventually, X became more associated with porn, and more and more theaters started refusing to show films with an X rating, forcing non-pornographic films to be censored to receive an R rating. In 1990, the MPAA discontinued the X rating and replaced it with NC-17. Unlike X, NC-17 was trademarked and could not be self-applied, but it still meant that most theaters would not show films with the rating, resulting in censorship, once again.")

#long post #horror films #the deep house #spell #spell (2020) #marrowbone #Candybone #They/Them #they/them movie #x #x movie #also they/them (said they slash them outloud) is such a fun title

[alolanroy]

Watch thread 2022 Pt2

I accidentally deleted the first one, so this is August onwards.

ZZ gundam

This show was a bit of a mess but I enjoyed it. The tone kept shifting and it couldn’t decide how series or goofy it wanted to be. I loved the comedy in the first third with Judao and the gang doing shenanigans, but the middle was a bit of a slog until the return to space. I appreciate the new ideas and locations it introduced, but I can’t say I liked some of the cyber newtype stuff towards the end, though it finally explained a little bit more about them. Unfortunately if you average the high peaks with the valleys I think it lands at a 7.5/10

The Hunt for Red October

Never really felt the tension I think I was supposed to. I’m spoiled 6/10

Free Guy

I got more kicks guessing when certain stages of production were done based on props and references. For example, there is a copy of Dark Souls 2 for the XBOX360 on someones desk equidistant to late 2000′s L33t speak and the streamer Ninja. It feels more like a real movie than a lot of stuff these days. Still Just okay. 6/10

Sandman (2022)

Devoured the first arc in 24 hours. The tone, the music the production and needless to say the writing leaves you with an adaptation that feels authentic without having any knowledge of the original. I’ll remedy that in a while. Episode 5 is a tough watch though, as deliberate as it is. Episode 6 was fantastic though. Do wish we get more moodyness in the second season that had better happen. Final thoughts: IDK what makeup magic they did but Morpheus looks appropriately surreal. 8/10

The Batman

Good movie, but it didn’t blow my world. I like the way it ends a little more optimistically with his transition from vengence to hero. Interesting stuff. The Riddler nails the incel energy, but it isn’t the best to watch at times. I like this interpretation of Bruce as an emo loser who just wallows in himself. Good performances everywhere. 8/10

Krull

This is like a greatest hits album of boring fantasy movie tropes. 3/10

Ready Player One

Not as bad as I had hoped, but not funny bad. 5/10

Morbius

This feels more like a real movie to be honest and it was a fun watch with friends 5/10

Mission Impossible: Fallout

These movies continue to be good! 8.5/10

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

I thought this was a joke holy fuck maximalist storytelling is based. Its so well made, it has so many neat cinematography, action and flow. It churns out cool moments like nobody’s business. 9/10

Primal Season 2

Great show, everything I said about the first season applies. I found myself asking less of the hard questions or thinking quite so much about my distant ancestors, but it was fascinating almost seeing civilization spring up as the series went along. Primal theory in particular stands out for not just breaking up the formula, but also being a concise reiteration of the themes. My only gripe is that the ending feels abrupt. My assumption it was cut short since it looks like HBO max is going the way of the dinosaur. 8/10

Genesis of Aquarion

I feel like I gave this more than an honest shot because I have a fascination with post-evangelion mecha anime. At first it seemed like a mashup of getter robo three pilot action with a larger cast of pilots, and the first two episodes served up some interesting ideas and the kind of mysteries, imagery and cool character hooks I like from these things. However by episode 3 we stop getting that, and it is replaced by two characters, one of whom is clearly somebody’s fetish. I guess its a school anime now? but that gets dropped because in episode 4 its just training like 12 people and a LOT of feet stuff they have no intention of hiding the fetish for. I was hoping after that this show would be the fun kind of train wreck, but after 2-3 beyond that it just failed to hold my attention. I have no faith that any of the stuff that hooked me gets paid off. Rahxephon this ain’t. 5/10

Hot Wheels Unleashed.

Since I could only find 1 lobby with 3 people in it at 9pm on a Sunday I get the feeling this is a dead game. I can’t judge its multiplayer but I can judge everything else. The amount of paywalls, DLC and lootboxes is shocking. You even have to grind multiplayer for coins to unlock tracks for quick play. This is more skinner box than racing game. 2/10

Gundam Evolution (Launch)

Now I could say something interesting about how the character design encourages more dynamic mid-range gunfights, lack of melee options prevents slap-fights and how preventing additional characters behind a time gate to prevents the pro-genji problem. I could say something about how many of its design decisions are a response to Overwatch’s shortcomings. I will say that it is very fun. matchmaking is fast but not the best. Some matches can be steamrolls, but most of them felt like they came down to the wire. Its a little jankier and lower budget than overwatch but It makes me happy where it counts. Gif sprays, funny weapon ornaments. Very few of the character skins are interesting, which I didn’t expect. The currencies and battle pass system are the only real shortcoming. Its too obfuscated and feels kinda gross. Overall, I had a great time with friends and it’s fascinating to dissect. Its a little janky, but its better than any other current hero shooter, including what Overwatch has become. 8/10

Surf Nazis Must Die

Mostly unwatchable, but I’d like to see a remake since the concept of a old black lady with retro firearms out for revenge is too good to let die. 2/10

General Commander

Theres really nothing here. a boiler plate Geezer Teaser that had one stunt that made me think it might be something. 1/10

Thor: Love and Thunder

This is to Thor Ragnarok what Men in Black: International is to the original Men in Black. I felt nothing 3/10

Elvis (2022)

The greatest compliment I can give one of these music biopics is that it made me care about Elvis and even like his music. 8/10

Wing Commander

Objectively this isn’t that great, but it pushes my buttons like crazy. naval warfare in space, with planes and ftl logistics? Sign me Up! These things bring me joy, and not enough space movies do that anymore. 6/10, but 7/10 for me.

Babylon 5 rewatch 2022

HOLY MOLY. I enjoyed my first watch more since things were more of a suprise, but knowing where things are going is fun as well. Love Walter Koenig as Mr.Bester. 1st and 5th seasons are kinda rough though. 8/10 all things considered.

LOTR rewatch

I enjoyed this way more than my first viewing. I think maturing has helped me appreciate the artistry even more. My beautiful GF ended up loving the hell out of it. Turns out I watched the extended editions for my first viewing because I was confused when some of my favorite scenes were missing. Not much I can say that hasn’t been said. 9.5/10

MIB II

Not as bad as I remember. It still does the thing where sequels try to retread the gags that made the first one succeed to diminishing returns, but its flaws are out in perspective by Men in Black International. 4/10

Who Killed Captain Alex

Love for moviemaking permeates its being. The commentary adds an extra level of comedic punch and sets the fun movie watching tone for those who don’t usually engage with movies that way.. A real joy to watch with friends. 7/10

Torchwood Seasons 1-2

Its not good per-say, its more like a guilty pleasure watch than anything else. This show tries so hard to be cool and slick, but the overall execution just feels a bit try hard at times. By that I mean it tries to differentiate itself from Doctor Who by reminding you as often as possible that people have sex on this show, it gets tiring after a while. Most episodes are hit or miss and I hate that they kept trying to make the cheating subplot happen. Not touching the later seasons because they seem like different animals and they didn’t seem good when I saw them as they aired. 6/10

Guyver 2: Dark Hero

A better tone and one good fight at the end doesn’t make up for a dull movie, a bad soundtrack and baffling sound effect choices. The finniest part of the movie is a rhino monster that makes the cat screech sound effect anytime it does anything. 4/10

Kickassia

I can tell this was made with love and the occasional good joke survives poor delivery. Its dated as all hell, but I can see how it has nowhere to go but down. 4/10

G.I. Joe Retaliation

Gone is the campy toyetic action of the original. While the first didn’t do a great job of selling the fantasy of a multinational team of goofy action figure people teaming up with ocean bases and laser guns, the Joes have been reduced to just a generic Seal Team 6. This feels even more like post 9-11 American exceptionalism but without the gadgetry and camp, it has nothing. The only thing improved is Cobra Commander’s design. Overall this is a movie built to be ignored while watched. 2/10

Mortal Kombat 2021

Surprising in the sense that its pretty fun. The jokes land, the action is cool, the characters and the story is exactly what it needs to be. I want this to be the standard for video game movies going forward. The goofy lines from the games are integrated well enough to be good on their own. Kano is a highlight. Part of me wants more camp like the first MK movie, but I’m happy with what I got. 7/10

Romancylvaniaa Demo

Needs the polish and the sound design is a bit hard to swallow at the moment, but I can see the vision for the gameplay loop. This is a rare demo that actually feels like its still in active development. Fun to see behind the curtains in that sense.. Worried they might not get it shape for release, but we will see. Not going to rate it till then.

Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins

I kinda wish it went a little farther in either the serious or camp direction. Action is neat enough and the plot is serviceable, but I think the drama could’ve been a bit more. I will say that it does a lot to ‘fix’ the origins for snake eyes into something a bit more complex and it resisted the temptation to make Snake Eyes white. 6/10

Project Nimbus

I think ZoE games don’t work for me, but occasionally charming moments and Ace Combat vibes are kinda drowned out by jank and blandness. At the end of the day it just isn’t fun to play. Default control options are just no fun, weapon switching is awkward and you end up switching perspective. This could’eve been resolved with a greater focus on velocity instead of strafing, less weapons and any feedback for the funnel system. It’s definitely a product of its time.  3/10

Dracula Untold

While I don’t think it is good per-say, I think its a bummer no one talks about this. As a castlevania fan, seeing Dracula go full dynasty warriors on a legion of turks is well worth the price of admission. surprisingly solid, but this franchise wen’t nowhere for a reason. 6.5/10

Constantine (2005)

Not bad 7/10

Pixels

Not as bad as I would have hoped. There were a few actual jokes, but overall the material was thoroughly wasted. The only thing more dissappointing is that I was stuck actually watching it since my two friends got in a A-B conversation as a defense mechanism against watching the movie. 3.5/10

Beast m Machines (3 random episodes)

A distinct step down from Beast Wars. The elephant in the room is that the Maximals look absolutely awful without exception regardless of mode. It really makes me appreciate the lengths the toys had to redesign them. The environments are samey and empty, but not in a way that builds the desolate industrial tone they were hoping for. The writing is probably on par in terms of episodic shenanigans, but removing the camp from the predicons just makes it all kinda dull. Its not cool or funny, its just there. 4/10

Ratatouille

Still a good movie. 9/10

Conan the Barbarian (1982)

Holds up pretty well. I was taken aback by how thoughtful and willing to be quiet this movie is with its storytelling. The bit with the tomb made a big impression on me as a kid and it still stands as one of my favorite movie moments. I especially like how much ‘guys being dudes’ this movie uses to make us really buy the comeradere. I’ll contrast that to modern movies that take that for granted or other fantasy like Krull that throws 10 billion characters at you and expects you to care because one of them makes jokes I guess. James Earl Jones kills it (but that goes without saying) and I’m suprised to say Schwarzenegger fits the role like a glove and is able to convey the character through his brand of action barbarian. 9/10

Oni (2022)

The stop motion is cute enough and I get the practical and stylistic considerations, but this just looked choppy and not terribly nice looking, but that comes down to the designs for most of the cast. In terms of story it talks down to its audience so low they must be in the basement. I’m not really in much of a position to talk about this from a representational standpoint but it felt like it was laying it on thick but also being weirdly shallow with its mythological elements without the creativity or fun. George Takei’s Tengu character is the most interesting but the majority of the characters look like a sticker sheet made by white people for 3rd graders. It’s for childeren at the end of the day, but in the most condescending way. It feels half hearted and doesn’t lean into that magic of stop motion. 2/10

Rider Time: Kamen Rider Zi-O VS Decade -7 of Zi-O! and  Rider Time: Kamen Rider Zi-O VS Decade -7 of Zi-O!

I have no words for how bonkers these two are. These are weird, even on Decade standards. They are a total blast though, make no mistake. The humor and just WEIRD moments keep you engaged and guessing though both of these. A personal favorite is a moment in the final battle where a character hears the results of an election with one vote, politely asks to leave and just walks out with excellent timing. The range and charisma shown by the Zi-O cast really shows how little material they were given in the main series. Certain actors squeeze more out of >5 minutes of screen time than a 50 episode series. 7/10

Hot Shots

I was consistently chucking throughout the whole thing, and in true airplane fashion, there's never not a gag to chuckle at. I should see if Charlie Sheen has done more comedy, his deadpan is great in this. I will say that the ‘mission’ in this movie is suspiciously similar to Top Gun Maverick...hmmm.... 7/10

Missing Link

This movie had no soul. I gained nothing and felt nothing. 1/10

Wendell and Wild (2022)

This movie has more style than it knows what to do with. The atmosphere,  aesthetics and humor are top notch. The artistry of the animation had me glued to the screen and reminded me of the power of stop motion. Anytime Key and Peele are on screen is a treat, and thats saying something considered the quality cast here. The only thing that holds this back is some questionable design choices that wander into racial characters and the captain-planet tier villains are kind of a double edged sword. Nice touch that even the demons respect pronouns. 8.5/10

Macross 7 Plus

Delightful pieces of comedy and character insight that still preserve some of the mystery in the characters. Otherwise pretty unsubstantial. 7/10

Macross 7 Encore

PEAK FICTION. I laughed, clapped and cheered for the last two episodes. They have to be some of the best Macross 7 content. The first episode isn’t as good but I appreciate the insistence on not actually clarifying anything. I will say no more. 9/10

Gasaraki

I’m having a hard time really coming to a conclusion about this anime. It has moments of brilliance but is just bogged down by poor structure and pacing. There is clearly a lot of effort on screen and the final few episodes are fantastic with incredibly high tension over grain embargos of all things. The problem is I feel a lot of this could have been interwoven and restructured for a more enjoyable watching experience. Chunks are just uninteresting and some small arcs just don’t go anywhere. For instance our main character goes AWOL multiple times, but the impact is lessened when only one of them was plot relevant, and the rest just kinda stop. Never more have I been tempted to re-edit something on my own. Ironically, it feels like a wheel spinning most of the time, but it just doesn’t stick the crucial landing in the last episode. I would like to shout out its gulf war aesthetics and interesting mixed media tricks. The effort of having many subtle changes in the opening, and completely different ones for a two episode arc did not go unnoticed. I have to say this but this is a 7/10, but deserves to have been much better.

Action Button Reviews: Boku no natsuyasumi

Since its 6 hours long and is about almost everything else besides what it reviews. I won’t elaborate much. I will say that this takes you places you wouldn’t expect and makes you want to call your relatives and say hello. 7.5/10

WHOOPS KINDA FORGOT ABOUT THIS FOR A FEW MONTHS: LIGHTNING ROUNG

Extreme Job

I haven’t laughed this much at a comedy in ages. In delivers on hit after hit of truly universal humor. If I had my way this would be a all-timer 9/10

Star Wars Tales of the Jedi

NGL I skip anything with Ashoka at this point. Dooku’s disenchantment is an interesting idea they utterly bungle. More importantly, why does Yaddle speak normally?? 5/10

Star Wars Visions

Theres like 3 good shorts in here, but even trigger couldn’t fully execute on the premise. I like the idea of wildly alternate takes with the potential to go back to the samurai roots of Star Wars, but this ain’t it. If this came out parallel to the Animatrix and Halo Legends it apes it would still seem dated with its ‘japanese-ey’ energy that feels like like studio notes were written by people who still refer to Asia as the orient. Overall the creativity flatlined for more than half of these. 6/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special.

This made me remember why I liked these characters. The effortless comedy and chemistry of the cast just kinda dicking around is something I would watch for hours. 8/10

Blaster Master Zero

I want to like it but most of the executions is just kind of mid. The biggest game design failure is having enough of the cool mini-dungeons have nothing in them, which de-inscentivises exploration and completion. As a result I didn’t feel compelled to unlock the last world and true ending even though some of the power ups were cartoonishly unbalanced in a fun way. Also, having kinda bad stealth dungeons for the last world made me just want to get it over with and soured the experience. Cute frog. 7/10

1899

I was underwhelmed by the mystery component of this mystery series. It pulls off a ‘it was all a dream’ tier ending that leaves questions for a season 2 that feels like it won’t remember all the threads. Themes didn’t seem as fleshed out as they could have and didn’t really carry any weight with the ending in mind. 6/10

Troll

Godzilla 1998 but for Norway. I ended up having fun. 7/10

999

Holy shit the story is backloaded. Not all of my questions were answered but can’t wait to play the next one 9/10

Destiny 2: Season of Plunder

This is one of the weaker seasons in recent memory. Storywise the drama doesn’t really go anywhere besides the one beat it had with the reveal of Mithrax’s past. I almost feel like its been overshadowed by the new season only 3 days in. The whole community event was just funny in how much of a failure it was. Considering how nothing the upgrades to the Eliksni quarter were, I’m glad I helped cheese it. Overall, I’m kinda bored of the model where we get a new 6/3 man activity every now and then. I also want a cash prize for getting the title before they fixed the ridiculous requirements. I will never tough expedition again. 6/10

Knife or Death

I went in with 0 expectations and got a real treat. This was a perfect watch with my partner. For some reason the combination of American Ninja Warrior but with the most oddball group of contestants is a recipe for a good time. 8/10

Bullet Train

A friend who saw a test screening told me to be on the lookout for this one and boy I was satisfied! 7/10

Bad Guys

Wow, they made a Tarantino movie for kids. Great dialogue and Lupin action. Its still a kids movie at the end of the day, but c’mon. 7.5/10

The Game Awards 2022

I didn’t feel horribly cynical leaving this, so thats a start 6/10

Star Wars Rise of the Resistance

Kinda neat, but some of the effects work better than others 7/5/10

Zardoz

Nothing could have prepared me for the first 5 minutes of this film. Going into it I knew nothing besides the visuals of Sean Connery’s outfit and the head, so I had no idea what to expect from the actual story. The few twists were good enough and I appreciate the direction it went, but at the end of the day, my tolerance for 70′s movie pacing makes me rate it about a 7/10 overall. Fascinating to watch.

Attack on Titan Part 1 (2015)

Wow, where to start. The premise is baffling, the last half hour is the worst day-for-night I’ve ever seen, the homoeroticism is made into incest by the twist, it has the sex-positivity of a Reagan era slasher and the action is terrible looking. Where do I start? I get this was in production before the anime, but the titans have the distinct look of an internet short Corridor Digital would make in a weekend. The comping is all over the place and the practical stuff like the Colossal Titan puppet or the fighting titan either hide the cool stuff behind bad CG steam or are shot and presented in the worst light imaginable. I’m fine with the changes to the premise, but the confusing part is that instead of just casting everyone as Japanese actors, they completely change most of the characters with white names into weird OCs? Wouldn’t it just be easier to change their names and call it a day? I’m so confused by this movies decisions and astounded by the poor technical execution. 4/10.

Attack on Titan Part 2

This sequel was far less interesting by the virtue of being kinda better. The twists are still dumb and the decisions are questionable, but I can’t bring myself to hate it. Its the kind of movie you can skip through and not miss much. 5/10

Pinocchio 2022

Didn’t light my world on fire but I’m glad I saw it. A GDT film to a T, but part of me wishes it had a little more ohmf. Probably the most fascists I’ve seen in an adaptation of Pinocchio by a wide margin. 7/10

Sonic Prime

Sonic Boom may have raised the bar too high. Can we give the multiverse a rest now? I’d score lower but Frogey had a pirate eyepatch in one scene. 3/10

Azure Striker Gunvolt 3

This game is so close to being amazing but has so many little things holding it back that just add up. I originally dislike Kirin in the promotional material since I wanted to play as GV, but I ended up really loving Kinin’s gameplay, maybe more than I ever liked GV. However, they addressed this concern in the worst way possible. switching between Kirin and GV feels overcomplicated and GV trivialized the game to the point I self imposed just not that half of the characters overloaded kit. On the positive side, diagonal aiming feels like it should have been here all along and the mechanic of jumping towards tagged enemies is top tier. The story is where it gets a little mixed. I can’t say what was the localization and what isn’t but I know I don’t like the primal dragon timeskip or the weird apologism for the evil zaibatzu. It feels like it ollies out of all the cool plot threads and characters in favor of a new one with magic dragons. The new cast is great and I love the way they were allowed to interact with other stages and each other. Dialogue got a few good chuckles, but my biggest gripe is that they call Kirin’s talismans ‘fetters’ for some reason. Post game support is a little odd. On one hand, the dlc is as lame as it gets, just new abilities (normal ones in game are random drops) but the extra modes and villain campaign will have me coming back. Its not the greatest but I give it a charmed 7.5/10

[ofmermaidstories]

just finished The Widening Sky and- holy shit. Your world building sits high up there on my favorite things to read, if not at number one. Putting your writing prowess aside, it’s just- I adore how the ending (while gut wrenching in its gauzy-ness) can be interpreted different ways through how you set up the world like- **spoilers!!** yeah maybe reader does die, however, considering that they go into the sea during the festival for the maiden, Id like to think they’re blessed- that the reader Is Magic, and that they transform into a mer-person. But I love (and am therefore anguished) by that there’s the possibility Katsuki Is dead, because they did see those orange scales in the shark, and even though there was a sighting of scales in the ocean, I mean- obviously there’s more than one orange scaled big fish out there. Though I think he’s alive. Idk I feel silly digressing to you about your own fic but I can’t help it!! It’s gorgeous and though neat endings are always nice (I read my fair share of angst with happy ending) it was so cool how possibilities are left open and how it’s settled and wrapped up neat without a conclusion?? If that makes sense. Idk!! Also I found it interesting how sero perceived us as partners, that little shift at the end was nice!!

Hi!! Hi!!! Oh my gosh, please, I don’t think I could name anyone on this platform that wouldn’t love a chance to waffle on about the things they make with others!!!!

Okay, so this is going to involve spoilers but have you ever read/watched Picnic at Hanging Rock? The movie came out in 1975 and is pretty much a cornerstone of Australian cinematography but it’s based on the novel of the same name. I know screenshots from the 1975 movie will sometimes float around tumblr—mostly of the picnic montage at the beginning of the film when the girls of Appleyard’s College are toasting to Saint Valentines—but the basic premise of the story is, on Valentines day in 1900, a group of school girls (accompanied by two of their teachers) from a Victorian boarding school for wealthy young ladies go on a picnic to Hanging Rock—and four of them go missing.

The story is all about the question of what happened to those girls (and their one teacher). It drives the remaining characters crazy—effects the lives of everyone left behind, and at the end of the story we don’t really get answers. Joan Lindsay, the author, even says in the beginning of the book that the solving of the mystery is unimportant.

But the thing is—there is an answer to Picnic at Hanging Rock. Joan wrote one, in a different version of the final chapter in one of her first drafts—where what happened to the missing girls is revealed.

I’m just gonna say it—the explained, original ending is bonkers LOL. Kudos to whatever editor managed to talk Joan off of that ledge because there is no way Picnic would have achieved the Australian Classic title it’s been given since if we’d been subjected to it. But!!! The reason I’m bringing it up is because I think Picnic works like it does because it was written with that ending in mind, even if ultimately the audience was never meant to be privy to it. And that’s how I (kinda) feel about Widening!!! I wrote it with one intended ending in mind, even knowing that the final hook (pardon the pun…?) would be that it was left ambiguous (hopefully, anyways, LOL). Idk… I guess I just thought it fit in with the idea of the island’s—the water’s—magic, and how much someone reading it wanted a happy ending (or not). It’d take a lot to take down our merman though, I reckon. 💪🏽

(Poor Sero—I like to think he was well and truly on his way to being in love, before the festival. Maybe if Reader hadn’t of been the kind of person to hold out hope, for something so far fetched—they could’ve eventually been happy)

anyways!!! i really waffled on with this one!!!!! i hope the week ahead is kind, Anon. Here’s to always holding out hope, regardless of what we find in some shark’s stomach. 🦈🌤🌊

#ofmermaidstories-asks #me belting on about joan lindsay any chance i get lkfjgelrhjfljfhj #the widening sky-fic #mer-spoils-everything #scheduled smeduled

[xiaoshengnu]

OKAY FIRST LET’S HAVE A FANGIRL SCREAMING PARTY OVER THE FACT THAT OATH OF LOVE IS FINALLY FINALLY COMING OUT-

phew okay.

so. oath of love is coming out and i’m super excited, so before it airs tomorrow, i’mma just write down a few expectations and doubts. 

- first off, from watching the trailers, I really like the pairing. 

idk if it’s because the oath of love crumbs have been circulating for so long that I've just been conditioned into thinking they’re a destined pair or whatever, I just quite like the pairing. and I think it will do super super well if the realism comes up by a bit and melodrama cutesy-ness comes down a notch.

- judging from the trailers and from the promo posters it’s gonna take itself seriously

do you guys remember that trailer released like the winter two years ago (I think)? because I was super stunned by the high quality, the emotions, the cinematography that that trailer had and got so hyped for the release. plus the promo posters look great, they look super down to earth and super well made. the vibes the drama is giving off doesn’t look like it’s going to be one of those air-headed money-fishing ones.

plus I don't think they’d dare to give either xiao zhan or yang zi a badly written script because dude, they’re crazy good actors and their fanbases are huge, they’re not fandoms you want to cross.

- but of course, we need a negative; despite it looking serious and great and everything, I’m still worried.

honestly, I feel like oath of love can go two ways and it’s still in danger of falling into the cheesy ‘romance-drama-without-any-sustenance-or-thought’ category and can end up very same-y in comparison to all the dramas done before. ngl I love xiao zhan but I'm worried that his acting would go into the domain of expressions that are pretty, but lack authenticity and raw emotions. the same pretty much goes for yang zi too, but I'm more worried her acting would turn out to be childish (?) and over-the-top cute. 

I’m hoping that Gu Wei will break beyond the cookie cutter ‘serious doctor’ ‘neat freak’ stereotype and have more of a character as the love interest. I’m less worried about Lin Zhixiao cause her background seems well done *chefs kiss* but I’m praying that she won’t become the basic mc for the audience’s ease of self-projection as the drama goes on.

but at the end of the day, they’re more like worst-case worries, I’m still feeling rather positive about this drama and I have high hopes for it :D

WATCH OATH OF LOVE GUYS! airing 15.3.2022!!!

#oath of love #xiao zhan #yang zi #asian dramas #cdrama #chinese drama #drama #pre-drama impressions #romance dramas

[sheryl-lee]

content creator appreciation: list five favorite sets you've made and send this ask to five other content creators!

thank you so much malin!!! i've answered this before here, but i'll try to list another five of my favorite gifsets :)

1. crimson peak + ghosts - i really love film/tv trivia and when i found out about this i had to make a set for it!

2. thor: ragnarok + letterboxd reviews - this movie is so iconic and i just really had a lot of fun making this

3. the hunger games: catching fire - i like the color scheme and it deserves more notes

4. scream - i posted this on halloween and idk i just think it's neat <3

5. loki episode 6 - such a great episode with really pretty cinematography and im proud of how it turned out

#tysm for sending this!!! sorry for the late-ish response btw #lately ive been super inconsistent w/ answering asks and being on tumblr in general 💀 #💌 answered 💌

[inkykeiji]

hq boys + slasher film dates!

karasuno edition

notes: basically, if you had suggested the two of you have a slasher film date night, these are the films i think each boy would pick! ummm i don’t think this needs any warnings??? they’re slashers so, mentions of blood and murder i guess!

part one | part two | part three

✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰

karasuno

sawamura daichi – halloween + halloween II ; dir. john carpenter – daichi’s got a lil mini marathon planned! he’s bringing over two iconic classics, the best of the best, #1 in slashers, n he’s gonna make u guys a biiiig bowl of buttery popcorn and cuddle w you under a super fluffy blanket while you watch michael slowly kill off characters and terrorize laurie <33

sugawara koushi – black christmas ; dir. bob clark – suga chose black christmas because he likes the air of mystery surrounding it and it’s vague ending. he also thinks it’s fun to pick apart all of the ways black christmas inspired golden age slasher films to come and enjoys its unique murders!

azumane asahi – friday the 13th ; dir. sean s. cunningham – you definitely had to coerce him into having a slasher date night, managing to get him to say yes by promising that he could pick the film. he chooses friday the 13th purely because it’s one of the less gory golden age slashers (gore makes him nauseous :( he’s squeamish!), and because he likes the twist at the end!

nishinoya yuu – child’s play ; dir. tom holland – noya just finds chucky hilarious. he’s crude as heck and the whole concept is ridiculous to him, which just makes the film a fun watch. you wont be scared, because noya will manage to make a joke out of everything and have you laughing until your stomach hurts.

hinata shoyo – silent night, deadly night ; dir. charles e. sellier jr. – hinata’s picking silent night, deadly night, because he’s really intrigued by the concept of mixing christmas with halloween/horror, and appreciates the macabre way christmas elements are infused with the murders/plot. he already thought there was something so terrifying about santa claus as a figure, so it totally makes sense to him to have a serial killer dress up as the jolly man and absolutely gives him the creeps!

kageyama tobio – terror train ; dir. roger spottiswoode – he thinks the costume idea is really cool and clever, and that the concept of being stuck on a moving train with a serial killer in the middle of nowhere is legitimately terrifying, even if the film itself is really predictable! (he also strikes me as a dude who thinks trains are neat idk why???). additionally, he thinks jamie lee curtis is a fricken badass (because she is).

tanaka ryuunosuke – the texas chainsaw massacre 2 ; dir. tobe hooper – tanaka’s bringing over tcm2! released twelve years after the first tcm, tcm2 is a parody of both its original film and classical teenage movies from the 80s (the poster is a parody of the breakfast club’s poster, tanaka will tell you this no less than three times) and tanaka appreciates its witty humor and callbacks to the original film.

tsukishima kei – peeping tom ; dir. michael powell – this pretentious boy has chosen another classic, the other film credited as the very start of the slasher subgenre. he appreciates its intelligent storytelling and innovative cinematography that comments on the voyeuristic nature of cinema as an art form itself.

yamaguchi tadashi – a bay of blood ; dir. mario bava – yamaguchi surprises you when he puts on giallo classic a bay of blood (aka ecologia del delitto; reazione a catena; carnage; twitch of the death nerve; and blood bath). despite it’s extremely gruesome and gory nature, he tells you he likes it because, in his mind, it’s not too realistic thanks to the bright red blood that looks like paint and the over the top acting, two of the film’s most iconic and lovable features.

#the way i AGONIZED over this for nearly a solid two weeks trying to match up the best slashers w all the bois aaaaah #when i bet a decent amount of people will be like ??? tf is a giallo film?? #does that make me sound pretentious??? #who am i kidding all film students are pretentious woooo #PUTTING MY DEGREE TO GOOD USE EH??? #haikyuu!! #haikyuu headcanons #sawamura daichi #sugawara koushi #azumane asahi #nishinoya yuu #hinata shoyo #kageyama tobio #tanaka ryuunosuke #tsukishima kei #yamaguchi tadashi #slashers w the bois pt 3

[nobloodneeded]

Nightmare of the Wolf was super up and down. Spoiler alert under the cut:

Elements I liked:

- Sexy Papa Vesemir. I buy that completely given how he is officially introduced in the book by groping Triss’ ass. I mean, he looked like a modern fuckboy but I could deal with it.

- Bath tubs - is it really the world of the Witcher without a bath tub scene? 

- Ilyana. I thought that love story was adorable. A bit unoriginal at the beginning, but a welcome and comfortable trope. Also she is voiced by Jennifer Hale so WIN. 

- Older Ilyana AND Vesemir. I cheered when “youthful” Vesemir kissed his beloved despite the seeming “age gap.” When she said, “I’m nearly 70,″ I said “So is he,” just a second before he said “So am I” and I LOST IT. I rewatched that clip like 6 times.

- The scene with the lake had me nearly brought to tears.

- The animation, but duh as a fan of Legend of Korra. The choreography was really cool, too.

- The cinematography was nice and I like the timing of the flashbacks.

- I think the Trial of the Grasses was captured pretty well - and horrifying. My mouth was agape and I was all but cowering through most of it.

- More Filavandrel content!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really like Tom Canton’s portrayal and his voice is so smooth and decadent, tbh. 

- The phrase “a question of price” and “something more” thrown in there.

- The elf “Kitsu” shapeshifting into a fox was soooooo shocking and had me like *looks at camera like in the Office* but it was a cute touch.

- I liked Sven and Luka

- Kind of neat that the King was Ciri’s like great great great great grandfather. Doesn’t mean anything, but like, neat. 

- Deglan

Elements I disliked:

- Honestly, I wish this was JUST a Vesemir story outside of the pogrom. I wish his story arc of progression - haughty and self-serving cad to proper guardian - remained but ended with Visenna handing baby Geralt over to him outside of Kaer Morhen like while he was on a hunt. Holding baby Geralt he realizes there is SOMETHING MORE to life than carrying on the way he is. It would have been way more impactful and help the audience understand JUST how much Geralt views Vesemir as a father figure. It also could have creatively explored W H Y she gave him up. 

-  I don’t particularly like the direction of the Sacking. I know we don’t canonically know MUCH about the pogrom, but we can glean from what we do know and the running theme of Sapkowski’s writing. Fanatics sacked Kaer Morhen out of fear and hatred inherent in humanity when something is different even if that different thing is protecting them. Egged on by the Monstrum A Portrayal of Witchers, the anti-witcher propaganda allegedly propagated by sorcerers, a riot was incited. I think the haunting thing about the sacking is the perceived banality of it that Sapko is known for. Mighty heroes can die from the basest of means and even a legend when stabbed by a peasant can fall. So turning it into almost a one person’s personal vendetta and a HUGE cataclysm just detracted from that to me. Plus, if I remember like a LOT of students - young boys, presumably - were killed during the sacking and I think, awful as it is, that would have been more chilling than seeing a bunch of adults you didn’t know enough to care about...die. The creators weren’t like...wrong, but it didn’t feel right either. 

- Didn’t like the Witchers creating their own monsters bit tbh. An interesting concept, but a bit underdeveloped and just didn’t sit right with me. It sort of gave validation for their genocide - or the desire to eradicate them - and I prefer the simplicity of “humans be scared and they be killin that which scares them.”

- Eskel and Lambert apparently undergoing the trial of the grasses together, when it was Geralt and Eskel who did and Lambert later is canonically known as the younger (ostensibly youngEST) witcher

- Not sure about the timeline. Much of Sapkowski’s work is like timeline? What timeline? But I thought Geralt and Eskel were like on the Path already by the time of the Pogrom. Or maybe not. This I genuinely do not know. I feel like reasonably Lambert was like the last or part of the last few who went through the Trial before the sacking. Also witchers age slowly so either Geralt, Eskel, and Lambert are WAY older than they’re meant to be in the series or Vesemir ages fucking FAST because he looks like he’s in his early thirties in the movie, but canonically while he’s still spry he actually LOOKS older. Triss calls him Grandpa, lol, and I’m sure that’s more endearing and joking, but I’m also sure he looks probably 50+ easy. 

- BALD GERALT. Which I knew, I fucking KNEW they would make that kid Geralt and I wished against it, but KNEW and was so...idk it just did not feel right or feel as impactful as I’m sure they wanted it to. That reveal was obvious and yet incredibly underdeveloped. Also the voice says it’s Harry Hissrich. The creator is Lauren Hissrich so I’m going to assuuuuumeeeeee...

- Remus - lmao hello JKR, Remus the WOLF School witcher?? I didn’t hate it, it was more like ‘Pfft, really.”

- Tetra’s design. She...........was way too similar to Yennefer. Pale, cold, black hair, choker, sorceress. I mean, it’s definitely not like she IS Yennefer, but still. Couldn’t have gone with like...any other concept design?

- Also Deglan lmao

#personal

[jimmythejiver]

For the first time in a long time I went to the movies in forever and then to Target. At Target I see some Godiva bars on discount yellow tags and I was ecstatic until I read 70% Cacao, Dark, Salted Caramel and was deflated.

Anyway that's how I felt about seeing The Green Knight. What you thought this was about chocolate?

No see since the pandemic I've been back on my perennial King Arthur kick. I've for a long time since I was a young preteen thought, someday I too will write my own King Arthur epic and it'll be gay, magical, gangster and culty too, but for now I'll make up my own stories for practice and then with every story I got attached too, it got too involved and convoluted to the point that when it came down to actually writing a novel, I threw it all away and made a space opera I only planned in two weeks and wrote in a month. Anyway...so now I've been writing this very gay, magical, gangster and culty take on Final Fantasy XV with my boyfriend and just fell in love with Somnus Lucis Caelum who nobody has any insight about him than to make him the Mordred to Ardyn's Arthur, which is a strange flex, but okay, I thought about what if I wrote a Dark Age prequel about Ardyn and Somnus, but Ardyn becomes king and Somnus his shogun and they play games of seduction and power because I'm twisted like that. Anyway...I was like I'm never going to write this and I have to keep making up characters based on FFXV characters and King Arthur tropes because there's not a lot of stories that take place during the Dark Ages, it's always some Roman Empire story, or High Middle Ages and FFXV gave no room for either society to happen after the fall of Solheim and the rise of King Somnus...so we left with Dark Ages, y'all, the King Arthur comparisons are obvious, but Ardyn is no Arthur and Somnus is no Mordred, Aera is only Guenevere if you make up an affair with Somnus, Gilgamesh is no Bedwyr/Bedivere, but uh...they both amputees and the oldest companions to their respective kings so...I guess. Anyway making an ancestor of Cor Leonis and deciding well he's Owain/Yvain, or am Ignis type as idk Sir Cai/Kay I guess, they both cook, but Cai's more like Seifer Almasy than any FF character... Anyway I'm losing people.

My plan was to just scrap the FFXV prequel, leave my Somnus ideas into Overtime (a gangster and gods story) and just plan an actual King Arthur adaptation. I'd have King Arthur the treasure hunter, leader of a warband turned founder of Camelot who fights giants, giant cats and dogheads, but also fights King Claudas of the Franks and King Aelle of the Saxons and Cerdic a Briton who puts in his lot with the Saxons, etc. It'd been a a glorified turf war, meanwhile Arthur's gotta make alliances with King Pelles, The Fisher King and his strange cult he's founded because, why yes I find the ends justifies the means prophecy of the Holy Grail Quest very culty because Christianity then does not resemble it now. Meanwhile you got the secondary plots of Mordred, Gawain, Lancelot, Percival, Tristam and other's going on because they matter and too many modern King Arthur stories sideline the knights.

So many have always sidelined Mordred as a final boss eldritch abomination in mortal flesh conceived of sin and give him no personality, or complex motives, or even just a relationship with Arthur. I also have noticed the general sidelining of Lancelot, or give him a chad villain upgrade if you must include him at all, and the villainizing of Gawain to the point that you don't even have to have Mordred, or Agravain as a catalyst shit stirrer in court, just slap Gawain's name on Liam Neeson in a top knot and you're good. Mordred can just be a child offscreen until last act...fuck that, while Morgan Le Fay can either be a villainess plotting her cabal through men, or a well-intentioned, ineffectual idiot. Fuck that.

Now Hollywood just be doing King Arthur first acts that suck ass, only for said director to get rewarded failing upwards by giving this same jerk the Aladdin remake. The tonally shitty, crammed in blockbuster mess of a cliche heroe's journey that sucks.

With that background I was excited for The Green Knight. I read an illustrative version as a kid, I read Tolkien's translation as a teenager, I read Simon Armitage's superior, but with liberties taken translation. I was prepped to go knowing that indie, or not they were going to make changes to weave the disjointed poem together. I'm excited that because this movie exists Project Guternberg's finally thrown Jessie Weston's prose rendition up on their website. I'll be reading that at some point when this blows over.

The movie adaptation makes a lot of...choices, many I wouldn't love, but would forgive had their been a payoff. There was none.

The journey was fine, the cinematography was a breath of fresh air after crappy slo mo, glossy action scenes ruined another. Guys, I don't think I want to see a Zack Snyder Excalibur, it'll marginally be better than Guy Ritchie, but that ain't saying anything. Leave Excalibur to the post-Star Wars 80s where it is impeccable for it's time. I liked Green Knight's breathable pacing, it's color palette's in the forests and mountains made up for the muddy grey of every Ridley Scott send up in the castles and villages in every other Dark Ages/Medieval story in the last I don’t know since the shitty 00′s. For all the dark tones when there was blues, greens, yellows or reds, they were vibrant in this movie to contrast the gloom of Britain. The soundtrack was good. This isn't all what makes a movie, but it enhances it so let's get to the story and what I did and didn't like.

Things I Liked: Gawain is still a novice in his career The Costume Dressing Everyone pronounces Gawain's name different. I pronounce it like Gwayne, or Guh Wayne, but here you got Gowen (like Owen), Gowan (like Rowan), or even Garlon who I'm pretty sure is the Fisher King's heir in some versions of that Arthurian story, so uh... The reference to Arthur slaying 960 men with his bare hands (Nennius for the win!) The Waste Land that is implied to be a site of a battle (an important aspect of the Arthurian landscape) The Fox companion No long grisly, drawn out hunting scenes. The Fox lives! No misogynist speeches

Things I'm Mixed: This being a dream, is the magic real? Are the giants? Is the Green Knight a figment of Gawain's imagination from a spell Morgan casted in him to hallucinate? Is Lord and Lady also figments? It's...a way to interpret the poem, but lazy and I don't see why it's got to all fantasy, or all dream...this movie makes it too vague you're stuck picking one camp than to accept it's a fantasy with dream and hallucinatory sequences.

Things I'm Meh: Morgan Le Fay as Gawain's mom. Look I fucking hate Morgause as a character and these two get merged and steal each other's aspects so much at this point the difference is who did they marry, King Urien or King Lot? Both are attributed to being Mordred's mom, Mordred is Gawain's brother...both practice magic depending on certain incarnations, both love and hate Arthur their brother and are in conflict with him. Saint Winifred. I actually liked this sequence, but I don't appreciate her as the tacked on wife in the later dream sequence as like...a contrast between the wife you should marry than the whore next door you don't respect anyway? I don't even know what lesson I'm supposed to get out of the damn dream sequence, or any of it? That Gawain should've married his girlfriend and then he'd be a just ruler? That he shouldn't be king? That he'd never have to make the same heartless, impartial choices? I don't know, he seemed like a king doing king shit because guess what? It never gets easier. Wars will be waged. The world didn't become better because he married the right woman, respected her and lived in obscurity. The world didn't become better because he made her his queen. We certainly don't know the world would be better Gawain had his head chopped off and dead XP They never reveal the Lord and the Green Knight as one and the same because of this shit.

Things I Hated: Arthur withdraws from the challenge because he's old. In poem he takes it on and Gawain takes it so he don't have to and he finds himself more disposable than the king. Gawain only takes the challenge because of arrogance. Arthur and Gawain had no prior personal relationship. I'd not have hated this so much if it wasn't compounded by it cancelling out the first two things. Gawain is portrayed as having no respect for his woman, or any woman, maybe his mother? He has to be pushed by Winifred to regain her head. Gawain is portrayed as arrogant, covetous and ready to pass the buck, or the bare minimum than have any honor or decency. It didn't matter the kid in the wasteland was shithead bandit, the way Gawain acted towards him, when he gets robbed, it almost feels like he deserved it and Gawain doesn't learn a damn lesson. I'll admit him taking the sword to cut his ropes and cutting his hands was a neat sequence, it shows him go from stupid, to almost clever and having will to survive...you know traits he had in the poem, but he stops showing these traits or growing. Basically Gawain has to be dragged kicking and screaming to help people and shows no fortitude when facing temptation, or when showing respect towards others, it's exhausting. You don't make this kind of journey story without character growth. Why are you skipping this? Also is it just me, or is this like when you take Frank Miller Batman and transport him onto a Bill Finger story? This is at best Thomas Malory Gawain (and this is charitable) transported on the earlier Pearl Poet's story. Stop it. It's not tonally correct and goes at odds with the story and the set up characterization you'd need to tell it. Speaking of which, you know how I get through the oof... of Liam Neeson Gawain in Excalibur? By pretending he Agravain instead. Here...I don't even think Gawain could pass as Mordred in spite of his covetous nature, lust and entitlement. Why? because I don't think even Mordred is this dumb to warrant this hubris. Essel being invented as a tacked on love interest just to be shit on utterly and for what? I don't think I have much commentary here as there is no Essel I'm aware of to compare, or stack up. I just notice this trope of like...usually if you include a sex worker in Hollywood she often has a heart of gold, she often has her own sense of values that goes at odds with society, but is more true and less hypocritical than a privileged lady’s. I thought that's what they would've done with the added trope of back at home sweetheart to contrast and pit her against the despicable femme fatale of Lady Bertilak and her adultery and her ladyship...and I'm glad they didn't...but you did nothing with Essel than to shit on her for existing when you made her exist, you know. Lady Bertilak being portrayed as the seductress devil incarnate. Look I know adultery is a touchy taboo, but uh her and Gawain hit it off in the poem, dammit! Her values and his values come to clash, but here it's played off as Gawain is stupid and covetous and Lady Bertilak wants to prove something because...? If my brother's theory that she's a figment of Morgan Le Fay's magic, then I'll take this as a lesson of Gawain is impulsive and covetous and his mom knows it, but he don't want to fuck his mom, but he wants her power, and Morgan wants to teach him a lesson... I guess. Hey we don't have misogynist speeches in this movie, but we'll make sure to have the movie drip with it with no point, or commentary. Pass. Lord guilting, extracting and initiating the same sex kiss and only once. Poem automatically better that Gawain don't have to keep being reminded to keep his part of the bargain and he does it willingly more than once. What he doesn't do is give up his belt...gods how did we get more homophobic as a society that the homoeroticism here is worse? Catholics of the middle ages officially had no issue doing same sex, passionate kissing until it lead to sex. The Ending: The gods damn ending. In the movie as is, Gawain waits to uphold his end of the bargain and get his head chopped off. He imagines, even though we don't get any fuzzy or distortion to indicate this is a dream, but I already knew this was coming, he runs away and comes home, is regarded a hero, he sees his lady, takes her from behind and if you saw Brokeback Mountain (I didn't, but DJ has) you know this is a sign of disrespect to women. He gets her knocked up, pays her off for the kid she wants to keep, he is crowned king, marries the ghostly saint lady he helped retrieve her head earlier from a lake in the movie (this right here is the damn tip off). There's no more dialogue by this point and everything is montaging, so you know by now it's a dream, though nothing is out of focus. He rules as a heartless king, his whore son dies from war he waged, he has a daughter, his wife dies. Gawain then takes off the belt that would've saved his life and his head falls off. This would've been the one good twist, except... In this sequence of events he never had his head cut off so uh... now we back in present day. He decides not to bitch out, Green Knight in a sexy way is like "now off with your head," movie cuts to credits with no resolve...uh what the fuck? What the fuck? This is not good. You wasted the one twist in your dream when idk, you could've...

How I'd fix it: No dream sequence at all. No Incident At Owl Creek twist. Gawain comes home a hero and survivor of this game and ordeal. He wears this belt of shame. He becomes a well-renowned knight, but he bears a shame. One day he goes to take off his belt and his head falls off because he cheated to get this belt and to survive this encounter. There. Done. Improved your high concept movie that couldn't play any of the lessons straight from the damn poem without making everyone an asshole for no reason! Ugh! But nope you had to end it on we don’t know if Gawain lives or dies...because...it's dream magic made from his momma's witchcraft...?

Last Thoughts So then post-credits scene because Marvel because Pirates Of The Caribbean existed. A white girl who looks nothing like Gawain's daughter we see who didn’t pay off, or any child I can remember through this whole movie picks up King Arthur's crown that dream Gawain inherited and puts it on her head. Who is this girl? Are we gonna have an indie equivalent of of the Marvel Movie Universe/Universal Horror Monsters thing with ancient British legends? We gonna get a Life Of Saint Patrick next that crosses over? I don't know. What is this?

[ofmythsandmadness]

MY THOUGHTS ON TUA SEASON TWO: PART ONE (spoilers)

So...I finished season two. And I’ve got a lot of thoughts.

I’m putting ALL my thoughts under the tab so please, don’t click unless you’ve seen it all, and/or you just....like don’t care about spoilers? But please if you’ve not watched it, watch it first ‘cause it deserves all the hype and attention. 

(if you haven’t watched yet, go into your settings and blacklist the tag ‘tua spoilers’ because that’ll help you avoid anything if you don’t want to be spoiled, at least on here)

Also, this is part one to my thoughts, because it’d be much too long to list it all here! Part two will be linked below this :)

This is going to be SO badly organized, but I’m gonna do my best to make it otherwise! I’m separating it all under sub-headers, just so you don’t have to read through ALL my thoughts on the series (but there’s a lot, sorry).

I legit just watched it all last night, so it’s fresh but also still jumbled and messy. So bear with me.

Also, let me know what you thought, I’m eager to hear others’ opinions of this show!

AS A WHOLE... So, so, SO damn good. I was scared, and worried and I thought there was gonna be a lot more pain...but it was so good. Arguably better than the first season, I think because the characters are fleshed out and have developed more, and I felt myself caring more for their wellbeings (even though I would have already died for most of them).

Honestly, no. This season WAs better than the first and I’m gonna stick with that.

I also really loved the colour scheme of it all?? I think they did that really well the first season too, but the colour choices and how they alternated between blue and orange, it keeps your attention and adds a vibrance to the characters that was there before but not so loudly.

I want to watch it again and admire how they shot/edited it too, because I actually really was impressed with the shots too (normally Netflix shows aren’t super cinematography-heavy, don’t know if that’s how to say that, but TUA really came through and I’m impressed). I don’t want to drone on about that because i know most don’t care about that as much, so I’ll leave it at just...I was impressed, and most happy with the overall presentation of the show.

LUTHER HARGREEVES...

The way i actually now love him?? 

I mean I felt bad for him in S1, but here he’s an actual character and I cared about HIM, rather than what he had gone through. From the moment he said ‘I don’t give a shit’ in episode one, I liked him again and I’m SO glad. 

I didn’t really love how he still pushed for him and Allison...I mean, I understand that you can’t just erase the feelings, they still stand, but I would have liked a little bit less of it. It’s just awkward to watch and to contrast with Klaus literally calling them out, I appreciate that it wasn’t so prevalent but it was still there. 

But overall!! He became a character I actually really liked, he was actually funny too?? Dorky too, and also just more sure of who he was as a person rather than the number...Luther rights.

DIEGO HARGREEVES...

One word: BIIIITCH.

He was one of my favourites from the show pre-S2, and now I can say he might just be my favourite. I would fight fire for that man.

I didn’t think he’d be almost the main character of this show (obviously one of them, because they’re all main characters ig) but I liked it a lot! We really got nothing about who he is as a person in Season One, and though a lot of people were able to fill in the emotional blanks, there was a lot more given to his character and who he is beneath the hard-headed vigilante.

I think David Casteneda did a brilliant job on his character, and had one of the best performances out of all of them. I knew he was good, but I truly was shocked at how good he did as Diego, and I’m happy to see him as an actor thrive and get more credit. He deserves it, and I’m quite happy. 

Surprisingly, he was the character to make me cry (I cried at Ben too, don’t worry, but!). When Reginald said that shit to him, I was in fucking pain. I won’t get too deep into it, but just the way his face dropped, and then the stutter - it struck a cord and I cried more at that then I did the rest of the show. Dunno. Maybe that’s just me.

But just like...I wish he had more support...everyone just kept calling him dumb and mocking him and I KNOW his obsession with JFK was dumb and aligned with the Luther moon thing and he didn’t have the greatest plans and I’m not saying all of his actions were right, but he was fucking TRYING. And some of it, they played it off for comedic effect but they were literally just trashing on him for doing the right thing and making him look stupid...it made me a little sad.

I am glad, however, at how he rekindled with all his siblings. Because arguably, Diego was an asshole to all of them and though again, arguably they all were and none of them are doing well and there are reasons - they were all assholes to each other, and especially him to them, especially Vanya when she really didn’t deserve it. And to see them at least begin to mend their relationship made me so happy. The way that in the end, they sat together?? And how he accepted her apology just like that?? I sob.

The scene where diego just says ‘there’s this girl I like - I CRACKED UP AND I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHY IT’S SO FUNNY BUT JFC THAT WAS SO FUNNY. That and threatening Olga - top tier funniest moments of the season for  me. They really amped up the comedy this season and I’m happy.

One thing I didn’t get was in the last episode, when he bent the bullets’ trajectory for Five...did he know he could do that? Like I understand that he could do it, but we never saw him do anything else around those lines, aside from in the doomsday season ep1, but that was an alternate history so...I’m guessing Reginald taught him, but??? It was kinda random and I would have liked if they hinted at it at least once before.

To summarize, I love him. I love how far he’s come and I hope he just finds some happiness because he keeps getting the short end of the stick. He deserves the world.

(also, diego hargreeves a huge ass nerd. y’all can’t convince me otherwise. big dork energy)

LILA PITTS/DIEGO & LILA:

You know what? I loved her.

I didn’t like her character as much post maybe episode 6/7, basically once she brought Diego in I was disappointed but I liked her character. I think she was cool and different and chaotic and though I was disappointed that towards the end, she felt a bit thrown in, I still appreciated who she was. I was honestly hoping that she would have left the Handler a lot sooner, I thought they were gonna make her realise the truth a lot sooner but at the same time...this is her maternal figure, she’s been basically brainwashed into that support and there’s gonna be an element of love regardless.

I knew she was gonna be one of the 43 though, the second I saw 1993 I called it and I was happy I was actually right on something. Idk her powers, that too seems a lil bit messy but still, I thought it was neat. I just want to see more! And I think we will, hence why I’m trying not to judge her much, but i hope that we get to know more about her. I don’t want a half-baked love interest, and I was hoping that there was going to be a little bit more this season - but we shall see.

(ritu arya, though, is quite good in her role. and stunning. i quite love her)

I also didn’t HATE the relationship between her and Diego. I know it’s a divided topic but I liked it, I thought they were fucking cute and even though i KNEW there was something off about her, I was just HOPING that it’d be different. I mean, that scene on the bed with them???? I think my heart gave out. Palpitations, bitch. I was so fucking soft for them and even when she was exposed....I stillllllllll wanted the best. :(

And then like shit happened and then it got a little messy (y’all should learn how to communicate...throwing out boyfriend and ex-girlfriend terms like that???) and like yada yada, I was okay but I don’t necessarily like the ‘I love him/her’ thing. I mean sure you can, but THAT felt a little quick. I don’t know why tv shows just LOVE to throw out the I love you’s that FAST, but I’m not into it. 

TL;DR - I still REALLY like Lila Pitts, and I still like them together, somewhat (though like maybe slow your asses down folks).

(question though...are we supposed to think of them as siblings now?? bc...idk I don’t see it like luther/allison because they weren’t raised together and really didn’t associate like that?? but are they all reginald’s alien children cause in THAT case wtf am I suppose to think help-)

PART TWO TO MY THOUGHTS: here.

#tua #tua spoilers #the umbrella academy #diego hargreeves #luther hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #ben hargreeves #five hargreeves #lila pitts #DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED SEASON TWO #umbrella academy spoilers #tua s2 spoilers #tua season two

[derpcakes]

So we watched (nay, Experienced) the BBC/Netflix Dracula series

Brought to us by everyone’s favourite team, Steve Moff and Mark Gatiss, promising to be an innovative and exciting new vision of the classic novel

Boy it was definitely something!!!

First I will say: obviously Moff is not my favourite TV writer and my fam and I did go into this with a bias. I’m happy to report, though, that it’s going to be one of these shows that haunts me forever, because if it had just been bad I could have said “bleh” and deleted it from my brain. But because parts of this were genuinely cool, interesting, and fun, and parts of it genuinely had potential, all the bits that were bad stand out as so much worse and the whole thing feels as cursed as a 500 year old undead count. 

Things that were enjoyable and well put-together:

Van Helsing has been gender-swapped into a vampire-hunting nun and her cat-and-mouse game with Dracula is rife with belligerent sexual tension. I was ready to hate this, and ready for like, Sherlock and Irene Adler 2.0, but their dynamic was actually pretty fun to watch! Their power balance is kept even throughout most of the show, and Helsing is never struck down because of ~womanly failings~ or infantilised. She’s consistently really clever and, even if there are some cringey one-liners, I found her and Draccy’s playful quest to murder each other one of the most fun parts of the show. It could’ve been better, but it was enjoyable! (I also like how Helsing isn’t Young and Hot, but is a capable older lady, and her actor and Draccy’s even seem about the same age. Amazing)

The second episode is a spooky murder mystery/horror mini-movie on a ship, with a cast full of interesting characters who all had different things going on and different relationship dynamics that were compelling to watch. There’s even an interracial gay couple! And they’re like, written pretty sympathetically and to be layered and flawed in ways that didn’t feel too stereotypical! And they don’t die first!! Wack! I understand the bar is on the ground, but it’s still worth a mention

Some fun with vampire lore: Draccy absorbs knowledge and traits from people he drinks blood from (which is how he learns languages. Get Duolingo, dude, stop eating people), leading to the intriguing suggestion that myths like “vampires will die in sunlight” and “vampires are afraid of holy symbols” have kinda become real to him even if they don’t literally work, because he’s swallowed so many people to whom these superstitions and beliefs were law. I’m sure this isn’t the first time this has been done, but groundbreaking or no it was kinda neat

Things that were not enjoyable and well put-together:

EVERYTHING ELSE

Episode 1: a weird speedrun of most of the original novel, feat. weaponised nuns and a weird fixation on whether or not Jonathan Harker and Draccy boned. They did not. Dracula pops out of the body of a wolf and he’s Whole Ass Naked. Him and Van Helsing have a power play where she stands just on the threshold of a convent and calls him a little bitch, knowing he can’t come and get her. A knife is licked. 

Episode 2: aforementioned cool ship horror story. Definitely the best ep. It really makes me think about hbomb’s critique that Moff is pretty good at doing standalone stories (and pilots), but when things are tied into a bigger narrative things get zonkers. 

Episode 3: Things Get Zonkers!!

Let me just. Okay. I have the most to say about this one because this is where things really got batshit. And yet, also really boring? How does that figure? Anyway:

Dracula emerges from under the sea and finds that 123 years have passed and he’s now the star of a Modern AU. Upon setting foot on British sand he is immediately accosted by what appears to be an anti-vampire task force. There’s a helicopter. It is later explained how they knew to pounce on him at this exact moment, but holy god it was wild to watch the entire British Secret Service descend on this one wet bastard in a suit

The editing shifts aggressively in the direction of Sherlock. Mark Gattis is there playing an amazingly annoying character. There’s a fuckign.... Underground Secret Society devoted to studying vampires and they put Drac in a Designated Glass Prison for Smug Geniuses (also as seen in Sherlock). Van Helsing is dead but her great-great-grand-niece is played by the same actress and. Okay. Van Helsing, vampire hunting nun, possesses her descendent and rises through the ether to roast Drac one last time, and he’s DELIGHTED TO SEE HER AGAIN. 

And she has cancer, right, so her blood is poisonous when Draccy tries to bite her, but in the end, right, the end of the episode, right, the final shots of the show, he comes to a place where he’s willing to die, and she’s already dying, and so he drinks her blood and they die together on a table while cinematic metaphor vision shows them having sex in the middle of the sun

There was a badly CGI-ed vampire baby. Jonathan Harker falls from a tower and a scene later they flash back to this event by reversing the footage of him falling down, meaning we just see him go VWOOP up through the air, bouncing off the wall on the way. Van Helsing says the words “come boy, suckle” when she’s goading Drac into drinking her blood. The show sits in a weird middle ground where the characters talk about sex a lot (”dID yOu HaVe sExUaL iNterCOURSE with COUNT DRACULA?”) and Drac is clearly meant to be super magnetic and sexy but the characterisation and cinematography is not horny at all. People have these sexy-type dreams of their lover of choice when Drac is drinking their blood but even those are very boring and weirdly chaste, except of course for the final one where, if I  can take the chance to remind you, Van Helsing and Dracula have symbolic Mind Palace sex inside the centre of the solar system

I can’t speak too much on its quality as an adaptation since I actually haven’t read the book, but splitting the story so that some characters (the Harkers, Van Helsing) existed in the time the story is set, and some (Lucy, Dr Seward) exist in The Modern AU felt very strange. Was there any reason to set the third episode in modern times, apart from the fact that I guess they wanted to do their Sherlock thing again? Or, perhaps, because they wanted to do their Jekyll thing again?? Oh my god, that’s what the editing reminds me of - the small clips of Jekyll I’ve seen. The zooming. The slow-mo. The emphasis on The Monster Man’s weird goddamn teeth

(Also, I don’t really feel qualified to dig too deep into it, but I will say there felt something a bit uncomfortable about Lucy being black in this version, while also being written to be very promiscuous and vain. idk. Also, since it happened in an ep of Sherlock as well, “weedy white Nice Boy rescues the Very Cool woman of colour he has a tragically unrequited crush on” is now an official Moffattis trope)

Count Moffatula is an experience. Its pacing is buck wild. The speeding through the original plot and the mish-mashing of elements in the Modern AU section feels like another expression of contempt for the source material on Moff’s part. Someone says “reality is overrated” in a show set in the 1890s. Draccy quotes a Beatles song. He also makes quippy allusions to having eaten various famous figures and basically winks at the camera every time. Granted, this wasn’t as obnoxious as I was maybe expecting, but there are still too many lines of dialogue where you think “oh, the writers high-fived each other after they wrote that one, huh”. The fact that Moff has such vitriol against fan fic writers is more and more grating every day because this is so, so clearly a zany-ass fanfic that he happens to be getting paid for. The costumes are nowhere near as nice as they could have been, and Dracula’s cape looks like his mum made it for him for the school play in which he is playing Dracula. 

This show is So Much. Watch it to share in this fever dream. Or don’t, and save approximately 5 hours of your life. God. 5 hours. Who was I before Count Maffatula. Who am I now. Why was his cape so bloody ugly. Why did they bone in the centre of the sun

#i'm ascending from my body #count moffatula

[yeocult]

Hii~ ursa minor, corvus, orion, gemini, betelgeuse, deneb, spica, proxima centauri, mimosa, star cluster, moon, comet, delta iv heavy, heavy falcon, soyuz, RCS, RD-270, raptor? (so sorry it's a lot of questions 😅)

*cracks knuckles* it’s time to get ready to overshare !! thank you for sending so much in!! it was fun hehe

ursa minor: do you have hobbies or interests that no one knows about?

hmm sports, writing, and editing? i enjoy watching sports matches and being nerdy about analyzing the players and game lol, mostly basketball and volleyball! i hate playing sports though lol. writing and editing are just for fun! (irl ppl don’t know much so i guess it’s a secret). i’d like to pursue editing to something more serious though!

corvus: what are 5 things you appreciate about yourself?

1. neatness and i’m organized! / 2. i only surround myself with good people, if there’s something off about a person i immediately cut them off (idk if this is me running away from everything bad or that i respect myself lol) / 3. how easily inspired i am / 4. chill? (is that the right word?) sometimes i just can’t bring myself to care that much abt certain things lol / 5. fashion sense i think

orion: what element would you like to be able to bend?

i convinced myself i was a waterbender when i was younger lmao but i’d like to bend fire! no reasons, i just think it’s cool hehe

gemini: which character (fictional or not) is your spirit animal?

shizuku from whisper of the heart and ursula from kiki’s delivery service...they are just so comforting!! having a lil studio in the forest is such a dream!

betelgeuse: which video games gives you nostalgia for a place you have never been to?

ah i don’t play any video games :-(

deneb: you can turn one book into a movie,tv show or video game. which one are you picking?

omg this is a hard one! i’ll probably think about this more but rn i’m completely stuck >///<

spica: when do you consider a movie “good”?

no plotholes, it’s consistent, and not so cliche. the texture, not bland, and good writing is important too. soundtrack that evokes emotions is kinda important to me as well. not so much necessary but i like it when a movie has an open ending! i look forward to the cinematography a lot too :D but honestly, everything needs to work well together, the writers, actors, and production team.

proxima centauri: if you would have the chance to travel the world, which places or countries would you like to see?

ooooh i want to visit china, germany, dublin, singapore, hanoi, japan, s.korea, and new york! so many places >///<

mimosa: what do you associate with your favourite colour?

beige - comfort, coffee, home, silence, sundays, fresh sheets, and cookie dough :DD

star cluster: what is something you have gained, something you have lost and something you let go of during the past year?

gained - interest in filmography, writing, and editing / lost - activeness ?? lmao ever since quarantine I've gotten so lazy / let go of - a close friend of 5 years

moon: “A man is made of memories. It is all we are.“ (Lawrence) what do you think this means? Do you agree?

kind of! how we act and behave was all from our childhood—memories. it shapes us how we are today. we think a lot, we experience a lot, so it think this is what the quote means...? hopefully i don’t sound stupid lol

comet: you have the chance to undo one thing or decision in your life, would you take it? If you are comfortable sharing: what did you change?

yes! i would taken more opportunity and put myself out there more often even if i’ll get hurt—i think it’s a learning experience that i’ll never get back

delta iv heavy: what is your favourite thing about your degree course?

ah i’m not there yet (i’m assuming this is for uni/college). but, i’d like to study fashion design or something in the art department hehe

heavy falcon: what is a subject you are highly interested in but you would never study yourself?

english, biochem, interior design, history, ohmygod i have a lot. but the thing with me is that i’m very interested in anything, i’m curious, but i’ll never commit to anything that isn’t art because i’m simply just not passionate enough. there’s a difference with being interested/curious and passionate for me...? (not to mention i suck at anything else lol)

soyuz: language(s) you would like to learn?

chinese!! i’ve actually started learning 2 years ago but never continued with it because it’s just too hard !!! >:( i also can’t even speak my mother tongue fluently so i need to get that first before learning another one. the tones...are soooo !!! difficult !!!!! i’ve also learned french for 7 years but i sound embarrassing sigh

RCS: how do you stay focused and productive?

sigh...i’m the worst student ever. i just kinda guilt trip myself into studying like “you’re a burden if you don’t do good on xyz” or like just slap myself and get it over with yk? it’s not the best lmaoooooo

RD-270: Do you need silence to study? or do you like to listen to music? if so, what is your go-to study-playlist?

rarely, i like to listen to music 99% of the time. it’s either a random khh/krnb playlist with new songs i’ve never listened to, lofi, or piano music! sometimes i’ll listen to my own playlists but it’s distracting with songs i know lol

Raptor: do you study at home or do you prefer to study at the library/in cafés?

sigh, i hate studying outside. maybe that’ll change for me in the future. i’ve tried studying in the library and i got nothing good done. i’ve also never went to a cafe to study. although i do love the vibes, it’s usually too loud for me. i like being in the comfort of my own room :))

send me a space asks!

#games #caz <3 #waaah it's a longggg one #ty for sending in :')