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heart-of-the-morningstar · 6 months

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I HAVE RETURNED FROM THE FNAF MOVIE AND I HAVE SOME THOUGHTS

✨ Non-spoiler section ✨

I had such a fun time with this movie! There were a ton of Easter eggs I caught and I’m sure there’s a few that I missed! My best advice for anyone wanting to see this movie is don’t take it super seriously, you’ll enjoy it more! The makers of this film weren’t lying when they said that they made this movie for the fans, I do feel like fans will enjoy this movie way more than a general audience and that’s perfectly fine! It’s campy at some parts and funnier than I thought it would be, but that’s what made it so fun! Now for the nitty-gritty…

❌ SPOILERS BELOW ❌

What I liked…

• First off, Matthew Patrick is a fucking LIAR! He does have a cameo in the movie, he says his iconic “That’s just a theory” line which was great! He’s a waiter at a diner, which leads me to my next point

• The diner was named “Sparky’s”, which I feel like only OG fans will get the reference. But for those of you who don’t know, back when FNAF 1 came out, there was a rumor of a secret/rare animatronic in the game called Sparky the Dog. There was a fake image floating around showing him standing in the door to parts and service. This was later confirmed to be fake. BUT! In the movie they also have a dog-looking animatronic in the parts and service room which absolutely took me out lol

• Acting was great! Everyone was fun to watch, Josh Hutcherson was a great lead as Mike and Piper Rubio was so sweet as Abby but I gotta give my props to Matthew Lillard towards the end of the movie, he looked like he was having so much fun being this unhinged monster! Speaking of…

• There is a spring lock scene!! It is real!! And God was it cathartic to watch! Obviously being PG-13, they couldn’t do blood and guts galore, but I think they managed to pull it off pretty well! Afton’s scene was definitely my favorite in the film hands down! And yes, he gets his “I always come back” line which put 5 years back on my life if I’m being honest lmao

• There is blood in this movie! Not a gratuitous amount, but it was enough for what they were going for I think! The kills of the people breaking to Freddy’s were more entertaining to watch than I thought! Especially Freddy’s kill…that caught me completely off guard lmao

• There aren’t too many jumpscares but that was fine with me! They do this repeat jumpscare with a little figurine of Balloon Boy like 3 times and I thought it was funny every time! They do a really good job with tension in this movie!

• The animatronics!!!! LOVED THEM!!!! They were so detailed and well designed, they were so fun to watch!! The Jim Henson company did an absolutely stellar job with the designs, I want to hug them 🥺

• So the story…I thought it was fine! They do stray from canon by making Vanessa Afton’s daughter in the movie instead of Mike being his son. They do confirm Afton was the one who kidnapped and killed Mike’s brother Garrett. The story is kind of left open ended as if they could continue the story (which I hope they do), but I think it leaves a more or less satisfying ending!

• There’s a minor mid-credit scene with Cory Kenshin and a secret message at the very end of the credits. I couldn’t hear it well but it’s spelled-out letters exactly like the ones from the death minigames in FNAF 2

• Yes, The Living Tombstone’s FNAF song is in the end credits, I felt my soul leave my body 😭

Minor Negatives…

• The story is slow at the beginning, it takes a little bit for anything super interesting to take place

• There are some plot points that don’t get explained or resolved (which is par for the course for FNAF) but that leads me to believe that they want to make sequels which I am all here for

• The Aunt Jane character wasn’t super important, she was fine, but she was there just to serve as an antagonist to Mike for a whole 5 minutes of the movie, if that

• I wanted so much more Afton/Spring Bonnie time, it was too short for me but I am happy with what I got. Also, he didn’t wear any purple in the movie which I think is a crime 😂

• Kind of wish there was an R rated version of this movie even though FNAF isn’t known for being bloody and gory, but some parts felt a little tame

• Also please correct me if I’m wrong but, they didn’t use the Toreador March music at all?? If I missed it, please tell me but I was waiting to hear it and it never came from what I remember

Speculation…

• So the biggest plot issue for me was that they never explained Afton’s intentions for killing. I think fans of the games know why he’s killing, but the general audience won’t. I’m sure it has something to do with the saw blade machine that tries to stuff your head into Freddy’s head. But it wasn’t clear. Vanessa never gave us a straight answer either even though she was in on it from the beginning.

• Towards the beginning of the movie, Abby is shown to be talking to her “invisible friend”, this is before Mike is hired as Freddy’s security guard. Turns out that friend is the ghost kid who possess Golden Freddy/Fredbear (again, isn’t clear lol). I wanna know why that kid showed up before Mike and Abby even went to the location??

• I may be reading too much into this, but when Mike goes in to get a new job after being fired from his mall security guard job, he’s talking to “Steve” and Steve does something interesting. He’s berating him for his inability to hold down a job, the he looks at his name on the file and just goes “…Mike S…” and just, doesn’t finish saying his name. He looks at Mike really weird like he’s trying to find something, and then just completely changes the subject. IDK, I’ll probably have to watch it again, and I think it would be a stretch to go the “Mike Afton” route especially since they established Vanessa was his kid. But ya never know with FNAF 😂

• Also the secret message that was spelled out at the end of the credits. If any of y’all know what they spelled, please tell me because I could not figure it out! I would love to know what it said!

Conclusion…

I just had a blast with this movie! I wasn’t sure what to expect with this movie but I think Blumhouse and everyone who worked on this movie did an amazing job, you can tell they put so much heart and soul into this! I will patiently be awaiting the announcement of the next movie until then!

Rating - 8.5/10

#fnaf #fnaf movie #five nights at freddy's #five nights at freddy’s movie #fnaf spoilers #fnaf movie spoilers #five nights at freddy’s movie spoilers #five nights at freddy’s spoilers #spoilers #fnaf movie review

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mrsroryhuntzberger · 2 years

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I never understood the hate towards the Kim possible movie. The actors tried their best, given the material that had to work with.

And everyone portrayed the charters very well, if there’s something I appreciate about the movie is that it make Kim a little more flawed and vulnerable the movie actually focused on her character development and that’s very cool.

It’s true that love action sometimes can translate animation well, but I think the movie captured the essence of the show regardless. I remember there were criticism like: “this Kim is very cocky, she is always showing off and making unnecessary backflips” and all I could think of is have this people seen the og series?

Kim was always a little of a show off, but there was nothing wrong with that. She was good at what she did and she knew it.

I also remember there were people who claimed to be fans who criticized the movie and they couldn’t ever get the name of the characters right dative things like “Shigo”, “Drako” etc. and blatantly getting details wrong such as that “Kim had a secret identity why is she know showing off and revealing it to her family?”

I could ever think of was: have this people watched the original series? I don’t think so.

The worst part is that many “fans” started bullying and sending death threats to Sadie, which is really fucking awful. She didn’t deserve any hate whatsoever. Thanks goodness she took everything in stride and I really believe she did a extremely good job in her role.

i agree with all of this and you said it all very well.

I found the live action to be fun, campy and cheesy (i agree that kim is show-offish in the series but I was dying every time she did an unnecessary backflip it was so funny) but it's a freaking DCOM of course it's like that. The OG series (which I've been rewatching recently) is campy and fun and cheesy. The tech and style was updated because it was made in 2019 and had to adapt for its audience which is primarily kids because again it's a freaking DCOM.

The actors were great in it, so good that I was truly ready to throw hands on Kim's behalf (I still will she was a great friend to Athena and I hate how they had her apologize to the android that was literally working against her to make her feel awful about herself) which is especially impressive because i read that this was Sadie's first on screen role. She did a great job and didn't deserve any of the threats or hate against her.

(I know it probably won't happen since it's been a few years but I would 100% watch a sequel with her and Ron fighting kid Drakken)

It is funny people were messing up basic facts especially the idea of Kim keeping her world saving a secret that was such a basic and essential thing to the plot of the original series.

There are things I wish they did differently (why no Monique?? why was Kim's grandma a fighter and trained Kim?? WHY DID ALL THE ADULTS LIKE BARKIN BLAME A 15 YEAR OLD FOR NOT STOPPING ANOTHER 15 YEAR OLD FROM BEING KIDNAPPED BY TWO GROWN ADULTS WHERE WERE THE POLICE OR THE SCHOOL SECUIRTY???) but at the end of the day the movie entertained me and stuck to the heart and soul of the source material and that's whats most important

#emily talks #kim possible #kim possible 2019 #sadie stanley #also this movie clearly sticks to me because I have this much and more to say about it #again i don't get the hate because it's a DCOM #disney channel and DCOMs hold a special place in my childhood heart but at the end of the day #they are made for 8-12 year olds for the most part #and it's a direct to tv movie #it's not gonna win any awards #it's designed to be fun and give kids good life lessons #again i don't agree with this life lesson because kim was a great friend and didn't need to change #actually ron was a little too much on athenas side but whatever #i was legit yelling at the tv i was so pissed for kim #sadie did a great job at making me want to throw hands for her #if anyone is curious i live tweeted this on my twitter emshuntz #also shego and drakken were funny #anyway #ask #anon

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littlespoonevan · 3 years

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Teen Wolf question for you (since your AO3 history shows me you used to indulge)!

So I've never seen Teen Wolf, but I do see that there's a new movie coming out in 2022 which, honestly, I expected the promo link for to be a Rick Roll.

Is this the part where I should watch the show and catch up with the fandom or is this the part where people scream at me, "NO. DON'T DO THAT TO YOURSELF," like with Pretty Little Liars?

Tl;dr Teen Wolf...

Yay

Or nay?

Thanks in advance for you opinion!

oh wow this is a complicated question akjdfhs

okay so for a bit of background and context: teen wolf was my first great fandom love. i was in the glee fandom prior but the teen wolf fandom was the first fandom i was actively involved in/wrote fic for. it remains to this day one of the most astoundingly talented fandoms i've ever been in (not to discredit the incredible creators in every other fandom i've been in but my god the amount of novel length superb teen wolf fic that exists is Something Else) and i love the characters/actors with my whole heart

however

i've never watched past s4.

season 3b ended with the death of my favourite character and i've yet to recover from the level of betrayal i felt tbh (which is why i will Never criticise 911 writers bc they will literally never be able to hurt me the way jeff davis did ok that man is my villain origin story). i watched s4 but my heart wasn't in it and when another one of my favourite characters left at the end of it that was me done.

so i feel like teen wolf fans fall into two categories: the OGs who gave up by the end of s4 and the newer fans who only started watching around 3b

so my answer as an OG fan: watch season 1-3a. the 3a season finale is a better series finale than the actual ending will ever be tbh (i did watch that on my rewatch last summer). 3b is Good and dylan o'brien is phenomenal in it because he really gets to show off his acting chops but that is the point where the show starts to take itself too seriously and goes a much darker route (aka not the campy fun werewolf show i signed up for lmao)

so yeah, that would be my advice! but even as a fan of the show myself i don't intend on seeing the movie unless it's mainly the OG cast so it really depends on how you feel once you start watching it! i have a friend who only started it long after i stopped watching and she loves the last few seasons, y'know?

but other tw fans feel free to weigh in because i also feel like i'm being incredibly biased askdjh

#dancer-me #asks

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karenjacksons · 2 years

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An attempt at reviewing EVERY horror movie I watched in october

[[MORE]]

Truth or Dare (2017): not to be confused with the one with Lucy Hale and Landon Liboiron, although ironically they both star degrassi actors (and wow,does Ricardo Hoyos’ character suffer in this one!). I thought this was really thrilling,and tbh I was shocked to find out it’s a tv movie because it’s so gory. The ending seemed unpopular online, but tbh I loved the bordering on thelma and louise ending.

Polaroid: all in all it’s not very memorable,but tbh the plot twist about the truth about the cop and the girl who died was so heartbreaking and made me cry :(

School Spirit: apparently this is an episode of a tv show called Into The Dark,but Hulu has it as a movie. SPOILER ALERT: Farkle is the killer. i kind of laughed just because,you know,it’s Farkle,but I thought he was decent. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer: I somehow have never seen this. Now I finally know the origin of Brenda in Scary Movie…she’s clearly Brandy in this! (I loved Brandy in the movie. Happy they didn’t kill her off). Hated the ending.

Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism: literally don’t even remember this one.

Deadly Friend: LOVED this one! Kristy Swanson was so good! However, it has what has got to be one of the worst endings in cinematic history…

The Babysitter Killer Queen: the first one was way better,but it was fun. Obviously Samara Weaving’s borderlin cameo was the best part. Side note,but Jenna Ortega will always be Little Jane to me,i don’t think I can handle seeing her get killed in Scream 5 lol

Friday the 13th: Final Chapter: this one is weird because it has an iconic/amazing ending,Tommy and Trish are legends,but the parts without them…what even is the plot? They don’t even know any of the kids who get slaughtered. But again,amazing ending.

Endless Love: this is a You style horror movie and you can’t convince me otherwise. In fact,I think Penn Badgley might have taken inspiration from Martin Hewitt. Amazing movie. Friday the 13th: of course I love it and it’s a classic but SyFy’s airing butchered it! They cut out some death scenes….

Halloween Kills: YES. LOVED IT. Loved all the actors too.

The Stepfather: more of a thriller than horror. I loved it,but I think if I wrote it,I would have made it so Penn Badgley and Amber Heard’s characters were siblings rather than boyfriend and girlfriend. Partially because I hated the unneeded sexy stuff,but also because it would have fit the family theme better. (Fun fact: Skyler Samuels plays his actual sister,but she’s basically an extra. I loved seeing her so young though!)

Secret Window: again,more thriller than horror. Loved Johnny Depp’s acting but the ending was….a little off.

The Exorcist 3: love George C Scott and Brad Dourif in the movie. I wish they hadnt forced the director to make it an exorcist sequel though. (random fact: my dad worked at a bar Jason Miller would always go to in Scranton and says he was mean.)

Stage Fright: LOVE IT. Hilarious. The killer is extremely easy to figure out though. Also,Ephraim Ellis (Rick Murray) is in it. (so is Dan Levy, but it’s only one line).

Untitled Horror Movie: same director as Truth or Dare,starring and written by Luke Baines who played one of the main characters in that. My only real complaint is I wish they let Claire Holt keep her accent! Also,at first I thought they were all filming in the same house, but then I realized it’s just that their houses all look very similar.

The Collingswood Story: the og unfriended from 2002. Unfortunately it’s boring as fuck.

Dracula AD 1972: sadly he’s only onscreen for 10 minutes,but I love the campy 70s vibes!

The Rage Carrie 2; I actually loved it. Things I didn’t like: killing Sue (especially since it was an accident and I highly doubt Rachel would have killed her on purpose) and the plot twist where Rachel was Carrie’s sister was way too over the top.

Dracula Has Risen From The Grave: fun but I liked Dracula 1972 way better.

Last Night In Soho: THIS MOVIE WAS EVERYTHING! i don’t want to say anything else because spoilers but SEE IT IN A THEATER!

Strait Jacket: the ending literally made me cry….Joan Crawford really was a good actress…

#she speaks #this has spoilers for many random movies #I hope the read more works

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stranger-awakening · 3 years

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if i wanted to get into star trek, where do you think i should start?

Oh, I’m really not the person to answer this question because I’ve only seen Next Gen, pieces of Voyager and the OG series, and the first season of Discovery, but I’ll outsource this answer from my mum because she’s seen all of them. Let me try and break this down as easily as I can. The Star Trek universe is fucking gigantic, there’s a lot of shows and a lot of movies, but I’ll focus on the live-action shows.

Original Star Trek (1966-69) – watch this if you want to see how it all began, and the majority of the Star Trek memes on this site. It’s campy sci-fi and it’s very fun

Next Generations (1987-1994) – this one I can vouch for because I adored it as a kid, and it rocks. Longest running and I think it’s the second most popular show of the lot. Carried the legacy of the OG series and had a bunch of really awesome characters and really heartfelt episodes. You’ll probably recognise a lot of faces. My mum said if you don’t want to watch the OG series this a good place to start, and even then, I recommend it

Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) – tried to do something a little different than its predecessors by focusing on a space station instead of the usual sexy crew in their sexy space ship. To my knowledge, a darker tone and a much more cynical outlook on humanity/human nature and all that. I don’t really know much about this one, sorry, because my mum didn’t like it lmao.

Voyager (1995-2001) – Super cool female space captain !! This one was my mum’s personal favourite and she has good taste in sci-fi so take from that what you will. I’ve only seen a little, but I’ll vouch for it on her behalf.

Enterprise (2001-2005) – Chronologically this takes place before the original series, but it was made well after that. It's set on the very first space ship, and I think it focuses on three main characters for the most part as opposed to the big ensemble cast of the others shows, so if you're into seeing what that was like, give this one a watch. I also forgot it existed because my mum didn’t like it either so rip, I guess

Discovery (2017 – present) – This is the current one that’s on Netflix. I’ve only seen the first season but it’s a lot. Lots of drama, lots of science, but worth the watch I just fell behind. Prepare for pain though, this one hurts. It’s also the series with all the official LGBTQ+ rep you’ve probably seen articles about. A true step in the right direction for the franchise and the genre.

There’s also Picard which is still running to my knowledge, the first season came out last year. It follows Captain Picard from Next Gen, probably the most popular of the Star Trek captains aside from the OG Captain Kirk himself. I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard it’s not very good so oop.

Aside from that there's the roboot film trilogy directed by JJ Abrams (Star Trek & Star Trek: Into the Darkness) and Justin Lin (Star Trek: Beyond) which has a killer cast tbh. I liked them when they came out, but the big boy sci-fi nerds do not from what I hear. That doesn't mean anything, but I thought I would mention it. I haven't seen them in a while though so I'm not sure how they hold up but you if you want a quick grasp of the OG characters without watching the whole show you could give the first one a watch and enjoy the lens flares <3

TLDR: Watch Next Gen at all costs, the others are up to you.

#next gen is my dad's favourite and he said that picard wasn't that good so i trust him on that one #hopefully this answered some of your question sorry im really not that familiar with the universe !!!#answered

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theyearoftheking · 4 years

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Book Thirty-One: Four Past Midnight

You know you’re in for a good time when you crack open a collection of novellas, and the introduction discusses the 1989 Milwaukee Brewers, and specifically Robin Yount.

I am not really a baseball fan. I will admit to going to games just to tailgate, get snacks and drink an overpriced beer. I own some cute Milwaukee Brewers merch, and love a brat with stadium sauce. That’s the extent of my fandom. You’ll never find me being a baseball bandwagon junkie.

But.

Every late 30-40 something raised in Milwaukee has really fond memories of County Stadium (our old, humble stadium) before Miller Park took over (Sorry, refuse to call it Am-Fam Field, or whatever the hell its new name is). And we have fond memories of Robin Yount, Paul Moliter- the OG Brew Crew. Warm and fuzzies all around.

Steve drops one hell of a Wisconsin reference when he talks about watching a Brewers/Red Sox game (Brewers won, btw), and the announcers are talking about how old Robin Yount is. Steve almost flies out of his recliner when he realizes Robin started playing baseball the same year he published his first novel. They’re the same age!! Robin Yount can’t be old, because if he’s old, ergo, Steve is old.

Time is a funny thing. I write this as I’m a week away from turning forty. Ugh. It hurts so bad.

Four Past Midnight was another home run (ha!) collection of novellas. I told another constant reader this past week that the novella is really where Steve shines. It’s long enough to create some magic, but short enough to keep the editing tight. I didn’t love this collection as much as Different Seasons, but The Sun Dog might be my new favorite story ever... and it set the scene for Needful Things, which I’m now one hundred pages into. The flow from one story to the other is masterful.

The collection kicks off with The Langoliers, which I mostly remember because it was a campy television miniseries in 1995.

Basically, a bunch of people are on a red-eye flight, and Dinah Bellman, a little blind girl wakes up to find most of the people on the plane (including her caretaker Aunt) have disappeared. All their jewelry and belongings have been left behind, but it’s like they’ve been body-snatched out of thin air. Oh, the pilot was langolier-ed too. Thankfully, one of the other passengers on the plane, Brian Engle, just so happens to be a pilot, and attempts to land the plane. But, there are no lights, he’s not getting any response from any major airports... so landing at Boston Logan isn’t going to be a thing. He (of course) needs to re-route to Bangor.

At this point, Craig Toomer is losing his shit. He NEEDS to be in Boston to meet with a bank about some shady shit with some bonds. He’s not having this Bangor thing. So, he sits in his seat and sulks, ripping pieces of paper into thin strips (legit serial killer behavior), and remembering horror stories his dad used to tell him about monsters called the Langoliers.

Aaaand that’s where the title comes from.

The plane lands in Bangor, the airport is empty, the food has no taste and the beers have no carbonation. Noises are both muffled and amplified, and planes won’t go. So, Brian fuels up the original plane they were on, loads everyone inside; and takes off again. The passengers realize they need to be asleep to fly through the time/space continuum, so Brian lowers the cabin pressure, they all go to sleep (except for the dashing Nick Hopewell who bravely offers to fly the plane through the rip), and they make it safely to the other side, where life slowly starts back up again.

The end.

Then, there’s Secret Window, Secret Garden; which I also remember because of the Johnny Depp movie, which I had forgotten most of until my husband thought he’d summarize the plot of The Dark Half for me. He got it totally wrong, and ended up describing SWSG instead; thus ruining the surprise I forgot I already knew about. Welcome to marriage, kids. Lesson learned: if you haven’t seen The Secret Window, just wait and read the novella instead.

Best-selling author Morton Rainey answers his door one afternoon, and finds a Faulkner-esque gentleman in a wide-brimmed hat, accusing him of plagiarism. “You stole my story!” John Shooter tells him. Mort is supes confused, and has no idea what Shooter is talking about. He’s even able to prove he wrote and published the story a few years before Shooter wrote it.

“Prove it,” Shooter taunts him.

And then the story takes a left turn into Crazyville, when Shooter starts killing people, starting Mort’s ex-wife’s house on fire, and trying to kill Mort.

But here’s the twist.

Ready?

Shooter is Mort.

Mort is Shooter.

God damn, I wish my husband hadn’t reminded me of this spoiler, it would have been more epic to discover on my own. But it’s an excellent slight-of-hand on Steve’s part. Well done.

And then we get to The Library Policeman... which I really loved until I got to the part about the policeman anally raping small children who don’t turn their books in on time. That jumped the shark just a little bit. But prior to that cringefest, the idea of Library Policeman was fun. And in my world of enforcing rental policies, and returning books in beautiful, unblemished condition; I’m all for some library police. Maybe just ones with better social distancing, though...

And then we arrive to Sun Dog, the real winner of the collection. Steve starts the story with a brief introduction that covers the strange history of Castle Rock. This is a great refresher if you’re new to the universe, or haven’t read thirty-one Steve books in five months. No judgement.

Kevin Delevan receives a Sun 660 Polaroid camera for this fifteenth birthday. He takes a family picture, and notices a dog in the snapshot. A dog his family doesn’t own, and doesn’t know. Thinking it’s a fluke, he takes a few more pictures, and the dog keeps showing up, but is moving in each picture.

A few days later, Kevin takes the camera over to Reginald “Pop” Merrill at the Emporium Galorium. Pop fixes cameras and clocks, and also acts as the local loan shark, and seller of odd things. Pop inspects the camera, and sees nothing wrong with it. But he knows darkness when he sees it, and after a quick swap; he ends up with the Sun Dog camera, and sends Kevin home with another one.

Pop tries selling the camera to collectors of the dark and odd, but no one wants it. He’s starting to stress, because he knows it’s only a matter of time before the camera unleashes its true dark potential.

Kevin wakes up from a nightmare and realized Pop pulled a fast one on him. He gets to the Emporium Galorium just as the dog is trying to emerge from the film, and Kevin is able to kill it, and the shop starts on fire. But, it’s not the last strange thing to happen in Castle Rock...

I’m not going to lie, I finished Sun Dog at about 8pm last night, and promptly dived into Needful Things. Y’all... it might be my favorite Steve book ever. Too soon to say for sure, but damn it’s dark and twisty. Stay tuned.

In addition to the Brewers reference, there was one Dark Tower reference in The Library Police, “...lookin’ as fierce as a gunslinger in an old Western movie...”

Total Wisconsin Mentions: 25

Total Dark Tower References: 23

Book Grade: A+

Rebecca’s Definitive Ranking of Stephen King Books

The Talisman: A+

Misery: A+

Different Seasons: A+

It: A+

Four Past Midnight: A+

The Shining: A-

The Stand: A-

The Drawing of the Three: A-

Nightmares in the Sky: B+

The Dark Half: B+

Skeleton Crew: B+

The Dead Zone: B+

‘Salem’s Lot: B+

Carrie: B+

Creepshow: B+

Cycle of the Werewolf: B-

Danse Macabre: B-

The Running Man: C+

Thinner: C+

Dark Visions: C+

The Eyes of the Dragon: C+

The Long Walk: C+

The Gunslinger: C+

Pet Sematary: C+

Firestarter: C+

Rage: C

Cujo: C-

Nightshift: C-

Roadwork: D

Christine: D

The Tommyknockers: D-

I hope everyone is continuing to social distance and quarantine well. I’m headed back to work in another week... kinda hoping it doesn’t cut into my reading time. But reality is a cruel thing sometimes...

Long Days and Pleasant Nights, Rebecca

#stephen king #constant readers #castle rock #the langoliers #sun dog #secret window secret garden #secret window #library police #the dark tower #milwaukee brewers #county stadium #needful things

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onestowatch · 4 years

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Boy Willows Drops Dreamy Music Video for "Fila" [Q&A]

Boy Willows, aka Landon Fleischman, makes music that offers a deep amalgamation of incandescent alt-pop, jubilant jazz, and psychedelic-tinged folk. Impeccably paired with sensory lyricism and passionate vocals, he delivers a hypnotic and singular resonance.

The LA-via-Maryland artist recently shared his new single "Fila" with Dylan Minnette of Wallows. On "Fila," Boy Willows stretches out to embrace relatable themes of vulnerability and healing both inwardly and outwardly without feeling overbearingly serious. "Fila" serves as a therapy session between two friends as they cope with being alone in different ways. Nestled in a warm and gentle soundscape, the sonic components are woven with nostalgia, charm, and a bit of whimsy. We caught up with Willows for a quick Q&A about the track and the equally nostalgic and whimsical music video directed by Boy Willows, shot by Seannie Bryan (Madeline Kenney, Skullcrusher) and edited by Jordan Pories.

Ones to Watch: This song, although short and sweet, seems to have a lot of complexity to it. It sounds like throughout the single, the main characters are grappling with feelings of loneliness and figuring out how to cope. What is this song about to you, and how did this song come to be?

Boy Willows: I think both verses deal with the thoughts that bubble up when you feel useless, small, or alone, but what I love about the song is there's a twinge of hope. My goal with Fila was to spur myself into believing that I could create my own reality of acceptance and momentum. I had been feeling isolated a while before the pandemic hit - on the perimeter looking in on other people's social circles or relationships or success. My hope was that by acknowledging these truths in a song, I could start to take up my own space, make my own club of acceptance per se.

What was the creative process like for the single? What made you want to go for this very ethereal sound, and were you inspired by anything in particular?

I worked on this super grand, minute-long glitchy harmony thing and pitched it down an octave (oooo). It was so soothing and slow and big, I started producing around it, and I felt like I was in a dream where I could say anything I wanted, no matter how heavy or light.

What are your thoughts on girls that wear Fila?

Haha, in short, they're cool. This song is truly a peek into all the thoughts that were swirling around my brain, making me feel alone - and one of those thoughts was about aging. I wish this wasn't the truth, but I was feeling fear about getting older. I wrote that line about Filas and didn't think much of it or even really understand why I wrote it until a couple nights ago. It's definitely a light-hearted observation about youth culture, but I think I wanted to poke fun at it cuz I felt like I wasn't a part of it for the first time - and that frightened me. It's insane that even that line was born out of the fear of being left out, but I'm pretty sure that's the true true.

I loved not only the sonic atmosphere you created, but also the story of you told through the lyrics. Do you have a favorite verse from this track or one that speaks to you? What is your approach when it comes to songwriting?

I just love how much the endings of each verse stick out - "I just feel like I don't deserve this life." It's a line you could interpret so many different ways, and each way would be true. When I'm working on a song, it starts with the music. I picture where it takes me, how fast I'm moving, if I feel cool or angry or defeated, and if I'm lucky, a phrase will fall out of my mouth that feels true, even if it doesn't make sense at first.

I think the music video does a great job of visualizing the lightheartedness of "Fila." What was the creative process like, and what was it like working with your team on the video?

There's this fucking incredible animated video called Satiemania from 1978 made by this Croatian animator, Zdenko Gašparović. In it, there's a delectable section where it's just different shoes walking in an impossibly groovy way. I wanted that tone of animation mixed with the camaraderie and fuckit-energy of The Pharcyde's "Drop" music video. I brought those ideas to my genius creative friend/ shaman, Jordan Pories, and we got to work, exploring the world of the song, trying to amplify and showcase everything in a dreamy, slow way. Seannie Bryan is a recent friend of mine and a killer DP. She captured the dreamy light perfectly. We rolled up to the spot at 6am. It was 90 degrees, and we knocked it out in an hour and a half, only stopping once because I was going to throw up from spinning.

Dylan Minette's voice perfectly compliments the laid back yet introspective vibe of the song, and it looked like y'all had a lot of fun doing the music video. What was working with him like, and how did he get involved with this single?

He and I go way back. We used to be in rival boy scout gangs. No, I do lighting for Wallows, and we met through that. One day on the tour bus, I was showing him some new tunes, one of which was "Fila." It was 35 seconds, and he said it needed to be longer, so I said, "hop on in." He added his verse, and we were OFF TO THE RACES. He's got a really strong creative compass and just knows what he likes. We finished the song in a couple days - fucking painless, dare I say, very enjoyable bordering on a lot of fun.

Tell me about Desert Mike. I feel like although rattlesnakes do deserve some love and I agree that the war between them and human beings is senseless, I'm not exactly in a rush to give them a pat on the head...Ok, but for real, tell me about this clip at the end. Is it an easter egg for a future single? In your last single, "i love it when you talk," you intercut the clips of you with film footage from the 80s and 90s. Is Desert Mike a Boy Willows creation or a relic from the past?

SHEESH, am I paying you?? because if not, then I SHOULD. The Boy Willows canon is a long, meandering labyrinth of characters that doesn't conform to traditional standards of "time" or "being funny" or "good. Desert Mike exists in all Boy Willows worlds, though, this much I can say. In the ILIWYT video, Desert Mike easily could have made a feature, and now I want to know who you've been talking to...your ability to connect the dots is...suspicious.

Has the pandemic effected you or inspired you as an artist? If so, how?

Really hot take comin at ya, I think the pandemic is not good. Bad even! I lost my job, so financially, I've been very inspired to survive haha. This isn't the sexiest answer, but the truth for me is, I put everything into my music but am also looking for a job - sometimes balancing those two things is really fucking hard. Instead of feeling inspired to write about my difficulties, I just want to solve them. So I'm really looking forward to landing a part-time gig as a call representative for Spirit Airlines, so I can get back to making my music.

Once the world comes to a state of a new normal, what's the first thing you want to do?

I'd love to travel somewhere new with my friends. A friend of mine is living in New Zealand working on an alpaca farm. You bet your ass I'm flying there at the first chance.

Alternate fun idea: Get a table at a restaurant, deep in the back, as far inside as possible. Order one appetizer every 30 minutes and stay there for a minimum of nine hours, just being so loungey and just snacking hard, mozzarella sticks flying every which way, napping in marinara sauce.

When shows and concerts are back, who do you want to see, and who do you want to tour or play with?

When touring comes back, I would LOVE to tour with Jadu Heart, Far Caspian, Sure Sure, to name a few. I just want to crowd surf for a month straight honestly. Give a ton of sweaty hugs. I want to see Toro y Moi, Thumpasaurus, Squirrel Flower.

Who have you been listening to throughout the pandemic? Are there any Ones To Watch?

A lot of Tribe Called Quest for long drives. I'll put "Check The Rhime" on repeat. I just discovered this dude named Shuttle his song "Boy" is fucking groooovy. I'm an OG KT Tunstall stan too - I've been bumping her 2013 album "Invisible Empire" like a mad man. Kevin Morby for the campy vibes, Rufus for the stank, Lomelda for the love, Van Morrison because if I get married, my first dance will be to "Crazy Love," and I like to daydream about that when I drive. Last but most important, The Prince of Egypt soundtrack.

Oh also, I've been listening to a lot of Anna Burch, Far Caspian, Bea1991, a compilation of geese wearing hats, Mei, Shuttle and this new artist you HAVE to listen to - he's a little out there but give him a try, Drake.

youtube

#Boy Willows #Fila #Dylan Minette

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nyaheum · 4 years

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Eurovision 2020 – The Least Useful List Ever

Disclaimer: I am absolutely biased towards certain styles of music and am probably the least impartial person ever. I also don‘t take anything seriously, so you shouldn‘t make that mistake with this list. I mean, Eurovision has been postponed anyway and we‘re all going mad in self-isolation.

France: Tom Leeb – Mon Alliée

MEEEH, it‘s a dude with a guitar singing a quiet love song. Super basic and also super boring. Would be better if there was no English in it, that makes it worse. 3 Points.

Czech Republic: Benny Cristo – Kemama

Czechia has a type. It‘s kinda fun, but it‘s not my style of music. This could be on the radio and I‘d be „Okay, I‘m driving anyway“. There‘s not enough happening for me here. 4 Points.

Armenia: Athena Manoukian – Chains On You

Someone saw Ukraine‘s entry from last year, huh. But I actually kinda like it. I actually like the aesthetic more than the song itself, but it‘s kinda good. Except for the super basic chorus. Wouldn‘t add to my playlist but I don‘t mind it. 5 Points.

Italy: Diodato - Fai Rumore

Hey, I‘m having a déjà vu. Another non-english love song. But this is better than the french one, simply because there‘s actually some emotion in this dudes voice. Also Italy just gets sympathy points from me at this point. 5 Points.

Russia: Little Big – Uno

I love this song so much. It‘s so much fun. It‘s so stupid and campy. In short: very Eurovision. It‘s also just very interesting instrumental-wise. At least I think it is. I really like it. (also their dancer in the blue jumpsuit doing splits and a death drop? Icon) 10/12 Points.

Denmark: Ben & Tan – YES

Why does this sound like Shallow to me? I think it‘s the guitar and the male and female voice. Anyway if it‘s Shallow it‘s bad Shallow. NO from me. I don‘t like the pacing. BUT if they had had a live performance at least it would‘ve been great for audience participation. 4 Points

Estonia: Uku Suviste – What Love Is

Oh. It‘s that kind of song, huh. Why does th music video like this. Why are there spider webs on the microphone. Why is there the word „LOVE“ in an empty industrial hall. Why does he do so many vocal runs. Just a big WHY from me. 2 Points.

Romania: ROXEN – Alcohol You

I know this was the fan favourite song, but I liked literally ALL OTHER songs she had more than this one. It does look really cool though. It‘s also very modern, but there‘s not enough build-up for me? Or rather, it sounds like it builds up to something and it doesn‘t really in the end? Like it builds up to something, but it doesn‘t go as hard as I would have liked it to? But that‘s just me. 6 Points.

Azerbaijan: Efendi – Cleopatra

Okay, this is my guilty pleasure song this year. The music video is super weird (the dancers all look like they do not want to be there, she‘s suddenly dancing around a car in an outfit from 2009 and she‘s raking around in a baththub full of gold dust?), the text is super basic BUT holy shit I just love the pre-chorus and the chorus. I mean. What‘s going on there?...Whatever it is, I like it. 7 Points.

Albania: Arilena Ara – Fall From The Sky

She reminds me of Poppy, of all people. But her voice is deeper. Her song is also more basic. I really have nothing to say about thsi, except that it sounds like a song from last years ESC but I don‘t know which one right now. 2 Points.

Greece: Stefania – SUPERG!RL

If we have learned anything from S!ISTERS last year, then it is that you shouldn‘t replace I‘s with exclamation marks. Also why is she singing about her being super strong and stuff and then she uses her powers to...make two bullies probably break their noses?...and why did the nerd draw her (so weirdly)? What is this music video… 2 Points

Portugal: Elisa – Medo De Sentir

Conan was robbed last year and therefore I cannot like whatever Portugal does this year. Conveniently, I also don‘t like this song. I swear, there‘s slow and quiet songs I like, it‘s just not...this kind. 3 Points

Moldova: Natalia Gordienko - Prison

This year‘s music videos are so obscure, but at least this isn‘t the slow-mo-romance from last year. That being said...I do not like her face being so close to the camera. The song is surprisingly decent though. In an Eurovision context, duh. 4 Points

Malta: Destiny – All Of My Love

Two things: Destiny‘s voice is absolutely stunning. I love listening to her sing. She really knows what she‘s doing. And: although I had to skip the narration at the beginning (it made me uncomfortable??) it‘s a great song. It‘s fun. They‘re also all covering their mouths and noses. Truly ahead of their time. 7 Points.

Serbia: Hurricane – Hasta La Vista

My immediate reaction to that opening shot was: „Oh, hatred will win again huh?“. That‘s pretty much all they had in common with Iceland though. Something is wrong about this Instrumental. I don‘t know what it is, but it sounds off-beat for some reason? It‘s super weird to listen to, I don‘t know. It‘s also, eh, basic? 3 Points

Poland: Alicja – Empires

I knew an Alicia in school and I hated her with all I had. I wouldn‘t say I dislike this song that much, but I also don‘t...really like it? I‘m always sceptical about songs that have very ambigious lyrics and then show some political stuff in the music video because I just KNOW that they do that so they can collect their Internet points while not risking to lose the points of older people who only watch the Contest on TV and will never see the music video. Apart from that, I just don‘t care for the song, honestly. 4 Points

San Marino: Senhit – Freaky! So, in the years where San Marino doesn‘t send Serhat, can we borrow him? I mean, he works in Germany anyway and speaks German, so it shouldn‘t be a problem, right? About the song: yeah, why not. Sounds a bit like they tried to do a little bit of Lizzo here, and I don‘t mind it. The people who did the music video also saw Ukraines entry from last year. The scene where they‘re all touching each other is basically the same. 5 Points

North Macedonia: Vasil – YOU

ME?! Why is he in the „She Got Me“-Bar by the way? And why is there a passed out guy in the background?! Is that girl wearing a Scrunchy? This whole video is She Got Me. Only worse. IT‘S EVEN THE SAME LOCATION?? 2 Points

Iceland: Daði og Gagnamagnið – Think About Things

I haven‘t seen one person on the Internet who dislikes this song and I...for once...am part of the hype. I love this song, I love these people, it‘s so stupid and that‘s why it‘s amazing. Iceland just gets Eurovision recently. It‘s also a total bop, all other things apart. I‘m humming it at least once a day, it‘s becoming a problem. Daði ALSO lives in Germany, so I think we can claim this song at least a bit? 12 Points

Finland: Aksel – Looking Back

In German, your „Axel“ is your arm pit. I just though you should know that. And I‘m only writing that because this song makes me feel nothing. It just faded right out as soon as I looked at my computer screen. It was gone immediately. 3 Points

Sweden: The Mamas – Move

Good voices. This sounds a lot like their song from last year for some reason. I mean. It even has the same lights or am I going mad?? It‘s totally fine though. 5 Points

Cyprus: Sandro – Running

This will sound weird, but...he looks like a german teenager. I can‘t explain it, he just DOES. Yes, the weird moustache totally included. With me talking about this, you can probably guess that I do not care about this song eiter. Bleh. 4 Points.

Slovenia: Ana Soklic – Voda

We wanna pRääääy – I know she (probably) isn‘t singing that but I can‘t hear anything else. The way she looks at the camera also weirdly bothers me, but that might just be because I can‘t really do eye contact. By the way, the chorus totally sounds like Paper from Iceland 2017. To me. I can‘t explain myself. 5 Points

Bulgaria: Victoria – Tears Getting Sober

Ouh...that title. She‘s going for a Billie Eilish-vibe, isn‘t she. She so is. And I wouldn‘t mind usually, but this is...very obvious. Like, VERY. I also don‘t care a lot for Billie Eilish‘s music, so, you know… 3 Points

Ireland: Lesley Roy – Story Of My Life

„Hey, Lesley, we‘re selling you to One Direction so we can go to the Eurovision Finale.“ What do you mean, it‘s not that Story Of My Life? Hmpfh. She also does not look like she should have that voice. She looks a bit like a middle-aged lesbian, if I dare say so. Why are there so many songs this year that I do not care about? AAAAH. 4 Points

Austria: Vincent Bueno – Alive

Damn, I want a Kinder Bueno now. His voice caught me a little bit off guard, I won‘t lie. And I know he‘s Austrian, but he looks like he‘s a classmate of the guy from Cyprus. Both weirdly german teenager-esque. The song is fine. Still not my genre. She can dance though, so I like him. 5 Points

Israel: Eden Alene – Feker Libi

What I conclude from this song: Israel is not yet ready to win again. I mean, the song is totally fine, but...it‘s not anything special? It just blends right in with the song from before. And I wanted to give bonus points for native language, but just the chorus doesn‘t count. Nuh-uh. 4 Points

The Netherlands: Jeangu Macrooy – Glow

Ah, the Dutch, known for weed and speaking funny German. One thing I genuinely don‘t get: if you are the hosting country, why send ballads or sad songs? I mean, the chances of you winning are so slim, you might as well send a song that‘s entertaining for the home crowd. Maybe in your native language, maybe with a catchy and fun chorus or a repeatable dance move...(may I mention Germany‘s opening act when they hosted the contest in 2011 and the way Stefan Raab completely transformed the song to have it be more fun and entertaining? Not the same thing, but I just think it needs attention). The song isn‘t bad, though. 4 Points

Switzerland: Gjon‘s Tears – Répondez-moi

Oh look, the Swiss remembered they know French. I swear, if they send a German song before us and all of Europe and Australia has to listen to Swiss-German I will throw something. Anyway. It‘s better than the Song sent by France. I like the „Ah-aaah“-parts a lot actually. Honestly, I quite like this song in general. The longer I listen to it, the more I like it. Oh no. 7 Points

Latvia: Samanta Tina – Still Breathing

Why do I feel like I heard this song already? Like, in this list. At least she has a very subtle hat. She won‘t stand out a lot. That reminds me, I don‘t understand art. I have also reached the chorus now and have to say that it still sounds a little bit like Azerbaijan but it‘s actually pretty cool. I don‘t know why, but there‘s just something about it. 7 Points

Georgia: Tornike Kipiani – Take Me As I Am

Okay, don‘t add me, but I really like this song. No jokes here. I just really love the way Georgia keeps sending super angry dudes to Eurovision and nobody cares about it. Although he sounds a lot less scary than Oto, which, in my book, gives him some minus points. Still. I like this. This Song also has more German in it than the German Song. Just pointing that out. 8 Points

Germany: Ben Dolic – Violent Thing

When I first heard this song, I absolutely despised it. I think it‘s just my natural reaction to Germany‘s songs nowaday. Anyway, everyone keeps saying that Germany finally has a good song again like it‘s been ages and ages. But, let‘s be real: 2019 was really bad, yeah, but 2018 was super good, I love 2015‘s Black Smoke to this day and we won in 2010, which, for a contests that only occurs every year and has more than 40 contestans, is not bad at all. What I want to say with that: yes, it‘s actually good, but it‘s not our first good song in decades. 7 Points / Not allowed to vote for it

Belarus: VAL – Da Vidna

This is the first video that YouTube gave me an ad for and I‘m not here for it. I know I‘m supposed to judge the song, but I also have to ask: what does she have on her head? That is a serious question. What is that. She also looks like my cousin a little bit, which is neither good nor bad for her. I‘d like to give her native language points, but two things bother me: a) what is she doing with those dudes and b) I don‘t like this song. 2 Points

Lithuania: The Roop – On Fire

(The Roop! The Roop! The Roop is on fire!) I love this. And what I mean by „this“ is the full package. The song is fine by itself (yes, I like weird songs) but his whole demeanor is just so obsucre...I love it. He manages to look like an extremely serious person while doing the silliest moves ever. He also just looks SO Eastern-European, it‘s ridiculous. 10 Points

Croatia: Damir Kedzo - Divlji Vjetre

He does not look like he should sing this kind of song. He looks like a German amateur rapper. Yes I know, it‘s not my fault that a lot of people look German. I don‘t like this song! I‘m sorry! 2 Points

United Kingdom: James Newman – My Last Breath

There‘s a fire-, no wait, wrong guitar intro. This dude looks like what my brother would looks like if he could grew a proper beard and was a few years older. I don‘t know what you are supposed to do with this information, but at least you have it now. For an UK song, this is absolutely decent. 4 Points

Ukraine: Go_A – Solovey

Yesss, ethnic stuff! I love this song, it‘s absolutely great. And her dress is absolutely stunning. I can‘t even think of anything funny to say about this song, it just totally takes me in. 10 Points

Spain: Blas Cantó – Universo

Can we have La Venda back please? And what is he doing with his hands? And why does he look like he does YouTube? So many questions, so little answers in this music video...(no, seriously, I KNOW this dude from somewhere.) 3 Points

Belgium: Hooverphonic – Release

Yah, Release me from this song please. I‘m getting sick of these songs!! Why is everyone whining, the world is bad enough already!! I‘m using two exclamation marks at once so it‘s serious!! And she says losing game, which is a direct nod to Arcade which led the Netherlands to the win. It‘s song science. Or for short: love love peace peace and all that. 2 Points

Norway: Ulrikke – Attention

Whenever I read the word „Attention“, all I can think about is Todrick Hall. Which is a problem, because this isn‘t…a party song. By the way, why is she squinting so hard? She looks like she‘s in physical pain. And not the „I‘m so sad“-way, but the „I really need to go to the toilet please“-way. I‘m running out of things to say so I have to resort to potty humour. Sorry. 2 Points.

Australia: Montaigne – Don‘t Break Me

I know we have all seen the outfit already, but why does she look like that. She also looks so lost on stage? I feel bad for her, but not because of the lyrics but because of the look on her face. Oh, and about the song: meh? 4 Points

FINAL TOP TEN:

One Point: Azerbaijan

Two Points: Malta

Three Points: Germany (I can‘t really vote for them but who cares there‘s no contest)

Four Points: Latvia

Five Points: Switzerland

Six Points: Georgia

Seven Points: Lithuania

Eight Points: Ukraine

Ten Points: Russia

Twelve Points: Iceland

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skamofcolor · 5 years

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Hi! Im trying to decide which remake to watch next. I have seen the og, france (i have to say besides season 3 it was super bad) and druck. Which remake is the best in terms of representation, like how would u rank them? (I trust u wont recommend italia lol)

This is an interesting question because I’m not sure that the remakes with the “best representation” are the ones that I personally find the most enjoyable to watch? (I’m also going to assume that when you say “best in terms of representation,” you mean the most ethnoracially diverse just in terms of casting?)

So instead of doing a ranking, here’s an outline of the ethnoracial representation of each one and my brief opinion on how each show works in terms of representation:

Skam España

Season 1: Eva (Eva) / Season 2: Cris (Chris & Isak)

España is one of the least diverse remakes in terms of ethnoracial identity, there’s no denying that. Although they have a few Latin American actors on the show, there are only two characters that aren’t white (or white-passing).

However, España is my favorite remake. Season one is pretty solid and I found myself interested in all of the characters and their personalities. Season two is absolutely spectacular, and while I have a few complaints, I cannot praise it enough. They gave Isak’s storyline to their Chris Berg (Cris) character, so it’s a wlw storyline.

One of the best parts of it is how they treat their Sana (Amira). Imo España puts in way more care and effort into Amira than any of the other Skams do, including the OG. The Girl Squad actually seems to care about Amira’s religion and they make the effort to educate themselves, and Cris especially works to make Amira feel like she belongs. That’s not in spite of her differences, either, the show acknowledges how difference affects people and why it’s also a source of pride and important to a sense of self-hood. It’s the first Skam show, tbqh, where I’m not scared for the Sana season.

Most of the racism/Islamophobia Amira experiences is from outsiders commenting on Amira and through Cris’s mom. Their Vilde (Viri) is definitely sheltered and shows prejudice on a number of occasions in S1 but seems to be the one who lets go of those biases the most out of all the Vildes. Otherwise a lot of the prejudice is misogyny, homophobia/biphobia and ableism (which relates to the themes in Eva’s and Cris’s season).

Overall, I would describe España as tender.

Skam Austin

Season 1: Megan (Eva) / Season 2: Grace (Noora)

I think Austin the most ethnoracially diverse of the Skam shows. 3/5 members of the Girl Squad are WoC, and their Isak is a Black lesbian. (Yay!!!!!!)

Season one was fun but felt a bit rushed in some places. Season two started out pretty badly in terms of dialogue and characterization, but I did think it picked up well towards the middle of the season. I think it really hit its stride in the last few episodes!

All of the characters of color are fun, lovable, and get more complex characterization by the end of S2. What I do dislike about Austin is that they seem to love putting their characters of color in painful situations with very little resolution or support from other characters. I’m not sure how to get into this without spoiling things, but I was not happy with their Sana’s (Zoya), Eva’s, (Megan), Chris’s (Josefina) or Isak’s (Shay) storylines or how they wrapped up. However, when given complex dialogue and scenes, these actresses really pull out all the stops.

There’s not too much racism/Islamophobia in season 1 besides the patent Vilde-to-Sana (Kelsey to Zoya) prejudice. Megan is actually Latina but I don’t remember that really being brought up at all. I love Josefina but at points I feel like she was also just supposed to be the comic relief as well. Season 2, imo, had a LOT of racism/islamophobia, mostly directed at Zoya but a few microaggressions against the other girls as well. Kelsey seems to grow and isn’t blatantly racist/islamophobic but is still cringe-y/funny in that white-woman-who’s-trying-too-hard kind of way. Other forms of prejudice are misogyny and lesophobia (season 2 is also the Noora season, so content note for sexual assault).

Overall, I would describe Austin as campy.

Skam Netherlands

Season 1: Isa (Eva) / Season 2: Liv (Noora)

Netherlands is extremely ethnoracially diverse as well. They’re also the first remake to give us a WoC!Noora and a MoC!William.

Season one is probably my favorite season one (besides the OG). They built on so much of the wonderful aspects of the OG and went a step further, imo. Season two started out so well, but then it began to teeter off towards the end. It felt very rushed by then and some of the changes they made to the characters didn’t affect the plot at all, which was disappointing and almost nonsensical to watch. The show is very aesthetically pleasing though and I love most of the characters because they’re so... emotionally messy. lol.

Overall, their characters of color are quirky and nuanced. They’re also treated pretty well by the narrative. However... I think the show tends to not acknowledge their ethnoracial identities at all. Overall, it gives me the impression that the show did “colorblind” casting and then just either didn’t want to or forgot to engage with ethnoracial identity on any kind of level (sort of like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella or Still Star Crossed). This… is not necessarily a bad thing? But it annoys me because I personally think that stories inherently change when you cast marginalized actors. The exceptions to this are their Sana character (Imaan, who is only in season one) and their new Sana/Linn hybrid character (Esra who is in season two).

Again, because the show doesn’t really engage with ethnoracial identity, there’s not much racism/Islamophobia besides the Vilde-to-Sana stuff (Engel to Imaan). Engel is also painted as a cutesy, just doesn’t know any better kind of ignorant and not purposefully racist like many of the other Vildes. In season two, her interactions with Esra have a different tone like she’s genuinely curious, which can still be couched in prejudice. To me though, the dynamic is different because Esra is so much older than she is, so the power is more balanced. The show mostly deals with misogyny but not in a racialized way with Liv, which I found disappointing as well. Again, season 2 is also the Noora season, so content note for sexual assault.

Overall, I would describe Netherlands as surrealist (Also, from what I’ve seen, a lot of people who like Druck really like Skamnl too).

WTFock

Season 1: Janna (Eva) / Season 2: Zoe (Noora)

WTFock is in the middle when it comes to ethnoracial diversity.

Season one starts out slowly, but the small changes they make to the plot make a lot of sense and I really quite liked. It’s underrated but I think some of the characters are extremely strong, and for some reason it gives me the most OG vibe. Their Noora (Zoe) and Sana (Yasmina) are some of my favorites. I haven’t watched season two fully yet, maybe five-six clips. I did like the ones I selectively watched because it seems like they did change things up in a way that actually impacts the storyline (unlike in other remakes, who do small changes but ultimately stick to the exact plot of the OG).

I adore Yasmina and have no strong feelings about the rest of their characters of color so far. Their Chris (Luca) isn’t as strong as some of her counterparts, imo, but I think there’s potential to really build her up. I will say though that their one MoC, Moyo (a Mahdi/Magnus?) is arguably also the worse. He’s obsessed with saying fa**ot and is pretty homophobic. I have a suspicion that WTfock is gonna pull out some antiblackness the same way Skamfr did but again, I haven’t watched most of season 2 so I feel like I can’t really say that for sure yet. The show is good so far at hinting at Yasmina’s backstory, which I also really like. I feel like Wtfock and España have been the best at giving their Sanas a life outside of their friends, where we get more about then in early seasons then we did with Sana.

Yasmina deals with a lot of racism/Islamophobia from her Vilde (Amber). Imo, Amber is the fucking worst, and I don’t know how anyone can tolerate her. She’s even worse than Kiki which is saying a lot because I really really loathe Kiki. But anyway. Season one also has a “Mexican” themed party which was atrocious to watch, and not one of the characters seems to think that’s racist at all. The show tackles with misogyny as well, and season 2 is also the Noora season, so content note for sexual assault. I’m not 100% certain because again, I haven’t watched it, but apparently a bunch of characters, not only Moyo, have also been really gross, fetishizing and homophobic towards Robbe.

Overall, I thought season one was solid. I can’t really comment on the show as a whole yet.

In Conclusion

Anyway!

I hope this was helpful, but what you’re going to like really depends on you. This is all my opinion and ofc folks are free to disagree with me. I might be missing a lot because I wrote this all off of memory, but these are the impressions that stuck with me the most.

- mod Jennifer

#answered ask

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mercurialsmile · 5 years

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So I went and saw Hellboy (2019) again since I wanted to get a closer look and sort of analyze it to a degree. It’s been slammed by quite a bit of people and I wanted to understand where they were coming from and have Critical Thinking Skills

Plus I finished reading the whole series (and The Wild Hunt) Sunday so I wanted to see how close of an adaptation it is.

Adaption-wise, 2019 is closer to its source material (The Wild Hunt) than the OG is (Seeds of Destruction)

It’s not a perfect adaption at all, of course. If you go by the condensed Omnibus’ as a guide, The Wild Hunt is the third book in the series. By the looks of it, they are reshuffling the events on how they happen and character timelines as well. Honestly, Seeds of Destruction would be a hard comic to adapt faithfully as it doesn’t have as streamlined a plot as Wild Hunt does but I digress.

There were a lot of changes. I don’t wanna go into each bullet point bc spoilers and also that would be a longass list. All I can say is some characters were missing, some added into the movie from different comics, the BPRD isn’t in the comics at all, obv all references to social media and the modern world aren’t in the comic, aaaaand of course: Hellboy actually fought 6 giants not 3. They nerfed him.

They also added two short stories to the movie, and they are also pretty close to the comics with some minor changes (and shortened even further...)

Fight-scene wise it seemed the flow of each fight fit in with the comic depiction of them so that was a nice touch.

If I were to give a score out of 10 for how close the movie adaptation is... I’d probably give it a 4-5. Which isn’t that bad considering just how dense TWH is and how much story leads up to it. TWH is the third book of series for a reason.

Plus some changes needed to be made due to the fact it’s a movie and they’re trying to tell a cohesive story

Hellboy, as a comic series... isn’t a cohesive story. It doesn’t have an intricate plot. That’s not the point. Hellboy is an introspective character study steeped in folklore and mythos with lovecraftian horror elements and interesting and unique monster designs.

Turning that into a blockbuster movie sounds like a bitch and I am not jealous of the writers for this movie at all.

That being said, I wanna pinpoint some issues I read some people had with the movie, add my own thoughts to that, and list what I liked and didn’t like of this movie.

No comparisons with the OG will be noted and I will not bring it up. This is a different movie in a completely different genre. Also OG is one of my favorite movies and shall always hold a special place in my heart

Music:

People noted that there were too many rock songs and not enough originally composed songs

Personally, the rock songs didn’t bother me too much. In some places they felt a little off or like I was watching a tv show rather than a movie, but it wasn’t too bad for me.

There were original songs or at least instrumentals littered throughout the movie including a reprise of the original Hellboy theme (a riff in the beginning and the complete at the end) which was nice to hear

I can see why the rock songs could bother or annoy some but for me it wasn’t that big of a deal

But I still do love original soundtracks and do wish this movie had more original songs in it

What bothered me more than the music was the quick Hellboy intro. I like buildups to my movie titles in movies like this and was a bit bummed I didn’t get to hear Hellboy’s full theme song... till the end during the movie

Exposition:

Some people complained the movie spent too much time rehashing some information. Indeed, in some places the movie felt it was beating us over the heads. In others it was more subtle, which is a bit odd

Really tho it’s a pretty small problem to fix? Only two changes would need to be made:

1. Take out the narration in the beginning of the movie

2. Cut out the adapted short story scene and have it remain as dialogue

Easy

Again, it didn’t bother me too much as the exposition issue was really only an issue in the first half of the movie? And happened only twice

However I can understand why people had an issue with it

Dialogue:

The writing is a mixed bag. Some scenes had good if not great writing and other scenes were a bit painful to listen to.

I did read this movie had some issues being developed due to creative differences and being shuffled around a lot... and in some places it shows. In others not so much. The middle of the movie is def where the weakest writing lies, I think

CGI:

This movie was an utter gorefest and had quite a bit of CGI. In some places it looked fine, I think. In other places it looked really cheap

I have no idea why the look of the CGI bounced around so much? Maybe they stretched their budget a bit too much, who knows

There was only one scene where it looked god awful and honestly that shot didn’t need to be in the scene to make it effective. Which is annoying I agree

I’m starting to sound like I disliked this movie huh? I’ll get to what I liked about it. Wanna say what other things I personally disliked:

* Professor “Broom”’s characterization

* Hellboy knowing less than he does in the comics for... drama?

* Honestly the entire father subplot

* The entire scene at the bunker. Ugh

* Some of the shots were... bad. Trying too hard to please the 3D crowd ig

* The fact that the Blood Queen didn’t have her raven helmet. that thing is badass

* Some tonal problems but it wasn’t too distracting

But there was a lot of things I also liked?

* All the monster designs! Especially the titans

* David Harbor’s performance

* No love triangle and no romance subplot in general. Nice

* Anung un Rama’s design

* Character costuming

* A lot of the shots, especially in the beginning and the end were interesting

* Baba Yaga. Her and that entire scene.

* The pig of course!

* Some of the dialogue was clever

* Got to see Hellboy riding a dragon. Nice.

* I actually liked the violence and gore. Even if it was pointless in some scenes. I like gory movies. Fun

* They made Alice a bit more proactive in this movie which was a good change

* Also the transformation during the pig battle.

* The main plot of course

Overall I think this movie is mainly getting slammed by fans of the og which... is expected honestly

I love the OG. If I could trade this movie in for the third of that trilogy I would. But life doesn’t work like that and I’m happy to see more Hellboy content in general and who knows,,, maybe we’ll get a finished trilogy this time?

I think this movie stands alone decently enough. Interestingly enough it seems those who read the comics are a lot less harsh on it than others? Well, for the most part from what I’ve seen.

This movie is campy, funny, full of action, with unique monster designs... which is what Hellboy kinda started as?

It has issues but don’t all movies? It’s not perfect and I still prefer OG but I ain’t gonna knock this movie because of that.

This is not a drama. It is a horror/action/comedy. And it plays itself as such and isn’t overly serious, which is okay.

Actually I’m hoping it gets a sequel. Hopefully it’ll be better than this movie, with betting marketing, and I think they’re gonna develop Conqueror Worm next And I loved that entire storyline a lot so! If they are going that direction (which is to say backwards in the comics...) I look forward to it!

#shutuplanx #review #Hellboy

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captainameriwoman-reviews · 6 years

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A Review of ReBoot: The Guardian Code

As this got away from me a little, I’ve put the majority of this under a read more. Here’s a TL;DR though:

Essentially, ReBoot: The Guardian Code is your run-of-the-mill kids show. It’s fun and doesn’t take itself super seriously. The big-bad is called the Sourcerer, and Vera is, well, Vera and I love her character. If you don’t care about the original show, I would say watch it if you’re running out of other shows in your watchlist. But ReBoot: The Guardian Code should have been it’s own show, separate from the original cartoon ReBoot. It’s a reboot that really shouldn’t have been, and having it be has only hurt it’s chances at getting more seasons.

All the reviews I’ve seen for Netflix’s new show ReBoot: The Guardian Code say essentially the same thing: it’s a bad show regardless of who you are watching it. As a new viewer, it’s got the same old tropes that every other kid’s show does. As a fan of the original, it’s basically sacrilege.

I can’t help but think differently, at least as someone who’s new to the whole thing. Sure, it’s not the greatest show I’ve ever seen. But considering the market it’s aimed for, ie kids and younger teens, I think it’s done fine as a show. The characters are all okay, the plots are the usual for any serial scheme-of-the-week show, and the animation is pretty darn good to me. The biggest problem The Guardian Code faces is the first part of that title, ReBoot, but I’ll get to that in a sec.

So I feel the need to highlight a couple of pretty big things about who I am as a viewer of this particular show. First and foremost, I’m 18. I’m 18, and 50% of my Netflix watchlist is children’s shows (an odd variety of stuff, as shown below). I like watching silly, light-hearted shows considering the other stuff going on in the world.

The second thing is, if you haven’t guessed already based on the first, I haven’t seen much of the OG ReBoot. I’ve got a solid 30-ish minutes of watch time, between the very first episode and very last. The excessive computer puns put me off, what can I say? And that 30-ish minutes came after I was a few episodes into the new one, so I came into The Guardian Code basically blind.

The first episode was a very blunt introduction to the setting of the show and it’s main cast. I’m starting to get to a point with shows that maybe I should just start skipping the first ep and just get into it before coming back once I’m invested in it. But that’s at least not a point off for The Guardian Code, seeing as it’s just keeping up that delightful trend of “adults can’t write teenage dialogue worth a damn.” I honestly had to pause the show at Lame-O Meter because no one talks like that.

Anyway…

The rest of the season is, like I said earlier, okay. It’s got the basic team-building episodes, the learning to be a leader ep, the “if you just talked to each other this wouldn’t have been a problem” ep, etc. So it’s nothing special exactly. I’ll admit, It took me seven episodes to remember Austin’s real name. Out of a ten episode season, that’s a bit rough.

But there’s two sides to every coin and all that. I absolutely loathe Trey’s dad -- as someone who’s only just graduated high school myself and also has a healthy appetite for video games, his behavior really irks me for reasons I won’t get into. However, I would die for Vera. AI learning how to be human is one of my favorite tropes, and Vera is an amazing example of that. The Alyx episode is great. The hurricane episode that follows directly after is not so great (yes, hi, hello @Netflix writers: that’s not how the weather or cloud seeding works). I find Judy’s character a little odd in that she’s opposed to new technology despite the fact that her husband was a tech and coding genius. I enjoy Tamra because of her vlogging and I liked learning why she first got into it. I like how Megabyte acts. I like the slowly unfolding plot of it all. The big thing is to save cyberspace, but there’s the whole thing with Austin’s dad and the Guardian Program and I’m a sucker for that sort of thing. The plot is fairly fun and the characters have a lot of potential.

Basically, I think The Guardian Code is pretty decent show. Yeah, it’s like a weird combination of Power Rangers and Code Lyoko, but I like both of those so I guess I don’t much mind that. It’s the kind of show you can dig through in a day and, yeah, I want a second season because this one felt very set-up heavy. Yet ReBoot: The Guardian Code is a different matter.

ReBoot then and ReBoot now are two very different things. The OG show was about a virtual group of people like a Guardian named Bob, a diner owner and over-all leader Dot, her little brother Enzo, and a bunch more other characters fighting baddies like Megabyte and Hexadecimal, while also dealing with the ever-present threat of “nullification” (basically death but worse from what my 30 minutes have gathered) via a game. Heavy stuff for a kids show, but hey it was the 90s and that’s just how it was. The new show is four real kids that get ported into cyberspace to fight off Dark Code.

That is a very big difference in plot lines, to say the least. It also doesn’t help that ReBoot ended in a massive cliffhanger that’s just not addressed in the new show. It’s basically like someone kicked your puppy, quickly pointed somewhere else and went “look over there!” and then proceeded to switch it out with a kitten while hoping you wouldn’t notice. So while I’m not exactly invested in the original, I can absolutely see why old fans of it are upset with what The Guardian Code turned out to be.

There is virtually no other mention of the original cast, other than episode 10 which feels out of place with the rest of the season. Megabyte mentions Bob once and never again. Bob and Co. seem totally fine in episode 10 despite the absolute disaster in which we last saw them. At least, the three that are there do. There’s no mention of Matrix, AndrAIa, Phong, or anyone else for that matter. Megabyte, and now Hexadecimal, are the only real links to the past and with Megabyte’s redesign even that’s minimal. Knowing what ReBoot was like, and knowing how it ends, it genuinely seems to me that the creators of the new show saw Megabyte and just wanted to have him in their show.

Maybe that’ll change if Netflix gives The Guardian Code a second season, but as it stands now, it’s a bit of a nightmare. The Guardian Code is a fine show. ReBoot: The Guardian Code isn’t. My big thing is just that The Guardian Code shouldn’t have been a reboot. Standing alone, it would have been like any other kids show -- campy, poorly written at times, a few stellar characters here and there, and a fun gimmick. But with the ReBoot label, Netflix was attempting to pull in an older fanbase in an effort to make it succeed. A built in fanbase is perfect for any content producer, and a big name like Netflix is no different. With all the changes, though, all they’ve done is shoot themselves in the foot. Alienating the audience you’re depending on isn’t a fantastic idea, but it’s what Netflix has done.

I would say watch it, if the trailer seems like something you’d enjoy. In the end, it’s just another kids show even if it does have an old brand name tacked onto it. And I, for one, am a fan of lots of “just okay” kids shows.

#reboot the guardian code #reboot cartoon #reboot #review #show review #netflix review #my reviews #mine #look i just have a lot of thoughts about this show for some reason #you know its important when you make a new blog to babble about it

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